Category Archives: Uncategorized

Bahubali Theme Post: Character Study, Sivagami

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Welcome back to another Bahubali Theme Post!  Now that I’ve gone through the big themes I could think of (Dharma, Male and Female, the Elements), time to really dig in and look character by character.  And why not start where the films start, with Sivagami. (yes yes, I will use the character names for these posts, because it’s not about the finished film and the actor’s portrayal, so much as the characters conceived in the screenplay) (full index of all Bahubali posts, including this one, is here)

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Jab Harry Met Sejal, FIRST SONG!!! Pritam Writes the Sound of Sunshine Again

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No subtitles though.  Which, following my theory from yesterday, means that Shahrukh used to love me and was telling me through subtitling his videos.  But now no longer loves me and is breaking up with me through NOT subtitling his videos.  WHY SHAHRUKH????  WHY????  I’ll change for you!  I’ll do whatever you ask!  Just take me back!

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New Jab Harry Met Sejal Trailer, STILL NO SUBTITLES!!!! I am Mad at You Shahrukh!!!! Also, French Kiss?

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Really quick post, just so we can all discuss.  And so those of you who need this information ASAP can get it.  New JHMS teaser!  I am still cautiously optimistic.  Although slightly less so than I was after the last two teasers.

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Silly Sunday Speculative Post: Father’s Day Edition! I Want More Father Plots! With Varun, Ranveer, Ranbir, Shahrukh, Arjun Rampal, and Rana Daggubatti

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Happy Father’s Day!  I am celebrating by doing nothing!  Probably.  I might go out to lunch with my parents after church if they want to.  But we have all had very exhausting weeks, and his Father’s Day wish may be to just go straight home and take a nap instead.  But I am excited at the idea of doing a Sunday speculative post that is fatherhood themed!  Such a rich source of film plots, that is very rarely used.

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TGIF: One Week Before Tubelight! In a Moment of Cultural Openness, HOT CHINESE GUYS!!!!

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Whenever I say “Chinese”, I have that knee-jerk moment of “wait, is that right?”  Because of course you don’t know if a person is Taiwanese, or Taiwanese who prefer to be called Chinese, or ethnically Chinese but from Cambodia, or just straight up American/British/Norwegian/Indian, whatever other country they were born and raised in, despite a Chinese appearace.  And then with languages, there’s the whole Mandarin versus Cantonese thing, and with films there’s the whole Chinese versus Taiwanese versus Hong Kong, and so on and so on.  But in this case, YES!  Chinese!  I am talking about attractive men who were born and raised within either Hong Kong or the People’s Republic of China, and who openly identify as Chinese and nothing else.  Because it’s Tubelight week, and Salman Khan is teaching us all about peace and openness.  And also I had about an 18 month period of being really really into Hong Kong cinema.

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Happy Tubelight Week! Who is Zhu Zhu?

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Happy one week before Tubelight comes out!  And welcome to my week of coverage.  If this is your first time here before a big release comes out, what I usually do is a loosely related post every day for a week before.  Stuff like, the director’s last film, or a similar film from the same star.  Just sort of discussion topics and background reading for stuff that might end up being relevant for the final film.  And for this film, let’s start with the co-star, Zhu Zhu!

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News Round-Up: No RK Films Revival, No Arbaaz for Dabangg 3, and No Indians at the Top of the Forbes List

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Boy, it’s been awhile since I did a real news round-up, isn’t it?  Partly because the releases have been going boom-boom-boom for the past few months, so with my weekly southern reviews, and new movie news, and then Bahubali, there just hasn’t been time.  But this week it’s kind of slow, I don’t have another review ready yet, might as well do a quick news round-up.

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Hindi Film 101: The Nehru-Gandhi Family, The 1st Generation and the Young Jawaharlal

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Well, this is one I’ve been avoiding!  Because I know feelings run high on it.  And I know that, as a non-Indian, I have no right to talk about another country’s politics.  So I am not going to talk about politics, I am going to give as impartial a perspective as I can on the progression from Motilal to Jawaharlal to Indira to Rajiv to Sonia to Rahul.  Because as I discovered yesterday when looking at the posters for upcoming films, we are about to have a spate of Indira-era period pieces, and to understand them, you really need to know about not just Indira, but what came before and after.

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Upcoming Movie News: Toilet Has a Trailer, Baadshaho Has a Time Period, and Paltan Has a Massive Cast

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The Ramadan promo parade continues!  Tubelight is taking it easy, Salman just tweeting set photos, Shahrukh is doing the same with Jab Harry Met Sejal (blech, still hate the title).  Leaving the field clear for the hardcore promos of first looks and teaser trailers for other movies.

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Raabta Footnote: That Song! The One the Villain Sings! Where is it From?

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I was just re-reading my SPOILERS review for Raabta and I realized I missed a big point, so I am going back to add a footnote.  When Jim Sardh walks home with Kriti and it starts to rain, they start to sing a song to each other.  And it was such an interesting choice, I just have to talk about it.

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Raabta Podcast! With Special Guest, MY SISTER!!!

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New podcast!  As I said in the review, I saw Raabta with my sister, thinking it would be a fun so-bad-it’s-good kind of sister experience, like when we watched Aashiqui 2 together.  But it turned out to be actually good!  So good that we spent 40 minutes talking about it on the way home.

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Raabta Review (NO SPOILERS): The Romantic Fantasy We Have All Been Craving!!!

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I say “all”, but really it’s just a subset of the commentators here.  But a strong subset.  Which includes myself.  I can enjoy an action film or a well-made drama, but there is just something about the big swoony romances with songs and impractical plots and lots of chemistry between the leads.  And this film definitely delivers!

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Shahrukh’s Movie Has a Stupid Title, Tubelight Has a Touching Song, and I Still Don’t Know What’s Going on in Jagga Jasoos

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I take one day off twitter, and everything happens!  It’s not fair!  Shahrukh’s movie has a title, and a bunch of new posters, new Tubelight song is up which changes the plot, and Jagga Jasoos…..well, that one doesn’t really change anything, but it sure perplexes me!

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Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: Scene By Scene Analysis in Exhaustive Detail Index

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This is one of my least popular, and most difficult, blog series.  It’s hardcore analysis, social and shot by shot and narrative and history of the film industry and history of India and everything I have ever learned all in one place.  I am up to section 20 now, and 100 screen shots, and I am barely past intermission.  But I thought I should probably just put together an index post to make it easy for latecomers to catch up.  And hopefully get a few more readers to justify the amount of effort I am putting in!

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Happy Birthday Ekta Kapoor! Most Powerful Woman in the Industry!

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You may say Farah or Zoya has more power, and maybe if you just look at the films they produced, okay.  But if you look at all the stars and stories and production changes Ekta has done through film AND television, there is no contest.  So, for her birthday, here are 18 reasons I love you, one for every hundred episodes produced of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (1833 in total). (this is an updated and reposted-post from last year)

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Hindi Film 101: Shahrukh’s Filmography, Part 3!

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Happy Tuesday!  Once again, I am going through Shahrukh’s filmography film by film in chronological order.  Because it is an interesting case study for how a career progresses, and how the industry has changed, over the past 25 years. (part 1 here, part 2 here)

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