The Tashkent Files

The entire film is a series of eye-roll moments, pockmarked by dialogue that's unintentionally hilarious. We don't really have to wait for the big reveal to see the purpose of the film.

Political propaganda is not the worst of its sins, alas. A communal speech by Pankaj Tripathi's character is painful to watch; he warns of a certain community poisoning the entire country and attacking India with its army.

The problem here isn't the director's leaning or his point-of-view. It's the way he chooses to camouflage it - that is, the way he chooses to quasi-intellectualize his storytelling skills in order to hide his rather simplistic sense of reasoning.

The acting, thanks to the melodramatic nature of the film, is loud and over the top, the dialogue sound bombastic at times.