The unavoidable Khan.

Isn't there enough talk in the world about this man right here, Shahrukh Khan? When even a Finnish paper has a small bit about his stardom and Berlin visit (and a mention that his latest, Om Shanti Om is screening at Helsinki International Film Festival), it's a sign that either everything that can be said about the man has already been said, or that you can simply discuss him all eternity.

I'd prefer if it was the former, but then I think back the last seven days of my life, and it has to be said: I've had plenty of Shahrukh this week.

A week ago I saw Chak De India (also at HIFF!), one of those Shahrukh films I'd been avoiding because it hadn't really interested me (simple as that!). However, I was glad to discover this was not really a Shahrukh Khan movie as much as it was a film where Shahrukh Khan plays a lead character. Some of you might be raising your eye-brows, but those of you who've seen plenty of King Khan know exactly what I mean.

I really enjoyed Chak De India, because as stated previously, it's these girls who get to play center stage. It's a sports movie, but definitely among the best, most moving ones I've seen, full stop. Girl power at the core, Shahrukh's character Kabir Khan also has his own plotline, but just as important, if not more so, are the individual storylines of the female hockey team's players and in typical sports film fashion, the team spirit that allows you to overcome any obstacle.

Another refreshing change in the film was the lack of "negative nationalism", or in other words, extremely caricature-like negative portrayal of non-Indian characters. The foreigners are only enemies on the hockey field, and there were no racist or xenophobic insults exchanged.

The following day I watched Om Shanti Om for the third time, and I must say I find the movie less enjoyable, less encaging and more overrated with each viewing. I love me some inside jokes, and some scenes are undoubtedly as hilarious as ever (Abhishek and Akshay steal the show at Filmfare, and the build up to Dard-e-Disco picturization is great) but overall the movie just fails to keep me interested. Shahrukh's parodic hamming it up is no longer sympathetic and everything is just so distanced, I can't really believe in the characters or the story. As my friend put it, "great collection of scenes". But the best movies should be more than the sum of their parts, right?

I guess I just got a Shahrukh-overdose. And yet, today when deciding what to start my relaxing weekend with, I went with my favourite movie of his: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

It's difficult to explain why I have such a special relationship with this movie in particular. I guess the most important thing is that it is built exactly like that; a personal relationship. I didn't fall in love with DDLJ because millions of Indians had, or because everybody who liked Bollywood had. At the get go it was simply a film I saw with two stars I wanted to see in more films, Kajol and Shahrukh Khan. I hadn't heard any of the hype. It captivated me even without subtitles, and once I saw it with subtitles, I was even more smitten. It had flaws, too, no doubt, and even today I am very hesitant about calling it 'the best' of anything. At the same time, it holds a certain magic for me not many other movies do.

And Shahrukh as Raj is the kind of charming perfection even the man himself hasn't been able to duplicate in anything since (of course, this being merely my own view). As I was rewatching, I realized it's a combination of a lot of small things; the way he calls her "Senorita" even though the story about the Spanish girlfriend sounds a little made up, the smug expression on his face each time he tells her "nothing can go wrong" and the embarrassment when something, of course, does go wrong. But also the big things: the care-free attitude and the promise that he'll be serious when he falls in love, a promise which he of course fulfills..

Whatever the director Aditya Chopra is working on with Shahrukh right now, I know not to expect it to bring out the kind of feelings I have for DDLJ. But I suppose so long as it works, I'll be happy.

Did you know 'veracious' means 'truthful'? Sachaa Jhutha.

This is an extremely tired, picture-focused review of a 70's Manmohan Desai film I watched and screencapped on Friday. Apologies in advance.

In Geva Color! Now there's something you don't see everyday.

Rajesh Khanna ...with Salman Kha-- no, wait, Rajesh Khanna again. This is Rajesh Khanna ka Don, except Don came out 8 years after Sachaa Jhutha, so I guess Don would be Amitabh Bachchan ka Sachaa Jhutha. You know the drill. One character honest, humble, kind of a simpleton but with a good heart, the second character evil and Westernized and evil.

Yes, you have seen this bit in Om Shanti Om. Instead of Deepika, we get Mumtaz shakin' it as she's undercover to catch the Bad Rajesh, being actually portrayed by the Good Rajesh character in this song. I'm not a huge fan of Rajesh, to watch anything with two of him expectedly somewhat bored me, but the film still has its moments; Rajesh as a villain was awesome, Mumtaz was cute, it is Manmohan Desai and of course..

Oh look, Vinod! Playing a cop also trying to nab Bad Rajesh.

Heart-shaped table!

Vinod.

Vinod!


I think that about covers everything I had to say here.

We're kind of silly, us Hindi films, aren't we? Andaz apna apna & Om shanti om.

I got a sudden urge last night to rewatch Andaz apna apna (1994), one of my absolute favourite Bollywood comedies, and one of my absolute favourite films altogether. I initially discovered the Aamir Khan-Salman Khan starrer quite early on in my Hindi film watching career. I laughed so hard my muscles cramped, and was so in love with the film I actually saw it three times during the next two days. I invited a friend over to watch it; she also loved it and we concluded this was without a doubt one of the most memorable Hindi films we would ever see.

Not surprisingly, even with this rewatch, I laughed as hard as ever. To the same jokes, same lines, but still discovering new things - as over-the-top as both Aamir and Salman's antics are, every once in a while I watch one in a scene where I normally follow the other, and the expressions, the reactions just kill me and make me fall off my seat.

The movie, in case you've managed to miss it, is a simple story of two good-for-nothing guys - our beloved Khans, of course - and their attempts to court a rich girl (played by the underappreciated comedienne, Raveena Tandon). There is a villain (Paresh Rawal), naturally, a second female lead (Karisma Kapoor) and all the other Hindi filmi usuals; henchmen, double roles, mistaken identity.. What make AAA worthy of a watch (or in my case, seven) are two things. First, its genre. AAA is 100% slapstick. It's goofy, it's silly, it's loudly comedic and unapologetic about it. Second, its self-awareness. It references not only specific movies (Sholay, Hum aapke hai kaun, Qayamat se qayamat tak, Seeta aur geeta, to name a few) but Hindi cinema in itself. It laughs, it mocks, it parodies.


In what is probably my favourite song in the film, "Dil karta hai", Aamir's character Amar chases Raveena around here and there, does the stupidest dance moves (so 90's .. so Aamir!) and is generally annoying. The great thing to me about this song is basically that it's unintentionally (intentionally?) very parodic. How many times is there a song in a Hindi film where the hero acts like an insufferable git and the heroine would be happy if a rock fell out of the sky and landed on him? Raveena's annoyed expressions are simply hilarious and Aamir's moves are an artform in their own right. And the best part? Eventually she hits him with a log of wood.

This delicious self-awareness is what AAA and the other movie I want to discuss in this post, Om shanti om (2007), have in common.

OSO is Farah Khan's crazy and colorful tribute to everything in Hindi cinema; its stars, its films, its makers and its clichés. The film begins in the 1970's, where a junior artist (ie. an extra) Om (Shahrukh Khan, who else!) admires the superstar Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone). The latter half of the film takes place in the present glitzy 00's Bollywood. I feel silly repeating any more of the plot synopsis - this film is getting talked about just about everywhere so if you've somehow managed to miss what it's about, you must be hiding your head in Bollywoodless sand.

The film, much like AAA, is very loud with its references and humor. It's also unapologetic as it pokes fun at this and that star, this and that aspect of Hindi cinema. The stars partake in the mocking themselves, particularly during the modern portion of the film, and indeed some of these moments are simply comedy gold. A lot of Om shanti om's jokes have already become the audience's own little inside jokes - references that will get repeated lovingly.

There is a lot of good in OSO, I have to say. It's very entertaining, memorable and contains a lot of amazingly brilliant scenes. But my first reaction to the movie was still less enthusiastic than that of many others. I did not get on my knees praising this film to the heavens; it was far from perfect to me, and it didn't even become my new favourite.

The main weakness of Om shanti om is in my opinion the ultimate strength of Andaz apna apna; consistency. OSO is melodramatic parody one moment, and an outrageous comedy the next. The tone changes dramatically post-interval and suddenly there's flavors of thriller, even horror thrown to the mix. It's also hyperly self-aware, much to the point where I couldn't quite get into the world of the movie. The world of the movie so clearly stated that it was just a movie, so much you could imagine somebody soon shouting "cut!" and people rushing to fix make-up or to tear down the sets. The characters were characters played by actors, that's it - so whatever they feel, I don't need to feel. The camera is turned off soon, anyway. Why seek the emotional attachment at all?

Andaz apna apna is self-aware and referential, it's filled with mockery and parody, too. But I still believe Aamir is Amar, a witty, selfish goof and I totally buy into Salman's Prem, an idiot but with a heart in the right place (some have called AAA the Bollywood 'Dumb and Dumber' - I disagree, for one because AAA was released before D&D). The story is cliché-packed to the point of ridiculous, but it is what it is. The genre is slapstick with some witticisms thrown into the dialogue here and there (this would probably be a funnier film, were I a Hindi speaker) and here's the key - it remains slapstick 'til the very end.

It's like I told somebody recently, "When a character in AAA is crying, they want to make you laugh." In OSO, this wasn't the case and when you add my complete lack of attachment to its characters, as a film, it fails to have the appeal to me that films should have. I don't want to return to the world of OSO. I want to rewatch bits of it, but as a whole, I'm not in love with it.

I have some more specific thoughts regarding both films but I best stop typing now - this is getting essay-length and I don't want to bore people reading. I'll try to make for shorter, more concise entries in the future - maybe when it's a film I don't have so much to say about, I'll even manage it. But these two films, and the whole topic of self-referential, parodic Bollywood, it makes me very rambly. For spoilery OSO thoughts, check out this LJ post of mine.