What a disappointment! Warning bells were ringing for me when Aiyaary's press show, that was supposed to happen during Thursday afternoon, got postponed to late evening for 'technical reasons'. But I had hopes. After all it was a Neeraj Pandey film and it boasts of quite an interesting cast with Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra in the lead. The promos were really good, and fro  what we heard the movie was supposed to throw shade on some real-life scandals, like the Adarsh housing society scam. And then I saw the movie. Read our review of Aiyaary right here to know how the movie failed me as a fan.

Needless, to say, I was totally disappointed with Neeraj Pandey's latest effort. While we laud him still for trying to not take the tried-and-tested path, I do wish he would keep a tighter rein over his craft.

Neeraj Pandey had burst into the Bollywood scene in 2008 with a scintillating debut in A Wednesday. Now that he has completed a decade in the industry, he also has five movies under his director's belt. So where does his latest work rank among his filmography? Is it his weakest movie till date?

Without further ado, we ranked all the movies Neeraj Pandey has directed till date based on their quality, from the worst to the best.

Aiyaary

Boasts of gutsy plot elements, but couldn't let that gumption survive till the end. At 2 hours 40 minutes, Aiyaary is a cumbersome watch with only Manoj Bajpayee's fine performance and a couple of engaging moments to boast of. Major blame falls on Neeraj Pandey's weak direction, average technical values and Sidharth's undefined protagonist.

MS Dhoni: The Untold Story

Some critics calls this biopic as 'the 100 crore PR project' and they can't be blamed for that. An unnecessary biopic for Captain Cool, it infamously skittles over the controversial chapters of Dhoni's life and instead focuses too much on his romantic life. However, an engaging first half, that portrays Dhoni's early days, and Sushant' dedicated performance don't make it a totally bad deal.

Special 26

The first collaboration of Neeraj Pandey with his new estranged good friend Akshay Kumar was a breezy heist thriller, with ample of light moments. Based on the Opera House heist that happened in the '80s, the movie has enough sequence to keep you on the edge of the seat, with Akshay, Manoj Bajpayee and co. are at their entertaining best. However a forced romantic track (romance is never Pandey's forte) and some unbelievable twists make it tank lower in the list.

Baby

Sure, Baby has too much chest-thumping jingoism and the second half has shades of Hollywood thriller Argo. But Baby, even with its nearly three-hour runtime, remains Pandey's most polished product till date. Akshay Kumar is terrific here, while Taapsee Pannu shines in an unexpected action sequence. The movie also extricates good performances from the rest of the cast.

A Wednesday

It feels ironical that Pandey's nest work, while also being his first movie, is bereft of any so-called box office power stars. Focusing primarily on the towering performances of Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher, A Wednesday is an engaging suspense thriller throughout with some strong sequences and one final brilliant monologue. The movie won over critics, while the 'common man' lapped it up at the box office. Too bad, Pandey couldn't manage to outshine his debut movie despite the increase in budget and star power.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 16, 2018 04:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).