Happy Friday! Tomorrow I get up pre-dawn and fly back to Chicago and get to see Albie Dog again. But today, site seeing!
Last night I got my friend to watch JHMS a second time! And she liked it a lot more than the first time, so much that she was wondering why she didn’t like it the first time? And once again, she decided, it’s expectations. When you are watching it trying to figure out what this movie is and what it is doing, you can’t enjoy it. Once you know what to expect, you like it. At least, that’s what I’ve heard most from people and that was my own experience as well, enjoyed it much more on the second watch. Did any of you like JHMS the first time, or was it a second time for you too?
I’m going to Alcatraz today! Which is apparently amazing, and also very very VERY cold. Those are the two things I have heard from my friend, her husband, and another friend who used to live in SF that I mentioned it to. Any tips? I’m planning on wearing two shirts and two pants and comfortable walking shoes.
I had a nightmare that Albie Dog wasn’t being taken care of at the sitter and when I went to pick him up, it was just a hollow sleeve. So I asked the sitter for a proof of life photo, he looks happy and healthy, right?
Do they serve coffee on dawn flights? Do airport coffee shops open before 6am? That would be another solution.
dontcallitbollywood 
Oh man, I have ZERO tips for alcatraz. It took me so much effort to keep from crying during that trip, just because the place has so much traumatic history. So…be sure to bring tissues if you’re like me?
As far as I know, airport coffeeshops are always open! Lots of red eye flights mean I’m usually hunting for coffee.
LikeLike
Oh dear, crying? Cold, windy, and crying? And yet everyone also says it’s amazing.
You’ve given me hope, I’m gonna check the airport website to see if I can confirm coffee.
LikeLike
Just want to let you know that I am DEFINITELY the exception! Most people there seemed to enjoy themselves, so have no fears on that count!
LikeLike
I’ve never been to Alcatraz (but heard about it, thanks to BuzzFeed Unsolved), but I do hope you find the trip illuminating!!
I usually never drink coffee on flights no matter how sleepy I am, mostly because I prefer coffee and tea a particular way (either the way I or my mum makes it). When I do pick a beverage it’s usually juice.
Awww I’m so happy to see a happy and healthy Albie dog! And look at his tongue touching his nose. I can never get mine to go that far.
I’m SO glad your friend liked JHMS a lot better this time! I think I’m one of the few people who was captured by the film instantly, or at least by the parts of the film that resonated with me. For a person like me, a film starting with a song and visuals like Safar was an amazing experience. And because that theme ran consistently throughout the film, I felt like I was getting what I wanted even though my first watch wasn’t as nuanced. So I do agree with your friend that maybe it’s the expectations you come with that can potentially ruin the experience, though I won’t be the best person to confirm that. For me the film gave me something that I needed but never expected to see in a desi film.
Of late I have also been wondering what a film like JHMS must look like on a big screen. My experience of it began and will end with Netflix, and to me it’s such an intimate experience, where I can keep rewinding to note the tiniest shifts in facial expressions and tone, try to figure out where Harry is using Punjabi muhavara or where Sejal is using more Gujarati inflections…and I just can’t imagine any of that with a big screen. So part of me wonders whether this is a film that translates better into a more intimate medium like a streaming platform than a big screen. Again, I’m not the best to judge because it’s been YEARS since I’ve watched films in an actual theatre!
Have a safe and lovely trip back to Chicago!!
LikeLike
Pingback: Happy Friday! A Variety of Vacation Topics! - MAHARASHTRA.online
Pingback: Happy Friday! A Variety of Vacation Topics! – Bollywood News
I was in the cruise around Alcatraz earlier this week. It was so windy and freezing. Take gloves, hat, sunglasses and a warm jacket!
LikeLike
I loved JHMS from the get-go, but I am a straightforward romance junkie, so pretty easy to please with an SRK love story. And Albie Dog looks fine! A picture of energy and health.
I know zilch about Alcatraz but hope you enjoy it!
LikeLike
We went to Alcatraz on the 11 year old’s 8th birthday! We loved it. It was December 26th, we wore thick coats and scarves. We bought the now 11 year old a metal cup and plate of the sort the prisioners have and we use them all the time, the cup more than the plate. It is a wide round metal mug, so hot drinks become instantly cold and all drinks are super easy to spill. Just another way to insure prisoner misery. I particularly enjoyed learning about the water issues and the money making aspects of laundry.
When did I start watching Indian films, was it 2018? My vicarious traveller’s book group was going to India and I got a super bad flu that meant I couldn’t really read, or I could read but I couldn’t maintain focus. So I decided to watch whatever Indian movies were on Netflix. I saw Jodha Akbar and was hooked. Minimal subtitles but meaningful and beautiful and grand. And then I watched what Netflix recommended, but always avoiding Jab Harry Met Sejal because I hated the name. Eventually because of Red Chillies Netflix agreement I saw enough SRK movies to search him out and figure out he was called the King, and then started watching his movies on purpose to figure out WHY he was called the King. So I finally watched Jab Harry Met Sejal, and I LOVED IT! Immediately. I was struck by SRK’s performance, but future watches turned me into an Anushka fan. Of course, I used to be a tour guide. Sooooo, I probably approach the film from a unique perspective.
I am glad, and completely unsurprised that your friend loved JHMS. I hope you had a memorable time at Alcatraz and that you weren’t overcome by tears.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Love that your tour guide experiences had you find the movie relatable because I had a similar response, but as a tourist that went to Europe with tour group! I recall one small part of the appeal for JHMS for me was being able to understand some of Harry’s frustration with clients, because I’d seen tourists in our group like some of the ones he had to deal with in Safar. So when he cusses out the Gujarati group and mentions their obsession with their home cuisine, I felt that because I saw tourists who were forever complaining about the food even though the tour company was bending themselves backwards to get food that most of the group would like.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My (White American Christian) parents went to China with a tour group and were so frustrated that the people in their group would NEVER eat Chinese food! It was an experience they wanted but couldn’t get because they were with a tour group. I hadn’t fully realized that it isn’t JUST americans who do that.
I led day long walking tours, so I was never with one group for a super extended period of time. I didn’t have Harry’s experience. But his inability to connnect, yet ability to get laid is something I understood.
LikeLike
Alcatraz was great! And warmer than I expected, I actually had to remove a layer. I managed to resist the cups and plates, but I did buy a magnet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Albie is adorable 😍.
I remember liking JHMS a lot in the first watch, enough that I watched it again a couple of days later, then started recruiting people to watch it with me so I could see their reactions too. But I was definitely more hung up on the plot turns and bad guy confrontations and doing some editing in my head to try to make it perfect. Now I just watch for the arc of the romance and fast forward through some of the sillier bits. I recently rewatched because I was up late working on files and needed something comforting on in the background. From the scene in the bedroom after the kidnapping to the end it’s really perfect. That later section is so well done, totally sticks the landing. And I’m with Genevieve that you start out watching SRK and end up seeing how Anushka’s performance matches him. She’s luminous.
LikeLike
You’re making me miss San Francisco. I live about two hours south so it’s a slightly far day trip for me. Inconvenient enough not to go very often but I have lots of happy childhood memories of standing at the bow of a ferry singing the Titanic song and feeling my face slowly freeze in the wind.
I think JHMS was a lot to process on the first watch. I mostly remember liking the comedy scenes and being surprised that the humor was so vastly different from the rest of what I’d seen in Bollywood. As it was nearing the end I was thinking “that wasn’t nearly as bad as everybody said it was” and then during Butterfly I got this really pleasant warm glowy happy feeling. Then I went and read your analysis, because I had watched it specifically so that I could read your analysis, which helped me process the rest of it and I’ve loved it ever since.
LikeLike
Someday I will drive out to visit my SF friend and then have a car and be able to go around seeing everyone else in the area. IT’s really remarkably difficult to get around more than the little few miles right around her.
LikeLike
Pingback: Happy Friday! A Variety of Vacation Topics! - MoviesByReview