Critics’ Verdict: ‘Tamasha’ Has Sparkle but Not Enough Fizz

Check out how critics are reacting to Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone’s ‘Tamasha’

Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor in Tamasha

Film: Tamasha
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone

Excerpts from reviews of Tamasha:

While no one could accuse it of being subtle, <i>Tamasha </i>is affecting in parts, thanks in large measure to its lead players. Kapoor, with his gift for light comedy and mimicry, outpaces Padukone in the Corsica leg, but when they return to India and things become complicated, her pain is as palpable as his (this in spite of Tara being an underwritten character). Ali’s direction has also acquired a lightness of touch... What he might need, though, is a writing partner, someone who can supply him stories and characters that aren’t composites of things he’s written earlier.

<b>Uday Bhatia (Livemint.com)</b>

<em>Tamasha</em> doesn’t have enough depth or profundity to say anything that Ali hasn’t said before. For all the movie’s affectations of sophistication and worldliness, it gets its depictions of non-Indians hopelessly wrong. All of Corsica respectfully bows to the whims of Ved and Tara, and doesn’t seem to mind when they put on stereotypical Continental accents. By the time Tara has started making fun of the way the Japanese speak English, it’s clear that for all its tributes to the magic of theatre, the free-wheeling rhythms of the road movie, and the emotional acuity found in arthouse cinema, <em>Tamasha</em> is a good old Bollywood flick.

<b>Nandini Ramnath (Scroll.in)</b>

An off-the beaten track love story that does not go far enough with its surprises, Imtiaz Ali’s <i>Tamasha</i> is a film that flatters to deceive. It rolls along smoothly, but so facile are its placid twists and pat resolutions that they cause nary an emotional ripple.It is a pretty film, thanks to cinematographer S Ravi Varman’s lighting and camerawork.Every frame is picture-perfect. And Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone are on top of their game. Added to that are an intelligently elliptical narrative, imaginative use of songs and occasional bright spots. Yet, <i>Tamasha</i> is disappointingly inert and unexciting.<i>Tamasha</i> is at best a one-time watch because of the sparkle the leads lend to it. It could have been so much more.

<b>Saibal Chatterjee (Movies.ndtv.com)</b>