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Member Reviews

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough. Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.

You can also browse reviews using our alphabetical index of films reviewed

Films reviewed on this Page

Raat Jawaan Hai (1)
Abbot Elementary S04 (1)
Disclaimer (1)
Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video (1)
Jigra (5)
Citadel Diana (1)

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Raat Jawaan Hai
Sonal Pandya
Times Now, Zoom
Sharp Writing, Likable Cast Boost Up Funny And Relatable Family Comedy

Starring Anjali Anand, Barun Sobti and Priya Bapat, the engaging comedy is both heartfelt and hilarious.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a comedy that you can see yourself in. SonyLIV’s Raat Jawaan Hai focuses on a trio of friends who are there for each other through thick and thin. Developed by Khyati Anand-Puthran and Sumeet Vyas, the series features very real characters, the kind of people you’ve met in life. Backed by a solid cast who deliver genuine performances, Raat Jawaan Hai is the feel-good watch for this month, nay, this year!

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Read all 5 reviews of Raat Jawaan Hai here

Abbot Elementary S04
Sonal Pandya
Times Now, Zoom
Quinta Brunson's School Comedy Is Still Endearingly Awkward And Funny As Ever

The Emmy-nominated comedy series is back to school with a new season and plenty of hijinks.

After a shortened season earlier this year due to the Hollywood strikes, Abbott Elementary is back on schedule with a full season. This time, the teachers’ gang at the Philadelphia school convene for a new school year with plenty of hijinks. The biggest change this season is that the perennial will-they, won’t-they couple Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) have made it official. But what does this mean for the rest of the season? Let’s find out!

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Disclaimer
Sonal Pandya
Times Now, Zoom
Alfonso Cuaron's Devastating Thriller Series Looks At Truth And Memory From All Angles

Cate Blanchett is fantastic as journalist who is confronted by past secrets by a stranger who brings them alive in a book.

Gravity and Roma director Alfonso Cuarón’s latest project, Disclaimer, is a fascinating and at times uncomfortable drama about a woman accused of being heartless in her past. Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett steps up to play the aloof Catherine Ravenscroft who finds her perfect life falling apart with the publication of a book. Kevin Kline plays a former teacher who relishes the chance to teach her a lesson. The Apple TV+ series is a riveting story that unfolds chapter by chapter, like a novel.

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Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video
Deepak Dua
Independent Film Journalist & Critic
विकी विद्या के वीडियो का कॉमेडी वाला रायता

1997 का ऋषिकेश शहर। विकी-विद्या शादी के बाद हनीमून के लिए गोआ गए जहां इन्होंने अपने अंतरंग पलों का एक वीडियो बनाया। घर लौट कर उस वीडियो की सीडी देखी, खुश हुए और सो गए। उसी रात एक चोर इनके घर से सीडी प्लेयर चुरा ले गया। उसी में थी वह सीडी जिसमें था इनका ‘वो वाला वीडियो’। अब अगर वह वीडियो दुनिया के सामने आ गया तो…? यहां से शुरू हुई तलाश। तो क्या इन्हें मिल पाया वह चोर…? वह सीडी प्लेयर…? वह वीडियो…?

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Read all 9 reviews of Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video here

Jigra
Tanul Thakur
Outlook
The Alia Bhatt-starrer Doesn’t Fire but Fizzle Out

Vasan Bala’s directorial is marred by bland writing

The trailer of Jigra promised a coup too delicious to resist: Alia Bhatt as the Angry Young (Wo)man. At one point, Manoj Pahwa tells her, “Arre, [Amitabh] Bachchan nahin banna hai. Bach ke nikalna hai.” A stone-faced Bhatt replies: “Ab toh Bachchan hi banna hai.” This exchange hides loaded meanings: reverence (Bhatt, the best Bollywood actor right now, paying tribute to the best Bollywood actor of the ’70s), inversion (a heroine playing an anti-hero), and nostalgia (a drug always in short supply). There’s a bit of serendipity, too: the movie’s release date, October 11, coincides with Bachchan’s birthday.

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Read all 18 reviews of Jigra here

Jigra
Uday Bhatia
Mint Lounge
The Great Escape

Alia Bhatt leads a terrific cast in Vasan Bala's emotionally charged jailbreak film

Satya has been running from window to window in the anteroom of a maximum security prison. She’s desperate to see her brother before closing time, but there are forms to fill, procedures to follow. Finally, she ends up at the door to the visiting area, wheezing, frantic. The guard does her a kindness, says she isn’t late and will be let in soon. Satya catches her breath, but can’t wipe the worry off. “Do I look sad?” she asks the guard as she’s about to enter. “Little sad,” he replies in Malay-accented English. She puts on a strained smile. “Now?” The guard shakes his head. “Very sad, lah.”

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Read all 18 reviews of Jigra here

Jigra
Sukanya Verma
rediff.com
My Name Is Bachchan. Alia Bachchan

Vasan Bala's ability to jolt our Bollywood conditioned brains into experiencing new forms of menace, showcasing Alia in a savage new light, wins Sukanya Verma's dil and jigra.

Vasan Bala creates worlds that may appear deceptively similar to the ones you and I inhabit but run entirely on their own terms and whimsy. It’s a part of the film-maker’s charm and cinephile influences, which made the likes of Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and Monica O My Darling such a treat. Jigra, probably his most big-ticket project so far, is also his most sombre.

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Read all 18 reviews of Jigra here

Jigra
Rahul Desai
The Hollywood Reporter India
Style, Substance, and Alia Bhatt

In an age of lazy remakes and mindless tributes, Vasan Bala reimagines a small subplot from Mahesh Bhatt’s Gumrah (1993) to craft a sister-brother story that single-handedly reverses the gender dynamics of Bollywood action thrillers.

Most directors make you feel like you’re watching their film — their technical prowess, their intent, their voice, their commercial and arthouse ambitions. But directors like Vasan Bala make you feel like you’re watching their dreams come true. His movies aren’t shown, they’re shared. His craft isn’t flaunted, it’s realised. In Jigra, there are no shots, only fulfilled aspirations. There are no scenes and set pieces, only childhood memories. There is no action, only the physicality of emotion. There is no story, only the narrativisation of storytelling.

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Read all 18 reviews of Jigra here

Jigra
Bharathi Pradhan
Lehren.com
Gumrah Goes Feminist

An attempt to create a touching story about a sister who fights for her brother. Their journey to come back together tests their relationship, values, and inner strength. Who wouldn't go to great lengths to protect what they love?

Perhaps Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt and director Vasan Bala, who co-writes with Debashish Irengbam, hope that nobody remembers Gumrah (1993), the Sanjay Dutt-Sridevi starrer which Mahesh Bhatt directed for Dharma Productions’ founder Yash Johar. In 1993, it was a besotted Sanjay Dutt who’d helped Sridevi break out of a Bangkok prison where she faced a death sentence after being framed by her boyfriend for drug trafficking. Bhatt had helped himself to the theme from the 1989 TV series Bangkok Hilton where an estranged father helps his daughter break out of a Bangkok prison in similar circumstances as Sridevi in Gumrah.

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Read all 18 reviews of Jigra here

Citadel Diana
Sanyukta Thakare
Mashable India
Is It Better Than Priyanka Chopra's OG Show?

Intense drama with suspense that doesn't bring the usual thrills

Citadel Diana is one of the many spin-offs set around the American Citadel led by Priyanka Chopra. The series explores the world of a covet organisation across the globe trying to take down the world’s most evil organisation Manticore. While Citadel carried the story more straightforward, Citadel vs Manticore, we get to see a different side in Diana. The Italian show led by Matilda De Angelis, Lorenzo Cervasio and Maurizio Lombardi explores more on the side of how things are done at Manticore. Released in Italian, with few dialogues in English, the show is expected to have a stronger opening than Citadel.

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Read all 2 reviews of Citadel Diana here