A race against time

Direction: Ashutosh Gowarikar

Actors: Arjun Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Sanjay Dutt, Mohnish Bahl

Kapoor is convincing in every scene, particularly so on the battlefield.

From look to dialect and swordsmanship, he gets it right. Sanon feels a tad over-the-top, her Marathi sounding fake and forced.

Dutt as the brutal, tyrannical Afghan invader is marvellous; menacing and terrifying, he really gets into the swing of things.

Of the cameos, Padmini Kolhapure is refreshing. She brings the screen alive in her few moments on it, as the Peshwa’s wife. Zeenat Aman’s special appearance disappoints; it feels like she’s reading her lines off a teleprompter.

The film, overall, would have been a total triumph if Gowarikar hadn’t felt the need to take three hours to tell his tale. Few films can justify that kind of runtime. And while Panipat is impactful, it’s frustrating to sit there, as the sun goes down, and know that it would have been just as good at even half the length. MONIKA RAWAL

Direction: Mudassaraziz Actors: Kartik Aaryan, Bhumi Pednekar, Ananya Panday, Aparshakti Khurana

Re makes a r e a l ways tricky. But in this case, Mudassar Aziz had the opportunity to rewrite a sexist script whose women characters were all foolish and naive. Three decades after the original film, however, he changes nothing.

Early on in the tale, Abhinav Tyagi aka Chintu (Kartik Aaryan), who works in Kanpur’s PWD department, marries Vedika Tripathi (Bhumi Tripathi), a teacher from Lucknow who dreams of moving to Delhi.

Cut to three years later. A fashion designer from Delhi called Tapasya Singh (Ananya Panday) is in Kanpur, looking to set up a workshop. Chintu is already looking for ways to spice up his marriage. He is assigned to help Tapasya. And in no time, they’re in one of those I-don’t-know-how-itstarted-and-i’m-not-even-sure