Happy Monday! Now is the point in the summer when I start to think “oh thank goodness, a weekend when I DON’T have to go outside and have fun”. Which is next weekend. Except that I am also doing the church service, so actually I’ve got about 6 hours already gone. Sigh.
As always, you can ask me anything from the personal (“What is your favorite Sonu Nigam song?”) to the specific and factual (“Who is Sonu Nigam?”) to the general discussion (“What is the best Sonu Nigam song?”).
Only rule is, you have to let me answer first! The discussion is just better that way. But once I answer, please feel free to jump in and join the conversation.
Now, question for you! Ranking question for the birthday boy:
“Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Main”
“Kal Ho Na Ho”
“Sandese Aate Hai”
“Aal Izz Well”
“Suraj Hua Madham”
What order of importance do you put them in? (if you don’t know a song, you can skip it)
dontcallitbollywood 
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Do actors (lip-syncing) get identified and regularly linked with a particular singer? Is there even any attempt to match voices characteristics?
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Yes, although it is rarer now than it used to be. Famously when Mukesh died, Raj Kapoor heard the news and exclaimed “I have lost my voice!” because Mukesh had been almost his exclusive singer. Singers and actors would work together on the songs, actors attending recordings and practice sessions to perfectly understand the singer’s concept, and singers asking for actor in put on the emotions of the song and so on. It still happens now, although it is less common. The actor-singer pair I am excited for now is Arijit Singh and Ranbir. They have done several movies together, and there is something special about when they collaberate.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 8:31 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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When hindi films started to be popular in Poland many people complained that the actors don’t sing their songs, unlike actors in american movies and musicals. I didn’t care about it, but I must admit, that still today I find it strange that many different singers sing songs for one actor in one movie e.g in Kal ho naa ho – Sonu sings the title song, but not Pretty woman or Maahi Ve which are “sung” by SRK in the movie. Does somobody nowadays do movies with one singer for one actor?
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I was going to say ADHM, but they used someone else for Ranbir for Bulleya. Dilwale actually, Arijit did all Shahrukh’s singing even though Amit Mishra did Varun’s.
Maybe it’s related to the death of the multistarrer? You always wanted a variety of songs in a film, but it used to be (like Dilwale), one character would have one kind of song and another would have a different one. But now there is just the one star who does every song no matter the style, which means multiple singers.
On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 2:25 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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My favorite Sonu Nigam song has to be Baawri Piya Ki from Baabul.It’s an excellent example of fusion and it’s magical the way his voice weaves in and out.But for the life of me,I can’t remember the visuals.Now my question is, can you recognise the singer from the voice? Forget Mika.His voice is very distinctive.But the rest of the new lot of male singers don’t stand out for me any longer.
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I can tell Lata from Geeta Dutt, but I can’t tell Lata from Kavita Krishnamurthy, you know? Sonu versus Udit Narayan, pretty much impossible for me. The one I can reliably recognize right now is Arijit Singh, he has that unique combination of rough and smooth, kind of the middle ground between Mika and Sonu. Oh, and Neeti Mohan. For a similar reason, she is just a little bit deeper than most female singers while still not crossing the line into folk song sounding.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 8:57 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Lata from KK???? I can imagine not being able to tell Lata from Anuradha Paudwal – as a child, I couldn’t either. They have similar tonal quality. But Kavita Krishnamurthy sounds very different.
Even more surprisingly, Sonu from Udit???????????????????????? I cannot even imagine! Could you share an example of a song that you think could have been sung by either?
I think once you watch videos of them in the recording studio, it’ll be harder to get confused. When I hear a Sonu or Udit song I can picture them doing their thing, the way their eyebrows and/or hands move, the way they enjoy the music – so it’s hard to imagine one singing the other’s song. You know…???
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Just checked, and I think I meant Shreya Goshal not KK. I knew it was the Devdas sound, because I am always surprised when I look at the song listing that Lata isn’t on it, but I mixed up the two singers. Does that make more sense?
And so long as I am on Devdas, Woh Chand would be one that I can’t tell Udit from Sonu. They both have smooth voices, no roughness at all, and are not afraid to hold a note. What I think of as the 2000s sound, before Mika became the required male singer.
I know what you mean about the videos. That’s the big reason I mix them up, Shahrukh and Aamir and Salman and all of those guys, when Sonu or Udit is singing for them I have a feeling of “ah yes, that’s the right voice”. But now when Arijit does it, or even worse Mika, I have this feeling of “no no no no no no! That’s not what they sound like!” It’s very much the combination of visual and sound, but Sonu and Udit lipsynched so many times for the same actors, that I end up picturing them as the same person, you know?
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That does make sense. The “Woh chand jaisi ladki” part does sound like something Sonu would sing, but “is dil pe” is totally Udit. Sonu wouldn’t sing it that way. Hard to explain what I mean, but you might figure that out when you pay attention to that part. As in, that’s not how Sonu does the major ascend.
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All is well is a Shaan song .
As we are talking about actor singer pairs abhijeet for the longest time was shahrukhs voice.they have a lot of hit songs together.
It’s really sad that they had a big fall out.
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Both Sonu and Shaan sang it. Though I found Sonu’s part more distinctive and, well, ‘SONU’. More expressive, for sure.
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Let me hear again.i always found it to be a Shaan song as it has all his mannerisms etc.also it has his distinctive voice.can you direct me to parts Sonu sang.
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Oh, Sonu’s parts are all over! I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing from murgi kya jaane to seeti baja ke bol is his.
I think the part that’s most distinctively Sonu is the first seeti baja ke bol. Esp the “baja ke”. Also the “hoGAAAAAAAAAAAAA” of each kya hoga. So totally Sonu!
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Kumar Sanu used to be the 90s singer for almost every hero except Salman. S P Balasubramaniam sang for Salman those days and the voice was a great match. You can’t mistake Udit Narayan(I think his voice was great for Aamir)with anyone else. He has a very silky(like he has a slight cold)voice unlike most others who have a more ‘open’ voice. KK also has that same silky quality among female voices & she sang a lot for Manisha Koirala & Sridevi.
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It’s funny how male singers tend to have eras. Do you think it is changing musical taste or just that they overwork their voices and need a break?
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 1:03 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I have been wondering about this myself. For a while it used to Kumar Sanu in all songs, then Sonu Nigam everywhere,then I got too busy for music & now its the Arijit Singh era. Maybe they try something new after a while of playback singing (like Sanu tried acting, Sonu Nigam tried an overseas career)& then playback singing in Hindi became a lesser priority? By then new fresh voices come in, become popular & become the new sensation? I thought even the female singers had eras-Lata/Asha phase, Alka Yagnik/KK phase, Suneeti Chouhan phase & now its the Shreya Goshal phase?
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Maybe it is also tied to composers? Pritam discovered Arijit and works with him more than any other singer, and Pritam is also the busiest composer around this days. Jatin Lalit like Kumar Sanu, Amit Trivedi likes Amitabh Bhattacharya now which means they might rise up in the next few years to be the next big thing.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 1:17 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That is spot on!
Composers and singers have camps/relationships established just like directors/actors. To make this even more complex (or fun!) directors and composers/music directors also have relationships, like Yash Chopra used to always go for Shiv Hari, eg in Chandni or Lamhe, before they stopped doing films, given they were both classical musicians with amazing/prestigious non-filmi careers. (Fun fact: the Kabhi Main Kahoon music plays as BGM in Chandni many, many times!)
So if a singer is especially favored by a music director who’s especially favored by a director, it’s a matter of time before they find themselves out of work. Unless they’re an unstoppable force whom music directors are falling over themselves to sign. Sadhna Sargam for eg had a few big hits and then she disappeared, cos she only worked with a couple of music directors.
There’s also the shift corresponding to the cultural change around how the Hero is defined. Mohit Chauhan got a lot of work when Hero = Angsty Guy. Udit Narayan got a lot of work when Hero = Sincere Lover Boy. Kumar Sanu Hero = Cheesy Lover Boy. Arijit Singh’s hero tends to be suave and urban and….cool.
Similarly, Lata Mangeshkar sang for the virtuous and/or virginal Heroine. Almost goddess-like. At the same time, Asha Bhonsle would sing for the vamp or the fallen woman. Also the playful, pixie woman. Sunidhi would initially only sing for the sexy / powerful heroine. Oh I could go on! This has been a fun discussion – thanks for hosting it!
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Fun for me too! Music isn’t my area (in many ways), so I am learning a lot.
Speaking of Asha, I know from stories about her career that she really relied on/suffered with music directors. None of them really “picked” her early on, so she had a lot of years of her voice being hidden behind others. But then once she got a music director to kind of sponsor her and people heard what her voice could do, she took off and became one of those who was so good everyone wanted her. Which maybe is why RD married her, only way to guarantee priority for his songs 🙂 (no, not really, but it is an intriguing possibility!)
Thank you for your description of Arijit’s voice! That is why I always shudder hearing it come out of the mouth of one of the 90s heroes. It’s just too young and “cool” sounding to be right with Shahrukh or Akshay or Ajay or anyone from that era.
One thing I notice with the older stars is how strange it is to hear young voices with theirs. Even if they are playing a younger character, it’s still just wrong feeling. Amitabh seems to almost always sing for himself now, when it is a straight lipsynch situation and not a mental voice in his head. That works for me, not just because his voice is so distinctive, but because any of the younger singers would sound wrong coming out of his older face. I wish Kumar and some of the other 90s singers were still working with the same stars they came up with, not despite the age and flaws of their voices but because of them. It would feel more real to have a rougher thinner older voice than the young powerful ones they still sing with.
That’s also why my favorite recent Lata song is “Luka Chuppi” from Rang De. Her voice just is not what it used to be, but she is singing for Waheedaji, and you really feel this old tired mother with Lata’s older thinner voice.
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A lot of Amitabh’s songs are sung by Sudesh Bhonsle who’s a singer/impersonator. Eg: Say Shava Shava from K3G, or Sona Sona from Major Saab.
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Oh that’s interesting! So even when they hire someone else, it’s not going to be a singer sounding singer.
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He’s a “real” singer too (haha). But I don’t know what he sounds like when he’s not impersonating Amitabh, which is the bulk of his work. I do know he’s sung some other songs, but it’s not the kind of voice or style I’d notice or remember.
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+1
I think Salman laid down a condition at one point that he’d only do the movie if SPB sang his songs. I don’t know what made him relent. I too thought Udit’s voice really suited Aamir. (And SPB’s Salman, and Abhijit’s SRK.)
People like Sonu initially got work more on the basis of being able to sing a certain KIND of song than being a certain actor’s voice. Heck, I remember talking about how “SRK did a really good job of being the face to Sonu’s voice in Dheere Jalna…”!
At his prime, Sonu would get his songs regardless of who the face was. He was so expressive in his singing, it was up to the actor to convey the same amount of emotion with his face to match the song***. Or there were songs like Tanhayee, where Sonu would sing the turmoil the actor was (silently) going through.
There was also a punjabi-heavy phase (remember?) where Sonu got a lot of work because he had amazing energy. Jesus, what range!
[*** Over time, I became able to tell – without ever having watched the video – the precise moment at which SRK would make a ~ with his eyebrows. You know the look I’m talking about!!! That was usually the moment when Sonu expressed the most emotion in his voice.]
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Been thinking some more about the Priyanka slut shaming thing. In the context of film history, it doesn’t make sense. Nargis had a long term affair with Raj Kapoor and she still had a celebrated career and married a respectable man. Madhuri didn’t just have an affair, she had an affair with a man whose wife was dying of cancer. and yet, she is still considered one of the most important leading ladies of her era and she married a nice respectable doctor.
The scandal isn’t that Priyanka may have had an affair with Shahrukh, the scandal is that she went public with it in such a blatant, hurtful and malicious way. that’s why she was blackballed. Not for the sex but because of the damage she did to the relationships within the film industry with her behavior.
Someone tried to argue that if a male star like Salman did the same thing no one would bat an eye. And I’m like are you kidding me? If Salman, let’s say, went on a talk show with a piece of jewelry and moped about it belonging to an ex who turned out to be Aishwarya, riots would break out.
I mean, of course there is horrible sexism and patriarchal behavior in the film industry, like every other aspect of society, but talking about Priyanka’s behavior and being critical of it in this context does not qualify.
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And holy crap look at this!!!!
https://mobile.twitter.com/pinkvilla/status/1024063076558163972
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I won’t believe it until someone besides Pinkvilla confirms. They will print anything, first stop of a PR person wants to spread a rumor with deniability.
Anyway, speaking of gender flips, I’m trying to think if a man, backing out of a major Hindi film and causing massive issues in preference for a minor Hollywood film, would get blowback? Because I assume (if this story is true), it will be greeted with “yay Priyanka! Avoiding a Salman film and striking a blow for women with a Hollywood film!” instead of “wait, so she lied to get out of her former commitment in order to do something else she liked better?” The closest comparison I can think of is Abhishek backing out of the Dutta film, and no one was really cheering him on.
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Variety had it. It’s legit. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/05c36eb35cefd4353fbc4d60718021c1afa9aae8010efdba3c930a426262a2b8.png
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Argh ignore that link, here’s the right one https://variety.com/2018/film/news/priyanka-chopra-chris-pratt-cowboy-ninja-viking-1202888322/
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Huh. “In talks”. So she dropped out of Bharat while already looking for another project?
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It is true. It was first reported by Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The movie sounds really bad, at least in my opinion. But I’m happy that it keeps her away from India/BW.
This is Priyanka in action. She made up an engagement story to pull out of Bharat which she has already signed and had a contract for. Once that was voided, her announcement of her new movie came. You almost have to admire her guts and gumption to do anything it takes without any ethics whatsoever.
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When was she ever blackballed? The rumors started in 2011 and after that she did Agneepath (Dharma/KJO’s production) and Barfi in 2012, Krrish 3 (the Roshans) in 2013, Gunday (YRF) and Mary Kom (Bhansali production) in 2014, Dil Dhadakne Do (Zoya Aktar and Excel) and Bajirao Mastani (Bhansali) in 2015. These are the BIGGEST names and production houses in the business. She never faced any consequences for the gossip articles she used to plant. There was a general dislike towards her from the industry and she was never really a beloved actress for the public either but it didn’t affect her career. She kept churning on and her sleazy tactics bore fruit.
I keep hearing this blacklisted thing and it’s just like the affair rumors. Just keep repeating the same thing over and over and the lines blur between truth and fiction. Suddenly it’s canon that she was blacklisted despite starring in big movies every year. She even used the faux-blackballed story to pull off the “strong woman against the world” narrative.
Now I see her playing those same games in HW and I think that absolute desire to get ahead no matter what will carry her there too. Witness the fail that Deepika had there simply because she can’t play those types of games to stay in the news and nab roles despite being the more obviously beautiful one.
Nick Jonas has no idea what he is in for. She will put him through the wringer and use him as a step stool to make her next moves.
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I can picture so clearly the reality show made on PC and Nick. Something like “Nick’s Bollywood Bride”, episodes about buying the dress and traveling to India and making fun of the food and on and on and on. It’s an obvious next career step, being famous for being famous.
And yes, I don’t think Dips could do it. Not least because she seems to have stronger connections back in India, Ranveer and her family, and she actually showed up for the FilmFare Awards. And she doesn’t seem to like playing the celebrity game, not the way PC does. Isn’t she sometimes termed “cold”? Or at least was when she was starting out?
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I thought her career slowed down after she gave the Jacket Interview and that was a factor in her leaving for Hollywood. But I could be totally off about that.
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Nah, her career had already slowed. Or she chose to leave? Something. 2013 is when she started making serious Hollywood moves and also when her Indian career slowed dramatically. She still had high profile films, but far fewer of them, not as much time given to them. And stopped going to Indian awards shows and stuff like that, all Hollywood all the time. And then 2017 was the restart of the Indian career, which is why I lean towards bringing out the jacket story and all of that was a move to up her profile in preparation for a return to India.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 7:43 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am so glad you are interested in this, because I am too and I feel like I’ve bored everyone else to death with it.
Sridevi would be another example. From what little leaks out, it sounds like what she did was truly painful on a personal level for a lot of people. But it is never ever talked about in public, never even hinted at in interviews, no leaks coming out, nothing. And so she was still revered and beloved by the public and her peers based on her professional accomplishments, separate from her personal life.
Salman may have had all kinds of personal life tormoil, but he never ever brings it out in interviews either. If he is asked about an ex, he will either say nothing or say she is very beautiful and talented and he wishes her well or something boring like that. Even when Salman and Shahrukh were in a big feud, they didn’t talk about their feelings about each other, and they certainly didn’t air any dirty laundry (of which they must have had tons) on each other. That’s consistent, loads of hot hot feuds, but you would never fight them by leaking stuff to the press. At least, not professional crossing over to personal. Obviously the producers of Bharat are doing some fancy leaks about Priyanka right now, but about her professionally not personally. And Sanjay’s wives leaked personal stuff about each other, but they weren’t professionals, just personal. You know? You don’t break that wall. If it’s a personal issue, it stays personal. And if it is professional, it stays professional.
Which I guess would be why relationships between two public figures are so forbidden to be discussed. Even now when they are coming out in public with them, there is the accepted public story and nothing beyond that comes out, especially post break up, you only say nice nice things about each other. So that the wall stays in place.
You know what it’s like? It’s like superheroes. You don’t wear the mask to protect yourself, you wear it to protect those you love from being dragged into things. Sridevi hurt Boney’s family a lot, but the hurt wasn’t magnified because that part of herself didn’t come out in the public, they were protected by her mask. And Nargis and Raj protected Krishna and his kids as much as possible. And Salman and Shahrukh would have cut off their own arms before risking doing something that would hurt the other’s family, drag them into things. It came up once in an interview with Salman, he was asked about Farhan and he made it clear that Salman and Farhan are still “brothers” and nothing that went on between their fathers had any effect on that.
There’s also a bit of a MAD going on, once you open that box, you run the risk that someone else may end up hurting your family. Maybe part of Priyanka is that she doesn’t have a family to hurt? She can keep whacking away at Shahrukh and Gauri and the kids, and there’s no way to hit back at the same level. Priyanka’s mother and brother are such nonentities it wouldn’t even be worth it to leak a story about them, and Parineeti has separated herself so much that there wouldn’t be any benefit to it.
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Seeing her behavior with the fake Nick Jonas story and this spectacular engagement stunt she pulled to get out of Bharat for career advancement in HW, I believe even more strongly that there was no real affair with SRK. Maybe some flirting that she blew up into a big thing, connected herself to him constantly through gossip and rumors inflating her importance amongst the industry (aka SRK’s gf can’t be messed with) and put him in such an uncomfortable place that that he couldn’t react. Just like the jacket stunt, done without names, so it’s very hard to respond since technically you were never brought up.
I think in the older days, reputation was also important. Rekha might have gone on about loving Amitabh but she didn’t direct hatred towards Jaya – always sticking to being respectful to the family. That has extended to the present when I have seen even Abhishek and Aishwayra being friendly and kind towards Rekha. There was at least a modicum of concern and respect towards other human beings.
Priyanka is an entity onto herself. She genuinely just doesn’t care what destruction she causes as long as it helps her ambition to get ahead. She leveraged her friendship with Arpita Khan to get Bharat, even sucking up and promoting Arpita’s husband’s movie, all to just light a fire and walk away when better prospects opened up for her. Even her friends don’t matter. A person like that is unstoppable because other people have limits and she doesn’t.
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It reminds me of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. They had a long term relationship but he never divorced his wife and after he died Hepburn didn’t go to the funeral even though she was the one who found his body.
I mean, to be fair it’s a different era now. way different, with social media and people being a lot more open. But the way Priyanka was leaking hints about SRK came across as malicious. Being a feminist is not synonymous with being an a-hole.
I also think this stuff is more destructive in Bollywood than it would be in Hollywood because Bollywood is so grounded in family, multiple generations working in the business and everyone involved with each other professionally and personally. You publicly tear down one person and it ripples through the entire industry.
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Yes, she was malicious which is exactly what makes me think there was no affair or it was a very short lived one that she was angry about. A continuing affair would not have made her behave that way especially if they were meeting up constantly. Why would he as her affair partner tolerate her public viciousness and desperate desire to tarnish his image and mess with his family? If nothing else, he loves his kids and making them suffer through her assaults on their mother is not something he would tolerate. It sounds more and more like this was a woman lashing out after being rejected in the first place or having the affair end in a way that she did not like.
A woman in a continuing affair simply would not be able to behave this way for fear of upsetting the other person and putting the relationship in danger. This kind of behavior comes from a woman scorned who is not going to gain anything by behaving better. It’s from someone who has nothing to lose.
Just seeing all the stunts she’s pulling now both professionally and professionally shows she can do anything. She really doesn’t care.
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Based entirely on unsubstantiated rumors, there is a story I have heard that this is exactly why Ajay ended whatever he had with Kangana (if there was anything). She was pushing for something more, something that would have affected his wife and his children, and he wasn’t going to choose her over them, so he ended it. That seems like a far more human and logical reaction than the fantasy of the married man who wants to leave everything for his mistress and for some reason can’t.
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It’s another way Shahrukh is strangely a little vulnerable. He is very powerful in himself, and in his friends, but he isn’t actually related to anyone. Attacking his family will hurt his friends, but it won’t actually damage their family “honor”, you know? Not the same way what Kangana is saying damages Suzanne and Hrithik’s family. It would also seem petty for them to react, pettier than if Aditya and Karan were really Shahrukh’s brothers, not just his “brothers”. It wouldn’t be a matter of her attacking their friend and them taking revenge, it would be a matter of a family all being attacked equally and understandably closing ranks.
And yes to Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn!!!! Which reminds me of another part of this, there is an oddly regressive idea that an affair with a married man is necessarily not what a woman really wants. My understanding (which could be wrong) was that Spencer was a devout Catholic as was his wife, and they had a marriage that worked for them. And Katherine didn’t want a husband and children and all the rest of it, what she had with Spencer worked for her. No need to make a scene or push for something different, it was what it was and it was what they all wanted.
The narrative built here relies on a very old-fashioned idea of lovers painfully kept apart by the wife, instead of on the idea that sometimes the wife isn’t actually a problem. It’s that basic premise which makes Priyanka dropping hints “empowering” instead of just jerky.
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 7:51 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think her ire was directed towards Gauri because Gauri made SRK cut off Priyanka after 2012/13 because she suspected Priyanka had ulterior motives. Women have a sixth sense about these things and Gauri became increasingly wary of Priyanka. After that time, SRK did not even pretend to be friends with PC anymore. She was persona non grata at Mannat as well compared to before when she used to be invited to parties at their home. When he sometimes got asked stupid questions about her HW career, he would not even say her name because he didn’t want soundbites made out of it. He would stick to saying things like “everyone that went there is doing well.”
What Priyanka didn’t want to accept is that SRK is not a robot without free will where the wife destroyed whatever they had. He chose to do what was best for himself and what was best was listening to his wife, the person who he has a life and future and family with. In the grand scheme of things Priyanka was a nonentity in SRK’s life and it was easy to blame Gauri instead of accepting that hard fact.
PC’s ways of publicity and tacky take on feminism will work out very well for her in HW. I think you’re right that she pulled the jacket stunt as a way to return to BW and get back into the thick of things along with a constant bombardment of gossip stories. She started this after Baywatch flopped and Quantico was on the verge of cancellation. She danced at an awards show and even made appearances on Indian reality shows right after that. She started working her way towards getting Bharat and planting gossip stories in the meantime. Then suddenly she was able to land Nick Jonas and the idea of the Chris Pratt movie was forming which is why she didn’t bother to plant stories about SRK after the Ambani party. Normally this would have been a goldmine for her and she would have spread ten stories based on one party. This time, nothing. She has finally found another publicity goldmine. Hopefully it sticks and we will be spared forever.
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Kangana is another one that has created a feminist story out of talking about her affairs with married men. She gave a big story to a magazine about Ajay and also seemed to imply something with Sanjay Dutt. Then came the Hrithik Roshan story. What I don’t understand is how do you keep getting involved with multiple married men and then cry foul that you didn’t get a fairy tale love story? Either people like Priyanka and Kangana have no sense of reality or a lot of the stuff they are saying is completely made up. And btw, even Kangana (who is considered crazy) refrained from attacking Kajol or Suzanne. Even during the big public mess with Hrithik, when Suzanne willingly inserted herself into the situation, Kangana still didn’t fall to that low of attacking her.
Only our Priyanka has this distinction. I genuinely think all her hatred and anger is directed at Gauri because Gauri stepped in way back in 2012/13 and asked SRK to cut off Priyanka. Up to that point, they were friendly at least publicly and I think both Gauri and Karan suspected PC was bad news. SRK listened and cut her off losing all possibility of any movies/shows/ads with him. So the constant attacks on Gauri as revenge.
It’s interesting that both Kangana and Priyanka are outsiders who’ve had to scrape their way to success. I wonder if that makes them more willing to do whatever it takes even if it’s at other people’s expense.
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I don’t know if it is just because they are outsiders. Sometimes people are just like that. I mean, Shahrukh was an outsider, and so was Akshay, and so was Dips (although a privelaged one), and even Priyanka’s cousin Parineeti. Sid M, Preity, Bips, Bhumi Pednakar, Anushka, lots of them. And they all managed to get into the industry by being nice and making friends and working hard. Sure, their friends helped them, but PC and Kangana had just as many opportunities to make friends, you know?
If the interpretation we are giving to their behavior is true, then I think it is not just that they are outsiders, more that they are outsiders in a tough spot and their personality lead them to react by striking out instead of making friends the way other people might have. I mean heck! Preity testified against Salman in court and managed to stay friends with him.
I see what you mean about the fairy tale. What I also find odd is that the media is playing into it, accepting the narrative that the woman was heartbroken and tricked and so on, instead of that she may have gone into this with eyes open. Or may have chosen to ignore completely a clear statement that “this is just a location thing, this won’t ever be anything more”.
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I read an article about the village where Kangana grew up and it made me quite sad for her because they didn’t approve of her leaving to pursue a film career and they still don’t approve even though she’s a success and donating buildings to the community and so on. I thought it must burn her inside to feel so rejected by the people she grew up with and how that must have helped fuel her determination to succeed as well as her resentment of the Bollywood star kids who have it all handed to them from birth.
I don’t know Priyanka’s backstory. Where is she from originally? I know she was a beauty queen but what else?
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Her parents were both doctors, her father was in the Indian army. That’s a really good life in India (I know you are American like me so you probably have the same army stereotypes I do which might make it seem a little more lower class). It’s more like our Army was before WWII, or the British army. Being an officer gives you a house, servants, access to good schools, and so on. Not like she was an Ambani, but it was a good respectable life, definitely on the higher end of middle class. Similar to in America if your father is a surgeon, or a successful lawyer. And she was sent to America as a teenager to live with relatives for a few years, which is another sign of a good childhood, having that American experience and good English speaking skills and so on. Her mother (supposedly) is the one who sent her photo in for Miss India. She was picked and went to the training camps. The training camps were horrible, to survive them you had to learn how to present yourself as modern and traditional simultaneously, and also starve yourself to near death and take poisonness whitening pills and all sorts of terrible things. Some of the contestants were already models and semi-public figures, others were like PC and just girls from very good wealthy families (because fluent English and an ability to carry of western style clothing like you are used to it is a must, and that only comes with a well-off family background) who were trained in how they were supposed to be. She went from winning Miss World to a film career, a second heroine role in a Hindi film and rapidly climbing her way up.
So, not a super rich background, but a very very good background and a very easy life pre-fame. And post-fame, with her background she could have quit at any time and gone back to school for a different career, gotten married, whatever she wanted. Not to mention that she didn’t even have to model, she went straight from school to Miss India to being welcomed into the film industry. She isn’t Konkona in Luck By Chance, is what I am saying 🙂
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 9:14 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Alisa, Priyanka is the daughter of two army doctors. Her mother then ran her own plastic surgery clinic. Cough. That is a privileged upbringing for India. As a teen, she visited her aunt in the US and decided she wanted to stay. She went to high school in the US for a few years. She claims she was bullied by a mean black girl (*side eye*) and decided to go back to India.
Her mom is very much a Kris Jenner type and wanted Priyanka to be a beauty queen and apparently sent her pics to the Miss India organization without telling her. Now Madhu Jenner, I mean Chopra, runs a production company with her daughter. She also regularly speaks to the media and keeps giving interviews.
At some point, a woman accused PC’s father of raping her when she was a teenager. They released lots of negative stories about her. Not too sure what happened but I guess nothing much did. PC used some shady methods to get a street in Bombay named after her Dad which was massively criticized. She once did an AMA on Reddit and abandoned it and ran away because she started getting asked tough questions about this stuff.
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I wouldn’t put too much faith in the rape accusation, his accuser was coincidentally just arrested in another scam (along with her husband who had supported her back then) and the accusation came out just as PC won Miss India and the accuser filed a suit claiming 25 lakhs in compensation.
However, the road thing is odd, because as I understand it her father may have been the best father and best army doctor ever, but still never really did anything to justify a public monument?
I remember the Priyanka bullying story, didn’t she say she was called “brownie” or something? I remember it was an odd slur, one I had never heard before.
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If you randomly stopped me on the street and asked, “Quick – name me 1 Bollywood song”, I would say KHNH and do the SRK arm spread, and I’d ideally be wearing a hoodie and walking along the edge of a bridge.
For me, it is Bollywood’s theme song, not just Sonu’s or SRK’s or KJo’s. And it’s particularly emblematic of 21st century Bollywood.
I don’t know the other songs without looking them up.
I thought i’d share this… Akshay Kumar is looking so hot in that white collar office worker dad sort of way, complete with solid color full sleeve button down shirt and extra wide bold multicolor striped tie. It’s like looking at pics of my dad from the 1970s. My eyes nearly piped out off my head! The interview was just posted today…
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Popped not piped!
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Especially when he takes a sip from his coffee cup, he’s your parent’s manly-hot colleague at work when they bring you to work on Take Our Daughters To Work Day.
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Ooh you are so right. Sigh.
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Ha! I just made a similar comment, different fantasy.
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Akshay in suits is amazing. Especially Akshay in suits with the realistic Dad waddle and greying hair. He’s like that senior manager at the office who seems boring, but makes surprisingly funny jokes at staff meetings and you end up having a bit of a crush on him from a far, even though he is way too old for you.
And yes, that’s how I feel about Kal Ho Na Ho too. Especially combined with the music video, which turns Shahrukh/the song into some kind of magical spirit of Indian film, wandering through the world.
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Omg hes too Hot to handle!
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What are your top 5 songs of all time could include Hindi or other languages
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This is one of those answers that will change day by day, so if you ask me again next week, don’t expect the same reply!
1. Ajnabi Shehar
2. Kandhon Se Milte Hain
3. Dubai
4. Boom Boom
5. Roobaroo
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Just a random question when you get views or comments does it say which location or which country it is coming from? and can you see if a person views it more than once like if the are views from the same person or different sorry I just wanna know how blogs work xD
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I can see the number of overall views by country, but not where a particular comment is from. Although I get the IP address so I suppose if I wanted to I could track it down.
I can’t see if the same person views more than once, which is really irritating! I want to know if a posts is doing well because lots of people like it, or if it is because one person is obsessively refreshing it. I do get over all visitor versus view counts (visitors being individual IP addresses) but that is just for the whole blog, not post by post.
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