Happy Wednesday!!!! Have you noticed that I kind of checked out on blogging a bit this week? It’s because packing is SO HARD!!!! SO HARD!!!! Physically, but also emotionally. I keep having to taking “off the air” breaks and just read a book or something.
I’ll start!
Watching: Started the new sitcom Rutherford Falls, which is okay, but maybe a little on the nose in terms of white privilege and white fragility. Also a lot of time watching Albie Dog be cute.
Reading: I read the brand new Anne Bishop! Still as addictive as ever. You all must read the short story “The Prince of Ebon Rih” that I listed for this week!
Thinking: I can’t keep sleeping in my apartment! It’s all boxes everywhere and confusion and mess and I get soooooooooooo depressed. So I’m gonna pack all day at my place, and then spend every night at my parents.
Listening: Only one song for when you are trying to do something really hard and not sure you can do it,
Okay, question for you!!! Two questions.
Should I go see Radhe in theaters?
On the pro side, I really think I would enjoy it and I want to see it and there’s no other way than in theaters. And also, I want to support movie theaters.
On the con side, going to movie theaters still makes me a little nervous.
If I can only keep one item out of storage and with me, should it be my framed Dard-E-Disco poster, my full size Shahrukh Standee, or my Bahubali swords?
Most of my possessions are gonna be boxed up and whisked off to a storage unit until my new place is empty and ready for me to be moved in. But what should I take with me to the bedroom at my parents and then to the new place so it is Always With Me?
dontcallitbollywood 
“Only one song for when you are trying to do something really hard and not sure you can do it . . .”
How about:
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Watching: A lot of different stuff; some movies as well as True Crime docs.
Reading: The biography of Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstead. So very interesting, so detailed, but oh so very tragic and sad.
Thinking: I BOTH HATE AND LOVE SPRING! Now I am in the midst of suffering from bad allergies and I hate it!!
Listening: Dalida, can’t help it, she is so wonderful. And also some Pritam.
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I also both hate and love spring! It’s so sunny and pretty outside, and yet I cannot stop sneezing.
Pritam is the best spring music
On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 9:46 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I JUST saw West Side Story. Unfortunately Rita Moreno is so good in that it somewhat highlights Ms. Wood’s shortcomings. Intense movie.
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No Puerto Rican actors back then, not that anybody in Hollywood would hire. Chakiris was good even tho he was Greek (?) but I didn’t believe Natalie for a minute.
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I saw it only recently as well. Sucha a good movie! Like keep eye on the screen and WATCH without distractions kind of good. Though the brownface and non-Puerto Ricans playing Puerto Ricans (except Rita Moreno, the queen) is a shortcoming. But the music and Sondheim’s lyrics are such top-notch stuff!!
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Watching: Time to Dance. Haven’t made it to the end yet, but so far, it’s a phone checking movie. Sooraj dances like he paid close attention in dance class but movement is not in his soul, as with Hrithik, for instance. Isabelle…what can I say. Stodgy? Her sister is a hard act to follow. I’ll give her a chance but she has a long way to go. Is it me, or does she have a very big head?
Reading: no time now.
Thinking: small group of writer friends coming for lunch Saturday. What shall I serve? Shall we eat on the deck? At the dining table? In the kitchen?
Listening: jazz and classical when I don’t have to pay attention, old time radio serials when I do.
Dhivara is my ringtone. When my phone rings, strangers ask, “What is that?”
You will be in your house before you know it. All the stresses after that will be happy ones.
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I am planning on Time to Dance as my Friend Movie Night pick tonight, it sounds PERFECT.
Thank you! I am also holding on to when I will be there and settled. Just 2 and a half more months! Knock on wood!
On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 10:10 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I can’t choose which one you should keep, but I can eliminate one! The Dard-E-Disco poster. Keep the standee (because SRK) and swords (because swords! they could totally come in handy!)
Reading: an old panic-attack inducing book on your twenties being your defining decade and a new one on getting better with finances!
Listening: lofi as I sew….and now I’m thinking I may have to pick the garment apart, because it could be better. Le sigh.
Watching: also ehh…?
Thinking: This was at 1 a.m., so I think it counts. I want to see a Sonam-Amitabh movie! They’re just so different and represent such different things in the world’s eye, but at the same time they’re about fighting for what’s right in their (completely) different ways, so I’d love to see a movie where they fight and make up!
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It really feels like there already was a Sonam-Amitabh movie! And yet I can’t think of it, so it must not exist. I like this idea, I would also like to see this.
On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 11:13 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I have watched a strange mix of movies last week:
Love, Life and Pakodi – like Anonymous said in one of the comments, it’s an interesting and fresh take on relationships and marriage. I especially loved how normal was the protagonists first meeting, or the way they started dating or the first time they had sex. A breath of fresh air. But unfortunately I understand why this movie has bad reviews on einthusan – nobody in the film can act and dialogue delivery is absolutely terrible. I almost quit watching in the middle because I couldn’t stand how the way actors were talking.
Then I watched malayalam classic Mathilukal. Have you seen it? Mammootty is great in it. I almost never finish a movie in one sitting, but this one was so good, I started and finished it in one evening. Funny thing is that nothing realy happens but still it’s interesting and one keeps watching. I saw it because few weeks ago I watched a short film with Unni Mukundan inspired by Mathilukal (short film was good , but I’m still angry because Unni only lends his voice and is never shown).
Mathilukal is on youtube in great quality and with subtitles. Recommended.
Today while checking one of those strange free OTT sites where odd movies finish I found a movie with Ilaiyaraaja on the poster. I was immediately interested, and when I read the plot:
“When a rich Indian International student falls for a working class Australian girl, who is crazily in Love with him, how will he handle the cultural differences and succeed in his love, against his parents’ plans for his future?” I knew I must absolutely watch it.
It’s a self-funded feature film made on an ultra-low budget, and it shows, but I liked the story a lot. The Indian guy-white girl relationship was better than in majority of Indian movies. The girl is nice and normal, has work, loves the guy truly. He also loves her and wants her to succeed in life and study. There even is a very romantic airport climax scene. I don’t know if I can reccomend it because it’s very low budget but I enjoyed it.
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That last one sounds pretty good, do you have a link?
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See if it will work in your country:
https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/provider/tv.plex.provider.vod/details?key=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F609aee956e03c8002c16f3fb&context=hub.search.movie
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It does! What a weird site with a lot of obscure minority films, all black cast stuff, LGBT stuff. And 5 Govinda movies, all unsubtitled.
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Once I saw there a movie that was like feline Home Alone.
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I am glad you watched Love, Life and Pakodi. I did not find the dialogue delivery odd and having lived in Bangalore, I can attest that people speak like that in real life. Also, I am sucker for movies that are dialogue heavy so I did not actually mind the okay acting performances. The lead female actor I felt was natural in her acting.
Another recommendation – The Mosquito Philosophy on Amazon. One more dialogue heavy low-budget movie. Entire movie unfolds on a single night. In a way it is mumblecore but more thinky.
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I also tried watching Jathi Ratnalu. It’s funny, but I felt like I understand only one third of the humor and gave up.
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Yes Jathi Ratnalu is very contextual and as I said before the fun is in the dialogues. Cinema Bandi on Netflix is a gem. If you find time do watch it.
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Italian Netflix rarely adds southern movies 😢 and we don’t have Cinema Bandi here.
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I did not know about Italian Netflix. Cinema Bandi is a direct OTT release on Netflix. I am curious as to why it might not be available.
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Watching: I am finally deciding to plow through all my marked movies on Netflix and a list I have going now that I have Einthusian. First up is Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. I don’t know why I decided on this because I’m not a fan of Ranbir. The plot so far is kind of all over the place and there’s no clear straight line between anything except Ranbir and Katrina’s relationship. They’re fine together, and Kat is super cute in this. I don’t generally have a problem with getting dropped into someone’s life and following them without any major goal in mind, but it’s usually done much better in more indie style films like Lady Bird. In this, there feels like a lot of exposition, which makes me feel that the filmmaker thinks a lot less of the audience. I’ve laughed once so far. I really have to be in the right mood or with the right people to watch these kind of cringey, over the top type of movies. The music is decent so far.
Reading: Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky. A YA thriller about a group of girls who are obsessed with a One Direction style boy band, book a hotel room where they’re staying, and “accidentally” kill one of them. It’s absolutely bonkers and gets increasingly darker as the story goes on, but it’s somehow able to both poke fun at fan girls and also completely validate them and embrace their experiences. It’s a good time.
Thinking: My district is giving us off tomorrow for Eid, and I still haven’t decided yet if I should get my grading done tomorrow, or chill and leave it for the weekend. But I don’t really think about much else besides school and what’s going on in the news, which lately has been very bad, especially as a Jewish person. But this blog is a happy place so I’m not going to talk about it. 26 more school days until the year is over.
Listening: I always get sucked into reverb remixes. Here’s an example of what i’m talking about. Kalank title track.
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I still haven’t seen Ajab Prem blah blah! You have to report back to me.
On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 4:45 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Watching: A friend rented out a (ok THE) movie theater for her 16-year-old’s birthday and we all watched West Side Story. It hit me like a ton of bricks. NOTHING HAS CHANGED! And that movie is so intense. The second half is really not fun to watch, great, but no joy. This song however, is joyful, if excruciating in the NO CHANGE feelings:
And I think you should keep the cut out of SRK, partly because it seems hard to box.
Also go to the theater, but wear a mask. I think i’m going to be wearing masks at all large gatherings now, not getting sick is awesome.
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Courtney’s comment about DCIB being a “happy place” is spot on. The days I get to it early go much better than the days I can’t.
I went back to Time to Dance last nite and really tried to stick with it. No luck. Kaif isn’t a bad dancer, but I swear, I caught her looking at the camera a few times, like bad kid actors do. She’s too made-up, too perfectly perfect, a doll-girl. She has one facial expression, frozen. There has to be a real person under all that stiffness. Maybe with a better director? Sooraj knows the ropes; he hits his marks and carries on. But not so you’d believe he believes. I haven’t been able to care about either of them yet. And what’s with Rajpal Yadav? He’s all zhuzhed up with a face lift and earrings. Weird. Plot? Not so I’d notice. I switched off possibly too early, at the part where Kaif sees her former partrner dancing with the white girl and she fantasizes beating him with her crutch. I’ll wait to hear your opinion of the film before I attempt a third viewing.
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RGV strikes again:
https://twitter.com/RGVzoomin/status/1392765212961484805
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LESBIANS OF DCIB! WE CALL UPON YOUR WISDOM!!!! Why is she eating the other lady’s calf? Is that a thing?
On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 3:47 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I just saw the trailer and it’s the most cringeworthy thing I have ever seen in my life! I knew it won’t be good, but OMG. It’s like some horny uncle’s dream about lesbians mixed with bad action made by horny uncles.
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I have so much sympathy for your packing. I’ve done it too many times (and contemplating another move, so I may be doing it again within the year). I vote for the standee.
I had a few days off last week and concentrated on knocking things off the old Netflix list. First was The Wedding Guest, which is not an Indian movie but comprises Dev Patel, Radhike Apte, and Jim Sarbh as its entire cast. This is an OK action/suspense movie which is chiefly watchable as an India travelogue–from Somewhere in Pakistan to Delhi to Amritsar to Goa. They seem to have chosen places to run because they are photogenic. It’s supposed to be a thriller but the pacing is very slow and you can kind of figure out what’s going to happen before it does, mostly because of the ominous music. I spent most of it worrying about Jim Sarbh’s career–he’s so great as a heavy but I’d like to see him in more nuanced roles. It is gorgeous, though–you should just have it on while you’re packing with the sound off.
Then I happened to watch two interesting movies that use the fourteen day mourning period to explore the complex feelings that arise when someone dies–Ramprasad ki Tehrvi and Pagglait. The first deals with feelings within a family, tension between family and in-laws and brothers and sisters with different memories and personalities and economic means. It is stuffed with a stellar cast which might be a bit too big and kind of felt like we didn’t get to fully hear from everyone. There’s a song in the middle which the cast lipsyncs and it just doesn’t fit. The song is supposed to be a lighter note but it’s just jarring and lip syncing doesn’t fit with this arty film. There’s really no resolution but it ends on a note of hope. Oh, and they did the casting thing which always annoys me. Supriya Pathak plays Vinay Pathak’s mother. She’s sixty in real life but I think she’s gorgeous and looks much younger even that than, and of course Vinay Pathak is in his fifties.
For some reason I didn’t want to watch Pagglait because I thought it would be about a young woman being bratty about her dead husband. This could not be further from the truth. It is wonderful, compassionate, and uplifting, while still dealing with complex feelings–toward the deceased this time. We don’t learn very much about the son/husband who has died, but the movie shows how you can be heartbroken at someone’s death but still worried because he was your retirement plan, or have to come to grips with the fact that you didn’t have time to get to know him. Although it deals with death and loss it’s not sad and is even hilarious in spots. The cast is great, particularly wonderful wonderful Sanya being wonderful. The only thing I didn’t like was the overly-literal music. I implore you to watch it at your earliest possible convenience. It will make you unreservedly happy.
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Thank you, these are so helpful! A no, yes, yes for me. I’d been sitting on Pagglait, now I want to watch it.
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Sounds like Pagglait should be my pick for my next thinky friend movie night! Not the snarky fun one with the big group, but the one on one serious one.
Thank you for the packing sympathy! I kind of enjoy the organizational challenge and the planning and all of that, but then you hit a point where everything you own is in boxes and it just feels sort of disorienting. If everything works out, this should be the last time I pack and move for decades, which is kind of a weird thought. I’ve gotten so used to planning everything in my life around the assumption I will be moving every 5 years or so. Now I get to buy big heavy furniture, and expensive permanent storage solutions, and all kinds of things!
On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 8:55 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The CDC says you can go to the movie. Based on the timing, pretty sure that guidance was released with your personal weekend plans in mind.
Agree with everyone, the standee is the best for keeping you company and also most likely to get banged up in storage.
Watching: one episode away from finishing The Musketeers, and even though the plots of the episodes are getting increasingly holey, I can’t help enjoying it. I finally get the appeal of the original, it’s just fun to hang out with these guys as a friend group, with guaranteed adventures afoot. Especially when the cast is all degrees of sexy and good looking. Also watched The King of Staten Island over the weekend, which was unexpectedly really good. I thought it would irritate me in that white dude comic way, but it’s based on the main dude’s life and has a surprising underlayer of sincerity, along with abundant foul language and earned funniness. No new Indian films this week because I keep falling asleep before I can decide what to watch, but I did finish Middle Class Melodies and it was sweet and harmless.
Did you see Dev Patel’s new Gawain and the Green Knight trailer? The internet was very excited. Looks good.
Thinking: tomorrow I go into the office to work for the first time since last March, just me and one if my coworkers. I’m going to walk my kids to school, drop them off and go to the train, just like in the before times. Partly because it will be really nice to think through some stuff in person, partly as an excuse to go out for happy hour on a terrace in the perfect weather. I’m excited. What do I even wear? I forget what it’s like to be in the world.
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Whoa, going to the office and working? That’s a big deal!!!! We are still office-less, if you remember the lease expired on our office back in June of last year, and we just didn’t renew. But I have started going over to my co-worker/friend’s house and working together while sitting on her couch. Which is sort of like having an office again.
I read a really good children’s series based on Gawain, but I can’t track it down again!!!! So frustrating. This trailer does look great, and I love the fairy tale version of the roundtable instead of the gritty version we’ve gotten lately (why be gritty? It’s a fairy tale!). And also, maybe having Gawain be around again will mean that book series will suddenly be easier to find.
On Thu, May 13, 2021 at 10:50 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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