Happy Wednesday! I am back at work and work work working and wishing I had time to write up my Atrangi Re review because I am super excited to talk about it with y’all.
I’ll start!
Reading: Nothing! My brain is MUSH! I’ve gotta start reading something before I totally atrophy.
Watching: Atrangi Re, review coming. And also, Great British Bake Off! So soothing and pleasant, just like everyone says, and the perfect thing to have in the background while I do a puzzle.
Thinking: I will never get my apartment organized. I get close, and then Christmas happens, or Grandpa dies and I inherit a million things, or something else comes up. UGH.
Listening: This is definitely the best Atrangi Re song:
Okay, question for you!!!! It’s Rajesh Khanna’s birthday, quick question for you: Love Him or Hate Him or Both?
I am a “Both”! I hate him as a person because he married a 15 year old and generally sounds like a pain to work with who had no respect for others. I love him in his young early roles, sooooooooo charming. And then once he grew side-burns, I don’t like him again.
dontcallitbollywood 
‘Little Little’ is such a good song!! Love all the little things that come from watching the full song in HD. When Dhanush snaps a friend’s knit cap in his hand, when he bites his lips as he puts it over Sara’s eyes and when at one point he blows a kiss to Sara during the song but Akshay catches it. Not to mention the headbutting, playing with shadows and their growing closeness and flirting during the song. SO MUCH FANTASTIC CHARACTER CHOREOGRAPHY!!!! The music is just the lush, beautiful cherry on top of the cake.
You can tell I’ve been watching Atrangi Re (and the songs) daily because there is always so much to see. I will put more on your spoiler review, but these are just the little cute things about the song.
Yeah, with Rajesh Khanna is the same. Both. Hate his attitude, but when he is on film with those dashing looks in those first hit movies he charms you completely.
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I love and hate Rajesh Khanna, but in the way where I like him best when he gets older and run down with alcohol bloat, but still acting like he’s a beautiful, cool 25 year old.
I posted my best and worst of 2021: https://thickthighsandbadguys.wordpress.com/2021/12/28/best-and-worst-of-2021/ honestly, a super weird collection of movies.
I did end up watching Single All the Way and Christmas in Connecticut and didn’t really like either. Now I’m rewatching really obscure Christopher Lee stuff because why shouldn’t I? It’s my life and if I want to see Diagnosis: Murder or his episode of Space 1999 twice, I will.
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BTW just as a wrap up of the year, Indian movies wise, I did start out watching a loooot, so I’ve seen some interesting stuff. I just got really burned out on new ones after watching the Harsh segment in Ray and trying Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar, both of which I hated with the fire of 1000 burning suns. Then I burned out on old ones after Ek aur Ek Gyarah (not the Govinda one).
I saw some stuff that was good like Khaali Peeli, Doosra Aadmi, Do Qaidi. Kama Sutra was bad but interesting (also deeply, deeply homoerotic if anyone’s interested). Probably Aurangzeb was the best after Nartakee, just about missed the top five.
But yeah, it’s not every year an actor gives a performance so bad it turns you off them forever. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen before but Harsh did it!
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I have to stop thinking about my 2021 awards list. I think maybe I should limit it to just a few films that most people on DCIB have seen? Because streaming releases are so messy for 2021.
On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 12:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t know, it was a chaotic year, awards should be chaotic. I’ve seen hardly anything new anyway because I was traumatised.
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People who made Ray should be put in jail. This movie is criminally bad and make you wanna die. I would file a FIR if I were Indian.
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You are entirely right.
I didn’t put it on my worst list because it’s a TV series but otherwise it would be like the entire worst list on its own.
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Saw “Shyam Singha Roy” yesterday. Very enjoyable! I certainly wouldn’t call it subtle, but it accomplishes what it’s setting out to do. (There’s also a lot of charming humor in the modern parts, which pleasantly surprised me.) I haven’t seen a Telugu movie in theaters in years and I’m glad I bothered to make the trek for this one.
Oy, Rajesh Khanna. I think my problem with him is not that he’s got such a strong ~star persona~ but that it seems like it never differs. Certainly there are other actors who succeeded with strongly mannered styles, some of whom have a schtick that I generally like (e.g., Raaj Kumar, late vintage Ashok Kumar) and others that work for me only rarely (. . .Dev Anand). Still, in their cases, it seems like something that they could turn off when they wanted to/were asked to. Rajesh is Rajesh Khanna Superstar(TM) all! the! time!, and since I don’t particularly LIKE that persona. . . sigh. Maybe Manoj would be a good comparison.
At the same time, I’ve watched a ton of Rajesh movies and plan to watch a ton more. He was working during the era of Hindi pop film that I most enjoy, getting interesting projects and working alongside performers whom I really do love. The best of them (for me) are ones where 1) his persona fully makes sense for the character he’s playing and 2) there’s a full enough ensemble surrounding him that we get regular breaks from Rajesh-ness. For fellow Rajesh skeptics, “Rajput” (1982) is a good option to try.
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Totally agree with your Rajesh feelings! Put him in the right role surrounded by the right actors, and he is a kick. I was thinking of Anand from your description.
On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 9:45 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I saw Minnal Murali and it was nice. Tovino is adorable, there is some nice humour, some heart wrenching scenes. It’s a nice malayalam movie but with super hero. It’s directed by Basil Joseph, the same guy who made Godha. In my opinion Godha > Minnal Murali but both have this nice feeling, so I recommend it.
And yesterday I saw Atrangi Re which was my 79st Indian movie this year. My goal (like every year) is to watch at least 80 movies, so only one’s left. But I’m so confused – should I finish Karnan I abandoned 6 months ago or watch what looks like sad movie about dog with Vijay Sethupathi and his daughter, or something happy and new?
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I was thinking of watching Minnal Murali, will add it to the list now.
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I don’t want to oversell it. It’s nice but not perfect but still worth watching for the idea and execution. I mean it’s malayalam movie, with malayalam budget and it’s still fun. They believed in this idea and made it, I admire it.
Bonus reason to watch it: Tovino is cute, but he also has some flashback scenes in which he wears something like Roman legionary suit, and man he is just too hot to handle.
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Watch something happy! That is always my vote. Also, OMG you watch a lot of movies!!!! Of course, I used to watch that many, back pre-pandemic when I had the time and energy to be serious about the blog. But now? No way could I do that!
On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 3:20 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I hardly watch any non indian movies or series and I almost never rewatch movies because there is still so much new and old stuff to see.
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Oh, I saw Don’t Look Up and loved it. Meryl Streep deserves another academy award for it. I know the critics panned it but I think they were trying to take it seriously. It is a modern day Dr. Strangelove.
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