Yaaaaay, weekend WatchAlong! So happy to see y’all again!
Happy Sunday! I got my coffee, I got the movie pulled up, Im ready to go!
At 7am Chicago time I will put up an “And PLAY” comment and we will all keep chatting from there.
dontcallitbollywood
Call it Indian film and treat it seriously!
dontcallitbollywood 
Good morning!
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Good Morning! It’s been so long since our last watchalong, albie is confused. Why are we awake early and on the couch?
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The hamster on the other side of the country is thrilled to have some one awake at the same time he is! He is now rolling around the house in a ball as happy as a hamster could be.
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And PLAY!
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Rated ages 13+?? I have a hard time remembering anything over PG.
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Maybe just the concept of Crime and Trickery
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I think I’m a bit late but lets see
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Shoot, I forgot to have breakfast ready! I may make a dash for the kitchen since the credits alone are making me hungry.
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I am preparred to be envious of everyone’s breakfast. At my house we don’t even have milk for my coffee.
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Why don’t you have milk????? What happened in your household? Surely the oldest is old enough to go acquire milk for the rest of you?
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The kids don’t want to be the last person to use the milk so they put the jug back into the fridge empty. But we live a block from the best little grocery store in existence. So I can send a kid out to get milk as soon as they wake up (or get it myself after 6 AM).
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The yells over the credits aren’t translated in subtitles. Any idea what he was yelling about?
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I think it is the vendors selling stuff.
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I think it’s just yelling what the customers ordered back to the kitchen.
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He’s just yelling to the kitchen about different food like 2 roti’s, 2 firni, 2 kulfi,etc.
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I need to say this but I love the opening card sequence it has that typical mughlai restaurant look (I love little details like this)
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Late but here! Hiiii everyone!
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Hiiiiii! We started on time, so are now 4 min in
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Thank you!
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Sorry about the delay. I am here!
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Parineeti wears such nice clothes plus I love Montu’s shirt even though he seems like an asshole
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Notice how they don’t care at all or even bother looking at her education.
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Yep! And in contrast, how proud Anupam is of all of it.
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Parineeti does such a nice job in these “phataka” (firework) roles!
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She does. Seeing her trying to be sweet and demure in the first bit with the tray of juice was almost comical.
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Kudos to the scriptwriters and Anupum for making his character completely sympathetic even while trying to get his daughter married off.
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I was just thinking something similar. How does Anupam Kher go from being completely sympathetic in one movie to being completely despicable in the next?!
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I am getting sooo hungry!
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I was explaining the dowry system to my boys’ friends who were sleeping over last night (in an attempt to get anyone to wake up at 5 and watch this with me). And by the end of the discussion my oldest’s 14 year old best friend decided that dowry’s are awesome! Which is kinda what you can expect from a 14 year old boy.
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It does mean he would get a car!
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I just burst out laughing!
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I think they won’t find it so awesome once all the money goes to the family and nothing to the groom itself. I remember for my grandmother, she had given a good amount of dowry but it all went to my grandfather’s sister’s husband and get this they used to act more arrogant as if they helped with their marriage.
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the attitude of 14 year old boys is rarely thoughtfull. Sorry about your grandmother having to live with obnoxious relatives.
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My grandmother is a very calm, dispassionate and almost zen-like being. However the only thing that will get her riled up even now is if she hears about joint families and even for my mom she was very happy to hear my dad and her would live alone
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Parineeti does show a lot of character growth in this movie as Aditya ends up being everything she doesn’t want aka bad english, fake diploma holder
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Ooooo, good point! I hadn’t thought about that before! We agree with her turning down Montu because his family is HORRIBLE, but her reason is the bad accent. On the other hand, Aditya wouldn’t have asked about “blue films” at a first meeting, and would have cheerfully accepted correction to his accept while Montu was gross and oaffended. So Pari thinks it’s the accent, but really it’s the attitude about being less educated and willing to take correction.
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I think she would’ve still had some initial reservations(remember his shirt and english she calls out at the end) but would’ve been won over by the food.
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So here is what confuses me a bit about this movie. They are clearly Muslim. In Islam, usually Mahr (similar concept to a dowry) is given by the husband’s family to the wife.
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Is it possible that the local Indian custom has won out over the international standard?
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Yeah. Maybe. They live in Hyderabad, which has a lot of interfaith community living together. So the rishtas could be interfaith as well.
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Speaking of dowry, I just remembered an opposite story from my family. When my Great Uncle Al was courting my Great Aunt Francis, her mother made her give back ANY gift more than flowers, including a puppy. Which is a pretty firm and proper line of pre-marriage rules 🙂 Although I do worry about that poor puppy.
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Hmmm. And now I am thinking, at first glance this guy is perfect based on all the superficial things she wants. But his family is TERRIBLE and his attitude turns out to be horrible too. So weirdly this film is about being open minded and accepting of people your parents pick for you becuase your own choices may be bad.
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I feel thats the wrong approach, she doesn’t have much experience with good educated guys because of the small dowry. So she thinks an educated guy will fix her problems because its something she doesn’t really meet.
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Ok ew why does he speak in an accent in his own home country
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To pick up girls?
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He speaks it to his mom so I think its just generally a pretentitious thing he does.
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Isn’t he an NRI?
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No, just works for an American company so probably had to learn and use the accent at work.
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I think many people who work for American companies are trained in American accent and encouraged to continue speaking in that accent. And he might have the additional motive since he wants to move to America.
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Speaking as someone who occasionally has to have a business to business conversation with those India based companies, it is SO FRUSTRATING. I would far rather have a fluid conversation with them speaking normally, then feeling the effort on the other end of the line. Also, one of my coworkers grew up in Bombay, so it’s especially irritating when she is on the phone. Just speak Hindi to each other! Be happy! We won’t be angry!
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I think it’s just my bad experience with people who speak in american accents in India when they’ve grown up there which is making me hate him even more
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I can’t remember the background given in the movie but if he happened to have a teacher who spoke AMerican English he could have picked it up. That coupled with TV. And clearly they are both fascinated with America.
I had a student in Germany who spoke English with this crazy New York City drawl. We could not figure out how she exactly got it, but she sure had it.
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This is by far my favorite song in the movie, and I hate that it is about jerk boy
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I love Parineeti dancing around the shoe store!
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Ooo, also she is still focused on marriage as her future! America is possible, Kalamazoo is possible, all of that thanks to this one guy. Instead of thinking about how to get there on her own.
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Also, now all I want in Nalli Nihari!!! I might have to get some later today or make some! UGH!
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1 crore dowry that is a lot!
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the way his parents come to this meeting with the list, I wonder if part of his plan to move to Kalamazoo was to find a bride before he left to pay for everything?
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I don’t think he’s consciously a evil person just someone who is pathetic
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Way to go Pari!!! She is AMAZING!!!
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I’m also thinking about this from my no-dowry culture. I could see asking your in-laws for help to get through grad school, but it would be humiliating. And you would want to pay it back. On the other hand, if the family is really rich, the person you are marrying would have control of their own funds by the time they were old enough to get married, so it wouldn’t be weird to ask your rich husband/wife for money.
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It is humiliating plus that ‘help’ is there for your whole life. So your always in debt to your in-laws in some way or the other.
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Margaret’s last comment made me think – wouldn’t it be cheaper to move to America then get married in India? Aren’t dowry’s usually more than the cost of a plane ticket and 1st and last months rent?
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Just did the conversion, and they are asking for almost $100,000. So I think it’s the MBA international tuition that they want covered. BOOOO, parents! Make your kid take out a loan!
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Yes, it would plus I do not understand how the mother lives in Jubilee Hills (one of the most expensive neighbourhood’s in Hyderabad) and then apparently had to mortage her jewellery and can’t afford to send their child to America. Why not drop the house in Jubilee Hills and then send the child?
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Maybe it’s a sign that the family is just super appearance focused? They have a house in the best area but can’t afford it, they are sending their son to America but need a dowry to pay for it.
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Yes, if they mortgaged their house which would be worth atleast 200,000 then they could’ve payed easily for the Masters
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But if the house is already mortgaged to the hilt because of all the other things they think they need…I’ve definitely known families like that, especially in America!
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Dowries can be anything so unclear if they would be more or less than 2 plane tickets and 2 months rent. But yes, the groom could have eloped with Pari, but he is pathetic and would never stand up to his parents enough to do that.
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I do like that the accents are consciously integrated into the story. Like it never drops
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Ignoring the whole con scheme for the moment, I think Pari finally switched from “there is a perfect boy who will make my life perfect” to “I’m gonna get what I want for myself on my own” because she FOUND the perfect boy, and he turned out to be horrible, so that was a wake up of never counting on marriage to fix her life again.
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He is a child of his family. Not terrible, but not strong enough to leave his whole family for love..
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I think this may be the best acting I’ve ever seen from Anupam.
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Now I’m trying to think of other great Anupam performances! I know there are some, but at the moment I can’t think of any.
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In a role that is completely opposite of this and he is despicable and you love to hate him would be Dil!
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I haven’t seen Dil in forever! I don’t even remember who he is in the movie.
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Aamir’s Dad who is ready to sell him for dowry.
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Amir and Madhuri!
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This is such a lovely and natural way to get Anupam on board. He just needs to have a moment of seeing how fragile their life is to be ready to do whatever it takes to give her some security.
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Stupid street food looks so good! I’m drinking iced coffee and dreaming of oily fried things.
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Parineeti’s clothes and Anupam’s awkwardness
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Her clothes are very much something I would expect a Dubai heiress to wear
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This is the part of the movie where every Pari outfit makes me go “this is my favorite!” And then I see the next one and like it even more.
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Anupam in the hotel is the best.
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He didn’t give Ismail Qureshi the address of the hotel?
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Maybe they put it in the bio data
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Aww Parineeti calming down Anupam Kher is so cute
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The way the Hyderabadi accent never drops even for ‘Sania’ who grew up in Dubai (generally the hindi accent there is more Punjabi/Pakistani)
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I always joke that my Urdu is better than my Hindi. Even when I lived in India everyone in Mumbai always knew I was not from there as soon as I spoke Hindi because I did not have the Bombay slang!
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Aditya Roy Kapoor looks so nice here , in my opinion this is the best he has looked ever in a movie
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Ooooo, big statement! I think I would say he looks better in other movies just as himself, but the combo of his looks and personality in this are the BEST.
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HA! I feel the complete opposite. I love him in this movie but I almost did not recognize him in this movie and the first time I watched it. My reaction was… wait…. that’s ARK?! How the heck did they make such a good looking guy look so not good looking?!
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I like him very much in this role, but find he is “hotter” in other movies.
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I think he is a bit skinny for my taste nowdayas
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Definitely agree with you there!
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I’m stuck on that comment from adh about how he has the same accent as Montu! It’s true, he does, but he is cheerfully aware of his limitations, and charming with it, having something nice to say to all the international guests.
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Yes and he isn’t being creepy and asking Pari or the international guests to watch porn the first time he meets them!
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WHat? he asked them to watch porn? How did I mis that?
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No no, Montu at the beginning! He asked Pari if she watched “blue films” which is Indian slang for porn.
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Montu asked Pari about “blue films” which is porn in India.
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Why does he want to marry her?
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I think from some later comments int he film it sounds like he has a hard time even getting a bride to consider him because of the lack of education and so on, so he’s excited to even have an appointment. And then of course the arm wrestling over the bill is just WAY too charming.
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His losing so fast was adorable.
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Unfortunately I have to go, bit of a family situation. 😦 Enjoy the movie everyone, I will read through your comments when I manage to watch it!
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Good luck on family sitch!
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Aww! Good luck, Lily!
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😦 hope the situation ends okay.
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I hope everything is fine!
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Aditya Roy Kapoor’s expressions are so cute. Plus Parineeti’s acting as a heiress with the cancelled is so cute
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I feel major abbas and colonel abbas wouldn’t be such a bad option for Parineeti in normal scenarios because the dowry isn’t so bad (dowry is always bad but we’re looking at dowry if its a given)
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It’s interesting, seeing that the film has now switched from “dowry is a given” suddenly any family asking for ANY amount is an issue.
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Its a good approach of the film to just say how it is a bad think from all sides
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Their chemistry is great.
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I had almost forgotten that in anticipation of this movie, last night, I ordered chicken 65, so I can have it this morning with salty lassi!
Margaret — I can already see you shaking your head in disapproval but you are wrong! Salty lassi > Sweet lassi!
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BLECH!
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I get it Parineeti, even I can’t resist Kebabs. I would marry him on the spot if I saw these kind of kebabs
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Plus Aditya Roy Kapoor of course
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