Monday Morning Questions: What Do You Want to Ask Me?

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Happy Monday!  I had an exhausting weekend, my sister and brother-in-law were in town, we all drove up to the family place and helped Mom and Dad do hard manual labor to get it closed up for the fall.  Well, almost closed up.  There’s one more exhausting weekend coming. Anyway, distract me from being exhausted at work!  As me questions!

Now, questions!  You can ask me anything from the personal (“what movie are you watching this Friday?”) to the specific and factual (“What movies are coming out this Friday?”) to the general discussion (“What is the best movie currently playing in theaters?”)

Only rule is, you have to let me answer first!  The discussion just goes better that way.  But once I answer, please feel free to leap in and join the conversation.

 

 

Now, question for you!  Inspired by the whole Kangana fracas.

What actor in India do you most/least want to work with?

Least want to work with for me is a bit of a race to the bottom. Farhan Akhtar, because I would be stressed about telling him what to do and he would constantly try to make me listen to his music.  Aamir Khan, because he would be exhausting, constantly trying to make me and our film the best it can be.  Karan, because the emotional support required would kill me.  For who I most want to work with, I think Juhi Chawla might be my first choice?  She’s been Shahrukh’s friend and business partner for years, so she must be very easy going.  And also smart.

52 thoughts on “Monday Morning Questions: What Do You Want to Ask Me?”

  1. Okay, my question: Arjun Kapoor. He can be hot, but not Jason Momoa hot, and he’s talented, but not Irfan talented. Yet, whether lean and buff as in Gunday et al, or bulky and lumbering as in Mubarakan et al, he rivets you to the screen; you can’t look away. At least I can’t. Why is that?

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    • I have the same feeling! It’s something about his eyes I think, you can’t look away from them. It’s not the usual movie star charisma, he doesn’t charm you or make you fall in love with him, he just somehow dominates the screen when he is there. It reminds me a bit of young Amitabh, but less so. And without the acting ability.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 7:42 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • Well, I’m on board the Arjun fangirl train and I can’t quite pin it down either. It’s definitely something about his strong features, his height and bulk, and his ability to appear teddy bear sweet and non threatening and then also his ability to be aggressively sexy and/or menacing as needed (that maniacal smile that the AIB Roast pointed out is disarming sometimes). I think he looked his sexiest best in Ishaqzaade and Auranzeb (I must like the leaner look with longer hair). In terms of just everyday handsome and styling he looked his best in Ki and Ka, I think.

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        • He’s also just “different” looking. The younger male stars aren’t quite as interchangeable as the female stars, but there is still a particular styled perfect kind of look and manner they share. Arjun doesn’t have that, either because it isn’t in his nature, or because he couldn’t manage it. Either way, I sit up and take notice when he shows up, taller and bulkier, darker hair and beard, and older sadder line delivery.

          On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 9:51 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • “Older and sadder” for sure, sometimes to his own detriment…that Namastey England trailer is an example. I’m not necessarily complaining because I find his seriousness much more attractive than the manic f***boy energy that actors like Varun Dhawan, SSR, Ranveer Singh have. I think Vicky Kaushal and Aditya Roy Kapur have a more similar dynamic to them like Arjun does.

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          • Yeah, very excited to see Arjun in India’s Most Wanted, I think it is going to be a better fit for him than any young rom-com would be.

            On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 10:06 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  2. Are you going to watch Paltaan or Laila Majnu in cinema, or you will wait when it will be in streaming?

    If I were a movie producer, I would never hire Kangana, or at least till she start to cure herself. And there is something super exciting in seeing a good actor at work, that I wouldn’t waste time with people who can’t act, so no work for Parineeti, Shraddha, Katrina, Sidhart Malhotra and others like them.

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    • Probably not in cinemas. The one that it is killing me to miss is Ranam, Prithviraj’s new movie. Maybe I will be able to catch the Saturday matinee of that, if it is still playing next weekend. It’s just killer to get out to the theater for me, 45 minutes there and back plus a 3 hour movie. It’s hard to do on weekdays and I only have time for one movie on weekends, maybe two if I can catch a matinee on Saturday.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 8:59 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  3. I saw this theory about Stree’s ending and it’s intriguing! What do you think?

    I think Shraddha Kapoor was Stree all along. Flora Saini, the actress who played Stree, was just a projection made by her. Hence, the ending. The movie says that all Stree wanted was love and respect. She was loved by Vicky and she tested it by giving him the knife which he didn’t use. Helping him also made the men in Chanderi respect her.

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    • That’s interesting, because that slight twist to it would also explain why she was a ghost hunter. She made him love her, and when he got suspicious, she changed tactics to appear to be hunting herself, thereby giving him the metaphorical and literal knife to kill her, and testing his response to that.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 9:20 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  4. GOODACHARI! Watched it on Amazon Prime.. Amazingly slick & entertaining. A hitherto unknown team has made a super smart spy movie(under limited budget apparently)which even masters like Sriram Raghavan cdnt get right in Agent Vinod. I would give the makers all my money to see what they would do if they had a bigger budget. This is the desi geopolitical thriller that India have been waiting for years. Our very own home grown Bond/Bourne/Ethan Hunt.. And if I were the producer, I would never give the remake rights to Bollywood. This movie deserves its own franchise & nation wide appreciation like Bahubali. When Telugu films get creative, they go all out & make supremely entertaining movies. I cdnt wait till Wednesday to post about it.

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    • I’ve been wondering about that movie, because it was one that popped unexpectedly in my box office list. The expected ones, a good box office doesn’t always mean a good movie, but the unexpected ones, it usually means the audience is responding to something special.

      Pretty sure I saw a sequel is already in the works, so yaaaay!

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 9:33 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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        • Yes! I looked this up when the movie first came out. And I remember talking with someone on the Bahubali comments about how he was an upcoming actor, because when I wrote my review I couldn’t even find his name on the cast list.

          On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 9:57 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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        • Did you see Kshanam? Because that’s when he became a well-known name to the audience. He wrote the script of Kshanam as well and it’s good movie.

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          • I read a lot about Kshanam because I was trying to reverse engineer the good bits of Baaghi 2. There were some really interesting ideas about gaslighting and male-female power and so on, and I think that came from Kshanam. The ridiculous action scenes, that was all Tiger. And unfortunately, also 2/3rds of the movie. And then there would be like one good idea that suddenly pops up and makes me go “hey! Where’d that come from?” and it was always Kshanam.

            So far as I can tell, Baaghi 2 is Kshanam as much as Baaghi 1 is Varsham.

            On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 9:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • So Tiger picks up good Telugu movies,retains the basic plot, removes other interesting things, adds his action vodoo & calls them B1, B2 etc.somehow they all become successful too🙄The thought that the audience will like a mindless action fest than an interesting thriller is reinforced.

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          • Yep! Except add in that he takes the plot of a good Telugu action movie, and the action sequences of movies from other countries (Thai, Korean, American, etc.). Hero’s introduction, Telugu plot in flashback, finale action sequence. It’s a solid formula, so long as you haven’t seen the original movies and notice the seams where they are sewn together.

            On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 11:24 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • I loved it too! And i believe Advi Shesh has written the film as well. I didn’t know many actors except Prakash Raj, and ALL of them were exceptional. The actress who played Nadiya and Sameera were fantastic. I believe they are native Telguites, which makes me soo happy. I’m tired of the North Indian imports like Kajal Aggarwal and Rakul Preet and the latest one – Rashi Khanna.
      I want to see more of Rashmika, Sai Pallavi and the likes.

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    • Shoot, can’t watch it at work! There’s a lot of interesting stuff coming out of Hollywood that I would probably enjoy seeing, but I’ve kind of had to let it go in preference of watching every new Indian film. What was that term some exec came up with, “peak TV”? Sometimes I feel like I am struggling with “peak Movies” too. But really it’s just because I am trying to juggle 6 different equal sized industries (Hollywood, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu) and there is just no way to do it.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 9:45 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  6. Are you going to see Manmarziyaan this weekend? Please do and let us know what you think! I’m always making plans to trek out to the cinema here and it never happens. I’m thinking about bypassing the pain in the but public transportation and just taking a Lyft. The cost of going to this movie will be close to $50 by the end of it, but I think this one will be worth it! The reviews are coming in from TIFF and it sounds good! I love that Kalki referred to Abhishek as a Mr. Darcy type character in her tweet. It’s definitely sounding like a reimagining of HDDCS and I’m definitely on-board. I never liked the first half of that film because I can’t stand the Salman Khan loverboy years but I love the second half. Vicky Kaushal promises to be a much better first love and Abhishek is always good at the steadfast and brooding romantic lead.

    Looks like I finally have to admit that as much as I love Kangana and want to support her in fighting the patriarchy, she really is creating lots of drama. I’m still hoping that the Rani of Jhansi film is amazing and she will prove all of her critics wrong and this could be the beginning of an amazing directorial career, but I’m not holding my breath.

    I don’t think I’d like to work with SSR on anything. I’ve liked him in several things, but he strikes me as egotistical and needy.

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    • Yes I am seeing Manmaarziyan! By hook or by crook, I will manage it. After Stree, I am worried it won’t be playing at the easy theaters (“easy” meaning only 40 minutes away), but it looks good enough that it is worth the drive to the hard theater (“hard” meaning over an hour away). Thank goodness I have a car again.

      I feel the same about SSR, and I’m not even sure why. Maybe a combination of not liking how dumping his TV girlfriend played out and catching the same icky feeling from you, I think you’ve mentioned your sense of him before. We don’t know their life of course, but leaving a long time romantic partner and relationship that helped his TV career, just as his movie career took off, feels icky.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 10:00 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  7. I watched Tholi Prema. Varun Tej was good – in Fida, I couldn’t figure out if it was him but in this yeah he was really good. Pretty much carried the movie. Rashi Khanna was sort of wooden but pretty. She has 4 expressions that she regularly cycles through.

    I would want to work with SRK 🙂 Cos I’ve heard he’s a very prepared actor on the sets (and he has great memory). Would love to see that in person.
    Unpopular opinion here, but I wouldn’t want to work with Alia – she strikes me as extremely competitive and being new I’d be really nervous ha 😀

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    • The one downside I have heard about SRK, which everyone says, is that he is always terribly horribly late. That would probably drive me crazy, him telling me he would be there at 8 and not showing up until noon. Even if I knew in advance, even if everyone said not to believe him and plan for noon, it would still bother me.

      Amitabh is supposed to be the best at everything, punctual and prepared and so on, but I still wouldn’t want to work with him, because I think I would be terrified of him no matter how gracious and humble he is (and everyone says he is super gracious and humble).

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 12:33 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  8. I definitely would like to work with ShahRukh…but not as a director…I would like to work with him and Imtiaz. Because of ShahRukh I may get sugar-shocks because of all the Cola I would drink to keep energetic throughout the night but he is a delight to work with…and he can be very punctual if need is. It is such an amazing work atmosphere on the sets. And Imtiaz has a way to work with his actors and the crew that corresponds well to ShahRukh’s way to work…maybe it’s because both have a theatre mind.
    Imtiaz said that it was his fault that the movie didn’t work because he should have prepared people more to the kind of romance he had made. He wasn’t aware that people would have such difficulty to associate ShahRukh to that role and that one would not accept Anushka’s internal development.

    As for Kangana, I’ll wait for the movie to further comment on her (if ever the movie gets on screen).

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    • Going up in a few minutes. Although I guess I can reschedule it and just post it now. Refresh in a minute and it will be there.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 1:47 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • Probably Aish. Priyanka sounds like she is perfectly pleasant to work with, it’s the out of work part that might be the problem (the way she chooses to promote the movie). Aish sounds very professional and easy on set. A little withdrawn perhaps, but that’s not really a problem.

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  11. I’ve been fruitlessly Googling trying to find a movie I want to re-watch, and maybe you can help but if not no big. Ajay Devgn is a cop in a small town (you see the Google problem this would cause). His parents? died? because of gang violence? and he has a young partner and he either or the partner has been sent in to clean up the town. The only thing I clearly remember is when the two cops meet Ajay is ironing his shirt and tells the other cop a harrowing story of loss and betrayal, revealing at the end that he is talking about his, I want to say, parents, by saying something like “one son is dead and the other is ironing a shirt.” I know that’s not much to go on, or perhaps it’s laughably obvious and I’m stymied by my general unfamiliarity with Ajay. Random recommendations for Ajay cop movies would be OK, too, although Singham I found a bit boring. But maybe it gets better after the first 20 minutes?

    I wouldn’t want to work with anyone who throws tantrums on set, and besides Kangana I can’t think who that would be. Although I’ve heard SJB tends to yell at actors. Vidya and Konkona seem pretty cool and they would class up any movie I found myself in.

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    • Gangaajal is the classic Ajay cop movie, so that’s the first one that springs to mind. I can’t say for sure though because I haven’t seen it. It sounds like a great scene! Whatever this movie is, I kind of want to watch it. Oh, an Singham definitely gets better after the first 20 minutes. It’s a Rohit Shetty entertainer, he’s making it for the theater crowd, the first 20 minutes are time kill while everyone buys popcorn. For the otherside of the coin, Ajay gangster movies, can’t get better than Once Upon a Time in Bombay.

      Konkona seems very cool. I think if I had to be an actor, I would pick her or Farah to direct. Farah’s end products are a bit uneven, but everyone seems to have fun on set.

      On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 10:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • I recommend Khakki. It’s a cop movie with cops of various shades-the rookie, the cynical, the jaded,the righteous etc. Ajay is the main antagonist & he’s devilish. Plus u also get to see a host of stars & a good dance number.

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      • I looooooooooved Ajay in Once Upon A Time! So much so that I’ve so far refused to watch Dobaara because it doesn’t have him, but I don’t know, maybe I should? So I’ve seen that, I’ve seen whatever movie it is that I can’t remember, Rajneeti, Raincoat, and about 20 minutes of Singham. Khakki sounds really interesting, and I guess I definitely have to see Gangaajal. Thanks!

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        • Dobaara is just a terrible movie, setting aside the lack of Ajay factor. Don’t bother.

          I assume you’ve also seen Hum dil De Chuke Sanam? Another great Ajay performance. And Lajja, he doesn’t show up until the end but it is worth the wait. Oh, and Company!!!! You HAVE to watch Company!

          On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 12:49 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  13. I find the promotional spin for Manmarziyan(sp?) very interesting. Vicky and Tapsee are both up and comers climbing the ranks in 2018, both underdogs scratching and clawing for their place in the sun. Both very root-for-able. And yet, all the promos are about how the established star, Abhishek, with a 15+ year filmography of successful and/or acclaimed films, who to boot is son of India’s Best Actor (TM) AND married to India’s Most Beautiful Woman (TM), who never has to work again a day in his life, is being showcased as the underdog and the comeback kid. One extended interview with JrB makes sense, since he’s been missing from the big screen since HNY. But I’ve now seen 4 interviews, and there are probably more, in which he spends an hour navel gazing about existential crises, professional satisfaction, and his excitement in challenging himself with new material. PR spin + Nepotism + Top 0.01% Problems. This is like something straight out of a Ranbir Kapoor film. In fact, if they do a biopic on JrB’s life, I hope they use RK to play JrB, cuz he’ll be able to do this with his eyes closed.

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    • I can see the need for a few interviews with Abhishek, just to get the audience past the “wait, Abhishek is in this?” confusion. He has an identity in our minds already, it might be helpful to ease that identity out of our minds before we watch the movie. But you are right, I would have thought there would be just as many interviews with Vicky and Taapsee. In fact, I just assumed there were, not knowing the details of the campaign. Very odd.

      On Wed, Sep 12, 2018 at 12:49 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • To your point about explaining not so much why abhishek was gone (HNY wasn’t that long ago, sheesh) but why abhishek is in a movie like this, add to that that JrB and AKashyap had a public war of words a decade ago that people still recall. There is one video interview with the two of them that addresses their history and their current status.

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