Happy Wednesday!!!!! Next week is Christmas week!!!! I’m excited!!!!
I’ll start!
Reading: A recipe! I made red lentil curry soup on Monday, and it is delicious.
Watching: I’m having PEOPLE over! For a real in person movie night! On Friday. I am torn between Single All the Way and Jab Tak Hain Jaan.
Thinking: I am very excited about the new laptop Santa is bringing me for Christmas. Because my current laptop is soooooooooo slow.
Listening: I love this song, makes me so happy:
Now, question for you! What is your favorite Christmas movie?
White Christmas. Not even close for me. Absolutely the best.
dontcallitbollywood 
It’s probably Elf, which I love even though parts of it are not good.
I have to watch Victoria and Abdul because it’s disappearing from Netflix here very soon and it had someone I liked in it even though I can’t remember for the life of me who but apparently Eddie Izzard is also in it???
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The Abdul dude is the love interest from Bobby Jasoos, where he was AMAZING. That’s the only reason I would want to watch it.
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Yes, it’s him! Except I know him from A Suitable Boy. I have to say, it’s a pretty boring movie but the chemistry between Judie Dench and Ali Fazal is ELECTRIC.
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I watched House Arrest after liking him in Bobby Jasoos and that was entertaining. I liked Ali’s character.
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Oooh that was him too? I watched that, it was pretty fun.
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I love The Christmas Carol in all versions.
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Me too, l still watch them all, from Alaister Simm to the Muppets and beyond. Love White Christmas too. And l still watch Home Alone with my son, that’s his favourite.
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Tell your son that my Dad grew up in the Home Alone town, and I grew up going there every Christmas to visit my Grandparents. Blow his little mind 🙂
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 3:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Just finished one essay and some other writing. Down to two short essays now, which are easy enough. Yay me for keeping time!! I also finally bought the Christmas cards, which is nice. Currently watching ‘Marriage Italian Style’ in Italian (with subs). Marcelo Mastroianni is such a dreamboat, give me a brooding Italian and I am all for it (can’t recall how many times I’ve watched ‘La Dolce Vita’) I like him better than Sophia Loren.
My favourite Christmas movie is ‘Love Actually’. It’s the traditional watch with family every year.
Also, the Brahmastra motion poster was released. Epic. Check. Ranbir looking like he always does. Check. Not interested. Check.
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The movie is supposedly releasing in Sept 2022. Are they really going to do 10 months of promotions?!?! That makes no sense.
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I know! It is promoted WAY too early! If it was released during spring or summer it would make sense. But 10 months will have people be sick of the movie before it even hits theatres, if it even does.
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All I got from this is “the special effects SUCK”. Even if they fix them over the next 9 months, the initial damage is done. Only way it makes sense is if Alia and Ranbir are about to announce their engagement.
Or, Supervillain theory, they really REALLY wanted to steal focus from Kat and her wedding.
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 12:55 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes! they spent last 4 years to make it big and spectacular with special effects and they show us this? I mean,where is all this money and time you wasted?
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With Ranbir’s massive ego that last one is most likely. He looks so dead in the poster. Even the fire is more interesting than him.
On another note, On December 20 is supposed to be Kat’s and Vicky’s Mumbai Wedding Reception. That will be fun!!
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Dead! That nails the appearance of Ranbir on this poster, thank you.
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Everything related to this film is a mess.
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No, l do not like it. I’ve been ignoring Ranbir in the hopes he’ll just go away, but it seems not to be working. Why is he again?? I’m going to trawl the dcib archives to see if you’ve explained it somewhere. I dont really get Alia either, come to that.
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Yes I do have things! I have many many things! Including, I believe, a post titled something like “I’m depressed, let’s all hate on Ranbir”.
Alia I like. Her family is AWESOME, refugees and radicals and outspoken activists and brilliant artists and everything good. And Alia has had several really remarkable performances (Highway, Raazi, Gully Boy). But she feels lazy lately, just doing the same sort of thing again and again and relying on her fame and pretty face.
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 3:17 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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For me the moment of liking Ranbir was Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Charming, good dancer, soulful eyes. If you want to see the good version. Now, why Alia is with him in real life…can’t understand at all. Comes across as the worst kind of needy narcissist actor.
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Agree. I liked him in Wake Up Sid, I really liked him in YJHD, I was excited to see where he went from there. And then he went NOWHERE. He’s been playing the exact same role for over a decade now.
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 10:18 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I watched Maha Samudram (Sharwanand, Siddharth, Aditi Rao) and I don’t understand why people hated this film. I was prepared for the worst because of all the bad reviews and turned out it’s a normal , ok movie. What people want? It’s not perfect, some things could be done better and one of the scenes is out of place, but overall it’s nice and watchable. Better than many telugu movies I saw this year. And can we talk about how beautiful everybody in this film is? Sad/angry Sharwanand is one of the nicest views one can find in Indian cinema. Siddharth is fine as always. Aditi’s beautiful (+she has nice clothes and has few classical dancing scenes, which I always appreciate in a movie), the music is nice, the cinematography beautiful. I’m happy I watched this film.
The other film I saw was much much worse – Kotigobba 3. The only reason I watched it it’s because it was filmed in Poland (in my University’s city Torun). The plot is outdated and I think very inspired by Kick (both were filmed in Poland, have sick child, the hero in double role and love interest who is a doctor in Poland). Skip, skip, skip film.
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I continue to have no tolerance for Christmas, which is partially why you’re not seeing much of me around these parts ( ;
On the Hindi front, I saw both “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” and “Code Name Abdul” yesterday. Tanishaa was the only thing that wasn’t terrible about “Code Name Abdul.” Incoherent plot, shoddy editing, significant portions of it were actively out of focus. . . I think she’s an okay actress, but this doesn’t remotely work as a comeback vehicle. “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” I quite liked. Probably the most effective of the Ayushmann social issues movies since “Dum Laga Ke Haisha.” Vaani’s butch best friend needs her own movie, stat!
I think I’ll wind up biting the bullet and watching “83.” I’m impressed at them swinging for the fences with Dip’s giant ugly period hair! There was also a preview for a Punjabi romantic comedy set in the early 20thc., “Shava Ni Girdhari Lal.” I hope it winds up coming here, because it looks very sweet/cute. It always seems like we get a lot of previews for Punjabi movies that never actually release locally, though ) :
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I want to see Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui so badly! I also watched Pyar Ki Jeet based on your recommendations and really enjoyed it. Rekha’s character was so interesting to me. On one hand, I love how unapologetic she was and embraced the image others had of her. I especially liked that she wanted a man who loved her regardless of her reputation. But I couldn’t help but get annoyed with how annoyingly she pursued Vinod Mehra. In a way it flips the script where the man is unrelentlessly pursuing the woman and not taking no for an answer, which I enjoyed. But after a while, it became a bit annoying and I wanted her to stop. Also, Shashi was so lovable in it. Thank you for all your recommendations!
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TAKE THE BABY!!! It’s an Indian movie, no one would care.
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 12:38 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Just saw/replied to your comment on my blog. I hadn’t realized I let the queue of posts run down–whoops! Adding more now. I’m very glad you enjoyed “Pyar Ki Jeet.”
“Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” is definitely worth seeing!!! It definitely exceeded my expectations, both as a piece of social commentary and as an enjoyable story. I don’t think you would lose much by watching it when it comes out on streaming rather than in the cinema, though, if that’s the way things shake out for you.
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Fawad Khan update! He just did an interview with Anupama and the big take-aways are –
1) He is acting in a Zee5 series with Sanam Saeed, directed by Asim Abbasi (Cake, Churails). I’m so excited not only because of the Zindagi Gulzar Hai reunion, but also because Cake was good and I’ve only heard good things about Churails! Finally time to get that Zee5 subscription. We have pictures.
2) He has three movies all ready to be released, including Maula Jutt, so there’s that to look forward to.
3) He IS going to be in Ms Marvel!
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I saw the update on the Zee 5 series and I can’t wait to watch it. Fawas’s playing a single father and Sanam seems is supposed to have some magical mystical-ness to her and comes in to make everything better in their lives. Hopefully this means, there will be a cute kid in the series as well!
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Ooh magical fairy angel bringing joy and love to single father and son’s lives sounds delightful! Only I’m sure there’s going to be something dark about the story, knowing the director.
Hope you and baby are doing well!
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Thank you. We are surviving. ☺️. And yes, it said Fawad is a single father dealing with guilt. So I’m sure there is something dark there.
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You know post-partum depression? My Mom (who we are now realizing had world’s easiest pregnancy/babies) had post-partum euphoria. Similar chemical reaction, but gave her this huge burst of insane joy for a few months. Anyway, I wish that for you as well! Along with all her other bonuses of immediately losing weight, babies who hardly cried, easy nursing, etc. etc. etc. Also, we were very VERY cute. But I’ve seen photos, so I already know you lucked out with a cute baby 🙂
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 6:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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What a nice wish! Thank you! Postpartum euphoria and all the other bonuses sound like the best Christmas present! 😊
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Thank you for the summary! I saw the teaser for the interview and got excited but then forgot to check back. It was so good to see him again. Though I fear he’s just teasing us with Maula Jatt. They keep saying it’s going to come out as if the saying will make it happen.
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I mean, we know the movie is made, so they have to release it at some point!
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I’ve been so busy in the lead up to school holidays that I’ve only been able to watch half of Kumbalangi Nights. But it is very good, and I hope to see the other half this weekend.
When I finish all of this I think my reward will be to subscribe to Zee5 for one month, watch everything I can’t see elsewhere, and then give up the subscription.
This Christmas I am actually leaving my area and going to another city, for the first time in about 20 months. Very excited but worried that I’ve forgotten how to do things like pack a suitcase.
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you will really REALLY like Kumbalingi Nights! It’s such a Miss Braganza movie. Angst, unspokenness, tragic backstory, very pretty, and good male leads.
I wish you luck in travels! I am so glad for my birthday last year I just went to spend 2 nights at a hotel. It was 20 minutes from my house, but I got to pack and go to a new place and all of that.
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 8:20 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Watching: saw two of the prestige streaming releases, Power of the Dog and Tick, Tick…Boom! I have nothing to say about the first one. Tick, Tick…Boom! Andrew Garfield was very good, as were all of the actors, and mostly I am amazed at Lin Manuel Miranda, in a moment when he probably could have made any movie he wanted, just letting his theater geek flag fly. This is like a proto Rent, not as big or polished and with songs that don’t have the same irresistible hook. Mostly you would produce this because of the back story, because it shows us Jonathan Larson right when he was on the cusp of making something great but before he knew he could, and before his tragic ending. So this is the movie he chose to make, an obscure early work by Larson before he was famous, and then he calls in favors and packs it with towering Broadway talent – just about every person with speaking lines has starred on Broadway. For this not huge song in the second half, he creates a Deewangi Deewangi of Broadway stars:
It’s fascinating. It’s a love letter to his world.
Oh, and also this Michelle Yeoh trailer came out today and made me all excited. Sharing because I know Filmikhudi will appreciate it – and how awesome is it to have a crazy conceptual Being John Malkovich action film starring a 59-year-old Michelle Yeoh?
I don’t know if I have a favorite Christmas movie. Does that make me Grinchy? Though if you do any watchalongs over the holidays when I might actually be able to join, I want to put in a vote for your Love per Square Foot suggestion. It’s sweet and seeing Vicky in a wedding would be lovely.
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Do your children have a favorite christmas movie? Is there something they force you to watch every year?
On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 10:46 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you for sharing the trailer!! Are you planning on watching the movie? I’m trying to figure out if it will be gory or not. It looks wild. Obviously, I plan to watch it when I can.
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Yes, Love Per Square Foot is a great watchalong movie!
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Filmikudhi, I just finished Meenakshi Sundarshwar. You were right – it’s slow and nothing really happens. There are similar movies with slow plot but still engaging and this one is not. Unfortunately it’s lacking something, maybe chemistry? Or maybe Sanya and Abhimanyu don’t make a good couple? I only know that I was cheering for Ananthan.
I liked some parts (especially the kiss, and when they talked on the phone) and the songs, but I have an impression I’ll forget this film soon.
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Exactly!!! There was just nothing there. Also, I wasn’t sure if they should be together in the end. What’s going to happen now? Is Abhimanyu going to put Sanya before his career? Would that lead to resentment? Are they going to continue living in a joint family? Sanya wants and doesn’t want to like in a joint family. I think she’d be fine living in one as long as she had a voice? There are just so many unanswered questions that could have been answered since NOTHING happens in the movie!!!
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One of the answers I needed was: Who threw the job letter to the trashcan? Maybe poor Sundar was looking for a job for 2 years because someone was throwing all the letters? I was sure it was the mother, because she wanted him at home, or the father because he was a jerk. But no, there is no mistery, it’s just that this family is stupid and get rid of letters without opening them.
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I’m not big on actual Christmas movies; the one I like most at this time of the year is “Die Feuerzangenbowle”. It’s an old black and white film about a poor rich guy who decides he missed out by only ever having private tutors and goes back to school to play pranks on his teachers. The most christmassy thing about it is the titular Feuerzangenbowle that he is drinking with his pals when he comes up with the idea. It’s what happens when you soak a cone of sugar in rum an burn it over a pot of Glühwein. I guess that seemed appropriate enough for some university film clubs to make it into a tradition at this time of year, complete with Rocky Horror style audience participation.
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Ooooooo! I know the local Rocky Horror cast, I am SO going to suggest they try doing this movie for Christmas!
On Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 4:15 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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They’ll need an old fashioned
alarm clock, sparklers for the radium and most importantly blueberry wine, preferably in test tubes. “Aber jeder nur einen wönzigen Schlock.” It’s maybe not quite as elaborate as Rocky Horror, so talking along will mostly do the trick. Oh, and a flashlight for cheating.
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My children are pretty easy to please but haven’t latched on to any movie as a tradition at this point. My favorite one for them is Rise of the Guardians, that’s the one I get in the mood for this time of year. They liked the Jim Carrey Grinch and Jingle Jangle last year. And Home Alone.
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Gah, that was supposed to be a reply to your comment!
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Streaming alert:
Bunty aur Babli 2 is on Prime already
Madhavan’s new series is available on Netflix from today
One of the most awaited movies by me, a dance telugu film Natyam is on Prime, but of course not in Italy 😦
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Woot! And I’m having people over tonight! I could have B &B 2 on in the background!
On Fri, Dec 17, 2021 at 10:06 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I was just about to post that BAB2 is on prime!!! Can’t wait to watch it. This is going to make my late night/early morning feedings so much more entertaining!
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Surely the miracle of creating food for your child is entertaining enough!
On Fri, Dec 17, 2021 at 12:30 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Just finished the first episode of Decoupled and it’s funny. Madhavan is absolutely cuddly (OMG I so cuddly and so sexy). Chetan Bhagat is the villain of the episode. I laughed a lot.
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