Paathshaala

...the emotional quotient and the topicality of the film keep the interest running. Go for some serious viewing.

If a piece of cinema ever had its heart in its place, this is it.

Our rotting education system needs desperate attention, but spare me the lop-sided one, please.

...offers a general glimpse of student life. It also tackles the issue of an ugly duckling of a child who is shunned by all. But all this is random and does not sync the way it should in a film.

...a well-intentioned film, but lacks clarity thanks to an uninspiring screenplay.

...wants to say the right things but flubs it.

The direction of Milind Ukey seems to have been bogged down by a poor script. The graph of the flick goes down substantially in the second half. Other production values are average.

If this film were Ukey's assignment and the producers were teachers, upon review, they should've remarked in red, 'redo'. At least I would.

...is staggeringly inept. The script by Hanif Sheikh has no discernable arc.

Everything about the film is one-dimensional. The school itself is a set and looks like a cardboard cut-out. The characters are all good or all bad; there are no shades of grey.

It's clear the makers of this film had the seed of a good idea, but lacked the skills to turn it into an engaging film.

Don't expect any answers from what is clearly not meant either to enlighten or entertain.

...a film which deals with the rampant commercialisation of education, clearly a good subject, except that it is poorly written and directed, without imagination or flair.

Television can't look beyond a few devises to pass of as entertainment, or sometimes news. I suspect filmmakers can't look beyond the addictive television they watch all day to think up a plot either.

...its time for the entire production unit to go back to school. The basics of filmmaking are all wrong. There is no script, no screenplay and the plot is so unbelievable that you almost want to reach out and slap the characters on screen.

The disconnectedness between scenes suggests that a big chunk of Paathshaala is lying on the floor of an editing suite somewhere.

It’s over dramatised to the point of ridiculousness. And these manipulative tricks are shameful to say the least.