Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Watching and Thinking and Listening To The Last Week of Shahrukh Month?

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Happy Wednesday! Well, for you. Not me. I hate the last week of Daylight savings. It is pitch dark right now and I had to get up and get dressed and brush my teeth while feeling like it is the middle of the night. Cannot WAIT for the time change so I can wake up with the sun again.

I’ll start!

Reading: Alisa/Bollywoodnewbie alerted us to this news story about SRK helping a woman whose lehenga (skirt) caught fire at the Bachchan’s Diwali party. Can we take a minute for acknowledging that OF COURSE the Bachchan’s are the kind of people who would have classy traditional diyas instead of big cheesy electric lights? And also that it is a very very bad idea to have diyas everywhere at an event where all the woman are wearing enormous traditional clothes? Anyway, here’s the story, and if the Bachchan’s ever invite me to their Diwali party, I am wearing a skin tight flame retardant leather cat suit.

Watching: I’m grumpy, so I am going to watch the McDonald’s scene from Chak De! India and cheer myself up. Or at least get a shot of energy.

Thinking: I got my teeth fixed yesterday! That cheers me up. 20 years ago my orthodontist glued a permenant retainer to the back of my top and bottom teeth and made me swear never to take it out. But I am rebelling! I got the darn things out and now my teeth are my own, and I can FLOSS. Look how beautiful my mouth is.

Listening: Now that we are at the peak of the Festive Season, I have Shahrukh Khan Radio going. It’s fun getting all the songs I forgot about. Like, I forgot how good this song is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKB1LUojBVA

Now, question for you! What are your shot of energy songs/scenes?

I already said the McDonald’s scene from Chak De! India. I’m gonna add this song.

69 thoughts on “Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Watching and Thinking and Listening To The Last Week of Shahrukh Month?”

  1. Mummy, Mummy, there is someone who wants to EAT me!!! (*chuckle*)…ehm, yes, nice teeth 😉

    The woman was outside in the courtyard…and at 3am, it may have been a long time for her this night…and maybe she got distracted with ShahRukh around…because, honestly, as nobody else seems have caught fire since then, in a certainly more crowded aerea before, it may have been just an unfortunate moment of false movement.

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    • Yeah, the 3am jumped out at me. I don’t drink, but by 3am I am usually so tired and partied-out that I am easily stumbling into walls. Or in this case, diya displays.

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  3. Oh,triplepost
    Read: Colin Cotterill (the Dr. Siri novels)

    Watching: This: (there is another one with all her performances at AGT)

    Listening: classic music (whole day long)

    Thinking: about the darn could-have-been-better interview (I also like Raja Sen)

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    • I am forcing myself to stop thinking about the could-have-been-better interview, because I think long term this one will stand up. It’s a good solid intro interview, if I were teaching an Intro to India class, I could show it and have a day off lecture. And it is also timeless in that way, it will probably be as accurate today as it will be in 10 years.

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      • There, you have a valuable point…I still think that it is rather perfect for the US audience but they chose this way of promoting and Indians really mostly like it…kind of re-discovering ShahRukh they write (which isn’t such a bad thing, right?).

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    • I hate that “waiting for the full song video” time! Manwa Laage was a real killer, because without the light romantic bit in the middle, both the music and the visuals are completely different.

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  8. Perhaps the woman deliberately caught fire so that ShahRukh could rescue her, like in the scene from OSO where he runs into to the ring of fire to carry Deepika out during the film shoot.

    I’ve just watched Chennai Express. When I first saw it I just didn’t get it but it has grown on me more and more over the years. With the exception of one or two scenes I find it delightful and 1, 2, 3, 4 is one of my favourite high-energy songs.
    The little speech at the end about women not having freedom jumped out at me this time, though then it’s followed up with that over-the -top fight for Deepika to be given to him – its a bit of a contradiction. (How the heck was he not smashed to a dead pulp several times over? Let’s just gloss over that).
    It’s interesting that ShahRukh’s fight scenes rarely show him as overpowering his opponent through strength or skill, there are no shirts popping off or fancy moves (with some exceptions). It’s usually his character’s grit, persistence and courage which wins the day, as well as any solid object he can throw.

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    • Exactly!
      the thing with the publicist/manager (whatever) was maybe a concerted action…one choking the fire, the other pulling the cloth away.

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    • I love Shahrukh in fight scenes! I always think of it as him getting too enthusiastic. Those “one punch defeats them” kind of fights don’t really give the hero anything to do from the perspective of fun fight movies. Shahrukh likes the leaping and spinning and all that other fun stuff.

      On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 2:28 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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        • Yes! I think it’s also how he plays them, all flailing around and giving it his all instead of pulling punches. With his acting I mean, not just the fight moves. Big faces and groans and screams and stuff.

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  9. 1. Angry energy, with glimpses of the sweet side of VJS. The lyrics are somewhat ironic given what’s happening in the movie–but also somewhat not ironic, just old-timey macho BS :). Listening to this on repeat at work these days, probably doesn’t help my attitude.

    2. Dreamy happy energy from young Prithviraj. Love the guy playing the all knowing director who sees Prithvi’s and the leading lady’s interest in each other. (actual song starts about 50 seconds in)

    3. Shah Rukh-y energy, both him being happy with a group. Had a hard time just choosing two.

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    • Alley Alley is one of the kid’s choices! Always! They call it “the birthday song”…they also love the “I’m sorry” from 12Ka4 and the “Rain song” from DTPH, the “Shut uuup” song from KKHH, the “Engagement song” from DDLJ, the “Cinema song” from Swades, “ChaiyaChaiya” and the “Where-ShahRukh-drops-Kajol song” (and some others they watch from time to time).

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        • ChaiyaChaiya is the only one, where they use the ‘proper’ name. There is also the “Where-the-kids-dance song” from KKHH and the “Marihuana song” from Koyla, the “School song” = Gori Gori from MHN and the “Where-he-jumps-on-the-taxi” song from KHNH. 🙂

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          • I am shocked that “jumps on the taxi” is what stands out from that whoooooooooooole song!!!! Bubbles, American flag, dancing in the street, there is so much happening!

            Now I want to have a control group of small children and see what moments they best remember.

            On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 3:04 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • You are so cool and multi-lingual with your choices! I know what you mean about bad work attitudes. That CIA communist rap song always puts me in the mood to say “you and what army?” when my boss asks me to do something.

      On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 2:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  10. I managed to find and watch 3 movies I have been searching for months.

    1) Athiran, with Sai Pallavi and Fahadh Faasil. It was odd. Not bad, has good moments, Renji Panicker plays a good father who loves his daughter and as always he is great and a pleasure to watch. But I wouldn’t call it a must see movie.

    2) Ira , I really enjoyed it. Unni Mukundan looks good (although he is not at his best here), there is a nice romance, some action, few twists. A decent movie (at least for me, but I know I’m not very credible when it comes to my crushes’s movies)

    3) My Story, well this one was BAD. I even felt embarrassed durning some scenes as I felt Prithviraj wouldn’t like me to watch it. It was like poor version of Lamhe mixed with poor JHMS and with bad wigs stolen from PK’s set. And the costumes? Atrocious! I really don’t mind bad movies, there are so many movies nobody loves beside me, but this was terrible even for my standards. There was only one good scene is entire 2 hours long film, the one with the kiss. Why Parvathy and Prithviraj agreed to do this movie? I suspect some kind of blackmail or something.

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    • I’ve been wanting to watch Athiran too! Glad to hear it isn’t worth it and I can save time.

      I did see My Story, in theaters even, and yes it is terrible. And, like, doesn’t even make sense? I remember at the time it was released, the female director tried to sell some kind of story of it getting bad reviews or no support or something because she was a woman? And I was like, “no, it’s because it is a BAAAAAAAD movie!!!!”

      On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 3:45 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • I’m sure they have spent a lot of money to do My Story (foreign locations and not only for the protagonists but all the cast, CGI) but everything is so tacky! Costumes really shocked me because I read your review and I know the director started as costume designer. Everything was ugly, the shoes, cheap prom dresses, the wigs (Parvathy 2 is like yeah, I’m rebellious girl with tattooes and with granma’s wig). And can we talk about this pink convertible car? It was the ugliest car I have ever seen.
        And yes, the plot doesn’t have any sense. Especially the ending. When Prithviraj confessed he betrayed Parvathy I was like: you are dead for me. He doesn’t deserve a happy ending.

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        • YES! I kept waiting for some big reveal of why Prithviraj and Parvathy weren’t together any more, and the reveal is “because he was a wimp”? So lame! Plus, he could have tracked her down (and vice versa) at any point in the past 20 years, and they just didn’t bother?

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  11. Not much watching this week, leaving for a conference tomorrow. I managed to watch the Shahrukh interview and was glad the commentariat here answered the question I was obsessing over: is that the whole kitchen for Mannat? I actually liked it, even if the ground was mostly not new. Legit teared up when he gave his line from the Ram Leela and the audience all yelled “Jai!” It was like a family reunion from all over India, everyone united by their love of Shahrukh.

    Also finished Bard of Blood which ended with a big twist which starts another story, so I guess there will be another season. As the official Bard of Blood watcher for this blog, I’m not sure it was worth the time investment. It’s so by the numbers that you can in several places anticipate what’s going to happen. There is absolutely nothing new about Emraan’s character: strong, silent, best spy everyone in the show has ever heard of, disappointed in love, clenches his jaw a lot. The Shakespeare angle does not add anything to the character. Sobhita gets to do some cool stuff, but her character is not explored beyond “tough female agent trying to show she’s as good as the men.” Probably won’t watch the second season, unless I have another big work project and I want to watch something without getting too invested. Oh, I learned some stuff about Balochistan. That was cool.

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    • Thank you for your service as official Bard of Blood watcher! I would promise you an Xmas card as a reward, but based on past years, I think you will win one on your own merit. I don’t think I need to see Emraan clench his jaw for many many hours. I actually like Emraan, I just don’t think “strong tormented silent” is his strong suit. And I want Sobhita to finish with this already because I NEEEEEEED another season of Made in Heaven. If only for more sweet sweet Vikrant Massay love scenes.

      On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 9:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  12. Reading the latest about Shah Rukh rescuing Aishwarya’s manager. Not a stunt: she’s in hospital with burns on 15% of her body. SRK was treated for minor burns on his hands. Her dress caught fire on one of the Diwale lamps. He took his jacket off and beat down the flames. I would have thought it was a stunt, but you can’t fake hospital records. Still, I imagine it was not as serious or dramatic as the press are depicted.

    Makes me think of Om and Shanti! Swoon.

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    • If it was 3am, taking the cynical view, it might have been less about Shahrukh being a hero and instead Shahrukh being one of the few guests still hanging about.

      On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 10:21 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • Still, he intervened, and quickly with risk of injury to himself. Salman has posted a video of SRK (the HNY scene with shirt on fire) calling him a real hero. And the lady who was hurt is in ICU, so it was serious enough to deserve praise. Even more so because the man himself gas said nothing about it.

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        • Maybe the Bachchan’s intervened to give the story also a ‘Bachchan touch’.
          I think, ShahRukh quite seldom comments on those kind of things (be it positive or negative)…why should he? Doing it is enough (and it has nothing to do with his work).

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  13. Do you remember when you were wondering if Drive has been filmed in Israel? So I’m reading an article right now, about relations between Israel and Bollywood, and how the country wants to use Indian cinema to hide the bad things that happen there. Ok, you don’t want politics on your blog, so I will only say that the article mentions Drive. It’s in Italian so I will translate more or less:

    “This November, the first indian movie partially shot in Israel will debut on Netflix. Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez starred Drive, an Indian version of Fast and Furious was shot on Tel Aviv streets and beautiful alleys of Old City of Jaffa.
    To enter new markets and to attract the tourist Israel decided to invest into the movie and also offered tax incentives. Drive has been partially financed by Israeli ministry of Tourism and PM Office.”

    LOL I’m happy they have lost their money 😉

    Here’s the link (in italian)

    https://www.laluce.news/2019/10/31/israele-usa-bollywood-india-per-coprire-apartheid/

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    • Maybe this is why the movie seems so weirdly made and all? Is it possible Karan figured out a way to get money from Isreal instead of the box office? Like, they were kind of paid upfront as though it was an ad campaign and any release bonus is gravy?

      On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 11:47 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • Karan is good in business. He took israeli money, spent as little as he could on movie, then sold it to Netflix without release it in cinemas so he could have a better price.
        I’m curious how the movie is. Somebody volunteer to watch it?

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        • Miss Braganza just finished watching Bard of Blood for us, don’t know if that means she has earned a rest or she has practice and should keep plowing on.

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          • I’m so undecided, because I’m curious and you know I like bad movies, but on the other hand it’s heist movie and I don’t like this genre.

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          • What are your feelings about Sushant?

            On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 3:13 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • Sadly it looks like a movie he made cheaply (and badly) and then dumped onto Netflix. Netflix as it is doesn’t have a good reputation when it comes to original movies – it mainly just seems like they stream small movies that were not good enough to open in a theater.

      Their series rep is good. Their rep for original movies is bad. It seems like Karan just found a way to make a quick buck.

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      • Yes, I also think it’s more cheap than bad, but I will try to watch it for sushant and Jacqueline

        I wish Netflix focused on buying/producing the little unoticed indian rom-coms and romances (Tum Bin 2 style) I like so much, instead of buying the odd stuff.

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          • Are you the one who watched Mission Mangal? If so, watch out! Do not overestimate your ability to handle bad-ness!

            On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 10:30 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • I was. UGH! You make a very good point. But I feel like Drive is in the catagory of its soooo duuuumb and knows it is. I can handle movies like that. I watched 5 Weddings with Nargis Fakri and survived that. With Drive, I am more worried I will get motion sickness because of the jerkyness.

            I need something new to watch this weekend while I wait for Saaho to come out in Hindi.

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    • I don’t believe any of it. I think more likely mixing things up. I mean, the letterman show isn’t a late night hollywood talk show, so that right there makes me not believe it.

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      • I guess they stuck with late night host for Letterman since that’s what he’s famous for even though it’s in the past. But anyway, there is not much sense in this.

        Jimmy Fallon has said recently he wants Indian actors on his show (besides Priyanka) and obviously Lily Singh also. But I don’t think SRK would agree. Those are promotional interviews for 5 minutes and he has nothing to promote so why would he bother? It’s a waste of time and leads to nothing for him.

        The one possibility I see is showing up for Hasan Minaj’s show in some way. Also Netflix so that connection is there. Plus Hasan keeps talking about SRK, posts about him on instagram, and even told a story related to him on a talk show recently. (Something about him getting 1 million followers on instagram and being happy so he texted his dad to tell him. His dad’s savage response “SRK has 17 million more” )

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  16. Well, I saw Drive today. It would have been a pretty decent heist movie but the fact is that it was a very shallow. I didn’t care about any of the characters and the movie didn’t give us any reason/backstory to root for them. Also the twists could have been fun like in War but they were just too predictable. You could tell while watching the movie that they just didn’t care at some point. For example, there were times when the lip-sync was visibly off. Overall, I thought this was a one time watch if you like cool cars or Sushant/Jacqueline.

    Oh yeah, I did really enjoy this song!

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  17. I have a Raees related question: Why is Raees so allergic to the word “battery” referring to his glasses? Why is it such an insult to him that he loses it when a guy calls him that?

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    • I have two answers. First, the simple one, “battery” is a slang insult for someone wearing glasses, “double battery”. It’s not super super bad all on it’s own, kind of casually insulting.

      The more complicated one I think we have to find for ourselves, why does this character in particular react so strongly to this particular insult? My answer is that the glasses themselves represent so much of his past and his community. Stealing them from Gandhi with his friend, his mother refusing to accept charity and the doctor finding a way around it, they are his identity and when people insult them, it is like they are insulting all those other people. At least, that’s my interpretation. But I would be interested to hear yours.

      On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 7:07 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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