
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
Superboys of Malegaon (3)
The Brutalist (1)
Ek Badnaam Aashram (1)
Aghathiyaa (1)
Suzhal: The Vortex S02 (1)
Dabba Cartel (2)
Crazxy (1)
Page 14 of 97
Superboys of Malegaon
Keyur Seta
(for The Common Man Speaks)
Bollywood Hungama

Heartwarming ode to cinema and friendship
Malegaon, a small little town in Maharashtra, has its own little film industry. It all began after the mid-1990s when local artistes over there started making parodies of iconic Hindi films. These films were made in minimal costs and with whatever resources available. Some examples of these include Malegaon Ke Sholay, Malegaon Ki Shaan, etc. Filmmaker Reema Kagti’s Superboys Of Malegaon is a fictionalized tale of Nasir Sheikh and his friends who started the crazy film industry in Malegaon. Starting off in 1997, the film tells the story of Nasir (Adarsh Gourav), who runs a video parlour in Malegaon. He struggles to attract audiences as he screens international films. The parlour opposite to theirs is doing well as it screens mainstream Hindi films. Nasir, one fine day, learns the trick of editing and starts compiling action sequences from different films and releases them as a single film.
All 14 reviews of Superboys of Malegaon here
The Brutalist
Manoj Kumar
(for Deccan Herald)
Independent Film Critic

Hypnotic tale of art, power, and betrayal
For those untouched by the war’s direct traumas, these brutalist buildings might feel cold and uninviting, even ugly. But for those who have endured the dehumanising horrors of war, they represent something deeply intimate.
If you saw the poster for The Brutalist, featuring Adrien Brody squinting his eyes, staring straight at you in a low-angle shot, cigarette in mouth, with streaks of fire flying across, you might take him for an Italian-American gangster. Especially since The Brutalist sounds like the perfect title for a gangster flick, set in late 1950s America, adding to its vibe as the ultimate land of freedom and wild wealth. But The Brutalist isn’t that. It’s about architecture — big, heavy, concrete-and-steel stuff. These imposing structures mirror the post-World War II psyche. For those untouched by the war’s direct traumas, these brutalist buildings might feel cold and uninviting, even ugly. But for those who have endured the dehumanising horrors of war, they represent something deeply intimate.
All 2 reviews of The Brutalist here
Superboys of Malegaon
Tatsam Mukherjee
The Wire

Brings Back the Wide-eyed Wonder to Hindi Films
Reema Kagti’s film is not without its faults, but the acting and writing lift it.
In one of my most favourite scenes from Faiza Ahmad Khan’s Supermen of Malegaon (2008), the protagonist Nasir is having a verbal duel with brother Nadeem, who wants to follow his foot-steps and make a career out of making amateur films in Malegaon. After making Malegaon Ke Sholay – a parody of the iconic 1975 film – Nasir became a local celebrity. Nadeem is showing his parody of Tere Naam (2003) to the camera, when Nasir rebukes him for wanting to pursue it as a career. It’s a fascinating divide Khan captures in her documentary, where one brother is seduced by the magic of cinema, while the other seems blinded by its glamour and fame. For someone so close to the dream machine, it’s incredible how Nasir is able to suss out the lies in the oft-romanticised maxims: ‘Follow your passion,’ or ‘Conquer your dreams’. He tells Khan how filmmaking has to be a hobby. There are no returns here, and one can’t run a household on it. “Main khud phaste jaara ismein (I, myself, am getting trapped in this).”
All 14 reviews of Superboys of Malegaon here
Ek Badnaam Aashram
Nonika Singh
The Tribune, Hollywood Reporter India

Baba black sheep, and more of the same
Ever since ‘Aashram’ dropped in 2020, both the director, Prakash Jha, and Bobby Deol, who plays the devious Baba Nirala, captured our imagination. Indeed, the perils of a successful show are that it often gets extended into many seasons, elongated and stretched way beyond the story actually calls for or deserves. Thus, the powerful and impactful show about the nexus between fake gurus, politics and power did get diluted in between as it offered more of the same in the intervening seasons. But, as ‘Season 3 Part Two’ drops, our worst fears that it will continue to go round in circles are given a slight reprieve. Sure enough, his victim, Pammi (Aaditi Pohankar), who is on the run, manages to nail the Baba. But before you can even heave a sigh of relief, he and Bhupa (Chandan Roy Sanyal), his irascible deputy, once again outwit her and have her jailed instead.
Superboys of Malegaon
Nonika Singh
The Tribune, Hollywood Reporter India

Superb, from the boys of Malegaon
Nothing is more heartwarming than aspirational stories of underdogs. Only, Reema Kagti’s cinematic recreation of small-town filmmaker Nasir Shaikh’s life is more than just a tale of a man dreaming the unthinkable, and realising it. As she takes us to Malegaon and right into the heart and soul of these dreamers, it is at one level an ode to friendship, at another about the magic of filmmaking. More importantly, it reimagines how dreams can take flight, not on the wings of hardcore ambition but an emotion far more beautiful and deeper than that. Though an extended disclaimer does not vouch for the complete veracity of the story, the fact that Nasir is very much alive and part of making of the film as well as the promotions implies that the story is rooted in his reality. Yes, there is a possibility that the narrative could have been buttressed to make his story look even better than what it actually might be. Nevertheless, at no point does it sound exaggerated or artificial. Consistently, it remains an interesting and inspirational tale of Nasir (Adarsh Gourav), who runs a video parlour, and intercuts pirated videos of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee to create some original mishmash. A police raid sets him on the path of ‘original’ filmmaking.
All 14 reviews of Superboys of Malegaon here
Aghathiyaa
Kirubhakar Purushothaman
News 18

Jivaa And Raashii Khanna’s Film Is A Grand But Confusing Tale With Perilous Ideas
Jiiva’s Aghathiyaa, which marks the debut of lyricist Pa Vijay as director, neither is clear about its genre nor about the ideology it wants to purport.
Abrodolph Lincoler is one of the outrageously funny characters in the American animated series Rick And Morty’s hit episode Ricksy Business. He is a genetically engineered clone with the DNAs of Adolf Hitler and Abraham Lincoln. He is an experiment gone wrong. The idea was to create a more neutral ideological leader, but in reality, he ended up becoming a person with disoriented ideas. Sample one of his lines: “Prepared to be emancipated from your own inferior genes." He is a diabolical cocktail of ideas. Watching Aghathiyaa reminded me of this character as the film’s ideology is as confusing as Lincoler. On one hand, the film, directed by lyricist Pa Vijay, has Dravidian newspapers Kudiyarasu and Viduthalai as some product placements throughout, and at the same time, it is a propaganda film about Siddha medicine that would make Periyar turn in his grave.
Suzhal: The Vortex S02
Aditya Shrikrishna
(for OTT Play)
Independent Film Critic

Tightens Its Grip, But Loosens Its Edge
Suzhal S2 amps up the intrigue with a gripping crime, a tighter plot, and compelling leads. But its tendency to over-explain and sidestep political sharpness holds it back from true excellence.
At least two Tamil films that released in 1988 get a namedrop in the second season of Suzhal: The Vortex. They are Senthoora Poove and Agni Natchathiram. One is about a dying man who makes it his mission to save two young star-crossed lovers, which is a throwback to season one of Suzhal that unfolds around the death of one such pair. The second film is about parents and children, warts and all, which points to a theme in Suzhal’s second season— about father and mother figures, and their adopted sons and daughters. At the centre is the father, pointedly named Chellappa (Lal), a criminal lawyer known for his righteousness and sincerity, a darling of victims and survivors. There is also a mother with a fleeting appearance but otherworldly deeds and influence. It is a curious thing, those namedrops—one vaguely referring to a dance troupe named Senthoora Poove and the other directly invoking Mani Ratnam’s Agni Natchathiram and its unforgettable climax of strobe lights waltz. Later, the series invokes another 1988 Tamil film title.
All 4 reviews of Suzhal: The Vortex S02 here
Dabba Cartel
Bharathi Pradhan
Lehren.com

Godmother’s Gang
Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment is back with a fresh web series & we hope the leading ladies will excel here with their tremendous performances!
It’s a motley bunch of characters. Hari (Bhupendra Jadawat) wants a posting in Germany. Wife Raji (Shalini Pandey) and he pretty much talk of Germany more than anything else. Hari’s mother, the Gujarati saree-clad Ba (Shabana Azmi) is more the onlooker than a participant. Only the book she’s reading ‘Poisonous Shadow’ is at odds with who she seems to be. Ravi’s harried boss Shankar (Jisshu Sengupta) makes a stylish, upper crust couple with wife Varuna (Jyothika). Her ambitious garment venture ‘Sitara’ is fashionably losing money. She does seem the nose-in-the-air rich man’s wife living it up on husband’s funds. Shankar and Ravi are a part of the Viva Life building and company, a pharma company that’s been dodgy with a now-banned product called Modella.
All 6 reviews of Dabba Cartel here
Crazxy
Rahul Desai
The Hollywood Reporter India

Sohum Shah Leads a Crafty One-Character Thriller
The Girish Kohli-directed film is pulpy, attentive and nicely performed.
When a thriller opens with a long single-take shot, it’s a signal of intent. For a film called Crazxy — the spelling can be triggering until you realise it has something to do with an extra chromosome — this signal is very necessary. The shot starts on an ‘Ethical Dilemma of Surgery’ book, snakes across the posh apartment and follows its inhabitant, Abhimanyu Sood (Sohum Shah), as he leaves with a bag of cash to his garage. Jesper Kyd’s music is a hybrid of an Ennio Morricone spaghetti-western score and an ‘80s Bachchan potboiler. Within the next five minutes, we learn that this hassled man is a doctor, the amount of money is five crores, it’s April Fool’s Day, his angry boss is waiting at the hospital, and Abhimanyu has Haryanvi driving genes (he takes on a rowdy Gurgaon biker to return a middle finger). It’s clear that Crazxy means business. It’s also clear that Crazxy is better than its title.
All 8 reviews of Crazxy here
Dabba Cartel
Sukanya Verma
rediff.com

High Five!
Dabba Cartel’s reluctant black comedy in the body of a crime thriller starts out interestingly enough to accomplish its Narcos: Thane aspirations
Renowned American jeweller Harry Winston once sent a precious diamond in an ordinary brown package by registered mail as he felt the less attention it draws, the more secure its delivery. Watching the women of Dabba Cartel casually supply dope all across the city of Mumbai as part of their tiffin courier service has a similar aplomb to it. In a shrewd but simple touch, there’s a bindi to tell regular lunch boxes from the suspect ones and avoid the chance of mix-up. Using everyday domestic imagery to camouflage an illegal enterprise is their masterstroke move but more than the trick, its the compulsions and challenges driving each of these five women that gives Dabba Cartel its spunk to a certain degree.