Happy Monday! I got my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the year this morning. I’m back at my parents and there is a drive through Starbucks a couple blocks away from them, so when I woke up early this morning, I thought “I’m gonna walk the dog over to my car and drive to Starbucks and treat myself”. The Starbucks lady said my dog was cute, so it was an all around successful adventure.
Here is where you get to ask me anything you want, from “what is that one song I can’t remember?” to “are there Jewish people in India?” Just keep swinging back to this post all week as you think of new things to ask.
Now, question for you! Since it is Ayushmann’s birthday, what is your favorite Ayushmann Khurrana movie?
We are talking “favorites”, not “best”, so I think I have to pick Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. I just like it, the romance is really sweet, it’s got an interesting message about why people get married, and the heroine’s parents are awesome. I know Bareilly Ki Barfi is a better movie (if we are talking Ayushmann romances), but Shubh Mangal just makes me happier.
dontcallitbollywood 
Just dropping in to share a new commercial starring my beloved Vijay Raaz. He’s a carpenter “artist” who is having a problem dealing with customers who want his best but are only willing to pay rock bottom prices. Enter Wakefit. I guess that it’s an Indian version of IKEA. Anyway, with a number of shirt changes and a very questionable wig, it made my fangirl heart happy.
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I looooved Anhadun. That was a really good movie, and the ending definitely seemed to leave the possibility of a sequal on the table.
I do really like all of Ayushaman’s movies, although lately, I feel like he’s been typecast as the quy who will do the “quirky social commentary” films; Akshay already has the lock on the “serious social commentary” films. I’d like to see him in some funnier stuff, you know? Ones that laugh with him rather than at him. Ya know?
Regarding the PSL Season: I sent my daughter a pumpkin spice Rice Krispie treat recipe, and she’s already made them twice. They are the bomb. (My son-in-law is literally the most white, 16 year-old girl on the planet, and he is ALL pumpkin spice all the time from Sept. 1 to whenever that particular season ends. My daughter even adds pumpkin spice powder to his coffee. And yes, he calls it PSL season.)
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Maybe that’s why I like Shubh Mangal so much? It’s pretty unpretentious, and mostly just a love story without a huge message. There’s still a message of course, but it is a little message. Andhadhun is message-list, but it is so dense, it still almost feels like work to watch it, and catch all the twists and meanings and stuff.
Yes a Pumpkin Spice Love! For me, this is just “pumpkin” season. Years ago when I was in college, my aunt visited me and brought me a cute little pumpkin. This was in September so it was too early for Halloween and I thought I might as well cook it. LIFE CHANGING! You can put pumpkin in EVERYTHING!!! And it’s really not that hard to cook, just pop it in the oven and roast it for a few hours, and then you have ingredients for bread or pie or stew or whatever you want. This year is killing me, I can’t figure out how to get fresh pumpkins without going into stores and poking at them to find the good ones. I may have to drive to the country and find a farmstand or something to purchase in the open air.
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 1:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Wait, you think Andhadhun is a message movie? What’s the message?
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I think this came up in some other comment. Definitely not a “message” movie, but you have to work when you are watching it, I mean, the twists and everything are so insane you really have to pay attention. Versus Shubh Mangal where it is all just easy and fun.
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 7:30 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think it’s BKB. I quite like him but haven’t really sought out his movies much. I need to see Dream Girl, I think. Maybe now is the time!
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I didn’t love Dream Girl, but it was fine.
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 3:13 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’ll give it a go, I think. I’ve never had a moment with him where I was like oh, that’s how he is attractive so all his stuff is kind of bland to me.
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I resent all the pumpkin spice going around; I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer. This weekend we jumped in a canal and it was FREEZING. I don’t want to stop swimming (and I can’t think of another way to get exercise while watching children). I think I’ll make myself an iced coffee in protest.
I like the Ayushman movie where he is grown up and his mom gets pregnant. I don’t like him in it, he is a brat. In fact I kinda feel like he is a brat in every movie I’ve seen him in. But I do like his parents.
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Badhai Ho! It is quite a good movie. And it ends with a wedding and a baby, which is the Margaret Perfect Ending.
I am perfectly comfortable defining seasons within set temperature ranges based on my personal experience. So, if it’s over 70, it is always summer. If it’s between 50 and 70, it is always spring (or fall). It isn’t winter until it drops below 50. Which means you live in a blessed land with no winter and summer most days of the year!
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 3:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Bua ha ha. Despite living in Sunny CA where I live it snows in the winter and is over 100 for at least a week in the summer (but this summer it was over 100 for two months…) It was 90 when we jumped into the freezing water. But it had been in the 40s that night… However, it is never as snowy and cold as a Chicago Winter!
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That big night time/daytime temperature shift freaks me out! I know it is common in loads of places in the world, but I just can’t handle it. Night should be about 10 degrees cooler than day, no more.
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 6:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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My favorite is also Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, but that’s mostly because of Bhumi. I feel like Ayushmann plays the same irritated guy in many of him films.
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Maybe it’s that in Shubh Mangal, Bhumi calls him on it? There are a few times when she stands up for herself and makes him consider what she wants, not just his own misery.
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 3:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I think my favourite Ayushmann’s movie is Dum Laga Ke Haisha. I love Bhumi and her character and the message of the movie .
Badhai Ho is my number 2. It was funny but there was something missing. The same with BkB – comedy scenes were hilarious but the romance was only ok.
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I liked Dum Laga Ke Haisha. It was only like the fourth or fifth Indian movie I watched. It was after seeing OK Kanmani and thinking, I dig this more realistic style with people whose lives I can relate to. Ayushmann’s middle class lost boy was convincingly bad tempered in the first half but also convincingly evolved into someone more appealing.
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I like Dum Laga Ke Hasha okay, but it’s soooooooooooo short. Doesn’t that bother you? the cut off feeling of the plot?
On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 4:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I had this feeling with Bareilly ki Barfi.
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Although Shub Mangal was the first I watched with him in a lead, I focussed on Bhumi, so it was not a conscious watching of Ayushmann. That was with Andhadhun…and it’s still my favourite Ayushmann-movie (the subject, the twists, the pretending, Tabu as antagonist…). I adore black comedy and Mohanan was the cinematographer, so also the visuals are first class.
Here, I want to thank you, Margaret, for the ShahRukh Countdown with the movies reviews. Once I get another ‘leave from family’ (when, oh when???!!!), I’ll have the time to read/savor them 🙂
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Ayushmann is AMAZING in Andhadhun! There’s the whole blind/not blind performance part of it, but also the very careful sympathetic and yet immoral way he plays the character. We want him to succeed, and at the same time we are aware he isn’t a very good guy.
On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:01 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Ha! I just realized that I had watched Ayushmann in three movies before really being conscious of him with his name in my mind…although I had liked all three movies (Vicky Donor, DumLagaKeHaisha and ShubhMangalSaavdhan)
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My favorite Ayushmann movie is Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Although my favorite thing in it is Bhumi, Ayushmann does a good job of believably portraying someone who goes from Olympic-level tool to decent loving husband. He’s really good at portraying a jerk, and even in his sympathetic roles, like SMZS, he’s kind of jerky. I’ll like to see him go another way I think.
Question: Why isn’t Abhishek in Bunty aur Babli 2? Obviously no one knows, but what’s your best guess?
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My best guess is that Abhishek is holding firm on his “I am only taking artistically challenging roles from now on, no trash” rule. I have hope that Bunty Aur Babli 2 is going to be a fun film, but with the double couple casting, I suspect Abhishek’s part would have been kind of silly and lightweight while Siddhant gets the meatier stuff.
On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:41 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Not film related, I have more of a celebrity culture related question. I’ve recently started getting more involved in social media and come across many instances of women obsessing and drooling over pictures of male celebrities, thirsting, in short. It’s all fun and games, but I can’t help but wonder would we feel the same if the genders were reversed, hordes of male fans thirsting over a female celeb’s body? Is it a valid question to ask? I feel conflicted because I implicitly know there are no ill-intentions when women do it, but I’ll be uncomfortable if it’s a man doing it. I don’t know if I made sense, just shared what’s been on my mind for a while.
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I put up a post about this I think a long time ago. https://dontcallitbollywood.com/2020/04/11/sexy-saturday-male-and-female-gaze-defined-and-discussed-repost/
What it gets down to is power, for me. When a man looks at a woman it is part of a whole social power dynamic which says her value is only in her body. But when a woman looks at a man, it is a revolutionary attempt to upend that power dynamic.
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I just realized I’ve only seen 2 Ayushmann movies, BKB and Andhadhun. I hated his character in BKB, so I’m going with Andhadhun as my favorite. I can respect Ayushmann as very talented, but I hardly gravitate towards his movies, or I think they look interesting and then forget to actually watch them. But if you didn’t already see, he was one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and my first thought was “Aww, yay, good for him!”
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Yeah, he does seem like a really nice guy in his real life.
On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 11:26 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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