Happy Wednesday! As a little midweek break, let’s all take a breather and talk about what we have been reading and thinking and watching this week so far.
I’ll start! I watched 2 Malayalam films that randomly showed up at my library, I’ve already reviewed one of them (Leela), the other review will come out next week. And there was a third that I started and then stopped after 5 minutes because it just did not look good, Kasaba. Correct me if it is really a hidden gem, I can always check it out again.
For reading, still plugging away at Confessions of a Thug (over 50% through!) and not much else. I’m at that point of being really really bored with Confessions, but not letting myself start anything else until I finish it. Which means I just am not reading that much.
And for thinking, I am thinking about my Chennai list! My sister is coming to town today, and has promised to hand deliver everything she was able to get. I am very excited!
Oh, and also Raabta. Which I will probably see because Sushant was so good in Byomkesh and Dhoni, but I am not super excited about it.
dontcallitbollywood 
I watched Wonder Woman. I have boasted about it a lot. But I am esctatic. DC is cool again. Now I am less pessimistic about Justice League now.
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Here is my review of it
https://kinginthenorth349.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/wonder-woman-finally-a-good-dc-movie/
Second best movie of the year after Logan
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I also completed Game of Thrones. Still one month before season 7. Why is it taking so much time? Last year battle of bastards was concluded by this time.
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Have u seen a movie named Narsimha? I have seen it a lot of times. It is a good movie starring Sunny Paaji and Om Puri. Plot is predictable and cliche but Sunny Deol and Om Puri made it work. Outside their scences, this movie is unwatchable. Mediocre performance by second lead couple is a serious dent on this film.
It is like Jeet and Damini. Unwatchable without Sunny Deol
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Kings of Punjab – I sometimes feel you are nothing more than a troll. Why troll poor Margaret? And no, not everyone is interested in Punjabi movies as much as you are. Neither do we think Sunny Deal is the best. Love, A South Indian.
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What the hell u mean a troll? People here tell what they like and i do the same. 90% of the movies discussed here are bad. People over watched Badrinath over Logan. I call this nonsense.What if i skip something.
Do u have a vendetta against north Indians? Did anyone harm u in any way?
My south Indian friend warned me about ur kind. Some South Indians are like u. U people start roits over ur fav star. I am assuming u r that anonymous guy who trolled me previously. Narsimha is a good movie.
If margaret says I will lwave this site. If u dont like what i post, then just be silent. No need to be so vindictive. I never insulted anyone or anything.
And
For u margaret, if i troll u just tell.
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Wow! This is exactly what I meant by “troll”. All I said was that not everybody is as interested in Punjabi movies and Sunny Deol as you are, and you feel the need to slam me and supposedly “my kind”?
Anyways, let me introduce myself. I am Suraj Swamy, and I live in Riverside, CA. A Quora answer about a certain K3G scene brought me here and I was absolutely blown away by Margaret’s movie analysis – so much so I actually recommended her blogs to several friends of mine in FTII (that’s the Film and Television Institute in India). Although I am mesmerized by the way Margaret deconstructs an entire movie/script scene-by-scene, I did have some reservations about her fangirling over Shahrukh Khan. 🙂 However, I had to remind myself – Margaret is a professional Indian movie commentator, not a 16 year teen. I was respectful (I hope? Margaret, please correct me if I am wrong, and apologies for ever going overboard with my negative comments!) and although we disagreed about several things, like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s colorful movie palette lacking “real” emotions… and what not, I still admire her impeccable analysis. This is who I am and my story in short! 🙂 I am not an anonymous troll, and it would be great to know who you are too (your name, and such..)
It bothers me when I read comments like – “don’t write anything negative about Sunny Deol, because I will be irritated”, and such. I have no clue who you are, and what your background/lifestyle/movie preferences may be. You may be the nicest human being in person, but your words here are sometimes insulting to me, and I’m sure to many other readers too, who differ in their opinions. The world will be a much better place if we celebrated our differences, instead of slamming each other over our choices. I do not appreciate being told that my favorite films are “garbage”, and similarly, Ekta Kapoor shouldn’t be celebrated on her birthday because “she made your childhood hell”.
Also, I feel “If you don’t like what I post, then just be silent” applies to you too! If you don’t like what’s being spoken here, be silent. I stand by what I said – not many people like Punjabi movies and I find Sunny Deol’s acting over-the-top sometimes. Hopefully his son, who’s being launched at the moment, is more restrained.
Love,
Suraj Swamy.
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Also, Margaret – a huge thank you for continuing the DDLJ analysis. Wonderful stuff – as always!
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Thank you! And thank you for sharing my blog, that is the biggest compliment and the biggest gift you can give me. I love getting new readers.
Also, no, you have never been over the top in your comments. It can be just as fun to have someone who disagrees with me as someone who agrees. I enjoy the challenge of trying to explain my own reactions in more depth, to expand my worldview. Respectful discussion between people who are willing to listen to each other and learn from each other is a wonderful thing.
And, of course, I purposefully vary my blog posts so that if you don’t enjoy a particular topic or style of post, you can just skip it and read something else. I don’t think I have a single reader who reads and agrees with absolutely everything I write. I’m not expecting everyone to like everything, just pick and choose and leave the rest.
On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 12:01 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Did u see WOnder Woman?
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Also watched Sardaarji 2. Funny movie. Thin on plot but enjoyable movie to spend ur weekend.
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I preferred the first Sardaarji. I live in Australia and found some of the scenes in Sardaarji 2 a bit cringey.
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Kasaba is one of the worst movie I have ever watched. It is sooooooo bad.
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Is it on Kasab?
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Okay, good to know I was right! The first 5 minutes were pretty goshawful, but there was the slight chance it would have improved.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 8:27 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m glad you are going to see Raabta…I’m really hoping it’s better than expected. I’m not sold on Kriti Sanon yet, but SSR looks hot in it. He hasn’t really done a romance yet where he’s gone for the sexy heartthrob thing, has he? In Shuddhi Desi Romance his character was a big doofus. I guess he really hasn’t done many films yet really and he’s definitely had some great variety of roles. I hope that he does stick to the more quirky roles, but it will be nice to see him in a more traditional romantic lead role. I want a sequel to Byomkesh!
My last four movies were Kannathil Muthamittal (loved it), Noor (could have been so good), Naam Shabana (big disappointment), and Umrao Jaan (1981) (Rekha is stunning and it is better than the Aish remake). Kannathil Muthamittal was such a great tearjerker and Simran was amazing. Do you know her filmography well enough to recommend her best work? I was trying to figure it out her wiki page but it wasn’t clear.
I’ve been thinking, we’re almost through half of the year and I have yet to be blown away by anything (granted, I’ve only seen 9 Hindi 2017 releases and have yet to see Bahubali and others). I was wishing for some great rom-coms and romantic dramas this year and still have hopes that I will like Meri Pyaari Bindu and Half-Girlfiend even if others didn’t. To date, the only 2017 Hindi releases that might be on my end of year best list are Running Shaadi and maybe The Ghazi Attack.
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So glad you saw Kannathil Muttamithal! As I have said many times, it is my favorite Ratnam. Just such a beautiful movie.
I don’t know anything about Simran, from what little I could see it looks like she is not usually a Tamil actress. Hopefully one of our non-Hindi commentators can help.
I am trying to be hopeful about films this year, because the first half of the year is always a bit of a drag, it’s only post-Eid and Independence Day that the biggies start coming out. But it doesn’t feel like there just isn’t as much of a spark as their used to be. Although, that’s just in Hindi films, Angamaly Diaries (DVD release MAYBE on June 20th) is one of the greatest films I have seen in my life. Bahubali 2, of course, was awesome. And I’ve heard good things about Lift Off and Godha too.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 8:32 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Simran was one of the four faces introduced by Amitabh Bacchan’s ABCL in Tere Mere Sapne.It’s a decent adaptation of the Prince and the Pauper with Simran playing the classical rich man’s daughter.She had good chemistry with Arshad Warsi though. Unfortunately I didn’t watch any of her Tamil films except Kannathil.
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Thanks for the rec, datablue! She really made the biggest impression on me in this. Nandita Das and Maddy and the child actress were all great, but she was the heart of the film and it was just beautiful.
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‘lift off ?? do you mean take off?
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Yes, thank you!
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Also looking forward to Raabta (not getting my expectations high though). Love Sushant from his Jhalak Dikhla Jaa days:) Currently reading Asura, by Anand Neelkanthan ( writer of Rise of Sivagami). It’s good, and story is great (Ramayana from Ravana’s pov). I’m hooked!
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Glad to hear that the other books by the same author are good! Sometimes for those novels-based-on-movies things, they will give it to any old writer knowing that people will be buying it because of the movie, not the book. It sounds like this time they found somebody who could actually write, and had written similar things before.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 9:32 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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And I got that book about 3 years ago, so he was well-known since quite some time 🙂
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I’ve seen telugu movie Pelli choopulu. My first thought was: nice, but I thought it will be better if it won National Award for Best Telugu Movie and Best Screenplay. but few days later, I change my mind, and now I think that it’s very good movie, not “WOW” movie, but a well-made one. I like the most how the girl is portraited. She is the better one, more intelligent, more organised. She made her decisions. The boy is a loser. The other thing I like is that there wasn’t “I saw you passing by and fall in love with your face so let’s marry” moment. They felt in love with how they are inside, with their personality. It was nice, and Vijay Deverakonda was veeeery nice too. Such a handsome man.
And then I finally watched Baahubali 1, and started Baahubali 2. I will write my opinions when I will finish the second part (I’m in the middle). but I’m happy that I can finally read your posts about this movie, because I felt so lonely and alienated before.
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I haven’t seen Pelli Choopulu, but you are making me curious about it, so I will have to check it out!
And I hope you finish Bahubali 2 soon! And then post comments on all 30 posts about it, I can’t wait to hear what you think!
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 11:43 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Pelli Choopulu was really hyped up when it came out so I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. But I do agree that it’s a well-made movie.
If you liked Vijay Devarakonda then you should check out Yevade Subramanyam. He only plays a supporting role in it but it’s a really good coming of age story. Actually Ritu Varma also has a supporting role in this movie. It’s one of my favorites and it’s starring Nani who was in Eega. Here’s the trailer with subtitles:
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Thank you. Yevade Subramanyam seems very interesting. Just after finishing Pelli choopulu I watched Arjun Reddy trailer, and was shocked. I thought I wil see Vijay in another romantic role, but instead I saw kisses, drugs and a lot of other non usual stuff. Not my kind of movie, but this made me appreciate Vijay more. I really like when actors (and other artists in general) risk and experiment.
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This was a fun week of sharing Indian cinema! My 16 year old son and his girlfriend actually asked to see a Bollywood movie. He has only seen the Baahubali films, and she’d never seen an Indian film. I talked to Margaret for advice, because I wanted to show them a film that would appeal to high school kids who do show choir — lots of great music and dance numbers. I picked Student of the Year. I sold it to them as Gossip Girl with songs. They both snarked a little during it, but were super impressed with the music numbers. I told them they are not doing the whole thing at one time like they do in show choir, but in little edited chunks. They’re interested in seeing another one. Yay!
Friday night I took two women from my Bollywood dance class, one Desi and one not, to see Baahubali 2. They loved it, but the Desi gal admitted she liked the first one better! We went to the Hindi one, as the Desi speaks Hindi. They did an excellent job with the dubbing, I have to say, but I still love to hear my Prabhas’s own voice.
I saw Wonder Woman over the weekend. It was great. Full review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2017/06/07/wonder-woman-so-inspiring-to-young-girls-and-the-lift-we-all-needed/.
I got together with 2 friends on Monday and we watched Sing Street, a Sundance movie about young teens forming a band in the 80’s in Ireland — by the same guy who gave us Once. It is a little gem of a movie and is on Netflix.
Last night I rewatched Mirchi. Man that last half is so great. Lots of spraying blood in those machete fights, but great emotion from Prabhas, too.
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I am so glad your son and his girlfriend enjoyed SOTY! I am already thinking about what to make them watch next, but probably shouldn’t over-whelm them.
Mirchi is so great. I’ve seen it straight through twice, and just the second half two other times. Becuase it is so much better, and you really don’t need the first half to enjoy it. I just re-watched Pardes, and I think I might feel the same way about that one. Just do the Kabaddi match and the songs, and then skip straight to the interval.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 11:47 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That’s really cool that they liked SOTY! Do you have any ideas of what to recommend to them next?
I love the second half of Mirchi too! Whenever I watch, I just end up skipping the first romance 🙂
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Niki, I had a list of a couple films in mind, but when I showed my son the SOTY trailer, only a minute in he said we don’t need to see any more, she will love this one. So, Humpty Sharma and 2 States are two others I thought would be good for them. Or Bang Bang — it’s light with good action and amazing dancing.
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Humpty Sharma and 2 States are nice choices. I don’t know about Bang Bang though, I find it to be way too light. How come no Shahrukh films are in the list like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi?
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Niki I’ll be honest that if they made fun of SOTY I can take it. They’re teens. If they made fun of RnBDJ it would hurt since that’s such a favorite. kKHH is another possibility, but I was thinking go modern at first.
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Good point. I would suggest going modern rather than KKHH.
What about ABCD 2? I know that the plot doesn’t make much sense but its a dance film with a bunch of fun songs.
Or what about a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film? I’m not really a fan but his movies tend to have many dance numbers.
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I was far too busy to watch any movies last week.But I did manage to catch the latest episode of Bull.The whole idea of a jury system is a novelty for me since we don’t have any such thing in India.The idea that random people without any legal background can have so much power to decide on an individual’s fate! Plus Eliza Dushku is giving me serious Buffy flashbacks.
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The jury system is fascinating. My father is a lawyer and worked as a defense attorney for a while, and he came to appreciate the jury system in general. Because people aren’t considering their careers or making a political statement or anything else, they are being impartial.
On the other hand, there are probably fewer jury trials than Bull likes to pretend there are, I think you can choose to just have a judge decide for you in most kinds of trials, and depending on what sort of trial it is, that might be better for you.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 11:55 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I was in Portland, Maine, for a conference most of the last week, and didn’t have much time for movies (Sad face). I did finish Baadshah and started Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, am enjoying the dance numbers and not much else. The plot for Baadshah is totally confusing, though the second half works better. Next on the list is Hey Ram, which I am NOT looking forward to, because it is so violent and sad. But I do remember being very impressed by Shahrukh’s performance, so there may be much fast-forwarding.
Monday I saw Wonder Woman with three female friends. We all enjoyed it, though the youngest one of the group LOVED it, and the others (all in our 60s) liked it alot with reservations. I think the difference was that we had grown up on the comics and then watched the TV show, and were confused/distracted by this version, which changed so much. As someone who read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology under the covers with a flashlight as a kid, I was not at all okay with their version of Greek mythology. In my view, they essentially rewrote it into monotheism with Ares as Satan. Sheesh. Also — killing a significant sidekick? Not cool.
That being said, I thought the casting was excellent, and enjoyed the humor in the dialogues between Diana and Steve. The entire No Man’s Land battle scene was so well done! I saw a lot of places where the CGI was clearly intended for the 3D ticketholders, not me. (All those climbing and diving scenes.) But for the most part, that wasn’t too distracting.
My daughter was a huge fan of She-Ra and Wonder Woman as a kid, and I can only imagine how much her ten-year-old self would have loved this movie. In the long run, I am willing to let go of my attachment to the original comic and series in order order to see where the new Wonder Woman story goes.
Also, the department store scene where Diana tries on clothes was hard to watch. Most of the styles were from 1910-1913, not 1918. Don’t watch costume stuff with a costume historian.
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Aaaa, I never responded! Also, aaaa! You were in Portland, you could have met my sister! Although I think she was gone most of last week.
I always kind of liked Phir Bhi, there is some searing media criticism in there if you look for it. But then in Anupama’s book, she mentions in passing that it was “of course based on His Girl Friday”, which BLEW MY MIND. Because HGF is one of my favorite movies, I must have watched it dozens of times, and I’d never made the connection before. But the themes are there, the press as protector of an innocent man, male and female reporter at odds who come together for a common cause, and of course Shahrukh=Cary Grant perfectly.
Before you watch Hey Ram, you might want to look up some stuff by Thomas Blum Hanson or other writings on religious violence in India.
If you ever really want your costume historian brain to explode and melt out your ears, try watching Veer. Or The Legend of Bhagat Singh.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 2:15 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I was too busy going to sessions and taking post-session naps, anyway.
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Sorry to butt in, but Hey Ram isn’t about “religious violence” in India. It’s about the actions taken by the Muslim League to demand partition of India. The major event, that takes place in Kolkutta, that traumatizes Kamal Hassan’s character so much, is Direct Action Day, called for by Jinnah, where Muslims were specifically instructed to massacre Hindus. Then retaliation followed. There’s practically no “religious violence” in India that’s not politically instigated by one party or another. To miss this is to miss the entire point of Hey Ram.
Let me also say that SRK has a guest appearance in the film. To just watch his six or so scenes and skip the rest is to do grave injustice to the film, and to Kamal’s amazing performance. Better not to watch the film at all, than to watch it this way.
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Wow! New format! This is very similar to the format of the blog back when I first found it 🙂
I haven’t watched many movies this past week but I did watch season 1 of Riverdale. I didn’t think it was really going to be my type of a show but I really enjoyed it!
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I was wondering who would notice first! I should have known it would be you. Yes, slightly new format, and I refreshed the header images as well.
I haven’t checked out the Riverdale TV show. But I’ve heard it is surprisingly good!
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 2:35 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I actually don’t know anything about the Archie comics so I don’t know how well they made the show based on the source material. But independently it was still quite fun and interesting!
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I love the Archies! They were great things to read when I was a little girl, definitely not “adult” comics. One of the first movies I saw was Maine Pyar Kiya, and I was all excited to see our heroine reading an Archie as well. Come to think of it, the tone of the original comics was very close to Maine Pyar Kiya. Teenagers having fun adventures, but all with a very light touch.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 2:52 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Well, I noticed it, too, along with, or possibly before Niki. But I wasn’t sure if it was a permanent redesign, or something you were playing around with, which would revert to the previous version in a bit, so I didn’t say anything. Now that it looks more permanent, let me voice one serious complaint I have. The various post headings no longer show the number of comments on that post. This is unfortunate, because there’s then no way to know if any new comments have been posted on a post of interest to someone. Don’t say that the “latest comments” section is still there, because that only shows the latest six or eight comments, which may be (and frequently are) on some entirely different post. So I hope you will see your way to restore the comment count display for individual posts, too.
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She usually changes the format every few months so I doubt that this is going to be permanent. But I do agree that seeing the number of comments on each post would be nice.
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Brace yourself, I am going to cycle through themes now until I find one with comment counts displayed.
On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 12:43 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Unfortunately, that isn’t a setting that I can see until I actually publish the changes and check. So prepare yourself for an exciting few minutes as I rotate through a series of themes and check each one!
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 9:24 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thanks, the present one looks nice, and also shows the comment count, as I requested.
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I like new look of the site 🙂
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Thank you! I keep fiddling with it, every time I get bored. This wasn’t a major change this time, so I didn’t have to alter the menus or anything.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 3:10 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Lots of exciting Varun rumors have come out during the past 24 hours 🙂
– First of all, apparently Varun is teaming up with Sriram Raghavan again for Badlapur 2! I don’t think this will be a continuation of Raghu’s story but maybe something along the lines of the same theme. http://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-varun-dhawan-on-board-for-badlapur-2-2463554
– When asked whether his dance movie with Salman is going to be ABCD 3, Remo D’Souza said that he’s planning on bringing back Varun and Shraddha for ABCD 3. http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/salman-always-does-exactly-as-he-is-told/articleshow/59025070.cms
– Shiddat, the two hero partition drama that is to be directed by Abhishek Varman, looks like its back on track. This is one that I’ve been waiting for since Varun is rumored to be playing an anti-hero.
http://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/alia-bhatt-and-varun-dhawan-reunite-onscreen-for-the-fourth-time/articleshow/59025307.cms
– Shoojit Sircar’s film is happening for sure though there hasn’t been any new news about it and the Nitesh Tiwari film still hasn’t been confirmed.
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I can always trust you to keep me up to date on the Varun news!
-I don’t know how I feel about Badlapur 2. Because I was one of the many people who could appreciate the accomplishment of Badlapur 1, but did not actually enjoy it as a film.
-Well, maybe this time they will get actual characters instead of just being dancing figures. Oh, who am I kidding, I loved ABCD2! Bring on more mindless spectacle!
-Did not realize that was the same director as 2 States! That film had so many surprisingly dark touches, I would love to see what he can do with a movie that is actually officially dark.
-My goodness Varun has a full plate! Good for him, I am firmly of the opinion that is a wise decision both commercially and creatively for young stars to sign as many films as possible in as many genres as possible.
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– I really liked Badlapur in terms of the theme and concept but I don’t like watching the movie entirely. I do like some moments in the movie though. I’m mainly curious to see what Sriram Raghavan does with Varun this time.
– I know that ABCD 2’s plot was all over the place but I still ended up enjoying the movie. Plus I think Varun and Shraddha are really cute together! I wouldn’t mind something light like ABCD 3 if it’s coming after something dark like Badlapur.
– I’m really curious to see what he does with this too, especially since I loved 2 States. Also, I think this would be Varun’s first love story that actually isn’t a rom-com. Apparently Arjun is going to play the other male lead in this film while Alia plays the female lead.
– I agree that signing a lot movies is good of younger stars too. You can work with different people and make connections while also making sure that the audience gets used to you and likes you. Like Ranveer took a year to come up with Befikre after Bajirao Mastani and I don’t think really helps career momentum wise. Also signing more films means seeing Varun in more movies 🙂
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That last point is the most important! The poor Hrithik fans, in like a month you can watch everything he has done. But SRK fans, it can take almost a year to finish his whole filmography.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 4:33 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Right! How come Hrithik has done such little number of movies? Has he even signed another movie after Kaabil?
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Not that I know of. I can understand him taking a long time with something like Jodha-Akbar, but why not make a couple of Bang Bang level movies at once? Maybe it is just because he likes going on all those great vacations with his adorable children and then instagraming so we are all jealous.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 4:56 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Dude, that sounds so much like Mahesh! A filmography limited to about 25 movies and always going on vacations with their families. The only difference is that Mahesh has already signed his next two movies and his wife is the one who does the instagramming, not Mahesh himself 🙂
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It was just announced that Hrithik has signed a biopic of mathematician Anand Kumar of Bihar, who is most known for starting a set of coaching centers for tutoring poor students to get into the IIT.
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Oh yeah, I remember reading about that yesterday. With Vikas Bahl right? But I thought it isn’t officially confirmed. Technically he was also rumored to be doing a movie with Kabir Khan and a movie with Karan Malhotra.
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“this would be Varun’s first love story that actually isn’t a rom-com. Apparently Arjun is going to play the other male lead in this film while Alia plays the female lead.”
How do you feel about Alia cast again with Varun? I hate seeing always the same pair in different movies. Not only there is limited number of young actors but they are always playing the same. I find it boring.
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I personally love the Varun-Alia pairing so I wouldn’t mind seeing them together again. They have really good chemistry together!
But I don’t like some pairings at all like Sidharth-Alia or Varun-Nargis Fakhri.
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Reading – The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. A couple of chapters in and already hooked.
Recently watched Hindi Medium. Have you seen it? It’s one of those movies with a “message” but it is so lovely. Similar to the Lunchbox but upbeat.
Also took Friday off work so I can binge Orange is the New Black when it gets dropped 🙂
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I haven’t seen Hindi Medium, but if I am remembering correctly, it ended up making more money on half as many screens as Half-Girlfriend opening weekend. Which is either a sign of how good Hindi Medium is, or how bad Half-Girlfriend was.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 6:30 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It is really very good…having said that I’ve heard Half Girlfriend is pretty terrible.
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I just finished watching Meri Pyaari Bindu. It was literally 10 minutes from the end away from being my new favorite of the year so far and the new rom-com obsession I’ve been waiting for and then…it got all bittersweet. At least they didn’t kill her off! Oh, SPOILERS:) I don’t think you’ve reviewed it yet but the end could have taken a much better turn with a secret child and the parents are reunited plot and it would have been just fine…maybe not completely in line with the tone of it but instead it was just a big nothingburger! I loved when they did this in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu but this one was just such a major bummer because I think unlike in EMAET, the two characters really belonged together in this one. I really liked Khurana in this and loved the Bengali family and Devdas the dog and the weird editor and the strange friends and the musica nd the filmi references…and Parineeti was back to her charming on-screen self and she looked amazing, especially in the beautiful sari at the end.
Is it too much to ask for a simple romance with a satisfying happily ever after this year? Really! Running Shaadi as great as it was, was a little too low-key and wacky. I doubt Half-Girlfiend will fit the bill for me either. Badrinath is too tainted by the gender dynamics. I’m now pinning all my hopes on Raabta and The Ring.
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I suspect Raabta may fail the “simple” test, and “The Ring” may fail the “happy” test. You know Imtiaz, he likes that little bittersweet in his love stories. Unless the failure of Tamasha has finally knocked him back to Jab We Met days, fingers crossed.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 9:50 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Knocked him so far back to the Jab We Met days he’s renamed it Jab Harry Met Sejal! What a silly name. But honestly if it means a cheesy happy ending, I’m fine with it.
Trailer out with Tubelight in theaters!
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That is so exciting!!!! And I hope it actually is another Harry Met Sally, I love Hum-tum and I would be happy with another one!
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I’m a big fan of Hum-Tum, too! Saif Ali Khan is one of my favorites, of course, and this is probably my favorite Saif romance and he’s really had a good turn in filmi romance when you think about it.
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I’ve been under the weather this week. Among other things, the sun has been rising at about 4 and I’ve been having a hard time adjusting, plus there’s respiratory crud going around. I thought about watching Jodhaa Akbar, just to see something pretty, but I didn’t have the energy to watch a 3 hour+ film. So I watched an old Bengali favorite, usually transliterated as Barnali but pronounced Bornali (yay, Bengali lessons!). It is a charming little movie about rich Soumitra Chatterjee and poor Sharmila Tagore, and takes place pretty much over one evening in Kolkata, when Soumitra’s cousin is marrying the man Sharmila thinks she’s engaged to. A plot synopsis really doesn’t do it justice; it’s really lovely to look at and of course Sharmila and Soumitra are wonderful.
It’s such an old film that Sharmila doesn’t have the eyeliner or bouffant yet! Every time I see her I think “My, her head is small.” (Since I went to college in the 80s that’s the same thing I think when I find one of my old dorm-mates on Facebook). Also while I was watching I noticed Sharmila’s house has what is (at least a set designer’s idea of) typical Bengali decorations: one picture of Rabindranath Tagore and one of Subhas Chandra Bose. Most movies have these in the living room scenes and for this movie I suddenly realized: how weird would it be, as an actress, if the sets of all your movies featured photos of your great uncle? I guess she got used to it, but it momentarily gave me one of those worlds-colliding feelings.
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Oh wow, you said that about the photos and I didn’t think anything about it, and then you pointed out that it was her great-uncle, and that is SO WEIRD! Amitabh must have had the same thing, all those sets with photos of Indira or, as he knew her, “Mrs. Gandhi, mother of my best friend from middle-school”.
On Wed, Jun 7, 2017 at 11:01 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yeah, I never really thought about it before either, since a picture of Tagore is so standard in a Bengali movie.
On another subject: I saw the trailer for VIP 2 with Dhanush and Kajol. Kajol’s facial expression in the poster alone makes me want to see it, but it looks pretty actiony? I don’t keep up with southern films but the first VIP looks fun and I wonder if I should see the first one and anticipate the second or forget the whole thing.
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I am not allowing myself to watch even the VIP 2 trailer until I finally watch VIP.
On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 7:44 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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VIP is more comedic than action though there is some action in the second half. It’s a fun movie though 🙂
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new format is not good..we can’t see the number of comments for each post
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Yeah, I didn’t see that until it was published. I will try some other options until I find one that works.
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I haven’t seen an awful lot since I saw Baahubali 2 in the cinema (which seems like eons ago). In the meantime I was away for a week and have started a big sewing project which will keep me busy for a couple of months – sewing and subtitles don’t go hand-in-hand. But I have managed to watch Baabul and a re-watch of Baahubali 2 (Tamil version). And last night #5 in my list of SRK movies in chronological order – Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (a re-watch).
Also, as mentioned on another thread, bits and pieces of Indian TV shows on Netflix – Ramayan, Buddha, one with Javed Akhtar talking about iconic songs from movies (from 1950 to 1975). Also a doco series about folk music from various areas of India – Satrangi.
It is easier to watch/listen to English langauage programs/movies while sewing – so did a re-watch of Lion and also a couple of episodes of that new Netflix series based on Anne of Green Gables – Anne with an E – which is just delightful.
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I have the same problem! With doing subtitled movies while trying to work on something. It’s why I’ve been plowing through Murder She Wrote.
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If it’s a subtitled movie I’ve seen numerous times before (e.g. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or Veer Zaara) I’ll watch whilst doing something else but if it’s one I’m not familiar with or only seen once before I have to give it my attention.
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I’m totally confused! Is this When Harry Met Whoever film with SRK and Anushka the same as the film Rehnuma with SRK and Anushka? Was Rehnuma the earlier title, or are there two films with SRK and Anushka? And the third film with Anand L. Rai is also with SRK and Anushka? (and a special appearance by Katrina) SRK is acting in three films in a row with Anushka? Seems weird.
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I think it’s two films in a row with Anushka. This one, which has never been titled until now despite what news reports said, and the next one with Aanand L Rai, which still doesn’t have a title.
It’s still weird though! I mean, I like them together, and I think Anushka is a great actress, but it’s strange that he couldn’t find anyone else to co-star with in the whole industry.
On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 12:59 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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an interesting article on India’s current status in world cinema
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/g6LSu6DKP1xvwYM56Cn35K/Indian-cinema-At-home-and-in-the-world.html
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Thanks!
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Just wanted to alert you that the Oka Pranam 4K song is now available.
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Awesome!!!! Thank you!!!!!
On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 7:07 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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