- Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway - Review
wogma rating: Add to “To Watch” list, watch some day (?) quick review: A story that shook your insides when you read about it, is told so clinically that you aren’t stirred a bit. Despite an earnest performance by Rani Mukerji. (Streaming Partner: Netflix) Review When Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway puts you right in the middle of the action in Scene One, you sense that you have a good two hours ahead of you. Unfortunately, that is not how it wor…
- 76 days ago 17 Mar 23, 7:35pm -
- Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar - Review
wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do (?) quick review: Do we fume at the regressive take? Or do we appreciate the effort at a progressive makeover? Try as I might to appreciate, I lean towards the former. Review Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar’s protagonist provides solutions to problems that always existed but are in the open only in the modern day—a breakup service. Cute idea. A novel spin on the boy-meets-girl story too, at least f…
- 83 days ago 10 Mar 23, 7:10pm -
- Selfiee - Review
wogma rating: Add to 'must watch' list (?) quick review: A different story, reasonably engaging too. Fleshed-out characters performed well. If only they had mellowed down the melodrama, it’d have been crisp and absorbing. Enjoyable if you can ignore the drama. Review You don’t want to meet the person you admire from afar, the person you are a fan of. Because you will see the real person. That’s what happens when Om Prakash (Emraan Hashmi),…
- 97 days ago 24 Feb 23, 6:02pm -
- Shehzada - Review
wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do (?) quick review: A step up for a Rohit Dhawan film. Doesn’t mean much, does it? Let’s just say we have an attempt at a story, even if outdated, which is refreshing given the brand. Review The two things I’ll retain from Shehzada are the relatively progressive texture in the story and that Kartik Aaryan plays a man who is respectful towards the women in his life. Everything else will get…
- 98 days ago 23 Feb 23, 6:18pm -
- Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat - Review
wogma rating: Add to “To Watch” list, watch some day (?) quick review: How the 80s-90s kids think the new batch of young adults lives, loves and obsesses. 😊 Men—milder, meeker; women—cheekier, outspoken: alas, more in a Pyar-ka-Punchama-meets-Kabir way. Review There are only so many ways you can tell a boy-meets-girl story. Even if there are two in one film. Packaging it in a new-age tragedy can only take it so far. And that too Almost…
- 7 Feb 23, 5:47pm -
- Pathaan - Review
wogma rating: Watch, but no rush (?) - SRK-fans, who can stop you from rushing to the theatre? Others, buy tickets to boycott boycotts ;) quick review: What is it about action films that feels funny when SRK does it, but we lap it up when it’s Tom Cruise? Once you shake that off, Pathaan is entertaining and good, silly fun. At times it’s so cheesy that you can’t help laughing. The stakes are high throughout the film, so you’re with it even if you kno…
- 25 Jan 23, 2:53pm -
- Cirkus - Review
wogma rating: Add to “To Watch” list, watch some day (?) - —unless you grew up up with Angoor or like; if so, skip. quick review: When Shakespeare meets Rohit Shetty. Obviously, Rohit Shetty’s movie gets a much-needed story. Also, it’s cute that he tries to add logic. But also, Shakespeare’s story gets an unnecessary visual and aural facelift; and the comedy gets mind-numbing slapstick. (Streaming partner: Netflix) Review If you thou…
- 23 Dec 22, 5:09pm -
- Govinda Naam Mera - Review
wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do (?) quick review: If you can get past the 527 cringes in the first 5 minutes and some more in the next hour, the whodunnit is engaging with some decent performances, only asking you to make room for 1029 predictable squirms in the last 10 minutes. (Available on Disney+Hotstar) Review I didn’t think I could finish watching the film. Talented actors like Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, and Kiar…
- 16 Dec 22, 3:35pm -
- Salaam Venky - Review
wogma rating: Watch, but no rush (?) quick review: Does a film about a mother and son grappling with the idea of euthanasia really need added drama and songs to say what it has to say? No. These water down the merit of the topic and the performances ☹ Review “Dying with dignity” I have mulled over this a lot, and my thoughts align with the film’s agenda. So, the film’s arguments were like preaching to the choir for me. However, I was ke…
- 9 Dec 22, 4:51pm -
- An Action Hero - Review
wogma rating: Add to “To Watch” list, watch some day (?) quick review: A spoof that doesn’t rely on slapstick comedy! Yet, doesn’t engage with the details. Sincere and believable performances, an interesting basic plot, and a few quips are the big-picture plusses. Review The pulp genre has room to stretch imagination in all directions and planes. Coincidence is usually forgiven here. It is thrilling and most-fun when the story happens in…
- 7 Dec 22, 5:44pm -
- Bhediya - Review
wogma rating: Add to “To Watch” list, watch some day (?) quick review: Quick-fix, unnuanced writing skims over some social issues preachily. Tries hard to have its heart in the right place. Loses out on a relatively fresh and charming take that had the potential to appeal to the urban conscience. Review Bhediya has long stretches where nothing happens—and that nothing happens in a boring fashion. Leaving you a lot of time to wonder if Bhedi…
- 25 Nov 22, 6:50pm -
- Drishyam 2 - Review
- 18 Nov 22, 5:25pm -
- Uunchai - Review
wogma rating: Add to 'must watch' list (?) quick review: Froth-free, gloss-free, relatively dogma-free unlike any Sooraj Barjatya film. Disperses ‘gyaan’ like any of them though; even if it’s surprisingly progressive while doing so. Review Given that the film is about 65+-year-olds, it would seem unreal if, every once in a while, it didn’t go, “in our times…” or “kids these days…” So, when that happens, you roll your eyes at t…
- 11 Nov 22, 6:07pm -
- Phone Bhoot - Review
wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do (?) quick review: Most attempts at humour are scarily unfunny. No attempts at horror, so no fun there either. And yet the same concept with another story might be worth a try. Review It’s difficult to respect a comedy film’s writing that relies so heavily on poking fun at ethnic stereotypes. Some of the other ‘comedy’ is annoying innuendo, silly and repetitive breaking of the fourth w…
- 4 Nov 22, 4:08pm -
- Ram Setu - Review
- 28 Oct 22, 5:13pm -
- Thank God - Review
wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do (?) quick review: Maybe, just maybe, the premise is okay. The details, though, are either convenient, patronising or both. And the execution is tacky, slapsticky and cringe-inducing. Review A near-death experience brings perspective. Believable. The perspective coming about in a predictable manner, given that a Computer Graphic assistant to God is in the picture. Yawn-inducing.A film-maker teac…
- 27 Oct 22, 4:15pm -
- Maja Ma - Review
- 7 Oct 22, 6:13pm -
- Brahmastra – Part One: Shiva - Review
wogma rating: Watch, but no rush (?) quick review: It’s repetitive. It’s mediocre. It tells more than it shows. It’s not creative, visually or aurally. YET, it is charming and got me curious about what it holds next. Review Swush. Swoosh. Swirrl. Swwirrrl. Svuuuuuush. Almost everyone of any importance in the film can have pixie dust and fire-like swoosh emanating from their palms. They all twiirrl their hands like martial artists and have m…
- 9 Sep 22, 4:41pm -
- Cuttputlli - Review
wogma rating: Watch, but no rush (?) quick review: A reasonably well-made Hindi suspense thriller. A non-agenda Akshay Kumar film. Both rare things I get to say. Aptly spooked and pleasantly surprised to say both of them together.(Available On Hotstar) Review Granted, I get spooked easily and take absolutely no pleasure in watching mutilated bodies of teenage girls, but I wouldn’t want that to take away from the suspense and drama Cuttputlli c…
- 2 Sep 22, 4:28pm -
- Darlings - Review
wogma rating: Add to “To Watch” list, watch some day (?) quick review: Women take centre stage, and how! Unfortunately, the intentionally created queasy feeling in the pit of the stomach stayed too long for me to enjoy the end. In that sense, the film achieves what it sets out to do, making you uneasy. (Available on Netflix) Review The cliches spouted by the wife-beater, the victim’s submissiveness, the relentless manipulation by the abuse…
- 1 Sep 22, 4:52pm -
