Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Watching and Thinking and Listening to This Week?

Happy Wednesday! I am so glad I get a 3 day weekend this week, I just feel really draggy somehow and tired of work. Well, not “somehow”, my boss is off this week and last week and I have been picking up the slack. Blech.

I’ll start!

Reading: Hrithik’s latest teeny-tiny interview. We talked about it a little bit yesterday and all agreed that he speaks in a series of inspirational poster mantras. But I at least find it kind of endearing. Poor guy just isn’t a deep or original or abstract thinker, but he clings to these tidy little philosophies and faithfully repeats them. At least they are nice harmless nothings (“learn from failure” “keep trying to be a better human”). Oh, and he also talks about how he is excited because War is going to be like Bang Bang and Dhoom 2 (yaaaay!). Here’s the interview: https://www.filmfare.com/news/bollywood/hrithik-roshan-opens-up-on-success-sussanne-khan-and-super-30_-35783-2.html

Watching: In between watching a whole bunch of depressing female lead films from India, I am on my rewatch of Big Little Lies, fastforwarding and just watching the bits I like. And you know, I like the second season better! It’s just happier and more rewatchable.

Thinking: I used to like it when my boss was gone, the office was all loose and fun. And it’s still loose and fun, my co-workers built sheet forts and we ordered pizza for lunch yesterday. But oh my gosh I do not like being where the buck stops! Angry clients, co-workers with questions, suddenly it’s all on me. Blech.

Listening: I put together a “only pump up and inspiring” play list for the horrible work week. So there’s been a lot of “Dhivara”.

Now, VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: For opening night of Saaho tomorrow, what do I wear?

Sexy Black Dress for Prabhas

Pretty Floral Dress for Family Audience

Secretly Super Flattering Jeans so I Don’t Look Like I Am Trying So Hard But Still Look Great

75 thoughts on “Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Watching and Thinking and Listening to This Week?

  1. Jeans! I feel like Prabhas would want you to be comfortable, plus he needs to see an example of what flattering casual wear looks like.

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    • Ha! Good point. Although actually the other two options are more comfortable than the jeans.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 6:40 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  2. I vote for black dress – it is a special evening, we have waited for so long to see Prabhas again. you will feel special and also comfortable.

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    • Good points, all around. And in the slight chance that Prabhas chooses my theater to visit to check out the audience response, I would be prepared.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 6:47 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  3. After watching only bad movies last week I decided I need something good and I tried Super Deluxe. 1 week later I’m still only in the middle. IT’S SO BORING AND SO LONG! I lost count how many times I tried and I can’t anymore, because only by thinking about finishing it I feel like crying. So I surrender, will read how it finish here on you blog. I also decided I won’t finish Ishq (malayalam one) because it’s too nerve wracking for me.

    The only movie I finished was Game Over and I hated it. Too violent and creepy. Almost only female cast, nice messages like: fight like a woman! Never give up! And then, in the end some sick man decides to stalk and kill you, and you can do nothing. Depressing.
    I need some nice, colorful, not ambitious, cute movie asap now to recover. Tum Bin 2 or Half-girlfriend kind of film. I’m not made for good movies.

    Reading:
    I found Anna M. Vetticad’s review of Batla house very interesting:

    http://annavetticadgoes2themovies.blogspot.com/2019/08/review-722-batla-house.html

    Listening: Tamil mashups. Really tamil and malayalam are so beautiful and melodic. I can’t stop listening.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Pretty floral dress.If Prabhas comes by,it wont seem like you were making too much an effort for him,yet you will look pretty.Did you find someone to go with?
    I watched Article 15 and SOTY2 and to my own surprise was bored by the former and kind of liked the latter.I am also watching Killing Eve and just about finished season 1.While it is very different in the characterizations and setup,I am having a hard time going back to it which was the same trouble I had with Fleabag too.The writing is great and its wonderful to watch content where women have a voice and take center-stage.But the execution of both these series and Article 15 is not racy or engaging enough for me and i end up checking the phone.Article 15 in particular was too bland in its execution.SOTY2 kinda surprised me in being engaging if you buy into the whole fancy world of super rich kids,school where no studying happens and Tiger as a school boy.Wish it had more engaging actors than Tiger and Ananya.They both are so bland.Ananya had no control over any of her bodily or facial muscles.I can only imagine what somone like Radhika Madan or Sanya Malhotra would have done with Ananya’s character.They both can also pull off the dancing with more grace.Oh I also watched a Tamil movie called Aadai which is about a woman(Amala Paul) waking up alone in a building without a shred of cloth on her.I liked it enough to finish it.They have shot it very creatively in that the I kept trying to see if I can catch a glimpse of some frontal nudity,but really couldnt.
    Reading few articles written by different journalists on Fahadh Faazil’s eyes and I agree whole heartedly.They are his most alluring features alongside the voice.
    https://www.filmcompanion.in/how-fahadh-faasil-acts-with-his-eyes-kumbalangi-nights-22fk-thondimuthalum-maheshinte-pradhikaram/
    http://fullpicture.in/regular-detail/211/a-dreamy-theatre-thr.html

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    • Excellent points about the floral dress. It would also say “I am a nice family type girl that you can take home to your mother” instead of “I am sexy and westernized and dangerous”.

      Interesting about Article 15. I saw it in theaters and it was a hard watch. It also definitely dragged at a slow pace, which I think maybe was on purpose? They wanted us to feel the frustration of the way the police were treating this case so casually versus how desperate it was for the people who cared about the girls. Anyway, if I hadn’t been watching it in a movie theater, I might have been tempted to give up and stop watching.

      So glad you enjoyed SOTY2! It’s just a fun movie, isn’t it? And it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 8:33 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • You know that they chose(if they actually did)to make this as a dull movie where the outsider saviour triumphs(the missing third girl is only to give him a winning moment in the climax rt?)and the actual victim (the dalit leader) dies is why I cant take this movie seriously. It all feels like those people are doomed to die but you the upper caste, educated ppl shd feel good that u even attempted to do something for them. Also Ayushman was terrible in this move. Moving the epiglottis up and down and looking all solemn and stern seems to be his idea kd realistic acting.If you watch Pariyerum Perumal,you will see that the issues of casteism can be told in a more impactful,engrossing way without making it like a moral science lesson.

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    • How far did you get in Fleabag? The first three episodes or do I was kind of watching it out of a sense of obligation, it felt like a Brit take on Girls with fewer characters. But the the second half of the first season hooked me, and the second season went in totally unexpected directions and now I’m totally into it and get why people kept recommending it to me.

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      • Okay,I had given up after first two episodes,thinking this is yet another single,messed up girl rant series.I will give it a try again now that you mentioned it would get interesting.

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  5. I don’t know if it was purposeful for Article 15 to be told that way. Having watched Pariyerum Perumal which deals with the same subject,I know it is possible to tell such stories in a more engaging way. Also this movie is intended to make the upper caste,previlaged outsider pat himself for being against casteism. The search for the missing third girl is only to give him that winner’s ending. The stand-in for the oppressed-the Dalit leader-is killed off cos.But we should feel good at the end of the movie that Ayushman could find the girl.Also Ayushman was terrible in this. Moving the epiglottis up and down and looking solemn seems to be his idea of realistic acting. I’m beginning to dislike Ayushman,he feels the same in every movie.

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  6. Also, you should watch Game Over, Posham Pa and Lipstick Under My Burkha. The first is mind-shaking! The secong is sinister and gory with a lot if murders and the third, well, I liked the fact that it was realistic!

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  7. Back from another travel trip, this time to Ethiopia, with a terrible cold. I think work may actually be trying to kill me.

    I took a sick day yesterday and went to see Blinded By the Light, in part because you liked it so much. I enjoyed it but found it a bit slow and repetetive. I’ll comment more on your review.

    On the trip I watched comfort food movies: Chalte Chalte, Koode, and 96. These are all only comfort food movies on re-watch, once you know how they end. Basically, soft, dreamy, and romantic movies.

    Since coming home I watched Super Deluxe and Virus. Virus was fun but with so. much. plot. I was quite worried how they’d handle the transgender character in Super Deluxe, but Shilpa was lovely and had a growth arc. I wish they hadn’t had the backstory of her participating in human trafficking though–without some concrete way that she was going to try to make up for it besides being a loving parent (and partner?) again.

    Angie, I was super-bored by the pornsick boys and their storylines–just looked at my phone during those parts.

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  8. I’m currently reading Asimov’s Foundation series. It’s brilliant SF and amazing what he correctly predicted over 70 years ago.

    I’m watching exclusively SRK stuff, YouTube videos and dvd movies that I bought or from Netflix. Netflix Germany should be ashamed for their anorexic SRK catalogue. Booo!

    Also on an SRK interview spree. I am in love with the Barely Speaking with Arnub and AIB Podcast interviews. Going to be looking at more.

    Thinking: I’m trying to tone down the amount of thinking I do. It’d be refreshing because it sucks and doesn’t do anything worthwhile.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, stop thinking!

      And to help you, let me steer you towards the (current) best long form looks at Shahrukh, the two BBC documentaries on him. They are terribly out of date now, but the amount of access and depth they have is unprecedented. We might get something similar at some point from Netflix, Shahrukh did a two hour interview with Letterman, and Letterman visited his house and stuff, presumably there will be a special on him released through Netflix and produced by Letterman but no word on when that will release. Anyway, youtube links!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rJKgR12pGY

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXYgzB0h7S0

      And if you feel like reading, Anupama Chopra’s book on Shahrukh is the absolute best available, she is a wonderful writer and researcher and had loads of access to him.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 11:21 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • Oh, I saw an interview with her interviewing SRK and Alia Bhatt (sp?) for Dear Zindagi. I loved that interview as well.

        Thanks for those links. Will watch them now.

        Als thanks for the book recommendation. Also need to purchase your book. So much to do!

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        • Cliff Notes on Anupama: She has a masters in journalism and was one of the first serious film reporters in India. She wrote three amazing books, one on Sholay, one on DDLJ, and one on Shahrukh. And then she was offered funding to start a film review website and kind of lost her mind. At least, that’s what most of us here think. Some of her interviews are great, some of them are kind of lame, and most of her reviews are really infuriating and thoughtless. Personally I think she is just over-extended.

          For example, she really hated Jab Harry Met Sejal because nothing happened, Shahrukh “slut shames” Anushka, and it isn’t believable that two people can sleep together without having sex. You see what I mean? Thoughtless. She only looked at the surface of the film and missed SO MUCH.

          On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 11:28 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  9. I’m back from Tokyo and omg it was amazing! My 12-year-old son was in tears at the end because he didn’t want to leave. If you like orderly and clean places with clear rules for behavior, Tokyo will be your jam. I was surprised by how easy it was to get around and shop. The only bad thing was the insanely hot and humid weather but we made up for it with lots of green tea ice cream. I also didn’t get to try as much new food as I wanted because of travel related tummy troubles (bah) and my son not being an adventurous eater. But I fell in love with the yummy stuffed rice balls you can get in every supermarket and convenience store.

    I finally finished watching Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander on the plane and it was good but wow Aamir was such a jerk that I didn’t feel great about his triumph at the end. I know there’s a tradition in Indian culture of younger brothers taking up the mantle for older brothers but I was so mad that Aamir won the race instead of his bro. And the girlfriend was way too awesome to end up with him.

    I tried Dear Zindagi on the return flight but I had trouble getting into it. Alia comes across as a spoiled brat at the beginning. I’ll see if I can power through to the end just to say I finished it.

    I watched Khoobsurat last night and it reminded me that Sonam can be delightful in the right part. Such a cute, happy movie!

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    • Keep watching DZ. I won’t guarantee you will like it, but it is definitely a movie that peels away more and more layers of a character until your initial impression completely changes.

      I barely remember Jo Jeeta, but I do remember that the romance feels underserved. Have you seen Breaking Away? I think the story works better there without the older brother and the romance, keeping it just the rich girl.

      And Khoobsurat is delightful indeed! The ending is rushed and strange, but the rest of it is perfection.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 12:34 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  10. I vote for flattering jeans. Always best to be comfortable.

    I’m in the US right now for summer holidays and I’ve mostly been reading and trying to get over jet lag. I have watched a few relevant things. The night before I left was Veere di Wedding which I liked entirely except for several unnecessary references to Shikha’s weight. On the flight over I saw Stree which was fun right up until the ending OH MY GOD WHAT DOES IT MEAN??? So, they made a huge big deal about the braid being the source of her power, so Shraddha has the power now because she fulfilled her purpose? But how is the Stree going to protect the town if she doesn’t have power? I refuse to believe Shraddha was the Stree, that makes no sense. Then I took advantage of US Netflix by watching Masters. I was jet lagging really badly and I kept falling asleep and I probably missed quite a bit of the plot. But Prithviraj in a uniform, yay!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank goodness Stree already has a sequel greenlit. But that was a big risk, giving it the strange ending before they knew they would have a sequel! And we still don’t know when that sequel will be coming.

      If you are back in the US, Made in Heaven! You can finish it with good subtitles! Not to be a nag or anything, but I worry about you so much struggling along in Japan.

      I haven’t seen Masters, but I have to admit I keep clicking on it only because Prithvi has the uniform in the shot they use for the menu image.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 12:55 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • Masters is a guilty pleasure movie for me. First, there is this amazing, possibly homo-erotic song which even pays homage to Amitabh and Dharmendra in Sholay:

      Then, there is Prithviraj in a uniform. Then, one of the minor characters in the movie is named Ashley, which is my name, so I get to hear Prithvi say it. 🙂

      Otherwise it’s a satisfying but not great revenge flick–kind of a made-for-TV movie level of quality.

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      • Okay, you just got me to watch the song, I have to say, it’s not as homoerotic as it could be if they really tried. But it’s pretty good for a starting effort. And now I desperately want to see a sincerely completely all the way homoerotic song with Prithvi. The passionate embracing shirtless and longing gazes kind of thing.

        Liked by 1 person

          • I feel like this song probably already exists somewhere, and I just don’t know about it because I haven’t watched enough Prithvi movies. A quest!

            On Thu, Aug 29, 2019 at 12:33 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • City of God is my absolute favorite Prithvi movie/Malayalam film. And there is an interesting homoerotic element to it between Prithvi and the guy he works for, nice bonus. And otherwise, EVERYTHING IS GOOD. Prithvi is just amazing in everything. Oh, Koode is also wonderful if you can find it.

            On Thu, Aug 29, 2019 at 12:43 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  11. My votes on jeans!

    Currently been obsessing over Chinese Historical Drama’s or specifically Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace in Amazon Prime Video. It took me by surprise how good it is (I’m on episode 28 out of 87). It’s long and might seem that it drags at times, but the writing is super good and all the female characters are complex and are such good characters (based on real people) wether they be good or bad. Also, the court attire is so beautiful! The plotting is the best though, such detail put in to every little thing, but then every little thing matters in such a place.

    Also watched SOTY2 and I still enjoy it. Like it better than the first one. I am a sucker for a happy time and the first one didn’t have so much of it for me.

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    • See, I saw SOTY2 in theaters and really liked it and gave it a good review, and everyone else gave it a terrible review. I am so glad folks are watching it streaming and liking it!

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  12. Jeans. They seem more action-y.

    Watched: Mohabbatein, kind of reluctantly. It wasn’t as terrible as I expected, but it’s also really not my kind of story or character. Mostly I wanted to be able to understand the references. Now I get why it’s the stand-in for the overblown romance side of SRK’s career, it has all the tropes, plus enough flaws that it’s easy to make fun of. To switch things up, watched Padi Padi Leche Manasu. Sai is my girl crush, she always puts me in a good mood. The ending got too intense, but I liked it up to that point. I had doubts about whether Shawarnand was up to the role in the beginning but he won me over. Oh, and I watched Ishqiya over the weekend with my husband, that was great. Loved that whole cast, up to and including the old lady with the torch. The plot was just the right amount of twisty. The love triangle was the only part that I could have done with less of, but they made good use of it.

    Thinking: counting down one more work day until a very long weekend at the beach. Then the kids start school and suddenly summer is over and we’re back to routine.

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    • Congrats on having accomplished Mohabbatein! I think I have only managed to watch it straight through one time. It’s just sooooooooo slooooooow. On the other hand, there are a lot of really great little scenes that you can only appreciate in context. So it’s worth having seen it once, at least for me.

      I like your jeans reasoning 🙂 Just in case Prabhas reaches through the screen and pulls me in, I will be dressed correctly.

      On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 6:50 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  13. I promised myself: No more punjabi movies! But I just saw a beautiful trailer and must share:

    I admit I have a girl crush on Sargun Mehta, she is beautiful and talented, and here also the story looks so nice. A girl is married to a guy she doesn’t know and doesn’t like in the beginning but later they talk and get close and romantic and he turns out to be a great husband who support his wife’s dreams. My kind of story.

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  14. Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota – oh my gosh, so much fun. Love the characters, great fight scenes, that sideways self aware humor but done really well. I would like more like this. Is Bhavesh Joshi anything like this, or does it take itself more seriously?

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  15. The trailer to Enai Noki Paayum Thota is finally out and the movie is supposed to come out next weekend. This is a Gautham Menon movie starring Dhanush that was shot way back in 2016 but it hasn’t come out yet because Gautham Menon was having some sort of financial problems. I was really hyped for this movie back when they announced it and based on the trailer, it doesn’t look bad even though it was shot years ago. What do you think?

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    • Yeah, what is up with Gautham Menon???? Isn’t there supposed to be a Vikram movie too?

      Anyway, I will be there next weekend come what may! Very excited for any Gautham Menon film, and also very aware that his movies somehow never seem to come to streaming so seeing it in theaters may be my last chance.

      On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 2:23 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • He’s been having financial and production problems for a while now. I think Yennai Arindhaal is the last movie of his that release with no problems. I remember reading around that time that he was gonna produce all his movies by himself from that point because he felt that outside producers were restricting him or something like that. But every single movie that he’s made or produced since has had some kind of delay or issue. I think after a while, the common denominator is Gautham Menon himself. This is just my speculation but I think he’s just hard to work with and his movies aren’t the types of blockbusters that would give other directors the type of leeway that he wants.

        Both Enai Noki Paayum Thota and Dhruva Natchathiram (the Vikram movie) were supposed to come out in 2017 but ENPT is coming out now and Dhruva Natchathiram isn’t even finished shooting yet as far as I know.

        Dhruva Natchathiram actually has a pretty interesting story. It was supposed to be made with Suriya but Gautham Menon kept delaying the start of filming to tinker with the script and Suriya moved on to another movie which led to Gautham Menon getting upset with him. I think they made up now but there was a point in time after this where Suriya and Gautham Menon were feuding. Then he took Dhruva Natchathiram to multiple actors from Jayam Ravi to Rajinikanth until Vikram agreed to do the film.

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        • Shoot, I was really excited about the Vikram movie, more than the Dhanush one. I’ll still see the Dhanush one, but I wish it was the Vikram one. If that makes sense.

          On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 10:50 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • Yeah, I sorta agree with you. Even though I like Dhanush better, the trailers to the Vikram movie seemed more interesting.

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