Happy Wednesday!!!! I spent Friday alternately so cold I couldn’t breath trying to shovel, and hiding inside and recovering doing a puzzle. I spent Saturday and Sunday with my parents doing a festive Christmas trip (art museum, fancy restaurant, fancy hotel, champagne breakfast, opening presents, movie, fancy hotel dinner, and then leaving Monday morning), and I spent Monday afternoon through now recovering from all of that and going “aaaahhhhhhh”. And now regular life returns, and the weather goes above freezing!
I’ll start!
Reading: I made a date with a friend to have a phone call book club on Jan. 1 which means I have to get serious about finishing the very long complex historical novel we are supposed to be discussing. And on the opposite side of things, my Dad got me the Bollywood Costumes book for Christmas which is just pretty drawings of clothes!
Watching: I watched Thank God, very soothing and pleasant. I finished every single season of Bake Off in existence at any point. And I’m planning to watch Cirkus at some point hopefully this week.
Thinking: I am alllllllllllllllll alone. My housemates are going on a New Years trip so I am catsitting and partying with the house all to myself. I would be very sad, only Christmas is exhausting so it is nice to have a break.
Listening: Christmas is over! Back to Indian music! Don’t know why, but “Humko Aaj Kal Hai” is going through my head today
Now, question for you! I missed Salman’s birthday yesterday, so in his honor, what is your favorite Salman movie?
Easy for me, Bajrangi Bhaijaan all the way! The perfect use of Salman, a beautiful movie in general, and I can rewatch it endlessly and enjoy it every time.
dontcallitbollywood 
Your Christmas sounds lovely! Now, important question. Did you drink any champagne at breakfast? If so, what did you think?
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Yuch, gross, no. I did try a sip of “gluhwine” at the German restaurant we went to on Christmas Eve. That tasted like spiced hot apple cider that had gone slightly rancid.
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HA! Your descriptions crack me up!
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Pingback: Wednesday Watching Put up: We All Survived Christmas! And Large Climate (in America)! Again to Regular Life, Phew! - Zeerangi Entertainment
I watched Tara vs Bilal and it was like a Bake Off cake – good idea and good ingredients, but assembled in a hurry so it’s a little crooked and with some cherries missing on the top. Still sweet and satisfying, a perfect snack.
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Ooo, now I want cake.
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I came here to comment on Tara VS Bilal, also since I thought it might be one you’d like, Angie! I enjoyed it and your description of it is perfect — assembled in a hurry but so sweetly done! I even re-watched some of those moments once I was done with the entire movie. Really liked the lead couple, especially the girl. Great acting from her!
I confused the lead Harvardhan Rane with Kapoor! Just weirdly assumed there was only Harvardhan and somehow Anil Kapoor’s son had just decided to drop the Kapoor surname. So I spent the whole movie thinking ah, this fellow does act well and must be making dad proud, then realized when I was looking him up after that I got him wrong.
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Oh yes, this movie has some very rewatchable scenes. I still think about many of them.
The other Harshwardhan is hot but not that good. I’m glad he isn’t playing Bilal.
Harsh Rane is so good. I don’t understand why he isn’t getting more roles. So many women love him thanks to Sanam Teri Kasam.
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Ha! I came here to see if anyone had watched this movie. I just started watching it, and so far it is annoying me. Harsh is in a weird toxic family dynamic where he is a man child with women who cater to his every need but also pressure him into getting married because of course when they all die, he will need a woman to take care of him– as they say “homemaker type.” Based on both your reviews it seems like it gets better so I will keep watching it.
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Oh no, the family dynamic is terrible and pretty much continues in that vein – please don’t hold out for improvement.
What was cute (for me) was the chemistry between the leads, the friendship between the four youngsters, and the lead girl – she was so fresh!
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Yes, the family is toxic and I found Bilal annoying af in the beginning, but later it’s shown why he and his family is like that and everything has much sense.
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Okay, I ended up really enjoying the movie despite its flaws. While this is not a perfect comparison the movie that came to mind immediately after I saw Tara vs Bilal is Hasee Toh Phasee. The premise is weird and flawed but the chemistry and emotions are so genuine that it pulls at your heartstrings. I even had tears in my eyes during a couple of the scenes. Thank you ladies for recommending it.
I am going to try to watch Double XL next, my sister watched it and said that it was delightful and showed uplifting female friendships really well!
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Double XL is goooddd!
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Agreed the chemistry and the emotions sold the movie to me. And yes, I really liked the actress!
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I’m scrambling to make my year end lists a bit less pathetic. People need to make more interesting movies.
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There is a gay couple in Tara vs Bilal (Raheem Mir , a kathak dancer plays one of the roles) Maybe you’ll like it
https://www.wearecolourfull.com/post/raheem-mir
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Oh, he’s cute. Yeah, I’ll give that a try. Thanks Angie! You always come through.
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Oh, now I am excited to think about my year end lists! Best SRK tweet? Best Ridiculous Ranveer Look? Best Angie Review in DCIB comments?
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Man you should definitely do a best Angie review!
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Finished reading Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur and it’s a very solid, sexy lesbian romance if anyone is looking for one of those.
Started Meenakshi Sundareshwar and the beginning is so sweet and wholesome. I feel like a lot of people said it was boring but the start is super promising to me.
Currently baffled at how I got my flu shot about an hour ago and my arm barely hurts.
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Oh no, the family dynamic is terrible and pretty much continues in that vein – please don’t hold out for improvement.
What was cute (for me) was the chemistry between the leads, the friendship between the four youngsters, and the lead girl – she was so fresh!
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Margaret, I’ve been hearing awful things about the weather in the US, and I’m glad you survived with a puzzle. I spent Christmas alone but taking off today to see Mr. Malhotra for a few days. Also, Christmas was awesome; I skyped with a bunch of people and then relaxed with books and movies in my nice peaceful apartment.
I have not finished Code Name Tribanga. I will eventually, but not feeling it this week.
I finished all three seasons of Deadwind which is a Finnish noir I got hooked on although it is deeply flawed.
I watched Hit: Chapter One and I was a bit disappointed. First of all, it is an utter waste of Sanya Malhotra. She has a standard girlfriend in distress role (so, just flashbacks of her in soft focus slow motion laughing) and is barely on screen. Second, the premise is that Rajkummar is a cop with PTSD from a (REALLY GRAPHIC) incident in his past. So he spends the movie freaking out and throwing up every time he sees fire or a dead body. If anyone can sell this it’s Raj, but after a while you start wondering how is this guy able to do police work? Also: all of the loose ends do not get tied up, and we have to apparently wait for Hit: Chapter 2 for that.
Has anyone seen Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey? It showed up on the “best of 2022” lists for both Anupama Chopra and Anmol Jamwal and it has Darshana Rajendran whom I loved in Dear Friend. Looks pleasant enough, and after Deadwind and Hit I want to watch something nice. (After Thank God).
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I also heard so much about Jaya Jaya..I started watching it today. Hope I’ll finish before the year ends. The first 30 minutes are good and engrossing.
And for Hit, the first case, I have seen the telugu original and have the same thoughts: It’s disappointing. It’s not a bad movie but not as good as people said. And definitely too dark for me.
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It sounds like I had better luck with watching Thank God than you did with allllllllllllllllllll your fancy serious movies!
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Double XL is now on Netflix!
I was waiting for it like crazy ☺
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Parugu is on NETFLIX!!!!!! Happy New Year to me, happy new year to me, happy new year dear Genevieve, you can watch one of your favorite movies on a big screen!!!! SO much better than that stupid Tiger remake. I’m so happy.
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Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I am happy for you too!
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