Monthly Archives: February 2016

I Finally Understand the Appeal of Mohan Lal! Thank you, Aalkkoottathil Thaniye! (Vague spoilers follow)

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So, last night I took the next Malayalam DVD off my library stack, and there were no subtitles!  Even though the box promised them!  So, yay!  That was easy, and I’m down to only 4 left.

And then I took the next-next DVD off the stack, and it was an artsy looking 80s movie called  Aalkkoottathil Thaniye.  I wasn’t looking forward to it, but the point of requesting every single Malayalam film from the library and then watching them in a random order is to make me watch a wide variety of films, even if I don’t think I will like them.  So I watched it, and turns out, it was great!  I finally “get” Mohan Lal!

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Vanaprastham: A Classy Malayalam Movie That Made Me Think Deep Thoughts About Less Classy Movies

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I was going to skip this one, but then people in the comments said it was not to be missed, so I gave it a shot!  I’m glad I did.  It isn’t my favorite-favorite, or one that exactly hit the sweet spot of what I like, but it was definitely interesting and different.  And it got me thinking about the Mahabharata and how Indian film acting builds on a classical tradition, which is always a good time!

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I watched Another Malayalam Movie! ‘My Big Father’ is Very Odd

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I shouldn’t say “odd”, because I don’t have enough data to really make that judgement.  Apparently, the star (picture above) is actually a big name actor who has been in a bunch of stuff.  Which isn’t surprising, because he was really really good.  But he is also a little person and at times that is handled in a way that felt super progressive, and at other times, not so much.

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Deadpool Going After Indian Market? Last Weekend’s Box Office for Fitoor, Deadpool, and Sanam Re

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I still haven’t seen Deadpool, because I am swamped by Malayalam films.  I wasn’t sure if I ever would bother with it, at least before it hit DVD.  But then moviemavengal told me it uses an Indian song in the opening scene, and I was all in!

That also made me check out how it is doing in the Indian box office, just in case that Indian scored opening was part of a move on the Indian market.

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Punyalan Agarbatthies: Good Malayalam Film (I think?), that went completely over my head

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Back 10 years ago when I first started watching Hindi movies, there was all this stuff that went completely over my head.  If I enjoyed a film, it was just in the most superficial way, because the hero was cute or the love story was sweet.  And then I learned more and more, and all of a sudden all these plot things started making sense, and I got that the reason this character says this thing here is because it is related to some huge political movement or religious metaphor or something.

And now I am trying to get into the regional films, and I feel like I am back to square one and I am missing all sorts of things!  It is very frustrating, but I know the only way to get through it is just to keep going.

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Fitoor Box Office Collections: Start of a Trend for UTV?

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Bollywoodhungama has some inside rumors about Fitoor to go along with their box office figures from the weekend (which are dismal).  But in a bigger sense, they bring up the question, what does this mean for UTV as a studio?  I am wondering, what does it mean for all the studios?  Is this a sign of a change of times?

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Ki and Ka Trailer! Is This Really Breaking Gender Roles?

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I was going to make the headline “Is this really feminist?”, but then I realized that isn’t really the question.  Because yes!  It is definitely feminist!  Kareena’s character is an individual who has the ability to make choices about her own life, so yep!  Definitely!  The bigger question is really, is it actually breaking gender roles?

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Weekend in Kerala!

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So, I did something wee bit foolish.  After learning a little more about Malayalam films, and watching Ohm Shanti Oshaana, I went into my library system and requested every DVD they have with the word “Malayalam” somewhere in the description.  Which is 12 DVDs, and they all arrived at once, and now I have to watch 36 hours of Malayalam films in 7 days.  Which may turn out to not be humanly possible and I will end up returning some unwatched.  And they are definitely not all getting full reviews!

Over the weekend, I was able to finish 2, start and reject 1, and reject 2 others just based on the box (yes, I judged a DVD by its cover).  So only 7 left!

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Fitoor Review: Spoilers! Politics Over Character Means We All Lose!

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I saw Fitoor!  Opening night!  With 20 other people!  It was not a good film.  It was also not a very good political statement.  And it kind of felt like the main goal was more the political statement than the film.  But it turned out to be a pretty simplistic political statement and a pretty bland film.

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Fitoor Review: FanFic for Armchair Political Theorists (No Spoilers!)

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I saw Fitoor!  Opening night!  There were, maybe, 20 other people in the theater!  Not good.  I’ll be curious to see how the box office shakes out.  I’ll also be curious to read the reviews.  Because I was expecting some subtle political statement, and oh my gosh!  It’s just an anthropomorphized debate on the Kashmir Question!

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Dilwale DVD Release date Rumors

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Dilwale came out almost 2 months ago, which means the DVD could be released any day now.  I’m a little spoiled, since I live ten minutes from the biggest Indian immigrant neighborhood in my region, I can just swing by the DVD store everyday on my way home from work and ask about availability.  But for you poor people who did not organize your entire lives around access to Indian DVDs, it might be a little trickier.

So, here are the rumors I have gathered so far from the internet.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Shantisal pointed out in the comments, it is currently available on Itunes!  For both rent and sale!  And also, apparently, Googleplay!  I still want the DVD, of course, because I Neeeeeeed the special features.  But this will make a nice stopgap!

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT UPDATE: njmtv.com has dvd pre-order available with a release date of Feb 28th! I love njmtv, partly because I used to rent from their storefront location when my sister lived in New Jersey.

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DDLJ Part 5: Paris! Stop, You Crazy Heart! Also, Qayamet Se Qayamet Tak!

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In between other things, I am slowly making may way through a massive multi-part summary of all the SRKajol films.  I already did Karan-Arjun and Baazigar, and this whole thing was started with my summarizing Dilwale.  And now I have finally reached the pinnacle (suck it, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai fans!  I am saying DDLJ is better and you can’t stop me!)

(part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, part 8 here, part 9 here, part 10 here, part 11 here, part 12 here, part 13 here, part 14 here, part 15 here, part 16 here)

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DDLJ Part 4: Let’s Ride That Train! And Talk about Eve-Teasing!

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I’m back!  After a couple of breaks for Ghayal and Saala Khadoos.  Just like if I can’t decide what to watch, I can always enjoy throwing in DDLJ, I can always toss in another part of this many many part series whenever there is nothing else going on (look for another break in a few days when I have to stop and cover Fitoor).

(part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here, part 8 here, part 9 here, part 10 here, part 11 here, part 12 here, part 13 here, part 14 here, part 15 here, part 16 here)

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The Most Romantic Part of Sanam Re is the Release Strategy

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Bollywoodhungama, once again satisfying the industry nerd within me, has come through with some interesting figures related to the two big Valentine’s releases.  As expected, Ghayal Once Again and Sanam Teri Kasam both flat-lined last weekend, which should mean there is nothing standing in the way of a massive all-India hit with Fitoor.  Only, late-breaking news shows that there is another player in the game, and he is coming in hard.

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