Happy Saturday! I have such a frustrating weekend, there are two movies in theaters that I just will not be able to watch. Grrr!
First, by popular demand, Shahrukh’s hair! This is not the kind of content I would normally post because it is fan images and gossip type stuff, but you all have been talking about it in the comments and I am the only one with the technical tools to post the images, so I will post them for you and then you can all see what you are discussing.
Now, something I care about desperately, how can I get Albie Dog to stop waking me up on weekends? This is what greeted me this morning, he kept running in and showing me different toys and then staring at me.
I think the solution might be to close my bedroom door so he can’t get in. But that would be so sad!
Now, scheduling! I keep looking at the theater schedules and then my schedule and I cannot make them work. Today I have a church meeting mid-afternoon, which means I can’t do the first thing in the morning show or the afternoon show. I could still do the evening shows, but I have to teach Sunday school tomorrow morning so I shouldn’t stay up that late, plus I still haven’t prepared my lesson plan. Tomorrow I can’t do the early show because of Sunday School, and I can’t do the afternoon or evening show because my parents are coming over for dinner.
All of this would be easier if the theaters weren’t so freakin’ far away, but I also have to add on 45 minutes to an hour each way to get there, meaning if I do the 8pm show (for instance), I would get home around midnight. And if I want to try for an afternoon show, it means I’ll be gone about 1 to 5pm.
Anyway, that’s why I’m probably not going to be reviewing Dream Girl. Sorry Ayushmann!
Okay, now you all can talk about Shahrukh’s hair some more, and how cute Albie Dog is, and how I should try to see the new Nivin movie instead of the new Ayushmann movie.
dontcallitbollywood 
I don’t see a wig or hair piece. I see discoloring, I see gel in his hair which shows more skin and doesn’t make it look as full as it does when he keeps it naturally.
Anyway, I wish everyone a great weekend.
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You too! It’s a lovely day here, I’ve got that church meeting that kills the middle of the day, but maybe I can take a walk in the park or something before or after?
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 8:55 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Taking a walk in the park sounds great. I dread people but sometimes you have to face them. Your cute dog would love that walk in the park, I’m sure!
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Closing the bedroom door could be an option…if (IF) Albie won’t decide to wake you up by scratching (at) the door ;).
This regular work you do for church on Sunday…is it something you could free yourself from (permanently)???
I think, Nitin is as good as Ayushman (as a choice to watch a movie) 😉
ShahRukh’s hair…something special about??? Personally I like it the floppy way (he himself, too…obviously) and otherwise…certainly no wig because one of his repeated gestures is running his fingers through his hair 😀
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I’ve been teaching Sunday school for 6 years now, and I love it. Depending on how many other teachers there are, sometimes I am teaching every single Sunday, sometimes just once a month. I also used to be on two committees but, thank goodness, I freed myself of them last year. This weekend is a bit of an anomaly because there is the teachers start of the year meeting today, and I am teaching tomorrow. But otherwise, I should have my weekends mostly free (yaaaay!).
Albie would definitely scratch at the door. Oh Albie! He just wants to have someone to play with him.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 9:43 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Well, get a second dog 😀
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This is a genius solution! And then when that dog wants someone to play with, I can get a third dog. And just keep going endlessly.
Alternatively, I can wait until my nephew is a little older and unite him and Albie and then all of us can sleep in while they entertain each other.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 10:04 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am very much on board with this second plan.
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This is a question for Margaret(?) or anyone else knowledgeable about Indian films…
I do not wish to start a discussion on religion at all, I’m merely curious if anyone knows the reasons as to why there’s quite a bit of Christian symbolism present in some movies. I am thinking of Dilwale, Chaahat, and Jab Tak Hai Jaan, though there’s likely plenty more. There’s likely more but I’ve seen more depiction of Christian symbolism and iconography than, say, Islamic ones, even though the latter religion has a much higher representation (accounting for approx. 11% as opposed to 2.3%). As it’s been director’s week, is there any insight from directors / screenplay writers / playwrights have shared? Is it so as to appeal to the Western world more perhaps? Like I said, this is mere curiosity, I have zero qualms and respect all religions equally.
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This might partly be a perception issue. There is a fair amount of Muslim iconography, but it is specific to India so it might not be as visible if you don’t know what you are looking for? For instance, it is common in establishing shots or songs to show a famous local Masjid, or a traditional local Muslim prayer practice. It took me a long time to start to catch it all, and I know there is still more I am missing. At the very least, there are many many Muslim/Urdu hymns that you hear bits of in films, while you are unlikely to ever hear a Christian hymn. “Chaiyya Chaiyya” from Dil Se is Muslim, both in that it is based on a hymn and that the lyrics constantly reference Muslim practices.
There’s also an issue of offense. The Muslim community is an oppressed minority and are likely to object if they feel their practices are insulted. The Christian community is also oppressed, but not as much in the urban Hindi speaking areas, so it is safer to address them in Hindi films. Especially the Goa-Portuguese Christian community which is what you see in Dilwale. Goa is a strange little vacation area close to Bombay so there is a lot of cultural communication between the two, a lot of films set there or which have character from there. Because of how the Goa Christian community developed differently from other Christian communities, they are less oppressed and there is less prejudice against them.
And there is the issue of prejudice, it’s dangerous to make a movie too “Muslim” because you will invite protests from the right wing. Christian is “safer”.
All of this is regional though. Hindi film isn’t all of Indian film, or all of India. In the Malayalam industry, representing the Kerala region, Muslim and Christian characters and images are equal to if not more so than. In the Punjabi industry, you are unlikely to see any Christian characters.
The second chapter in my book goes into a lot of detail about all of this, if you have it.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 12:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you for the great insight! much appreciated! And yes, your book is on my list of what to buy next.
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Glad you liked it!
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 11:03 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’ve been thinking he’s been using a hairpiece for a while now, but I could swear that a few years back he wasn’t using one.
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I think he used something in Zero, partly as a way to help with the CGI. And he started wearing it in public when he was filming, but not always.
It’s not a full hair piece, if it is anything, just like extensions woven in over his forehead or something. I could believe that he just uses it when he doesn’t have time to fiddle with his hair. If he has gel and special brushes and fresh dye and all of that, then it still looks great in a very Dear Zindagi kind of way. But if he wears a hat or is on a plane or whatever, I could believe it is thin enough now that it just ends up looking icky and a piece is an easy way to avoid that.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 1:29 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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There’s no way he’s wearing a hair piece. He runs his fingers through his hair too often to be the case. During his Trinidad visit, you could see the gray roots showing through also because he probably hadn’t dyed it in a few days. To be honest, his hair looked terrible both styled and unstyled when he was there because neither his hair or make-up people were with him. He had probably done it himself and it looked like a hot mess.
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This goes back to my theory, it’s still his own hair but he has passed the age of “roll out of bed and do nothing and it looks great”.
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I think mostly we see him with his own hair but sometimes he wears a piece or weave to bulk up the hair I’ve noticed this since Zero. He does run his hands through his hair habitually but not when he’s wearing the piece. Frankly, it annoys me because he doesn’t need it. His hair may be thinner than it was in his youth but he still has a great head of hair. I’m not bothered by the grey roots. In India, almost everyone colours over the grey; it’s the norm for men and women and not a sign of vanity.
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docanitageorge, aren’t there pics to back your theory? Personally, I’m either too blind or too biaised to see anything like you tell.
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yes, but I can’t post them here. There are a lot of candids from the recent event (pics and videos) with his team in Trinidad on instagram where his hair looks to me like a hairpiece. Personally, I would rather not notice it as I am a huge fan!
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if you go to srk universe on instagram, you’ll see the pics of him partying with the Trinidad Knight Riders. I could be wrong, but I’ve seen tons of pics of him with long messy hair and in these, it looks different and decidedly thicker. My opinion anyway.
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Thanks for your reply, docanitageorge 🙂
It’s not that I won’t question you being a ShahRukh fan, dear whatever your observations are 🙂
At Trinidad, he had Pooja with him but neither Raaj Gupta (hair) nor Arun Indulkar (make-up)…so whatever mess his hair was, it was self-made 😉
What I know of ShahRukh (which is basically not much more than everybody could know), that he likes to be free in his movements and habits as much as possible. To those belong that he can run his fingers through his hair whenever he feels like doing it. Raaj may fluffy up his hair in certain events (apart from the styling) but ShahRukh himself – on his own – would just wet it while showering …and that is it…not a comb, not a brush, no styling except his fingers.
He has almost 54 years, so it would be natural that his front hair has thinned…but I doubt, that he feels the need to use a hairpiece or a wig to fake something when it isn’t for a movie. As an actor he would do whatever may be needed, as ShahRukh (even as entertaining employee of the megastar who may get styled and wear make-up and get photoshopped or filtered) he would like to keep it as genuine as possible for himself (just my thoughts 😉 ).
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hey, sorry, that I would question!!!!!!!
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What he does while filming is a fantasy so I guess he/ the makers do whatever it takes to create an illusion, be it dye, cgi, whatever. When he’s not filming he often wears a hat or beanie, especially when he’s travelling. I’ve always assumed that’s because it’s a mess or needs a touch up or something. He can’t be picture perfect all the time.
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Today, Germany was treated to not one but two SRK movies! Wooooooh! First one was Zero! Second one is Raees, and the latter is nearly done at 1:30am). Ah well, I won’t complain. I had seen most of Raees already and liked it lots, except for the terrible ending. The execution scene is too much for me and really gets me down. I mean, why did they have to do that? Oh, I really, really like the antagonist. The police officer is one fine actor. I would love to see this pairing again sometime. They make for a great dynamic. But that execution… I just can’t get over it. Justified or not, this is fiction and not an authentic account of true events—at least that’s my current assumption—and I didn’t want him to die. But yes, why not pull at my heartstrings and make me weep all the way to Zero.
Speaking of Zero… Okay, I fully understand I’m a new Indian cinema aficionado and SRK admirer and thus perhaps too excited about everything to be highly critical of someone else’s Art (has to be O. Wilde‘s version with a capital „A“)… but I genuinely enjoyed this movie. And I enjoyed it a lot, too, not just a little. I feel like I should have my head checked as it seems that the percentage of people who actually enjoyed the movie and made it known publicly are few and far between. I mostly chance upon highly negative bashing and—after having seen the film—am somewhat baffled as to why. His acting is great as usual, I liked Katrina Kaif‘s acting a lot better here than in JTHJ, I think Anushka did okay, though I fully understand that her role must have been the most complex and thus challenging of all. I missed a few minutes of the film so don’t know what her actual disease is. I was guessing it to be either MS or Cerebral Palsy or something similarly seriously that deeply impacts her muscles. I wonder if her character was inspired by Hawking? Whatever the case may be, I thoroughly liked it but will watch it again because I probably missed a lot of the nuances.
The only thing I found odd was the gun incident… That came out of nowhere and had me puzzled. Even upon looking back at the scene I still don’t quite understand it. You can’t just shoot at people and have no repercussions, surely. I mean, sure you can, this is a work of fiction, artistic license and so on but I’m trying to figure out how that computes. Maybe upon second viewing I will be able to make sense of it as I might have missed some important details leading up to that incident.
Overall, I’m glad I watched the movie and will happily watch it again very soon.
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Congrats! I am so glad you got to watch two SRK films!
For Raees, the detective actor is Nawazuddin Siddiqui. You have a good eye, he is a big deal. He’s not from Bombay, and he’s not from a very rich family. He got a scholarship to the Indian National School of Drama (one of the two best acting schools in the country). Then he came to Bombay and cooked and waited tables and took tiny bit roles for years, before he finally got noticed in an art film. He’s been climbing super fast since then. All of this also means his background is a lot more similar to Shahrukh than some of his other co-actors. They both grew up in struggling families, both from Delhi (well, Nawazuddin was from outside the city but went to school there), both have actual acting training before they fell into film work.
It’s semi-based on a true story, one of the most successful bootleggers in Gujurat who went on to politics. The funny thing is, in reality the guy lived. No one ever managed to take him down. The film opted for the lesson of “crime doesn’t pay” despite the reality that, well, it does! And the character they created in Shahrukh was even more sympathetic and kindly than the real guy. The only way I can make sense of that ending is if it was intended to make us sad and frustrated and angry, that the filmmakers wanted us to be (ultimately) anti-cop.
For Zero, I am strongly in the camp of “didn’t like it”. Scene by scene there were enjoyable parts, but as a whole it just never came together for me. There is an interesting thing though, the theatrical version is different from the Netflix version, strikingly different. Check out this post if you can, I am really curious which version you saw: https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2019/05/27/every-addition-subtraction-and-change-to-the-theatrical-version-of-zero-versus-the-netflix-version-and-how-they-change-things/
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 6:56 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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On TV they showed the one with the cowboy dream sequence.
I do have Netflix and they do have Zero. This is the German Netflix, so I don’t know which version they have. I’m definitely curious to check it out, too.
As for Nawazuddin, wow, thank you for that additional information! Those are definitely some cool parallels. No nepotism FTW! I’m going to be on the lookout for this actor as I have no issue watching a movie with just him in it (without SRK).
Interesting @bootlegger story and it being inspired by true events. That is even more infuriating to make us weep like that for no other reason than because they can. Annoying. It is a great film but I will always skip the last five minutes from here on out.
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sartrekid, so happy that you liked Zero!!! I love it so much…such a bold, courageous and magical adventure and portray of the protagonists. I think I could write pages about everything I like in this movie 🙂
Netflix Germany gives the same version that Netflix international by starting with the voice over and some scenes with Aafia (which I find illogical because of Aafia’s flawless pronounciation). For me, this kind of introduction even isn’t needed and – in addition – destroys the impact of the cinematic/filmy scene with Bauua dreaming being a Western hero. It is exactly this dream and its proportions and connecting Bauua and his father/upbringing that gives the most important tone to the whole movie.
I think it was because of some critical remarks that they put Aafia’s monologue before the dream scene, i.e. the scene with the pistol. Personally I did not need any explanation for that as Aafia is a woman predominently being on her own, often in company of the chimpansee…it’s simply a means to give her a feeling of safety. Shooting at Bauua fits absolutely the same impulse which made her doing some other things in the first part of the movie.
I equally had no qualms with Bauua grabbing a baby to protect himself against violence from the big people…nobody else was smaller than him and more helpless. And it makes so much sense because it is just this tiny human being that makes him change. Everything that follows is because of something he notices in himself because of his daughter.
Raees…the ending…yep, it had to be exactly this ending because that is how corrupt police ends the life of those they have problems to get a hold of. And I admire Rahul Dholakia for all the reality he put into this movie. Even this investigator with all his moral beliefs (and no one to back him except a dog) and his high ambition did succumb to the trappings of his profession. Encounters (= illegal killings of – supposed or real – criminals by police) are in frequent use in India (often masked as killing while the prisoner tried to escape or attack). Raees knew he would have to die but he didn’t want to give the cops the possibility to make it happen in front of “his” people and his family (that’s why the media). In some way he ‘agreed’ as he felt responsible for the death of many innocent people.
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Claudia! I could not agree with you more! Yes, yes, and yes! I really, really like Zero. In fact, I actually think I love the film. I have now watched the Netflix version (and the rerun of the initial theatre release tonight, ahem, insomnia, not my fault!)
I completely agree with you that the alternate intro wasn’t necessary. In terms of flow, I find it less homogenous as opposed to the original where they start off with the cowboy scene. There was nothing wrong with having Bauua be the main point-of-view, in my opinion.
What I am grateful for, however, is that they did give us more insight as to why she was carrying a gun. I was really a bit baffled by that scene two hours into the movie. It’s not a major issue by any means, but I’m still thankful they gave me a bit more information on it. As for her characterization, I liked Aafia right away. I also didn’t need to have her emotional setup explained to me. To me, she conveyed well enough her struggles with life, her insecurities, her hope, her disappointment, her bitterness. I mean, here she is, having a guy pretend to really, really like her, she allows herself to let go of her usually logic-driven, rational self, gives up some of that control and all that only to find out that he truly and genuinely played her, coldly messed with her emotions and deeply humiliated her in the worst way he knew how. And all that just to satisfy his ego and feel better about his own shortcomings (no pun intended). I understood why she was as angered. I found her likable from start to finish, an immensely lonely human being who’s had her trust and love crushed so coldly. It really broke my heart.
I also did not dislike him. Yes, he was an arse to her, but I did understand why, too. Their stories are pretty much parallel to one another, just colored differently. The essence of their struggles is the same. He has no self esteem, feels like a lowly human being because that’s how he’s perceived by his environment. Unlike Aafia (though that changes the moment he calls off the marriage), he is more daring and makes sure to let the world know how bitter and hurt he is about being seen as inferior and essentially being considered a circus attraction… So, yes, I liked him right from the start as well, even if he did some morally questionable things. He’s terribly flawed. And that’s fine by me.
As for Raees, that’s definitely an interesting perspective. I didn’t feel the police officer was corrupt. But there definitely was a lot of ego involved. I might have to watch it again though. Somehow, I didn’t get to watch all of Raees in one go. I am going to do that sometime this week for sure.
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