Happy Thursday! I was so excited by the new deleted scene yesterday that I totally forgot to put up my watching post. So here it is today, and hopefully SRK doesn’t distract us again. Which leads to my question for you: what is your story of a movie/movie related thing that distracted you from a real life responsibility?
First, I am watching Gautham Menon, after he commented on my post yesterday I kind of feel like I have to (did that sound like bragging? I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again, I hate myself. But really, it was a nice comment, you should read it, it will make you like him).
Second, for reading, still reading Prem Chopra’s autobiography. He is just the nicest man in the world! There is no scandal, no anger, no drama. Very soothing reading, but not exactly gripping.
Third, for thinking, trying to figure out how I am going to manage to come up with a lesson plan every week for my fiendish Sunday School children. How have I once again committed to teaching every single Sunday? And how have none of them matured or gotten any more obedient since I first started teaching them when they were 3 years younger?
Now, for the question! I think it would have to be the first week of my new job, when the “Chammak Challo” trailer came out on youtube and I found myself sneaking views of it while at work, even though I risked being fired two days after being hired. Still the same job I have now, by the way! Where I just snuck views of the JHMS deleted scenes while at work.
(How could the threat of unemployment stand up to this?)
dontcallitbollywood 
I was so excited when I read Gautham Menon’s comment here yesterday! You should put a stamp (like the one Rajamouli put at the end of Baahubali) saying: “Blog read / approved by G.Menon, Madhavan and Prithviraj”.
This week I watched Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju because you recommended it as super romantic, and I just had to see it. And yes, it was sooooo romantic, I was waiting for a movie like this for ages.
Than I read the comments under your MMIRR review and saw that journeyofmythoughts and Niki were talking about other Sharwanand’s films. I checked the titles and discovered that Shatamanam Bhavati is on youtube with subtitles, so I watched it too. The story was sweet and simple. I usually like this kind of movies, and I liked this one too even if I found it too romanticized. But the colours were amazing,Anupama Parameswaran was so beautiful (I couldn’t believe it’s the same girl who played Mary in Premam) and the costumes were wonderful , I want all Anupama wardrobe. It’s one of those positive movies to watch when you are down, because there are only good things and good people in it.
Ohh and I saw this odd malayalam movie Hallelooya few days ago too. Not bad but I don’t think it was worth watching.
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I was going to complain that no one in the Hindi industry cared about me, but I forgot Farah re-tweeted my OSO review.
Now I want to watch Shatamanam Bhavati! I love sweet and simple stories and I am really curious to see more of Anupama.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 6:34 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I watch most of the malayalam movies releasing and my family runs a film theatre in Kerala and I havent even heard of a movie called Halelooya. Most probably a straight to dvd movie.
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I can see why it wasn’t released in theaters. I think they had like one good idea, but it was too little for a movie so a lot of additional scenes were added. And as result we have one very diluted and slow movie. But it’s funny that you haven’t even heard about this film, and I (being in Italy) watched it and with italian subtitles! I thought that it will be good if somebody has dedicated his time to translate it. But now, after seeing it I just can’t understand why.
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Ok where is madhavan’s comment?
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Oh it is SO EMBARRASSING!!!! He re-tweeted my post that was specifically about how he has aged from a skinny young hot guy to an older bear hot guy.
Here’s the post, and someone embedded the tweet in a comment. He calls me “Bro”.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 10:18 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Haha you called him a cuddly teddy bear 😂 He still took it as a compliment though so no worries 😀 BTW did you let him no that you are not a man? :p
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HOW COULD HE THINK I WAS A MAN???? That is the part that puzzles me. It’s just so incredibly obvious from the content, right? Or, I would think so.
And who wouldn’t think it was a complement to be called a cuddly teddy bear? Or at least, if it’s Madhavan, I feel like I can’t be the first person to have described him that way, right? Like, for instance, his wife.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:52 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Exactly! The content screams out that it has to be written by a woman!! About the cuddly bear part, i thought that you were subtly inferring that he is kinda fat now 😛 But he is still hot for me!!! I watch this song from Vikram Vedha everday…sigh!
Also I’m hiding the fact that I’m INCREDIBLY JEALOUS of the fact that Gautham commented on your post. I’m kinda obsessed with Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya and Neethane En Ponvasantham the same way, going by your recent posts, as you are with Jab Harry Met Sejal 😀
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But is fat a bad thing? No! It’s cuddly! I may have even liked him better in Vettai than I did in Vikram Vedha. And possible TGIF post topic? Maddy, 90s SRK, Nivin Pauly now?
I hate it when people are jealous of me! Or, put it another way, unhappy because of being jealous. Think of it as your contributions to the general blog community are what makes me turn out content, therefore his comment belongs to all of us.
However, if Adi ever comments on a post, that is just for me and a sign of his undying love. DDLJ, that’s the one I’m really obsessed with.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 1:07 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Okay, I’ll just assume that the comment was for all of us 😀 And a big yes to the post! But I’m more into the mid 2000s Srk, I was growing up then and i loved him in k3g,swades, oso but Chak De is my favourite. I love men with stubble and i think he looked incredibly sexy in chak de.
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Thank goodness, my TGIF archive is now quite extensive.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 1:25 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Srk in Happy New Year is seriously the only good part in the entire movie. Also I remember now that i thought Saif looked totally hot in Race, thanks to the beard. Good to know that I’m not the only one 😀
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And even he has that stupid blonde streak thing messing with his perfection.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 1:39 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Bahubali 2 is now available on Dish TV miniplex and we’re watching it again 😂
We watched a Russian disaster film (Metro), two British horror films (Howl and Crimson Peak), an American horror film (It Comes At Night) and we started an Abigail Breslin film Perfect Sisters which is apparently based on a true story but it wasn’t appealing enough for us to watch all the way through. Might finish that someday.
Still can’t find any elders or children in Kuntala.
I was taking a shower when beau flicked through the channels and found Bahubali playing. And the first thing I told him was how amazing it was that we’d all watched the film nearly 30+ times already but nobody is moaning about it being played again. Maybe that’s because like all true indian epics, this one is also very episodic in nature. That’s very clever editing because what they had on film is at least 25% more than what we’ve seen.
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The only one of those non-Indian films I recognized was Crimson Peak, supposed to be very good.
Now I am picturing some kind of great Kuntal Purge thing. Once you hit 45, you are exiled from the kingdom. Or maybe it is such a wonderful place that the elders just don’t look elderly? Some of those young guardsman in the background were actually 80?
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 6:38 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It got creepier the more I thought about how Devasena was around 14-16 when the 25 year bahubali meets her and perhaps Kumar Verma, his sister and his cousin/bava wasn’t much older as nobody was concerned with THEIR kids. WTF rajamaouli?! Explain this dude!!
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My sister pointed out the same thing about the Malayalam film industry. I was telling her something I had read somewhere about how the new age industry was almost 90% people under 35. And she wondered if there was some truck that came around, collecting and culling the crew and actors as they neared 36.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 9:11 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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😁 maybe they got twilighted!
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Oh and Crimson Peak sucked! But I did think of a horror fanfic while I was brooding about how much the film was sucking —
Ok so, the story is set in colonial India, around the mid 1890s. It has an old and grey but still youthful Raja- maybe Naseeruddin Shah. He is everything a raja of the time would be- stately, grand, tasteful, tactful, well travelled, a connoisseur of the finest money can buy and he’s rather loaded.
He has a new, young wife. A very new and a very young wife. aged around 16 at the time. I don’t have a girl cast for this role yet. But anyway, she’s inspired by both European and awadh/nizam fashions. She’s from an aristocratic family, very wealthy and she’s educated at the same level as a girl of her time would be and she’s maybe even attended a finishing school in Europe.
When the story opens, we see a young indian doctor, I want to say prabhas from the picture I sent you on fb, in his late 20s, dressed in western clothes, make a trepidous journey in a horse drawn carriage through a thick jungle in the mountains and he has a small and skinny doctor’s assistant dressed in hindustani clothing with him. The two make a shaky journey to a large and regal looking gothic building which has expansive grounds that are forever covered in mist.
They arrive and find their warm host who asks them immediately to come hunting with them but they decline in favor of an afternoon of rest.
At dinner, they meet the raja again who is dressed in traditional clothes and the choti Rani who is also in very heavy and costly looking traditional clothes that look out of place amongst their English guests. It is a very western style dinner with Indian and continental food, and servants that function like western servants but are dressed in traditional Indian wear.
The Rani says nothing during the dinner and later during drinks too. The doctor observes her but she just stares into the fire and after the guests leave, retires without a word.
The raja explains to the doctor that his first wife had died of consumption when they were travelling overseas and that though they were childless, they were very happy. He had married the daughter of the raja of his neighboring jageer who was his mentor and stood to lose his estate to the doctrine of lapse since his son was gay was unlikely to take a wife or produce a male heir in time. The arrangement, the other raja has proposed would help both of them keep their estates. So he married this young girl against his wishes and only go produce ans heir but his wife was completely ‘uncooperative’ and claimed she was distressed because she was haunted by ghosts. The raja asks the doctor if he believed in ghosts and the doctor days he doesn’t. And then he explains how he plans to cure the Rani. It is standard practice for the time. Potions and examinations. The doctor says he’s going to need the better part of the winter to have his methods work and then produces stories of his successes that had both native and European clientele. The raja is impressed and asks him to set up his clinic in one wing of the house and offers a generous compensation etc plus more when they have a child.
Later at night, when the doctor is talking to his assistant we get to know that the doctor isn’t a doctor at all rather he was an English army doctor’s butler who picked up European mannerisms, English and a few tricks of the trade and after the army doctor returned to England, he just pretended his way through clients. We get to know that all he did with all the other unhappy wives of his rich clients was that he treated them for “hysteria” and that usually worked. And he was hoping to do that with this Rani too and he was happy that she wasn’t some extremely old woman.
The next day after breakfast when he is having the first examination in a parlor with the raja and butler and her ladies’ maid present, the Rani just falls out of her chair and has a fit. The doctor is startled but the raja just sits with his lega crossed sipping coffee and the servants are nonchalant too. After a while the Rani gets up breathing heavily and covered in sweat and grunting, the raja has her sent to her room and tells the doctor she does this all the time and claims a ghost attacked her. He says but as you can see nobody else saw or felt a ghost in the room. He says she does this so she would be sent to her father’s house where he suspects, she had an affair with an English army major posted there. He says he wouldn’t have minded the affair as he understood what being in love is like but he cannot afford a white baby.
So the doctor gets to work and over several weeks he wins the raja’s trust and he is allowed to carry out treatments in private too. It is mostly slight physiotherapy, aromatherapy and hot and cold soaks and he routinely gives her opium and other sedatives and sleeping aids. The raja sees the sedation as the treatment working. The Rani is still pissed at the doctor but she resists less and less every day. She wakes up screaming in the night less often and the doctor “scientifically” explains other haunting stuff to everyone like pipes rumbling, loose floorboards, outdoor lights projecting shadows in the house etc. he makes his way to the main part of his treatment and as he is in the middle of one “hysteria treatment session” the Rani tells him she knows what he was doing and that she knows about him drugging her. She tells him none of that would help any of them anymore as the ghost was going to come for the rest of them soon. She tells him that she is educated and she knows he’s a quack.
The doctor gets worried about her telling on him. So he tells the raja that she is as good as she can get for now and that he’d give medicine to last a few months and he wants to leave for the winter to study further on his findings from the case and come back during spring to follow-up. He’s basically prepares stronger sedatives so he isn’t found out. The raja tells him to wait out till first snow passes or he’ll be stuck in the middle of nowhere if he leaves. But the doctor insists and starts leaving when a snow storm hits and as he struggles to make his way past the estate gate, he turns back and finds the Rani standing by a large red stained window. As he pauses to look at her she walks past the red glass, the doctor sees a very tall, broad shadow unlike anyone in the house walk behind her. He is terror stricken, falls and sprains his ankle.
He is brought back to the house injured and the butler who is also a hakeem, tells him he won’t be able to walk for a month so he’s going to have to stay the whole winter at the estate.
The Rani comes down to visit hum and with a menacing smile, tells him that now that he’s seen the ghost he better find a potion for the haunting because he was coming after him next.
I haven’t figured out the rest of the story but it might be something like the Rani was haunted by a ghost let loose on her by the older Rani who wasn’t really dead and that the raja isn’t what he seems, the staff have a shady role too and the doctor needs to solve the mystery of the deaths that have been attributed to scientific reasons by himself since he got there, etc.
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I like it! Very “the true horror is the ills of society”.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 10:35 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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And Indian society has had so many that are found even today!! Maybe I should be less excited about it 😐
Suggested the cast for the Rani, the doctor’s assistant, the butler (I want Boman Irani) and the older Rani. I kinda see the choti Rani as being the younger wife in Numm (the Pakistani series). Somebody on whom 1890s proper English wouldn’t look artificial. I know Naseer has an impeccable posh Indian English accent.
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I kind of want Kalpana Pathak for the older Rani if we are using Naseerji. Doctor’s assistant, Vijay Raaz. Choti Rani, posh English accent got me thinking, what about Shweta Bachchan’s daughter? I mean, that kind of is who she is! Studied abroad and all of that, but ultimately still from a traditional family.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:22 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I mean posh Indian English not western.. Like indira gandhi.. And Vijay Raj is too old.. Someone younger and shaky like Rajkummar before he got so mainstream. Or how about Mohd. Zeeshan? He could be the wisecracking naysayer sidekick who is super scared of the Rani’s ghost stories. For the older Rani, maybe Dimple?
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Zeeshan could be good. If we want really posh and glamorous and we can understand while Naseerji still mourns her for the older Rani, Shobana?
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:35 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh boy!! She would look soo good in haunted mansion portraits too!!
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And they could use all that old film footage of her in other period parts!
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:39 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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But I want her to have a talkie talkie role and I want her in a moving picture that the doctor finds in the attic while investigating the ghost that makes him question the raja’s story too. Moving pictures came in the 1890s right? A raja would have a camera for sure.
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1896, was the Lumiere Brothers thingy thingy. Later that same year, first public exhibition of film came to India. But at that point it was still pretty rare. You would have to get to like 1905 or something before it would be a thing a Raja would have. Unless you really bend over backward and say “When she was dying, her husband so desired a record of her that they traveled aaaaaallllllllllll the way to Bombay, found the one camera in India, made a record, purchased the one projector in all of India, and brought it back to the estate with them.”
But, if you did that, you could also do some cool tie ins like having the haunted camera end up at Phalke studios or something. Heck, framing device!!!! The same cast, but modern day, is doing a costume drama and finds the old camera and projector to use as a prop, only when they turn it on, suddenly we cut to the past. And then in the end back in the present day we could see them all shake themselves out of this vision, and have a cool thing where they are all slightly different than their past people. Like, Present Day Prabhas is gay and dating Present Day Doctor’s Sidekick.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 11:46 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The flashback within the flashback would be too many flashbacks. I don’t think we’ve had a proper period horror flick in India along the lines of The Woman in Black you know what I mean. If the moving picture is too much maybe a series of photographs that look like a moving pictures. The Indian royals started getting photographs taken almost as soon as the camera got to India. So technically the raja could have photographs of the Rani from her younger years like the 1860s or so. The doctor could also explain the ghosts in the pictures that the Rani claims to have captured on film with scientific demos.
I so wish someone somewhere in India tries a real period horror flick in the British period horror style complete with the gothic mansion in the hills, the mist, the creaking wood floors but only with gaudy Indian royal costumes! Ha!
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Well, there was 1920, but that was apparently terrible, so I don’t think it counts.
Oh, and there is a Prithviraj horror movie! Which is not great, but it does intersect your Prithviraj/horror interests. And it has a little bit of a flashback to the past thing. Ezra is the name, just came out in the spring.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 12:11 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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What’s your all time favorite horror film/s
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I can tell you every horror movie I have ever watched in my life;
The Innocents
Dhund: The Fog
Ezra
Pizza
That’s it, that’s all I’ve ever seen. It’s really not me genre. However, of those 3, The Innocents is the best, then Pizza not far behind, Ezra maybe a little bit behind them, not close, but still close enough to shout. And then Dhund: The Fog way way way off in the far distance, a little speck in the horizon.
Needless to say, Dhund was by far the most enjoyable watching experience. If you can track down a copy (I think Irrfan Khan may have tried to destroy them all, now that he is a “good” actor), I highly recommend it.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 5:24 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Have you watched the older Dhundh that has Naveen Nischol in it? It’s one of my favourites though it isn’t technically a horror film. Why don’t they make movies like that anymore?
And I’m really disappointed that Ragini MMS and Darna Mana Hai and Darna Zaruri Hai didn’t make it to your list. Also, you’ve watched Kaal. And that was a proper horror film! 😂
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I have not watched Kaal! Like a proper SRK fan, I simply rented the DVD, watched the opening song, and promptly turned it off.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 6:22 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Omg!! Then you totally missed one of Ajay Devgn’s actually finest performances. It’s one of those films that get you and you’re ashamed of how much you liked it. And I watched this on TV. In the middle of the day. And I was still spooked!
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I just noticed you didn’t say Ratna Pathak. Damn, I totally want Ratna Pathak now!! And I can’t seem to recall a Kalpana Pathak. Which one is she again?
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I can’t decide if you are being very mean or very nice. I meant Ratna Pathak, totally said Kalpana Pathak instead because I am an idiot.
On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 12:01 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Funny thing is I was thinking ratna pathak all along and only when a friend came here to see the ghost story and asked me who kalpana pathak was that I noticed that the name there wasn’t ratna pathak. 😁
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Back in Japan after my week in Bangladesh. I saw another six or so minutes of Biwi #1 (on what is apparently the 24 hour Biwi #1 channel) before falling asleep, saw Vidya on a billboard and Katrina painted on the back of a rickshaw, and got a tour from a Kunal Kapoor lookalike. The last probably doesn’t count, but did enliven the engineering college I was supposed to be paying attention to.
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That last is the most important! I had no idea there was more than one Kunal Kapoor in the world. What a wonderful time to be alive.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 6:46 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I was also traveling, but to less exciting places than Miss Braganza. I headed to western Nebraska to the town on the high plains where I lived until I was eight years old, to attend the 50th reunion of the high school I didn’t attend. It was a good way to catch up with my classmates from 60 (!!) years ago. I downloaded two seasons of “Master of None” for the airplane time, some of my favorite podcasts (“Pod Save America” and Larry Wilmore’s) for the car trip from Denver to North PLatte, and watched a lot of cable TV at the hotel. TCM was showing “Strangers on a Train” and “Room for One More”, and HBO Family was doing a Harry Potter marathon. Since I got home, I watched the deleted scenes from JHMS over and over again, and Andaz (now I get why Dilip Kumar was such a big deal!)
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So glad you saw Andaz! Yes Dilip Kumar, but more importantly, THE CLOTHES!!!! Everything/everyone looked so great. Oh, and do you get the Raj-Nargis chemistry now? Dilip is charming and wonderful with her, but there is just something special when she is with Raj.
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 10:14 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, indeed. And this film has made me love her even more.
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Just discovered Master of None on Netflix and I LOVE it. I had no idea Tom Haverford was capable of such depth. Not quite so into the second season, except for the Thanksgiving episode, but still enjoying it.
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Where is the Prithviraj comment?
(Congrats on being “verified” by Southern Personalities) (who needs the north?!?!) (hehehe)
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He tweeted something nice about my City of God review. It’s embedded in the comments here: https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2017/04/10/monday-malayalam-city-of-god-love-is-what-ties-it-all-together/
But someday, SOMEDAY, SRK will respond to my constant barrage of messages, and then the north will win out.
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Rewatched Mere Brother Ki Dulhan for the nth time. I really miss Imran Khan on screen and tried to find out what’s up with his career. He’s been bulking up in the gym and I have a weird theory that he will have a cameo in uncle Aamir’s Thugs of Hindustan! I think he realized that he needed a change of image to reset his career.
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I watched parava and ramaleela ,two latest malayalam releases.
Parava is a good film but not perfect. It felt like a stylized version of maheshinte pratikaram where the place is the central character. Films is about a bunch of characters in mattancherri and the film succeeded in getting us the feel of life there. Lifestyle of muslim community in mattancherry is well portrayed.Film has plenty of beautiful moments but problems is it felt like scattered all over.not everything come together or is coherent. Film basically has 2 plots.One involving two teenage boys and their obsession with pigeon racing was really beautiful.While the 2nd plot involving dulqar and shane nigam about the senior guys and abt a gang of friends was little dragging and not as interesting as the first plot.I wished the entire film was just about the 2 boys.
But still its worth a watch in theatre .Its a well made film with some real hard work behind the cameras.its an impressive acheivement for a debutant director.
Also watched ramaleela starring dileep. Agian not a perfect film and had flaws including logical errors.But still i enjoyed the film very much. Its a gripping political thriller with some good twists in climax.I love it when filmmakers are able to create thrillers without any action scenes.
I was getting fed up of all the recent communist glorification films made to please ruling party.This film too begins and ends like another communist film but the story in between is somewhat inspired from a poltical murder happened a few years before which was committed by the communist party members. Writer has smartly hidden it and only some subtle references are given.Still it was good to see someone showing the courage to make film about it .Showing the other side of party martyrs .
But the most interesting thing was how similar it was to the recent controversies. A lot of dialogues and scenes were felt like referring to the recent incidents. But the film was written and shot before all these controversies started. There is one sequence in the film in which dileep is performing sraadham for his father(a hindu ceremony performed as annual rites for departed ancestors).in the scene he is surroUnded by police and news medias while doing it .its shown as a comic scene in the film but exactly the same happened in real life too. He was released from jail for a few hours by court after his arrest to perform sraadham for his father. He performed it in front of the police and newsmedia surrounded him.It was telecasted live in all news channel which latet recived criticism. It is one of the instance where writer’s sixth sense came into play and he was able to predict what is gonna happen to dileep in future.
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Really interesting to hear your reaction! The little bit I had seen about Parava focused on Dulquer (of course) as though his small part was obviously the best part of the film. Interesting to hear from a “real person” who found his section less interesting than the main plot.
And that Dileep thing is fascinating! It’s so strange when things work out like that.
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Here is song from parava with the two boys. Both are amazing actors https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7SIFntJtkWI
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Trailer of Parava also featuring Dulquer and Shane Nigam: https://youtu.be/EQKjJBIQT7s
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The kids part is better, (close to 3/4th of the movie is of the kids, so director got to develop that story line better) . I liked the film. Dulquer’s story line is also good but not as good as kids. One story line is of a kid and his best friend, the other story line is of his elder brother ( Played by Shine Nigam) and his best friend ( Played by Dulquer Salman). The only problem for me was the fast change from one story line to other just before the climax.
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Also watched Ramleela. Really entertaining murder mystery with twists and suspense. Lots of dialogues and scenes which can be related to the current scenario going through by the lead actor of the movie, Dileep. The film got one of the biggest opening because of the promos which had striking similarities to the current situations also because of several plea by the debutant director that the film does not only belong to the hero of the movie but also the whole crew who has put lots of hard work. The director took almost 4 years to make it and this is his first film. the film’s realease date got postponed several times because of the issue and protests
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That’s interesting that the director made the argument that the film should belong to everyone. Do you know if Dileep had any producer cut, or part of the box office in his contract besides just his straight up payment?
On Sat, Sep 30, 2017 at 1:25 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It is produced by the producer of Pulimurugan. For Dileep I think it is straight up payment. In Malayalam Industry dont think there is box office cut for the hero.
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Great, so the tickets we buy really don’t do anything for him.
On Sat, Sep 30, 2017 at 8:32 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Btw manju warriors ‘udaharanam sujatha’ released on same day with ramaleela. it was an interesting box office clash in kerala.
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I’ll say!
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So earlier this week I decided to rewatch Brahmotsavam to lower my expectations for Spyder. I actually ended up enjoying it because I was watching the movie and snapchatting to my friends about how bad it is 🙂
Then I finally saw Spyder today! It was really interesting. Spyder definitely wasn’t a typical commercial Telugu movie. It was more raw, dark, and based on the mind games between the hero and the villain. Mahesh’s performance was good though I do think his character had less scope to perform. SJ Suryah as the villain was amazing! He stole the show and he completed creeped me out like his character was expected to. I honestly don’t think I could watch this movie by myself; that’s how psychotic SJ Suryah’s character was. Overall, Spyder was a pretty good thriller. Not exactly the big, fun action movie I was expecting but an interesting thriller.
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Way way back when I first heard about it and that AR Murgadoss was directing (who I only knew from Ghajini and Akira), I thought “really? Isn’t he always kind of dark?” So it sounds like, yes! This is a Murgadoss film with the darkness that involves.
Hmm. I was planning to see it today, but now I wonder if I should wait until I have more energy (staying up late for the Judwaa review) to handle it. On the other hand, sounds like a weekend matinee where I can walk out into the sunshine might be a better idea than seeing it alone at night and driving home in the dark!
Oh, and you should absolutely see Judwaa! It’s not quite as good as the original, or as Main Tera Hero, but it’s the same kind of movie and it’s on the big screen right now, so you should enjoy seeing it in theaters!
On Sat, Sep 30, 2017 at 1:56 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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You should see it still!
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Leaving the theater now! Review going up.tonight
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Just tried to watch Judwaa because I wanted to be able to compare it to the new one when I finally see it. Could only get through a half an hour. The best I can say is that Karisma is definitely a great comedienne and it would be amazing if she could do a screwball comedy today, but an intelligent one like Philadelphia Story or Laws of Attraction (the one with Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore). Indian comedies are almost always complete misses for me. The stars must align or something. For some reason I did think Andaz Apna Apna was really fun, so I was really hoping to like this because it was similar era Salman and Karisma. But I’m pretty sure that it’s actually David Dhawan’s brand of humor that will never work for me. Another reason why I may never get the whole Govinda fandom either. I’m willing to try another Dhawan film with Govinda if there’s one I should really see?
I’m getting excited about the new DQ film, Solo, and decided to watch Kali for the first time. I had put off watching this because I was concerned his character would be too dark and unsympathetic. But he pulled it off beautifully. Sai Pallavi is also wonderful (and it’s super weird/cool that she recently completed her medical degree in Georgia, the country). I compared this one in my head to NH-10 (which I couldn’t get through because it was so violent and scary). The second half of Kali was similar but I think more successful.
And also watched the very. slow. Annayum Rasoolum with Fahadh Faaisal…a romance between a Muslim guy and Catholic girl. Despite my ongoing interest in how Catholicism merges with Indian culture in that region, I was a little bored and, honestly, Fahadh’s character basically stalks the girl in the first half and though she’s clearly attracted to him from the beginning, it gets a little creepy. Still not sure I completely get Fahadh Faaisal’s on-screen vibe. We’ve talked about it before…he’s kind of bland and wishy washy and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Otherwise, I did find some of the quieter moments of the film really charming like the relationship between him and his friends; the narrator Ashley (played by Sunny Wayne who I definitely want to see more of his films) and the wife of his friend Abu were particularly interesting characters.
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Starting at the end, for Sunny Wayne, check out Annmariya Kalippilannu. Wonderful movie, and Sunny plays a very different kind of a role.
I like Annayum Rasoolum, but it took me a while to get into it. And I also have a hard time getting Fahad’s vibe. If you want to check out something really really slow, you can try Maheshinte Prasthakam, another Fahad film.
For Karisma, have you seen Jaanwar? Definitely not a comedy, a very ridiculous action hero type film. But Karisma’s heroine in it is wonderful.
On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 9:58 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I actually looked up that Sunny Wayne movie on hotstar last night but it wasn’t there…will track it down.
I really haven’t seen many Karisma Kapoor films and I keep thinking I need to fix that…only Andaz Apna Apna, Raja Hindustani, Dil To Pagal Hai, Hum Saath-Saath Hain, Fiza, and Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya. None of them were keepers for me…though I might someday buy the Andaz Apna Apna DVD. I think my favorite performance so far of hers was actually Fiza.
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Definitely check out Jaanwar. It’s not an intense “good” performance like in Fiza, but it’s a very solid heroine part, that she takes and makes something a little extra special.
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You can actually try “Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal” for Sunny Wayne. Decent/Good film, I think.
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“That’s interesting that the director made the argument that the film should belong to everyone. ”
>>> A big hole in the argument was when his fans reportedly booed her film in the first day. This was after she openly supported releasing his film.
Her film, a remake of NIL BATTEY SANNATA, held its own and did decent business. It got excellent reviews, and her performance was much appreciated – http://annavetticadgoes2themovies.blogspot.in/2017/10/review-535-udaharanam-sujatha.html
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I’d be interested to see her film, but of course i haven’t seen the original yet, and I should really watch that one first.
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