Happy Monday! I’m up at the lake house again. This week it is slightly too cold instead of too hot. On the one hand, that means I am absolutely not going into the lake itself or doing any lake-adjacent things (like kayaking and then following out and freezing). But on the other hand, it is so comfy and cozy to sit inside by the fireplace and look out at the lake.
Here is where you get to ask me anything you want from “did you watch any movies this weekend?” to “How old is Madhuri anyway?” Just keep swinging back here all week as you think of new questions!
Now, question for you! It’s apparently “National Biographers Day”, who do you really really want an authorized biography of in Indian film?
For me, Katrina Kaif! I think her life is fascinating, growing up all over the place and then landing in Bombay modeling and then films and building a life in India. Also, she gives so little information in interviews, there are so many questions a biography could answer.
dontcallitbollywood 
I saw an ad on the subway for Gujarat festival film Chhello Show, which is apparently now showing in German theaters. (While I’m home with a cold, obviously.) It’s about a young boy who grows fascinated with Hindi cinema and tries to make his own film.
Now, I just love those kind of films, that celebrate the magic of movies. But somehow it feels hypocritical when festival programmers do, too. How can they like these films, when they seem to look down on the big entertainers that inspired them?
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Oh, I know EXACTLY what you mean!!!! You know what it is? It’s a strange sort of cultural tourism. Only the culture you are touring is the culture of the “naive innocents” who like big movies, even if those innocents live in your same country, they don’t really live in the same country, you know?
Maybe that’s the divide I feel in the Bombay Talkies short film collection? Two of them are about “silly fans”, and two of them are set in the educated middle-class world and honestly explore what the films mean to people like the people who are watching these short films.
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I read the first comment and said to myself, “like Bombay Talkies.”
And then hot-shot Margaret notes the same thing! I’m so proud of myself.
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Only, the kid’s circumstances in this one are supposed to be pretty similar to how the director grew up. Why then would he end up making festival films?
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Any authorised film is going to be sanitised, but I guess Vinod Khanna?
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Oh oh! The Sanju treatment on a Vinod Khanna bio would be AMAZING!!!! Over the top orange robe dance sequence, Vinod Khanna played by, like, Vicky Kaushal with a prosthetic chin dimple, and Osho played by Ranbir (obviously). And something insane like Bulgaria standing in for Oregon.
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Oh maaaan I want this now.
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I can already envision the “Dabar Mein Uparwalle” parody. . . Lord, what I would do for this.
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I was thinking him or Nargis. Or Sunil, maybe? Ideally not played by Paresh Rawal this time.
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Either of them would be good but with things the way they are now they wouldn’t do them justice I think.
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Very true, alas : /
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A honest Katrina’s biography would be great. Hers looks like a very interesting life, right from the childhood.
I would also read Ranbir’s biography. But not written now. I want him to get older, have some eye-opening failures and regrets and only then he should confess himself. The same with Shahid, I don’t even like him, but I’m curious how his relationship with Kareena was behind the closed doors, and the one with Priyanka and also the one with his wife.
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Rishi’s autobiography was one of the best I’ve ever read because it was such radical honesty about everything in his life. I would love for Ranbir to reach that same stage and then write his. But I suspect he won’t because I suspect he has reacted to Rishi’s attitude of radical honesty by living in a self-indulgent fantasy. And of course Rishi’s honesty was in response to his Dad’s need to constantly lie to everyone even about things where he didn’t have to lie. That family is SO messed up.
Oh oh! Ranbir’s sister’s bio! That’ what we want. The Ranbir story from the person who was there every minute.
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I feel like reading Rishi’s biography now. I think I have it somewhere, but I never read it because: 1- I didn’t like Rishi 2. I was sure it will be full of stories about people I don’t even now.
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Both those things are true, but it’s a really interesting honest look at old time industry stories, and also just an interesting look at an honest person trying to own his mistakes.
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I saw this trailer and immediately thought that it must be some telugu movie remake, and I was right! It’s hindi version of Nani’s Middle Class Abbayi. I don’t know how it is, but telugu folks make the same kind of movie all the time, and it always look interesting (at least in the trailer). Bollywood makes the same and it always look like a copy.
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Oh dear. I don’t think this would work AT ALL without Nani. It’s the perfect role for him, self-effacing and sweet and a little cowardly, but still charming.
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I felt bad for Abhimanyu because he is sweet and cute but he is not a telugu hero and he can’t make it work.
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I know you like dogs/have a dog so I had a feeling you might be interested in this trailer:
Its really sweet and I trust Rakshit will do a great job with the treatment of the subject. Plus the dog is so cute!
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Oooo! Well, this might be another watchalong movie.
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I saw this trailer today, and have mixed feelings. On one hand “I also love you Charlie” made me shed a tear or two, but on the other, the story looks too simple,and predictable. But as you said it’s Rakshit, and I’m sure he knows what he is doing. Also cinematography looks good.
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I want a biography of Gauri Khan – but only if it is truthful.
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