Two trailers that I haven’t gotten around to discussing yet, and just to round out the post, my favorite song from KANK (actually, one of my all time favorite songs), in honor of the 10 year anniversary of its release.
First, I already posted when the original Baar Baar Dekho trailer came out, but now it is out with subtitles! Woo-hoo! Not that they add anything you couldn’t really figure out before, but still, it’s nice to get confirmation that there isn’t some super subtle phrasing in there that changes the whole meaning of everything.
Releasing just today from Baar Baar Dekho is another song trailer, for the “honeymoon” song in Thailand. It’s pretty! And a very different version of Thailand from the one I just saw in that little bit in Kabali. More tourist and vacation and beaches, less grinding poverty and disenfranchisement.
Also, Katrina seems to be following the Kareena post-break-up theory, and losing a ton of weight and then showing off her new body like crazy. If she can manage the final step of “getting a much better guy than her ex to be totally publically crazy about her” but skip the intermediate step of “the first big post-break-up movie is a huge flop”, then she will have nailed it.
(Personally, I think she is way too skinny here. I’m glad it was only her look for this one movie, and then she went back to what seems to be “normal” for her)
And then there’s the Pink trailer. Which I have been avoiding, because based on the buzz I knew it would probably make me upset and angry. Which it does! Partly because the trailer is too realistic, showing the problems with prosecuting rape cases anywhere in the world. And partly because it feels like it doesn’t go quite far enough. There’s always the debate with art as to whether it is more important to show social problems representationally or aspirationally. Personally, I feel like you need a mixture of both. Yes, don’t sugarcoat it or pretend the problems don’t exist. But in the end, I want something to indicate that there is hope, that it is possible for someone to stand up and make a difference, because otherwise what is the point? I mean, we can all sit around and say “yes, it is terrible that rape victims are never believed”, but I need a second half to that sentence “and therefore it is important for us to believe them, because when we do society as a whole can move forward.” Something! Otherwise we will all just leave the theater depressed, but not inspired to actually do anything about it.
Of course, this is just the trailer. It is possible that the actual film will have a message like that eventually, that Amitabh will come to believe the girls and use the court system to help them or something like that. But I may not go opening night to this one, I may wait and see what the reviews say.
And after that total downer, something happy! Well, not exactly happy, inspirational? Anyway, the “Mitwa” song from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna in honor of its anniversary. I love this song, because it is such a brilliant deconstruction of fantasy songs. Instead of having their eyes meet, and then they are on a mountain top, and then we come back at the end to them embracing, it keeps going back and forth, showing us how they are really just doing the same everyday stuff that everyone does, but because they are in love, it FEELS epic and amazing. Plus, both the everyday and the epic and amazing bits are just really well done. The ice cream cone bit (which they took from Kabhi Haa Kabhi Naa), the running free into an empty soccer stadium, it’s all just lovely. Oh, and the song is pretty too.
dontcallitbollywood 
Okay Ima jump in and give you trivia about the size zero thing in Tashan. Read this in Kareena’s dietician’s book actually (it’s not bad. She recommends eating local, having meals on time and most importantly splitting your meals into several small ones every 2 hours. Smart and sustainable). Apparantly she approached her post-Don when for some reason I can’t fathom people were criticizing her weight (I loved her in Yeh Mera Dil!) and told her that she needed to get in shape for this bikini sequence in Tashan. There’s an entire chapter in her book dedicated to the progress she made from Don to Jab We Met to Tashan and how she adjusted her diet to wherever she was staying. Like I think they shot the sequence in Leh/Ladakh (? I don’t remember, been ages since I read it last) and she was snacking on goat’s cheese, momos and thukpas. Interesting actually. But I guess Kareena was really just happy with her weight the way it was earlier and in her own book mentioned that she still eats fries sometimes. Teehee.
I LOVE Mitwa! I remember downloading and reading this paper analysing the songs in some of SRK’s movies and a huge section was about Mitwa and how it showed/expressed female desire and how we were constantly walking in and out of the characters’ minds throughout the song. Like it took me several rewatches to separate the two because they flowed so seamlessly. Esp the last bit where they’re discussing the anniversary dinners and he is busy singing and suddenly it shifts POV to her and her joy at spending time with him. I didn’t realise until much later that she was the one doing the dreaming in that sequence. If I ever find that paper I’ll pass it to you. I think you’ll enjoy it. It also shows sequences from KKHH and K3G.
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I love her in Yeh Mera Dil too! And Fevicol Se. And all the Hulchul songs. She looks so good like that! I’m glad she is happy at that weight.
And yes, I want to read that songs paper! Let me know if you remember the author/title/publication.
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I FOUND IT! It’s a paper analyzing the gaze in Karan Johar’s movies called “Darshan meets Scopophilia” by Hanna Maria Klein. Really interesting. It looks at KKHH’s title song…Suraj Hua Madham, a song from KHNH also I think, and Mitwa and Tumhi Dekho Na from KANK. In fact does it also depict dialogue sequences in the movie? Possibly. It’s been 2 years since I read it so don’t take my word for it. I’m trying to copy the link to my phone but it’s not happening >.< But you will def find a PDF version on Google. I'll try getting link from my laptop tomorrow maybe. Sigh.
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Yay! The title alone has me excited!
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Pingback: Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna – 10 Year anniversary appreciation – MovieMavenGal
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://othes.univie.ac.at/16707/1/2011-10-03_0305327.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjHn5Ch_LrOAhUGpY8KHW_vBO4QFgghMAI&usg=AFQjCNHKAbO1mUwWaptOstPIGDyYrMGXSg&sig2=f_rdjE4dSXrKGAsly0J-2Q – Hope this works.
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It did work! And looks fascinating! Thanks! (and again confirms my suspicion that Germans are nutty about SRK)
It reminds me of an article I read by Sara Dewey called “Doing Bombay Darshan” about how Bombay tours package together visits to temples and historic sights with visits to Jalsa. It was in a book, so I don’t have a cool download link for it, but here’s Dewey’s website with more info:
https://sites.google.com/site/drsusandewey/
(Her article on Miss India is also fascinating. Although not as good a title as another Miss India article, “Ash-colored Whiteness”)
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