Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Watching and Thinking and Listening to This Week?

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Happy Wednesday!!!! It snowed this morning as I was driving from my parents’ place to my place, and the traffic was all grumpy and BLAH.

I’ll start!

Reading: My Mom headed me towards an article in The New Yorker about a 1970s art film Duvidha which is THE SAME PLOT AS PAHELI! Did we know this? I don’t remember knowing this. Anyway, article: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/duvidha-an-indian-independent-film-that-contains-lessons-for-american-directors

Watching: Showed Bahubali to someone for the first time on Friday (through Netflix Party) and that was great, as usual. She kept just saying “this movie is so dope”. Oh, and my friend showed me Real Housewives for the first time. That show is duuuuuuuuuuuuumb. But also, fun to watch with friends.

Thinking: Bugs! And kitchens. Sigh. Remember how I had bugs like 2 months ago? The landlord actually stepped up and sent out an exterminator. And then it got better and then it started to get worse again and just as I was thinking about asking for the exterminator to come back, I got an official notice that pest control would be in my apartment in 2 days. So, great! They already scheduled him! I wasn’t home that day, but no worries. I come back the next day and the bugs seem way worse than before. So I write the landlord saying “wait, did the exterminator come? What did he say?” And they get back to me saying “oops! Turns out, he visited EVERY UNIT EXCEPT YOURS.” So now I have the whoooooooooooooole building’s bugs in my little bitty kitchen. Not to worry, the landlord is sending the exterminator back IN TWO WEEKS. I think the best plan is for me to just eat in the car for the next two weeks, right? Or I suppose yell at the landlord, but that seems so mean.

Listening: Obviously, with my thoughts above, gotta be this:

Now, question for you! It’s Varun Dhawan’s birthday week! What is your favorite Varun song?

Defining “favorite” as “one that makes me happiest”, it is DEFINITELY his “shirtless dance of sadness” from Street Dancer 3D.

30 thoughts on “Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Watching and Thinking and Listening to This Week?”

  1. This morning, I’m reading bad news. Just the most terrible news I’ve ever read in recent time when it comes to Indian films. Akshay Kumar is replacing Kartik Aaryan in Dostana 2.

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    • NOOOOOOOOO! I believe he LITERALLY co-starred with Sridevi, didn’t he?

      On the other hand, he is the most reliable and professional actor out there (besides Amitabh), so I can see the temptation. He will show up on time, he will leave on time, he will do the promotions, he won’t make waves. But also, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

      On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 9:52 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  2. I have seen some movies and can recommend or advise against!
    First Naanum Rowdy Dhaan with Vijay Sethupathy and Nayanthara – well it was the weakest VJS movie I have seen so far. It was funny and the director (or cinematographer) were great in filming Vijay’s and Nayanthara’s pretty faces but the romance wasn’t good and it was too violent. A Can skip movie.
    Then I saw Sreekaram and I still keep asking myself why I watched it. It was a 2 hours long farming ad telugu style! Every character was fake and over the top. Every hero’s monologue has a Baahubali style background music. And the hero of course is a saint who is never angry and never makes a mistake. I felt sorry for the actors because I know they are good but here they had nothing to play. Especially Sharwanand. His character was so boring and he was so fake. I almost believed he has no talent but then, in one moment he showed emotions with his eyes and I became the fan again. Why he makes those terrible movies? He needs something raw and strong, not those saintly lame hero roles. Definitely SKIP SKIP movie.

    And then there was Uppena which I loved and in my opinion it’s a must watch film for romance lovers. I wasn’t convinced at the beginning because Vijay’s dubbing is odd, and I thought it will be very sad but now I love it. It’s a very well made movie in a sense that everything is good quality – the acting, the costumes, the cinematography (ocean looks absolutely beautiful), the dances, the music, the light. It’s a joy for the eyes. The heroine is adorable and she makes her own decisions. The hero is sexy, wears net undershirts all the time and has heart of gold. They are cute and very innocent and you can’t help but cheer for them.
    There was a moment I thought: OMG it’s Sairat! And I almost quit watching. Fortunately I didn’t quit because it’s not Sairat! But don’t read the spoilers before because it’s important not to know what will happen exactly. There are some cringe dialogues in the end like Maria said last week, but still it’s a must watch film for everybody who likes romances, net skirts and sex scenes on the boat during the storm.

    I’m also in love with the soundtrack, especially with this song:

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      • I mentioned net shirts specially for you 🙂
        You liked Malaal, so I think you will like this one too. It’s colorful, there are two young people who love each other and want to have sex and there are some cringy dialogues in the end.
        And yes, his hair is not the best but it changes slightly from scene to scene

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    • Any mainstream movie that has anything to do with farming in Telugu or Tamil I think should be banned. How many more movies with the same storyline.

      I felt Uppena removes the caste angle completely and like the last speech is going to change VJS beliefs. I know this not supposed to be a tragic romance like Sairat but some nuance would have helped. Mandela on Netflix does such a good job in potraying caste discrimination and its impacts.

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      • Yes, you’re right. I was also thinking about heroine’s last speech and how easy it was to convince her father.
        Vijay mentions few times caste, so at least it was there even if minimally.

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    • oooooooooooooooo! Oh that is so FUN! I am totally going to watch it on watchalong or Friends Movie Night and write a real review!!!!

      On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 11:29 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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        • I think she might be suffering from too much old age make-up. But I love Aditi in it!

          On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 3:59 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • Her characterization is not good. How old is she suppose to be? If she was married and had a house in Lahore before Partition, she must be like 90 years old, and she doesn’t look 90. Oh, the granny from Badhai Ho would be perfect for this role or late Zohra Segal (she was the best)

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      • Being honest I’m always excited to see Arjun, but not so excited by his choice of movies (still haven’t seen Panipat or India most wanted) so I understand.

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  4. I think I’ve finally found my equivalent to your true crime in terms of mindless TV that will not distract me from work too much, but that holds enough interest for me to keep turning it on: Star Trek. I’d only ever really watched Voyager before, so this leaves a lot of material to explore now. Still, I very much know what to expect. There’ll be some new kind of alien with some vaguely new variation on one of the standard gimmicks, any fights will be resolved by the end of the episode and the doctor will heal everything. Perfect. I’m on DS9 right now. And while I know that at some point there will be that one episode that’s bound to hold my attention, the rest of it is very smooth sailing so far.

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    • YES! This is exactly the kind of watching I like!

      Have you seen the episode yet witht he doggie in the costume?

      On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 2:04 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  5. Call me old fashioned but I’m going with this one:

    Varun isn’t my favorite dancer. I recognize he’s got skillz but he’s on the stiff side and to me comes off like he’s trying too hard. Something about the looser clothing here lets the grace of his movement come through. Maybe not being in skin tight shirts, or straight up shirtless, loosens him up. What do you think his home style is? Like what would he dance at his cousin’s wedding? Is he a bhangra guy?

    Haven’t been watching or reading much, except we started The Musketeers, a BBC series that’s on Hulu now. My husband has a deep nostalgic attachment to The Three Musketeers. It’s a bit odd as a show, written like a standard British police procedural, only in the court of the petulant King Louis XIII, and with musketeers. I do appreciate the casting though, D’Artagnan is hot and Aramis is played by a dreamy Chilean.

    Listening: nothing new but posting this oldie but goodie because it cheered me up at work today, and maybe someone else needs cheering up too.

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    • Great question about Varun dancing at a wedding!!! I picture him more as a “I just like to move” kind of guy, and also someone who enjoys dancing as part of a group. Like, I think Hrithik probably doesn’t dance at parties, I think he is more of a “dancing alone in his room” kind of guy. But Varun would be the one who picks up the 6 year old little girl and spins her around, you know?

      I love Tere Bina, it is such a great song in every way.

      On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 9:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  6. Varun’s shirtless dance of sadness is definitely the first one I think of when I think of his great songs. But in truth, even though it IS hysterical, it is also really good. I haven’t been watching or reading anything since Sunday. Maybe I need to go watch Uppena.

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  8. I forgot to say that there was a guy who has Hitler photo on his laptop in this farmer movie Sreekaram and I can’t stop thinking about it. I even made a screenshot and tweeted about it because really WTF?

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      • Yeah, I’m curious too but I wasn’t able to read it even in 4K. But the biggest question is: WHY? Why put it and why nobody said: well, it can look bad in our movie, let’s use another computer.

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  9. Well I knew Paheli was based on a short story called Duvidha, not surprised it was adapted earlier too. Haven’t been reading or watching much this week (yup still stuck in the middle of Cotillion!). I don’t know why I watched the Radhe trailer, it’s not like I expect anything good from Salman but I just wonder how does one’s dialogue delivery get worse with time! He was decent in his youth.

    I don’t know whether to bring this up here but Indian twitter this week is heartbreaking! It’s full of people asking and sharing pleas for help. Hats off to the influencers who’re at this like a full time job, social media is literally saving lives right now!

    Speaking of which, wanted to share this incredible story – Man saved kid’s life by jumping in front of a moving train and then donated cash reward towards the kid’s education! There’s a video of this (Warning: it all ends well but maybe triggering for some)

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    • Yaaaaay, social media people being human about stuff! That makes me happy. If bad stuff has to happen, at least it’s nice when folks are human.

      Take a break from Cotillion and read “The Soul of the Croupier”!!!! Should only take you like 20 minutes, and then you can join the discussion on Sunday.

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  10. Even if we’re still going by the “song that makes me the happiest”, it’s still First Class.

    A very close second is the BKD title track. Anything Varun and high energy is always a winner.

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