First, THANK YOU!!!! To all you wonderful people who read and follow and especially COMMENT!!!
Here is the text of my very first post:
So, everyone keeps telling me, “start a blog! Start a blog!” So fine, I’ll start a blog! And either it will be a huge success and I will go on to fame and fortune, or it will fail and I can go back to everyone and say “ha! I was right! Starting a blog was pointless!” So, really, either way, I win.
As you can see, I was just the tiniest bit defensive. At least publicly. Privately, I made a promise to myself that I would try it for a year, and be serious about it, 1-4 posts every single day, and if I was able to build up an audience, I would keep going. Because I know myself, and I know I can’t write things if there isn’t an audience (this is why I have never been able to keep a diary).
And now it is a year later, and I am averaging 3-6 posts a day, I have about a 2 dozen faithful commentators, and a couple hundred visitors a day (the visitors aren’t as impressive as that sounds, I’ll get into it in a post later today about where my views come from). So, yes, I will be continuing. For at least another year.
And I really like blogging! So THANK YOU!!! Thank you for reading and commenting, and thank you to all the people in my “real” life who nagged me into doing this.
And now, if you want to do one more thing for me, in the comments, tell me what is your favorite post of mine from the past year. Which will make me feel warm fuzzies inside, but also give me valuable market data 🙂 And maybe make me write more posts like the ones you like in the coming year.
dontcallitbollywood 
My favorite is not one single post, but the series you did on DDLJ. I know this might be heresy, but if it weren’t for those posts, I don’t think I would not have given the film a second watch. There was just so much I did not get, and Shah Rukh’s dimples weren’t enough to entice me back. But thanks to your blog, I re-watched, and shared with friends, and read books and articles, and expanded my understanding. This blog is PURE GOLD.
And I already have my ticket for the first showing of Dear Zindagi tomorrow.
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Dear Zindagi showtimes were FINALLY posted for my theater, but I didn’t even think about buying a ticket early! Do you think I should? Oh my goodness, I am going to be worrying about this ALL DAY.
And I am so glad you like the DDLJ series! Those are some of my favorites too, but they are an enormous amount of work (screen shots alone take over an hour for each). So I am glad to hear they had an effect on someone!
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I get movie tickets early to enjoy the anticipation, not because I am afraid it will sell out.
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I get the tickets early because I am afraid it will sell out. I also get to airports 3 hours before my flight, and do all my homework for classes 2 weeks in advance (I hate teachers who change the syllabus in the middle of the semester, what about the students who are already 4 weeks ahead in the reading?!?! What are we supposed to do?!?!?).
Although, and I don’t know why this has never seemed odd to me, I always buy tickets for myself online, and then go to the movie with 4 friends who haven’t purchased in advance and are riding in my car. So, what is my plan here? Do I think that if it is sold out, I will just leave them to wait for me in the lobby for 3 hours while I see the movie with my lonely online ticket, and then drive them home? Would I ask for a refund and buy a ticket to another show so we could watch together? Nah, I’d probably do the first.
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I like the silly superlative post! And I’m always a fan of lists of favorites, etc
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Oh good, those are the easiest to write! Because I have all kinds of lists in my head 🙂 And I am very glad that a respectable educated librarian lady doesn’t look down on me for my TGIF posts. (I kind of look down on me a little)
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My favorite posts are your posts on Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania 🙂 . I totally agree with the way you feel about the movie. Plus I like how you didn’t just dismiss it as another DDLJ.
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I meant that I liked how you didn’t dismiss it as another DDLJ ripoff.
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Oh, that’s nice to here! Especially because that was one of those posts I spent a lot of time on, and it didn’t look like many people read. Unfortunately, I don’t know how I can recreate it for you. Well, except for my review of Badrinath ki Dulhania whenever that comes out!
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Badrinath Ki Dulhania is coming out on March 10th 🙂
I’m really excited for it because Varun has said that it has some dark shades in it when compared to other Dharma movies. Plus it’s Varun and Alia coming back together again after Humpty!
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Thank goodness, people are releasing movies during IPL again!!!! Not as many, it’s still pretty dry between Valentine’s and June, but at least it’s not a total desert any more.
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I don’t know if I can narrow down to ONE favorite post. I really like them all even your super long DDLJ summary posts. Even if I vehemently disagree with you on a review, I gain new insight from what you have to say. I do like your recent Monday question series so we can just feel like we’re having a conversation amongst the regular commenters here. I always learn something new in those! And I finally know what that evil eye motion thingy is that Kirron Kher always does!
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Well, now I kind of want to know which ones you vehemently disagree with 🙂
But I know what you mean, my favorite reviewers are the ones where even if I disagree with the number of stars they give the film, I still agree with all the points they make in the review.
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Well, for one, I don’t hate Aish like you do, and I found her pretty delicious in ADHM. And I didn’t HATE Bajirao Mastani. I enjoyed watching it and the spectacle of it all (no one does spectacle like Bhansali), but I did not run out to buy the DVD. I have my quirks, too. I have an irrational dislike for Vivek Oberoi and Saathiya didn’t send me, but I know you love it.
I’ve pulled you over to my side on many things (Malayalam films, Dulquer, an apprecation of Mahesh Babu, Prabhas — and most importantly BAHUBALI! For the rest, to each his own. We agree on the most important thing — Shahrukh.
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When people come over to my weekly movie nights for the first time, I always start my Indian film lesson with “You see that huge poster? That is Shahrukh Khan, the most wonderful man in the history of the world.” And then we go from there. It is the one basic fact you need to know about Indian film.
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Yay You! I LOVE your blog and I thought you had many more followers. I’m going to start retweeting your post. Most if not all of the people who follow me (not a huge number, mind you) are rabid SRK fans. So posts about him will get the most traction. And THEY have LOADS of followers!
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thank you! And yes, please re-tweet! I am terrible at promoting myself, but, as I said in the other post, I also like to write things that people actually read.
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Sorry you haven’t been enjoying the recent content. I go in phases, mostly based on how much time I have. The regional reviews take a lot longer to write, especially since I have to watch the movies as well, and track them down with subtitles, and all of that. Whereas the mainstream Hindi stuff, I’ve already seen and can just dash something off from memory.
Please, do check out the posts, even if they seem “gossipy” or giving “excessive importance”. Often those are the ones that have the most esoteric content. I like using interesting little facts and jumping off points for general discussions of film theory or social dynamics. Yes, some of them are just silly, but I’m really pretty proud of my discussion of the best films in which Shahrukh was involved, for instance, it gave me a chance to discuss Bombay Talkies and Gaja Gamini. And one of my Hrithik-Kangana posts gave me a chance to discuss the virgin-whore dynamic as it appears in Indian gender theory, and another let me talk about age and gender power dynamics in the film industry.
And if you are only interested in regional reviews, I just recently watched Boys, Indian, and an old NTR movie, those posts should be going up in the next week or so.
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As to my favorites, since I am still going through the ones I missed before I met you, I can’t say yet. So far, I’ve loved the summary/reviews. I watch films very carefully and I’m good at nuance and detail and you see things I miss, which I love. Also, saw Dear Zindagi this morning. All I can say is, I really don’t want to do much of anything else but go watch it again..and again…Oh, all those people coming to my house for Thanksgiving you ask…I can ditch them? No? Okay, Sunday and Monday I’ll see it again!
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I just got home, review going up shortly, and YES! SO GOOD! My only criticism (which I will be mentioning in my review as well), is that Shahrukh was too sexy. Like, I literally lost track of dialogue because I was just watching the way his lips moved.
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