Recent Reviews by Shubhra Gupta
The Indian Express
Shubhra Gupta, a senior columnist and acclaimed film critic at The Indian Express, boasts over 30 years of experience with her widely-read weekly review column. A prominent figure in India’s film criticism scene, she frequently attends global film festivals and has served on national and international juries. She curates and conducts the hugely popular platform, The Indian Express Film Club, in Delhi and Mumbai.
Films reviewed on this Page
Sikandar Ka Muqaddar
All We Imagine as Light
Freedom at Midnight
Vijay 69
Citadel: Honey Bunny
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3
Singham Again
Do Patti
Zindaginama
CTRL
Sikandar Ka Muqaddar
Neeraj Pandey’s Netflix film is a rare beast in Bollywood, a pulpy character study with twists you don’t see coming
Neeraj Pandey's Netflix heist movie soars on the strength of plot and performance, with stars servicing the story, just the way it should be.
A large jewellery exhibition in Mumbai becomes the site of a heist. A hysterical phone call raises alarm, gunfire is heard, the cops on duty herd the panicked gathering into a secluded area, and during the melee, a fistful of precious gems go missing.
All 9 reviews of Sikandar Ka Muqaddar here
All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia’s lyrical ode to working-class Mumbai and female friendship
The wonderful Kani Kusruti turns yearning into a full-time job, and just for her, this film which releases in India today, is worth every minute of your time.
A woman leans on a pole in her compartment, for support, for balance, swaying with the rhythm of the train. She looks exhausted, after a long day at work. We take in, like she does, the way the city looks at night, bars of refracted light and darkness dancing across her face. This image, which comes early in Payal Kapadia’s lyrical ode to working-class Mumbai and female friendship, becomes a marker of the themes the film explores, and it stays with you.
All 7 reviews of All We Imagine as Light here
Freedom at Midnight
A relatable, racy-pacy account of build-up to India’s tumultuous independence
Sprawling yet pacy, the Nikkhil Advani series brings to life the story of India, and Pakistan, which came into existence at that stroke of the midnight hour immortalised in the haunting words of Nehru.
The choice of using ‘Freedom At Midnight’, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre’s account of the tumultuous build-up to India’s independence in August 1947, as the basis for the seven-part web series of the same name achieves one thing above all else: adapting from source material which has been in existence for several years, especially from the celebrity author duo who couldn’t be accused of being either pro-India, or pro-Pakistan, frees creator and director Nikkhil Advani of being accused similar bias.
All 11 reviews of Freedom at Midnight here
Vijay 69
Anupam Kher is defeated by the unimaginative storytelling
Want someone to play old in the movies? Anupam Kher is your man. He’s got the age, and the mileage. All he needs are films that mean something.
On paper, ‘Vijay 69’ must have felt like a splendid idea. Old men dodder. They don’t go about being potty-mouthed, or making sad sex jokes. How about getting Vijay Mathew, a ripe 69, to have a vocabulary which is more foul than fair, even if he has reached grandfather status? Next, how about setting him an impossible task? Even the fittest baulk at attempting the triathlon. Why not get our elderly hero to have a dash at it? Vijay lives in a house surrounded by the memories of his dead wife, the only one who used to encourage him in his endeavours, the chief of which seems to be getting ranked in a swimming race. Everyone else, including his dearest friend Fali (Chunky Panday donning a grey wig and the broadest Parsi accent that can be mustered), thinks he’s gone bananas.
All 5 reviews of Vijay 69 here
Citadel: Honey Bunny
Samantha Ruth Prabhu explodes off the screen in Raj and DK’s clunky series
So, where does that leave Varun Dhawan? Why, readying for his Terminator avatar, which looks as if it is going to kick-start the next season. But in this one, it is Samantha Ruth Prabhu all the way.
First things first: all hail the arrival of Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cinema’s first real female action star who demands our attention from the get-go and never loses it through the six part series, Citadel: Honey Bunny. She’s coiled, ready for action, exploding off the screen whenever the script demands it of her, and the demand stays consistently high. As the family woman-cum-spry spy, who will do anything to protect her daughter, Samantha’s Honey is the best part of this enterprise, directed and written by Raj and DK (Sita Menon also gets writing and directing credit), and executive produced by the Russo Bros.
All 11 reviews of Citadel: Honey Bunny here
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3
Lazy, formulaic writing weighs heavily on Kartik Aaryan film
Kartik Aaryan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 suffers from the same things that Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 did: stereotypes instead of characters, forced humour which refuses to land, and tasteless lines bordering on the risible.
All right folks, we are back in the labyrinth. For a third time. Lots of stuff that we remember from the earlier outings. Creaky two-hundred-year-old Bengali havelis. Locked rooms. Vengeful ‘aatmas’. Ghosts who flit about. And characters who spout their lines, and vanish.
All 13 reviews of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 here
Singham Again
Ajay Devgn film is loud, tedious and instantly forgettable
It’s all so same-old in Ajay Devgn-Rohit Shetty's Singham Again that even the new locations don’t help. Neither does all the blatant-referencing-and-copy-pasting of Ramayan
They say that the fount of all Indian fiction are the two epics, Ramayan and Mahabharat. Rohit Shetty seems to have taken this old saying to heart because Ajay Devgn’s eponymous Bajirao Singham is none other than a latter-day Maryada Purushottam Ram, his wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) is the faithful Sita, and all the other characters play their parallels in this version of Kalyug-ke-Ram Ki Katha. The result is loud and tedious, and instantly forgettable.
All 15 reviews of Singham Again here
Do Patti
Shallow Kajol-Kriti Sanon film fails to deliver on its promise
There’s enough in Kriti Sanon-Kajol film for a juicy, substantive drama. But the unpacking turns more into an unravelling, mainly because the writing is shallow, and the characters lack depth.d
‘Do Patti’ comes armed with much promise. It is the first offering of a brand new female-led production house, with producer-actor Kriti and writer Kanika Dhillon having created an interesting ensemble led by Kajol, popular TV actor Shaheer Sheikh, Tanvi Azmi, Brijendra Kala and Vivek Mushran. What’s not to like? Turns out, quite a lot.
All 17 reviews of Do Patti here
Zindaginama
A timely limited series
Not all six are equal in depth and complexity, but it doesn’t stop us from acknowledging the importance of these kinds of stories, which go a long way in keeping informed conversations around mental health in play.
Zindaginama tackles a set of mental health issues through six episodes, targeting a different one each time. What happens when a human begins believing in an alt reality? Purple Duniya’s protagonist, a terrific Tanmay Dhanania, sets out ostensibly to go to work, like regular folks do. But that’s all a sham. His total focus lies in the game he plays obsessively, constantly, forgetting to eat or drink. Or communicate with his sister. Therapy can help, but to what extent? And who wins finally, man or machine? Sahaan Hattangadi writes, and co-directs with Danny Mamik.
All 2 reviews of Zindaginama here
CTRL
Ananya Panday, Vikramaditya Motwane film is two-dimensional
While both Ananya Panday and Vihaan Samat do their job well, the film truly feels potent only when it comes off the screen.
With Ctrl, a cautionary tale about the world’s obsession and our near-total dependence on online apps, Vikramaditya Motwane has moved firmly into the future. Or is it the present? Isn’t this what the geeks have been creating with their gaming universes, where your digital avatars are the better, shinier versions of you? Where they slay all the monsters, and leave you — or rather, your avatar — fully in control?