Shubhra Gupta is film critic and senior columnist with the Indian Express.
She watches world cinema for delectation, Hollywood for fun, and Bollywood for work. She has a huge capacity to sit through terrible Bollywood movies, but no patience at all with bad Hollywood. And world cinema has to be really cutting edge to grab her attention, and keep it. When she began reviewing, over 20 years ago, people would commiserate and say, “oh, you poor thing, you have to watch Hindi cinema”. But soon, Bollywood became cool, cool, cool. So now she hears this more often “oh my god, you watch Bollyood films, can you introduce me to Shah Rukh Khan”?
No, she can’t, sorry, though she can vouch for the fact that he is really sharp and good fun in conversation. But what she can do, and has done week after week, month after month, year after year, without a break, is to lead you into the magical world of movies, and share her experiences of watching all those hundreds of films over the years. In her reviews and columns, she lets you into what she likes, and doesn’t, and invites you to be bewitched. And to know how to choose between the good ones and the turkeys, and how you can take away something from even the really ghastly ones. Because life is a movie, isn’t it? Bahut picture baaki hain, mere dost.
Jayeshbhai Jordaar movie review: The intentions of this Ranveer Singh-Shalini Pandey film may have been noble, but it comes off as a babble of characters flailing about in a plot which makes you grit your teeth.
Modern Love Mumbai review: This city is perhaps India’s only true ‘mahanagar’. The anthology may not inspire the same awed-affection as the Maximum City, but each story does have something uniquely Mumbai about it.
Thar movie review: This is one of those films where the setting is the real hero-- the ‘marusthal’ (desert) stretching as far as the eye can see, crumbling forts, bare trees providing meagre shade, implacable, hard beauty.
Heropanti 2 review: This film has no plot. It’s basically a series of set pieces featuring Tiger Shroff prancing, romancing, and dancing, when he is not mowing down bunches of baddies.
Runway 34 movie review: Ajay Devgn manages to deliver a somewhat effective pre interval portion despite its inelegant, underlined bits; but the film plummets as the curse of second half hits.
Guilty Minds review: What’s most striking about this all-desi, hugely entertaining show is how real it feels despite the dollops of drama inherent in its stories.
Jersey movie review: Shahid Kapoor-Mrunal Thakur-starrer film, an official remake of the 2019 Telugu hit of the same name and by the same director, has all the elements of an inspirational sports drama.
London Files review: The six-episode ‘London Files’ sets up a brisk pace from the get-go. The rise of feeling against potential immigrants is a hot-button subject, and gives the series a sense of immediacy.
KGF Chapter 2 movie review: The trouble with films busy working on their look is that they forget about plotting. KGF 2 swings haphazardly between the past and the present.
Gullak Season 3 Review: While sometimes you can see the life lessons carving themselves out in broad brush-strokes, the sheer affection with which the characters play off each other wins you over.
Dasvi review: Abhishek Bachchan is a perfect match for the kind of character he is playing. It’s a pity that the material never quite knows whether it is an exaggerated parody or a sharp comedy with realistic overtones.
Drive My Car review: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour film, based on a Haruki Murakami’s short story, is a masterful examination of what it is to be human.
Attack movie review: We know exactly how things will pan out, no strain on the brain. Everything is straight-forward, no complicated characters, no morally ambiguous situations.
Sharmaji Namkeen movie review: Rishi Kapoor is truly namkeen in this film, showing us how it is done, light on his feet, light in his eyes, a will to live. Jeena isi ka naam hai.
RRR movie review: The film casts not just one super-star, but two of them – Jr NTR and Ram Charan. The biggest super-star among them all is SS Rajamouli and the audience also saved the loudest ‘taalis’ for him.
Bachchhan Paandey movie review: Nothing about this Akshay Kumar-Kriti Sanon film reaches the level of hilarity plus inspired lunacy of the original, Jigarthanda.
Bloody Brothers review: Bloody Brothers is an adaptation which never seems to be fully at ease with its setting and characters, who feel as if they have parachuted in for the shoot.
Jalsa movie review: Vidya Balan, Shefali Shah film has one of the most tightly-executed beginnings, which develops the odd bump as the plot progresses, until it reaches a cathartic end.
The Kashmir Files movie review: The film may not be interested in nuance but what stays with us are the flashes of genuine pain we see in the person of Pushkar Nath, played by Anupam Kher in a credible, moving turn.