Director-writer Rakesh Ranjan Kumar wanted to do two things: He really, really wanted to remake Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Oscar-nominated Downfall, and he wanted to make a statement about non-violence being greater than violence. He’s done that, and more. He has remade the epic German film, shoddily and in parts, and he makes us nod in agreement that non-violence rocks.

Bubble Gum is in colour but in my head it is playing in sepia — yellow and faded with age, yet full of feelings, mood and nostalgia.
Bubble Gum’s poster, incidentally, is seriously misleading. The blue ankle-high canvas shoes suck on pink chewing gum convey that this is a film about the tough life of a newbie teenager today. That’s not the case at all. This is a film for all those in the 35 to 50 age group. It’s an emotional trip to their adolescence.

Rohit Shetty, as we all know, likes Ajay Devgn, silly comedies and tossing cars in the air. He also likes tattoos, sequels, long-waisted girls and gangsters who talk gibberish. Shetty has tried action before, but they have spurned him. Not this time. Singham, a primitive, archetypal genre piece, is a hit. Which is not to say that I approve. I don’t.

I have a friend, my dearest friend actually, who lives by a code. It is simple and yet I didn’t quite get it till today, till I watched Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. My friend believes, and often repeats, that she doesn’t want to gift "stuff" on birthdays and anniversaries. She wants to gift her friends experiences. Today, as I was watching the noon show of ZNMD, I finally got what she means, what she’s been trying to do.

Chillar Party is a story about our flawed world, a world run by busy, stressed, selfish, crabby adults — men and women who don’t have time for small niceties and small people. To fix this, the film offers a simple solution: We all must listen to kids more. Invite them for discussions, consider their point of view and do as they say, especially when it’s about stuff like child labour, animal rights and, of course, pet names.

Mohit Suri’s Murder 2 is not half the film Anurag Basu’s Murder was. It’s not half as erotic, thrilling or engaging as the original. So, if your dirty weekend plan this week hinged on going with your partner to watch Murder 2, you’d be better off buying a DVD of Murder. Trust me. Murder 2 is more in the genre of coitophobia. If that’s what you are looking for, well then...

Delhi Belly is a cocky, pacy film that sets out to make us laugh hysterically and won’t stop at nothing. It abuses, sings a dirty song, farts, belches, lays out shit on a red velvet cloth, and it has a story. Sort of. Though the film's basic premise and the craziness around it is inspired by Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, Delhi Belly’s characters and quirks are totally desi, its dialogue memorable and its humour clever and killing.

Every once in a while Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap makes a half-hearted attempt to be a real movie about underworld dons, bombs and a terrorised Mumbai; about saffron swamis and their evil empires; about a gangster father, a cop son, and an estranged couple. But it really is something else. Bbuddah Hoga... is Amitabh Bachchan porn, X-rated. The film contains content that is not suitable for non-fans.

Shaitan is a tizzy film purportedly about the “inner demons” of a gang of five friends and a miffed cop. When the film begins, with risqué scenes, cocky one-liners and seemingly edgy and delinquent characters – sort of kindergarten “droogs” from Clockwork Orange – we sit back in anticipation. It seems like the writer and director are on to something.

West is West is, as you know, a sequel to the 1999 sad-comic, desi-English family drama East is East. The original, based on a play by Ayub Khan-Din and directed by Damien O’Donnell, was set in 1971, in Salford, Lancashire. It was the story of Pakistani immigrant George Khan (Om Puri), his Irish-Catholic wife Ella (Linda Bassett) and their seven children.