Happy Monday! I had a very odd weekend, all day in the sun on Saturday, then church on Sunday and lunch with my parents, followed by a 4 hour nap. You know those naps that are so long when you wake up it feels like a different day? Maybe that’s why I am writing this post on Sunday night and scheduling it for Monday.
As always, you can ask me anything from the personal (“what movie are you watching on the 4th?”) to the specific and factual (“Are there any Indian movies that acknowledge the 4th of July?”) to the general discussion (“What are the best Indian movies to watch on the 4th?”)
The only rule is, you have to let me answer first! The discussion just goes better that way. But once I have put up my answer, feel free to leap in with your own.
Now, question for you! Not 4th of July related (after all, it is an American holiday and most of my readers aren’t American):
Shahrukh did a video picking 26 films to represent his 26 years. I’m not going to make you pick 26, so let’s say 3. What are the 3 films you would pick to represent your favorite actor? Not his best films, but the ones that give the best few of the whole sweep of his career?
For me, for Shahrukh:
- Dil Aashna Hai: he took second place to a woman director, and 4 female stars, that willingness to let the women go first is what started off his career.
- Om Shanti Om: Shahrukh as the self-aware superstar, willing to play himself and make fun of himself.
- Chennai Express: A new version of Shahrukh, playing his age, making fun of his age, trying to find a new kind of self-deprecating stardom, a way to bring himself back down to earth.
For Nivin Pauly:
- Thattathin Marathi: A star is born! The perfect sweet real hero, young and innocent but with a big heart.
- Premam: Stardom confirmed, and also acting ability confirmed, he has more to him than just the simple young hero.
- Action Hero Biju: Taking control, playing a powerful hero and also acting as a producer.
For Vidya Balan:
- Parineeta: Obviously, her first big break role. And also one that showed a certain different feel to her onscreen right from the start.
- Kismat Konnection: Not a good movie, but a reminder of her wilderness years, when no one really knew what to do with her.
- Tumhari Sulu: strong confident leading lady, aging out of the heroine parts and into something much better.
I could go on and on, but I won’t! Instead, you should. Pick your favorite actor, what three films would summarize their whole career?
dontcallitbollywood 
For SRK I would do: DDLJ (to represent his romantic idol status), Chak De India (to represent his turn toward more serious roles), and Don (to represent his OTT action roles).
For Hrithik: Dhoom 2 (for his peak arrogant, sexy, and cool roles), Jodhaa Akbar (the peak of his career and on-screen presence), and Guzaarish (to represent the films where his method acting sometimes works and sometimes not).
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Excellent choices! Although for Hrithik, I might swap KHNP for either Guzaarish or Dhoom 2. Or Agneepath for Guzaarish, because I think it is a better performance. Although less completely out there and non-commercial. Hmm, this is hard!
On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 9:09 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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For SRK, everything in the 90s and early 2000s because it never occurred to us that he may not not be as great as he felt back then.
More specifically, DDLJ, Bazigar and Om Shanti Om because they’re more quintessentially SRK than all his other massively popular projects from back then.
For Nivin, Premam, Sakhavu and Action Hero Biju. Because I don’t care what he means to malayalis. I’m north Indian and I get to love the best parts of this little gem as I want. Also, that beard 😍
For Vidya, Ishqiya, Kahani, The Dirty Picture and Ghanchakkar.. Because noone other than her could have pulled off that career curve
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Can I point out that Nivin is technically mustached in Biju, not bearded?
On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 9:42 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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He has a fierce lungi game going in that plus he’s a commie in that film so all criticism is redundant…
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I will choose the following for Fahadh Fazil.
1. Chappa Kurishu-the lip-locking, selfish,untrustworthy urban guy role is not something the Malayali audience will approve of, especially for someone trying to take a second go at an acting career. But his performance as the sauve anti-hero was noted & lauded & made way for many such unlikeable roles.
2. Annayum Rasoolum-just when he had become the poster boy for the shorts wearing, coffee sipping, morally ambiguous hero of the new-generation movies, Fahad changed lanes as the very very ordinary guy who’s madly in love. Romantic, intense & very everyday.
3.Take Off-The no-nonsense, slightly jaded beaurocrat is irritated with everything around him but still tries to do the best in an impossible situation. It really is a secondary character & the script puts the complete focus on the female lead & the hostage situation. Fahadh taking it up despite being the biggest star in the cast & still making it memorable speaks volumes of how secure & talented he is as an actor. Bonus he looks super hot in a suit.
I agree with your Vidya Balan choices. She has had a remarkable roller coaster of a career path. I will suggest for Juhi as well:
QSQT(adorable innocent sweetheart), Darr(super hot bombshell), Gulab Gang(total badass, manipulative politician. Very unconventional for a senior heroine).
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I am so excited for Juhi in the new movie with Anil, it looks like she is going to play a “mother” role, but one with a lot more to do than the usual “mother”. Another unconventional choice.
I might swap out Take Off for Iyobinte Pusthakam. Another sudden veer in his career, from amoral modern guy to intense romantic to action hero.
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Iyobinte is a bit too heroic for me. It’s a hero character designed to shine. Fahad’s strength is in taking up uninteresting, dull characters & make them seem very real. But Iyobinte is a good reminder that he can do the typical hero roles too if he chooses to.
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Not sure why my comment came up as a reply to yours Asmita. Maybe commie, lungi triggered it.
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😂 Freudian comment slip maybe 😁
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SRK: Baazigar – the beginning of his entry into grey roles, and so well done. He did it with total conviction, never apologetic unlike when he did Raees. They’re different roles but his superstardom means he has to be PC in today’s times.
DDLJ – nothing to add here except what everyone has said before
Fan – the movie that got him out of the HNY/Dilwale over-aged Raj/Rahul phase. He woke up to a different audience and filmmakers at this point and thankfully doesn’t want to collaborate only with friends/filmmakers like Farah and KJo anymore.
Fahadh Fazil
Chappa Kurush – What Meenakshi said
Artist – no other actor could’ve done what he did – hate him one moment and then feel awful for him the next
Maheshinte Prathikaram – he can do the rural roles just as well. And gave such a natural, heart rending performance. And he falls in love twice in the movie and does it so well. And definitely a new benchmark for Malayalam movies as far as realism is concerned
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Fan is a really interesting choice! Because it was also so self-aware, literally confronting himself onscreen and defeating himself.
On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 3:00 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m a little worried if Zero is going to tread similar ground
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“Pick your favorite actor”…easy 🙂
“what three films would summarize their whole career?” impossible task for me 😉
So, I give you three movies which say a lot about ShahRukh as an actor and which touch me in a special way:
KabhiHaanKabhiNaa – DilSe – MyNameIsKhan
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Excellent choices! Also for giving an overview of his career, from the earnest youthful actor, to the superstar sure of his charm, to the actor reborn who wants to escape the superstar.
On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 3:31 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m also thinking about SRK, and I’m going to go with Baazigar (full disclosure: I haven’t seen it, but I want something to exemplify the early negative roles and this has Kajol in it), then DDLJ for the romantic hero, then for the post-romantic hero I’m going to go with . . . let’s see . . .Chak De. Or, maybe, DDLJ (SRK becoming-“SRK”), Om Shanti Om (SRK playing “SRK” in a self-aware manner) Fan (post modern SRK).
For Vidya, I really like your idea of doing the wilderness years! For me Heyy Babyy is the worst, what with the horrible wardrobe meant for a skinny amazon that they made her wear. If I look at just her better roles, however, I’d say: Bhalo Theke (first ever film, in Bengali; shows what she was capable of before she started being in films like Heyy Babyy; ushered in a number of Bengali-adjacent films), the Dirty Picture, and Kahaani. Also I can’t remember how many y’s are in Heyy Babyy and I’m not going to look it up.
Kareena is causing me problems, but I might go with: Chameli (shows what she can do in a smaller film), Jab We Met for her as a romcom queen and then I want to go with a more mature role so either Talaash or Udta Punjab.
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The tricky thing with SRK is that DDLJ came so early in his career, right after Baazigar. So is that really a fair representation, two movies right together, and then nothing for over a decade? Not saying it isn’t, just that it makes him difficult, he went from anti-hero to famous lover sooooooooooooooo fast.
I think there’s an extra “b” in Heyy Babbyy too. Uch, she really did look horrible in that!
If I were to do Kareena, I might swap Chameli for Refugee. It’s a good performance, and her first movie. Your other two choices, I can’t possibly improve on, they are just right.
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Yeah, I think you’re probably right about Refugee. Chameli is different type of film for Kareena, but not a really different performance–sort of a darker Geet. From what I remember of Refugee that isn’t the case. (But for some reason I have completely blanked on what happens, to the point where I’m wondering if I tapped out mid-movie and forgot to go back and finish it?)
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Suniel Shetty in an army uniform, is that enough of a reason to keep watching?
It’s a ridiculous movie, but kind of fun, in a very JP Dutta sort of way. Kareena plays a simple farm girl who falls in love with Abhishek and goes after him. It’s a little more natural and young and innocent than most of her later performances, and definitely less urban.
Suniel Shetty in uniform is mostly in the second half, if that gives you a reason to continue.
On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 12:43 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m enjoying everyone’s answers and wishing I’d seen enough of anybody’s career-long work besides SRK to comment.
Having said that, for SRK, I’m gonna choose 5, I think. Raju ban gaya gentleman for early ingenue (even though he really wasn’t); Baazigar for the dark breakout role; Chalte Chalte for mid-career–he still has plenty of range but is leaning on the “King of Romance” thing too; Chennai Express and JHMS for his more recent career when he’s being molded by directors, trying to let loose and play a little. (FAN would also be an excellent choice for this, but it’s such a niche movie in a way–it’s dark, it’s quirky, and very very SRK centric.)
I had a hard time leaving out Dil Se, MNIK, RNBDJ, Swades, and Chak De, but though these are good movies and he is good in them, I don’t think they are as representative of his career as the others I’ve listed are. And I’m clearly biased against the big Dharma/YashRaj romances–which are pretty representative of at least an era of SRK’s career.
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Oh Chalte Chalte is a really interesting choice! Not the most popular or successful film, or even the most artistically groundbreaking, but a very interesting representation of that period of his career.
On another post, we were talking about how Shahrukh still hasn’t announced his next project. I wonder if it is partly what you are saying here, that he is experimenting with directors. Maybe he hasn’t found that perfect combination of director and story that he wants to work with? Maybe he has a story and is shopping for a director?
On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 1:52 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think Chalte Chalte is my substitute for his big contemporary movies like KKKG or Mohabbatein, because it has similar acting range, plays off of the lover boy image a bit, but is a more palatable movie for my tastes. Though I must admit that KKKG has 2 of my fave SRKajol songs. I cracked up a Pakistani colleague one day singing “Yeh Ladka Hai Allah”. 🙂
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I like Chalte Chalte as representing that era, because I have run into trouble myself showing people K3G or one of the other big ones, and then it sets up false expectations that they will all be like that. But Chalte Chalte is a nice midlevel movie, a good solid film without a massive budget.
On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 2:10 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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