Well, I saw it for the second time last night and there were a couple cool things I noticed this time that I want to mention. And Alisa alerted me to an interesting interview with the director. And Hrithik is still hot. All of these things made me want to do a kind of grab bag post of it all.
First, I saw it again last night!
One interesting thing, the theater (for the 8pm show on a Tuesday) had about 20 young women and 4 guys. So the film has found its natural audience, straight woman who like watching hot guys in love with each other.
Second, my friend came up with a theory that Evil Tiger was Hrithik’s last fling before Good Tiger. Hrithik didn’t love him, it was just sex, but Evil Tiger harbored jealousy and anger which lead to his Evilness. And to his desperate attempt to make Hrithik love him in the second half.
Third, there is another little against the grain reading moment I hadn’t noticed before. Ashutosh asks Tiger “which team are you on?” HA!
Second, interesting very short interview with the writing team for the movie, Sidharth Anand (also the director) and Shridhar Raghavan: https://www.filmcompanion.in/everything-you-need-to-know-war-siddharth-anand-shridhar-raghavan-hrithik-roshan-tiger-shroff
The important quotes for me are these two:
From Shridhar:
I totally enjoyed reading some of the pieces – once a film is out there everyone has a right to interpret it as they wish. It might be someone’s idea of fun, or an intellectual exercise, in viewing the film from a sexuality or any other prism, but no, there were no such things intended on paper.
And from Sidharth:
It’s because Khalid looks up to Kabir that you get that vibe. I wanted to portray Kabir as a little larger than life and you can only do that through the eyes of another protagonist. If Khalid looks at him with awe, you as the audience will look at him with awe. So that’s what we had to do. He’s looking at him like a fan would. The fact that Hrithik looks the way he does is also why you feel that homoeroticism. Even the men who are looking at him are going, ‘Oh my god, how good looking is he?’ You can’t help but look at him with lust. I’m glad it’s a talking point but it wasn’t intentional at all.
First, most importantly, I WAS RIGHT HA HA HA I RULE ALL!!!!! Sidharth’s way of describing the situation as needing to portray Hrithik as larger than life, of blurring the way a fan and a fellow character would look at him, and the acknowledgement that the visual spectacle of a star is part of their appeal and a common sense part of how people watch them, WITHOUT any specific complicated thought process that identifies this as part of a sexuality is pretty close to my statement:
For instance, there is the way male bodies are treated onscreen. Since films are a visual medium, and since Indian films revolve around men, the male body becomes the primary visual for the film. Male muscles, male legs, male strength, male smiles, it is all part of the film experience. And for the fans, just as they will repeat the dialogues of their idols and follow their life lessons and repeat their stories, so will they obsess over the way they look….. Yes, obviously, sexual attraction is part of the appeal of these male stars for their young male fans. But how large a part, does that really matter? Is that for anyone outside to say? A movie star most have amazing physical presence and charisma, that is part of the job, and let us all just accept that when you have that level of charisma, everyone (man or woman) is going to be a little bit attracted to you.
Second, for Shridhar’s quote, isn’t it nice to have a literal author of a film reject the concept of “authorial intent” in film watching? As he says, the film is out there and people can do whatever they want with it. It doesn’t belong to him, it belongs to us. In my limited experience of reading creator interviews, that is the case more often than you would think. There are some egotist directors/scriptwriters who get very upset when people watch their films “wrong”, but most of the time people actually making movies have an attitude of “sure, whatever! So long as you like the film it’s no skin off my nose why you liked it.”
And one final War thought, a very important one:
Did the make-up artist choose to emphasis Hrithik’s crows feet? Because I noticed on this watch that they are really really pronounced. If so, I hope it catches on, because it looked GREAT.
(oh, and future scheduling note, once War is streaming we WILL be doing a tweetalong. It was super fun watching it with a friend in theaters, I need to watch it with my internet friends on computers)
dontcallitbollywood 
When I watched it, I kept thinking about a homophobic reading where Tiger is or becomes Bad through his homosexual desire, kind of like Sharmilee. It makes him become a traitor to his masculinity and therefore country. Hrithik stays good because he has a heterosexual relationship, and this means he has to get rid of Tiger because he is a threat that might make Hrithik become a traitor. Meanwhile, his homosexual desire makes Bad Tiger weak and therefore defeatible.
I’d have to rewatch to work out the details, though. There’s something about the evil businessman double, too, but I can’t put my finger on that.
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Noooooooo I hate this noooooo. Can I bribe you to not do it with this Govinda video someone shared with me on Twitter?
https://twitter.com/avrohit/status/1184347520379437057
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lol sorry, even ChiChi cannot stop me. That was fun though! I haven’t seen that movie because I cannot handle aging Amitabh, but maybe I should because there’s a little bit of a vibe between them there.
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You could have it in that “we aren’t homophobic, Fate is homophobic” kind of way. Good Tiger has to die in order to clear the way for the “real” romance between Hrithik and Vaani. Just like all those dead widows and prostitutes and lower caste woman who the hero CAN’T end up with. But the problem is, Vaani dies too, so it ends up feeling more like “Fate is Queer friendly and killed off the threat to their relationship”.
I just keep coming back to “their love was too pure for this world” as the easiest to find pattern. Now, if there hadn’t been two Tigers, than it would be different. Then it would be a clear “Hrithik is blinded to Tiger’s evil by his unholy desire/Tiger’s essential perversion is part of his sexuality”. But as it is, I’m not seeing any narrative punishment for Hrithik and Good Tiger falling in love, beyond separation and death, and that’s really more punishment for falling in love in Indian film narrative outside of the bounds of arranged marriage than any judgement on gayness. Like, I think Jai died in Sholay not because he loved Veeru but because he loved a widow.
I would say, with all the women around him, that maybe it is Evil Tiger being a yin and yang with the Evil Businessman? One is to heterosexual one is too homosexual? Sexuality itself, of all kinds, is the evil?
And then you could get into a whole idea of Brahmachari and strength and single devotion to a higher purpose beyond social ties like marriage.
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Yes, you’re right, it doesn’t completely work which is why i kept getting stuck with it. Maybe Vaani died because Hrithik was queer? I kind of forget the sequence of events.
Maybe it’s a good old fashioned STI metaphor! The business man has two faces, one healthy one and a secret diseased one. Loving Hrithik made Good Tiger die, created Bad Tiger, and the evil spreads and kills. That’s probably the best bet lol.
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Well, Vaani died because Hrithik didn’t have a family or understand why an average woman mattered. It kind of works that the Queer Man’s status as outside of traditional social structures injures unto death those folks within those structures. You could make an India centric argument about how gay men are forced to “pass” and get married and it is their wives who bare the real price of this?
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:21 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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oh, yeah, that makes sense. Works with the STI metaphor, too.
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Although can we apply the STI metaphor to Indian art? Since in India HIV is more about sex workers?
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:25 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t know what the deep down fears are, maybe it’s really about impotence or an idea of being unclean somehow in a way that connects with sex. Maybe it’s a fear of transferable gayness or degenerated masculinity instead?
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Maybe transferable breakdown of social/gender roles? If your daughter marries a gay man she will become an “unnatural” woman as well in some way, overly masculine, Lesbian, something?
That could fit here, Hrithik and Vaani got together because he is gay (feminine) and she is a working single mother (manly). They could have redeemed each other, Hrithik tried to get her to spend more time as a mother and she tried to get him to be part of a heteronormative relationship. But when Hrithik rejected that dynamic, he doomed them both. Related with Tiger, Hrithik forced Tiger into an overly feminine social role, which killed him.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:49 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, a degeneration thing. I think that makes sense. So it’s not so much a sexuality fear thing but more a gender fear thing.
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You can really see Hrithik’s crow’s feet and salt and pepper hair here so figured this is relevant to your interests:
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Oooo, that looks GOOD!
I wish Shahrukh would go grey. If he wants highlights, why not natural ones?
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 12:55 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think the makeup artist either enhanced Hrithik’s crows feet, forehead wrinkles, and frown lines or just made sure Hrithik’s botox had worn off. I really hope hope this trend catches on too. Twitter seems like a lot of worn but I might have to get an account just for your tweet along. Most likely though, ill just follow along and just comment on the blog.
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Oh, I just remembered another discovery on this rewatch! Pretty sure Hrithik either pinched his nipples or iced them just before his intro scene. Like little bullets under the t-shirt. Another trend I wouldn’t mind taking off, if women do it why not men?
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 1:14 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think the hard nipples have been consistently done though. I am pretty sure they were on full display in Dhoom 2, Bang Bang, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and maybe even Kaho Ka Pyar Hai (just less noticeable in that one because he still had chest hair).
I did notice some more intense staring that I had missed the first time. The best one though is right after Ashutosh tells Tiger that he is in Hrithik’s team. Tiger looks up at Hrithik and Hrithik is giving him a straight up sex stare while lightly banging his fist against the patio. How the hell did I miss that the first time?!
I also like your friend’s theory that Yash Raaj Singh was Hrithik’s fling before Tiger. It puts everything into place. On this watch, I noticed the way Hrithik spoke about his former partner who died because of Tiger’s dad betrayal. I think Hrithik was in a long-term relationship with his former partner. The partner died in front of his eyes. He was distraught, and could not open himself to another serious relationship, but was up for casual sex with YRS. And then Tiger came along and without even trying ignited those deeply buried feelings in Hrithik, making YRS jealous and yet hungry for Hrithik’s affection.
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So does Hrithik have naturally large and hard nipples do you think, or is it just part of his pre-camera routine to fluff them up a bit?
Not only is he giving the sex stare and banging his fist, he’s got his hip propped on the railing to make his booty look good!
Yes, this romantic timeline for Hrithik totally tracks for me! And then Evil Tiger starts out being captivated by the experience of being Hrithik’s little love bug (the train scene), which turns to bitterness as it becomes more and more clear how much Hrithik loves Good Tiger in a way he never loved Evil Tiger back when he was YRS. Meanwhile Hrithik has now had two men he loved die before their time, but at least this go round he knows it is possible to love again.
Enter Sid, in the sequel.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 1:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Random but when my friends and I watched Miami Vice back in the day we used to refer to Crockett and Tubbs as The Dicks of Death because every woman they slept with died.
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Watching last night, my friend and I agreed that if we were ever to be sent into a dangerous situation and our handler said “trust me, I promise nothing will happen to you”, we would immediately abort the mission. I think sleeping with your handler (or police officer investigating crime in which you are a witness or whatever) should come with a similar rule. Just leave town! You are clearly marked for death!
I have also told my father never to use the words “I have two beautiful daughters”. It’s true, obviously, but why tempt fate by saying it out loud? Also don’t put photos of us obviously up in his work place so the camera can pain tragically to our smiling faces after his death.
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HA! So very accurate.
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I love this so much more than the “straight” interpretation. Also, I now can’t stop thinking about the Hrithik-Sid sequeal. All those long legs, distinct jawlines, taught forearms, and sexy biceps porn. I really think Tiger (unfortunately) is replacable. He just needs to be replaced with someone young and hot. My first choice would be Sid and second choice would be ARK.
You would think I would have all this out of my system after the second watch but I think it just became more intense. I am sure it will go away (unfortunately) as soon as I watch Hrithik speak in a video interview.
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He’s just so so dumb. Harmless. But dumb. But pretty! But dumb. So dumb.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:44 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think that comes from being so emotionally stunted from being in his father’s control his entire life. I don’t think he will never know who he is until he put some serious distance between him and Rakesh Roshan. I could also get rid of my crush by watching Super 30. But I am not a masochist.
Also, to answer your nipple question (a phrase I thought I would never say) I think that is just a part of his make-up regimen. Contour up the chest, fluff up the nipples, make sure the hair plugs don’t fly away when the fan hits his face.
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Well, Rakesh seems to be dying, so prepare for a funeral followed by a new rebellious Hrithik any day now. And you did just admit on another post that you watched Mission Mangal, so “not a masochist” might be a hard argument for me to buy from you at the moment. But yes, AVOID SUPER 30!!!!! If you absolutely must kill your Hrithik crush, watch Mohnjo Daro instead. His hair is bad and he is way too old for the role, but at least it’s entertaining.
I assume Hrithik has a professional nipple tweaker who comes in and pinches and flicks before each shot while Hrithik reads a book. Or if that is not the case, I don’t want to know.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 3:01 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Okay, I’mma make a case for Tiger over Sid. What really worked with Tiger wasn’t his muscles, it wasn’t that he was young and handsome, it’s that he was vulnerable. I don’t know how he got coached into this given his lack of acting talent but every time he was in a scene with Hrithik, especially the early scenes, he looked like a wounded puppy. And that energy opposite Hrithik being all super intense was lava hot.
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If we are going for “wounded puppy”, then let me put in a bid for the sequel featuring shy glasses wearing Rajkummar Rao as the new analyst who is in awe of Hrithik’s intelligence, bravery, and physical confidence.
Or, totally outside of the box thinking, Anil Kapoor as the old analyst pulled out of retirement, who shyly asks for help even turning on his computer, but Hrithik backs him and builds his confidence back up until Anil is finally brave enough to ask him out on a date.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 2:56 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think Sid can be vulnerable (e.g., Hasee to Phasee, Kapoor and Sons). Also, how about ARK? He has the vulnerable look down in Fitoor but it also very very good looking.
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Oh oh! Rana Duggabatti? Tall, muscles, and able to play beta as needed.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 3:27 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, and the boring “straight” interpretation is clearly there too. YRS’s comments after the mission make it clear that he is jealous of Tiger as Hrithik’s new favorite and the rising star. Even without a love story, it is clear that Tiger and Hrithik immediately respect each other and bond in a way Hrithik hasn’t with YRS despite YRS being on the team far longer.
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@filmikuddi Hrithik ARK is my dream Jodi. My life would be complete after witnessing this pairing showcased well. Or maybe i would want to live longer just so I could rewind and replay ad infinitum 😉
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And now I have to write that movie for them!
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 10:43 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Love the tweetalong plan
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I’m excited! It should be a great movie to comment on together.
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 5:47 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Two qns-who is Yash Raj Singh? Evil Tiger? He was called Saurabh in the movie i watched. Second,what train scene? All i got to see is a 2 sec scene of evil tiger & Hritik in train as Hritik receives the intel from Aditi that some poison is missing. Thats all. Did they have two cuts for domestic and foreign viewers? Is that why the Indian audience is outraged by the suggestion of a romance btw two?
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Yash Raaj Singh is the actor who plays Saurabh, I think. Right before the interval Hrithik comes to Tiger on the Delhi metro. I can’t imagine they would have cut that scene since it is an important plot point.
On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 6:55 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh,that one was there. I didn’t miss anything then
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Do you know where War will be available to stream? Because I will 100% participate in that tweet along. I might make plans to see it next weekend if it’s still around.
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Amazon Prime, there was a “Streaming partner” thing before the movie started.
On Sun, Oct 20, 2019 at 3:56 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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