The Critique

  Dir: Sharan Sharma Starring: Jhanvi Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Angad Bedi Dur : 1 hr 52 mins Genre: Biography Rating : 6.5/10 The film aims at depicting the tough life of India’s first lady Air Force pilot: Gunjan Saxena. Gunjan served in the Kargil War of 1999. She came from a family that had patriotic blood as her father was an Army officer. Her brother also subsequently joined the army. Gunjan, uncharacteristic of most Indian girls, dreamt of becoming a pilot from her childhood. She was very intelligent and wanted with all her being to fly a plane and rule the skies. The film flippantly portrays how a young Gunjan prepares herself to achieve her goal by wearing goggles all the time in order to protect her eyes. The film could have done without such silliness but it is tolerable. Besides the young actress playing young Gunjan is adorable. The film slightly exaggerates things in order to dramatize the story and while this adds to the drama it does not shed kind light o...

  Dir: Anu Menon Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra Dur : 2 hrs 7 mins Genre: Biography Rating : 9/10 I don’t know if you had heard about Shakuntala Devi. She is a national treasure. She was known as the ‘human computer’ and could calculate faster than the computer of those days! She travelled the world displaying her talent and in the bargain earned great fame and respect not only for herself but for the nation. She died in 2013. Her real story differs quite a bit from the film story but the essentials are depicted.   Shakuntala came from very humble beginnings but was blessed with prodigious math skill. Even without formal training she was able to compute in her head. Once discovered, her father nurtured her skill and used it to add to the family income by taking her to perform at shows and other events. To cut a long story short, Shakuntala goes on to become world-famous and even held a Guinneas World Record for mental arithmetic after successfully calculating ...

Created:  The Duffer Brothers Starring:  Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Matthew Modine, Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery, Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Sean Astin and Paul Reiser. Dur:  Each episode is about 50 mins. There are 8 episodes in this series. The finale is just over an hour. Genre:  Thriller PG:  A few kisses and foul language. It's been a year since Season 2 hit the screens and thrilled audiences everywhere. Season 3 comes back with what you might expect in a storyline that grows with its characters: a more mature story that grows with the characters. It's a bit unnerving to see the innocent kids of the first two season suddenly turn into beautiful teens with all the problems that ordinary teens have. Somehow you would want them to remain the innocent young ones that they were but that is not how life goes. Just like in Harry Potter you have to get...

Dir: Nitesh Tiwari Starring: Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Prateik Babbar, Tahir Bhasin, Naveen Polishetty, Tushar Pandey and Saharsh Shukla Dur : 2 hrs 23 mins Genre: Drama Rating : 6/10 PG: Foul language, drinking, smoking.   Chhichhore was the last film of Sushant released during his lifetime. Watching the film, I felt that he somehow missed the plot. The crux of the film is about not losing hope despite adversity and realizing that life is far more valuable than anything you can achieve. It’s ironic to me how a person who stars in a film that revolves around the theme of suicide can end up falling into the trap himself. I cannot bring myself to accept how someone who makes a powerful film to deter youngsters from giving up on life when faced with failure could end his own life. Anyway, coming back to the film. It is a lovely coming-of-age story that centres around the character of Aniruddh (Anni) played by Sushant who retells the story o...