Ugh, sometimes India makes me really angry. Two absolutely ridiculous charges of offending sensibility just succeeded in forcing films to alter themselves, because no one (and I’m not saying filmmakers, I am saying the courts and media and public) is willing to stand up and say “This is ridiculous”.
Usually I do birthday versus birthday, but Kareena has had a long enough career, I think she can be a challenge all in herself.
Well, the opening salvo of Thugs promotions has been fired. It’s no longer just the ramp up news stories teasing things, it’s the actual official motion posters. To be followed by teasers and then song teasers and then a trailer and then a barrage of interviews, and finally the film just as we become completely sick of hearing about it.
Such a good movie! I always forget, and then I watch it again and it is even better than I remembered. Abhishek is perfect, Amitabh is perfect, Katrina is dubbed, it’s just what you want!
Happy Birthday Bebo! Let’s see if I can come up with a full 36 reasons to love you! I think I probably can.
Well, this is awkward. I have almost no qualifications to write this post. But on the other hand, I started writing about Sarkar and realized half that post was just a discussion of the film that RGV used as a jumping off point. And I already dumped paragraphs and paragraphs on it before I could start talking about Raajneeti. And I can feel the same thing coming with Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. So, I guess I have to do this. Write a post just so I have something I can refer back to in all those other posts rather than starting from scratch each time. Even though I am far from the best person to write about this film.
This is SO EXCITING. Mahesh Bhatt returning to directing, Pooja Bhatt returning to acting, Alia Bhatt working with her father for the first time and Sanjay working with Mahesh for the first time in years. But mostly, a return to a true film classic.
My views took a sudden dive and I couldn’t figure out why. And then I got an alert from HotStar about an Indo-Pak cricket game, and I am thinking these things are probably related.
This is a request from Emily, but also a film it feels like I should write about. And it’s on Netflix now, so it’s easy to watch. If you want to join the discussion, next Friday 9/28 the movie will be Piku.
Happy Wednesday! Halfway through the week. It feels like a short one to me, but maybe that’s just me.
Have I mentioned before how HORRIBLE the Indian press is? It’s HORRIBLE!!!!! And now I have to do an Priyanka story AGAIN just because I seem to be the only one doing the 10 seconds of research required to present it accurately. Why do you make me do this, Bollywoodhungama “reporters”??????? (and now you are thinking “why is Margaret complaining? it’s her own fault for reading BH.” And I know, you’re right.)
I saw Kabali! It was SO GOOD! Okay, the second half lost track of itself a little bit, and there were some character bits that could have been better, but overall it just had so much more depth and excitement and energy than the other movies I have seen lately!
Well, I’m having a rumpled start to the week! Karan sent out an embarrassingly sycophantic tweet this morning, there’s a final warm spell hitting Chicago which is making me not able to sleep, the elevator is broken (again) at work so I have to keep running up and down the really abnormally steep stairs, and my boss gave Dog Hazel some food she shouldn’t eat which wasn’t a big deal except that I had to tell my boss not to do that, which was an awkward upturning of our usual power structure (he’s in charge of me, but I’m in charge of Dog Hazel). Anyway, time for a soothing interesting post with a lot of great things to watch in it.
Happy Monday! I survived the weekend! It was very hot and I saw two movies and taught Sunday School and lead a meeting and met up with my parents and my uncle who was in town. And now I’m back at work and the week is all downhill from here.
Friday 9/21: Sarkar
Sunday 9/23: Jodha Akbar
Monday 9/24: City of God
Friday 9/28: Piku
Sunday 9/30: Sadak
No big massive full summary coming for Befikre! Partly because Dear Zindagi exhausted me, partly because my sense is that my commentators aren’t as interested in a massive discussion of this movie, as they are of other movies. But mostly because I don’t think it is analyzable, to take it apart would be to destroy it.
Another Malayalam rerun next week! And another Pellisary film. Because he is very very good, and not enough people watch him, and his films are easily available.
I put up a nice rerun post with all kinds of stories you should actually care about, so now I am going to be indulgent and put up a quick post with only things I care about.
We were just talking about it and I’d love more discussion on my review. So, I’m reposting! In a week on 9/23. Which gives you all time to watch or rewatch the film and prepare for discussion.
(and also pay for movie tickets, gas, domain registration, etc. etc., boring stuff)
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Happy Saturday! Let’s talk about all the things that are too meaningless to be deserving of a real post!
Oh boy, spoilers time! For me at least, there is nothing more stressful than a love triangle. I am always worried that the wrong couple will end up together. If you want that stress removed, you can read this and know how it ends. But on the other hand, a lot of the entertainment of the film is not being sure how it will end and trying to guess. So if you want that entertainment, read the No Spoilers review instead.
I am so glad I saw this movie! It meant driving for over an hour there and back and spending hideous amounts of money on the tickets (I do not understand the release strategy at all. Why only one theater, and only the most expensive theater?), but it was exciting and different and most of all, just plain GOOD.
