I watched this whoooooooooooooooooooooooole movie, and the biggest question I came out with was, is it that Prabhas can’t find pants that fit him? Or does he not WANT pants that fit him?
Well, this was a movie. It had songs, it had stars, it had “comedy”, and it had insane magical vaguely Hindu based logic. Prabhas was very tall, the whole time. Pooje Hegde wore ballgowns the whole time. It was set in the 1970s but for no reason I could see beyond Prabhas looking good in turtlenecks. Oh, and it was in a vague sort of “Italy” that had a lot of fancy tiles and big churches but everyone still spoke Telugu.
That makes it sound like a good-bad movie. Tragically, it doesn’t quite reach the depths to be good-bad. But on the other hand, it’s also not bad-bad. It’s just kind of middling. There were some nice romantic moments, massive crazy action scene at the end, and really pretty visuals here and there. The plot makes no sense, but I think logical plots are not what we watch Indian films for. So I’m not taking marks off for that,
I am taking marks off for a lack of fun flirtation moments, and chemistry between stars. It’s not bad, it’s just not spectacular enough to make the film sore. Ditto, songs. Someone on the blog told me that they had completely different music for Hindi versus Telugu. Cool idea, but it means ALL the songs are montages. Because you can’t have dance moves, or lipsynching. So that’s marks off there. Oh, and marks off for the usual lame arguments about how Vedic science is, like, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of Western science blah blah blah. I know that in many areas South Asian scientists were ahead, but the insistence on pulling together a series of weak arguments just to put scientists in their proper place (behind Priests), bothers me. Marks off there.
I’m not gonna tell you NOT to watch it, especially if you love Prabhas. He’s very charming and romantic and stuff. And the songs are pretty, and the final action scene is impressive. It’s just that good of a movie over all. Don’t run around forcing yourself to see it. Or, alternatively, to avoid it.
dontcallitbollywood 
Only montage songs??!!! lol that makes me so furious.
WHY WON’T ANYONE MAKE A MOVIE I WANT TO SEE. GIVE ME SOMETHING, ANYTHING.
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Yes yes yes, Popka! What is going on with Indian cinema? I thought it was just me, that I was expecting too much, had maybe overdosed and needed to detox with K-drama or, heaven forbid, Hollywood. But it was hard to find a good Indian film during Covid.
I was so looking forward to Radhe Shyam. Haven’t seen it yet but the reviews are all meh. Prabhas’ early films were good and kept getting better. Eventually they made him a star. Then Baahubali made him a mega, super, pan-Indian worldwide phenom . I guess it was a hard act to follow but Saaho disappointed and ditto this romantic mish-mash.
I won’t desert my Darling Prabhas. He has the chops and just needs directors, writers, etc. who know how to craft a story that uses them properly.
SRK please, please, please make another movie!
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YES! A couple of them were clever, but then you realize it is going to be ALL montage songs because they need to be able to change the musical track in the background. Maybe that’s what was going on with the film in general? It was trying to appeal to all audiences, so it wiped off the messy bits that might make it less palatable, only those are the same bits that make it FUN.
On Sun, Mar 13, 2022 at 12:47 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I know, Popka, I know! What’s going on with Indian cinema? I thought it was the pandemic, or just me overdosing. But I found myself switching to some thousand episode K-drama or, gasp, a Hollywoon film. (Sorry, wanted to but couldn’t get behind Power of the Dog; all that angst and dust.)
I was waiting for Radhe Shayam and altho it’s not streaming yet, the reviews, like Margaret’s, are all meh.
Prabhas’ early films were good. They made him a star and then Baahubali made him a super, mega, global phenom. I suppose that’s a hard act to follow, but Saaho was a noisy disappointment, ditto this mish-mash romance. He’s a skilled actor with innate talent, charm and charisma. Why do they insist on surrounding him with so much frou-frou? All he needs is a director who understands him, and whether it’s a quiet little film, a masala comedy, political thriller, CGI extravaganza, whatever, Prabhas will deliver.
I won’t desert him. He’s still my second-in-command. But please, please, please SRK, hurry up and make another movie!
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I’m realizing the same thing when I sit down to write blog posts! Anything that is a round up of news, or a “who did it best” or anything like that, I’m stuck dealing with people from 5 years ago or earlier. There’s just not that many interesting distinctive characters any more. And I do think a large part of it is pandemic, the funding is drying up and so is the willingness to take risks. But even before then, there would be 2 or 3 films a year that were FUN and we all loved, and the rest of it was just blurred together messes.
On Sun, Mar 13, 2022 at 7:49 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Dont know why there are 2 similar comments. I posted with my phone first and got a message that it didn’t go thru. So I had coffee and reposted on my laptop. Sorry.
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Great minds think alike 🙂
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I recently returned to Hollywood movies after I don’t know how many years, because I couldn’t find exciting Indian movies anymore. Today I also started an European movie, which is a VERY big deal because I hate 98% of European movies, and don’t watch them never. But this one looked romantic and has a poster similar to Aashiqui 2 so I tried. I’m in the middle and I already rolled my eyes A LOT. European movies are not for me, now I remember why. But isn’t the poster cute? :
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European movies are the worst. Sometimes they’re good though.
I’ve been walled up in my Christopher Lee fort but when I come out I will be mostly watching old Western movies and old Indian movies, I think, there aren’t many new things worth watching.
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I really like European moves compared to American/Hollywood ones nowadays. Then again I am more of Mubi and Art House kind of a watcher when it comes to European movies. Though I do watch popular ones from France or Italy if available. I guess it just depends on what you are looking for.
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I guess these days they might be better than Hollywood ones, because those are literally all Oscar bait or superhero.
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Oh! I have seen many many old westerns as a kid! Looking forward to discussing them with you.
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Red River is about Montgomery Clift being gay. Sorry, that’s all I have to add to this conversation.
On Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 8:36 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Great!
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Haven’t seen it and in any case, I don’t fine Pierfrancesco hot.
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Hmph. The Hindi version is at our cinema and I guess I’ll see it if there’s something else I can double-bill it with on Tuesday? But I don’t think anything else will be out by then except “Kashmir Files.”
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Is Gangubai still running near you? You could have a weak narrative double bill.
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It is! And when I checked the showtimes yesterday evening, it was the “top” poster, which is very unusual for a desi movie at this cinema. But I’ve already seen “Gangubai” ( ;
I think there are a couple of South Indian films that will be playing, but they aren’t subtitled very consistently here.
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My question is: Hasn’t Prabhas got a good friend or advisor who can help him choose good roles and reliable directors?
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From what I read on various sites, he opts for friends looking to break into the business and newbies rather than professionals. His homies are a big thing with him. But if they are true friends, they wouldn’t corner him.
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I think I will not see this film. However, came by to report that I went over to the movie theater when I was in the mall on Saturday to see what was playing and the lineup looked like this:
The Batman
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Uncharted
The Kashmir Files
Radhe Shyam (showtimes in Hindi and Telugu)
Jhund
Etharkkum Thunindhavan
The last time I checked there were zero Indian films, and they usually don’t take more than two theaters. So that’s promising, even if I’m not super excited about any of these in particular.
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I saw both Radhe Shyam and Gangubai at a theater that has never played an Indian film before. And Gangubai was still playing when I came to see Radhe Shyam a week later. Lovely change for me! This theater is much closer.
On Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 10:51 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yeah, I ended up seeing this with a group of friends and the only one of us that loved the movie was the girl that was Prabhas and Pooja fan. The rest of don’t really have strong feelings about Prabhas and we all thought the movie was a mess.
I was the one who was talking about the dual soundtrack and I hadn’t even thought of the montage thing because I assumed they would have shot dance numbers twice like I had heard they did for Spyder.
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Those planning to go back to kdramas or Hollywood, give Turkish dramas a try. Try watching Burack Ozcivit’s dramas. He looks very Indian, very handsome , charming, charismatic and can turn up the intensity to 11 when he wants to.
At present he is doing a series called Kurulus Osman (founder of ottoman empire)…. all blood and gore . But in the past he has worked in some amazing series…Calikasu, Magnificent century ( long drawn out series..he comes only in parts of it), Kara Sevda.
Calikusu set in 1920’s is my favorite..He is perfecto in it.
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