Happy Saturday! I successfully saw Manikarnika last night! And then was up way too late doing my first post on it. And now have woken up way too early. Hopefully I will manage to go back to sleep.
Let’s see, what is in the news for you to talk about while I sleep?
Not-Padman is Up for an Oscar
Did you all see that one of the short films up for an Oscar is “Period. End of Sentence” which is about the SAME THING that Padman is about? A group of high school students in California got interested in the issue of providing safe affordable period supplies so girls in India could go to school, raised money to buy one of Muruganantham’s machines for a village, and eventually with the help of their parents (this is an LA school, so some of the parents were film people) made a short film about it.
What do we think about this? The two films on the same topic in the same year? Oh, and you absolutely SHOULD read this post, which brings up obvious valid issues that both films seem to dance around: https://mythrispeaks.wordpress.com/2018/02/09/padman-the-real-story-of-how-he-shot-to-fame-by-selling-shame/
Ek Ladki Trailer I Missed
I saw this in the theater last night, but somehow I missed it when it released online. Finally, a trailer that comes close to being obvious about the rumored “Sonam’s character is gay” plot. And the film looks good in how it treats the story, Sonam is a little girl who dreams of marriage and all traditional things, and then comes to discover that may never happen for her.
Republic Day Song!
It’s Republic Day!!! Which I don’t feel like celebrating with chauvinistic patriotism because the films in theaters right now are doing more than enough of that. So instead, I will celebrate it with a nice light patriotic song that makes me smile.
dontcallitbollywood 
If what he says is true,all that feminist & intellectual flag waving is just a cover for deep seated insecurity and megalomania.
https://amp.scroll.in/reel/910912/kangana-ranaut-wanted-everything-to-herself-manikarnika-co-director-says-in-tell-all-interview?__twitter_impression=true
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Thank you!!!! Adding link to the review I am writing right now. What he says about the “hodge podge” and cutting down everyone else’s scenes, that’s what stood out to me.
On Sat, Jan 26, 2019 at 8:30 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Manoj Bajpayee got the Padma Shri! Yay!
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The person I did the podcast with last week said that his wife saw the ELKDTAL trailer and completely missed the lesbian romance. The film is coming out in a week so I really wonder at what point the general public gets clued in to plot. Shah said he’s afraid people will go to the film expecting a generic family film/romance and then get really angry when the plot smacks them in the face.
I have complicated feelings about Kangana. She doesn’t behave well but otoh, in order for a woman to seize and exercise her power against the odds, it often means she has to be a megalomaniac and willing to do things that aren’t nice. In my work life I’ve met a lot of politically powerful women and whatever their public personas (some have a tough public image, some don’t) they are willing to shiv people behind the scenes and make alliances with questionable people to get what they want. I don’t like them but I respect their willingness to go against societal expectations for women.
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I’m thinking the ELKDTA trailer is on purpose. That is, it really is a family friendly happy movie, just that it also involves a woman who is in love with another woman. If that’s the movie they wanted to make, a happier view of a coming out story with an ultimate happy ending, than I guess it is an accurate trailer. Only, the audience will think of it as not-family friendly because of the plot twist, but they will be wrong because it really is family friendly. If you see what I mean. Or maybe not. It’s like The Bird Cage, which for some reason was R rated but actually is a super sweet family movie.
For Kangana, Manikarnika is where she has crossed the Leni Reifenstahl line for me, specifically the cow protection scene which she herself said she would be removing because of the increasing violence around the issue, and then she didn’t.. It’s one thing to do what needs doing to survive and succeed. It’s another thing to go the extra mile and align with real evil, aware of the consequences.
On Sat, Jan 26, 2019 at 10:59 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I find that men or women who want to seize power & force their agendas behave despicably & they aren’t generally worried about what the world think. Being a woman doesn’t reduce the damage they leave behind.
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“The two films on the same topic in the same year?”
And few months befor Pad-Man there was Phullu with almost the same plot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phullu
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You’re right! I really do not see why this topic is so fascinating.
On Sat, Jan 26, 2019 at 2:32 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That’s a nice song for a patriotic day. Yes, it’s better to view the own country with humour than with a single-minded and limited nationalism.
Don’t know how much of what Krrish says is a fact but – as you rightly could observe – at least some things can be verified.
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