Happy Wednesday! Boy, this week is just zipping by! Or maybe it is just me, I have been soooooooo busy at work, I arrive and then next time I look up its 3 in the afternoon.
I’ll start!
Reading: Finished Pollyanna, on to Pollyanna Grows Up! The romantic sequel where she has to choose who to love.
Thinking: Yesterday was SO WEIRD! I got caught in 5 roadblocks on the way to work, a construction blocker at the end of my block, then an accident and a fire engine blocking the way two blocks away (I had to do a u-turn), then another construction block, then a van double parked, then a car that turned the wrong way down a one way street and we all had to sit there and wait while it did a weird u-turn. I finally got to work, only to have my computer constantly lose internet connection until I finally rebooted it. And the scanner stopped working. It was just WEIRD. I hope today is better.
Watching: A bunch of weird rom-coms from the 60s (TCM had a theme night). Why did everyone lose the ability to deal with sex like adults about 1959? All of these women agonizing over their “virtue” while men give smarmy speeches about “normal” and “healthy” and of course the happy ending is everyone realizing that sex within marriage is the best/only choice. Just do it or don’t do it! Stop talking about it all the time and making it uncomfortable! Oh, and in Sunday in New York last night, Jane Fonda declared she doesn’t wear a girdle. That’s not true, right? I thought all women wore girdles? Unless they were “fast”.
Listening: This is random, but I forgot how much I liked this song from Sultan!
Now, question for you! Courtesy of Emily in the comments: “If you had a time machine and could replace one role in a past film with a present actor, what would it be?”
You know the problem with Chandni? Rishi! He’s too old and not romantic enough and I just can’t sympathize with him. I would replace him with….hmm. Who? Impulsive, over the top, ridiculous, OH! Ranveer Singh!!!! I can totally see him hiring a helicopter to surprise Deepika with rose petals in the morning! And it would give us the vibe we are supposed to have, of the young dashing option versus the Vinod Khanna option. Also, wow, Rishi was only 4 years older in this movie than Ranveer is now!
dontcallitbollywood 
I’d replace Ranbir Kapoor in every movie he made with Ranvir Singh, or with almost anybody else.
He’s too self-aware, too Ranbir-y in every role. Like Denzel says, to truly play somebody else, you have to get out of the way.
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Yes! That’s it exactly!!!!! I can enjoy him when the movie is made exactly for “Ranbir Kapoor”, but otherwise it is distracting. So, Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. I am curious how Brahmastra is going to turn out, Ayan Malhotra has shown himself as very good at bringing out Ranbir’s best performances, but can he pull that off with a superhero role?
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 7:51 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It was a very nice watching week for me. First I rewatched Regresa, because I thought it would be great material for your fanfic. It was cute and romantic just like I remembered it.
Than I watched Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal (My candle light dinners), without any reason. I thought it will be the worst, because the last one (and really the only one) Anoop Menon’s movie I have seen was terrible, and he was bad in it. And here, he not only is the hero but also wrote the script, so imagine. In the beginning I was so mean to him, and I was saying: Look at this guy, he is so overweight , can’t have any roles, so he wrote something for him, and now he will play the hottest guy in the town. Ridiculous.
But I was so wrong! The movie turned out to be very nice, and with a lot of cute and funny moments, and also some deeper thoughts. And the best part was that when he was trying to seduce the heroine, she immediately told him: forget about it, I don’t find you attractive because you’re fat and hairy. I loved it.
The movie is on youtube with subtitles.
Today I watched something different – tamil thriller Thadam. So good! I was on the edge of my seat all the time. And OMG Arun Vijay. So good and hot! Recommended.
Reading: This article :
http://annavetticadgoes2themovies.blogspot.com/2019/05/feature-kumbalangi-nights-journey-of.html
I especially liked this part:
“Mollywood’s nationwide reputation as a maker of quality realistic cinema that does not necessarily head off into overly artsy, esoteric or dreary territory. Their middle-of-the-road nature – thoughtful yet entertaining in varying ways – has earned them a loyal following not just among Malayalis, but also among non-Malayali cinephiles. ” – Exactly why I like malayalam movies.
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Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal link:
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You are too good to us!
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 11:24 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love Anna M. Vetticad! Her and Bardwaj are the reviewers I really respect for southern film. And Raja Sen for Hindi.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 11:23 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I ended up seeing Jersey last weekend and it was such a good movie! You should definitely check it out when it comes on Prime or whatever streaming service it will come on.
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I keep waiting for it to show up! June just hit streaming and I felt like they released around the same time, but I think June was actually earlier and just delayed in the American release.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 11:28 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m thinking it will take another month or so because it just left theaters but I don’t actually know to be honest.
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I’ll keep checking. That’s how I found June, just kept checking Hotstar once a week until it popped up. I wish their “recently arrived” listings were more helpful, actually showing the newest theatrical releases that have arrived instead of just whatever they just purchased and want to promote. Oh well, I guess all streaming services are like that.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 11:45 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think I would probably either replace Shahrukh in ”Jab Tak Hain Jaan” with Vicky Kaushal or switch out Katrina Kaif with any other actress, who would have carried the role better and would have actually made me believe that SRK would choose her over Anushka Sharma (who was simply the saving-grace of this film tbh). Like Katrina seemed like stale, white, mushy bread next to sunny, cheerful, charismatic Anushka! I really don’t know if the role was just too demanding for her around that time or if she just didn’t feel comfortable around SRK. Like I am honestly confused by her lack-luster performance as she is normally an expert on playing these biracial Indian/England, slightly arrogant, slightly posh women (Namastey London etc.).
And why I said that I would have switched in another scenario SRK out with Vicky is because I truly think that a.) SRK was a little too old to pull off the young, twenty-something-look and looked a little ”out of place” in some scenes and b.) because Vicky looked so good as a soldier in ”Uri-The surgical strike”! Like hes also such an diverse actor and can switch from super serious and dark to bright, naive and lovable in the next second. I also saw a recent interview with him and Katrina and it seemed like they already have pretty good chemistry, there are also rumours flying around that they might star in a movie together in some time – I mean, we’ll see 🙂
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I like your idea of swapping SRK for Vicky! Obviously the Kat-SRK chemistry is the biggest issue with the film, but I had never thought of attacking it from the SRK side of things instead of the Kat side.
Oh, and since you are new to the site, I will give you links to my attempts to fix JTHJ! Because that film is such a puzzle, so much good but also so much bad.
Oh, and my Grandpa’s review of it!
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My kids *HATE* this movie; they refer to it as, “That stupid movie where the wrong girl ends up with Shah Rukh Khan.”
I was reading some old chat group discussion about KANK, and something occurred to me. The general gist of the comments revolves around the “hotel sex scene” and how graphic it would be. Interestingly, it seems that quite a lot of SRK fans DO NOT want to see him kissing/in bed/being with anyone in the way that is generally acceptable these days. I think it has a lot to do with jealousy – that is, he has ‘belonged’ to so many people for so long, and his no kissing policy kind of reinforced that impression that he’s not *actually* into that (whichever actress it might be), and is therefore still ours. Do you know what I mean? (You’re just gonna have to get it, ‘cause I know I’m explaining it badly, but if you understand then you’ll just know what I’m trying to say. Like, wtf why with Katrina?!?!)
I’m curious if it’s better for the older, previously non-kissing actors to go modern, or if that’s actually part of SRK’s problem? There are only a few women I’m willing to see him with: Kajol, Rani, Deepika, Anushka … yup, that’s about it! I don’t really rather he do guy bromances where I can appreciate how sexy he can be without kinda hoping he won’t hook up with some TART WHO DOESN’T FREAKING DESERVE HIM. (Sorry not sorry about that! 😉)
Am I all alone here? Just me?
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*I’d really rather* (thanks auto-dictator that thinks it knows what I’m trying to say)
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No, makes total sense! So long as he isn’t quite touchable onscreen, he is more ours. Once he becomes human, something is lost.
For JTHJ in particular, I also think it is the way the kisses were built. Both the sex scene in KANK, and the kiss in JHMS, came organically from the characters. For me as a fan watching, it didn’t feel like “my” Shahrukh was kissing someone, it felt like the character he was playing was kissing the character someone else was playing. But with JTHJ, it felt like Shahrukh Khan was breaking character in order to give the audience a sexy kissing scene. Like the difference between Dard-E-Disco (definitely Shahrukh himself doing it) and Radha (definitely the character doing it).
If we use that theory, than that might also explain why it is easier for the young actors to do kissing scenes. When I see Ayushmann Khurrana onscreen, I am usually seeing the character and not him himself, so what do I care if this character kisses another character? But the older actors have such an established persona that we just can’t break free of it unless they are really really in character, it always feels like “OMG, that actor just kissed that other actor, that is so WEIRD!”
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 3:25 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you for making my ramblings seem sane, Margaret. 😘
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Yes! You are so right. The kiss in JHMS was so natural and part of the characters, the mood and the scene, while JTHJ was more like showing off , like: look, we are modern and can also kiss.
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I didn’t like Zero, but even the kiss in that fit. Katrina was kissing him because of what was going on with her character in that moment and it made sense.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 3:42 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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For me, I can’t get enough of Shah Rukh in any situation, so I don’t mind him enacting kissy huggy stuff. And some of the wrist, neck, stomach (!) kisses and nuzzles he did with Juhi, Preity, Kajol, and Rani are much sexier and intimate to me than kissing per se. Like, to the point I’m shy to watch them with my mom or hubby. 🙂
But, I can see how it could bother some fans, yes. Either because they feel he is violating standards of modesty that they also agree with, or they are straight up jealous. Or a combo of both! Some folks on Twitter have been getting pretty heated about those Chinese fans kissing him in Beijing, which made me chuckle.
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Don’t misunderstand, I’m right there with ya! And, interestingly enough, I don’t actually like kissing personally. I’m more of a neck, wrist, stomach(!) kinda girl myself. Kissing onscreen is just weird; either it’s a peck, which looks ridiculous, or it’s too much open mouth/tongue and I get icked out. Perhaps that’s why SRK does it so well for me!
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Ooh, I really like Vicky in JTHJ. He’d have good chemistry with both actresses, and he could do carefree striver in London and bitter soldier. Also I think he’d be more believably stumped by Kat’s religious conflict. SRK seemed too worldly to be caught in that trap, but Vicky is good at characters who get blinded by their attraction to difficult women.
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Vicky would also make it feel more like finding his youth was reverting to type, instead of Shahrukh were it felt like the whole youthful flashback part wasn’t the “real” him, like somehow he found himself and what he was meant to be in Kashmir. I don’t know if I am making sense, it’s more than just playing younger, Shahrukh has a natural gravitas and dignity and depth onscreen that made the Kashmir sequence feel like the character had finally found who he really was meant to be, like the London section was him denying his inner soldier. But with Vicky it would feel like the reverse, like the soldier part is a heartbreaking denial of his inner youthful happiness. Right?
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 7:27 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, totally get it and I think you’re right. Jiya Re SRK is more the real Shah Rukh than Challa SRK.
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Yes! And that leaks through the character and makes us feel like Shahrukh-the-character was really himself more with Anushka than with Kat.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 9:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Copying over my ideas from the other comment thread:
Two I’ve thought of: Ranbir instead of Aamir in Raja Hindustani – just think Ranbir and Karishma could be a cool combination. Nothing against Aamir, it’s not about fixing a problem with the movie. That may actually be one of my favorite Aamir performances. But it’s such a great role, and Karisma is such a fun partner, it’s tempting to imagine what another actor could do with it. And puppy love + violent outbursts plays to Ranbir’s strengths.
And I know you don’t agree, but I kept thinking what it would be like to replace Gayatri in Swades with Sai Pallavi. I feel like Sai could pull of the bookishness and high principles, but with more joy and sincere love for the villagers. And she’s really good at emoting the special spark you need to believe in love at first sight. It’s a meatier role than heroines usually get. She’s an orphan, she’s a teacher and community leader, she has a teasing sibling vibe with SRK that matures into mutual admiration and romance. What would Sai do with a role like that?
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So long as we are throwing in southern actresses, what do you think about Anushka Shetty in Gayatri’s role in Swades? In a lot of ways it’s the same as her role in B2, just present day.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 1:24 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Huh. I don’t know. Anushka’s so powerful, I might have trouble believing she couldn’t just solve all the village problems herself.
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One question that occurred to me after the fact: Swades is set in UP, right? Would the plot still work if you transferred it to the South for Sai?
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Generally speaking, I think UP is the least developed state, and most of the Southern states are pretty well developed (Woo! COMMUNISM!!!!), so it would be less likely to find a village like that. But there are underdeveloped villages everywhere, there could certainly be one in the south that has lazy leaders and just kind of slides back in time.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 7:21 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love SaiPallavi like crazy but she may be a little too young for SRK.Sai has played in a mother in one of her Tamil movies so I can buy her as a matured,strong woman,But then we would have to replace SRK and I cant do that.And Gayatri Joshi in this was so good.If there was a south remake of Swadesh,then maybe Sai and Rana Daggubati.Oh,and there are plenty of villages in Andhra and Tamil Nadu that could use with a few NASA scientists to light a bulb.
Seeing your Sai Pallavi love,I will highly recommend the malayalam movie Athiran(if and when it comes to any streaming service).She is sooooooooooooooo good in this.She is an autistic girl with barely any dialogues yet sooo good with no over the top ‘performance’.Plus she does some cool kick ass martial arts.I dont think there is anything Sai cant do.She is the complete package.
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What if we moved her back in time? So she is 27 and Shahrukh is only 39?
On Sat, May 25, 2019 at 3:06 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Maybe with high reservations but my bigger problem is that without Swadesh, I can’t watch Gayatri Joshi ever. That was one good casting & one promising actor who is forever that one character only. I can’t replace her, even with my favorite.
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Yeah, that’s a rare thing. I was thinking I could do a theme post, but I really can’t because it is so rare for a promising actor or actress to do only one movie and make such an impact. The closest I can come is Suchitra Sen in Devdas, but she was in a couple other Hindi movies too and tons of Bengali movies.
On Sat, May 25, 2019 at 8:30 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Bhagyasree from Maine Pyar Kiya-just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many like Bhumika Chawla,Gracy Singh(Ashutosh Gowariker’s heroines never make it far,do they?) who had a great debut but kind of fizzled out after 1-2 movies. Suchitra Krishnamurty from Kabhi Han,Kabhi Na is another one though not as impressive as Gayatri.
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Yes, but at least they all had a few more movies before they went away. Gayatri was a true one hit wonder.
On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:28 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Have you ever read The Feminine Mystique? It’s the brewing end of the post-war conservative wave that makes everything insane in the early 60s. Also, populist Freudian nonsense.
Were any of them interesting? I’ve only watched niche and genre stuff from the 60s.
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They are all interesting, if you are okay with that weird sex stuff. And they all have amazing set designs and theme songs and costumes. Glass-Bottomed Boat was probably the one I liked best from last night, Doris Day plays a widow, so the sex stuff is a lot less creepy and virginal. And the hero is a scientist, so the gadgets and set design for his house are AMAZING. Weirdest one is probably a Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward movie, A New Kind of Love. Joanne is virginal and dowdy, Paul Newman is a bad boy playboy reporter, Joanne gets a bad extreme makeover and Paul meets her and thinks she is a hooker and asks to interview her, Joanne goes over the top pretending to be an experienced prostitute, he falls in love her but she is worried he doesn’t “really” love her, and so on.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 2:31 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It really depends on the movie if I can roll with the weird sex stuff. I like That Touch of Mink but hate Pillow Talk. Shame the Paul Newman one is so weird, because Paul Newman.
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At least the Paul Newman one has a nice ending, if I am remembering correctly he finds out the truth well before the end and is just waiting for her to come clean because he loves her already.
Pillow Talk is just creepy!!!! CREEPY CREEPY!!!! I thought I would be okay watching it as an adult, but it is still creepy. However, the other Doris-Rock movies aren’t bad, have you seen Lover Come Back? It’s Pillow Talk, but more farce and less depressing. Just that slightly over the top touch that makes it silly.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 3:05 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The Paul Newman one sounds kind of… good? I’m sure it’s not and I’m just convincing myself because of Paul Newman.
Isn’t Pillow Talk the CREEPIEST? I don’t understand people who like it. Maybe it’s Rock Hudson.
I haven’t seen that I don’t think! Interesting suggestions, I’ll work through them.
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Pillow Talk turned me and my sister off 60s films for years! We loved the classic 30s-40s screwballs, even a little into the 50s, and then somehow we heard we should watch Pillow Talk because it was the same thing, and it’s not AT ALL. But Lover Come Back is like Pillowtalk, only actually funny.
I kind of want to watch the Paul Newman movie now too! I haven’t seen it in years, maybe it isn’t as mad as I remember. And Edith Head got an Oscar for the costumes, so it can’t be all bad.
On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 1:33 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I tried to think of this challenge in terms of Hindi movies, but my brain just went to swapping in Hindi movie stars for Hollywood actors I loved from the 30s-60s. So, Shah Rukh for Bogart in any of the Philip Marlowe movies, Casablanca, and The African Queen. Rani for Lauren Bacall, Madhuri for Ingrid Bergman, and Kajol for Katharine Hepburn. Starting from Kajol as Katharine Hepburn, I’d love to see Shah Rukh in any Spencer Tracey role opposite Kajol as Kate.
I’m stumped by who would make a great Cary Grant in either his Hitchcock roles or his screwball comedies. Arjun Rampal has the looks and can do suave and menacing, but one also needs comedy chops for Hitchcock as well as, obviously, the comedies. Ayushmann can do suave, comedy, and menacing, but does he have the looks? Could Ranveer do Cary Grant or is he just too Ranveer-y?
And, I’d love to see Irrfan do any Jimmy Stewart role, ever, but especially Anatomy of a Murder. Now that I think of it, Anatomy of a Murder would make an awesome Hindi movie!
I’d love to hear what people think of these substitutions, especially actors and actresses from other industries that I don’t know as well. 🙂
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This isn’t from anything you brought up, but you inspired the thought that Ayushmann Khurrana is really the perfect Jimmy Stewart substitute. Charming and pleasant, but ultimately kind of “every man” feeling. Imagine him as the lead in one of the Hitchcock-Stewart films, like The Man Who Knew Too Much or Rear Window. Anudhan essentially already is a Hitchcock film.
I almost think Aamir Khan might be better for Cary Grant than even Shahrukh. I can definitely imagine him being charming and overly confident in North By Northwest. Notorious would be a bit trickier. Maybe Ajay Devgan for that one? He has the kind of solid surety about himself that the role requires.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 2:46 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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SRK could do Rear Window while recuperating from whatever operation he has next to fix whatever he has currently busted!
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Good point! And it would be an easy shoot thanks to green screen technology, just shoot all the apartment scenes with a green screen over the window in like 3 weeks, and then make the rest of the cast act out the outside of the apartment events and add them in later.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 3:31 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love you, Margaret, but your response made me wonder if I was writing in coherent sentences. 🙂
I think Shah Rukh would be a lousy Cary Grant but a great Bogart or Tracy. I think Irrfan would be a great Jimmy Stewart. I think Arjun R, Ayushmann, and Ranveer could potentially be Cary Grant-esque, but each is missing something in the performances that I’ve seen so far. He was such a total package!
Ayushmann as Jimmy Stewart. Hmmm. Maybe Rajkumar–he looks more everyday to me and has more gravitas. But neither until they are a little older!
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Oh, that was me partly responding to myself. Sorry! I’ve previously said in posts that I think of Shahrukh and Cary Grant as identical. But you made me rethink that.
I think Aamir could do old Cary Grant, the North By Northwest one, the one who is charming and confident but kind of over the hill a little bit. But I can’t think of anyone who can do young Cary Grant. I had a moment of thinking of Ranveer, but I am not sure is that is right.
However I want to go on record as saying that I think Ayushmann is closer to Jimmy Stewart than Irrfan is!
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 4:44 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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No, that’s fine. I was just confused. Hmmm, Shah Rukh also makes me think of Jack Lemmon. To me he’s too impish and clever to be Cary Grant like.
Aamir would be a good Cary Grant, yes. Could Raja Hindustani era Aamir do, say, Bringing Up Baby or The Philadelphia story? Through Ranveer as Cary and Deepika as Kate could be fun in that, with Ayushmann as Jimmy Stewart?
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Ranbir as Cary would be the appropriate wink-wink nudge-nudge casting in Philadelphia Story, but I don’t think he would actually be good at it. I could maybe see Shahid in Philadelphia Story only, Cary has that kind of melancholy and maturity in that which Shahid could do well. Shahid, Kareena, Ayushman? I think Kareena could do brittle and high class but with a broken heart really well.
I think baby-faced Shahrukh might be my vote for Bringing Up Baby, just because of the vibe he had with Urmila in Chamatkar, very befuddled professor feeling.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 4:53 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ooh, Shahid of the last 10 years could do Cary, yes. And Kareena would be great casting.
I could see Shah Rukh and Juhi doing Bringing up Baby.
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Yes! But it would have to be young Shahrukh and Juhi, present day Shahrukh and Juhi just feel too confident in themselves.
Now that I think about it, Aamir has already played Cary Grant twice, in Mann-An Affair to Remember and Hum Hain Rahe Pyar Ki-Houseboat. While Shahrukh has played him once, in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani-His Girl Friday.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 8:38 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Agreed. Now I might have to watch Mann.
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It’s not….good. Picture the 90s. And then add on more 90s. that’s Mann.
None of this is actually a reason not to watch it!!!! Just be prepared for changes like, instead of being crippled, she is hit by a car and her feet are completely cut off. Leading to one of my favorite lines for the adorable little orphans “But you can’t be Cinderella, you have no feet!”
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 8:53 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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And of course Aamir had already played Carry Grant at least once, in Mann!
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Hi Margaret! Have you seen this: https://www.revolvy.com/page/Mental-Hai-Kya? Interesting if its true!! Seems very like the quiet favors that SRK does for friends..
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I heard a rumor about it. I don’t know if I believe it, but it is certainly possible. The shoot was in London, which would be convenient, and I think Shahrukh has a decent relationship with Ekta.
On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 4:47 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Apropos of nothing, I saw the Aladdin trailer attached to Endgame. My first thought was, “this looks very, very Bollwood!”. My second thought was, “Bollywood exoticises Arabia, so this is like Disney exoticizing Hindi movies’ exotizing of the the Arabian peninsula.” What do folks here think? Does this belong more on Monday morning than here?
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Works for me here.
Rosie Thomas in her book on the early “stunt” films, and some of the other stuff I read about the mixing of cultures points to how the Arab cultural world and the Indian have always mixed together. Laila-Majnu traveled between the two, and when the early films were made, or even the Parsi theater before that, it was heavily influenced by the “Thousand and One Nights” books that were translated and cheaply available through out India. So you can’t really neatly divide it, literally the first Indian film (“Alam Ara”) was based on a story from A Thousand and One Nights, it’s been there since the beginning. And at the same time, the very early Indian films traveled to the Arab countries and influenced how they acted and behaved.
What’s weird is when Hollywood gets involved. So they took this mish-mash of two cultures that have been in conversation with each other for hundreds of years and kind of threw it up onscreen without thinking through “what is ‘Bollywood’, what is Arab, and what is Disney?”
Which is the same thing Indian film does all the time, like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’s Italy-Hungary thing. Yes, Italy and Hungary have related histories and many things in common, but you should probably have some idea of which is which.
On Thu, May 23, 2019 at 3:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Shoot, not “Alam Ara”, that was the first sound film. That other one whose name I am forgetting but I mention it in my book.
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Oh yes, there is this one moment in the trailer when it looks like Bollywood movie and first I thought: Oh I must watch it, but later I was thinking that probably I won’t like it, because it will be too Disney, too western and fake.
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I let myself be convinced to take the kids to see it with friends on Sunday and I’m having regrets before even going. I don’t even know why, aside from having a nostalgic attachment to the animated version. Maybe it just feels like there are so many ways it can go wrong, I’m cringing in ten different ways before I even get there.
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Take them all to Student of the Year 2 instead! It also has Will Smith! And there’s so much English, they will hardly need subtitles.
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Aladdin was about what I expected. Genuinely would have been better made in India – better acting, better use of the songs, better feel for the story. They changed the ending slightly and added a girl anthem for Jasmine to make her character stronger, it felt a bit like they were trying to inject a shot of Frozen.
They weren’t playing SOTY2 – not that I could have switched, too many people involved – just Narendra Modi and De De Pyaar De. I’m keeping watch for Maula Jatt.
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Bharat might be pretty good too. I’ll let you know after I watch it in a week and a half!
On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 9:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Current gossip brewing in BW. Ananya Pandey has landed into a Mean Girls kind of controversy.
A very brief summary – Ananya and her mother claimed she got into USC and deferred her admission. Some classmates of her exposed her as a liar and said she didn’t even apply to any college. This made it into the media and Ananya responded that they’re just jealous of her. This didn’t sit well with the original classmates so they doubled down on what they were saying. Now comes the extreme stupidity: Ananya started threatening them (using her fake instagram account) along with her group of friends, accused them of running of a fan club of Aryan Khan and gloating that she has him for real. (????!!!) This made the fight bigger and they accused Ananya of social climbing, exposed her dating history, claimed Ananya’s lifestyle is funded by SRK, and so on. Ananya got so scared by the exposure that she accidentally used her real verified instagram account to apologize and asked the delete what they had put up about her and she and her friends would also not harass them.
But this had already been seen by other people and the screenshots got captured and leaked. Ananya deleted her fake account she was using to do all this.
After that some strange PR clean-up happened. Times of India is releasing articles that the internet is bullying Ananya but she has emerged triumphant.
https://twitter.com/adreamer393/status/1131036996065824769 (All the tea is here complete with screenshots and even Ananya’s apology after the disaster)
These industry kids really should go to college. They are so dumb. Imagine doing all this and then accidentally owning up to it with your verified account. Unbelievable.
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Everyone should go to college! It’s like training wheels for adulthood. If you throw teenage girls out into the real world, they will just act like teenage girls. But in the real world, where what they do counts.
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LOL I feel a petty satisfaction, because I didn’t like this girl from day 1 and now I have reasons to dislike her more.
And it’s been a while since I read an article as bad as this one from Times of India. Funny they didn’t even deny the rumors, just focused on her being in a movie.
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