Starring : <strong>Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Govind Namdeo</strong> Directed by <strong>Umesh Shukla</strong> Rating: <strong>*** ?</strong> For popular art it is considered taboo to question religious dogma. Somewhere deep within us we all know ritualistic religiosity is a multi-crore business in our country. But who dares to raise a voice against the deplorable extravagance which is meant to please the Gods?

Starring: <strong>Nana Patekar, Shreyas Talpade, Madhurima Bannerjee, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Asrani, Neeraj Vora</strong> Directed by <strong>Priyadarshan</strong> Rating: <strong>***</strong> If you can overlook the outrageous suggestion that Nana Patekar could be Om Puri’s son then you’re in for some clean healthy wholesome and engaging fun in this comic drama about a stranger who walks into a Catholic village and changes malfunctioned lives with his positivity.

<strong>Starring: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, Shahana Goswami, Ranveer Shorey, Govind Namdeo</strong> <strong>Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar</strong> <strong>Rating: ****<strong> Somewhere deep within the corroding flamboyance of filmdom there is a tale of heartbreaking compromises and immorality tucked away from the naked tearless eye. Madhur Bhandarkar nearly gets to the nerve centre of that world, and then pulls back just before he’s really gotten to the centre.

Starring: <strong>Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Ileana d’Cruz</strong> Directed by <strong>Anurag Basu</strong> Rating: <strong>**** ?</strong> Silences seldom spoke so eloquently. It’s been a while since we saw a film that set style at a subsidiary state to substance, put the characters’ inner life ahead of the flamboyant manifestations of self-identity in a world governed by benevolence and charm.

Starring <strong>Rajat Kapoor, Ranveer Shorey, Neha Dhupia, Manjari Phadnis, Saurabh Shukla, Lilette Dubey, Vijay Raaz, Delnaaz Paul </strong> Directed by <strong>Saurabh Shukla</strong> Rating: <strong>***</strong> This team of intelligent cinema-savvy actors and technicians has been making urbane comedies for many years now. Some have worked at the boxoffice. Most have not. But there’s no denying the suave smooth-sailing charm of the narration as we glide through one more metro-centric saga of warmth during times of loneliness.

Starring <strong>Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha & A Village Of Wackos</strong> Directed by <strong>Shirish Kunder</strong> Rating: <strong>***</strong> Imagine Shah Rukh Khan leaving his posh job at NASA a la Swades and returning to a village filled with escapees from a lunatic asylum… and you have the basic plot structure of Shirish Kunder’s <em>Joker</em>, a film as crazy in intent as its characters make the proceedings appear lke.

Starring <strong>Pravin Dabas, Suhasini Mulay, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Harsh Mayar, Lehar Khan, Krishang Trivedi </strong> Directed by <strong>Nila Madhab Panda</strong> Rating: <strong>***</strong> In spite of its many flaws, <em>Jalpari The Desert Mermaid</em> wins your heart with its simple fluid storytelling and characters who seem to have taken birth in the deserted village in Haryana, long before the camera was switched on.

Starring: <strong>Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey</strong> Directed by <strong>Kabir Khan</strong> Rating: <strong>****</strong> There is something about the Salman-Katrina pairing… something that goes deeper than real-life affection. Even deeper than that crackling pitch-perfect chemistry that we see among endearing star-pairs, like Raj-Nargis, Rajesh –Mumtaz, Shah Rukh-Kajol…you name it!

Starring: <strong>Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Irfans, Martin Sheern, Sally Field</strong> Directed by <strong>Marc Webb</strong> Rating: <strong>**** ?</strong> Suddenly after sitting open-mouthed for more than two hours watching Andrew Garfield fly high—really really high—as Spiderman I felt deeply worried for all those Bollywood filmmakers who insist on making spectacle-centric films, 3D and all.