Star interviews - our favourites.

Stars don't have it easy, as this picture of the deeply frowning, pensive-looking Saif Ali Khan demonstrates. Interviews are a tough gig; how to not show your deep hatred of journalists while answering their questions to make sure you do your bit for some film's marketing. I don't read a whole ton of interviews but based on what I've read of Saif's, I can say this dude does not dig the journo's. As probably don't a lot of stars, he's just not as good at masking it.

But I was reminded me of some of my favourite star interviews when listening to the LoveBollywood podcast from months back which featured Shahrukh Khan and Lara Dutta discussing then-new Billu (Barber).

One of the hosts: Shahrukh, how should I do my hair?
Shahrukh: But then what will we do to your face?

Call me weird, but I laughed out loud at that.

So, some of my favourite interviews that come to mind...

BAFTA goes Bollywood with Aamir Khan - Aamir's interviews tend to be favourites of mine because the man has a lot of good stuff to say but this one stands out because in here he talks about getting into the physicality of his characters. While some non-fans will roll their eyes at his lite method acting discussions, it's a great interview, very interesting and a must watch for people who love the guy.

Most Salman Khan interviews - I don't get the vitriol some people have for this guy. Sure, he's past his heyday and has the worst picks in films sometimes, and there's a lot of very nasty rumors about him circling around. But in interviews he always seems like a really relaxed guy with a clear sense of self and a truly quirky sense of humor. I'd link to the CNN-IBN interview that made me well aware of this fact some years back but I can't find it.

Farhan Akhtar on LoveBollywood when Rock On!! was releasing - Since this is no longer available on the BBC website, download link here. Farhan talks about how he got into acting, how he wrote and worked on DCH, and his other films, too. He's a smart chap, and this is one of the best LoveBollywood interviews I've listened. I loved it the first time I listened through it, and after I saw Rock On, I had to go back and give it another listen.

Koffee with Karan, season 1, Abhishek & Preity - I thought KwK was always an incredibly overappreciated chat show. Karan was not the best of hosts, but some episodes really stand out because the guests are friends with each other, and friends with Karan and actually comfortable enough to discuss interesting things and even mock Karan a little. This is one of those episodes. And it made me want to see them together in a movie, which happened eventually in the form of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Since the series got a DVD release, it must have been yanked down from youtube, but if you can, seek it out and watch it.

Siddharth on Filmfare (aka the True Angry Young Man Interview) - Scans of it here. Newsflash! Sidd is no big fan of journos, so much so I feel bad for the interviewer. This dude comes of as cold and refuses to discuss anything not to do with his movies. He has some very strong opinions on South vs North which I can agree with, and even on the success of his own movies. Siddharth's an unique character in the film industry - not really there to make friends and rub elbows with big names, just to work and do his best at it. Fascinating interview on the real personality behind Indian cinema's cutest face. (Only for true fans; some non-fans might be turned off by this.)

Bluffmaster's making of - This is either the most honest interview ever or the most honest deceitful one. Probably the latter. It's just fantastic. Riteish talks about how he's the real star of the movie, Abhishek talks about why people call Boman Irani a great actor because he's old.. It's just great. Search it on youtube if you don't own the DVD yet.

So here were my favourites (or some of them). How about yours?

Third installment of mini-reviews.

(For those who missed them the first two times; typical writer's block post fodder; randomized list of all the Indian movies I've seen to work through; as the name suggests, bite-sized reviews.)

21. Saamy (2003) - This is a pretty solid Tamil action masala starring Vikram that I saw as my third or fourth Vikram film. I remember being mildly disappointed that the plot had its draggy bits but overall not a bad film and I adored Vivek's comedy track in this. Trisha was cute, too.

22. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) - Juhi's debut! Aamir's debut! Both of them so young and freshfaced and adorable! I remember really liking this movie, but also not enjoying it fully because the plot is violent and full of family rivalries of the bloody sort. I was a newbie when I saw it, so that kind of stuff was too much for me at that point - I only wanted fluff. Thankfully, this film had plenty of that, as well.

23. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005) - Has anybody even seen this? Anupam Kher plays a man who starts thinking he was the one who killed Gandhi and Urmila Matondkar plays the daughter who has to deal with her father's mental imbalance. Quite an okay drama, though the ending was incredibly heavy-handed. As far as films that hammer in the message of Gandhi and how Indians shouldn't forget it, I much prefer Lage Raho..

24. Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) - Um, remind me to rewatch this and properly review it because while not amazing, this is a memorable 70's film starring Dharmendra, Asha Parekh and of course, Vinod Khanna as the hottest, filthiest, most vile villain ever. If some of the other legendary villains are disturbing, then Vinod's character Jabbar Singh (check the year! not ripping off Sholay, vice versa rather!) is disturbingly hot. My brain is shortcircuiting just by looking at the screencap above (not mine, by the way, I think I took it from the great bollywood501. com). Oh, Vinod.

25. Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) - I talked about this here. Nikhil Advani's sprawling romantic magnum opus that sort of loses you on some couplings and wins you over with some. Oddly enough, the not-too-available nearly 4 hour long cut of the movie is the best one - the one that made it on DVD is okay, too, though. Excellent music, if nothing else.

26. Race (2008/I) - Worst film of 2008. I can't believe some people found this a fun popcorn thriller. I've not seen a recent Hindi movie be this stupid and attempt to be so serious at the same time. Cringeworthy on all accounts. I'm sure in 10 years' time I can hail this as a campy so-bad-it's-good masterpiece. Right now? Die die die in a fire, stupid movie.

27. Ghulam (1998) - Aamir classic! Aati kya khandala? I quite liked this, a typical 90's romp with the cheesy violence and whatnot, but well worth a watch. I wish Rani and Aamir would star together again. They're always so good together.

28. Sangamam (1999) - One of the most amazing AR Rahman soundtracks ever belongs to this sadly mediocre Tamil movie about a pair of dancers in love. The real tragedy of the soundtrack is that the main dude (whose actor's name my memory has blocked out by now) was just a dreadful dancer. But seriously, the soundtrack, oh my. Carnatic music on speed. Buy the record, go listen to it on a streaming site, just do it!

29. Jaan-E-Mann: Let's Fall in Love... Again (2006) - I reviewed this one already but let's recap: spoofy, goofy, batcrap insane romantic comedy that encapsulates a crazy universe. It's a little fourth-wall breaking, it's plenty funny, it features sympathetic performances by Preity Zinta, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar alike but. It's just not quite solid enough to be called flawless, and the director threw a hissyfit after being critisized. So it's with some sadness I say goodbye to whatever film could've followed up Jaan-e-Mann's type; perhaps better than JEM itself did.

30. The Burning Train (1980) - A disaster movie! A multi-starrer with some of 70's finest (Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jeetendra, Vinod Khanna, Neetu Singh!)! Nutty and entertaining and actually with some really interesting dramatic scenes! I liked this, not quite enough to own on DVD but liked it all the same. Vinod and his romantic interest Parveen Babi's romance was an interesting ride - you see their marriage fall apart because of his workaholism. This film is also worth mentioning as the first film where I really liked Jeetendra.

Right, now to answer comments and then work on a blog review index..

99 - the vibe is right.

I'm utterly behind on new movies, but for whatever reason, the film 99 caught my eye and inspired by my recent rewatch of CDI, I knew I had to at least try and get back on the '09 Bollytrain. I actually don't remember why this film sparked my interest. It might have been Filmi Girl's post in which she asked, "Why isn't Kunal Khemu a superstar yet?".

Why, indeed. Better yet, why is he not in every film this year, every film ever, why is he not shirtless in my bedroom.. Um. You get my point.

And besides him, this film has the fantastic Boman Irani who I love the hell out of in pretty much everything but this was one of his most brilliant roles and performances thus far. I was filled to the brim with Boman love. And Soha Ali Khan, pretty and charming, definite girlcrush of mine (though I admit, has ways to go in terms of acting - she gets good roles, though!). And and and Vinod Khanna! In older form, but still fantastic. Oh. Oh.

Wait, story? Fine, if you must know. 99 takes place in 1999, before and after the Y2K panic and follows the journey of two small-time crooks Sachin (Kunal Khemu) and Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha) who go from being independent to working for the bhai AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar). The perpetual gambler Rahul (Boman Irani) owes AGM money, so Sachin and Zaramud are forced to go to Delhi to collect money.

It's one of those films that isn't mind-blowingly amazing but solid enough and so well-written that you begin to believe in its world, laugh out loud at its clever little jokes and enjoy the ride its characters take into the unpredictable world of betting. Lacking of traditional song picturizations but packed with interesting music all the same, it's one of the few less loud Indian comedies I've seen. (Not that I mind loud comedy -- but I appreciate more situational comedy when well done.)

Kunal Khemu definitely has the acting chops to match his looks and the comic duo of him and Cyrus Broacha worked nicely in here. And I can't fangirl Boman Irani enough, and I also liked Simone Singh in the small role of his wife (which also amused me, because I recalled their jodi in Being Cyrus). This film just had its own style, and that style worked perfectly.

Sometimes I review movies to discuss them, sometimes to warn about them. And sometimes, as with this movie, just to recommend them. It's a fun little film I bet tons will be missing out on. It doesn't look like 2009 is a great year of Hindi films so far, so you might as well give this one a go.

Chak De India and its feminist glitches.

Contains some spoilers for the movie. Watch it before reading! (I doubt you'll regret it.)

I said I'd blog about feminist perspectives when I have something to say, and after rewatching Chak De India last night with one of my NIF (Non-Indian Film watcher) friends, I find I have things to say. (I feel the need to point out that this NIF friend, while still not being fanatic about Indian films, has done something revolutionary; she bought Rang De Basanti on DVD because she enjoyed it so much! Hurray!)

The thing is, I adore this film to bits. It's refreshing, it's gripping, it's got a cast of absolutely terrific characters and some rare, fascinating female-female dynamics that are usually reserved for relations between the sexes or just between men in Indian cinema. And yes, it is awesomely feminist -- boldly, explicitly saying, girls should be able to go out and do stuff, and they can do all stuff as well as men. So what I'm about to say is not to undermine the film's obvious achievements, it's more to examine it more closely.

But - ah, there's always a but, isn't there? - as the movie was winding down, and we see the last of Shahrukh Khan's character Kabir's journey, my friend commented, "But the girls couldn't have done it without a man, huh?".

Glitch number one, ladies and gentlemen (and I sincerely hope people of both genders are still reading!).

The film both triumphs and suffers from the character of Kabir. Triumphs because it surely helped the film's commercial appeal to have the biggest actor in Bollywood starring, and of course, who's to deny Shahrukh turned in a fine performance as the girls' coach. Suffers because it is clear that while these girls were all talented in their own right, they needed Kabir to pull them together as a team, lead them to victory. Even the very final save by the team captain Vidya was successfully pulled off thanks to the signal of Kabir.

You could see the film makers were sort of struggling to maintain a balance between the film's story being the girls' and one of Kabir. It's a tough balance to achieve, no doubt, and I think thanks to Shahrukh's presence, the scale ended up being tipped slightly towards the latter. On the other hand, this is what the audience, I think, expected and probably what I expected, going in. When it turns out the girls have character arcs, personalities and interesting, changing dynamics in a film that is pretty tight in terms of pace and script, I was blown away. The second time, I could take a step back and realize that at the end, Kabir's importance is highlighted as well. But is it at the expense of the girls?

That's really the big question. It can be problematic but it doesn't have to be. Of course, realistically speaking, the character of Kabir couldn't be female - a perceived betrayal of the women's team captain wouldn't be such a big media fuss as that of the men's team captain. But aside from that, it's a typical sports movie and it has its typical sports movie characters and plot structure. Kabir comes in with radical ideas, the girls rebel, but most eventually bend to his will, seeing its results. He is the archetype of the inspirational coach (or teacher) and such a role could be played by a man or a woman. The fact that the character is male carries some implications, but they don't need to be considered as overshadowing the girls' active roles on the field. At the end of the day, whatever training and tactics seminars the coach does, the players get the job done.

Then the other glitch, which my friend also pointed out during our viewing, and which Beth has blogged about (though I hadn't seen the movie at that point and couldn't join in on the discussions). It is the McDonald's fight scene, the bit where some guys and then some more guys get trashed by the girls for making lewd comments at the border state representatives, Mary and Molly.

My friend commented something along the lines of, "Well, that's not too fair." and Beth in her post seconds the notion of vigilante violence not perhaps being the way to deal with gross suggestive comments. Standing up vocally, yes. With fists and sticks? Maybe not.

But as my friend said that, I realized another thing. In the context of the film, my friend and Beth have a definite point - it is an exaggerated response to a situation, and to see Kabir just munching on his burger, not trying to stop the girls' "show of team spirit", is comical and weird at the same time. But the scene makes sense, through a different prism, and one that I'm sure certain female viewers, perhaps even all female viewers, can select to view.

It's this unfortunate worldwide fact that almost all - if not indeed all - women have faced sexual harrassment or even abuse at some point during their lives. Even if it has been of the milder variety, even if it hasn't left considerable trauma, even if it is not something they face every day, it simply is fact. (And now this isn't some call for all the women who don't feel they've ever been sexually harrassed to call me out for generalizing - if you're one such female, you can consider yourself lucky and recognize that some have not been so lucky. I personally prefer not to discuss my experiences with such matters, so I'll simply say I'm not a stranger to it, but also consider myself lucky.)

So the girls in Chak De are not just paying back for a couple of comments. They're paying back for all the comments, all the unwelcome touches they've suffered throughout their lives, and all the stuff they know their fellow females have suffered as well. For the female viewer, who probably has experienced such harrassment and discrimination based on their gender at some point, it can be an empowering, cleansing experience. Is it fair to take it out on a portion of the idiots who do such things? Not really. But it makes sense none the less.

(I should add I'm not some revolutionary thinker on this point -- many people who commented on Beth's post had similar ideas.)

Do these two glitches (and any I possibly didn't pick up on) kill the movie? Not in the least. But it's worth noticing they exist, so as to stay critical of what even the most progressive movies say about gender. So that not only will we get movies as good as CDI in the future, but movies that are, god willing, even better.


Another talky, non-picture-filled post from me. Next time I'll try to bring you more screencap gloriousness. (Summer job is keeping me pretty busy, apologies for not being up on all my blog following business.)

More mini-reviews.

11. Bunty Aur Babli (2005) - What's not to love about this movie? Colourful, fun romantic comedy filled with catchy music, costume changes and hijinks. Brilliance! Rani and Abhishek are fantastic in it. It's also special for me as it was one of the first Bollywood movies - if not the first - I anticipated, listened to the music beforehand and was otherwise dying to see. It did not disappoint, and it got better with rewatches. This one's a favourite for sure.

12. Dushman (1998) - I watched this revenge story when I decided I needed to see more Kajol films, and somebody told me her performance had really impressed them in this. I have to say I agree. Nevertheless, great Kajol performance great movie does not make. The film itself feels trite and boring. I just wasn't feeling it.


13. Jugnu (1973) - A damn fine 70's masala film starring Dharmendra and Hema Malini. I believe I've talked about this before (indeed I have!) so I'll just say it's still on my "to buy" list as I can't find the DVD anywhere! Thankfully most of the songs are on youtube - this film has some awesome Hema dancing.

14. Paheli (2005) - Visually stunning film with jewellery product placement like whoah, starring Rani Mukherji as the unsatisfied just-married wife of boring businessman (Shahrukh Khan). Naturally she falls in love with a ghost (Shahrukh Khan!) who enters her life and seduces her. I'm not big on infidelity stories - it's one of those tragic real life issues I don't particularly want to mix up in my romantic movies. Still, this one's not too annoying, and I loved seeing Shahrukh in the role of the husband - so un-Shahrukh, it was certainly refreshing.

15. Omkara (2006) - Amazing film I have naturally discussed previously, Vishal Bharadwaj's modern Othello interpretation. Very near flawlessness. Awesome performances. Of course, as it stands, not an easy watch - nevertheless, I've seen it multiple times. I look forward to viewing it again, but I think I need somebody to share it with .. otherwise I'll weasel out of watching it all the way through, right to the heart-wrenching ending.

16. Kya Kehna (2000) - Life is wonderful! Or is it? Not if you take nearly 3 hours of your life watching this movie. Okay, okay, I'll admit: Preity Zinta does give us a great performance in it. Saif Ali Khan has an unbearable mullet and a douchebag of a character to play, however, the movie is tiringly 90's and it's just ..not very good. It's just one of those films I'd rather not waste time thinking about.

17. Pithamagan (2003) - Director Bala's best work that I've seen, Vikram's award winning performance, stellar Surya - this one is hard-hitting Tamil cinema overall. Of course I've reviewed it before but I suppose it never hurts to re-recommend it to people. Just remember: don't go in expecting light entertainment.

18. Eklavya (2007) - Christ, what a waste of great cinematography and casting this film is. I cannot believe Vidhu Vinod Chopra kept writing and re-writing this movie for aeons - you'd expect such a huge effort to actually produce a good story. But no, the story is cliché and trite, despite being packed into a short running time. Sigh. Original review here.

19. Johnny Gaddaar (2007) - I still prefer Ek Hasina Thi but this one is another nice proof of talent from Sriram Raghavan. It's a who-dunnit where you know who did it, but are still on the edge of your seat. The pace could be better but still, I really enjoyed this movie. Now I just need to find the time to rewatch it!

20. Bheema (2008) - My original review pretty much says it all - what a dull movie. I'm hoping Vikram's future efforts are more entertaining than this one. However, seeing as how the release dates keep getting pushed back, I have my fears..

Chandi Chowk to China - filmi math gone wrong.

How little did I enjoy Chandi Chowk to China? So little I almost did not want to grace this review with a picture or a poster of the movie. The only reason why I did is that I know people enjoy reviews with pictures more than reviews with none, and I want people to read this.

My view is not original: CC2C tanked in the box office, and it's all too easy to see why. But first, a smidgeon of background - I was skeptical of the bad reviews and the dismissals. I really looked forward to this movie, from the first poster to the nutty first trailers. The movie had so much going for it, it couldn't possibly be as bad as people were saying it was! Let's do the math..

1. Nikhil Advani has done draggy but tremendously entertaining films. After all, there isn't a director in Bollywood who hasn't done flawed films, but out of the great numbers of flawed films, Nikhil's have always stood out for me. Salaam-e-Ishq is great fun.

2. Akshay Kumar, doing kung-fu/martial arts type of thing. Easily the best thing about all of Akshay's bad 90's films was the parts where he got to kick some serious ass. Even better when those moves showed off his martial arts training. So a movie where it's all about the kung fu action? Hot damn, yes please!

3. Deepika's action heroine avatar. I'm not huge on Deepika, since she hasn't really had a chance to prove her acting chops yet but I'm always into heroines who go beyond damsel-in-distress. Okay, so her "Chinese" look was kind of odd but girl kicking ass? Gimme!

4. Kung fu, kung fu, kung fu. Fun action times for all!

And, as usual, asking yourself "How bad can it be?" ultimately ends up being the kiss of death for the movie that actually is bad. Very bad. Unbelievably, tragically, unsuccessful at whatever it is trying to achieve.

The plot is mind-numbingly filmi, and not in a good way. I can embrace the masala as the next person, but the clusterf*** of mistaken identities, slapstick comedy and of course, the flashback fight scene with a baby (insert groans) just made my head hurt. I wasn't feeling it. Akshay's character was annoying, unlovably stupid, the father-son connection between him and Mithun Chakravorty forced and the sole saving grace of the film was Deepika, until she visits a Chinese factory where they enable all the vapidness of the rest of the movie, with gadgets.

But okay, okay, I thought. I was seeing the movie for free, on a plane flight and I had 8 more hours to kill. Just bring me the kung fu, I thought - there was surely a 40 minute awesome kung fu movie hidden in this idiocy. I just had to wait for it.

Sadly, that awesome 40 minute movie turned into a 30 minute movie, and then 20 minute, 10 minute - oh lord - and then I was watching credits. In other words, it never came. I mean, sure, there was action. There were fight scenes. But I never wound up being into it. Everything was just so .. unexciting. Forced. Lifeless.

Early on the in the movie, Akshay's character Siddhu makes references to fusion food - Chinese curry, Indian noodles. If I were to compare the movie to a dish, I'd say this; I don't believe a good Chinese/Indian dish is impossible. It just depends on the chef, and the ingredients. The chef lost the plot here, and the ingredients from both countries were stale. Whatever potential was there, died in the making process. It might look pretty on the plate, but the taste is not good at all.

So, really, stay at home, order take-out. Watch anything but this movie.

off-topic announcement: May travel hiatus.

In less than ten hours I leave for my first trip to Asia. Specifically, South Korea.

This country and its culture are as interesting to me as India's, and I've spent about as much time consuming Korean entertainment, music, television as I have watching Indian movies. So yeah, I'm very glad to be able to go and travel the globe once more. (Maybe India will be my next trip...?)

I'm sorry April was such a lame blogging month; I mostly just rewatched this and that. I have a post to make about re-watching Lage Raho Munnabhai with a bunch of NIFs and also maybe further thoughts on Slumdog.

I'm returning May 18th. After that, I'll have free time to return to my blogging schedule, and maybe my headspace won't be occupied by this trip, planning it etc so that I can actually relax with an Indian movie.

Meanwhile, take care and please don't drop me off your blogrolls. I'll be back I swear!

Alvida!

Aasha; another victim of the half-and-half syndrome.

Hai bhagwan, what a cruel title to this review. The fact of the matter is that the 1957 film Aasha, starring Vyjayanthimala, Kishore Kumar and Pran, is not the most dramatic case of a Hindi film where one half is splendid and the other not so much. It's actually quite far from it. In this case, I think a lot could be attributed to a change of mood - when I began watching, I was so much on board with this film. Somewhere around the middle I had to pause it and put it away for a while, and when I returned to it, I still liked it, but wasn't feeling the magic anymore.

Such is life, I guess. I own this one on DVD now, so I might as well save it for later rewatches, hoping that will sway my opinion into a more positive direction.

Kishore plays Kishore, whose brother - okay, cousin - Raj (my first film seeing Pran as a younger man! awesome!) is not a very nice guy. He aspires to marry the rich girl Nirmala (my first film seeing Vyjayanthimala, yay!), who Kishore falls in love with. But as Raj is not a very nice guy, he has deceived a girl called Kamini, who he dated under the alias of Kishore and then dumped her. Kamini's father begs Raj to marry Kamini to make her a decent girl (or something), which he refuses to do (grr! so evil!) and instead kills the father and frames Kishore for the murder. Boo! Hiss!

But isn't Pran great? He's like good wine; even if not too aged, you will still get joyfully drunk!

Kishore is as Kishore does; a singing comedic sensation that is fully convincing in the more emotional scenes. It's just good stuff.

And Vyjayanthimala?

So adorable..

...fantastic dancer...

..even cutely comical! It was delightful finally seeing her in a film after hearing so much about her, and even though I watch 50's and 60's films only once in a blue moon, I will try to make the effort to see her movies in the future.

You've probably noticed by now, the film has song scenes in color, while otherwise it's black-and-white. The blend is not jarring for me; I've seen Mughal-e-Azam in similar shape many times, and it's not really an issue. In fact, it serves as a nice reminder of the two different visuals, how much colors contribute to a scene, but how well you can do without them!

You may wonder, why did I see this film, instead of so many other films (of Vyjayanthimala or otherwise)? "Iina meena deeka", of course. This wonderful song has been a long-time oldie song favourite of mine and I just had to see the film it was attached to. The version I knew was the picturization above; Vyjayanthimala crossdressing and then dancing in an elaborate set. Later in the movie, we get Kishore's lovely male version of the song. Was it worth it? Yes! I really enjoyed the picturization. It's nice to have context for your favourite tunes, even if the context is not mind-blowingly amazing but more of the cute variety.

What's the problem, then? It's hard to say. The plot starts off smoothly, there's lots of funny comedy, great Pran-Kishore interaction and beginnings of a wonderful romantic storyline.. But sometime after the midway mark, the movie kind of gets stuck. Things still happen, mind you, but the plot seems to be doing a few circles to take up time until we get to the better, fantastically dramatic finale that is in all accounts, an epic bunch of events. Since I watched the film in two halves, it seemed probably like the film just lost it when I sat down to return to it. Maybe that viewpoint sort of skewers my view; the greatness of the beginning is not so fresh in my mind anymore.

Regardless, I wouldn't advice against seeing it. Kishore has done better films, as has Vyjayanthimala, I'm sure (though not sure what those films may be!) so there might be better introduction films to these stars, but for existing fans, or just fans of "Eena meena deeka", give it a spin. Why not?

Do it for younger-Pran!

Writer's block mini-reviews, part 1.

So, I have this blog. And I've seen ..according to my current count, 183 Indian films (give or take, I have some films I'm half-way through, and some films might be missing from the list I have). How many of them have I actually discussed here? A miniscule portion. Let me try to correct that. I inserted my alphabetical list of films seen onto random.org's randomizer and out came a new, randomized list. Here are the first 10 items on that list.

1. Duplicate (1998) - A list of Shahrukh Khan films I absolutely adore is not too long. Even shorter is the list of his movies that I adore in which he is full-on, one hundred percent unsaturated Shahrukh Khan, not toned down as you see him in Chak De India, for example. Duplicate is one of those movies. It's a loud, physical comedy film starring Shahrukh in a double role. The leather-wearing badboy Mannu is out on the run and discovers a foolish mama's boy Bablu bears an uncanny resemblance to him. Hijinks, mistaken identities, romance (Sonali Kulkarni as Mannu's foxy but mistreated girlfriend and Juhi Chawla as Bablu's adorable ladyboss) and hillarity ensue. This one has an uber-catchy, cheesy 90's soundtrack, too. It's just so much fun!

2. Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam (1962) - My first Guru Dutt movie and one of my favourites. On my first watch I remember being completely confused on the social reality portrayed in the movie, I think I still am. Essentially Guru Dutt plays a man who comes to work for a royalty of some kind, meets a lovely girl (Waheeda Rehman) and also gets to know the royalty's lonely, tragic wife (Meena Kumari). It's a classic, and it's a lot less sad than a lot of other Dutt movies so I can definitely recommend it. Oddly enough I've read that by the time this was filmed, Waheeda Rehman and Guru Dutt were not on good terms with each other at all - yet I think their chemistry is great in this!

3. Kaakha Kaakha: The Police (2003) - This is a well-made Tamil action thriller about, you guessed it, cops. Surya plays a policeman whose group are "encounter specialists". This basically means if they run into some gangsters, they can shoot at free will, and boy, do they ever. I thought this was well-made but the actual plot didn't interest me much. It's worth a rental for the smooth soundtrack and the spectacular Jothika-Surya pairing. She looks amazing in this.

4. Yaadon ki Baaraat (1973) - The soundtrack contains one of my favourite Hindi songs ever, "Chura liya hai tumne jo dilko" and that's why I saw this one. It's a mediocre film about three brothers separated at childhood, starring Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman (not paired!) and has a very young Aamir Khan in one scene. And .. I don't know what else to say, really. It's not that bad. It's just not that good, either.


5. Aethiree/Ethiri (2004) - Oh Maddy. Oh, Maddy. This Tamil masala starts out pretty light and fun - R. Madhavan plays a regular guy who gets mistaken for a rowdie (that's Tamil-filmish for 'street gangster, troublemaker') and therefore starts pretending to act like one, even though he is a total wuss. There's a funny friend (Vivek!), a pretty girl (Sada) and it's generally pretty cool (I rather adore this song). Then something happens and the plot just veers off into massive WTF zone and all the cuteness of the movie is successfully ruined. I'm glad I could borrow this DVD off a friend - and look at that cover, can you see why I wanted to see it despite my friend's warnings? - because a few good songs, and some minor Maddy&Sada cuteness DVD purchase does not make.

6. Aarzoo (1999) - I've already discussed this but let us recap: awful Sakshay movie with Madhuri, don't watch, don't watch, do not watch.

7. 36 China Town (2006) - I still own this Abbas-Mustan comedy/thriller despite Race making me question everything those guys have ever directed. It's not a great movie, but when it came out, after nothing good had come out since Rang De Basanti and Fanaa was still a month away, it was a pleasant surprise. Kareena was funny in it, Akshaye was funny in it, and okay okay, it also gave us Upen Patel but no film's perfect, right?

8. Karan Arjun (1995) - Before Sakshay came along, my favourite Bollywood on-screen pair was without a doubt Kajol-SRK. Which is why I saw this one, a damn cheesy film that is so far the only film where we've seen Shahrukh and Salman side by side. It's got insane mother-love, an even more insane villain, resurrection, cheesy 90's dance moves.. If you think Kajol and Shahrukh only did great movies together, you have to watch this one. I don't own it on DVD because while fun, it's not quite that much fun, but every now and then I feel like rewatching "Jaati hoon main" on youtube..

9. Aradhana (1969) - I have to say I enjoyed this classic Sharmila Tagore-Rajesh Khanna starrer, not least of all because it contains the (hot!) picturization for "Roop tera mastana", another song favourite of mine. But despite my enjoyment, there were things about the plot that did not quite sit right with me. The mother who goes through tremendous sacrifice, the double role of Rajesh Khanna.. I guess what I'm getting at is that even though I quite liked it, it's nowhere near becoming a favourite of mine.

10. Achanak (1973) - I cannot fathom why I never bought this movie. It's total Vinod Fangirl Fodder. He plays a soldier who makes questionable choices in life and later battles with them mentally (read: manpain), relaying the story of his life to his doctor and his nurse (Farida Jalal as a young actress!). It's a soundtrackless Gulzar movie that pokes your brain about life, death and morality, but it's also an odd one; very short, only a little over an hour in running time. And a lot of it is Vinod. It's just fantastic. More films should be like this.


This was a lot of fun to do! When my next "cannot figure out what to post" mood strikes, I shall make use of this randomized list once again.

Fifty Bollywood films BBC thinks I ought to own.

Thanks to Beth for linking to this - it's a great excuse to detail some movies I've seen, and whether I appreciate them enough to make this list. Link: BBC Asian Network's 50 Bollywood movies

There's plenty of films I don't own and have not even watched but here are some random comments.

1. Black? Devdas? I know I'm sometimes in the minority as a Bhansali nay-sayer but come on. Really now.
   
2. Guru and Yuva are both quizzical choices. I'd like to have one or the other, for Abhishek's fantastic performances in both, but Guru just was not overall great and Yuva had plenty of boring, trite stuff, too. Bombay I agree with fully, though. It might be my favourite Mani Ratnam film - if nothing else, it is amazingly touching and moving, guaranteed to make you cry.
3. Agree with Beth on this - Munnabhai MBBS ought to be Lage Raho Munnabhai. The first one is good, the second one is absolutely stellar and one of my favourite post-2000 movies.
   
4. Naseeb - goddammit, I own this movie, it has Amitabh, it has Hema and it's a Manmohan Desai. Why haven't I seen this yet? I need to prioritize!
5. Rangeela, wow, really? Does anybody remember anything but bad fashion from that movie? If I was forced to pick a cheesy, classic but not amazing Aamir Khan film from the 90's, I would go with Raja Hindustani. It's not a clever film, far from it, but it has tons of heart. Rangeela has none, unless you count shots of the area where Urmila's heart is, I guess.
6. Some of my ultimate favourites on the list; Seeta aur Geeta, Sholay, Dil Chahta Hai, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Lagaan, Omkara, Rang De Basanti. I also really like Maine Pyar Kiya, Mughal-e-Azam, the previously mentioned Munnabhai, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Good on you for including this, list. Not all faith is lost.
   
7. Sarkar? Yawn. Life in a Metro? What the hell! That one was mediocre at best! Page 3? I don't know, I'm not really into these 'exposé' type of films. Yes, media and the glitz and glam of celebrities hides a lot of dirt and ugly behavior. Big shocker.
8. Films from this list I really want to see: Maachis, Taare Zameen Par (European DVD release, please? anybody?), Pinjar and of course, Naseeb.

Two posts within 24 hours, would you believe it? Go me!

PS. Should each of us Bollywood bloggers create our own "must own" 50 film list? I'm thinking while it might be a favourites list for most, and of course, excludes those who haven't really even seen 50 movies (my numbers are only at 200 at this point..) but it's a good way to evaluate whether you think you've seen a great variety in movies or if your viewing has been more focused towards your biggest favourites or whatever. 25 must owns might be more doable? I'll sleep on this, maybe work on my list tomorrow.