Rani Week ends on Sunday, which is also exactly 10 days before Christmas. And I think what I would like to do is 10 days of Christmas-y movies, but I need help thinking of them! So I am throwing it out to all of you. And because I really REALLY need help, I am sticking this post to the homepage until I have enough movie ideas.
When I say “Christmas”, I don’t mean “a movie about an unwed mother” or “a movie about Christians” and certainly not “a movie in which they all celebrate Christmas”. For me, from my Germanic roots, Christmas is about the Winter Solstice and light in the darkness and getting together with family one last time and remembering that love is the most important thing.
So, from that side of thing, when I think of an Indian movie that is “Christmas-y”, the first one that comes to mind is Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Lage. It’s about loving each other and forgiving each other and the warmth of family and a place of peace and hope and joy in the middle of a dark world. Make the exact same movie but turn the opening wedding into a Christmas party, and the play into a Christmas pageant, and you could release it Thanksgiving weekend in America and make a million billion dollars. At least, I would watch it.
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham would be another obvious “Christmas” movie. Maybe Ohm Shaanti Oshaana too?
What other films can you think of? Family and love and joy and peace and conflict resolved through big loving gestures instead of violence? I want at least 10 of them, so I need ideas!
dontcallitbollywood 
Hum Saath Saath Hain
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Good one! Maybe also Vivah?
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I haven’t seen Vivah, but HSSH tends to get overlooked a bit by non-desi bloggers; it seems to be overshadowed by MPK & HAHK. But it fits your theme perfectly.
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Bommarillu, s/o satyamurthy, Athadu, Murari, Ninne Pelladata, Sekhar Kammula movies like Fida, Anand, Happy Days, Godavari
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I love all these suggestions! And I think I already have reviews for all of them too.
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 11:55 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’d add Kumbalangi Nights even though they have that big fight at the end but it’s about defeating toxic masculinity so I think it’s okay. It even has that scene where the eldest brother brings home the widow and she’s dressed like Mary holding Jesus.
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I don’t know, kind of dark for a Christmas movie. There’s also themes of mental illness, and suicide, and general violence. I wouldn’t necessarily say “come on Grandma, and the kiddies, let’s all sit around with hot cocoa and watching Kumbalangi Nights!” Although I might suggest it for your sad lonely adult Christmas with no family.
Can I suggest Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi as a kind of similar alternative that is a little more hot cocoa friendly?
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 11:59 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m going to counter that by saying It’s a Wonderful Life is also super duper dark with suicide and alcoholism and prostitution. Even outside the alternate reality you have toxic capitalism, the war and depression. Yet everyone treats it like this feel good film, it’s actually super weird.
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Okay, agree there, I saw It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen a few years back and went “wait a minute, Jimmy Stewart is actually really scary in this, right?”
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 12:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The scene where Jimmy shakes Donna Reed and says he’s never getting married and then passionately kisses her is whoa…
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Yeah, the Jimmy-Donna courtship sequences are intensely sexual in a kind of uncomfortable way. I don’t want to watch Dad Jimmy Stewart and Mom Donna Reed be all sexual together!
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 1:04 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think, I would prefer Rab Ne for Valentines Day…
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We have some recurrent Christmas movies in our family, among them “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (loved through four generations)…as a Hindi movie, I certainly would choose King Uncle (even before K3G) … and Boothnath, too.
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Ooo, King Uncle is a good one!
And Bhootnath is a good idea too, which reminds me, what about Dhanak?
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 3:16 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Goooorgeous!!! Yesssss! 🙂
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Dil Dhadakne Do? Too dysfunctional?
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If it ended with a Christmas Miracle and a rousing Christmas Carol singalong, then yes. But with that open strange staring into nothing ending, I don’t know…
On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 7:36 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Kuch Kuch Hota Hai has that happy family Christmassy vibe at the end, and a gently happy ghost and it even has a so-called miracle.
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Excellent point! And the little kid bringing a couple together is very Christmas-movie. Make the school concert a Christmas concert, and turn the wedding at the end into a Christmas engagement party, and we’re golden!
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My suggestions: Mr. And Mrs. Ramachari. Great masala movie with very good scenes of father and son making peace and realizing the other one always cared.
Other one: Baadhai Ho
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Ooo yes Badhai Ho! And it even has a magical baby.
On Sat, Dec 14, 2019 at 1:37 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Aaradhada Telugu movie…. chiranjeevi an suhasini…. it is somewhat christian themed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aradhana_(1987_film)
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Hulchul (Akshya Kanna – Kareena Kapoor) movie would be a good choice.
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