Happy Monday! Extra happy for me, because I get to go on vacation on Friday (wee!). Not from the blog of course, I never take a day off from you, but from everything else. In the meantime, I want to give you answers, and a question of your own!
As always you can ask me anything from the personal (“are you going to see Pari?”) to the specific and factual (“what does “Pari” mean?”) to the general discussion question (“why is horror as a genre going more and more mainstream in Hindi films?”)
The only rule is, you have to let me answer first! The discussion is just better that way. But if you have something you want to add on to the discussion, leap in once I give my first response.
I have two questions for you this week, a sad one and a happy one. First the sad one, When did you fall in love with Sridevi?
For me, it was the first time I saw the “Mere Bindiya” song from Lamhe. I didn’t even see the whole movie, just that one song. It was the way she realistically put on her bangles. Not with the elegant graceful dancer like moves that some actresses use, as though they have never struggled with anything in their life, but also not with the overacting of some actresses as though the pain of bangles is too much for their frail frame.
And then a happy question for you inspired from the Dil Chahta Hai post on Friday! When did you fall in love with Akshaye Khanna? (taking as a given that all thinking people are at least a little bit in love with Akshaye)
For me, Hulchul. That moment when he goes to Kareena’s room and shyly confidently tells her that he knows she is in love with him, but isn’t ready to say it yet, and that’s okay, he can wait.
dontcallitbollywood 
Sridevi was a constant presence from my childhood. There was never a conscious moment of falling in love with her.But my favorite Sridevi movie has to be Chalbaaz.She seemed to have so much fun making up Rohini Hattangadi’s face.But sometimes I have to admit her little girl mannerisms grate.Akshay got my attention with his negative role in Humraaz.It was such a shock to see him as a villain who’ll sacrifice anybody and everybody to achieve his dreams.For some reason it’s not quite shocking to see an actor playing a villain graduate to hero roles(Vinod Khanna, Mohanlal).But somehow the opposite is somehow quite shocking.Ditto with Kunchacko Boban in Traffic.
Now for my question.Which is your favorite Easter egg in a Bollywood movie? Some of them are quite in your face.For eg. naming Kareena’s character in Golmaal Dabboo -her Dad’s nickname.Some of them are obvious on a second or third watch.Sonam’s mom in Khoobsoorat remake is named Manju -incidentally Rekha’s character’s name in the original.Or when you realize that in the Aaj ki raat song in Don, Shahrukh and Isha were singing quite openly about their future plans.
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I think I have to go for Shahrukh’s cameo in Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega complete with Little Anjali showing up. It’s just so irreverent!
And Akshaye in Humraaz is a great choice. He really does do just anything he wants. Race was another performance that felt like he couldn’t really be bad-bad because it was Akshaye, and then no! He truly was the villain!
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I think my first Sridevi film was English Vinglish, actually (or maybe Mr. India?). She won me instantly with her performance in the former and wowed me again in Mom. I now need to go back and watch her earlier films. So sad and now what I dread is the inevitable conspiracy theories around her death. I do hope that this will bring Arjun, Anshula and their half-sisters closer together as a silver lining.
I first saw Akshaye in Aaja Nachle and his flirty “villain” role. So suave and cool and sexy. I was then a little disappointed when I saw some of his other roles, like Salaam-e-Ishq where he is often portrayed as a bit of a jerk or like in Taal where he’s just kind of boring. Hulchul and DCH were the big exceptions where his characters really suited him.
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Akshaye is so awesome in Aaja Nachle! He’s competing with not just with Madhuri, but Irrfan Khan the other villain. And he handles it easily, super entertaining, super fun to watch. Totally believable as worthy of being Madhuri’s friend with benefit type relationship.
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Yay for vacation! I’m not really in love with either Sridevi or Akshaye. Just a function of not having seen enough non-Shah Rukh films yet. I’m working on it! I did enjoy English Vinglish but not to the extent of falling in love. Except with Amitabh on the plane. Sigh.
My questions for you are about Anushka’s career path and choices. Is Anushka following a standard “married phase” track for an actress, do you think, with her move into producing the types of films that she has chosen so far? Or is she mirroring a track that mostly actors have followed in the past? Has she named anybody as having a career path that she’d like to emulate?
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Oh! You can watch Mom! Knock out Akshaye and Sridevi at the same time.
I don’t know if she’s named anyone whose career path she wants to follow, but she reminds me a little bit of Zeenat Aman in how she is approaching her career. Zeenat used her popularity to take more and more control of the films she was in and make wise investments. She never married, but eventually retired based on her investment wealth.
I don’t think Anushka is following the standard “married” move since that would be more of a slow down of her career and taking a few really interesting roles, and getting tributes at awards shows. Instead she seems to be moving into a totally new space of producing her own films and working in lower profile films if she can produce them.
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Zeenat married and divorced a Pakistani.IIRC she has two sons.
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Thanks!
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Marrying Virat helps her with that path because he’s hugely famous but in a different arena and he’s clearly proud of her and wants her to continue working. They are the modern power couple–is this something that’s been seen in India before?
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Sharmila and Tiger! Sharmila Tagore married the captain of the Indian Cricket Team when she was a major actress, and with her support she continued working after marriage for years before slowly slowing down.
It’s kind of a sign of how things don’t necessarily move forward. India was more progressive in the 60s-70s in some ways than it is now, or at least there was a strong period of regression in the 80s 90s that we are now coming out of.
Of course, Sharmila didn’t have her own production house or anything like that. But that’s, I think, more about the changes in the industry that allow for these small production houses to flourish than anything else.
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The Sri story is getting murky now
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Post going up soon, I have to walk the darn dog first before I can write it.
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 8:19 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I saw English Vinglish/my first Sridevi movie last night and wow, she was stunningly beautiful and charismatic. Whenever she’s on screen you don’t want to look at anyone but her. I think I’ll be watching Chandni next.
I’ve only seen Akshaye in DCH, but he was my favorite character. The way he portrayed his love for Dimple, the silent suffering over not being able to be with her and his stoic loyalty as she was dying, it was all beautifully done.
Question: How is your foster dog doing? And when will he be ready to be rehomed?
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If you ever feel like branching out from Aamir, Akshaye in Mom or Ittefaq or Aaje Nachle are all wonderful. He plays a character role and takes second place to the other actors, but he also steals the movie because he is just so darn entertaining.
And yay Chandni!!!! Yash Chopra just made her look gorgeous in that, and it is a whole-heartedly swoony love story.
Foster dog is healthy and happy. We were in a little bit of a fight over the weekend. I was gone a lot because I just had a busy weekend, and she got mad at me. She knows she isn’t allowed on the bed, and I know she is sneaking up there when I am not home, but we don’t talk about it. And then a couple of times on Friday and Saturday, I came into the room and she was sitting up there with a definite “yeah I’m on the bed! You aren’t the boss of me! Whatcha gonna do about it?” expression on her face. But I gave her a lot of time and love on Sunday, and now we are cool again. Also, related, I never want to have a teenager!
Foster period is ending any time now. She’s got about 5 days left of pills, but she’s completely recovered so a foster family would just need to give her the last couple of pils. I’m leaving for my tiny vacation on Friday, which I let the shelter know. So either they will find her a family before then, or my Dad gets to come over and play with my big screen TV and the doggie for a few days and then I come back and keep fostering until they find an adopter (my Mom is out of town at a conference this weekend, so he would be bored anyway).
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 9:48 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I fell in love with Sridevi after watching Chalbaaz with my mom 2 days after finding out about her death. I have seen her in English Vinglish, but, didn’t exactly love her even though my mom was super happy. I am so excited to watch her other films in the coming days. I lowkey became a Rajinikanth fan too after CHAALBAAZ, so I have been interested to watch moondru …. (her first movie) but it’s black and white. Is it worth it? What are some colorful movies featuring her and Rajinikanth?
Akshaye Khanna in Race. My all time fav. Song is Pehle Nazaar Mein, and I have seen his face so many times after watching the video song too many times! In Aaja Nachle, I was like, ITS HIM! Also in Itefaq and Mom. He’s good!!
It sucks that the news of Sridevi being drunk is coming out, causing her death. My mom and her friends were talking about people misdiagnosing her during the wedding party and the lack of a nurse or a cardiologist to come to her aid. This is going to DESTROY her reputation, possibly having a drinking problem; taking away her good girl image from people
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I can’t speak to other Rajini/Sridevi movies, I really know so little about that industry, but I can confirm that Moondru is worth watching both for her and Rajini. It’s gorgeous in black and white, and amazing to see all the emotions that Sridevi was able to convey in just her first leading heroine part, at age 13.
Akshaye is so good! I am so glad he is acting more. Have you seen Dil Chahta Hai yet? Definitely check him out in that. Oh, and Hulchul. And you are Malayali, so you can watch Hulchul and then say “but, this is just Godfather” and then bug me to watch the original like everyone else.
And I am sure that, if she did have a drinking problem, that is exactly why they kept it quite. Maybe with another actress it wouldn’t have been such a big deal (or at least a deal in a different way), but with Sridevi people watched her grow up onscreen, they would want her to stay that happy little girl and not have that feeling about her tainted.
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It’s sad that people still see alcoholism as a character defect rather than an illness (and that’s true in the US too).
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True! Like the hypocrisy of men drinking (machoism) and women drinking is forbidded
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Yes! It comes out that Sridevi may have died partly because of alcohol, and already people are upset. But essentially every major male star has been publicly drunk at some point (Shahrukh, for instance, in the photos after the Shirish Kunder incident is clearly intoxicated) and it is no big deal, or not even mentioned. So in men it is enabled and accepted, and with women it is hidden away to the point of never being addressed at all. And in neither case is their a healthy ability to say “I think your drinking is a problem and you should look at that”.
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Hulchul is a remake of Godfather!! What character does Akshay play in it?
I have seen Dil Chanta Hai. Never understood the hype. What in the movie made people say the greatest movie made in the 2000s?
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I think the problem with Dil Chahta Hai is that you can only fully understand why it was so special if you have been immersed in the films that came immediately before it and never seen anything after it. It was revolutionary when it came out for showing people the way they really talked, really dressed, really approached romance. But then every other movie started doing the same thing and DCH just looked like all the rest of then,
I still haven’t seen Godfather so I can’t do a one to one. But looking at the plot summary, it looks like Akshaye plays Mukesh’s role, the youngest son.
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Watch Thalapathi (loosely based on Mahabharat). And do mandatorily read Margaret’s review of the same after watching it !!!
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Yes! I love Thalapathi! I am so glad it was my introduction to Rajinikanth.
On Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 12:39 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I fell in love with Sridevi in Chandni. Especially during the “Aa meri jaan” and “Mitwa” songs. So hard to dance in character, and she did that so beautifully. She also acted with her entire body which such few actresses do now. And then of course Sadma.. I still cry every time I see Ae Zindagi and Surmayi akhiyon me
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Yash Chopra had this amazing ability to film actresses as though the camera was seeing them with eyes of love, making you fall in love with them. But in Sridevi I feel like he had something special, because she on her own would make you love her, and the camera work just added on to that.
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 2:47 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Question: Are you going to watch Pari? I’m not even able to watch the trailer, because it looks too scary.
I don’t remember the moment when I fall in love with Sridevi. I think it was more a process.
And I don’t love Akshaye, because unfortunately before I could love him, I had watched Taal. I wish I could cancel this movie from my memory.
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Ugh I hated Taal too.. Akshaye was so smug in it throughout, he didn’t deserve Aishwarya in the end. Really wanted her to pick Anil Kapoor.
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I really wanted this movie to not exsist in the first place, but once it was made, I cheered for Anil too 😉
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His just such a great guy!
Oh oh! He can be the one that Karisma in DTPH ends up with! They are both in the entertainment field, they would naturally meet each other, he is looking for a new star to discover after Aish leaves him and she is looking for a new producer now that Shahrukh is married, she can be torn between Akshay and Anil just like Madhuri was torn between Shahrukh and Akshay. She is dating Akshay after their meeting backstage, and then starts working with Anil, at first it is just work but they slowly fall in love, and then Akshay can get dumped again. Poor Akshay.
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 3:42 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I would watch Pari, but I am going on vacation this week (yaaay!) so I may not be able to. But the one exception would be if it is playing at a theater near where I am going, because there is something so vacation-y about going to a matinee movie and arriving and leaving in sunshine. Bonus, since it does look very scary, I will be much less scared if I leave the theater into a bright sunny day.
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 3:27 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Sridevi – Lamhe. Blown away by the subtle differences in portrayal of mother and daughter. As someone said above, she uses her entire body in building her characters – just notice the physicality of the 16-18yo daughter vs the 25(?)yo young mother. I’ve only seem lamhe, chandni, English Vinglish, and MOM, but I’m looking forward to exploring her pairing with Kamal Hassan.
Akshaye – DCH of course. I’ve never forgotten that performance or that storyline. How original of DCH to portray a younger man older woman storyline in such a sensitive and respectful yet still sensual way. I like Akshaye in Race also, cosign on the Pehle Nazaar song. And Akshaye’s look and physique matches Atif Aslam’s voice. I need to see Hulchul now.
Question – what’s Akshaye’s dating history? Any known or rumored relationships? Which team does he bat for? I feel like his romantic love has remained oddly private, like that of a closeted gay leading man.
Question – would you consider watching and reviewing Love Per Square Foot? It released on Netflix on Valentine’s Day, and judging from the comments, several of us commenters have seen it now. It’s a very good movie, though not a perfect one, so it has enough pros and cons for a reviewer to sink their teeth into. There are subtle advances here that might be suggesting the future of Indian rom coms..
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Yes, the way Sridevi and Yash Chopra worked together to create these women who are the same-but-different is so amazing. Especially on rewatches when you realize that Sridevi was playing “older and sad and in love” in the first half even before Anil Kapoor or the audience knew she was in love and heartbroken. She put little touches into the performance that you only notice later which make the reveal shocking, but not unbelievable.
Love Hulchul! And you can join me (I hope) in having seen it and not the Malayalam Godfather and make me feel less of a leper.
I believe Akshaye has a long term live in girlfriend. The thing which of course is never said but seems obvious to me is that he is shying away from a traditional marriage and family and so on because his own childhood was so horribly famously messed up. I could be missing something, but I think he is just an off beat solitary guy who drops out of the industry for a while to recharge and then comes back on a routine basis.
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 10:48 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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There are a lot of ugly rumors about Akshaye’s sexual activities, which I won’t repeat, but suffice it to say that he doesn’t seem to be a straight heterosexual.
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Interesting.
On Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 11:03 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Question: Am I ready for Bahubali???
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Oh, that’s tough! I think maybe yes. There’s a ton of references to the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and it’s part of this whole tradition of Telugu fantasy films, and it’s a new industry for you, but it’s also super fun.
It’s also the film that we as a blog community have had the most luck in getting husbands/sons/brothers-in-law (me) to watch. I would recommend starting it on Netflix, if you aren’t in love with it in the first 15 minutes, stop and wait longer to see it. If you are in love with it, keep going.
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Yes, thankfully it’s on Netflix so I’m not having to buy it just to see if I like it. Okay, gonna dive in this weekend!
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