Okay, I got a little cocky last weekend with the whole “all my gifts are wrapped and mailed, I am better than all y’all” announcement. I forgot, I still have to do stuff for the actual right here real people, and also I am hosting Christmas this year and my bathroom is gross.
To be fair to myself, if Christmas wasn’t on a Wednesday, I would Totally Have This Thing. But I just realized that I have to work every day until Christmas, including Christmas Eve. Which means bathroom cleaning, laundry, and little stuff like buying cream for Christmas morning coffee all needs to be done now.
Also, I have very high standards for my gift giving. I have one person left, who honestly truly appreciates a donation-in-your-name more than anything else. But I refuse to give up! I will find an actual indulgent pleasurable item that will truly be enjoyed! Or at least, I will make one last sincere attempt, and then give up and do a donation.
Anyway, plan! I will start by going to a funky cafe that promises it serves bulletproof coffee because I have never had it and I am kind of weirdly curious to see what it tastes like.
Then I will go to the last chance store next to the bulletproof coffee place and make a final gift attempt.
Then it is off to downtown to buy the traditional Christmas chocolate that I also forgot about until just now! And I have a 30% off coupon so I may stock up.
Then further south to Chinatown just because I really want a new Chinatown calendar like the one I got last year (it had a cartoon pig on it!). And also maybe pick up cheap fun office presents for co-workers.
And then alllllllll the way back north, grabbing Christmas morning cream on the way.
Should be fun! I think it will be a good 4 hours, mostly on busses and trains, but I’ve got a kindle full of bad holiday themed romances and I’ll have my bulletproof coffee (whatever it turns out to be) before I start, so it will all work out.
And then I come home and think about what I need to do to make my apartment parent-overnight-visit ready. Vacuuming may be involved.
So, what’s up with your Saturday?
UPDATE: Shreyans Goenka just alerted me to this video, and I don’t think I can improve on his description:
Have you seen this Lays Ad/Promotional song with Alia-Ranbir? I think its the first time we are seeing them as a couple on the screen….not sure if I like them together…Alia seems to be making all the effort…while Ranbir seems to be using his “effortless charm” (aka bare minimum)…
dontcallitbollywood 
Have you seen this Lays Ad/Promotional song with Alia-Ranbir? I think its the first time we are seeing them as a couple on the screen….not sure if I like them together…Alia seems to be making all the effort…while Ranbir seems to be using his “effortless charm” (aka bare minimum)…
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I haven’t! And off to watch now. And probably add it to the post.
On Sat, Dec 21, 2019 at 7:51 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ranbir’s drinking. I’m calling it now. Look at his face and eyes.
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And the past two generations of his family.
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It would also explain all those delays.
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Oh good point!
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And/or Botox. He has no expression at all.
Gees what a boring ad.
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Both boring and cringey. What horrid scene partners. He’s not giving her anything to work with. He makes her look like she’s overacting or trying too hard, and she makes him look old and sluggish. What happened to Ranbir from ADHM?
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Yes! Alia comes off so badly thanks to having to do all the work! And it’s not like “great acting” is required, you just have to be fun and happy together onscreen. I kept thinking about this old ad with Alia and Sid, they were so charming:
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Lets talk about this new announcement that Ranbir and Shraddha will be in Luv Rajan’s next movie.
Release date: 26th March 2021. We can bet how long it will be delayed 😆
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It’s already delayed, Ranbir started meeting with Luv at least a year ago. I am sure the deal was “I’ll start filming once Brahmastra completes”, and that date just keeps being moved forward.
I vote, in 6 months, Luv announces that he is recasting with Kartik Aaryan because he is sick of waiting for Ranbir.
On Sat, Dec 21, 2019 at 8:11 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Kartik’s stock has risen too. He might as well do it with Kartik and get a quick hit.
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Yep! And Luv’s stock has risen too, back when they started talking it was right when Ajay signed his Luv deal. But then the delay delay delay means Ranbir hasn’t had a movie release in ages and Luv has already released De De Pyaar De. He could get Shahid, Rajkummar, Ayushmann, or Kartik at this point.
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I was just thinking that waiting so long for a star should bring rewards at the end. But can Ranbir make it a better movie than Kartik or other actors? Will the quality be markedly different with him involved? Or does he bring so much star power that he can give it a bigger box office?
I don’t understand why anyone would want to waste their time waiting for Ranbir. A comic film has a certain financial level it can hit and it’s not like Ranbir’s presence is going to make such a huge difference to the bottom line.
Honestly, I was thinking the same about Hrithik. He may not take as long to film but he takes literally years to decide on a movie while the director hangs around. Farah Khan has been trying to make Satte Pe Satte for ages and it’s going nowhere. Hrithik has a tendency to circle around a script for a year and then turn it down. I’m not interested in Ajay or Akshay but these guys would have already filmed and released the movie by now if Farah went to them. Actors like them keep the film industry running.
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Isn’t that the fault of the directors and producers though? Or is it impossible for a director to tell a big star they need an answer by a specific date or the film is going to someone else?
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I think it’s more a matter that their funding may be contingent on promising the star. If they change the plan, they may get in trouble with their backers. Farah, for instance, has a really uneven history (and is a girl, yuck!), so she may need a big name attached before a project can take off. If Hrithik says yes and gives her dates for Satte Pe Satte, everything else will fall into place. If she takes someone like Sushant Singh Rajput instead, it won’t get off the ground.
But that’s what we were saying with Luv Ranjan, a year ago he would need Ranbir Kapoor to get funding for the higher profile bigger budget rom-com he hoped to make (he needed Ajay’s name to get De De Pyar De made). But now Ranbir’s stock has fallen and Luv’s has risen, he probably could still make it work and get funding just with his own name, but for some reason is sticking with the Ranbir plan. Low self-esteem? A backer who is really in love with Ranbir for some reason? Ranbir is holding on to the promise with a death grip?
And you also hear stories all the time of the big budget fancy movie that was planned, and then scrapped because the big star fell through and the film turned into something a lot smaller. I don’t want to see Farah’s low budget version of Satte Pe Satte, she can wait for Hrithik as long as she wants. I want big songs, big action, big vision.
On Sat, Dec 21, 2019 at 9:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I know you’re not much for video but this interview with Hrithik has a very interesting bit starting at 6:22. He talks about Tiger being the POV character in War and how his gaze influences the gaze of the audience. Also how they competed with each other and how that helped them define the characters.
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Thanks for posting this. Very interesting. I have noticed that just about all the coverage of War post release has been around Hrithik. Tiger has barely given any interviews. I wonder how he feels now about doing this movie.
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I’m surprised I got through that entire Ranbir/Alia video. The song is forgettable, and Alia is visibly more into Ranbir than he is her, and it’s concerning. Ranbir is also basically doing nothing in comparison. Girl, you can do so much better.
Also Street Dancer promos are starting and I am way too excited for this movie, especially considering how much I disliked ABCD2.
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How could you dislike ABCD2?!?!?! It’s like ABCD1, only without all the depth and plot! Of course, I saw that as someone who has watched every single Step Up movie, some of them in theaters.
The video is obviously playing into their real life relationship, and apparently the fictional ideal version of their relationship, the best possible version, involves Ranbir being lame and depressing while Alia works super hard to cheer him up. And also, he flirts with other girls. There’s really nothing else there the ad writers could find to draw on? There’s so many cute teasing ad campaigns with real life couples! Every other couple gets something cute and happy, and this is just depressing.
On Sat, Dec 21, 2019 at 9:30 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I thought the ad was so cute! And I really like alia. I didn’t see all the terrible Ranbir things every else saw, but it did seem like Alia is definitely going to outshine him in life.
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Glad to hear even someone who liked the ad, saw Alia as doing more of the work.
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I’m coming back to this post to ask the general public for Sai Pallavi movie recommendations. I really like her from the clips I’ve seen of hers and want to get into her stuff, but for some reason, I can’t get through an entire movie of hers. Fidaa, Maari 2, MCA, PPLM, I’ve just been able to skim. Are any of those worth a shot? Is there anything I’m missing?
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Fidaa is definitely super SUPER good. I would focus on giving that one a shot over all the others. It’s also the one that has the best Sai Pallavi role.
I also really liked Kali, but that is less heroine focused. Ditto MCA.
On Sun, Dec 22, 2019 at 2:19 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I saw every Sai Pallavi movie except NGK. She has made a lot of odd films. I felt in love with her in Premam, and now I’m able to watch everything just because she is in it, like MCA, uneven movie, but her part was so good. Fidaa I don’t love like Margaret does, but again Sai is so good.
I would say – start with Premam. Then try again Fidaa, PPLM, MCA. Avoid Diya and Athiran (odd thrillers/horrors) and NGK.
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