I turn on twitter this morning, and boom! Romance everywhere! Bigger version of the Shahrukh poster (still no title), new Half-Girlfriend song, and people are still tweeting about the last Raabta song.
Shahrukh first (always!). We already saw the main visual from this poster ages ago, but I think the tagline and some of the background is new.
Now, am I seeing things or is there some kind of a message in the san colored background on the right hand side? I’m getting “12 AD” maybe. Which makes no sense and tells me nothing.
And then there is the little Portugal stamp, which just tells us that they are filming in Portugal, which we already knew. And that the vacation setting will be a strong part of the mood of the film, which we also knew because it is an Imtiaz Ali film.
And then there’s the “what you seek is seeking you” tagline. Which is all lowercase and unpunctuated, which tells us that Imtiaz is still a bit full of himself. But also adds like a strange stalker vibe to the way Shahrukh is following Anushka, right? Oh, and I am assuming that Anushka is going to Portugal for some sort of “finding herself” trip? Looking for a romantic interest, or her estranged father, or something. And Shahrukh is supporting her quest, rather than having his own, but in the end she realizes he is what she wants and has been there all along. Basically, French Kiss/Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha.
On other rom-com news, new Half Girlfriend song! This is such a tricky relationship to handle, it’s explicitly about the “nice guy” guy, the one who keeps hanging around and being your friend and hoping that you will give in and fall in love with him. That guy is a terrible guy, that guy can sometimes turn into rapist-guy. And what makes me interested in the film is that it doesn’t seem to be pulling its punches about this whole thing. Arjun is not getting any signals from Shraddha that she is interested, he is spending way too much time thinking about her and following her around, and he is kind of pushing too hard to make her react to him.
But, way down deep, there is supposed to be a sense that Shraddha is lonely and sad. She doesn’t necessarily need to be “rescued”, but she might have stuff going on which is making her not able to relate to anyone, including Arjun. She isn’t the “remote ice princess” because she is a perfect female ideal like Arjun sees her, but because she is not a happy person. Anyway, the point is I really like the moment at the end when she lets him keep holding her hand and holds his back. It feels like she is doing it just to be nice, but at the same time like she can only do something like that just to be nice because she isn’t able to feel anything, not because she doesn’t feel anything for Arjun in particular. Does that make sense?
And finally, Raabta! Which is looking more and more Magadheera like. Not because of the song, but because of this tweet:
Totally the old seer character from Magadheera, right? Even the costuming kind of looks similar.
Oh, but the song! Which does not look anything like Magadheera. But is super cute! T.J Stevens in the comments said it reminded her of early Shahrukh, which made me think, and I can kind of see it. Only it’s not just early Shahrukh, but those 90s heroes in general. They were so much more open and happy and smile-y, instead of our modern angsty, or ironic and cynical, heroes. But Sushant seems like a throwback to that early time in this song, super happy and unconflicted.
Oh, and there’s also some Mere Pyari Bindu songs. Place bets now on whether Parineeti will live to the end! I don’t know, this romance looks kind of too perfect, death feels inevitable.
dontcallitbollywood 
Dude, this is the exact same poster as before 🙂
Arjun’s really annoying me in the Half Girlfriend promos, or maybe it’s just his character…
I think you’re right about Sushant seeming like a 90s hero in this song. But that sequence from 1:53 to 2:00 is so Sharukh-esque.
Afeemi’s visuals are so cute! You’re right about the romance being too perfect. Of course she’s going to die.
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How long ago did they put up that poster? I have the vaguest memory of thinking Anushka’s scarf play looked stupid and Shahrukh’s fake tattoo looked hot, and that’s it.
I just went to 1:53, and I can see it now. Especially the moment when he holds his ear to apologize.
On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 4:52 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It think it was in late November right after Thanksgiving. I remember Salman and Alia first tweeted the poster. They had a fun little twitter exchange with Shahrukh about the release date and title.
Right! That’s exactly the moment I was talking about! By the way, did you know that Deepika is doing an item song in this movie? I didn’t until I saw this teaser.
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I didn’t know Dips was doing an item either! An odd career decision, but I guess it makes sense. With her American movie, and Padmavati, she probably doesn’t have a lot coming out. So an item number that she can dash off quickly and keep herself in the public eye is kind of brilliant.
On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 6:19 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yeah, I’m sure that staying in the public eye is one reason for her to do it. Also Dinesh Vijan and Homi Adajania are the director and producer of Raabta respectively. She’s worked with both before on Cocktail and Finding Fanny, so she’s probably just doing a favor for her friends.
Also Deepika signed a movie co-starring Irrfan Khan recently. The film is being written by Vishal Bhardwaj and directed by one of his assistants. Apparently she plays the role of a female mafia don that attempted to kill Dawood Ibrahim. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/deepika-padukone-irrfan-khan-vishal-bhardwaj-piku-sapna-didi/1/934620.html
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Hmm. After Rangoon, I have lost my childlike faith in Bardwaj. And a Bardwaj script with a different director? This whole thing makes me very very nervous.
On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 9:49 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The Deepika and Bhardwaj collab sounds interesting and she and Irrfan had good chemistry in Piku. Though what is going on with the female mafia don thing lately. As usual in Hindi films there’s often a movie twin recent release out there and Shraddha’s Haseena: Queen of Mumbai will be compared to this one, not least because they both have female dons and involve Ibrahim.
I still can’t wait to see Rangoon. Since I really like Bhardwaj’s “misfire” Matru Ki…, I think I’ll like this one, too.
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I’ll be curious for your reaction to Rangoon, but not enough to force you to watch it! If you get 20 minutes in and don’t enjoy anything, give up! It doesn’t get better.
I have really loved everything I’ve seen from Bardwaj, including Matru (I think that is second to Kaminey in my favorites from him). But this thing, it doesn’t even feel like him! The heart is missing or something.
On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 9:49 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ooh, I’m excited about a movie with Deepika and Irrfan; I love them together. And I haven’t seen Rangoon, but I am looking forward to kind of hate watching it. Not to be too negative, but Nadia deserves to have her real story told. There’s a really great story in that book by Jerry Pinto that I keep wittering on about, about the first time she did a stunt for the Wadia brothers. I think it was a fall from a high place, and they had no idea if she could do it. And she did, obvo, but afterwords lay very still and quiet on the mattress until everyone got worried and rushed over and then she burst out laughing. (And, in my mind, Homi fell in love at that very moment).
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I want Nadia’s real story too! A strong confident powerful woman who fell in love with a sweet younger man and they had a wonderful life together. I’m picturing like Anoushka Shetty and Rajkummar Rao.
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Vishal Bhardwaj wrote Talvar which was directed by Meghana Gulzar. That was really really good.
I’m not sure where you got “Anoushka” from but it’s spelled “Anushka” just like Sharma. I thought you hated Rajkummar Rao, are you sure you want to cast him as the sweet younger man?
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I want him to go back to his Kai Po Che type! But I am open to suggestions if you can think of someone else.
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What about Ayushmann? He’s seems to fit the sweet young man type and he’s the type of actor that will be willing to be in the background to the heroine when needed.
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Oooo, I like that! I feel like there has to be a better Nadia option, who is older and bigger and has stunt experience? I hated the vibe in Rangoon with Kangana looking all fragile.
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I can’t think of anyone other than Anushka either. If you just want to go tall, then there is Deepika who did do some action in xxx right? But then she’s quite skinny too.
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Exactly, I want the opposite of the usual delicate woman type. Not short and curvy, or tall and thin, but solid. Anoushka it is! Or else some blond stuntwoman from Australia if we want to really cast for the role 🙂
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I don’t know why I keep spelling it Anoushka! I know I saw it like that somewhere, but it was a few years back, maybe it was a miss-spelling that got repeated a couple times, or maybe she changed how it was spelled for a while and then changed it back.
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For Nadia I was sort of picturing one of those unknown westerners, like in Rang de Basanti or Lagaan or Kisna, who appear in one movie and then plummet back into obscurity (except I guess the woman from Lagaan was in The L Word).
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You know who would be great? Gina Carino from Haywire. Or Michelle Rodriguez.
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I think Parineeti dies in Meri Pyaasri Bindu too!! Ayushman always talks about her in past sense in all the promos they have release so far.
Btw..I didn’t where to tell you this so I’ll tell you here – I went Salman’s concert in Sydney.
He was AMAZING! He was more “Prem” than “Sameer”. He would have been tired because they had performed in Auckland the day before but he came across as sincere and shy.
They had invited a few audience members up on stage and they mostly all happened to be female. He seemed quite shy around them especially when they wanted a hug…and when they complimented him he kind of just covered hid face and walked around the stage like it was all too embarrassing. He was fine with giving the men a hug though.
I thought he would perform half-hardheartedly but he put plenty of effort in and I still feel a Salman hangover 6 days after the show 🙂
Sonakshi was nice and Baadshah was fun but no one was really there to see Daisy Shah or Bipasha.
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I’m starting to worry about Arjun being too pigeon-holed in the dark, obsessive stalker hero roles. I’m still hoping this one somehow redeems itself, but it’s not looking too good. SRK survived this kind of casting, but I’m pretty sure Arjun Kapoor doesn’t have the talent in other areas to be seen as more multi-dimensional. I always remember the funny line in the AIB Roast where they make fun of his “creepy smile” and it’s so true and after his turns in Ishaqzaade, Aurangzeb, and Gunday…it’s hard not to see a trend.
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I think my favorite Arjun role is 2 States, because it’s not supposed to be a dark hero, but he brings that in. And then when the darkness in his background is revealed, it doesn’t feel so out of nowhere. I would love him to do more stuff like that, where his dark persona is just sort of added flavoring, not the whole dish.
On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 9:54 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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