The hits and misses of the week.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu saw a weak opening at the box office. Despite a marginal improvement over the weekend, the film remains below average.
Manto had a limited release, and fared poorly.
Ishqeria is a flop.
Vinod Mirani gives us his weekly verdict.
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma, Yami Gautam.
Director: Shree Narayan Singh.
What works: Divyendu Sharma.
What doesn't: Bad performances, weak script, too long.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Below average.
Manto
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Rasika Dugal, Rajshri Deshpande.
Director: Nandita Das.
What works: Good performances, well-directed.
What doesn't: Tough.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Ishqeria
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Richa Chadha.
Director: Prerna Wadhawan.
What works: Nothing!
What doesn't: Outdated story.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Manmarziyaan
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal, Taapsee Pannu.
Director: Anurag Kashyap.
What works: Good performances, well-directed.
What doesn't: An story idea.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Love Sonia
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Freida Pinto, Demi Moore, Mark Duplass, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Richa Chadda, Riya Sisodiya, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Sai Tamhankar, Sunny Pawar.
Director: Tabrez Noorani.
What works: Brilliantly acted; beautifully directed; unflinching portrayal of a dark reality.
What doesn't: Lags toward the end.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Mitron
Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Kritika Kamra, Pratik Gandhi.
Director: Nitin Kakkar.
What works: Kritika Kamra.
What doesn't: Jackky Bhagnani.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Laila Majnu
Cast: Avinash Tiwary, Tripti Dimri.
Director: Sajid Ali.
What works: Good music, breathtaking Kashmir.
What doesn't: The story is as old as the hills.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Gali Guleiyan
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Om Singh, Neeraj Kabi, Shahana Goswami.
Director: Dipesh Jain.
What works: Dipesh Jain's virtuosic control over film craft, his unique artistic sensibility, the performances he extracts.
What doesn't: Jain's worldview is rather cold, the basic message seems fashionable than perceptive.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Paltan
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Gurmeet Choudhary, Siddhant Kapoor, Rohit Roy, Harshvardhan Rane, Esha Gupta, Sonal Chauhan.
Director: J P Dutta.
What works: Tough!
What doesn't: J P Dutta's clownish treatment of history and hard-earned triumph, poorly shot combat scenes.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Stree
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee.
Director: Amar Kaushik.
What works: Abhishek Banerjee is good; some jokes hit the mark.
What doesn't: Most lines sound too self-aware; the messages seem force-fitted; lack of chemistry between actors.
Number of weeks: 3.
Box Office verdict: Hit.
