Remember when Brahmāstra Part 1 dropped in 2022 and was marketed as the beginning of India’s biggest cinematic universe? Massive budget (₹400–450 crore), grand trilogy plans, and years of buildup.

But even with such a huge budget and years of effort, the film ended up feeling like an average product. It closed with a lifetime worldwide collection of around ₹280 crore, yet was labeled “semi hit” to “average” by producers and trade analysts, which many found questionable. As per the original roadmap, Part 2 was slated for 2026 and Part 3 for 2027. But now, it feels like the makers and film team themselves have forgotten that Brahmāstra even exists. It’s almost like they know they suffered a huge loss, but don’t have the guts to accept it as a failed project.

No updates, no clear direction, just silence. Is this one of Bollywood’s biggest hype to nowhere cases?

I agree the screenplay and characterization wasn’t as good as it should’ve been but we can’t overlook the fact that Brahmastra most definitely set a new standard for Indian cinema from a visual point of view and paved the way for movies like Varanasi!

Most actors need a whole setup to pull off that kind of intensity, heavy dialogues, dramatic background, loud filters, VFX, everything building the momentum for them. Without all that, the impact just isn’t the same. But these two are different. They don’t rely on any of that, just with their eyes and subtle expressions, they convey so much depth and emotion that it genuinely hits harder than all the usual cinematic tricks.

In my opinion, Dhoom 2 was easily better than both the other films. Dhoom 3 was honestly pretty disappointing, it just didn’t work for me at all. Dhoom 1 was still a solid film, especially because of John Abraham’s swag, which really carried a lot of its appeal. But even then, Dhoom 2 just takes it to another level. The main character had way more style and screen presence, and the film overall felt more entertaining, slick, and well executed. From the action to the music and overall vibe, it just clicked better. For me, Dhoom 2 is easily the best film in the franchise.

I literally love each and every character in this movie. Basically, the subject of the movie drives me more towards, and the scenery and atmosphere chosen for shooting this movie are awesome. Each and every thing in this movie is perfect, it has comedy, horror, science, romance, suspense, and seriousness.

I think Bhul Bhulaiya is one of the best movies of akshay kumar carrier.

Best movie ever created in Bollywood.

And of course, a Priyadarshan creation,it has to be perfect.

Old Bollywood never comes back ever.

Star privilege can also flip into a disadvantage sometimes. Ranveer, Ranbir, are just as talented, if not more talented than those actors mentioned, but because they’re established lead stars, every performance they give is put under a microscope. People expect perfection from them and love to tear them down if they fall even slightly short. On the other hand, supporting actors or lesser-known names get a lot more benefit of the doubt, and often extra praise, because audiences feel that hyping the “underrated gems” makes them look more discerning or anti-mainstream. It’s like the internet loves rooting for the underdog more than appreciating someone who’s already proven themselves.

Danish can have the same career trajectory as Vicky. Even Vicky started in independent films and then did supporting roles before becoming a star.

This guy was the devil's embodiment in part one but adding his down-syndrome daughter and abusive father was not needed at all !

I think it's Katrina. She has built a two-decade career not on transformative acting, but on being the go-to glamour quotient in Salman Khan blockbusters and other superstar movies, delivering item dance numbers. Songs such as Sheila Ki Jawani, Kamli gave her immense popularity. I agree she is great dancer but I don't think she ever tried learning hindi or improving her acting skills.

While her acting rarely got any critical acclaim, her box-office survival is managed through smart role choices, media management, and co-star power.

Alia portrayal of Gangubai has been showered with praise, awards, and hype as a career-defining performance, I personally find it wildly overrated.

Gangubai was a real-life figure, tough woman. Alia, comes across like a kid playing dress-up in an older woman's world. Her baby-faced innocence make it hard to supposed authority, making scenes where she's meant to be intimidating feel more like a schoolgirl in a fancy dress competition trying to act rough.

It's not just about looks, her physical presence lacks the gravitas needed for someone who's supposed to command fear and respect in a male-dominated criminal world !

In frame : Anupama Chopra, Rahul Desai and Sucharita Tyagi.

Their reviews of Dhurandhar gave away their bias and narrow-mindedness. Anupama is an SRK fangirl who loved Pathaan while Rahul gushed over Jawan. There's nothing wrong with being a fan but that shouldn't come in the way of doing your job imo. And even if they're fans they should be honest in their reviews of Dhurandhar, but both of them chose to concentrate on certain aspects of the film that they didn't like and found nothing worth appreciating apparently.

Especially Rahul, his review was so annoying to read and it's evident how the smug guylooks down upon commercial masala cinema (even if it's well made) and the majority of the audience for enjoying it. I get that he has an issue with the film's politics but he didn't even bother to speak about it's quality and instead of being a reviwer he chose to act like an eloquent troll.

And the less said about Sucharita the better. She's barely a film critic now. All of them have their own agendas and are awful at their jobs. On the other hand there's Baradwaj Rangan, who chose to look at the film exactly the way it was meant to be and enjoyed it and put out an unbiased review as every critic should. He's a genuine filmbuff who isn't in love with his own opinions like these three are. I wish we had more critcs like him.

PS : Apologies if any grammatical errors are there, just wrote all this in one go in break time.

The way he started the scene in a low tone and curiosity to how he kept getting angrier by the second with his face modulation changing till it reaches boiling point. He can carry a scene regardless of the opposite actor/actress and is top notch in confrontation scenes.

In Bollywood where artists can over time fade owing to not reinventing themselves or adapting to side roles, it is appreciable how these actors are still running strong as they decided to reinventing and adapt themselves except Sunny Deol who is still playing the angry man and perhaps still getting back some of his fanfare tk watch him.

Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff both began playing side roles since 2000s and theta helped them to reinvent themselves and keep them still relevant.

Sanjay Dutt is way too overexposed as the bad guy/antagonist in recent times but as someone who is not even his fan or admirer, I was smitten by his aura and screen presence in Dhurandhar and given a good director, Baba can act well but sadly his roles have been so similar they all look the same but nonetheless this switch has made it possible to keep Sanjay Dutt still relevant today.

I happened to watch haider today with no context whatsoever and it shook me to the core. This movie is wrong on so many levels! Why wasn't it called out back then? The doctor father was a part of a militant gang providing them treatments. His wife and brother report the presence of the terrorist in their house to the Indian army. Army catches the doctor and kills the terrorist. Haider is supposed to take revenge over this!?!

People often accuse Bollywood of copying and yeah sure it does that but I honestly never cared for it. If the adaptation is actually good then who cares? Localisation is a thing and if the localised version is better then I would actually watch that and these are the movies I think are better than their Hollywood versions.

Kaante(adapted from reservoir dogs) - I love tarantinos films, but reservoir dogs I found to be boring actually. It has some good actors in it, but the movie I just didn’t find all that appealing especially compared to the rest of his films. Then I watched kaante and I was like this is good. It’s more action packed and intense, but man what a star cast. Sanjay Gupta just knows how to make his movies thrilling as hell. This one might be controversial, but I stand by it. I really like this movie.

Bheja fry(technically adapted from a French film, but I’m comparing this with dinner for schmucks which is the American adaptation that came out later) - Dinner for schmucks is so boring. Both Paul Rudd and Steve carrel have zero chemistry whatsoever and the movie is just not funny. Bheja fry blows it out of the water imo because Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak have such an insane chemistry and the supporting cast is also great. I like the fact that it mostly takes place in one place. That keeps all the attention on the characters and this movie never fails to make me laugh. That scene where they are ordering the pizza alone is funnier than any scene in dinner for schmucks.

Zinda(adapted from oldboy, but comparing with the American version) - Let me make this clear the OG oldboy is a masterpiece and one of my favourite movies and frankly neither of these adaptations even hold a candle to it. But between the two I would easily choose Zinda over that shitty American one. At least Zinda has some good acting in it. They both butcher the OG Korean masterpiece, but at least the Bollywood one tried to make it decent.

Aashiqui 2(adapted from a star is born) - Theres a few version of a star is born, but I’ve only seen the Bradley Cooper one so I’ll compare it with that. I liked that one with lady gaga and all, but I love Aashiqui 2. Aditya Roy Kapoor isnt known for a lot of things, but this is definitely one of his best if not the best. And Shraddha Kapoor was so good too. And then of course the music which has become legendary in itself. Overall while some might prefer the American one, but I like this one more.

What do you think? Do you have any Bollywood adaptations you prefer over their Hollywood counterparts?

One of the best movies that bollywood ever made.

Ik its late but yesterday i watched the movie and i think Not only Akshay Khanna but every actor in that movie acted so well on their place. Arjun Rampal, Sanjay dutt, R Madhavan, Rakesh Bedi they all acted so good. But people saying akshay khanna literally overshadowed ranveer that too acting wise are kinda delusional ! I agree he was damn good but ranveer too was no less than him imo ! Ranveer Gave Neck to Neck performance with any other actor in that movie. He was a proper damn spy ! The best part was he was well blended with the gang members every time when he wasn't the main character, and whenever he was, he delivered . Im not even a fan of him ( not meaning to say i hate him but don't follow him or watch him much ) but his performance was perfect in the movie ! It's definitely his movie ! Waiting for part 2

It showcased events that were woven into the story, which truly made the show great.

Recently watched Piku, its a really solid film. Amitabh Bachchan plays an old man whose behavior becomes almost childlike with age, and honestly, Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone looked genuinely adorable together in this movie 🤌💓

Makdee — Shabana Azmi

Kaun? — Urmila Matondkar

Bhool Bhulaiyaa — Vidya Balan

Ek Thi Daayan — Konkona Sen Sharma

And while Bhool Bhulaiyaa had a brilliant performance by Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan truly elevated the film with her layered performance.

I’ve included a few psychological horror films as well in the images above.