Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

braddugg For those enchanted by the embellishments of the past, for those who love romance and for those who love cinema this is a must watch. This film is for all and specifically for film aficionados.There are films, but this is cinema. There are directors, film makers. But Vikramaditya Motwane is a craftsman who painstakingly wove the whole canvas with bright colors and some pale ones too. There are shades of Grey at times, while for the good part, it's extremely colorful. We don't have any song-dance sequences here, yet music plays such an important role in getting us the the theme of the film so well. Based on the short story "The Last Leaf" by O.Henry, Vikram made a romantic and thrilling adaptation of it. I never imagined that Berhmann of "The Last Leaf" can be a guy as charming as Varun Shrivastav (Ranveer Singh). There are wails amidst joys. There are silences in conversations. There is a smile in death. Wow, I was amazed for most part and mesmerized by the pace of the film. The slowness seemed to be working in favor of the film. Yet, the first half just flew in a sly. I was so elated in the interval that though the expected was coming, I was joyous and wanted to clap for the sheer courage of the director. In the climax of the short story, the leaf becomes the film's hero and is referred as masterpiece. I was just not very much convinced by this point alone. While others I thought were in place and apt to the context too. Dialogs were of pure Hindi and referred to the era of 1950's. There is a reference to a similar kind of film "BAAZI" by Dev Anand and I think this was a tribute to that film. What a poignant reference to the song "Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui", it seemed so wonderful. In times, where we live for making money, saving money, consuming money, the girl had time to write and the director too seems to have all the time in the world to write a magnum opus. I also suppose that the name of the inspector as K N Singh was taken from the name of the legendary K N Singh (the villain of "Baazi").The performances in particular are somewhat subtle and special. I disliked Ranveer Singh in an earlier film of his and never watched any of Sonakshi Sinha's films earlier. In Lootera, I suppose that they have jostled up all their acting abilities and they have pierced the hearts with such fine nuanced performances. Sonakshi as Pakhi grows above the script and delivers a memorable performance. She performed this with an aplomb that's seldom seen in today's times. Ranveer as Varun brought subtlety to his character and did well. I can't assuredly say that he rose above the script, though he climbed the tree. He tried well and that was good enough.Although I was laughing for the most part of the second half at dialogs, deep inside I knew what they meant. OK, it may not be for everybody's liking coz everyone has their own choice of art. Coming to art, let me speak of the art direction. I was stunned with such detailing. The last film I saw that had stupendous art direction was "Jodhaa Akbar" and this film took the art direction further to a greater level. The cinematography fell apart during nights. There was a lot of noise (grains) on screen and I think this film has been shot digitally and thus the ISO was higher and hence the grains. If this is the case, then it's quite appalling. Anyways, that was the only aberration I was not comfortable with. Barring this, the film has lot many positives.Go watch this Love-Saga if interested in cinema, for mere film watching, you have other choices. There can't be ratings to a piece of art, to like or dislike is a prerogative that the mind possesses. I am going with 4/5 as I like the detailing above all else. Please forgive a few coincidences for the benefit of cinema.

rajnish jha Lootera is full of romance,love,drama and suspense. We hardly get to see these types of movie now a days. Great job done by ranveer singh,sonaskshi and Mr motwane. The last part of the movie shows ,"you love someone and you know that you will loose her or him but you don't want them to loose."This feeling will make you cry. It finishes with an almost unbearable loveliness . Movies like lootera come once in a long time . Lootera has moments of cinematic beauty unmatched by any Hindi film of the last decade . Lootera will stay with you if you like to see classic, slow romances that take time to unfold and invariably have some tragic element. A film, then, about life, love and leaves. And in the end it comes down to the sort of snow-surrounded tree that you can draw even if you've always had trouble drawing leaves. Magnificent. I will rate full 10/10. Great Job.

harsh-kabeer1 Having already read 'The Last Leaf' by O Henry, I had my doubts to its adaptation to a love story, that the story was not, around a time when India had just met its "tryst with destiny". But no worries there. Lootera emerges unscathed. Vikramaditya and his writers have created a story of their own with their own characters in a different time and setting and infused, in this love story, the emotional resonance of O. Henry's. And they did manage to create a cinematic beauty as the lyrical genius of the screenplay poetry met the master emotion love and the climax of the beautiful O. Henry story becomes the redemption of love. The pace of the story might be a problem to many, but I don't think any other pacing would have done justice to the movie. Its pace, along with the time to which the story belongs and its aesthetic cinematography, brings surrealism to the screen as the emotions and anguishes lingers in your heart like a beautiful dream just dreamt. The cast is good. Ranveer Singh seems to have done justice to his role, though sometimes I was under the impression that he needs to work on his dialogue delivery. Sonakshi Sinha is marvellous bringing the right elements in her portrayal of a naughty, innocent, love stricken daughter in the first half and an estranged and dying beauty in the second half. The music is good and the background score gives ample of time for the sounds of the nature and the stillness of the storm raging inside the hearts to suck you right into the centre of this beautiful dream. Unlike Raanjhanaa that, despite the fanatical love story, was rooted in realism, Lootera is all together a different ball game. Lootera is a story about characters you may have known or may have been yourselves and emotions that you all have felt, but it happens in a world that has a dreamlike otherworldly aura to it where things move at their own slow and languid space, where emotions stir and make ripples that subtly affects the entire canvas, where destiny and guilt dances with each other in an aching crescendo of love. Lootera is an ode to love and it is beautiful!

anujagrawal4 'Lootera' opens in 1950s West Bengal, where a new democracy is changing archaic laws and reclaiming princely estates. Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha) is the indulged daughter of an old zamindar (Barun Chanda) from Manekpur. She lives in a sheltered world, but you can see her straining for independence as she secretly drives the family car when she's out of her father's sight. Her world collides with that of archaeologist Varun (Ranveer Singh), who is invited to stay as a houseguest when he's on an assignment to excavate a site on her father's property. Varun and Pakhi are inexorably drawn to each other, even though he knows in his heart that he must leave her someday. The film's plot is inspired partly by O Henry's famous short story The Last Leaf, yet Motwane gives it a romantic, even thrilling twist. There is a lyrical quality to the couple's exchanges in 'Lootera'. Varun and Pakhi communicate with their eyes at the start, then their relationship deepens over shared dreams and long conversations. Pakhi confesses that she wants to be a writer, spinning stories in her Dalhousie home. Varun, in turn, has the soul of an artist and wishes to paint a masterpiece someday. The director establishes a leisurely pace that matches the period, and a picnic scene in particular, where the couple is gently teased by their friends, feels straight out of a Merchant-Ivory drama. In the second half, Motwane opts for muted colours and sticks with those interminably long silences as the couple is reunited under very different circumstances. There is attention to the smallest details in 'Lootera', like the art direction, the lighting, and particularly Mahendra Shetty's intuitive camera that knows just how to capture the lovely landscapes as well as the somber mood of later scenes. Amit Trivedi's beautiful songs and background score add another layer of feeling to the aching love story here. Yet it's hard to resign yourself to some convenient coincidences in the plot, or even the naivete that filters in towards the end. In a film so close to perfection, the small lapses are hard to hide. What you can't find fault in are the pitch-perfect performances. Barun Chanda deftly marries a father's vulnerability with the arrogance of a zamindar who believes he is entitled. Vikram Massey, playing Varun's Dev Anand-obsessed friend, is cheeky and unyielding in equal measure, while Adil Hussain does a good job as a hard-nosed cop on the heels of a criminal. Yet 'Lootera' belongs to its two leads, Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha, who do their best work here. Shifting seamlessly from feisty to fragile to bitter, Sonakshi delivers a deeply heartfelt performance that feels mature beyond her years. Ranveer, for his part, brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression. Moving without resorting to melodrama, 'Lootera' is bittersweet in the end. Formerly an assistant to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Motwane reveals the same command over technique, and a similar love for sweeping visuals. But unlike Bhansali's recent films, Motwane never distracts you with his tapestry.