About Us

The Film Critics Guild, India’s first registered association of film critics, is a geographically diverse cross-section of professionals who have come together to streamline the ethical and quality standards for film criticism in the country. With India’s most credible critics — representing print, radio, broadcast, and the web — at its helm, the Guild is dedicated to maintaining the highest level of integrity amongst its members and evaluating works of cinema that stand apart in their story telling.

OUR TEAM

Anupama Chopra is a film critic, book author and director of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion,which offers a curated look at entertainment.

ANUPAMA CHOPRA

Chairperson
Film Companion

Bhawana Somaaya has been writing on Hindi cinema for 40 years, is a film critic, columnist and author of 14 books. Currently the Entertainment Editor at 92.7 Big FM Radio channel, Somaaya was conferred with Padmashri in 2017.

BHAWANA SOMAAYA

92.7 Big FM

Bharathi Pradhan is a Columnist, Critic & Author with over 40 years of experience. She currently reviews English & Hindi films for Lehren TV & www.thefilmstreetjournal.com and is Sunday columnist with The Telegraph.

BHARATHI PRADHAN

Secretary
Lehren TV, The Film Street Journal

Rohit Khilnani is an entertainment journalist with close to two decades of experience. He is the Entertainment Editor for the NDTV Group. He is now exploring the digital media along with television. He reviews films for NDTV24X7.

ROHIT KHILNANI

Treasurer
NDTV

Baradwaj Rangan is a National Award–winning film critic and the editor of Film Companion (South). His writings on cinema, music, art, books, travel and humour have been published in various national magazines.

BARADWAJ RANGAN

Film Companion

Rohan Naahar is a senior content producer at Hindustan Times. He reviews films, television series and streaming programming for HT.

ROHAN NAHAAR

Hindustan Times
Senior Content Producer

A former Mumbai Mirror and Catch News critic, Rahul Desai now reviews everything from feature films to shorts and web shows for the Film Companion. He is also a columnist for The Hindu.

RAHUL DESAI

Film Companion

Suhani Singh is a Senior Associate Editor with India Today magazine. Apart from covering entertainment and culture beats for print, she reviews films for India Today's digital arm intoday.in and writes a fortnightly column for Mail Today.

SUHANI SINGH

India Today

Udita Jhunjhunwala has more than 20 years of experience as a film critic with national publications such as Mid-Day, DNA, Mint, scroll.in and firstpost.com.

UDITA JHUNJHUNWALA

Mint and firstpost.com

Shubhra Gupta is Film Critic and Columnist with The Indian Express.

SHUBHRA GUPTA

The Indian Express

Suparna Sharma is a film critic with The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle newspapers. She is also the Resident Editor of The Asian Age, New Delhi.

SUPARNA SHARMA

The Asian Age & Deccan Chronicle

Troy Ribeiro is an alumnus of XIC, he has been a journalist for nearly 3 decades and has been reviewing English and Hindi films for Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) since October 2011.

TROY RIBEIRO

IANS

Stutee Ghosh has been in the media world for almost a decade. She started her career with Radio Mirchi as an RJ and forayed into film reviews and criticism. Currently an RJ and Film Critic with Fever 104fm and The Quint.

STUTEE GHOSH

The Quint

Tanul Thakur is a National Award-winning film critic and an independent journalist. A film critic for The Wire, he's written features and opinion pieces for The Caravan, Open, Fountain Ink, GQ, and Yahoo! India.

TANUL THAKUR

The Wire

Filmmaker, columnist and author Fahad Samar has been reviewing Hindi and English films on various media platforms. Fahad co-presented Friday Double Bill on NDTV Good Times and currently reviews movies on his show Filmology with Fahad Samar on Radio One 94.3 FM.

FAHAD SAMAR

Radio One 94.3 FM

After 10 years of being a prime time radio jockey, Sucharita is now a digital content creator and movie critic. Her YouTube series Not A Movie Review on Film Companion has garnered a sizeable following over the last few years and continues to grow each week.

SUCHARITA TYAGI

Film Companion

Ajay Brahmatmaj writes in hindi.ex film editor of Dainik Jagran.presently freelancing for different newspapers and web portals.has keen interest in history of hindi cinema.mapping lahore film industry of pre partion era (before 1947)

AJAY BRAHMATMAJ

News laundry, lokmat samachar

Uday Bhatia is Film Editor with Mint Lounge in Mumbai. He was previously with Time Out Delhi and The Sunday Guardian. His work has appeared in GQ, The Caravan, Indian Quarterly and other publications.

UDAY BHATIA

Mint Lounge

Aditya Shrikrishna is a Chennai based film critic for Silverscreen.in, with previous published works in The New Indian Express, Mint Lounge, The Wire etc on Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam films.

ADITYA SHRIKRISHNA

Silverscreen

Aswathy Gopalakrishnan is a film critic who writes for Silverscreen.in. She also worked as a film programmer with MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2019.

ASWATHY GOPALAKRISHNAN

Film critic at Silverscreen.in

Sudhir Srinivasan is the Entertainment Editor of the New Indian Express. He has previously written for The Hindu and The Times of India. He is known for his writing on South cinema, especially Tamil Films.

SUDHIR SRINIVASAN

The New Indian Express

Sangeetha Devi Dundoo is a senior Assistant Editor/Special Correspondent with The Hindu, Hyderabad, and a primary film critic for Telugu cinema. Her 18 years of work have involved 12 years with The Hindu & nearly six years with The Times of India Hyderabad.

SANGEETHA DEVI

The Hindu, Hyderabad

Mumbai-born and based Sukanya Verma is a senior film critic, music critic, columnist, features writer, quiz host and columnist with rediff.com for the last 19 years. From 2016, she contributes cinema columns to The Hindu as well.

SUKANYA VERMA

rediff.com

Sachin Chatte is a film critic based in Goa and has been writing about cinema for close to 25 years. He has reviewing films for The Navhind Times, Goa for 20 years and occasionally contributes to other publications.

SACHIN CHATTE

The Navhind Times, Goa

I've been working as a film journalist since 2016. Besides following the latest in pop-culture, I like watching sports, dissing Novak Djokovic and spending an unreasonable amount of time on Thesaurus.com.

TATSAM MUKHERJEE

Independent journalist

Vishal Menon is a film critic with The Hindu, Chennai for the past four years, before which he was a correspondent with Reuters News. He writes about Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi cinema.

VISHAL MENON

The Hindu, Chennai

Hemanth Kumar C R has been writing about Telugu cinema for the past nine years. Currently, he’s based in Hyderabad and writes for Firstpost.com, TheNewsminute.com, and Film Companion South.

HEMANTH KUMAR

Firstpost.com, Film Companion South

Renuka Vyavahare is a film critic with one of India’s leading dailies, The Times of India and also an entertainment correspondent with Bombay Times. She has been reviewing films for the Times Group for over a decade now.

RENUKA VYAVAHARE

The Times of India

Kunal Guha is a film critic and features writer with Mumbai Mirror.

KUNAL GUHA

Mumbai Mirror

Saibal Chatterjee is an independent film critic based in Delhi. His weekly reviews appear on www.ndtv.com. He also writes on cinema for The Tribune and The Gulf Today newspapers.

SAIBAL CHATTERJEE

Independent Film Critic

Rohit Vats is an entertainment journalist with News18 Digital. He has worked with the Hindustan Times in the past. He reviews Hindi and English films.

ROHIT VATS

Editor, Entertainment, News18.com

Manoj Kumar.R is half Tamil and half Malayali. Born and bred in Bengaluru, he had the opportunity to grow up with friends from Kannada and Telugu households. So he speaks all four languages of the south. He reviews Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for Indianexpress.com

MANOJ KUMAR.R

The Indian Express online

Deepak Dua is a Hindi Film Critic for www.cineyatra.com. A freelance Film Journalist, who was associated with Hindi Film Monthly Filmi Kaliyan for a long time. His review of film Dangal is being taught as a chapter in Hindi text books of Class 8 in many schools.

DEEPAK DUA

Freelance Film Journalist & Critic

Shomini is an entertainment journalist for WIONEWS with over 12 years of experience in film writing. She has previously worked with News18.com and Zeenews.com . She reviews and writes about Hindi, English and Bengali films.

SHOMINI SEN

www.wionews.com

Arnab Banerjee has been a film critic and journalist for over 20 years, and is currently contributing film reviews to The Asian Age and BBC Radio. Besides reviewing films, both Hollywood and Bollywood, he also writes on music, does book reviews and covers art.

ARNAB BANERJEE

Freelance Film Critic – The Asian Age Consultant – Films (BBC Radio/Online/TV)

The Critics' Choice Awards (2021)

A show on a mafia family who begin plotting against each other or another that investigates the lives and trials of honest police officers. A series that delves deep into the pre-IIT prep sweat shops or one where a young man learns the quirks of living in a small town. The thriving digital space in India has something for everyone. Comedians, directors, writers, and box office ruling actors have all joined this territory for its promise. Currently, series and short films aren’t considered stepping stones anymore, they are a strong foundation to a space that is the new rage.

This year, India’s most credible film critics, in partnership with Motion Content Group, laud the inventiveness of this growing medium through the Critics’ Choice Awards. In our first edition, the awards recognized short films, in the second we enhanced the awards to include the exciting and burgeoning space of web series and episodic content. This year we aim to continue unearthing and honoring talent from this flourishing space. With a transparent process to identify worthy winners, these awards aim to reward the immense creativity of this industry.

The Awards show took place virtually on 14th February, 2021. Watch it here

Short Film Winners


Series Winners


Feature Film Winners

   The Critics' Choice Film Awards (2020)

The Film Critics Guild and Motion Content Group in collaboration with Vistas Media Capital presents the second edition of the ‘Critics' Choice Film Awards’- a platform to celebrate diversity and flair in Indian films. It is a space to reward and recognize creativity, ingenuity and quality. As a pan-India award, the Critics’ Choice Film Awards will represent the diverse range of film making in the country. It will honor talent and display the rich culture of films across languages, styles and themes. The winners will be selected based on a transparent and bias-free process that is audited to keep it credible. The winners of the Critics’ Choice Film Awards are out! Click Here to watch the India's first virtual awards show.

WINNERS

   The Critics' Choice Shorts And Series Awards (2019)

A show on the murky world of cricket or another that looks into the life and death of India's most well known freedom fighter. A series that delves deep into the pre-IIT prep sweat shops or a romantic series that throws light on the struggles of a long distance relationship. The thriving digital space in India has something for everyone. Comedians, directors, writers and box office ruling actors have all joined this territory for its promise. Currently, series and short films aren't considered stepping stones anymore, they are a strong foundation to a space that is the new rage.

This year, India's most credible film critics, in partnership with Motion Content Group, laud the inventiveness of this growing medium through the Critics' Choice Shorts and Series Awards. In our first edition, the awards recognized short films and this year the awards have been enhanced to include the exciting and burgeoning space of web series and episodic content. With a transparent process to identify worthy winners, these awards aim to reward the immense creativity of this industry. The awards will be held in Mumbai in December 2019.


Short Film Winners


Series Winners

The Critics' Choice Film Awards (2019)

Exceptional talent. Fantastic stories. Outstanding films.

The first edition of the Critics' Choice Film Awards intends to be a glorious celebration of Indian cinema.

The Film Critic's Guild in collaboration with the Motion Content Group presents the first ever ‘Critics' Choice Film Awards’- A platform where a cross-section of India's most credible critic's will choose the winners in a transparent and bias-free process.

The Critics' Choice Film Awards is a platform to celebrate diversity and flair in Indian films. It is a space to reward and recognise creativity, ingenuity and quality. As a pan-India award, the Critic' s Choice Film Awards will represent the diverse range of filmmaking in the country. It will honour talent and display the rich culture of films across languages, styles and themes.

The Critics' Choice Film Awards were held in Mumbai on 21st April 2019.


http://www.criticschoicefilmawards.in/

Winners of the Critics' Choice Film Awards 2019

Hindi

   The Critics' Choice Short Film Awards (2018)

Steven Spielberg’s Amblin’ or Martin Scorsese’s The Big Shave. Lynne Ramsay’s Gasman or Barry Jenkins’ My Josephine. Neeraj Ghaywan’s Juice and Karthik Subbaraj’s Kaatchipizhai. Today, with democratised media and a growing demand for crisper content on personal devices, short films are both a rage and stepping stone.

The Critics' Choice Short Film Awards are one of a kind. India’s most credible film critics join hands with the Motion Content Group to laud the inventiveness of this growing medium. With a transparent process to identify worthy winners, these awards aim to recognise the immense creativity of this industry. The awards were held in Mumbai on 15 December 2018

Our Membership

Membership Guidelines

  • People are either invited into the group,or must apply for membership.
  • The Vetting Committee may at its sole discretion levy an entrance membership fee and/or an annual membership fee.
  • To be considered for membership, applicants must meet the following guidelines, and must request recommendation from a Critics' Association member. The member recommending the applicant must ensure that the applicant fits the membership and ethical criteria.
  • A reviewer must have a minimum of four (4) years of experience in current, regular film criticism to be considered eligible for membership.
  • A reviewer must be an adult, over the age of 21 years.
  • A reviewer must submit an attested copy of his/her PAN Card/Aadhar card/Residence proof.
  • Each publication/Media outlet must be approved by the vetting committiee.
  • There is no limit on active members from any single publication/media outlet.
  • When an active member loses affiliation at a qualifying publication, his or her successor shall not be automatically granted membership but must apply to the group as a prospective new member.
  • Each member must watch and critque atleast 25 current feature length motion picture in twelve month period. This includes theatrical releases,new film screened at festivals and first run multi-platform release (such as DVD , streaming video or other format not yet developed). It does not include re-releases of older films or previous theatrical releases
  • Critquies must be distributed via a mass medium to the movie-going public(print,radio,television or internet).Social media post will not be accepted as reviews.However , reviewer who only review on youtube,will be considered on a case-to-case basis.
  • Active freelance status may be conferred upon members in good standing (whose contribution to film criticism exceeds 15+ years), at the sole discretion of the Indian Film Critic's' Association ("IFCA") Vetting Committee, members who have been separated from their media outlet/publication- either by termination of job or termination of publication- who remain professional film critic's, continuing to publish or post reviews of current movies on a regular, paying basis.
  • Only 1 review per film shall be counted. Think pieces, reprinted or syndicated reviews, with minor or no changes, shall not be considered separately.
  • Members are expected to keep track of their reviews, including movie titles, date and length. - Online outlets must have, at minimum, 5,000 unique visits per month and should have been active for at least a year to qualify for the Critic's association criteria.
  • Only critics residing and working in India qualify for membership.
  • Members shall not be currently working full-time or part-time for a production company or filmmaker, or be employed by a film production or filmmaking concern.
* Please note that membership to the Indian Film Critics' Association is at the discretion of the vetting committee.
* Membership shall be given in the name of one single person which shall be non-transferable. In the event of death of a member, the Vetting Committee shall have a sole right to take a decision on the application of his/her natural heir for transferring membership.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

  • - Members shall declare any conflict of interest (working with members of the film fraternity whose films one is reviewing, consulting on scripts, receiving payments for favourable reviews/social media posts etc.) to the managing committee as soon as the commitment happens.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall be personally liable for all acts and deeds.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not plagiarise material, defined as deliberately copying the work of others and claiming it as your own, with no attribution.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • -Members shall not steal goods or services from studio representatives, theatres or other IFCA members.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • -The objects of the IFCA are of prime importance. Members must bear in mind the object of IFCA and abide by the IFCA Bye Laws at all times.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not use their IFCA membership to demand special treatment (this includes demanding promotional items for personal use, demanding extra screening passes or demanding free passes to films that have already opened)

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not allow gifts or favors to influence the content of reviews.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not review films they have not seen.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not review films that they have walked out of or turned off without revealing that they did not see them in their entirety.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not review films in which they have a creative or financial interest.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • -Members shall not threaten or harass artists, studio representatives, theatre owners/employees or other IFCA members.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not falsify press credentials or professional associations.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • -Members shall not falsely claim to be an official representative of the IFCA.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not indulge in unauthorised recording of theatrical releases or indulge in practices such as posting "live-tweet reviews" while watching a film. Films must be reviewed in their entirety.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - All written reviews must be professionally edited and presented. Writers should check factual information for accuracy before printing or posting.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Member shall not indulge in unauthorised copying and/or sale of studio screeners, including (but not limited to) internet distribution.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • - Members shall not violate studio-imposed embargo on when reviews may be published, broadcast or posted.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

  • -If members are not allowed to see a film in time for review, they are not obligated to promote or publicise that film in any way.

    • AGREE DISAGREE

Members who have been previously employed - financially or as consultants- with a Filmmaking company/ Film festival(s)/Publishing house (working on biographies or film-related books) kindly share those details here:
I, the undersigned do hereby declare that all the information furnished above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. I further state that I have understood the terms of Membership and that I shall adhere and agree and undertake to observe and abide to the Ethical guidelines and the Bye-Laws set by the Indian Film Critics' Association. I understand that if the information provided by me is proven to be false, or if I flout any of the ethical guidelines, membership to the Association shall be terminated. I further agree that I shall make myself liable for such action as the Vetting Committee may take for any breach committed by me of any rules/guidelines of IFCA.

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