Well, these are very different! And yet, the same, both are all about “young people growing up in modern India”, that theme that movies and internet think pieces love to explore.
I’m gonna start with Rajshri, because I have more to say about them. They just dropped the trailer for their new movie. They had a movie in 2016, and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo in 2015, so they aren’t exactly stagnating. But they tend not to have big BIG releases that often, ones that are promoted enough to make it to the corner of twitter where I live. This feels, so far, like an attempt at a big film, one that will get some notice.
And the biggest thing about it so far is the clean break from the “family” image. I am a little proud of myself, when the trailer started and I saw that it was about friends, I thought “aha! Because friends are like family at that age, so it really is still a family movie!” And then that turned out to be the tagline.
Anyway, I like it! It feels refreshingly different so far. Even just the costumes, they aren’t the over the top international branded unrealistically skin tight look of Student of the Year, but also not the extremely old-fashioned look of Sui Dhaaga. More in between. Same with the rest of the styling, good basic looks, not something that would obviously take 2 hours of gel and make-up every morning.
If that’s what the story as a whole feels like, I’m gonna love it. I don’t need another fantasy of traditional India with arranged marriages and young men and women who don’t even talk to each other. And I also don’t need another fantasy of urban India where everyone meets in clubs and has casual sex and whatever. But give me a nice story about college friendship that turns to love, and that I can get behind.
What do you think?
Oh, and there’s also the Gully Boy song. Sung by Ranveer, which, okay??? India has such a long tradition of playback singing and I really don’t see why they couldn’t let the person who wrote the song, sing the song. I suppose it’s a cool promotional touch, and I am sure Ranveer loved doing it. And he can do the whole Western thing and talk about how he got under the skin of the character by learning to rap and whatever. But I would still rather have the person who wrote the song and imagined how it would be delivered and usually performs his own writing, sing the song.
Of course, I am also terribly prejudiced against Gully Boy since the first trailer so I am just hating on everything right now. You watch, it’s gonna come out and I’m gonna love it and retroactively change my opinion on everything.
dontcallitbollywood 
Hum Chaar looks interesting! I am curious about how it will be considering its from Rajshri. Fresh!
I agree with you on the playback singing and actors thing. Though I must say- clearly Ranveer practiced a lot and his flow is pretty good. I have a MAJOR problem with actors and actresses singing (looking at you Alia, Shahrukh, Aaamir, etc) so I totally see your point.
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I would not have expected this a year ago, but I think I am more excited for the new Rajshri movie with the unknown actors than I am for the Zoya Akhtar movie with Ranveer and Alia!
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Gully Boy song is very catchy. It’s not my kind of music but I keep hearing it in my head.
I wish Hum Chaar trailer had subtitles, because it’s so dialogue heavy and I don’t understand a word (exept the title). But I know it’s not the movie for foreign moviegoers, so it’s ok (unlike Zero , I’m still mad they did all promotions in hindi).
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Without having any Hum Chaar subtitles, I am going to guess that they are 4 friends from college, there is a love story at the center possibly with a triangle, and then years later they are trying to figure out where it all went wrong.
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 1:49 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am not sure about the love triangle part and I hope there isn’t one, because I hate the whole friendship was destroyed because of a girl thing. It does seem like there was one big incident that pushed them apart because the interviewer asks, “whose fault was it” and two of the guys blame each other while the third says that it was his fault for being friends with them. The woman says something about how “boys get away without consequences but the girl ends up having to pay for it”. Then they all blame each other for not staying in touch, not inviting to weddings, not coming to visit etc.
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The staircase!!!!! It’s the return of the evil staircase from HAHK!!!!!! Well, probably not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is something similarly random and blameless that causes all the problems. That’s what I love about Rajshri, there are no real “bad” people, just bad situations.
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 9:28 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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You say it because you haven’t seen a gem called Ek Vivaah…Aisa Bhi (my guilty pleasure) there are evil uncle and aunt in this movie, who don’t care about their poor orphaned nephews and only think about the money.
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That’s terrible! Who wouldn’t care about orphaned nephews??? Is one of the orphaned nephews Sonu Sood?
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 11:36 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I had forgotten all about that damned staircase! And then it will all be resolved by a message from the pet dog. Have you seen Nadiya Ke Paar? It is Rajshri’s earlier, less polished version of HAHK.
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Pet dog, pet pigeon, it’s all fine. I just can’t take another animated pet parrot like in Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 2:45 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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the trailer for Gully Boy looks good oh and no rapping on any woman’s figure which is kind of a good sign..as for Hum chaar I see a good story but I don’t know it doesn’t look that great of a film.
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Rajshri always has that kind of static feeling to their movies, as though cameras still weighed a thousand pounds and couldn’t be moved across a set.
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 8:27 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Lyrics of the gully boy song is very inspiring. Great motivational lines. 👌🏾
The Rajshri movie has an interesting concept but it feels a little oldish I don’t know?
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I hope the Rajshri movie will be a nice mixture of old and new, a slow old-fashioned kind of narrative but set in a world of cell phones. But, that could just be me being optimistic!
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 12:29 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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