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Shikhar Verma

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Co-founded the independent platform High On Films so that Independent film from across the world could get the love they deserve. Has a keen eye for everything art related and is constantly involved in spreading it around. Films are first love. A dream, a reality, and an illusion - all wrapped in one.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Two Pianos (2025) 74% 2/5 EDIT “Although Desplechin tries his best to trudge the film with thematically rich ideas, the result is a scattered melodrama that never commits to any of them. ” – High on Films May 1, 2026 Full Review Toaster (2026) 1.5/5 EDIT “Other than Archana Puran Singh’s scene-stealing presence, nothing really works for "Toaster," which ends up being just another lame Mumbai comedy that borrows heavily from the Kunal Khemu school of crime-caper minus the sense of humour of being one. ” – High on Films Apr 20, 2026 Full Review Crumb Catcher (2023) 88% 3/5 EDIT “[Crumb Catcher] is a tense but wildly uneven reworking of the home-invasion subgenre – a social horror that derives thrills from the idea of being over-exposed to the unforeseeable nightmares that find their way to our doorsteps.” – High on Films Apr 18, 2026 Full Review By His Hand (2025) 2.5/5 EDIT “For a debut, Taylor Paur shows great promise. Instead of making this a thriller that matches the relentlessness of pursuit with intensity, he opts for a grounded, character-driven approach that is laudable and ambitious in itself.” – High on Films Apr 18, 2026 Full Review Ballistic (2025) 69% 2/5 EDIT “[Ballistic] becomes a look at misplaced grief and anger, only to be subjugated by a tone that leans toward being a convoluted thriller about revenge” – High on Films Apr 16, 2026 Full Review Slowburn Shoot: An Indie Wrestling Story (2026) 3/5 EDIT “Since [Slowburn Shoot: An Indie Wrestling Story ] is a grassroots-level exploration of the actual sporting event, the first-hand experience is more personal, intimate, rewarding, and emotionally moving than you might expect. ” – High on Films Apr 14, 2026 Full Review Holy Days (2026) 62% 2/5 EDIT “The problem starts with how conventional everything feels and how the journey of self-actualisation and a crisis of faith feels stamped on, rather than organically developed.” – High on Films Mar 23, 2026 Full Review The Pornographer (1999) 60% 2.5/5 EDIT “[The Pornographer is] a surprisingly revelatory take on the male loneliness epidemic” – High on Films Mar 11, 2026 Full Review NFT: Cursed Images (2026) 1.5/5 EDIT “[NFT: Cursed Images] squanders the potential of the premise on half-baked thrills that are so predictably timed and poorly spread across a tight runtime of seventy-four minutes that you are left with only vapid scenes that leave you frustrated. ” – High on Films Mar 7, 2026 Full Review All Is Fine In '89 (2024) 2.5/5 EDIT “[All is Fine in '89] is a tonally messy 80s throwback that works as a bleak reworking of John Hughes’ cinema” – High on Films Mar 2, 2026 Full Review White with Fear (2024) 90% 3/5 EDIT “A deep-dive into how race-based division has shaped the dictatorship playbook for years.” – High on Films Feb 28, 2026 Full Review Artfully United (2025) 2/5 EDIT “[Artfully United is] an inspiring but expositionary art-doc that doesn’t leave an impact. ” – High on Films Feb 28, 2026 Full Review Homecoming: The Tokyo Series (2026) 3.5/5 EDIT “[Homecoming: The Tokyo Series] doubles down as a snapshot of the ever-so-fascinating Japanese culture” – High on Films Feb 22, 2026 Full Review I Know Exactly How You Die (2026) 2/5 EDIT “ "I Know Exactly How You Die" is an intriguing meta-horror that literally loses the plot.” – High on Films Feb 17, 2026 Full Review Mockbuster (2025) 3/5 EDIT “This is a film that is as much about the existential dread of creating something as it is about the trials, tribulations, and eventually, the joys of making your first feature.” – High on Films Feb 7, 2026 Full Review White Man Walking (2025) 3/5 EDIT “[White Man Walking] wishes to say that the path to understanding comes from talking and listening to different perspectives, no matter how vile or uninformed they are. ” – High on Films Feb 5, 2026 Full Review The Musical (2026) 59% 2/5 EDIT “The wonky execution and unsure satirical leanings never truly make [The Musical] stick the landing. ” – High on Films Jan 30, 2026 Full Review Night Nurse (2026) 76% 2.5/5 EDIT “[Night Nurse] is a wildly uneven but inadvertently seductive thriller that cuts through broad metaphors of power dynamics, co-dependency, and caregiving. ” – High on Films Jan 29, 2026 Full Review Big Girls Don't Cry (2026) 100% 3/5 EDIT “Schneideman’s vision of girlhood, despite the familiarity, feels like a sensitively rendered snapshot of a teenager traversing through the uncomfortable lanes of discovering herself. ” – High on Films Jan 29, 2026 Full Review Tafiti: Across the Desert (2025) 2.5/5 EDIT “[Tafiti - Across the Desert] is a classic adventure with pint-sized life lessons that the kiddies would enjoy. However, their accompanying parents might find its lack of rhythms and surprises a tad tough to sit through. ” – High on Films Jan 27, 2026 Full Review The Bad Patriots (2024) 3/5 EDIT “[The Bad Patriots] is a documentary that is only able to reason out why a balanced world without biases is what we need right now. ” – High on Films Jan 25, 2026 Full Review Smile... The Worst Is Yet to Come (2026) 2.5/5 EDIT “ "Smile…The Worst is Yet to Come," which follows the midlife crisis of a perfectly imperfect LA-based couple, conjures up these relatable anxieties of being in your 40s and finally realizing that life is slowly slipping away from you. ” – High on Films Jan 20, 2026 Full Review The Mannequin (2025) 70% 2/5 EDIT “The rushed feeling ruins the entire enterprise and makes "The Manequin" a barely realized supernatural slasher that can only be used as a part of John Berardo’s portfolio reel to showcase his talent in scene blocking and staging. ” – High on Films Jan 19, 2026 Full Review Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos (2026) 45% 2/5 EDIT “The jokes aren’t laugh-out-loud-funny because there is a constant undercurrent of self-awareness that either slices the joke in half or lets it go on for a little too long for it to land in the traditional sense.” – High on Films Jan 19, 2026 Full Review Stalkers (2025) 80% 2.5/5 EDIT “"Stalkers" works intermittently because of how it weaves in the themes of obsession and the insecurities that people carry within them. ” – High on Films Jan 1, 2026 Full Review
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