Happy Monday! I have such a fun busy week, supposed to see ELKDTAL with friends tonight or tomorrow, then on Weds. a friend I haven’t seen in a long time is coming over, Thurs. is my annual Valentine’s Party, and Friday is Gully Boy (yaaaay!).
As always, you can ask me anything from the personal (“what are you serving at your Valentine’s party?”) to the specific and factual (“what other Indian movies have released on Valentine’s Day?”) to the general discussion (“what is the best movie to watch on Valentine’s Day?”).
Now, question for you! An easy one. What is your favorite song from the Gully Boy soundtrack?
I am torn myself, between these three very different songs. “Train Song”, which is all fusion and easy. “Goriye” which is fun empowering female hip-hop. And “Azadi”, which is just angry and powerful and revolutionary.
dontcallitbollywood 
I have a question, more for yjbasu and other telugu friends here – why N.T.R: Kathanayakudu flopped? Isn’t it good? The trailers looked good and I was very surprised people didn’t like it.
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I am going to repeat my questions from Saturday small talk. Thanks, Margaret and Alisa for answering already. Would love others’ thoughts!
I participate enthusiastically, though somewhat as a lurker, in the Twitter Shah Rukh fandom. Some prominent accounts of which also comment here sometimes. *wave*
Many many people send Shah Rukh images or gifs of himself every day, sometimes with a comment (a greeting, or something about how cute he is in the photo, or a quick question or opinion). Sometimes they are images of him with his kids, or co-actors, or other film family people. But the vast majority are images of him. This leads me to two groups of questions, one from fans’ point of view and one from his point of view.
Fan POV questions (no judgement here, I’m really curious): what’s the thinking behind sharing images of Shah Rukh with Shah Rukh? Is it a just a simple compliment? Is it to make him feel better if he’s feeling fat or ugly that day? Is it because you’re thinking of him, in a way, as another fan of himself (fans swap images with each other all the time–we do it here on DCIB)? Or something else entirely? Maybe because that’s what other fans do?
Shah Rukh POV questions: Is it odd to know/have a strong sense of what you look like from every conceivable angle, in every conceivable lighting, still and in motion? Is that something most actors know or just superstars with their photos everywhere all the time? Do you remember your sense of self before you knew that and now? Did it change at all and if so, how? When you are at an event with your photos posted everywhere (like the FAN fan event at YR studios), is that odd? Do you enjoy the photos, or just ignore them, or see all the flaws in them?
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And a comment. I can’t generate any interest in Gully Boy. Maybe because I am old. I look forward to hearing about EKDTAL though.
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You should definitely check out ELKDTAL if it still playing near you, it is very good for us old-folks. And if not, you should catch it streaming ASAP,
On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 11:04 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Me neither! First – the movie about rappers is not my cup of tea, than there is Alia in it. And I don’t understand this strange promotions Ranveer is doing e.g wearing fluffy jackets with unicorns and Gully Boy written on it. WTF?
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Well, I’ll be seeing it on Friday and I can let you know if it is amazing.
On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 11:16 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m glad I’m not the only one. I think I’d only ever watch this if the supporting cast and characters are strong. Alia and Ranveer by themselves aren’t enough of a draw. I think Hamilton the musical might have ruined me for “my art got me out of poverty/saved my life” stories for a while. If I want that, I’ll just listen to Hamilton for the umpteenth time. “I wrote my way out…”
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The album is so exciting, if the film leans into that, if the music becomes the supporting character, it could be something really special. Or, maybe not! I’ll let you know 🙂
On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 2:46 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m not into gully boy either. Not a big fan of rap and I haven’t felt the urge to listen to a single song from the film.
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I finally went to see ELKDTAL yesterday and it made me so happy that even after being out for 10 days, the theater was about 30 percent packed! Of course I loved the movie! It is not perfect but it was very enjoyable. Unfortunately I was so dissapointed with Sonam’s performance. As you have said, she can be great if she can display her confidence and here she could not. The scene in which she breaks down and confesses to Rajkumar that she is in love with a girl was so bad that it pulled me right out of the movie. I actually found the two child actors who played Sonam’s character far more compelling. It was also tough because Anil, Rajkumar, and Regina were so good.
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Oh I forgot to ask my question. What are you making for your Valentine’s day party?
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I think I am just going to buy samosas. They are cheap, and these are old friends, so that will be fine. Maybe I’ll make mango lassis too, I forgot how easy they are.
On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 12:43 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am so glad you liked it! And really glad that the theaters are still full. I am planning to see it a second time tomorrow, I’ll be interested how full it is.
One thing that interests me about that interval scene (which I also found her performance so bad as to draw me out of the film), is that it is all about the mixing of the performance. In the trailer we just got 5 seconds of it and it was effective. But then it was expanded to a minute in the film, and there was no variation in her emotions, it was all the same peak level, and it ended up feeling fake. Partly the director’s fault, I think, if Sonam had been given clear advice to start at a lower emotional tone and then rise to the peak, she could have done it. Maybe this is just a weakly directed film in general in terms performances? Rajkummar and Juhi and Anil are experienced enough and talented enough that they can create a character just with the script and no director, but Sonam really needs a director guiding her.
But mostly, so glad you liked it!
On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 12:42 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yay to yummy samosas and thanks for the Tahoora reccomendation. I’ll be in Chicago in March and will try to grab a samosa from there. If you have any other Indian restaurant reccomendations, please let me know. I’m in Chicago quite often and always up for good and cheap Indian food.
The director definitiely should have instructed Sonam better. But then again, how did the kids perform so much better than Sonam? I cannot imagine that have a ton of experiance acting. I also though the brother was a bit too cartoon villany and could have also been directed better. Excited to watch Gully Boy this weekend.
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Oh, I have so many Indian food recommendations! Devon Avenue only though, so you have to go all the way to the far north to get to them. Tahoora is the good for sweets and chat. I like Sabri Nihari for northern non-veg food, and Mysore Woodlands for more southern and veg. Patel Sweets has the best sweets, and a Paan table usually if you want it, but they are a tad expensive. Sukhadia Sweets is also good, but they have an old uncle working the counter who is the WORST, enough that I generally avoid the place. Punjabi Dhaba has the best buffet, and the best prices for the buffet. And then Anmol Barbecue is at the end of my street and has the best straight up Afghani/Pakistani barbecue, just big pieces of meat.
If you want, let me know when you are in town, I’d be happy to give you my own Devon tour (although since the movie stores closed, it is much shorter and sadder).
On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 4:20 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you SO much for the recommendations! I love all the savory and authentic recommendations. Also, I’ll never say no to a Devon Ave tour.
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Cool! Let me know next time you are in town 🙂
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