The Long Take

Inspector Zende , the new spoof movie starring Manoj Bajpayee and Jim Sarbh, succeeds as a concept but fails in execution. What could’ve been a homegrown homage to The Naked Gun comes across as a first draft in need of clever rewrites. While Bajpayee is going full ham in the central role, matching the movie’s energy, Sarbh seems to have been told to tone it down. The result is a tonally uneven rid...

Songs of Paradise is like a 1950s movie that has time-traveled to the present day. We discuss the film’s old-fashioned narrative and undemanding themes, the chasm of quality between Saba Azad and Sheeba Chaddha’s performances, and the limited ambition of writer-director Danish Renzu. Songs of Paradise could’ve worked as a metaphor for post-Independence Kashmir, but instead, it’s like a bedtime sto...

In the Tamil-language film Maareesan , the plot twist comes not at the end, but midway through.  We talk about the sudden change in tone, and how the film handles it. We also discuss Fahadh Faasil’s comedic performance, and wonder why the film is presented through the perspective of his character. But mainly, we talk about the film’s shady morality, which seems to champion extrajudicial killings i...

Tehran —the new John Abraham political action thriller—literally cannot identify the country of Georgia on the map. The movie also goes out of its way to make its protagonist an apolitical man who somehow annoys the governments of three nations, including his own. We discuss the film’s muddled messaging, its bizarre third act, and the arrogance with which it thinks it can get away with claiming Sc...

Sitaare Zameen Par —marketed as the spiritual sequel to Aamir Khan’s 2007 hit  Taare Zameen Par —is a shoddily made, preachy, borderline insensitive film with a noble mission. However, just because it aims to raise awareness about an admirable cause doesn’t excuse its cringeworthy tone, Khan and Genelia Deshmukh’s subpar performances, and its casual othering of the neurodivergent community. We dis...

Is Dharma trying to actively sabotage Ibrahim Ali Khan’s career? After the unwatchable Nadaaniyan , the studio has released the equally inept Sarzameen , a feature-length debut for director Kayoze Irani. We discuss the film’s unintelligent characters and confusing narrative, and wonder if most of it was left on the cutting room floor. We also talk about some of its more harebrained twists and the...

The Malayalam-language sports comedy film Alappuzha Gymkhana has no stakes, no villain, and no classic structure. This could either have been a bold decision or an act of self-sabotage. It’s somewhere in the middle. We talk about the film’s underdeveloped characters, its over-reliance on flashy camerawork, and its overlong second half. We also discuss its cultural specificity, its zero-stakes narr...

After producing two movies about a hyper-masculine cop who literally lynches people, Nikkhil Advani has attached himself as an executive producer to Stolen , the new survival thriller on Prime Video. In addition to Advani, the movie needed the support of heavy hitters such as Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, and Vikramaditya Motwane in order to get a release after a festival run that began in 2023. Fort...

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may or may not be Tom Cruise’s final time playing IMF agent Ethan Hunt, but the movie is certainly not worthy of taking on sendoff responsibilities. We discuss its two standout action set pieces, convoluted plot, and how it compares to its predecessor, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning . We also talk about Cruise’s portrayal as a mythic god and the movi...

No diplomacy takes place in the new John Abraham film The Diplomat , which is now streaming on Netflix after a theatrical run earlier this year. While Abraham doesn’t throw any punches in the film, The Diplomat is hardly a toned-down drama for adults. We discuss the film’s odd narrative choices, unnecessary non-linear writing, and the absolute miscasting of Abraham. We also talk about the film’s p...

Weeks after Nadaaniyan that starred his son, Saif Ali Khan’s Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins —inexplicably—further lowers the bar for Netflix India.  We struggle to talk meaningfully about the heist movie and instead find ourselves discussing Netflix’s terrible track record in India. We wonder why an actor of Jaideep Ahlawat’s talent would put himself through this, and eventually get around to pokin...

The United Nations should probably intervene and impose sanctions on streamers for wasting over $300 million on movies like  The Electric State . Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo—the guys behind  Avengers: Endgame  and  Infinity War —the film somehow lowers the bar for them even further, after the one-two punch of  The Gray Man  and  Citadel . It’s remarkable how little spark Chris Pratt and Mill...

In Superboys of Malegaon , director Reema Kagti unites three talented male actors in an inspiring story about ambition and friendship. But was she the ideal person for the job? We discuss the film’s sanitised storytelling, its formulaic narrative, and writer Varun Grover seemingly playing it safe. We also talk about the abundance of characters and the visible difficulty that Kagti has in fleshing...

Is Mrs. , the Hindi-language remake of the acclaimed Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen , a better exploration of the same ideas? We discuss the ways in which Mrs. improves upon the original and the ways in which it falls short. We also praise Sanya Malhotra’s central performance and highlight the flourishes that director Arati Kadav brings to her version. But the film’s ending—as with the or...

Ahead of the Oscar nominations, we discuss one of the most acclaimed films of 2024, writer-director Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light . We talk about the film’s bittersweet exploration of urban loneliness and the migrant experience, its depiction of Mumbai, and Kapadia’s command over tone. We also talk about the bold mid-movie pivot and how it affects the narrative. Later, we discuss the fil...

Jigra , the new film by Vasan Bala, combines his trademark cine-literate sensibilities with mainstream Bollywood tropes. The odd combination makes for an interesting discourse about the film’s broad sentimentality, its genre credentials, and storytelling that is both contrived and confident. We discuss Bala’s balancing act and whether it works. Along the way, we talk about Alia Bhatt’s strong cent...

Deadpool & Wolverine , the only Marvel Cinematic Universe movie this year, levels up in terms of budget but isn't bothered about evolving emotionally. We discuss the film’s relentless humour, the ugly CGI, and the confusingly complicated plot. There’s time for self-reference, but not for self-reflection in the Deadpool films, as Ryan Reynolds continues to overwhelm every aspect of them. We als...

Stree 2 is an overlong, unfunny, and ultimately unnecessary sequel that has no idea how to deliver scares or laughs. Every scene in the film goes on for too long, the jokes are repeated to the point of redundancy, and some of the diversions are baffling to behold. Why is Akshay Kumar in this? How old is Tamannaah Bhatia’s character? Why are there no rules to this universe? We discuss the film’s fl...

Vikramaditya Motwane’s fascination with genre cinema continues. But his latest film, CTRL , isn't exactly going to win him any new fans. We discuss the film’s mess of a script, which tries to cram in way too many ideas than it needed to. We also talk about its elaborate conspiracy thriller section and its melancholic third act. Along the way, we praise Ananya Panday for bringing nuance to a string...

Kottukkaali , writer-director P.S. Vinothraj’s follow-up to the acclaimed Koozhangal , divided us down the middle. We speak about the techniques Vinothraj uses to tell an ever-evolving, odyssey-like story about a group of people accompanying a young woman to her exorcism. We discuss the brief bursts of horror and comedy and talk about the larger points that Vinothraj is trying to make about a deep...

Sector 36 is a gratuitously grisly dramatisation of the gruesome Nithari serial murders from around two decades ago. But because it unfolds with zero nuance, the movie mines cheap thrills out of a real-life horror story. We talk about the strange arcs that Vikrant Massey and Deepak Dobriyal’s characters have been given, the haphazard narrative structure, and seemingly missing sequences that could’...

Kill  might be one of the rare movies that actually benefit from a remake—that’s how royally it fumbles both its action and revenge plot. We discuss the film’s indecipherable approach to close combat, the lead actor Lakshya’s wooden performance, and the lack of inventiveness in the story. We also talk about the unearned  John Wick  and  The Raid  comparisons, and wonder why international audiences...

The year’s biggest Indian hit, Kalki 2898 AD , is just as irredeemable as Prabhas’ other recent films. But unlike those movies, this one barely features Prabhas at all and drags on for three hours without offering a single character you can latch on to. We talk about the film’s poor construction, subpar world-building, and superficial writing. We also discuss its shameless sequel-bait of a climax...

Angry Young Men , the three-part documentary about writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar’s partnership, is a massive missed opportunity. We discuss the show’s cagey approach to its legendary subjects, the overwhelming feeling of self-satisfaction, and the unearned points it tries to score for highlighting the plight of writers in the film business. We also discuss the superficial filmmaking, the lac...

Chandu Champion finds director Kabir Khan returning to 83 territory, for better or worse. We talk about the film’s shoddy storytelling structure, its complete lack of interest in developing its protagonist, and its over-reliance on crutches like music and contrivances. We also discuss Khan’s tendency to underestimate his audiences’ intellect and his inherent insecurity about his subject’s genuine ...