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.
January 31,2025 13:58:22 PM
The Storyteller movie review: Even though the casting of the Gujju-in-real-life Paresh Rawal as the intellectual Bengali, and Adil Hussain as the sheep-counting-to-no-avail businessman, feels counter-intuitive, the actors are consummate enough to carry it off.
Fri, Jan 31, 2025January 27,2025 10:48:50 AM
Sabar Bonda movie review: Self-taught filmmaker Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s debut feature, and the first Marathi film chosen to screen at the Sundance Film Festival, is warm and piercing.
Fri, Jan 31, 2025January 25,2025 10:10:00 AM
Actor Adil Hussain speaks to Shubhra Gupta on cinema in a pre-digital world, democratisation of filmmaking and why this is the best time for actors
Sun, Jan 26, 2025January 24,2025 10:21:47 AM
Hisaab Barabar movie review: R Madhavan looks older than he should for his role, but he is never unwatchable.
Fri, Jan 24, 2025January 24,2025 10:03:55 AM
Ramayana The Legend Of Prince Rama movie review: The advantage of animation is that it obviates the need to balance the tricky connections between real-life actors and their epic counter-parts in a revered-down-the-ages text.
Fri, Jan 24, 2025January 24,2025 09:38:27 AM
Sky Force Movie Review and Rating: Sky Force, coasting on the same elements as Fighter, except this one is a thinly-disguised account of a real life incident during the 1965 Indo-Pak conflict.
Fri, Jan 24, 2025January 17,2025 14:34:41 PM
The Roshans review: As this is like an authorised biography, you will find only fulsome praise of Roshans. You wonder what the show -- brimming with talking heads and snippets -- would have been like if other points of view were included
Fri, Jan 17, 2025January 17,2025 14:34:03 PM
Azaad movie review: Why are such films still being made in 2025? And is Abhishek Kapoor, who made the terrific ‘Kai Po Che’ and ‘Rock On’, really the director of this mothballed exercise?
Fri, Jan 17, 2025January 17,2025 11:57:16 AM
Emergency movie review: In a preposterous sequence, Manekshaw, Indira and the members of the Parliament join in a song. Not even Kangana Ranaut’s undoubted competence as an actor can save it.
Sat, Jan 18, 2025January 17,2025 08:56:29 AM
Paatal Lok 2 review: The show is sharper and better as it returns after 5 years, sticking to its combination of a police procedural, the inner lives of its denizens, and compulsions of the outer world.
Fri, Jan 17, 2025January 10,2025 15:37:44 PM
Fateh movie review: Your tipping point in Sonu Sood's debut as a director depends upon how much sickening, relentless violence you can handle. After that, it all becomes an empty, exhausting blur.
Fri, Jan 10, 2025January 10,2025 13:30:58 PM
Black Warrant review: This Vikramaditya Motwane series goes the full yard in attempting to unpack the intricate power structure and showcasing caste-and-religious hierarchies in rough-tough Tihar Jail.
Fri, Jan 10, 2025January 03,2025 16:09:50 PM
Parama A Journey With Aparna Sen review: We don’t get to see how Aparna Sen with her strong feminist gaze was positioned in Bengali cinema, and the impact that her work made on younger filmmakers.
Fri, Jan 03, 2025December 30,2024 18:28:15 PM
Shubhra Gupta compiles the list of performances, sequences and scenes in Hindi cinema that made 2024 a little bit better.
Tue, Dec 31, 2024December 29,2024 17:05:35 PM
Most of the performances belong to Malayalam films, which were again right on top of the movie totem pole. Two are from Tamil films, which use stars to tell powerful, sensitive tales. And one is from the Telugu film which has blown all existing box-office records to smithereens.
Sun, Dec 29, 2024December 27,2024 12:23:30 PM
Doctors review: It takes a couple of episodes for the ten-part show to get into the groove, which gives us an insider’s look at medical practitioners.
Mon, Dec 30, 2024December 25,2024 08:58:50 AM
Baby John Movie Review and Rating: The trouble with this Atlee production, a remake of Vijay’s 2016 hit Theri, with which Varun Dhawan gets his big fat South masala film, is that very little sticks.
Thu, Dec 26, 2024December 23,2024 22:11:04 PM
Shyam Benegal brought the advertising man’s gift of being economical yet impactful into his story-telling, which broke away from the loud, saccharine melodramas. He gave us a whole other universe, not just in terms of themes but also actors
Tue, Dec 24, 2024December 19,2024 09:36:50 AM
Girls Will Be Girls movie review: The three lead players carry the film -- Kesav Binoy Kiron adds the right dollop of barely-there smarm to his charm. When Panigrahi and Kusruti, are facing off, you can’t take your eyes off either.
Thu, Dec 19, 2024December 18,2024 17:32:19 PM
From Panchayat 3 and Gullak 4 to IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack, Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein 2, Shubhra Gupta shares her list of some of top shows of 2024, and also some chosen for consistency of solid story-telling, or breaking new ground.
Tue, Dec 31, 2024December 14,2024 12:22:06 PM
Raj Kapoor was and stays Hindi cinema's Greatest Showman, as actor, producer, filmmaker.
Mon, Dec 16, 2024December 13,2024 16:05:08 PM
In the year that gave us Pushpa 2 and Maidaan, Stree 2 and Bade Miyan Chote Miyaan, Shubhra Gupta lists the best and worst films of 2024.
Sat, Dec 28, 2024December 13,2024 10:51:59 AM
Bandish Bandits Season 2 review: Each actor contributes to the show, and the leads are excellent. Some really good music comes up through these plot devices which makes us stay.
Fri, Dec 13, 2024December 13,2024 10:32:32 AM
Despatch movie review: The film never cements its pieces together enough to create a coherent picture. Its telling feels disjointed, and its characters come and go, leaving us in limbo.
Fri, Dec 13, 2024December 06,2024 09:50:21 AM
Agni movie review: Rahul Dholakia's film honours the commitment that heroic firefighters have to their jobs, even as they rail against ‘the system’ which doesn’t give them the support they need.
Fri, Dec 06, 2024