Critics’ Verdict: ‘X: Past Is Present’ Gets Mixed Reviews

Read reviews of this week’s new release ‘X: Past Is Present’

The women of X: Past Is Present

Film: X: Past Is Present
Director: 11 Filmmakers
Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Radhika Apte, Swara Bhaskar, Huma Qureshi, Anshuman Jha and others

Excerpts from reviews of X: Past Is Present:

This is a boy’s own sex flick masquerading as a meta-movie about the thin line between real lives and invented ones. An omnibus movie featuring contributions by 11 filmmakers, <em>X Past is Present </em>is a 105-minute fantasy of one man scoring with women of all descriptions. There are almost as many women in this movie than in a Mumbai ladies-only train compartment, but none of them has a mind of her own. As is the case with movies about movies, <em>X Past is Present</em> is its own best and worst critic. “Everybody has just one story to tell, and you can’t even do that properly,” declares a character. That is all that needs to be said about this amateurish and poorly acted attempt at deconstructing romance, heartbreak and the merging of reality with fiction.

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

Watching <i>X: Past is Present</i> is like being in a trance or a dream. Some moments remain vivid even after the film gets over, others way too hazy to recollect. There is a big idea here, which gets communicated to the viewer at times and eludes at others. My problem is that at times things get too spelt out. The delight of love and of storytelling is in that which remains unstated. The central narrative knitting the short tales falls prey to the same — says too much, indulges too much in the banal and has an easy actor like Rajat Kapoor paired off with a lady who he doesn’t seem to have much of an on-screen communication with. The film might be about a man but it belongs to its women.

<b>Namrata Joshi (Thehindu.com)</b>

An intriguing jigsaw puzzle of a film, <i>X: Past Is Present</i> is an experiment that swings from the trippy to the torpid – and back, mercifully – in a matter of minutes. <i>X: Past Is Present</i> has its share of dull, grey patches, heightened by the hollow philosophy on life and art that K spouts in his weaker moments. But these are few and far between. From the heady to the humdrum, the film drifts much like the protagonist himself, but, like him again, makes it to a reasonably meaningful destination. Watch <i>X: Past Is Present</i> for its delightful cheekiness.

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