Happy Monday! I am grumpy and discombobulated today, so I am treating myself to delivery coffee, oooo! Which took like an hour to figure out how to do, apparently none of the coffee places near me are open on Mondays. Why???? Surely Monday, of all days, is the most Coffee-y!
Here is where you get to ask me anything you want! From “why are you excited for Sadak 2?” to “what coffee did you get?” Just keep swinging back here all week as you think of new questions.
Now, question for you! I’m discombobulated, so I am returning to my safe place, Shahrukh Khan. What is your favorite so-bad-it’s-good SRK movie?
DDLJ is my actual favorite, but that one is good-good. For silly crazy Masala, it is a tie between Dil Aashna Hai and Zamaana-Deewana for me. Dil Aashna Hai has the bonkers flashback sequence, Jeetendra leaping around, and Shahrukh looking kind of lost and half asleep. Zamaana-Deewana has while hospital escapes and Anupam Kher in drag for no reason.
How about you? Chaahat? One 2 Ka 4? I will accept Ra.One as well.
dontcallitbollywood 
How is you foot?
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Thank you for asking! So nice! It is getting better and better, very sloooooooooooooowly. I can now do basically everything except walk the dog. Or rather, go down the steep stairs with the dog pulling on the leash. I am very ready for it to be completely done so I can pick up the pieces of my life again.
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 8:25 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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You say for no reason, but there is a reason, and it’s that it’s great. Anupam Kher isn’t half bad in drag, actually. I mean, he’s not Govinda but who is? The main problem is they corseted him super tightly so he can’t bend in the middle.
Do you know what that’s a parody of? It seems really specific.
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Oh of course. It’s a parody of three separate songs. First “Main Cheez Badi Hai Mast” then “Kuch Na Kaho”. Then “Dhak Dhak”. The whole movie does not reach this peak of awesome, but it is only about a third down from it, if that makes sense. It is a film that just does not care about logic or reason or anything, only fun.
You know how sometimes you have a slight crush on Naseeruddin Shah (“you” meaning the universal all of us)? Welcome to “Main Cheez” the original
“Kuch Na Kaho”, Anil Kapoor takes Manisha Koirala’s virginity with pearls
And “Dhak Dhak”, Madhuri Dixit teaches us the proper way to mime “heartbeat”
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 9:05 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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A pretty good parody, I’d say! Should have not corseted him so tightly so he could have done dhaks though.
I find Naseeruddin exponentionally less appealing in that than normally even, but Anil looks good with earrings.
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I don’t know if this is your kind of thing, but Anil in Dhak Dhak is a naive stupid farm boy (his evil stepmother has kept him uneducated and only doing manual labor). He has to marry sexy village girl Madhuri for contrivance reasons, and then she saves him from his stepmother’s influence partly by seducing him in a hay loft. It’s an odd movie.
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 3:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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How stupid is he? I need like, sub-Raja Hindustani levels. I like the plot though.
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I’ve never seen the whole thing, just bits and pieces. I know he is but a pawn in the game between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law (as all men should be). And now I am thinking, do I need to put up a “sexiest Anil Kapoor scenes” post?
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Yes you do! I might watch this mostly for the manoeuvring women?
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He is really really dumb basically he turns from a super meek Dr Jekyll into a crazy looney toons Mr. Hyde anytime anyone insults his stepmother – the EVVVIL Aruna Irani. Also, Madhuri is a bad ass – her proposal scene and the seduction scenes are fantastic.
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You need to check out my new post, I feel you would have opinions on “sexiest Anil Kapoor scene”
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Oh my god. It sounds great. And I loooove Aruna Irani. We have similar taste, should I watch this?
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Yes. Definitely. It is utterly ridiculous and fun.
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And unlike Rajkumar, it is readily available on Prime. So watch Beta, and then we will tell you “Rajkumar is like Beta, but twice as campy crazy”. and that will inspire you to move mountains and finally watch Rajkumar, and then Filmikudhi and I will feel our lives are complete.
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Thanks!
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This is a weird question,but one for the Indians settled abroad and people who know them-were your parents hesitant about the “talk”?I have lived in India all my life.I mean,my family had pretty conservative origins but became fairly liberal with time so I think they were not that hesitant but the vibes from my relatives were very different.And it was actually me who started the conversation(I had a deep interest in biology,you can say I literally fangirled the subject before I changed my stream because I did not want to be a doctor by profession)and they did not feel weird explaining it to me.Maybe they would have initiated the conversation themselves if I didn’t approach them so early.
I don’t know what is “conventional” for them,even though they didn’t force even religious beliefs on us.They have absolutely no problem with me not doing daily puja after bathing nor do they complain when I go a bit overboard while purchasing Rakhis and idols of Laxmi Ganesh on Diwali(because firecrackers literally scare me,so I spend on something else-biodegradable statues from Bengal that ecofriendly but rather expensive).In case you want to know my leaning in religion,even I don’t know where I fall.Theist,atheist,agnostic?Can’t tell.Even my Mother is not very confident with the ritual stuff-she literally makes notes and gets it wrong.
Are Indian parents naturally uncomfortable talking about it or is it just a stereotype,or just a minority that gets mentioned too often?Like the stuff about Indian parents being strict while I never felt that way at home except with academics.And if it indeed is a common thing,does the attitude persist even among Indian parents abroad?
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Obviously I can’t really answer your question. But to get the conversation started, I can say that in general once a family immigrates, their standards of “conservative” versus “not conservative” change radically. What I see with my friends who are second generation from any country is that their parents are generally more cautious about sending them out into the world. Things like taking public transit after dark, or going to a party, become more scary than they might be in the home country. “The talk” isn’t that big of a deal, what is more of a big deal is navigating the specifics of dating behavior for the culture where your children are growing up, versus the culture where you grew up.
Sure your kids know all the biology, but are you going to encourage them to go to the school dance and start a “dating” relationship when they are 14 like their friends are doing? Or are you going to encourage them not to think about dating or romance until after they finish college, as might be the norm in the country where you grew up but which is very unusual in most Western countries? How will you react if you see them kissing someone? Or if they come home from college with a boyfriend/girlfriend?
I think for some families “the talk” is more about what is an equal relationship, how to know when you are mentally ready for sex, what can be the consequences of unprotected sex (like, AIDs), and all of that, rather than just “how babies are made”.
For myself, the basics of the biology were something I learned from picture books before I could read (egg and sperm and baby grows in Mommy’s tummy, like that). And then when I was about 12 my parents enrolled me in the most comprehensive sex ed class available which covered everything from masturbation to HIV to abusive relationships. On top of which there was just a lot of pop culture stuff in the air around me to kind of guide me about relationships, what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t, wearing a condom, stuff like that. I don’t know if that’s better or worse than any other way to learn things, but it was how I learned. And most of it was unrelated to my parents directly, beyond them making the materials available to me.
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 10:25 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thankfully my parents took lot of time to explain me how it works on a social and personal level,and the pros and cons of dating .Yeah,the dating thing is where my parents are conservative-do whatever the hell you want,after college.Atleast not to the extent where I feel depressed after a breakup(not like they would ground me if I date someone).I personally never felt pressured against dating,because I find it insubordinate and churlish(the idea of sharing your life with someone feels scary to me,and irrelevant before a time).But certain parents in India do take extreme measures despite their children being in their late 20s,more or less employed(I say more or less because they are teaching at universities before getting government jobs,and life is comparatively better for them as a teacher-you don’t have to deal with dirty politics everyday in life.But their parents vehemently oppose dating even as a getting to know relationship,let alone the Western ideals of it.What disturbs me is seeing my colleagues date in abusive relationships that affect their mental health as if they have no former education about it from their mentors,while some are very open about it.Some like me are glad to be free(not saying dating is any bondage).There is not a lot of exchange of information in a public manner regarding a healthy relationship so I wondered if it was just a thing that people discussed in private.In some ways dating is considered as western culture but people don’t really consider the responsibilities that are associated with it-flings and dating occur simultaneously.
There were some weird classes at school regarding the specifics of dating culture among teens.I guess I was in 11th standard back then.But for some reason,those classes were GIRLS ONLY.Baffling to a normal human mind-there were no initiatives in our school to educate the boys.And yes,they remembered it in 11th-even 6th grades should know about emotional aspects of it.
I really didn’t know the apprehensions about letting kids free in a foreign culture-most of my relatives settled abroad don’t have kids so I had no idea about their experience which is why I raised the question(there is a very glamorous,modern preset image of NRI’s for some strange reason).It was surprising,though I get how we all feel a bit extra concerned in a new place.
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That is fascinating that your school had classes on dating, but girls only. At the college level in America just recently (like, since I went to college 15 years ago) there has been an increasing shift to educating boys how to be better instead of girls on how to be safer. Like, before the safety posters and lessons were “don’t walk alone after dark, don’t leave your drink unattended, if you feel unsafe in a situation leave immediately”. But now the posters are “No means no, listen to what she is saying to you, consent is non-negotiable, if she is drunk she can’t consent”.
It’s kind of amazing that it took this long for people to realize “wait, we can’t just teach young girls how to escape attackers, we should also teach boys how to not be attackers”. Healthy relationship boundaries are important for both genders to know.
I think I might understand what you are saying about being “trapped” in a dating relationship. One thing I have learned just from talking to people on this blog is that the acceptance of breaking up as a normal part of dating is important before dating can be fun. Just because you like someone and kiss them and maybe have sex doesn’t mean you are trapped forever, it is okay to break up when you start to feel miserable.
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What did you think of the Khaali Peeli teaser?
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Oh, I should mention that it will release exclusively on Zee5 which is not available in the US despite them promising to expand their platform for some at least 2 years now.
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BOOOOOOOOOOO Zee5! Okay, I may not watch the teaser in that case, so I won’t be disappointed about missing it.
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 12:17 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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This is the first time I’m happy a movie goes to Zee5. I hope it’ll be buried there forever and people will watch the original Taxiwala which is sexy, fan and has good actors. Btw Margaret, watch Taxiwaala.
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But the film is going to do a completely different of taxiwala.
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I read the plot on wikipedia and you’re right it’s more Sadak than Taxiwaala. But then why it was said to be Taxiwaala remake?
Still I don’t see any reason to watch it.
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Haven’t seen it, what did you think of it?
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 12:16 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It was really sort so I can’t really form an opinion on it, but it did make me want to see more it the film, so I guess the teaser did its job. I think Ishaan khatter will knock it out of the park. I even think Ananya will impress us.
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I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the teaser since it came out and I don’t know why. I am so strangely attracted to both Ishaan and Ananya in that trailer which is kind of concerning me even though they’re not that much younger than me. I haven’t seen Taxiwala so I can’t compare but it looks like a standard masala thriller and half of the teaser was full of cricket jokes that I didn’t understand cuz I don’t understand cricket so I literally cannot explain to you why I feel so strongly positive about this teaser. I know I’m going to eat up the promo like a crazy person and then hunt down any bootlegs of the movie I can. This is scaring me.
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Huh! Well, I still haven’t seen the trailer, and now I am a little afraid to
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 7:47 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I hope these questions are not offensive. I thought of them based on your Saira Babu post and the thinky one about Sanjay Dutt and speculations about a celebrity’s health/personal life. Where is the line on when to speculate about someone’s health? For example, in the Saira Banu post you speculate about Dilip Kumar’s mental health and I read something very similar about Jaya Bachchan’s mental health on the blog even though both are not disclosed, yet you have refrained from doing the same about others like Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. Why speculate on some and not others? Or is it just human nature to speculate but we should do our best to do it as responsibly as possible? When is something pure speculation and when is it just educated guess substantiated by facts? Which one is Dilip Kumar had sex with a woman and she claimed he had “spoiled her honor” and guilted him into marrying her. Maybe it’s all a judgment call. I really don’t have any answers but hoping this will be the beginning of a discussion.
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This is a great discussion to have! For myself personally, it depends on the medium more than anything else, and secondly if there is a deeper meaning to it that makes the speculation relevant for me.
I feel like there is something very different from putting a speculation in the middle of a lengthy detailed post, and putting it out into the world as the headline of the post, or even the first paragraph, let alone as just a quick tweet. I hope it makes it easier for people to follow my reasoning and decide if they agree or disagree. And makes it possible to bring the conversation beyond the speculation into fact.
And there’s also the relevance of it. Saying that Dilip Kumar clearly has some kind of cognitive decline is important to me because he is an important figure in the film industry, and a cognitive decline helps to explain why he has retreated so much from the public realm. I’m not going to speculate on what exactly is wrong with him (Alzheimers, dementia, stroke), but just that something is and it has affected his public life.
For Sanjay and Rishi, I feel like knowing they are gravely ill and have to go overseas for treatment is as much as we need to know as the public, the exact kind of illness isn’t really relevant. But at the same time, if I were to do a long post on Sanjay for instance, I might discuss the possibility of him having cancer as it relates to the kind of lifelong treatment and possibility of recurrance, not to mention complications from the treatment, versus other diseases. But I don’t feel comfortable speculating in a superficial post where I can’t provide relevance and context, and some degree of reasoning to explain my conclusions.
So I guess it is what you say, “it is just human nature to speculate but we should do our best to do it as responsibly as possible”.
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I really like Zamaana-Deewana, I didn’t even realize it was bad. Duplicate is probably my so bad it is good movie. Isn’t that the one where SRK is in drag? And his evil is so over the top. And his good is so dorky it is embarrassing.
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My friend looooooooooooooooooooooooooves Duplicate, and I tease her for it mercilessly. I may not tell her there is someone out there in the world who loves it also.
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 10:17 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Is Baadshah considered bad? I have always found it funny, but I think others find it bad. That’s the one for me.
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Oh Baadshah! I love it. And yes, it would follow my “bad” rules. I suppose I should have come up with a better description than bad/good. Maybe “Film” versus “Movie”? Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, even Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, I would call “films”. Deep characters and plot conflicts and stuff. Baadshah, definitely a “Movie”. Totally ridiculous and delightful.
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 8:08 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Koyla is the best so-bad-it’s-good : Amrish Puri erection problems, mute SRK who later is miraculously cured, Johnny Lever and his father romacing the same woman. It’s all so ridiculous and yet so gripping!
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How could I forget Koyla????? It’s so wonderful! And yet not what I would call “good” by any means. You didn’t even mention the mistress with a heart of Gold who saves the heroine at the brothel.
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 8:49 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh yes, she was great.
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Its tuesday, but here is my Monday morning question: has anyone else watched Stacey and
Gavin? I need to discuss. Also, my ‘bell icon’ in the corner has disappeared signalling when I have a comment waiting. Since we all comment at different times that was a feature I loved!! How do I get it back?
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First, you can always comment on Monday Morning Questions!
Second, yes I have watched Gavin and Stacey! I love it so much, such a warm happy show. Someone else, and I can’t remember who but I am sure they will identify themselves, has also seen it. And obviously it needs to be remade with something like a Bombay suburbs boy and a Bombay Ghats vacation town girl. The only thing I don’t like about it is that the Christmas special just released ends on a cliffhanger and I’ve heard they aren’t planning to resolve it! It will just be a forever cliffhanger!
And the “bell icon” only shows up if you are logged in to WordPress. this comment showed up anonymously which means you may be logged out.
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WordPress has been randomly logging me out every couple of days, and I have my login info saved so logging back in isn’t a problem, it’s just annoying and I don’t know how to fix it.
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Koyla hands down.
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I wish it was easily available streaming so more people could discover the wonders of Koyla
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The other day you made a post about actresses we don’t want a biopic on(Meena Kumari,Sridevi and Nutan)and there is news that some Almighty Motion Picture has acquired rights on a book about Meena Kumari.Considering both Kangana Ranaut and Sunny Leone had been approached for the role in the past,I think it would be sweeter to have the latter in the role,especially after what is happening right now.
Koyla is soooooo campy but the music is equally good.
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Oh I would LOVE Sunny to be the lead in a Meena Kumari biopic! I think she has more in common with Meena than most actresses today. Meena has retroactively been made into this great dignified actress, but in reality she was this hardscrabble up from the bottom person who started in b-movies and worked her way up.
Koyla is so campy! But also good! Like, the music is good, and the dancing is good, and the costumes are good, all of that spectacle onscreen is actually high quality.
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 10:45 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think Koyla is on youtube,that’s where I watched it last month(with occasional pauses to laugh at the ridiculous plot).
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How often do you watch movies on a whim? I Or do you always plan what you want to watch. I was browsing Netflix and ended up watching an Indonesian movie, ‘ Aruna and Her Palate.’ Movie revolved around food and relationships and a bit of public health so I really liked it. I have to do more of this watch random movies. I found out about mumblecore movies this way too.
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I rarely watch anything on a whim. I pay such close attention to almost anything I watch, it’s a real commitment for me, and if I don’t like it or it feels wrong or something, it upsets me for days. I will browse and find things of course, but then I come up with a list of things I might like after browsing, fully research them, and decide what I want to see. So, like, Aruna and Her Palate, I just looked it up and found it out is from Indonesia, based on a novel by a female Indonesian writer, never got a theatrical release but did well in film festivals. Might be interesting, I like the female voice, I would enjoy learning about Indonesia, and being based on a book by an award winning writer makes me think it should have a solid story.
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Random silly question. I have an Indian friend (Telugu if we’re specific) who in high school and probably still today is more into Indian pop culture than American. But I saw her over the weekend and learned she has never seen Chak De. What do I make of this? Can I consider myself a bigger Bollywood fan than her since I’ve seen it even though I haven’t seen about half of the 90s movies she mentioned she’s seen? Where do I go from here? This was the first time I saw her in years so I’d feel weird shoving it down her throat like WHAAT WATCH IT NOW! I just thought this was so bizarre.
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So, first, people do have weird gaps in knowledge, maybe she just missed Chak De and you happened to catch it. Second, if she’s Telugu, it’s entirely possible that she watches more Telugu films than Hindi even if she closely follows Hindi film gossip/news. thirdly, Chak De is amazing and everyone should watch it no matter who they are.
On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 7:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I just discovered RGV is making his own biopic ( 3 2-hours long movies) and I literally have no words. But I have questions: who founds his movies? I know his earlier films are good and cult but the newer ones are not. Or maybe it’s because I don’t like his genere so I don’t know if they are popular or not.
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This is an excellent question! I think some of his movies still make a good profit, largely because they are so cheap to make. And he is working in non-Hindi industries where maybe he is having more successes than in Hindi. But still just strange that he is working and getting funding! Maybe the money people are sentimental about his old hits?
I agree that this biopic is a terrible idea, and ridiculous. I can’t think of another filmmaker from anywhere who has had this degree of egotism. I wonder who he wants to play himself? Probably Ranbir Kapoor young and Amitabh Bachchan old.
On Thu, Aug 27, 2020 at 3:22 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I have you seen the first poster?
I love how the first word one see is “genius”. There is also “intelligent”, “philosopher” and “porn lover” and “thights maniac”. This man is really crazy, but I wish I had a little of his attitude.
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Oh my gosh. Why is it the people you least want to do their biography are always the ones who think we will be interested, and the ones we most want don’t? Where is the massive 3 picture version life of Yash Chopra?
On Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 5:49 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Did you watch Sadak2?I did,and the villain sabotages the film.Amrapurkar’s Maharani was one of the most terror inducing villains of the 90s,with the backing of marvellous characterization and acting.While Sadak 2 serves a campy stereotype who does dirty by “hypnotizing” people.Contrary to the trailor,Alia is so much better.It is ARK who feels underutilised.The villain subplots aren’t done well,but the direction by Bhatt felt well done throughout.I would say the sequel doesn’t hold up to the original,maybe I am biased towards the original.
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