Shahrukh is not being very considerate to me! I have this bonkers week (my family is staying about an hour and a half outside of the city, so I am commuting back and forth and they are keeping me up all night with family stuff and then I have to drive drive drive to work the next day), and I get up this morning thinking maybe I will have a little time to, like, brush my hair, but no! Shahrukh has just posted a 5 minute video that I have to watch instead. Oh, and also Siddharth has a trailer, but it’s not as long and I don’t have to watch as closely. And neither of them used subtitles, because they hate me because I am disgusting and live in a car and never wash my hair.
Right, Shahrukh first! So many things to think about with this video!
First, the promotional idea of Shahrukh doing a bunch of “in character” bits. It’s interesting. Most often, Shahrukh (and other Hindi stars) do promotions in which they play “themselves” but highlight the parts of their personal journey which relate to the character. So, like, Ranbir talking about his difficult childhood while promoting Rockstar. So we can kind of go in ready to think of him as an angry troubled person.
For Shahrukh, it meant 20 years of talking about how much he loves his wife. And then we all kind of connected that to his characters. Occasionally he would also talk about his depression, or how he always wanted to be an action hero, or whatever. But it was always just talking about himself, not the character.
Now, for this film, he is doing more and more things as the character. I guess he did the same thing for Dear Zindagi, now that I think about it, but that character was a little closer to Shahrukh himself so it wasn’t as noticeable. Anyway, I wonder if it is because in the new social media age he is feeling more protective of his privacy and preferring to “act” even in public appearances? Or that as he ages the kind of characters he is asked to play have less and less in common with his real life as a family man with two grown children?
The other thing adding a complication on to it is that, if I am following this correctly (no subtitles because he hates me), Shahrukh is in character as Harry (sexy outfit and hair, trying to be a singer), but is sitting in on a music sitting just like Shahrukh-the-movie-star would. Which is kind of mind-blowing and makes your head hurt.
And also assumes that we are all familiar with the concept of a music sitting! That the star would be there to represent his character, and the director, and the composer, and the singer. That songs for films are, ideally, collaborative endeavors between all these artists (as discussed in my Hindi Film 101 here).
Final thing! I like the song, the sound of it I mean. But I am still worried about the visualization of it. The way they did this video, with just quick cuts of the film, makes me worried that it is going to be yet another chopped up montage style song. Instead of a full real song sequence. BOOOOO! I want my song sequences!
Oh, and then there’s a trailer for the new Siddharth/Jacqueline movie. I kind of like it! It’s not going to be groundbreaking or my favorite film ever (probably, I didn’t have high hopes for Bang Bang and then I fell in love with it). But it looks like a silly fun ride which has no pretense of being anything else.
What gives me really high hopes for it, strangely, is that they give away so much of the plot in the trailer! Which says, to me, that they have enough faith in the fun of the film that they don’t feel the need to bring the audience in with tricks. Unlike, say, Baar Baar Dekho where they tried so hard to keep us guessing about what it would be about and all of that. And then the film itself turned out to be little more than a serious of plot tricks, with no fun parts.
But this one, they give us most of the twists straight out. Gaurav/Siddharth is a nice but kind of boring office worker. He is dating Jacqueline who loves him but also wishes he was a little more exciting. Rishi/Siddharth is an international action hero spy type. The two men are constantly mistaken for each other causing difficulties in Rishi/Siddharth’s spy mission, and Guarav/Siddharth’s attempts to get engaged to Jacqueline.
The trailer isn’t selling “what will happen next!”, the trailer is selling “Funny/exciting action sequences, bouncy songs, Jacqueline and Siddharth both look hot, this movie is a good time!” It could still be terrible of course, they could have put all the best parts into the trailer and it turns out that the other 100 some minutes of the film are deadly dull. But I have more faith in it than if they had tried to promote it merely on “Siddharth is an office worker with a gun. What’s the twist??????”
Oh, and I am also still not convinced there is no twist. Decent chance the twist is that Siddharth has multiple personalities, or was actually Rishi the whole time and just lying to everyone, or Jacqueline is really Rishi’s girlfriend and was setting Gaurav up, or any one of a million other possibilities. But at least the basic premise of the film is being shared, it’s not that they feel like they have to keep even that a secret in order to sucker people into theaters.
dontcallitbollywood 
I’m annoyed I like the trailer of A Gentleman so much! I’ve never loved either Jacqueline or Siddharth all that much, but I think I’ll def be following this movie, or at least the reviews…
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I am not annoyed because I have random warm feelings for both Jacqueline and Siddharth. So I am delighted that they have such a neat looking film coming out.
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Well, hopefully this film changes that!
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I feel the same way! I never expected to like the trailer so much. Especially the song Bandook Meri Laila is really catchy in the trailer itself.
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The directors have a really interesting filmography. Happy Ending, Shor in the City, Go Goa gone. I’ll be interested to see what they do with this idea.
On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 10:11 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh yeah, this is the duo that made Happy Ending right. I kind of liked that movie, especially the parts with Preity Zinta and also the track with Govinda.
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FYI, the video of “Safar” now has subtitles! I don’t know why these songs and “mini trails” aren’t released with subtitles at the outset. Making us wait for even a day doesn’t seem very nice at all. I guess Shah Rukh doesn’t hate us; he just likes us less than his Hindi-speaking fans!
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He must have sensed I washed my hair last night and am no longer disgusting.
On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 6:28 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, that is absolutely it!!!
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I’m really with you on the song sequences. I’m just a noobie fan (since early 2015) of Hindi movies, but they are a big part of what I find compelling about them. I don’t care if they fit into the plot or not, I’m happy to go away into a fun, romantic, or moving sequence and then come back again to the story.
I get cringy when Shah Rukh does the lip syncing thing right into a microphone. looking at the camera–probably because it is so clear in earlier interviews and appearances that while he is one of the most talented people on earth, the man can’t carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it. So I can suspend disbelief in a song sequence, or even if he’s singing directly to one person, but the whole “hey look, I’m a singer” thing just bugs me. Still–I appreciate the humor and humility it took to make the video. And I like the song–especially with subtitles–nice lyrics!
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I was so disappointed with the song sequences in Raees. And what was extra irritating is that they clearly KNEW people wanted a big song number. They sold the love song with the Garba sequence in the song trailer. And then in the actual film it turns out to be another montage style song with only a few minutes of Garba.
I think Salman is the only Khan who is still doing full on song and dance numbers, which I appreciate, but I wish the other two would too! That’s also part of the reason I am excited about Varun and Ranveer as rising stars, because they are both natural dancers and seem to enjoy dancing and be willing to do the big numbers that the older stars won’t any more.
On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 9:44 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes. And I’m glad Sushant Singh Rajput got to do some bigger dance numbers in Raabta. Not planning to see the movie anytime soon but I’m enjoying watching the songs. I’m not convinced about his acting ability, though I loved Bomkyesh Bakshi. But the boy can move!
I really hope SRK’s big song numbers aren’t gone for good. *worried face*
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Shahrukh only has so much knee cartilage left, and I wish he used more of it for big dance numbers, and less for the action scenes!
On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 10:28 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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First, I’d like to address your dirty hair, lack of subtitles connection. I think you are right. I think Shah Rukh is so psychically tuned in to you (and us of course) that he knows exactly how we feel and what we are doing! Now can we just get him to intuit that he has to come hang out with us? Seriously, though, I laughed out loud when I read your post! I’m not sure I agree about your dislike of montage song sequences. I too would have like more of the Garba in Raees but the only song I minded was the “victory” one. That being said, I agree with you about giving up action for more dance if he is preserving whats left of his knee. I’ve loved these “trails” and songs, I must admit.
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Like a really considerate husband who knows not to romance you when you have a cold, feel gross in general. Yes, this makes complete sense!
On Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 1:20 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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