So many trailers today! And also, good buzz for 102 Not Out. Shoot! I was thinking about taking a week off from watching movies, or else going regional instead. Oh well, I probably would have wanted to see it anyway just for Rishi and Amitji’s reunion.
When the first trailer for Veere Di Wedding came out, we were discussing in the comments how it needs at least one really great song to work, that much over the top humor would do better with a song break.
This is not that song. I’m not quite sure what this is. I kind of think it might be a conscious gender reverse of the standard rap song video, but it isn’t quite tongue in cheek enough to make that work, and it’s kind of boring just as it’s on thing. If we are looking for a fun female anthem rap type, I think I like the one from Noor better.
In more satisfying news, Sonam’s little brother is getting his relaunch! Normally this wouldn’t be satisfying, because he was kind of bratty in interviews and it doesn’t seem fair that he was offered a prime role in Mirzya to begin with, and then another role after it flopped.
But on the other hand, this is the kind of super out there film that no successful actor would want to take, but still needs a big name. So his known-but-not-successful status is being used perfectly. And secondly, he really did have great screen presence in Mirzya, I’m glad to have the opportunity to see more of him. And I can believe that producers really did see something there.
Also, this trailer looks AMAZING!!!!! And I am super excited by the combination of talents. Vikramaditya Motwane, the director, has never done the same thing twice, Udaan to Lootera to Trapped to this. Radhika Apte is playing the heroine, Amit Trivedi doing the music, Anurag Kashyap producing (and I usually like him more as a producer than a director), I am PUMPED!!!!!
Most of all I am pumped because it came completely out of nowhere. It’s releasing in 3 weeks, this is the first trailer, poster, everything. Definitely a movie that they believe will stand or fall on its own two feet, no need for a promo blitz to make it life.
In addition to the two videos, we also had two posters come out today! One of which made me go “I may want to see this movie” and the other made me go “NEVER!!!! I WILL NEVER WATCH THIS FILM!!!!!” And both purely because of the actresses shown.
No one has seemed to really know what to do with Madhuri post-return, but this poster gives me hope. She’s fun, she’s bright, she’s big and beautiful and interesting, I’m curious!
And then there’s this movie, that took me from a sudden high to a sudden low with “Oh hey, Rajkummar Rao in a big budget production with international stars!!!!!! To “who is that with him, it almost looks like, could it be, NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! NARGIS!!!!!!! The FILM-DESTROYER!!!!!”
So, to sum up this mornings emotions, started with “oh hey, a Badshah song for Veere Di Wedding, that could be just what I was looking for….nope, it’s weird and no good” went on to “Huh, Harshvardhan Kapoor in a superhero movie? Wonder what that’s like?…..OMG I am in love with this movie!” and then “Madhuri poster? Oooo, it looks good! Might be my first Marathi film!” and finally “New Rajkummar movie with Bo Derek? Sign me up!…..NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
dontcallitbollywood 
That superhero trailer looks amazing! (and I am not a fan of superhero movies at all)
The Veere Di Wedding song is pretty bad but I wanted your opinion on them grabbing men’s asses and waking up in bed with two naked guys and all that. Is that considered scandalous by Bolly standards or has it been done before?
Madhuri yes! Will watch, but I doubt it will be in a theater
Why is Nargis a movie killer? Esp. with that name.
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What about the countless times women being objectified by men in item songs wearing semi nude clothing shouldnt that be considered scandalous
since its been happening for ages and now that the roles are reversed we suddently have an issue with it.
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Do we have an issue with it? I’m not seeing any news articles or anything expressing horror, and it doesn’t seem that bad on the whole.
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I was talking about like the general public complaining under the comment section where are these people for women in item songs?
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Oh, ick, I didn’t know that was happening. Yeah, that’s weird, I just checked out some old Badshah and Yo Yo songs, and they are all like this, just usually more guy focused.
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Nargis is the worst actress I have ever seen in my life. Also, she doesn’t speak Hindi. But mostly just SO SO BAD. Like, Paris Hilton if she decided to be a full time actress speaking dialogue she learned phonetically.
The Veere Di Wedding song isn’t that over the top for rap promo songs, they always go a bit farther than the movie would, but it is interesting for the gender swap, having it be the heroine who is waking up with two guys instead of the hero with two women and so on. Here’s the first big hip-hop Punjabi hit for comparison:
And here’s the end credits promo song for Bang Bang (why do these people always look so depressed about being in a bedroom together? Is it because none of the lights are on and they have to squint?)
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 9:44 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m with you on NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NARGIS FILM DESTROYER but hey maybe RKR would balance things out? Honestly If Harsh was not a starkid he would not get these movie offers even after his flop and he is soo bratty and entiled in interviews just doesn’t get the struggle non starkids has to go through
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If Harsh’s name and connections helped this movie get made, I feel like it is a fair trade. He’s not Nargis level of merely by putting him in the film, it becomes a black hole of suckitude, so if the choice was hiring him or the film never being made, I am okay.
However if he was getting a role in some Dharma high profile guaranteed hit, then I would be mad.
And glad to see you are with me on Nargis. Normally I don’t like to be mean about people, but really, why is she still getting work?????
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Yes but there is still something off about him I just don’t like his persona and attitude and he doesn’t have the looks but thats just IMO
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There is also the Telugu film Mahanati coming out, which is based on the life of yesteryear actress Savitri. It has 2 of my favorites – Dulquer (who is playing Gemini Ganesan, Rekha’s father) and Vijay Devarakonda.
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Oh right, I remember hearing about that. It’s funny, it’s a biopic of an actress, but I have heard least about the actress playing the lead role and the most about the men surrounding her.
Good news, looks like it’s playing at my favorite movie theater on Wednesday night next week. Now the question is if I try to rush around and do a weekday show.
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 10:29 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ya, Keerthy Suresh is a fairly new actress and not quite competent in any of her movies because she was just there as the love interest. She should have hopefully polished her acting skills for this. The only positive thing is that she looks like a yesteryear South Indian actress, with her big eyes and very South Indian face.
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Sometimes that’s good for a biopic, the audience can more easily just see the real person and not the actor playing them, if the actor isn’t very famous. I am worried about that problem with Gemini and Dulquer, will we be able to stop seeing Dulquer and just see Gemini?
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 11:35 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I have that problem too, since he is kind of a star himself. But he does look pretty good in this song teaser.
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Ok, so I’m kinda fan of Harsh and have a crush on him, so I was excited even before seeing the trailer, but then the trailer was very good and made me even more impatient. But I must say, I’m surprised by your negativity towards him. I mean you are the one who defends star kids here when we write how terrible nepotism is.
I really, really liked Mirzya. Harsh is maybe not the best actor, but he tried his best (months of horse riding and archery lessons) and in my opinion it wasn’t his (or Saiyami) fault the movie flopped. Both deserve the second chance.
Bucket list – I’ll definetely watch it, but being honest I was little disappointed by the trailer
Rajkumar & Nargis film – OMG I don’t know how, who and why this movie was made. And why Rajkumar did it? And when I read the premiere will be at Cannes festival I rolled my eyes so hard I got a headache. The poster itself is terrible, looks like those fake indian movies films Aishwarya Rai did 15 years ago.
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With Harsh, it’s not the nepotism, it’s the words that come out of his mouth. He has had a lot of really whiney interviews. I’d feel the same way about a non-star kid who complained about not winning the FilmFare best debut award and stuff like that. If he’d just done Mirzya and then kept his mouth shut, I’d be fine with him. On the other hand, I felt the same way about Ranveer Singh way back when he was starting out because he also had some really terrible interviews. And then he figured out how to better present himself, and now I like him. Not like he became a better person, just became better at presenting the best side of himself.
Yes! That’s what the poster reminded me of! That fake Indian backdrop, characters posing like models, it all feels like the Aish failures. Blech!!!!! Oh well, maybe Rajkummar Rao got a lot of money for it and it will allow him to do other stuff he couldn’t afford otherwise.
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 1:05 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Maybe I like Harsh because I don’t watch/read interviews, I only saw him in Mirzya, and after that I wrote to him on twitter, and he answered and was so nice to me, so I just can’t dislike him.
And Rajkumar, I really hope he will enjoy the money. I just read about 5 weddings on wikipedia, and even the plot looks like something I don’t want to see.
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Looks like Rajkummar has another insanely busy year in 2018, so hopefully 5 Weddings will be lost in the shuffle of everything from Omerta to Ek Ladki Ko Dekho.
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 2:03 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m so excited for Bucket List. Assuming I’ll have to wait until it is streaming. I just checked to see if Subodh Bhave is in it. The only primarily Marathi actor/actress I know, because I liked him so much in the thankless role in Aiyyaa. 🙂 It seems he’s not. Bummer.
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Sumeet Raghavan is in it too, looks like he was in a fair number of Hindi films in minor roles, most recently as one of the friends in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan.
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 1:55 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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LOL Looks like Subodh has a group of fans here thanks to Aiyyaa 😉 I watched Tula Kalnnaar Nahi, only because I saw Subodh Bhave’s face on poster when I was checking Prime. Unfortunately the movie was boring.
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We should fan-fund an Aiyyaa sequel just so Subodh gets a happy ending. If Rani ended up with Prithviraj, maybe he ends up marrying Parvathy?
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 2:08 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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He would be perfect with the girl I saw in other marathi movie YZ! She was a very good, 30 y/o, pretty, traditional girl. Her parents arranged wedding with YZ protagonist, but she was very devotional and he didn’t like it and left her.. After some time she realized her problem and started changing, but the guy wasn’t interested because he had a story with younger girl. And so our traditional girl hasn’t married. She would be perfect for Subodh! The same upbringing, same values, the same goals. A match made in haven 😉 I’m not sure it would be a good movie, but at least in my head they are already married.
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Haha, thanks for the head’s up on the movie. Good to know I’m not the only one who noticed him. Another cutie in that more teddy bear mold.
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I hate that Verre Di Wedding song with the heat of a thousand suns! And I usually don’t have that strong a reaction to songs anymore. I don’t mind a well-done item song either. But this is such a missed opportunity! Probably the end credits song, so it will be the last image from the movie, too. Makes me think the movie itself will not be as progressive as I hoped. It’s complete male gaze crap. Yes, there’s an attempt at gender reversal in the setup but the camera still puts the sexualized women at the forefront (to the extent that the half naked men are behind frosted glass?). And it puts the two “traditionally” attractive women (and, ok, bigger stars) at the center and the other two stars are just cameos. There better be more than one song focusing on female friendship and girls partying *together* to make up for this.
Also, I absolutely hate the fact that they are lip-synching to a male voice. It’s bad enough they don’t use a female singer and rapper for this song (M.I.A. and Hard Kaur do still exist, people!), but that they lip-synch to it is just stupid.
The Bhavesh Joshi trailer does make it look like it will be an interesting watch, Rang De Basanti for a younger, super-hero obsessed crowd. I’m kind of rooting for Harsh Kapoor to have a career (and I think Saiyami deserves a second film, too). I kind of liked much of Mirzya.
I have mixed feelings about Nargis. I know she’s awful generally but occasionally she shows a spark of comic timing…she wasn’t bad in Main Tera Hero…the best part of that stupid movie in my opinion. I will give this one a chance, maybe just to laugh at it. It also reminds me of the poorly received Basmati Blues film.
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One more point about the overuse of male singers In Indian films in general. This is such a problem and I don’t understand why it can’t be fixed. There was a great group interview with female singers a while back that Anupama Chopra did that addressed this. This is the perfect example of opportunities lost.
P.S. I like that Noor song, too. That film had its problems but it also did a few things right.
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And it seems like a recent problem! Thanks to the “party song” phenomenon. It used to be all the duets and internal monologues from the heroine and so on, you HAD to have a better balance or else the film wouldn’t make sense. Heck, even with item songs, the assumption was that it was the female dancer singing, so a female voice was used. And now all of that would just be a “party song” in the background with no one really singing.
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 4:31 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The other thing with the “gender reversal” is that it is still buying into a male view of the world, just flipping the genders. That is, the fantasy is naked bodies, bodies in cages, being surrounded by multiple attractive members of the opposite sex, sexual harassment, etc. Instead of the fantasy being hanging out and laughing with your friends, a man in a really nice suit, interacting with one man not multiple, and so on. Everyone just seems so dead eyed and like they aren’t having any fun. High Heels To Nachche did a much better job.
I wouldn’t mind the male voice if it seemed like there was more of a point to it. Like, taking a male power anthem and having women sing along to it. Ab To Party did that with Sonam a little, she lip synched along and it worked great, because it felt like a sort of universal “let’s party!” feeling. While this is a super deep and obviously male sexy type voice. Oh, and The Humma Humma song did that too I think, Shraddha and Aditya both lip-synching. But also, yes!!! There are female rappers somewhere, I am sure! Sonam already “discovered” Badshah for Khoobsurat, why not go out and discover a female rapper for this film? Or at least bring in one of the many wonderful female collaberators Badshah has worked with and turn it into more of a duet. Like, DJ Waley Babu was more interesting than this.
I will deeply appreciate it if you take the 5 Weddings bullet for us all and report back. Maybe it will be a wonderful surprise like Raabta! But more like, you will save the rest of us from misery.
On Wed, May 2, 2018 at 4:25 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The song is soooo bad. The video is also terrible, Farah Khan for all the talking down she does about videos these days comes up with pretty lame ones herself.I don’t understand why people always equalize gender flip to equality. Feminism is not women doing the same things as men. It is giving women the freedom to choose whatever they want to do, and it can be different things. But the video isn’t even the worst part. Whyyy did they get a man to sing? And even the lip-sync in weird. Its like they’re stretching out the frames so the lip movements match. Hopefully the movie is better.
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Oh good, it’s not just me! I thought maybe I was tragically unhip and out of touch and missing something obviously clever hidden within the song. But no, it’s just terrible.
On Thu, May 3, 2018 at 3:30 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That superhero film reminds of that Malayalam film ‘4 the people’ I think it’s called? Have you heard of it? It’s about a vigilante group of 4 guys in bikes and black helmets. It was a massive hit in early 2000s.
But yes, this looks really edgy and slick in an indie kinda way. His dad, after all, was the titular character of one of the best superhero-ish movie Bollywood has made. I’m hearing a lot of buzz that this is like Deadpool! Speeches about hope and justice would make Deadpool ROF and LO very L!
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It feels like Deadpool crossed with Kick-Ass a little bit. But with a surprise inspirational ending, which I love. Taking the idea of superheroes in the real modern world and what that would look like, in a kind of humorous way, and then twisting it a bit to make it sincere. Which I appreciate, sometimes it feels like Hollywood has forgotten how to do sincerity, and superhero movies really need that.
On Fri, May 4, 2018 at 3:16 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It feels like Daredevil to me, as far as sincerity goes. To me, that seems to be the pitch this is operating at. I dunno..
I agree about Hollywood being cynical. It’s almost like they’re embarrassed of leaving people teary eyed or having idealistic characters. But I think Deadpool is an exception in that the movie character is almost exactly like the guy in the comics? He talks directly to his readers just as Ryan Reynolds does to the audience…the whole point of it being a parody of superhero stories and all that. A friend of mine said it was like the Om Shanti Om of superhero movies…but without the heart.
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