Listicle: 10 recent movies that are absolutely unwatchable right now

Karan Johar’s toxic circus has Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and some of the most memorable songs of the decade. There’s also a point where Anushka Sharma tells Ranbir Kapoor that she has divorced her husband and is now dying of cancer, and all he cares about is making her fall in love with him. Sure, she dies, anyway. But Ranbir becomes a superstar on the back of the song he wrote after losing her. Because his narcissistic brain still couldn’t grasp the concept of rejection.

This Imtiaz Ali classic was supposed to be a love story etched in time. But the “love story” between Ved (Ranbir Kapoor), who cannot deal with his mental health issues and their toxic fallout, and Tara (Deepika Padukone) who loves complaining about how he’s changed, just doesn’t resonate. People change. That’s life. The key is to communicate, with no one does in this film.

Luv Ranjan’s sequel to the film that launched Kartik Aryan did nothing but glorify toxic masculinity and “that single life”. It worked, then. Now, it reeks of a film that’s trying to be Dil Chahta Hai and failing horribly. Or a Go Goa Gone without the fun. Get this: Kartik’s character gets insecure about his girlfriend’s guy best friend (who’d just moved to the city and is technically homeless) sleeping on the same bed. Thank God that relationship ended.

NGL,this film got a lot of things right, emotional blackmail from parents, the sweetness of the moment when one smokes up) with one’s grandfather. The offhand way someone cheats in a marriage. There’s Fawad Khan -- always a bonus. And it actually tries to be LGBTQAI+ friendly. There’s also an accidental death, hints of alcoholism and lack of communication. But the only North Eastern person in the cast, playing the role of a security guard is named, surprise surprise, Bahadur.

A film that did critically well and highlighted multiple issues: Everyday sexism, how easily it escalates to sexual harassment, what single women living in the city go through regularly. It all makes for a terrific courtroom drama. But, no offense to Amitabh Bachchan, why do we need a male voice to narrate the story instead of having a woman’s perspective?

This film highlighted a serious issue: Acid attacks, though the life of survivor Lakshmi Agarwal. And it took extra care to depict Deepika Padukone as the survivor, complete with prosthetic make-up. But, everything felt like an Ekta Kapoor throwback -- slow-motion zooms, echoing sound effects, melodrama. A tale of courage wasted.

They got the name right. Emilia Clarke is a delight in the film. But this romantic drama falls into the trap of presuming a woman wants to treat a man like a project she can change for the better. In this case it’s to change his mind about assisted suicide, but why is that her job, anyway? All that money he left her after his death will be paying for her therapy; that’s for sure.

What was wrong with Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy that they had to get Tom Cruise in? Viewing it in 2023, Tom Cruise’s apparently charming sexism isn’t hot anymore. It seems more like Mission Impossible with a mummy in it. There are ghosts, zombies and secret societies, as well. Go figure.

Who’d believe the tale of a high-school student who finds herself face-to-face with her crush when she signs up to run a kissing booth at the spring carnival? There are tons of great movies about growing up: Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless. This one, however, seems like a replica of Never Been Kissed, minus the talent, pace and spirit.

A lesson for the ages: Don’t force-fit queer-friendly messaging into a movie. It only makes people cringe. Even a good soundtrack can’t save this reboot. It fails to incorporate that empowering feeling that previous versions of Charlie’s Angels had. Worse, it also fails to fight the sexism that comes with the franchise.

If the biggest female superhero DC has to offer can’t make for an empowering film, then the filmmakers are doing something wrong. Don’t make love Wonder Woman’s downfall or even her weakness just to humanise her because she’s a demi-God. And notice how they wasted Pedro Pascal in the film?