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.

September 12,2025 13:32:08 PM
Do You Wanna Partner review: In Tamannaah Bhatia, Diana Penty show, there’s not one idea or performance that can save it from going under, and staying there.
Fri, Sep 12, 2025
September 12,2025 10:56:31 AM
Jugnuma The Fable movie review: Manoj Bajpayee-starrer is at it most piercing when it is gentle. It weaves in the prosaic, the quotidian, with quiet strokes of magical realism.
Fri, Sep 12, 2025
September 09,2025 15:48:56 PM
Only Murders In The Building 5 review: Our favourite real crime podcasters who keep discovering dead people in their building are back with a new season, and they are in cracking form, as is the franchise.
Tue, Sep 09, 2025
September 08,2025 14:15:05 PM
Bad Girl movie review: Anjali Sivaraman’s Ramya is curious about her sexuality, all the while raging against the conservative elements which think boys sowing their wild oats is par for the course, but girls doing the same only bring 'shame' upon themselves.
Mon, Sep 08, 2025
September 05,2025 16:39:25 PM
The Bengal Files movie review: It is no one’s case that turbulent history shouldn’t be examined and interrogated cinematically: art is nothing if it doesn’t provoke or challenge, but it is not art if it incites or inflames.
Fri, Sep 05, 2025
September 05,2025 13:19:14 PM
Ufff Yeh Siyapaa movie review: What happened to Sohum Shah, the actor who left such an impact in The Ship Of Theseus and played the lead so assuredly in Tumbaad? Here his character, who gets major screen time, is just plain embarrassing.
Fri, Sep 26, 2025
September 05,2025 12:47:57 PM
Inspector Zende movie review: The attempt at a serio-comic tone in the Manoj Bajpayee-Jim Sarbh film falls flat with only an occasional leap or two, with the writing struggling to match the audacity of the criminal and the enterprise of his nemesis.
Fri, Sep 05, 2025
August 29,2025 15:44:37 PM
Songs of Paradise movie review: Saba Azad’s Noor Begum comes across as a young woman of the 50s, not an actor trying to do period, the costuming and the body-language feeling as if it could well have belonged to that era.
Fri, Aug 29, 2025
August 29,2025 13:42:26 PM
Param Sundari movie review: The limpid-eyed Janhvi Kapoor tries hard with the Malayali accent, calling attention to the effort, while the chiselled Sidharth Malhotra gets to flaunt his abs. The film, however, doesn't allow its lovers a chance to do any heavy breathing.
Wed, Sep 03, 2025
August 25,2025 17:30:14 PM
The Thursday Murder Club movie review: Despite a dizzying collection of stars -- Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie -- the Netflix film remains shallow and flat.
Mon, Aug 25, 2025
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


