Sunday, December 21, 2008

Haiku day!

thinking of Dil Se
the nationalist message
is it? I ask you

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hated Dil Se
It broke a cardinal rule
Shahrukh should not die

veracious said...

Responses need not be in haiku but thanks, memsaab, I appreciated keeping with the form.

I didn't mind Shahrukh dying, in fact I was quite struck and impressed by the powerful ending. After I watched the film I read about the nationalist interpretation of the film, where Amar represents mainstream India and Meghna the side states, the ones that contain native peoples that don't quite fit what is generally thought of as "Indian culture". Can't remember the exact details of the analysis, but it was fascinating and I really enjoyed reading it. Basically the fact the relationship is good for neither of them would say something about message in the film.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree---it was necessary, but I still hated it. I don't like unhappy endings, and that's why I'll probably never watch it again. It falls squarely into the "I'm glad I saw it, but never again" categories of "good" films that will never be favorites :-)

ajnabi said...

Really, veracious
Such analysis is hardly
Holiday fair play

LOL But I'll indulge anyway and say that the only nationalist message I took away from the film is in favor of Meghna's terrorist wannabe-separate nation.

I thought this was SRK's best acting performance that I've seen, though not the most enjoyable since he played such a schmuck, so I'm glad I watched it on that front as well. ;-)

Andromache said...

I don't feel like I know enough about Indian politics to comment on this adequately. I do like reading the commentary of others who are more knowledgeable, because it's fascinating stuff.

I do like the subversion (or at least the exploration) of the whole trope of "Guy Meets Girl, Guy Falls in Love With Girl, Guy Stalks Girl Until She Falls in Love" movie trope. Iiinteresting.

veracious said...

memsaab - Unhappy endings are tougher to rewatch than happy ones, no doubt. But they never really lessen my liking of a movie. :)

ajnabi - I think his performance in CDI topped any other SRK performance for me but I also love this one. :D

Andromache - Yeah, I also feel like it can be tough to comment on such complex matters, not knowing the full history of Indian politics.