Shahrukh must be celebrating his one-month-before birthday too! And he has given us/me a little gift, another deleted scene. And a really juicy one with lots to discuss! (full index of JHMS coverage here)
This scene must take place between them leaving Frankfurt and the “Raula” song. I don’t know if we really need it, the cut from the fade out on the Frankfurt apartment to “Raula” is really elegant. But it does have a few lines that are call backs and call forwards (is that a thing?) and gives us a little more sweet Shahrukh-Anushka interaction.
Translation courtesy of the same anonymous who translated the other scenes (she is anonymous to you, but I can see her email and know it is the same person because I am Queen of the Blog):
Mayank: This apartment’s fortunes have changed! Sir has come back after 2 years. I already moved in with Irina 6 months ago. Since then…
(Sejal and Harry move to the balcony)
Sejal: So this is home. That you’re afraid of. And also looking for. You’re funny, huh.
Harry: Really?
Sejal: I’m sure.
Harry: Aren’t you afraid of the ring that you’re also looking for?
Sejal: Show me. (referring to the wound on his head)
Harry: It’s okay now. (it’s hard to hear – not sure exactly) You put something on it…
(Mayank comes in and coughs loudly on purpose)
Harry: (sarcastically) Do you want me to give you some medicine for your throat?
Mayank: No, it’s fine.
Harry: Take take of it. It’s sounding serious.
Sejal: So where’s the engagement?
Mayank: I’ve booked a table at the Hotel Medici. I’ll put the ring on her there and we’ll have dinner too.
Sejal: Huh? This is an engagement? Putting a ring on her finger in a restaurant?
Harry: You’re funny. Who gets engaged in a restaurant? Really, an engagement should be romantic. Right?
Sejal: Yeah, where’s the romance?
Harry: Where’s the romance?
Sejal: Where’s the romance?
Mayank: Can we decide the engagement first? You can romance later.
Harry: Okay, okay, talk.
Mayank: Okay, so where will we do the engagement?
So, let’s break this sucker down! First, look at the outfits. They arrive in matching clothes, with garlands. I assume there may have been a filler scene filmed, or just planned to be filmed, in which Mayank meets them at the airport with garlands. But the end result is a psuedo-marriage arrival in the apartment. In matching clothes, with garlands around their necks. Arriving in his home for the first time. This helps fill in even more of that “in ‘Raula’ they are married” feeling. Anushka says right before “Phurr” that this is her honeymoon. Now, the honeymoon is over, this is the official return to the husband’s home, completing all the rituals of marriage. If you wanted, you could even say that “Radha”, followed by the girlfriend offer, was the wedding. The rest of the trip is their honeymoon as they slowly get closer to each other and fall more and more in love, and now this is the arrival in their home to start a new life together.
Oh, and from what Mayank says, this apartment hasn’t been “empty” for 2 years. It sounds like Shahrukh left Frankfurt, but he and Mayank were sharing it. Mayank moved out officially 6 months ago. So that fills in a tiny gap of how the heck there is a homey lived in apartment with rent still paid and everything else if Shahrukh hasn’t been there in 2 years. And it gives another little touch to the Shahrukh-Mayank relationship. They aren’t just co-workers, they were roommates, sharing a home together. In fact, I think we can assume this is Shahrukh’s apartment and once Mayank, a young lonely desi, came to join him at work, he welcomed him in and gave him a home.
The interaction between Anushka and Shahrukh is similar to the interaction in the cafe deleted scene. It’s serious stuff, but said with a smile. Partly I think because they aren’t ready to say it seriously yet, but also because they are so happy right now that everything seems like a joke.
One thing that is really interesting is how comfortable they are in saying these things. It reminds me of the “Queen-sized bed” line, it would have been a huge deal to say it just a few days ago, but somehow they went from “awkward strangers” to “people who can say the deepest truths with a smile”, skipping over the point in the middle when they are saying these things but are kind of afraid to say them. There’s no fear here. In the same way that Anushka casually demands to check his head wound, and he casually lets her look at it. She is not concerned with showing her care for his body, and he is not hesitant about letting her take care of him. They aren’t even that embarrassed when Mayank catches them, they no longer feel like they have anything to be embarrassed about.
There’s two levels to the next part of the scene. On the one hand, there’s the same thing we saw in “Raula”, the casual marital way they are interacting. Agreeing together that Mayank’s plan is no good, and immediately taking charge. Smiling and taking together. It’s not infatuation or being in love, it’s being together, thinking the same way, knowing what each other is thinking.
But then there’s the callback-call forward of it. Which started even before this. The same shot of them waking into the apartment and going to the balcony and sitting down, that is what we see before their big fight. Now, it feels like the end of a wedding/start of a marriage. They have entered the husband’s home, that’s the final step, everything is done now. But in the next scene, it will be the end of a marriage. Shahrukh pulls off the Sherwani and forces Anushka to walk away from him, instead of coming together.
But the big thing is the “romantic engagement”. Anushka and Shahrukh here are sharing a joke on past-Anushka. Who thought an engagement in a restaurant was romantic. Or, more accurately, who was trying to convince herself it was. That was their very first moment of true connection, when he broke through her illusions to make her suddenly feel the need to defend that it was romantic, really! She saw him as a person who had opinions, and it made her question the little bubble she had been living in.
Now, that bubble is completely burst. So far gone that she can look back and laugh at who she was. And Shahrukh can laugh too, he is no longer bitter and cynical, just gently amused.
This is now the 3rd middle time that the idea of “romantic engagement” has come up. First in that first scene, second now, and third at the very end. In fact, this scene makes a little more sense of the end. Her suggestion isn’t just insecurity, or calling back to her previous life, it is a shared in joke, this is their 3rd time around with an engagement, how do they want to do it?
And what I find really interesting, now that we have this scene, is that it puts into sharp contrast what Anushka plans when she really gets to do the engagement she wants. In “Raula” as it is the message comes through, that this is a fun happy loose day, not planned and formal and just right, but purely happy. Setting it next to this scene, that message is even clearer. This is the life that the “real” Anushka wants, this is the life that she wants to share with Shahrukh and he with her. Not an engagement in a restaurant, but not a big fancy wedding either. Something in the middle. Something wild and happy and big.
It goes back to that vision I have had for myself of young Anushka, enjoying disco and then being ashamed of enjoying it, thinking she has to constantly limit herself and lower herself and tone herself down. And so she tried to be happy with the restaurant engagement, it is what everyone said she should want. But somewhere inside this is what she really wants. Big loud happy crazy. And that’s what she makes Shahrukh want to. And so, when they plan an engagement together, this is what they put in place.
dontcallitbollywood 
I love the little moment where he looks to be tossing his garland but immediately stops when he sees Sejal staring at him. It could be in three different contexts. One, him behaving like a typical guy and a callback to how he used to live as a bachelor with Mayank. Second, him behaving as a husband but now understands that he needs to be more proper with the wife around. Third, the garlands and this pretend marriage means something, so respect it and place it down more gently.
Also he seems to be carrying groceries and I love the idea that they plan to cook together instead of just having picked up food. And then there’s Harry being all adorable. You can clearly see how terribly in love he is at this point (especially after the night they have spent together) The way he’s leaning forward on the bench and trying to create a romantic atmosphere and the way he looks at her the whole time. I swear nobody looks at a woman the way Shah does.
Thank you for doing this. JHMS gives me so much joy. Really hoping for more deleted scenes so we can keep discussing.
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Great thoughts on the garland. I also love how obedient in general he is being to her, how much he is enjoying letting her take the lead. Again, it adds resonance to their last fight. He starts out letting her take the lead again, asking where to next, and then suddenly breaks it and takes charge. That’s part of the shift, not just that he is angry, but that he wants to be in control again, instead of doing exactly as she asks.
On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 10:18 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, I can see why they cut this. Again, it doesn’t really add anything new, but reinforces so many themes (and adds to the long list of “threes” that Claudia has outlined for us). I love it though. Especially how the conversation about what they are each afraid of is happening on the green couch thingy on the patio, where the fight after Raula will start. Sigh. Anyway–what is that green couch thingy? Is it the torn out seat from an old car, before there were bucket seats? I think I might need one.
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It’s also another cut scene where it clearly didn’t even make it to post-production. There is that little shot of the blue screen in the background, on top of the sound being wacky.
And yes, I want that couch thing too!
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I found this blog thanks to Nancy Wilson who posted deleted scenes translations under youtube video.I can not thank enough all of you wonderful people for the translations and inputs on each scene. Its fascinating .Keep it up:)
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Glad you like it!
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I have been loving all the deleted scenes for what information they give us and would love also to see a director’s cut one of these days. Not counting on that, it’s just on my wish list.
One thing this scene adds is a sense of the time spent together. If they’re discussing Mayank’s engagement, the wedding isn’t the next day. When Harry and Sejal left for Prague to meet Nastajia, Mayank told them he was getting engaged and then the wedding was going to be on the 5th. Putting aside whatever inconsistencies result if this scene is included, it does indicate that Harry and Sejal didn’t go to Frankfurt and pull the wedding together in a day or less. Looks like they may have spent a couple of days together in Frankfurt.
On the other hand, what do we do with Sejal’s revelation to Harry at the airport that she found the ring two days before?
I’m confused!
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So, first, the “engagement” would be Raula. So as I see it, Mayank was shopping to prepare for the engagement the day before while they were in Portugal. That night Shahrukh is injured, and wakes up the next day to see Anushka packing and they are flying to Frankfurt. They land, Mayank greets them. Figure that is midday. The engagement is in the evening. They throw together the engagement over the course of the day. Figure Mayank had already invited some friends and relatives, so it is just a matter of making sure they all know it is Indian dress and at a new location, and finding a hotel space they can rent on short notice. And Shahrukh is a tour guide after all, he would know the hotels and dress shops and everything for this kind of thing.
So, for 2 days, there was the night in Portugal, the full day traveling to Frankfurt and then pulling together the engagement party, the night of the fight, and then it’s the next day that they are at the airport.
On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 11:15 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Don’t you just love it that after the fact JHMS has become sort of a’do it yourself’ romance by popular demand??? As a result of all the love that’s been thrown at the film from the US & countries all over the world (including some from India!) we’ve managed to get deleted scenes that have added so much to the story of Harry & Sejal & their individual & joint journeys. Hope they are included in the DVD version with subtitles!!!
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It does feel like they are kind of “giving” us the film in an odd way. Putting it online so quickly, and then giving us these individual scenes. This is one film where I am really curious about streaming figures, if they are better or worse than the theatrical box office.
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I don’t know if you had a chance to listen to the podcast I sent, but part of the discussion was the difference between in-theater and home audiences (streaming, download, or DVD) and the films that work for each. The former is about the social experience — going with a group, and the latter is for more intimate viewing, and more frequent, repeated viewing. I realize that, with a highly engaged blog community like this, we have the best of both worlds!
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Aw!!! and that is exactly what I wanted to create. Like the TV websites with reviews and recaps and forums, which make the experience of watching a television show a community thing instead of an isolated thing. Especially with Indian film, depending on where you are in the world, it can feel like you are the only one. I never read online stuff when I was in college, because I was surrounded by fellow Indian film watchers. But once I graduated and was watching the movies all alone, I really missed that.
On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 5:48 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I like this scene because we can see Harry and Sejal melding into each other here more and more. Sejal has dropped the idea of wearing short little dresses and trying to be sexy and inadvertently getting the attention on random men. She knows Harry likes her however she is so she doesn’t need to do anything special. She starts dressing more like him – jeans, sneakers and leather jackets, a little more grungy and sophisticated than the teen girl looks she used to try before. Harry, on the other hand, has started picking up her way of speaking, repeating phrases like “you’re funny” and the Gujarati “ne” she inserts in sentences. He had done it earlier to make fun of her but now I think he just finds it cute and ends up saying it himself.
The other thing I noticed is she seemed quite admiring of his apartment and stretched out comfortably on the sofa. Despite being a rich girl, she feels completely at home. And actually, if he has a place like that in Frankfurt, it actually *is* really really nice. I don’t know if its just supposed to be movie magic (where you know, even waiters live in million dollar apts) or what? I noticed Harry’s clothing also seems to be quite expensive. The sneakers he wears in the movie are usually Golden Goose (very high end $500-$600 sneakers; SRK wears them in real life too) or Y-3 (Adidas’ high end brand) or maybe he actually does make decent money and has nobody else and nothing special to spend on so he can have useless expenses like this? Hmm.
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I just assumed he makes decent money. Which adds to that class thing that is so odd. His clients, especially his Desi clients, see him as a “servant”. But in fact he makes professional class wages and lives very well. I also could see him being in the kind of European anti-consumer culture type of world. Only two pairs of shoes, but a very very good pair. Only one nice suit (the one he wears to the wedding at the end), but a perfectly tailored suit. And the apartment fits that. It looks like a really nice apartment, but like it might only have one big room? Maybe in an L shape with the alcove being where the bed usually is? So he has a cool funky apartment that he used to share with Mayank, instead of a brand new multiroom apartment that isn’t as nice and is way out in the suburbs.
And, like you say, he doesn’t seem to have any other expenses. He isn’t sending money home, he doesn’t seem like a guy who sets aside ten percent for retirement either. No presents to buy at the holidays, no birthdays to remember. It also adds to his “homeless” bit, he probably could afford to stay at hotels or somewhere instead of sleeping on benches. But his life has gotten so out of whack, it feels “right” to him to spend the money for expensive expresso but not for a hotel room.
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I think this scene would have added a great deal to the film. I love this notion, ” But the end result is a psuedo-marriage arrival in the apartment. In matching clothes, with garlands around their necks. Arriving in his home for the first time. ” I think that is important. In the film as is we only have the “pretend girlfriend, “I’m on my honeymoon” and the engagement party they go host. This is a great transition. It also shows the ease they have, the private jokes and I think it is very important that the same girl who insists her restaurant engagement was “very romantic” has now had real romantic moments with this man who values her and she sees it should be something more. Or frankly as I believe (and was my experience) true love doesn’t need a fancy proposal, just a declaration of that true love which is how this movie ends. I’m with Carol, I’d love a director’s cut version even with these unfinished scenes. Manky is a great foil and I would have liked more of him.
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Those jackets really draw attention. Are they new or have we seen them before? They have been shopping together. Do you think she bought for him or did he buy for her?
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I think it might be her Radha jacket, and his jacket in Portugal, which also seems like something he probably owned already. But I also think it’s one of the clearest examples of her dressing like him. It’s the leather jacket she bought to get his attention, and he is embracing his “bad boy” identity and pulling out his own jacket.
But yeah, it is almost too much. Looks like they are dressed up for a dance number or something. Oh that’s right! I think we saw him wearing this jacket before at the club in Beech Beech Mein.
On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 10:48 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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And, there’s another one. https://twitter.com/RedChilliesEnt/status/915101816869625857 Oh, I can’t wait to talk about this one here. Again I’m torn about whether they should have kept it in. So intense and nice, but would have changed the flavor quite a bit.
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Post just went up!
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 6:18 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Given this whole post-release release strategy (leave theaters early, release on internet early, post deleted scenes frequently), and that you wrote as many scene indexes for this as for an epic like BB2, I wonder if Imtiaz Ali or Red Chillies is testing the waters for a mature internal romance done as a Netflix (or equiv) miniseries, like 1 season of 10 episodes? I feel like JHMS could have been parceled out like this, with the week between episodes being where AfterBuzz TV and blogs like yours could dissect and analyze the episode that just happened. It would even be cool if the final 3-4 episodes were all alternate endings (or alternate paths to the same ending).
On another note, out of all of Hindi film directors, Imtiaz Ali is the one who I wish could be pulled into Hollywood, ala Shekhar Kapur or Ang Lee or Inarittu. I feel like his auteur voice could really elevate our cinematic universe, breathing new life into the otherwise dead Romance genre.
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Absolutely love both these thoughts. It reminds me a little bit of the “binge” criticism in American TV reviewing now, that people can’t let TV shows sit, appreciate the journey as much, since they have gotten used to watching the whole thing straight through. This film does so well if you sit with each moment in turn before moving on, instead of trying to just hurry to the ending.
On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 11:46 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It’s a great idea…especially the possibility to show the different endings that are possible every time starting with the second encounter with Gas…I already have three different endings in mind from that sequence in Gas’ abode in Lisbon on, in addition to the actual one.
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I absolutely adore SRK’s acting in this scene. He’s all shy and self-conscious, checking if the place is OK before the object of his affection sets foot in the balcony. Her look of approval and widened eyes, and evident joy at finally getting to see his home, his self-concious shrug, and brushing the couch before he sits down at the other end, and waiting for her verdict…Pitch Perfect! He really does have the greatest shy smile all through this scene. It reminds me of the time when my husband first took me to his place before we were married! Adorable!
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Yes! And Anushka on the other hand walking in with a clear “I am excited to see your home and learn more about you and maybe think about this being my home” attitude. Again, it makes the later fight that much more painful. This was supposed to be their first night together in their home, something special, and instead it turned horrible.
On Fri, Oct 6, 2017 at 2:40 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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