The hits and misses of the week.
Shaad Ali's Soorma gets good reviews, but remains below average at the box office.
Vinod Mirani gives us his weekly verdict.
Soorma
Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Tapsee Pannu, Angad Bedi.
Director: Shaad Ali.
What works: Good performances.
What doesn't: Second half wallows in heartbreak and pity.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Below average.
Sanju
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Vicky Kaushal, Manisha Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Jim Sarbh.
Director: Rajkumar Hirani.
What works: Ranbir Kapoor is brilliant, the rest of the cast lends good support.
What doesn't: Predictable story, omits large parts of Sanjay Dutt's life, paints it rosy.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Hit.
Race 3
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem, Freddy Daruwala.
Director: Remo D'Souza.
What works: Good action sequences.
What doesn't: Too long, too loud, no story.
Number of weeks: 4.
Box Office verdict: Average.
Kaala (in Hindi)
Cast: Rajinikanth, Nana Patekar, Eswari Rao, Huma Qureshi, Anjali Patil, Samuthirakani, Dileepan.
Director: Pa. Ranjith.
What works: Rajinikanth's style, the fabulous climax.
What doesn't: Very little action scenes from Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi disappoints.
Number of weeks: 5.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Veere Di Wedding
Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Shikha Talsania, Sumeet Vyas.
Director: Shashanka Ghosh.
What works: Locations and Sakshi Talsania and Sumeet Vyas.
What doesn't: Weak script and editing.
Number of weeks: 6.
Box Office verdict: Hit.
Bhavesh Joshi
Cast: Harshvardhan Kapoor.
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane.
What works: Harshvardhan Kapoor shows promise; is a fine, behavioural actor.
What doesn't: Motwane's storytelling lacks movement. Self-conscious dialogues.
Number of weeks: 6.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Phamous
Cast: Jimmy Sheirgill, Jackie Shroff, kay Kay Menon, Shriya Saran, Mahie Gill, Pankaj Tripathi.
Director: Karan Butani.
What works: Nothing.
What doesn't: Old, dated film with neither substance nor sense nor a story line.
Number of weeks: 6.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Parmanu
Cast: John Abraham, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Anuja Sathe.
Director: Abhishek Sharma.
What works: Based on true events, fascinating script.
What doesn't: John Abraham performance, bad execution and lack of detailing.
Number of weeks: 7.
Box Office verdict: Semi hit.
Bioscopewala
Cast: Danny Denzogpa, Geetanjali Thapa, Adil Hussain, Tisca Chopra.
Director: Deb Medhekar.
What works: The tender bonding between Thapa and Danny and, of course, the storyline.
What doesn't: The story fails to convey the bitterness between Thapa and her father played by Adil Hussain.
Number of weeks: 7.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Khajoor Pe Atke
Cast: Manoj Pahwa, Vinay Pathak, Seema Pahwa, Alka Amin, Dolly Ahluwalia, Nagesh Bhonsle, Suneeta Sengupta, Sanah Kapur, Vicky Arora, Prathamesh Parab.
Director: Harsh Chhaya.
What works: Terrific actors.
What doesn't: Chhaya's direction lacked conviction.
Number of weeks: 8.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
