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.

August 14,2025 19:20:20 PM
Tehran film review: What John Abraham, whose impassivity helps his character feel as real as it can when done with reel-drama, manages to pull off here is noteworthy.
Fri, Aug 15, 2025
August 14,2025 17:37:41 PM
Andhera review: Andhera, starring Priya Bapat, Karanvir Malhotra, Prajakta Koli, Pravin Dabas, Surveen Chawla, among others, should come with a tagline: suspend all disbelief, all ye enter this supernatural-horror territory.
Thu, Aug 14, 2025
August 14,2025 13:44:46 PM
War 2 Movie Review & Rating: Hrithik Roshan's spy Kabir gets an impossible task in the latest spy universe film -- to keep us glued to the screen. Jr NTR seems to be missing his fizzy RRR co-star Ram Charan while Kiara Advani is missing an actual fleshed-out role.
Wed, Sep 03, 2025
August 13,2025 14:20:36 PM
Saare Jahan Se Accha review: Netflix's new show, Saare Jahaan Se Acch,a is created by Gaurav Shukla, directed by Sumit Purohit, and stars Pratik Gandhi. But it's Sunny Hinduja and Suhail Nayyar who walk away with the best moments.
Wed, Aug 13, 2025
August 13,2025 10:46:12 AM
Court Kacheri review: Pavan Malhotra is as dependable as ever in the latest TVF offering.
Fri, Aug 15, 2025
August 08,2025 19:55:10 PM
Weapons movie review & rating: After a point, though, it all starts feeling empty: monsters without motives are no longer interesting, and the big reveal takes away the much-needed suspense.
Fri, Aug 08, 2025
August 08,2025 19:20:41 PM
Salakaar review: The only actors who rise above this series is Naveen Kasturia and Mukesh Rishi. Both deserve better.
Fri, Aug 08, 2025
August 08,2025 17:01:05 PM
Freakier Friday Movie Review & Rating: Confusion gets seriously confounded when the swap this time is split four ways, with the foursome becoming recipients of each other’s bodies.
Fri, Aug 08, 2025
August 08,2025 09:31:52 AM
Sorry, Baby movie review: What is remarkable about Eva Victor’s Sundance breakout, a taut 104 minutes, is the way it refuses to position its protagonist as a classic victim, even though there’s enough reason for it.
Fri, Aug 08, 2025
August 02,2025 15:11:56 PM
This isn’t just a career milestone — it’s a moment of cultural and political convergence. What the award feels most like is a reflection of both the state and the actor having found a pragmatic middle ground, the former perhaps using this as a gesture of conciliation, and the latter accepting with grace
Tue, Aug 05, 2025
August 01,2025 15:57:14 PM
Bakaiti review: Both the actors who play the teenagers come into their own towards the end, with Rajesh Tailang and Sheeba Chadha holding the fort, building on the comfort they have created as a pair in Bandish Bandits.
Fri, Aug 01, 2025
August 01,2025 13:39:28 PM
Son Of Sardaar 2 movie review: Ajay Devgn leads this enterprise which wants to be a laugh-a-minute, madcap caper, but keeps slackening? Pair your hero with an age-appropriate leading lady, and give him a few chuckle-worthy lines. Can't be that hard, can it?
Fri, Aug 01, 2025
August 01,2025 10:10:28 AM
Dhadak 2 movie review: Sidhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri star in a film which is clearly on the right side of many of the hot button issues we need to be pressing: casteism, classism, feminism, gender identities.
Fri, Aug 01, 2025
July 25,2025 16:39:02 PM
Mandala Murders review: Buying into mandalas and occult and 'dayans' is hard enough. It is harder still if the plot points are left loose. If there is another season of this Vaani Kapoor-Surveen Chawla show, maybe keep it shorter, and crisper?
Fri, Jul 25, 2025
July 25,2025 15:12:03 PM
Mahavatar Narsimha movie review: No surprises that this latest version, from Hombale Productions’ (KGF, Kantara) goes big: everything is scaled up massively, castles, mountains, skies, the rakshasas and their weapons.
Fri, Jul 25, 2025
July 25,2025 13:08:07 PM
Rangeen movie review: Still waiting for the definitive desi show which will engage with full-blown lust without hedging its bets with caution and surrounding it with superfluous bits and pieces.
Fri, Jul 25, 2025
July 25,2025 09:21:47 AM
Sarzameen movie review: Prithviraj is capable of ratcheting emotion, as is Kajol. And Ibrahim, playing a boy cruelly bullied for an impairment who grows into a young man on the opposite side of the loyalty divide.
Fri, Jul 25, 2025
July 19,2025 09:51:25 AM
Special Ops 2 review: Given its length, there definitely are spots where things slacken, but on the whole, this buzzy spy-saga stays mostly on-point, always entertaining
Mon, Jul 21, 2025
July 18,2025 15:43:04 PM
Tanvi The Great movie review: Anupam Kher, who returns to direction after more than twenty years, adopts a fuss-free approach and a welcome restraint.
Fri, Jul 18, 2025
July 18,2025 14:28:03 PM
Saiyaara movie review: What could have been a bitter-sweet love story, and that’s what the Mohit Suri film is clearly going for, is done in by its dialogue-heavy, inconsistent bits.
Fri, Jul 18, 2025
July 11,2025 20:17:31 PM
Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan movie review: Vikrant Massey and Shanaya Kapoor-starrer Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan had the potential to turn into a passable rom-com, but how do you make a movie out of a writing morass?
Fri, Jul 11, 2025
July 11,2025 15:35:44 PM
Maalik movie review: Rajkummar Rao goes all out doing the mobster thing, hefting machine guns and goons, killing and rampaging with impunity in the Illahabad (Allahabad) of the late 80s-90s.
Fri, Jul 11, 2025
July 11,2025 12:30:19 PM
Aap Jaisa Koi movie review: It’s great that Bollywood can now give us a hero who is forty-plus, and whose insecurities around women feel real. But this gives way to staged confrontations-and-resolutions, lending the movie a faintly mothballed air.
Fri, Jul 11, 2025
July 04,2025 14:41:03 PM
The Hunt - The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case review: Amit Sial-Sahil Vaid show is a welcome addition to shows looking back at recent times, which attempt to pin-point historical and political flashpoints in India with archival documentary footage.
Fri, Jul 04, 2025
July 04,2025 09:49:13 AM
Kaalidhar Laapata movie review: Child actor Daivik, a wide smile lighting up his face, is a natural. He settles into a rhythm which makes their journey somewhat palatable: it is Abhishek Bachchan who struggles to match up.
Fri, Jul 04, 2025



