It’s snowing, and I am feeling very cozy and ready to watch things. I’m hoping to knock off 2-3 movies on one day today, very exciting!
There’s a new Ek Ladki Ko Dekha song video!!! We can talk about that. I think Sonam’s girlfriend is the woman in the yellow dress, what do you think?
Shahrukh posted this photo on twitter, am I the only one whose first reaction was “oh thank goodness, he is wearing the glasses again”? Woman don’t make passes at men who don’t wear glasses.
Sudeep is cast in Dabangg 3!!!!! As the villain! Sudeep, from Eega and Bahubali!!!! Who here is more excited to see him as villain than Salman as hero? Besides me?
Oh! One more thing! Was I the only one who heard about the President of India watching Manikarnika and then doing a photo op with Kangana and thought “sure, he’s got all that free time to watch movies now, because he only works an hour a day.”
dontcallitbollywood 
Yay for Sudeep! He is a fellow Kannadiga and a Bangalorean, and I feel his talents aren’t being utilised properly here. Hope he makes a splash.
Are you going to write a post on Tapsee being dropped from the Pati Patni Aur Woh remake? It made me so angry because Ananya Pandey is one of the female leads. Obviously Tapsee was kicked off so that Ananya could get a chance. Ugh this nepotism thing is going out of hands now. It wasn’t this bad before. Maybe Tapsee was better off in the south where she would at least be respected.
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I missed the window to write a post, so I am so glad you brought up Taapsee in the comments so we can talk about it!!!!
Her version and the producer’s version more or less match, so there’s no big smoking gun type thing. She got the narration, she was the first actress they approached, she thought it was settled and cleared dates, now she learns it isn’t settled and someone else is getting the part and she is regretful she cleared the dates but taking it as a lesson that she shouldn’t have assumed it was confirmed. And the producers say the same thing, they talked to her seriously about the role, but ultimately went with someone else. So there was no firm promise in place, she just took the narration as a promise and jumped ahead with clearing dates before getting confirmed-confirmed.
But yes, unless Ananya Panday is the most brilliant natural actress in the world (which seems very unlikely based on her age if nothing else), I can’t imagine she is better for the role than Taapsee. Well, since Taapsee was interested. If it is a stupid role (like Athiya Shetty’s in Mubarakan, for instance), then a young pretty woman with a big name might be a better fit than an older woman with more unusual looks, plus there could be a concern with the heroine overshadowing the hero and Taapsee would be more of a risk for that. All kinds of reasons besides acting ability that Ananya could legitimately be a better choice for the film. But I suspect it isn’t a stupid role and I am going to resent that Ananya has it instead of Taapsee.
I’m not going to say “nepotism” exactly, because that feels too simple, there is a whole array of pressures that could lead to a producer picking the less talented actress over the more talented one. With Ananya, it could even be nepotism second hand. She got Student of the Year FOR SURE because she is Suhana Khan’s best friend and Karan likes her. But maybe she is getting this movie because she will be coming off of Student of the Year, which means she will be famous but still cheap since it is just her second movie. I feel the same way about untalented models getting roles, or socialites, or children of politicians, anyone who is cast just because the audience knows the name and face and the producers think that is more important than casting someone who is best for the movie. Aish in Fanney Khan, for instance, just INFURIATING that she got that role and it was only because they thought a big name and famous face was more important than talent.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 9:52 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t think it was an independent decision of the producers, nor do I think that Karthik has the clout to decide his heroines. A little prodding from Kjo perhaps? Wait, Karthik and Ananya kept being photographed together from a few weeks, maybe they wanted to cash in on that? Or maybe they were being photographed together because they were confirmed for the film and wanted to create a buzz.
Whatever it is, I still think it was very unprofessional to just dump Tapsee without her being informed apparently.
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I would guess that they were photographed together as part of the film, from what I can see it was just photos of them after having dinner together. If they were cast already, it could have just been a friendly “let’s get together and talk before filming starts” kind of thing.
The producers are the Chopras, Shahrukh and Karan co-produced their last film, and they are close friends with Ranbir Kapoor. I could believe any one of those people put on influence to get Ananya the role, her family is well-liked. Or it could still just be a careful business move, wanting to pick an actress who was positioned to have a lot of buzz at that moment.
Yeah, it is definitely odd. Although, maybe they were planning to inform her and the Ananya story came out too soon. It could be a failure of controlling the press also.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 9:33 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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To take the gossipy route with the response to this. Maybe Karthik Aryan pulled some strings since he’s dating Ananya Pandey (poor Sara Ali Khan…but I think she deserved better anyway). Taapsee and Bhumi together would have totally overshadowed him and he needed to bring down the female star quotient. That fits with his brand, doesn’t it? I’m clearly biased against him based on the Luv Rangan association…I may need to eat my words someday because he does seem to be one of the hot new things out there and I do respect that he’s had to wait his turn and worked for it. I’m now curious about the original because the central premise of the film does sound interesting.
The promotional photo does look interesting. I have to admit he’s handsome and I do want to see Bhumi in a modern urban rom-com where she gets to be sexy. Ananya looks as blank as I expect her to look.
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Yuch! Ananya is rumored to be seeing Karthik Aryan? YUCH!!!! She JUST graduated from high school!!!! A high school graduate should not be dating a 28 year old. Where are her parents?????
I looked up the promotional image, and you are right, Ananya looks blank. I haven’t seen the original, but I just looked at the plot, and it looks like a lot of the film relies on chemistry between the two women. I can’t see Bhumi and Ananya building up any kind of rapport. Also, the cast seems kind of young. I’d like to see it with Bhumi as the young temptress, Akshay as the husband, and Kareena as the wife. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Ananya is an interesting nepotism example, because her family really has no power. But Ananya is friends with Suhana Khan and Sanjay Kapoor’s daughter, and Chunkey gets invited to all the parties and I guess has a lot of friends too, so they all want to help her out. Of course, if they really wanted to help, they would chase away Kartik Aryan because she JUST GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 1:53 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t like this Ananya already. Even on candid photos with her friends she looks very bland and uninteresting. And my dislike for her grew when Harsh Kapoor mentioned her in Koffee with Karan.
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She is still in that fuzzy area for me where I don’t feel like I am allowed to dislike her because she is just a baby. Give it 5 years until she is into her mid-twenties and then I will have an opinion. right now my only opinion is SHE IS TOO YOUNG TO DATE KARTIK ARYAN. An opinion that I hope I share with her parents and other loved ones.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 4:39 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t think ananya just graduated from high school, she’s born in 1998 and is 20 years old. She’s not the same age as Suhana and Khushi who just turned 18 this year.
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Oh good, I couldn’t find her date of birth online anywhere. I still think that is way WAY too young though.
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But Karthik was rumored to be dating a model called Dimple I think. He was spotted with Ananya but I feel it was just to create a buzz for the film. I could be wrong though.
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I hope so because she is far far too young.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 9:34 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes for Sudeep! And being honest he would be the only reason for me to even watch Dabangg 3 trailer. Did I tell you he once liked my tweet. Such a nice person.
And talking about actors from one industry making movies in other languages: Suniel Shetty’s look as 16 century warrior for Priyadarshan movie was revealed. And he looks good (as always)
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Oh man, he looks so good!!!!!! I love the little wave over his forehead.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 12:35 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes to Suniel looking good!!
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I can’t believe he is 57 years old.
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Most swoon-worthy Indian hunks are too young for me to fantasize over. They could be my sons, for Krishna’s sake! But Suniel Shetty. Now there’s a man. I can dream about him all I want and not feel stupid.
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Watching Jab Jab Phool Khile and swooning over Shashi. The songs are great too. Not so fond of Nanda, though.
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Oh oh! I still haven’t seen it, but that is supposed to be one of the films that inspired Raja Hindustani. Let me know if you spot similarities.
On Sat, Jan 19, 2019 at 10:17 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Dear Margaret thanks for the lovely Christmas cards in a handwritten envelope!
They finally managed to arrive in Brazil with their snowy messages while we are in a heat wave with temperatures on the 100°
One request, if you haven’t done it yet, a feminine analysis of Paheli.
With my belated best wishes.
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Glad you liked them!
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Is Sridevis Bungalow like… real? Like as in someone is actually making and starring in this movie? I thought the “trailer” was ridiculous like who is this girl and also I am hoping its fake????
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Looks like Boney is suing which, no duh, of course he is!!!! I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if that was the point all along, just get a trailer out there as a threat to force Boney to pay to kill the movie.
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So disgusting! Ugh humans
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