Did you notice that I didn’t post much this weekend? Especially in comparison with last weekend? Well, there is a reason for that! And hopefully this will be the final post on this topic, after my first lament, and second triumphal celebration.
Yes, even sexier than Hrithik flirting with Amisha Patel in Aap Mujhe Aache Lagne Lage. And I don’t usually find Garba’s sexy!
If you are a regular blog follower, you know that my 2017 started with a bang when I lost my floors through a massive leak and pipe disaster that was conveyed to me by my landlord through a series of escalating phone calls while I was at work, culminating in my going straight from work to my parent’s apartment, to stay for 9 days. But now I am home! Finally! And it is dusty and gross and my air conditioner is sitting in the middle of my living room for some reason. But still, home!
Well, this is not what I was hoping for from a Bhardwaj movie! He is stylish, sure, but it is style that overlays real hardcore traditional messy Indian emotions. And Indian settings, gritty villages and remote farms. This thing though, at least based on the first trailer, is all style over substance. Luhrmann after Strictly Ballroom.
Yay, the Raees love song! I could do with a little more guyliner, but otherwise it’s pretty great! There’s even a wet white shirt scene, which adds a touch of class to any pictuarization.
2017 is not starting out well for me! Which normally I would keep from all you nice people, but there is a good chance it is going to start affecting my posting schedule, so I thought I might as well tell you. Plus, I kind of wanted to vent.
If you recall, way back when the blog started, I laid out the different kinds of FanVids. My favorite were the ones that told a whole story. So, to start off 2017, I thought I would give you some of those.
Yesterday I did a brief post on Carrie Fisher and mentioned that I feel a much deeper connection to her mother, Debbie Reynolds. Which is true. And now Debbie is gone, and my farewell post will be a lot more in depth and personal. But not terribly sad, because she had a long and wonderful life.
Christmas is over, which is sad, but it means I have a lot of new presents to play with (check them all out here!), and it means I can go back to listening to Saavn and my Indian music instead of Christmas carols. In early November, when I start my Christmas channels, it feels all refreshing to listen to White People Music (as I think of it) for a little bit. But by December 26th, I am ready to go back to my Indian stuff. And for my first playlist, I went with the theme of “good songs from not good movies.”
Carrie Fisher died, as I am sure we all know. Which is sad, but doesn’t have much of a connection to Indian film, so it falls a bit outside of my area of expertise. I can tell you that I will always love her for her amazing guest appearance on 30 Rock. And I can also tell you that she was so embedded in film history that multiple films she is connected with have somehow traveled across to India.
What, just because it’s Jesus’ Birthday too, you thought I would skip Salman today? No! If I didn’t skip Anil yesterday, I’m not skipping Salman now!
The celebration continues! I’ve done hair (very important) and film performances, now it’s time for film partnerships! One of the things I love about Salman is how he is willing to step back and let his co-stars shine if it is better for the narrative. And so he has helped to create one half of some all time great “jodi”s.
Wait, did you think in all the preparation for Salman I would have forgotten him? Never! Oh, and also Christmas. But even Jesus’ birthday can’t distract me from celebrating Anil! 57 today, and I am doing 25 reasons I love him, for the age he was when he got married.
Why do they keep releasing songs and trailers at 11am India time? I need my sleep! Last night I decided that it was more important to be awake today for family events round 2 than to stay up until Karan tweeted the new OK Jaanu song.
I sent this link around to all my friends, of course, and about a minute later I got a message from one of them saying “Shahrukh doesn’t even show up for the first 29 seconds, what’s the point?” Followed by a complaint about the presence of a shirt. So you can see that we have a fairly limited area of interest for song sequences. But, setting that aside and viewing this objectively, I think this is a pretty good one!
It’s been a little bit since I did one of these song posts (although I have put songs up in my birthday messages). I like doing them, because I hope they fill the gap that I filled with songs DVDs. Back in the early 2000s, I bought and rented a bunch, and I would see random songs and think “Hey! That’s cool! I should check out this movie/actor/actress/choreographer.” Or at least I would think “Hey! Now I can picture that actor/song sequence/actress the next time he/it/she is mentioned.” Hopefully this collection of loosely connected song sequences can have a similar effect for some of you!
Well, the Hindi version of the best song from OK Kanmani is now out! And it doesn’t sound as good. It’s true, that thing someone told me years ago, Tamil is a naturally melodious language!
The first Kaabil trailer, I was not interested in the romance-y bits, but right at the end when Hrithik got all dark and violent, that I liked! So this one, which is entirely dark and violent, this is right up my alley!
This is the first of 3 trailers that came out today, and they are all so important I am giving them each their own post! This is the first one to put up, because I think it is the one there is the most to say about.
Remember how my whole OK Kanmani review was wondering what they would do with all the Tamil specific stuff that helped build a connection between the characters while they were both exiled in Bombay? Well, this new OK Jaanu song shows the way the new movie might possibly have found a way to do the same. And I am not sure if it works or not, because I am still so stuck in the previous one.
I followed the controversy back when it first came out, but I couldn’t find a version to watch anywhere back then. And then the controversy died down, and it was posted online again, but I stopped caring. Until a couple of people in the comments here reminded me!
You’re dead, but that’s no reason to stop celebrating. Your legacy lives on in many ways. So I am going to count down 63 reasons I love you, one for every year you lived (until you died).
What is with Dharma releasing trailers at midnight my time? I just went through this with ADHM! If it was 3am, I wouldn’t bother. But 11:30 is just on the farthest edge of when I would be awake anyway, so I figure I might as well stay up. Oh well, I’ll have coffee tomorrow! (if you are curious, my review of the original OK Kanmani movie with SPOILERS is here)
I really don’t have much to say, besides “Happy Birthday!” But it is such a significant event, I felt like I should acknowledge it somehow. So here, from the depths of my great ignorance, are the first dozen reasons I have for loving you.
I might finally got around to reading his biography! I made my friend buy it and bring it to me aaaaaallllllll the way from India, and I STILL hadn’t read it. But surely his birthday would be an occasion for that, right? I was tempted to do a full 94 reasons I love him, but maybe that should wait until next year when he hits 95. This year, I will just do 32, for the age he was won the first FilmFare Award ever.
dontcallitbollywood 