Happy Wednesday! I am so sick of looking at screens, lots of video calls for work this week so by the end of the day I have to shut everything down or I will go buggy.
I’ll start!
Watching: I’ve now seen Pathaan twice on streaming, and I still think the added scenes are stupid. However, it was super fun watching it on Monday with my friend and her newborn. The baby nursed, slept, and occasionally made random movements that I choose to interpret as indicating love for SRK.
Reading: I need to read a book-book I think. The screentime is giving me such a headache lately. But what book-book should I read????
Thinking: Kitchen, blech. I’m still waiting on the floorman to give me a date, in the meantime I’ve gone ahead and bought a new sink and scheduled someone to install it (because if I’m getting a new floor, I should replace the sink first so the floor comes right up to the edge). And I’ve ordered flatpack shelves and cabinets which are all sitting in boxes because why build them until the dang floor is done? If Floorman ever does his job, I can hit the ground running, but meantime I am in a weird limbo. Sigh.
Listening: A co-worker called someone a “rockstar” yesterday, so now this is going through my head,
Now, question for you! Give me a book-book recommendation! So I can force myself to be screen-free and rest my poor eyes when I’m not working. I don’t like big serious Novels, or depressing non-fiction (nothing on mass death or anything like that), but otherwise I will enjoy anything that is well-written!
dontcallitbollywood 
The most recent book I read was Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake. It’s kinda dense and mainly conversations between the main characters but I liked it. Oh yeah, it’s also set in Chicago so you might like it 🙂
I finally got Conversations with Mani Ratnam and I’ve been slowly reading it when I’ve gotten a chance. I’m sure that you’ve read it before though! I hope that Baradwaj Rangan get’s a chance to do a second part that chronicles the movies from the past 10 years one day. I’m especially fascinating by the journey it took to make Ponniyin Selvan.
I haven’t watched much of anything new except for this small budget Telugu movie called Writer Padmabhushan starring Suhas (Colour Photo). It was funny and cute, the type of movie that Nani started his career out with.
I also saw Vishwak Sen’s new movie that he directed, Das Ka Dhamki. It was directed really well, especially some of the action sequences. But the movie itself felt very similar to other Telugu action comedy movies of the past five years. The songs were really good though!
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I’m so jealous for both Writer Padmabhushan and Das Ka Dhamki. When I subscribed last month to Aha I was sure Writer will go there, because it looked like Aha kind of movie for me, but instead it went to Zee. Nothing interesting was on Zee when I had it, and as soon as I changed they bought Suhas movie. Stupid Zee.
I’m Paagal super fan and Vishwaksen’s admirer so Das Ka Dhamki is a must watch for me. I’m happy to see you liked it because even with all my love for Vishwak and Nivetha I found the trailer odd and not convincing. It could be good but also a total disaster. I’m glad it’s not the latter.
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Lol, yeah I was expecting Writer Padmabhushan to show up on Aha as well but it was surprisingly on Zee.
Dhamki was just one of those CEO masala stories like Dhamaka, Gautham Nanda, Gentleman, etc. which had some predictable twists. But I really liked how the movie was shot and some of the creative choices in the action choreography. Overall I thought it was a solid attempt by Vishwak Sen.
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Which one are the added scenes in Pathaan?
Sending good energy so the floorman will come fast and do a good job.
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The fingernail scene, and the scene where they yell at Dips in interrogation, and the scene when SRK explains the “drop through skylight” plan.
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But I liked SRK exiting the lift before the drop through the skylight plan. I had read that we would also hear which movie he was found in as a kid but that didn’t seem to make it through 😕
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PONNIYIN SELVAN 2 TRAILER DROPPED. THE SOUNDTRACK IS ALREADY ON SPOTIFY!!!!!! It looks so good and the music is phenomenal!!
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Ahh, I’m so hyped! It sucks that they haven’t released the Telugu soundtrack yet though..
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They have! They just rolled them out slowly one by one
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Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Thank you thank you! My only complaint is, NOT ENOUGH TRISHA.
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The movie is supposed to 3 hours and 52 minutes long. There will be enough Trisha and Chiyaan and Aish will break my heart!! Just watch Raavanan / Raavan on Einthusan Margaret so you understand why! You cannot underestimate how much their being in that film underlines why they are in Ponnyin Selvan! I cannot emphasize it enough.
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I watched Naandhi – telugu courtroom drama. Good movie, very gripping. A little too stressful for me. I needed 5 days to finish it. The hero is very handsome. How it is possible that he has been in the industry for 20 years and I only noticed him now?
Ajay Devgn bought the rights for Hindi remake. I think it’s a good script to be remade.
I’m also watching Victoria (the series), and when I’m not watching I read about all those royals and their real story. Very interesting.
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Allari Naresh (Allari is a nickname that translates to naughty) is mostly known for his comedy movies. I used really like his comedies as kid though I actually haven’t seen any of them in years. I know he attempted a few serious roles throughout his career but they never really worked at the box office and he was typecasted as a comedy hero which got monotonous after a while. I think after doing Mahesh Babu’s friend role in Maharshi, he moved away from comedy and started doing dramas. I remember Naandhi got a lot of critical acclaim but I felt that it was too stressful as well.
If you want Allari Naresh reccommendations I would suggest watching Blade Babji, Gamyam (co-starring Sharwanand), Kithakithalu, and Seema Sastri. But I will say that other than Gamyam, I wouldn’t be surprised if any of his movies are outdated now especially in terms of problematic comedy.
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I saw some fragments of Gamyam on youtube and man, Sharwa looks like a baby, I didn’t recognized him.
From other news, I subscribed to some new , unknown to me ott – ETV Win, because they have Dear Megha, telugu remake of Dia. There are no subtitles but I’m going to watch it anyway. I was waiting for this movie to appear somewhere for months. Now I hope someone will also buy Dear Dia .
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Oh! I started the Victoria series a few years back. Albert is so endearing.
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I’m in love with Albert’s brother Ernest (with the character in the series, not the real Ernst, and with the actor- David Oakes)
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You would LOVE Dr. Nellie, a true life dickinson moves west bio with a triumphant heroine. The first time I read it I wanted to send it to you but used copies were $80. Now they are $20, but we’re broke so you are still on your own.
I saw Pathaan, I’ve only seen it with the extra scenes, but I REALLY DID NOT NEED that fingernail scene.
Thinking: Is the floorman cute? Is he married? A date might not be so bad. I’m casting Juhi as you (I know she is older but she is so cute) and SRK as the floorman with house repair hijinks, misunderstandings, and romance! My fantasies have included contemplating SRK’s real abilities at home renovations, and I’m thinking they are about 0. That would make it all the more entertaining.
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HA! I think I don’t want a “date” with the floorman, because so far all I know about him is that he is terrible at communication, and it doesn’t sound like a fun date to say “how are you?” and then wait three days for an office manager to email you back saying “he may be able to respond to your question some time next week” 🙂 But I love the idea of an SRK-Juhi handyman type plot. Maybe gender-reversed Overboard?
Oooooo, I am totally buying the Dr. Nellie book!
The fingernail scene is USELESS! In the theatrical version, you see him beat up and bloody and you can fill in the gaps, you don’t need to actually see the torture.
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+1 the torture is useless
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I have a random thought for you – I was watching some other movies like Tiger and War. I realised i feel no emotion seeing those performers on screen. Katrina – I feel nothing. Salman and Hrithik – same. Shahrukh – so different, and others too like Shabana Azmi, Madhuri.
I can’t tell why I have this. I remember Gauri Khan said on David letterman that so many people love SRK because they have an emotional connect with him. She said it with such deep understanding and respect for what he means to “us”. I really admired that. I felt like she was validating me and she didn’t deride fans.
I can’t make sense of my love for Shahrukh. Some days i spend in terrible disappointment and helplessness that I’ll never get to meet/see him live. I feel heartbroken and then I need to collect myself and bring myself back to reality.
I wonder if you have a sense of what I’m describing and besides admiring him as a human being – what is this deep connection?!?!?
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I want to say “read my book!” but I can’t because it’s not available any more. Anyway, I have a section talking about this experience. For me, I don’t want to meet him or see him life (although I did get to see him live once and it was AMAZING), what gets to me is when I feel him being struggling, being unhappy, it affects me much more than is logical. When Aryan was in jail, I was under lowkey stress the whole time. Which, again, is nonsense. I don’t know these people, I can’t help in the situation, it’s got nothing to do with me really. But the heart was still involved.
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Thank you. It’s good to know I’m not alone 🤗♥️
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I found someone selling a used copy of your book and I’ve ordered it 😀
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Oh cool!
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I know you probably know about this. However Priyanka Chopra came on a podcast ‘exposing’ Bollywood. Would it be possible for you to write something on it since you generally have a more balanced view?
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thanks for the heads up!
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A bit of life stress combined with the Priyanka Chopra interview combined in my subconscious yesterday to give me an anxiety dream that I was Shah Rukh’s mistress! I felt so terrible and bad for Gauri but he was pursuing me relentlessly and I was helpless to resist!
I watched Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey this weekend and I just don’t know. It feels very weird to have such a funny movie about such a serious subject, but they are not at all making light of the subject. It has a very nice ending. And I love Darshana Rajendran even more now. She has such an expressive face. (Apparently she was in Koode, but I don’t remember her).
Also halfway through Jogi, which is stressing me out and I might have to take another break.
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What a dream!
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Fresh SRK photos:
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And now there is a discussion post up! Thank you for the very important alert.
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Quick note…I tried to watch Hungama (2003) last night because someone on YouTube mentioned how underrated the romance between Aftab S. and Rimi Sen was in it. I couldn’t get through the 1st hour. Priyadarshan is so not my jam. In every single film of his I’ve seen, I want to scrub away all of the antic comedy that just does not work for me (and I do realize it’s probably partly a cultural and language thing) and then I want to just take the romance at the core and expand it into an actual rom-com (Hulchul, Chup Chup Ke, and now this one). All three would have been amazing rom-coms. I’m not the type to fast forward through a film and just watch one plotline, so bummer.
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