Anupama Chopra, founder & editor of Film Companion, is a film critic, television anchor and book author. She has been writing about Bollywood since 1993. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Hindustan Times, The Los Angeles Times and Vogue (India).
Here you can find all of her reviews for movies from across the globe.
Love Hostel is what you might call a Haryana Noir Western. This film is mostly a chase film with Dagar, played by Bobby Deol, in hot pursuit of his prey - Jyoti and Ahmed, played by Sanya Malhotra & Vikrant Massey. Listen to Anupama Chopra's full review to know more.
A Thursday chickens out and becomes a partially effective, rabble-rousing film which offers dangerous and simplistic solutions to our failed polity. Listen to the full review to know more, and watch the movie on Disney+ Hotstar.
Gehraiyaan is intriguing but never reaches the poetic heights it aspires to. Watch Anupama Chopra's full review to know more about Gehraiyaan, streaming on @Amazon Prime Video India
Badhaai Do passionately advocates for inclusivity and acceptance. Which is always a welcome message. Listen to Anupama Chopra's full review to know more.
In Looop Lapeta, an adaptation of Tom Twyker's 1998 film Run Lola Run, we see three versions of one life-altering day and how the choices the characters make have a butterfly effect and shape the outcome differently. Listen to the full review to know more, and watch the film on Netflix India.
There is one improvement in the Unpaused anthology series. In this one, there are two – Vaikunth, directed by Nagraj Manjule, and War Room, directed by Ayappa KM. Listen to Anupama Chopra’s review to know more.
In Atrangi Re , you can feel the maker’s intent and his commitment to dreaming big. But it doesn’t translate. Listen to Anupama Chopra's full review to know more.
Director Kabir Khan and writers Sumit Arora, Vasan Bala and Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan take us through the highs and lows of an incredible underdog story that is 83. Watch Anupama Chopra’s review to know more.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is fan service at its best because even us, casual lovers, can enjoy the ride. Watch Anupama Chopra's review to know more.
Director-choreographer Jerome Robbins first had the idea of transposing Romeo and Juliet to New York. And all these decades later, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story continues to enthrall. Listen to Anupama Chopra's review to know more.
I’m glad that Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui exists. It has taken us long to get to an empathetic portrayal. I hope more will follow. Listen to Anupama Chopra's review of the film, to know more.
Tadap is the launch vehicle for a star son, Ahan Shetty, which means that even a chhota shehar ka ladka must have a degree of swag. Listen to Anupama Chopra’s review to know more.
When we last saw Bob in Kahaani, he had been hit by a car after a botched attempt to assassinate Vidya. It’s eight years later. He has come out of a coma and is now played by Abhishek Bachchan. Listen to Anupama Chopra's full review to know more.
Antim works as long as the film hews closely to the original Mulshi Pattern. The trouble is that the film, already shouldering the burden of Salman, soon dissipates into a head-swirling saga of guns and goons. The human cost of development, which was the key idea in Mulshi Pattern, is drowned out. At 142 minutes, Antim: The Final Truth also becomes a test of patience.
Satyameva Jayate 2, written and directed by Milap Milan Zaveri, is many things but it’s not a film. You could view it as an expansive showreel for John Abraham’s body. Anupama Chopra reviews the film here.
Chhorii belongs to an emerging genre in Hindi cinema – the message horror movie. It attempts to be a rousing statement of women empowerment but it contradicts itself. Anupama Chopra reviews the film.
Annette is accessible but also, gorgeously strange. And yet, Anupama Chopra strongly recommend that you give it a shot because this is storytelling with eccentricity, originality and jaw-dropping audacity. For which Carax won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Listen to her review here.
It’s a clever setup with enough potential to create a franchise, but the real downer is that the film wastes its younger pair – Siddhant Chaturvedi and debutant Sharvari Wagh. Watch the full review to know more.
Dhamaka, which was shot during the pandemic in ten days, is essentially a vehicle for Kartik to show that he can do more than deliver monologues with aplomb. Watch Anupama Chopra's full review of the film, also starring Mrunal Thakur & Amruta Subhash, streaming on Netflix.
The character of Sooryavanshi doesn’t have the flamboyance or fun of either Singham or Simmba. Watch Anupama Chopra’s full review to knoe more about Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif-Ajay Devgn-Ranveer Singh starrer, directed by Rohit Shetty.
Meenakshi Sundareshwar, starring Sanya Malhotra & Abhimanyu Dassani in titular roles, doesn’t realise its full potential but the film is sweet and undemanding enough. Listen to Anupama Chopra’s review to know more.
The film Eternals is part of the MCU’s Phase Four. The story throbs with ache in a way that MCU films rarely do. Director Chloe Zhao has an uncanny talent for locating the poetry in loss. Listen to Anupama Chopra's review to know more.
If Hum Do Hamare Do had focused more on the senior couple, it might have located the authenticity and emotion that the story hints at but never develops. Watch Anupama Chopra's review of the film starring Rajkummar Rao, Kriti Sanon, Paresh Rawal, Ratna Pathak Shah, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Of course, horror films are, by design, unrealistic. But the best ones are constructed so tightly that the viewer doesn’t have the breathing room to ask: How is this possible? Dybbuk misses this goal by miles. Listen to Anupama Chopra’s full review to know more about this film, streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Sardar Udham is the slowest of slow burns. Which isn’t unusual for Shoojit. The role of Sardar Udham comes with big demands and Vicky Kaushal delivers. Listen to the review for more, and watch the film on Amazon Prime Video.
Sanak is a Bollywoodised Die Hard. The load rests on the impressive shoulders of Vidyut Jammwal. Director Kanishk Varma and writer Ashish P. Verma deviate slightly from the Jammwal action-movie template. You can watch the film on Disney + Hotstar.
Rashmi Rocket begins as a soaring sports saga but pivots into a courtroom drama. Director Akarsh Khurana, his team of writers and leading lady Taapsee Pannu are trying to translate a complex, little-known subject into accessible and entertaining cinema. Watch Anupama Chopra's review of the film, streaming on ZEE5.
Radhika Madan and Sunny Kaushal are eminently watchable actors, who can't save Shiddat, a bewilderingly logic-free film about a man obsessed with a woman. Here's Anupama Chopra’s review of Shiddat, streaming on DisneyPlus Hotstar.
Anupama Chopra reviews Kota Factory season 2 streaming on Netflix India. What continues to propel the series is the seeming ordinariness of the leads. These kids are the polar opposite of the buffed and polished teenagers we see in Bollywood films like the Student of the Year franchise.
The overarching theme of Ankahi Kahaniya is love and longing in Mumbai. Watch Anupama Chopra's review of the anthology Ankahi Kahaniya, directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Abhishek Chaubey & Saket Chaudhary.
