April kicked off on a good note. A really good note. The plot vagaries of Detective ByomkeshBakshy! aside, Dibakar Banerjee’s edgy adaptation at least got the look right. But what took the cake, the babes and a tremendous box office collection wasFurious 7. For a seventh instalment in a series of ridiculous getaways, heists, chases and unbelievably chiselled eye candy, Furious 7 upped the bar not just in scale but in character development. It was an emotional send-off for Paul Walker, making part 7 the most memorable of the lot so far.

April 10th’s key releases were misfires. Dharam Sankat Meinwith its well-intended Indianisation of The Infidel resorted to the very sermonising it was purportedly against. Broken Horses did not have either the galloping pace of its leitmotif or the powerful telling of Parinda. How does a storyteller undo his own saga for the worse?

On the bright side, this columnist was spared the arduousness of watching Ek Paheli Leela. Which is just as well, since detaching and watching the film without a critical eye may be an experience (especially, for the male gaze).

If one woman is wilfully exploited for her buxom frame, another finds liberation despite being confined to an unyielding neurological disorder. April 17th’s Margarita With A Straw introduced to us an unlikely heroine navigating through the all too familiar setting for nubile heroines in coming-of-age stories. Sublime and simple, this was a refreshing change from the usual Bollywood pizzazz.

What washes away the margarita is a bitter dose of Mr. X. “You can call me X” croons the title track in case you did not get the memo. But in case you did and you adhered, you have been spared the anguish of pining for Mr. India.

Jai Ho! Democracy, released on April 24th does the farcical satire genre no favours. It does the audience’s waning patience no favours. It does storytelling no favours. This means you do not owe it any. Avoid. And plunge headlong into Avengers: Age of Ultron if you have not already. Who needs logic when it’s a bonanza of superheroes and chaos (especially since that is what they set out to deliver)? The most anticipated film ended up signing off this month. That alone makes it a time worthwhile at the movies.