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.

March 01,2025 11:53:55 AM
Win Wenders talks about his experience in India, missing the Berlinale and his thoughts on AI in filmmaking.
Sat, Mar 01, 2025
February 28,2025 15:29:17 PM
Dabba Cartel review: Some of the goings-on amongst this gang, despite its not-so-believable-bits, and forced gangsta moves, are enjoyable, with a few genuinely frightening moments bunged in.
Fri, Feb 28, 2025
February 28,2025 13:00:13 PM
Crazxy review: The absence of other actors – their presence reduced to their voices--is a problem too, leaving Sohum Shah to gamely handle the screen practically single-handed, which makes it even more of a stretch.
Fri, Feb 28, 2025
February 28,2025 11:31:43 AM
Suzhal Season 2 review: The high point, like in the first season, is the ensemble cast, each bringing their character to vivid life.
Fri, Feb 28, 2025
February 27,2025 16:21:31 PM
Superboys of Malegaon movie review: The film brings Muslim characters back on our radar, breaking away from the tropes of evil terrorists and subservient sidekicks, and giving us those who own the story and drive the narrative.
Thu, Feb 27, 2025
February 22,2025 16:19:15 PM
Kani Kusruti on why she is a reluctant actor, her love for science and why she would be happy working in palliative care.
Sun, Feb 23, 2025
February 21,2025 14:19:37 PM
Mere Husband Ki Biwi movie review: This is the kind of film that tells you why Bollywood is where it is. You take your stars -- Arjun Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar and Rakul Preet Singh -- and then stuff the film with a supporting cast that works as a buffering collection of one-liners.
Fri, Feb 21, 2025
February 21,2025 09:44:55 AM
Reacher Season 3 review: The workman-like handling of the story makes everything so pedestrian that I nearly zoned out in the first couple of episodes.
Fri, Feb 21, 2025
February 14,2025 12:52:57 PM
Dhoom Dhaam movie review: If you married Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin with a zillion iterations of the odd-couple and lovers-on-the-run and heist movies, you would get Yami Gautam-Pratik Gandhi film.
Fri, Feb 14, 2025
February 14,2025 10:49:04 AM
Chhaava movie review: The torture porn in the climax of Vicky Kaushal's film reminds you of the systematic flaying of Jesus in ‘The Passion of Christ’.
Fri, Feb 14, 2025
February 07,2025 14:40:04 PM
Bada Naam Karenge review: Watching the new show run by Sooraj Barjatya is a conflicting business as it makes you wonder whether brief interlude of youthful freedom that keeps rearing its head every decade or so is an illusion.
Fri, Feb 07, 2025
February 07,2025 12:18:06 PM
The Mehta Boys movie review: The theme of the film has a familiar predictive tilt, but what lifts the film are the little spurts of unpredictability built into the script of Boman Irani’s directorial debut.
Fri, Feb 07, 2025
February 07,2025 10:09:12 AM
Loveyapa movie review: Director Advait Chandan shows courage in showing that both the ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ have secrets buried in their phones: she has exes, and is a convincing liar; he has ex-exes.
Fri, Feb 07, 2025
February 07,2025 09:24:22 AM
Mrs movie review: For those who haven’t watched the Malayalam original, this Sanya Malhotra-starrer has enough merit. This is just the kind of film, with a clutch of effective performances and important messaging, which should be made mandatory viewing for couples.
Fri, Feb 07, 2025
January 31,2025 14:15:42 PM
Deva movie review: There are at least a couple of instances when Shahid Kapoor does come alive, reminding us of the actor that he can be. Both are scenes in which he allows his character to be vulnerable.
Fri, Jan 31, 2025
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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025
January 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, 2025



