>
Santanu Das
Tomatometer-approved critic
Santanu Das is a film critic and regular contributor at Hindustan Times, primarily writing about movies, television, celebrity culture, and film festivals. Along with interviews, features, and reviews, Santanu also writes a weekly column where he recommends films based on the most recent releases. He is based in Chandannagar, India.
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
A New Kind of Wilderness (2024) |
The vérité style filmmaking is a choice that works more than it suffers, because at one hand there's an unfiltered and poignant flow to the scenes where the camera is next to invisible when it is around the family. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Mar 17, 2024
|
|
|
|
All India Rank (2023) |
All India Rank sees writer-lyricist Varun Grover working with an exhausted coming-of-age tale and turning it into an earnest, heartfelt experience. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 27, 2024
|
|
|
|
This Is Me... Now: A Love Story (2024) |
The poignancy of that dilemma cannot be underestimated, even as the absurdist tendencies of this musical drama takes the cake. They all sing the same song of survival. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Feb 17, 2024
|
|
|
|
The World Is Family (2023) |
Patwardhan turns the camera towards his own family in this deeply moving documentary... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Dec 20, 2023
|
|
|
|
Dhuin (2022) |
Achal Mishra's portrait of artistic pursuit is a compact gem; intimate and expansive at the same time. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 16, 2023
|
|
|
|
Paradise (2023) |
As the drama inches its way closer to that shocking denouement, Paradise grapples to interrogate questions around politics and the state. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Nov 07, 2023
|
|
|
|
Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023) |
A resonant tale of friendship and loss worth tasting. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Sep 13, 2023
|
|
|
|
Bawaal (2023) |
There's a lot to register and process in the absolute mess that is Nitesh Tiwari's Bawaal. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jul 27, 2023
|
|
|
|
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022) |
As delightful as its title is clunky. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022) |
What it ultimately conjures up is, a pointless and vacant adaptation that is forgettable in its own modern mechanics. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Kantara: A Legend (2022) |
Gandhi's point is clear and precise, there is a thin line that separates glorification from disfavour. It is on us, the audience, to decide which side we want to favour. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Good Night Oppy (2022) |
Good Night Oppy is glossy and manipulative in parts, but the central idea of the power of human ambition and exploration remain quietly captivating. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Makdee (2002) |
Vishal Bharadwaj's debut directorial Makdee, touted as a children's film, continues to scare and delight children as well as adults. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
The People We Hate at the Wedding (2022) |
A clueless comedy that offers no laughs. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Amsterdam (2022) |
A disappointment of epic proportions. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Capturing the Killer Nurse (2022) |
Even as Cullen's actions come to light, Capturing the Killer Nurse fittingly spotlights on the moral depravity of the collective healthcare system that so surreptitiously held back his name only because of their economical interests. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Bogeyman (1980) |
Note how Kummatty, made decades ago, had none of the special effects to decorate its mythological drama. Yet, Aravindan works with an aesthetic choice that allows his viewers, children as well as adults, to partake into the suspension of disbelief. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Monica, O My Darling (2022) |
The women are fierce and place their careers much above anything else. Each of them hold power and work around it strategically, their priorities cut out. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Wonder (2022) |
Florence Pugh is perfect in this film by Sebastian Lelio about religious obsession and those skeptical of it. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Pearl (2022) |
It's a hypnotic, shattering performance that rings of emotional truth. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) |
Its a sure-footed performance from an actor that never fails to hold the attention of its audience. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) |
Michelle delivered the performance of the year in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's Everything Everywhere All At Once... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) |
This is a rich, perfectly orchestrated performance that could have gone wrong even with the slightest of misjudgement in character. That her performance gets even better in the second watch... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Elvis (2022) |
Rarely do we see a performance that is so electric that as soon as the film gets over, one rushes to search about the actor instead. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Tár (2022) |
In playing a genius, Cate has created an act of genius herself. In a career defined by exhilarating work, the Academy Award-winning actor creates a forensic, incisive portrait of an artist that may very well earn her the third Oscar. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (2022) |
It is a daring, firecracker of a performance, one that makes you root for her throughout. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Gargi (2022) |
Sai Pallavi gives a shattering, career-best performance and cements her position as one of the most powerful actors of her generation. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Thiruchitrambalam (2022) |
Nithya is all kinds of wonderful in Mithran J Jawahar’s Thiruchitrambalam, and stands as a firm reminder that an actor doesn't have to do a lot to register themselves amidst a cast that boasts names like Dhanush, Revathy and Prakash Raj. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Abhijaan (2021) |
Parambrata Chattopadhyay's tribute to Soumitra in Abhijaan finds the actor at his thoughtful best, saddled with the tremendous task of opening up in front of the camera. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Darlings (2022) |
Darlings is further proof that no matter the length of the role, Shefali Shah never fails to astonish. It's a full-circle performance, so much of Shamshu is revealed yet so much is left to explore. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Badhaai Do (2022) |
Rajkummar's performance as a gay police officer Shardul in Harshavardhan Kulkarni's Badhaai Do is some of the most compelling and effective work of his whole career so far. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Malayankunju (2022) |
Is there anything Fahadh cannot do on screen? - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) |
The standout moment - where she dances with a streak of reckless abandon in the song Dholida, still gives goosebumps. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths (2022) |
Alejandro G Iñárritu's contemplative, surrealistic vision of life and death, though expertly shot by Darius Khondji, turns out to be a heavy-handed misfire. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) |
The scenes with his pet donkey Jenny alone will stop you in the tracks. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) |
Daisy Ridley plays Fran with sensitivity and poise and elevates the drama by several notches. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Aftersun (2022) |
What works tremendously in favour of Aftersun is the extent to which screenwriter-director Charlotte Wells is able to trust her audience to fill in the details. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Magazine Dreams (2023) |
Jonathan Majors delivers the performance of a lifetime... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Shayda (2023) |
Shayda could have easily slipped into melodramatic tendencies, but Noora carefully deconstructs the dangers and manipulations that come in the way of her protagonist. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Fair Play (2023) |
Chloe Domont's erotic financial drama is an instant classic. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Eileen (2023) |
This unhinged mix of Carol and Hitchcock ultimately disappoints... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Cassandro (2023) |
Even if the stakes never quite reach that impending sense of showdown, with some of the subplots pulling down its pace, and the later half becomes a tad too predictable for its own speed, Cassandro is saved by the electric lead performance of Bernal... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Fancy Dance (2023) |
Lily Gladstone is sublime in this well-crafted tale on resilience. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Disappearance of Shere Hite (2023) |
This groundwork is so captivating that when Newnham, working with her superb editor Eileen Meyer, pulls in the punch- the effect is galvanizing... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
|
|
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023) |
One of the best documentaries of the year. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
L'immensità (2022) |
Penelope Cruz cannot save this inconsistent drama. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
Passages (2023) |
He is almost always running away from something or the other- but as Sachs draws Passages into a thrilling live-wire close, the emptiness of those spaces finally begins to take hold. Even if he wants to stay, its not always his choice. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
Slow (2023) |
Slow offers a groundbreaking representation of asexuality devoid of any narrative clichés and loud metaphorical humour. It frustrates time and again, and that's exactly the point. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
Joyland (2022) |
Joyland is enriched by a tableau of marvelous performances by its ensemble of actors... - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
|
|
|
The Menu (2022) |
Anya Taylor-Joy anchors a wickedly entertaining satire. - Hindustan Times
Read More
| Posted Jan 06, 2023
|