Thank you Reflects on Life and MKP and Popka Superstar for encouraging me to write this post! It’s probably not exactly what you pictured (nothing ever is, life is a series of disappointments), but at least it’s kind of getting at it.
Continue readingReady for a thought post? Of course you are! Thought posts are the best! Or at least, I like them.
Continue readingYou ready for an incomplete history and incomplete list of films? I’m gonna take a stab at describing Indian/South Asian immigration patterns based on the class I took in college 10 years ago and various articles and stuff I’ve read since. It’s not really that expert. But at least it will get the discussion started! And to help with discussion, some filmi examples.
Continue readingThanks to Procrastinatrix for giving me the idea for the title! As soon as I read it, suddenly Farah’s whole career clicked into place.
Continue readingIt’s Meena Kumari’s Birthday! Well, in India. August 1 hasn’t reached America yet, but will soon. Anyway, I want to repost my multi-part series on her in honor of her birth anniversary.
Continue readingI am, like, BARELY qualified to write this. I read a couple articles, I did a grad school seminar that discussed Pakistan history, and I’ve seen maybe a half dozen Pakistani films. So really, not a lot of knowledge! Any less and I would refuse to write this at all. I encourage you to go out and learn from others, and to comment and teach me more if you know more, this is just a starting point.
Continue readingI was in the middle of writing a 101 on Pakistani film when I realized I can’t really do that without talking about the relationship between Hindi and Urdu, and I can’t do that without talking about South Asian languages in general, and thus we find ourselves here.
Continue readingI’m breaking my own rule because Hrithik is still in his career, things could still happen in his life, so it is a bit early for a 101 post. But he also has had such a fascinating unexpected life so far, I feel like he deserves a post. Or two posts, because there is SO MUCH.
Continue readingI’m back! And we are now done with Dharmendra. At least, as the leading character. Time to move him back to a supporting role and bring in some younger actors.
Continue readingHmm. Let’s see if I can do this. I really want to help the People of the World to be able to like what they like, and not like what they don’t like, honestly and openly. And also work through my own difficulties in that area.
Continue readingWelcome back to the Deol family! Not as much interest as I expected, but maybe that is just because I started in olden times? I will have to see if interest increases as I move forward in time.
Continue readingThank you Maria! You asked in a comment who Abhay Deol was and where he had been and it made me realize that I haven’t done a Deol family Hindi Film 101 yet!
Continue readingCan I just say how proud I am of all of us for keeping a respectful tone on these posts? Even when we disagree with each other, we do it with the assumption that both sides are just trying to learn and be the best human beings we can be. I have pretty much stopped replying to comments, because I don’t need to, you are all having deep intelligent conversations on your own without my needing to leap in and make sure things stay civil.
Continue readingOh boy, another big controversial post! Or maybe not, no one is even commenting on yesterday’s post. Perhaps Salman just isn’t that controversial any more?
Continue readingOh boy! The big controversial thing that is the first/only thing people think of with Salman! How fun for all of us to discuss it, and perhaps later be sued for libel.
Continue readingPart 3! And I might, finally, be ready to move on to Salman’s own life instead of just establishing his background and childhood. But probably not.
Continue readingSorry, this is more stuff that happened before Salman became famous. But it’s important! These early experiences are what define us as a person. You can’t understand Salman without understanding his family and background.
Continue readingI hadn’t even considered writing this post until a few days ago when somehow we started talking about her. Which is a sign of how mysterious she is, that her past is such a vast emptiness we all somehow forget it even exists. We think of her as boring bland Katrina instead of considering the amazingness of her life and existance.
Continue readingWe’ve been talking back and forth a lot lately about the issues with Karan’s public image and how it does not reflect who he is outside of the limelight. At least, I don’t think so. And I wanted to go through the actual facts of his career, not how he presents himself but what he has accomplished behind closed doors, so we can take a look at Karan the Artist and Karan the Businessman. Most of this post is simply listing out and counting categories of films from Dharma productions.
Continue readingFun post! I get to complain, and then you all get to complain back at me. It will be like when I talked about subtitles, but worse.
Continue readingSo many news stories today! I’m gonna start with the two big think-y ones, the ones with massive legal implications, a rape case of a minor actor/band member (trust me, you haven’t heard of him and will have no emotional response because of fandom), and the same old Blackbuck case. And after I get this long deep boring post out of the way, I will move on to Imraan Khan getting divorced and fun stuff like that.
Continue readingI guess Viviek just did another scummy thing using the Aish-Salman story? Not surprising, he has been breaking boundaries and making public what should be private for the past 16 years. The Viviek press conference was the start of the road that lead to what we have now with Kangana spewing hate at the world and the media gobbling it up, and believing it. NOTE ABOUT COMMENTS: This post is purposefully about 2003 and the aftermath. So ideally, any comments will place the whole situation in context of the original situation, Viviek and Salman and Aishwarya, the media, private and public divides, and abuse.
Continue readingI wrote this post for Dadasaheb’s birthday, but it also works for the anniversary of Indian film.
Continue readingThis is not a “oh boy, these are the next stars to launch!” post. This is a 101 post, it’s just the basic names and general ages of the children of celebrities, so when I (or other media outlets) casually refer to “Hrehaan” or “Nyssa”, you will know who we mean.
Continue readingI’m back! I kept thinking I had already finished this, and I think that is just because I already wrote my Karna post, and like Duryodhana, I felt like once he died, why go on?
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dontcallitbollywood 