Shubhra Gupta

The Indian Express

Shubhra Gupta, a senior columnist and acclaimed film critic at The Indian Express, boasts over 30 years of experience with her widely-read weekly review column. A prominent figure in India’s film criticism scene, she frequently attends global film festivals and has served on national and international juries. She curates and conducts the hugely popular platform, The Indian Express Film Club, in Delhi and Mumbai.

All reviews by Shubhra Gupta

Jigra

Crime, Drama, Thriller (Hindi)

Alia Bhatt film is a stretch of both patience and credulity

Fri, October 11 2024

Alia Bhatt’s performances usually have at least a couple of distinctive notes. Here, badass replacing vulnerability, those edges are blunted. Jigra becomes a stretch, of both patience and credulity.

Early on in the 1 hour 55 minutes film, a character asks Satya, ‘Toh kya Bachchan bananna hai?’ The question is meant as both set-up and punch-line. Her reply, ‘Ab toh Bachchan hi bananna hai’, sets us up for the entire premise-cum-gist-raison d’etre of ‘Jigra’, in which Alia Bhatt’s Satya attempts to become a Bachchanesque hero, kicking and punching, hurt and hurting, falling down and getting up. And staying up.

All FCG reviews of Jigra

CTRL

Thriller, Drama (Hindi)

Ananya Panday, Vikramaditya Motwane film is two-dimensional

Fri, October 4 2024

While both Ananya Panday and Vihaan Samat do their job well, the film truly feels potent only when it comes off the screen.

With Ctrl, a cautionary tale about the world’s obsession and our near-total dependence on online apps, Vikramaditya Motwane has moved firmly into the future. Or is it the present? Isn’t this what the geeks have been creating with their gaming universes, where your digital avatars are the better, shinier versions of you? Where they slay all the monsters, and leave you — or rather, your avatar — fully in control?

All FCG reviews of CTRL