It’s Madhuri’s birthday today! Well, today in India. But I want to start celebrating as soon as possible, so I am putting up my birthday posts today. And it’s a big birthday, and she is a big star, so I am doing one reason for every year she was alive, 50 in total. (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)
Happy Mother’s Day! Last year I did 3 short posts, this year I am going to combine them all into one big post! Songs, scenes, and a list of films you can watch if you want to celebrate.
I said in my last section that this is the part that is very very hard for me to watch, because it is two real. It’s really the 20 minutes after “Daandalaya” that just kill me, but even this section is not good. Which is a tribute to how well the film is made, that it can evoke such real emotions in me. (part 11 here, you can go backwards from there)
I was all set to drag myself to Sarkar 3, but then the showtimes were no good yesterday, so Dina and I couldn’t do our usual movie followed by podcast. And today I have to run errands and plan a Sunday School class and do all kinds of other things that make me not want to waste 2 and a half hours in a movie theater. So, yay! MovieMavenGal reviewed it for me!
This is another post for those people who really care about the blog, not the ones who just come here off and on. If you just come here off and on, ignore this and go about your day. If you are interested in how I am doing and what I am doing and all that, you can read on.
This is the section of the movie it is kind of hard for me to write about because it is TOO SAD. And also, too real. Which is a sign of what a good film this is, it’s set in a fantastical setting with swords and elephants and so on, but it manages to get right at human emotions I recognize. (part 10 here, you can go backwards from there.)
Mothers and sons, that’s appealing, right? Depending on which side of it you are. If you are the daughter-in-law, it may incite crazed flashbacks of “JUST TELL HER WE AREN’T COMING FOR THANKSGIVING!!! STAND UP FOR ME FOR ONCE!!!” But if you are on the mothers’ side, or if you have no dog in this fight as yet (like me), it is very appealing.
Well, I got all bogged down in the last section between the rights and the wrongs of it all. I’ll see if I can un-bog myself and do a bit more a straightforward account of what happened in this section. (last section here, you can go back in time from there and read the rest)
Welcome back! A lot to dig into in this section, and then we get into the bit that depresses me terribly. But this is the bit that makes is talk about whether the character developments are contrived or inevitable. SPOILER: I land on the inevitable side of things. (last section is here, you can crawl backwards from there)
Happy Thursday! It’s too bad this family is so nice, makes for a kind of dull Hindi Film 101 series. But at least now we have gotten to the interesting people, Tanuja and Kajol. Well, exciting might be a better term. Nutan was plenty interesting too. (don’t forget to go to the end and vote for what you want to read about next!)
I watched the TED talk! It was good. I made notes. But thinking about it later, the most important part was the very first thing he said, “Namaste”.
Welcome back to DDLJ watch! If this post gets decent views, I might try to do at least one of these posts a week, add it to the rotation on Wednesdays and/or Saturdays when I don’t have anything else. And if I ever finish DDLJ, I will move on to HAHK or Sholay or another one of the classics. But only if I get the views! So COMMENT!!! It lets me know you are reading, and gets more people to read them. The lack of comments/readers is why I kind of let this die last summer. (last post here, you can go back in time from there).
Okay, I’m gonna try to get through this part, even though it is really frustrating. Because the good people aren’t understanding each other! But at least this opening part has some interesting discussion and character bits. (last part here, you can go back from there)
Happy Wednesday! Time to talk Bahubali 2! Or maybe something else, have you been watching anything different? Because I haven’t! 3rd watch in theaters last night.
I know I know, there is beauty in tragedy, no success without loss, blah blah blah. I don’t care, it’s SAD! I can’t take it! So before I go into the really really dark part of Bahubali 2, I am going to have to write my own imaginary happy version of it. So I can pretend there is some other fictional universe where it all worked out in the end.
Happy Teachers Day! So many sexy teacher songs in Indian film! Every film director in the world must have had a massive crush on a teacher at some point. Which means, even though I did this post last year, I can easily update it with some new songs and scenes for this year. (this is an updated and reposted post)
Do you know about the website accesbollywood.net? It’s run by a very nice woman who reviewed my book, and is a friend of a friend through moviemavengal (moviemavengal=most socially competent and adventurous person I know!). Anyway, one of the greatest things on the accessbollywood website is her updates of the Indian films available through Netflix. I am going to steal her current list, because joyomama asked what I know about each film. But please keep checking her site just in general, and specifically if you want to see a monthly update to this list! Oh, and this is today’s Hindi Film 101 post, because it will give you basically a “watching list” of films to stream, which is an important part of learning about Hindi film.
I avoided this movie because it looked scary, and I don’t like scary movies! But it really wasn’t bad, because it was less about the “scary” parts, and more about the character parts. The specifics of the danger weren’t the point, it was the way our heroine rushed headline into the danger that was the point. Because young women are very very foolish!
Welcome back! Here we are, part 7. Where thing start to get sad and scary. The last time I saw it, I was surrounded by sobbing children for basically the whole middle hour. Lot’s of “Daddy, no! Why are they doing that? I don’t like this.” Let’s see if I can get through it without getting sad myself! (last part here, you can go back from there)
Happy Sarkar 3 week! I wouldn’t be that excited, except that I like Amit Sadh so much and I am very eager to have this help his career. So, everybody, remember that Sarkar 3 is coming out and look for good reviews that mention Amit Sadh!
Happy Sunday! A week ago I put up a post asking for suggestions/votes for classic novels to be turned into fanfic. Pride and Prejudice was the first choice (thus last week’s post), but North and South was a close second. Which also inspired me to finally watch North and South. And it really is perfect for a remake! I barely have to change the plot at all, just streamline it a little.
It’s DDLJ Detailed Analysis: The Return!!! I always swore I would come back to it, and now I have! Because of Bahubali 2, which got my close analysis juices flowing. And which is also sooooooooo boring for those people who haven’t seen Bahubali 2. But who hasn’t seen DDLJ? No one! So these posts should fill in the entertainment for those who can’t read Bahubali 2 posts. (my last DDLJ post, almost a year ago, is here. You can go backwards through the archives from there)
Welcome to the end of our first all Bahubali week! But not our last, I am only about an hour into the film, so these posts will be continuing for a while. But I hope to manage to watch something else over the weekend, so I can give us a little bit of variety! Even the most delicious meal can pale, if it is all you eat. (detailed summary part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, and fanfic scenes I want to add here)
Moviemavengal tweeted an amazing thing to me a couple of days ago, which has inspired this entire post. Think of it as the large precious jewel in the middle of tiny twinkling diamonds.
dontcallitbollywood 