Movie Reviews

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Dabangg

  If you kill me off, Chulbul 'Robinhood' Pandey warns a bunch of goons: “You serve 21 years in jail; thokai alag se (get thrashed separately).”
  Read On..

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  HT Movie Preview: Dabangg

  Set in Laalgurj, Uttar Pradesh, this is a story of Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), a totally fearless but corrupt police officer with unorthodox working methods.

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  'Dabangg' - Salman's rural day out as corrupt cop (Preview)

  He has donned the garb of an honest police officer in Hindi films like "Garv" and "Wanted". Now Salman Khan once again endorses the khaki uniform to entertain his fans, but this time as a corrupt one in "Dabangg", releasing Friday.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: We are Family

  It’s this thing about soppy chick flicks, or afternoon soppy soap operas, if you will. The male character is destined to severe step-mom treatment. If he’s present at all, he usually has no say in his own destiny. He quietly follows nature’s will. Humour is generally scarce. This fits in well with the female worldview, perhaps (okay, that’s a joke!). It doesn’t help include varied audiences.

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  'We Are family', a heartwarming Hindi take on 'Stepmom' (Movie Review)

  Some films are good to look at. Some feel good at heart. Very few mainstream films manage to look as good on the surface and also capture the heart. "We Are Family" is equally appealing from the outside and at the heart.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Aashayein

  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Aashayein

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Antardwand

  First, compateeson (competition); then, byaah (wedding). These two simple steps have traditionally defined middle class Bihar’s aspirational ladder. It’s also been for long the feudal obsession of a poor, politically active state.

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  'Antardwand': commendable effort at examining underbelly of rural Bihar (Movie Review)

  Set in rural Bihar where nothing works except the law of the lawless, "Antardwand" takes the firm and gripping route to expose a hinterland-headline - the kidnapping of marriageable boys by desperate fathers of wannabe brides.

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  John turns compulsive gambler in 'Aashayein' (Preview)

  Missed John Abraham on big screen? The Bollywood hunk returns as a compulsive gambler-turned-good Samaritan with Nagesh Kukunoor's long-awaited project "Aashayein", releasing Friday.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Lafangey Parindey

  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Lafangey Parindey

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  Subhash K. Jha on 'Lafangey Parindey'

  Indeed "Lafangey Parindey" (LP) is a love story. And how grotesquely indecorous has been the marketing of this tender and shimmering look at an improbable love in the slums between a free-wheeling boxer and wannabe roller-skating spitfire gone blind.

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  'Lafangey Parindey' - edgy love story of street fighter, blind girl (Preview)

  After the 2007 box-office dud "Laaga Chunri Mein Daag", director Pradeep Sarkar looks forward to securing a hit with "Lafangey Parindey", an unusual love story about a blind ambitious girl and a street fighter that releases Friday.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Peepli [Live]

  It appears a scene straight out of an Indian version of Yes Minister. The agricultural minister (Naseeruddin Shah) in the room is one of those suave, telegenic politician faces we’re used to watching endlessly gab on late night news debates. Review Follows..

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  'Peepli Live' - satire par excellence on rural India (Movie Review)

  It is a miracle that a script like "Peepli Live" has been turned into a movie and has got a commercial release. It is certainly surprising that a mainstream filmmaker like Aamir Khan decided to invest money in a movie that puts the spotlight on grave issues like the plight of Indian peasants.

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  'Peepli Live' a satire on urban-rural divide (Preview)

  Already doing the rounds of different international film festivals "Peepli Live", which releases Friday, explores the gap between rural and urban India. The movie has generated the right buzz courtesy its storyline and producer Aamir Khan's promotional expertise.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Aisha

  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Aisha

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  'Aisha' is an elitist celebration of matchmaking: Subhash K. Jha

  Sonam Kapoor in a 'tailor'-made role (where more moolah seems to have been spent on tailoring her chic outfits than on exploring the locations, sound sights scents and, yes, sense of this embarrassing world of excessive self-preening) gets the Jane Austen character right. Quite a leap for the actress.

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  Subhash K. Jha on 'Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai'

  It's the way he looks at the camera. Almost as if it doesn't exist. Ajay Devgn as Sultan Mirza is NOT Haji Mastan, please note. He's just this Robin Hood in the 1970s who happened to be a smuggler and who at some point in the taut plot, locks horns with a junior recruit who, please note, is NOT Dawood Ibrahim.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai

  Sultan Mirza turns into a bit of a Mirza Ghalib over a few drinks. Or so his girlfriend (Kangna Ranaut) suggests. A
  woman's deep attraction to powerful men, at its bizarre state, reveals itself in the shape of the ‘gun moll’. The examples are aplenty.

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  Smugglers, cabaret - 1970s era comes alive in 'Once Upon...' (Preview)

  Smugglers, Cadillacs, cabarets, bell bottoms, blings and one-liners - these are some of the retro trends that director Milan Luthria is revisiting in his underworld saga "Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai", releasing Friday.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Khatta Meetha

  America has Americans. The English have Englishmen. France hosts the French, and so on, so forth. There is but no such thing
  related stories as an Indian. There are only Punjabis, Gujaratis, Maharashtrians, Bengalis. Akshay Kumar’s Sachin makes this linguistic observation about a truly imagined nation he lives in.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Tere Bin Laden

  Karachi has its own version of yuppies, I am told. They call them ‘burgs’ after, I guess, the McDonald’s burgers. These rich
  young, western in their aspirations and outfit, forever live the American dream, are often scoffed at for their twisted orientation.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Udaan

  Master director Kanti Shah’s unique contribution to the warped Indian male hormone, I’m afraid, will remain under-rated
  forever. I don’t know how many of you’ve heard of Mr Shah’s grind-house classics – Gunda, Loha, Phoolan Haseena Ramkali….

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  Akshay starrer 'Khatta Meetha' takes a dig at corruption (Preview)

  After tickling the funny bones of their fans with "Hera Pheri" "Garam Masala" and "Bhool Bhulaiyaa", the hit pair of director Priyadarshan and actor Akshay Kumar is back for the sixth time with yet another light-hearted outing, "Khatta Meetha", which releases Friday.

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  Mayank Shekhar's Review: Lamhaa

  The dialogue writer of this film is weirdly inclined towards banal repetitions. Among words he chooses to drill in to his audience’s ears again and again – “Operation ’89”, “Kashmir, the most dangerous place on earth”, “Is this a political gimmick?”…. – “Kashmir ek bahut badi company hai” (Kashmir’s a huge company) seems a perennial favourite.