Calendar Girls Reviews by Critics

AVERAGE RATING OF ALL REVIEWS: 1.77

Calendar Girls Review by Bollywood Hungama

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The film has very correctly highlighted the high net worth families and their ‘pushing under the carpet’ problems, the platform that reality show offers to its contestants and also their ‘selection’ process, how relationships and condolences can be ‘money-pulated’. Without being preachy, Madhur Bhandarkar’s CALENDAR GIRLS showcases that life is all about the choices that one makes, which can either make or break a person. On the whole, CALENDAR GIRLS can be watched for its wholesome entertainment value, hard hitting drama and engaging narrative. Or like Madhur Bhandarkar himself would describe it in one word…. ‘Jalwa’!

Calendar Girls Review by Shreya Thakur on Deccan Chronicle

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As far as the glamour aspect is concerned, Bhandarkar tries hard to make the film stand out. The glam quotient, background score, glossy sequences could have made for a brilliant film but the Calendar Girls of the title only look good in still photos. Make them deliver a dialogue or two and there go your expectations down the drain! While debutante Kyra Dutt stands out among the five fresh faces introduced by Bhandarkar, we wonder what the casting director was thinking of while auditioning the others!

Calendar Girls Review by Shubhra Gupta on Indian Express

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A hurried after-thought, which talks of how these girls are really, truly ‘proud achievers’, comes right in the end. And it’s just that, an after-thought. The rest of it exploits—smugly, tackily, uncomfortably explicitly—young women being exploited.

Calendar Girls Review by Saibal Chatterjee on NDTVMovies

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Calendar Girls presents its five skimpily clad protagonists in a light that is neither convincing nor geared towards garnering genuine empathy for the plight of these lambs to the slaughter.

Review by Preeti Kulkarni on Bollywood Life

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Though Madhur tries to create a soul searching and path breaking film, he effectively fails. So, apart from a few moments (which last only for a few seconds) there is nothing good about this film. But even if you insist on watching it nonetheless, look out for veteran theatre actors like Mita Vashisht, Suchitra Pillai and Atul Parchure. Mita’s cold calculating gaze of a hawk when she persuades one of the leads (Avani Modi) to become an ‘escort’ is believable. Atul lightens up a few moments with his old-school filmy secretary act. You will genuinely laugh a few times when the tech-savvy Ruhi Singh preens and pouts continuously for selfies only to instantly upload them on Twitter! That’s it. There is nothing more to this film.

Review by Shubha Shetty Saha on Mid-Day India

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This time Bhandarkar presumably focuses on five calendar girls, four from various parts of the country and one a Pakistani from London. These girls are shortlisted for the Kingfisher kind of, presumably prestigious, calendar. Apart from the glamour, fame and money, yippee! they also get a permanent calendar girl prefix added to their names. Cocky, because neither Bhandarkar nor his co-scriptwriters have even bothered to check basic English grammar while making the poor girls mouth them in ishtyle.

Review by Tushar Joshi on DNA India

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Calendar Girls is Madhur Bhandarkar’s weakest attempt at trying to revisit his old formula and create something interesting. Stay away.

Review by IANS on Zeenews

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Every scene seems to have a distinctive Madhur Bhandarkar influence which, over repetitive representations, seem lacklustre and jaded with oft seen, stereotypical characterizations. This pales the viewing experience, this time over.

Review by Sonia Chopra on Sify

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National-award winning director Madhur Bhandarkar makes a film about how these girls are exploited in the glamour world, while making sure his film exploits them as well. Talk about ironies. He chooses to tell the film in the most dull and uncharismatic manner possible. All conversations are set to elevator music. Barely anyone is able to give a half-decent performance. And Bhandarkar himself pops on the screen, only to have a fan-girl gush about how great his films are!

Review by Rachit Gupta on Filmfare

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Where director Madhur Bhandarkar drops the ball is in the casting. Not that his team of actresses do a bad job, but the same film with more established actors would’ve been a sight to behold. Calendar Girls needed a cast like Chak De! India. This definitely had the trappings to become one of his best. In stead, the movie ambles in its average status. It doesn’t help that actors like Suhel Seth, Rohit Roy and other supporting cast go through their roles on auto pilot, catering only to the clichés. You also have to contend with Madhur playing himself in the film, albeit briefly.

Review by Srijana Mitra Das on The Times Of India

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It’s a pity because this story could have broken new ground. With glimpses of his original flair, Bhandarkar puts cricket enthusiasts, prostitutes, ‘pahwa’ brokers, philanderers, builders and bewildered middle-class mata-pitas together. He has his trademark touches of glamour, pathos and personalities but lacks power-packed acting to hold this together. Instead, between scintillating skin, syrupy sympathy and sheer sloppiness, the film loses grip, bite – and plot.

Review by Shomini Sen on IBNLive

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In fact, the film’s biggest flaw is that it fails to surprise the audience making the entire experience dull. There were moments where the audience in the theater were completing sentences before the dialogues were said on screen.

Review by Kunal Guha on Mumbai Mirror

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Bhandarkar’s films have often been unintentional comedies. His intensive research of a certain lifestyle is only a collection of stereotypes put together by scratching the surface. The songs do little more than allow you time to visit the washroom or refill your popcorn. A Bhandarkar-ism in the film is, ‘film wohi hoti hain jo release hoti hain’. Agreed, but if made in the decade when calendars with cleavage were relevant, it could’ve even managed screens beyond a week.

Review by Troy Ribeiro on Nowrunning

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Every scene seems to have a distinctive Madhur Bhandarkar influence which, over repetitive representations, seem lacklustre and jaded with oft seen, stereotypical characterizations. This pales the viewing experience, this time over. Also, the drama seems forced. One is curious to understand as to why Paroma’s brother and father bail her out after the match-fixing accusation only to later leave her to fend for herself? The plotting of these characters is confusing.

Review by Meetu on Wogma

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I must say though, I am a little surprised that the sleaze wasn’t as bad as I had expected and it was refreshing to see a Bhandarkar film without a stereotypical, gay fashion designer. Yet, it is always a mark against a film when you start talking about the things the film could’ve done wrong, but didn’t.