What a fascinating movie! First, it was released in theaters and online almost simultaneously, which I always find fascinating. And second, it was really really good!
Tuesday Tamil: Aruvi, What is the New Tamil Society?
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Bad Rom-Coms With Great Soundtracks
It’s like a whole genre, right? I think this every time I update my Saavn playlist. If you are a fan of light happy songs (which I am), a large number of wonderful light happy songs end up living within bad movies. Specifically, rom-coms that aspire to be light and happy but never manage to live up to their soundtrack.
Padmavat Full Summary (SPOILERS) Part 3: A Lot of Filler, and then a Bad Life Lesson
Next part! I think I am on the downward stretch now. Partly because there is an awful lot of what feels like “filler” starting with this section. So I can skip all kinds of things, or at least only deal with them briefly. (full index of Padmavat here)
Happy Birthday Priyadarshan! A Dozen Reasons I Love You!
I don’t do directors often with these birthday posts, but Priyadarshan is distinctive enough, and also crosses multiple language industries that all are addressed by this blog, that I feel like he deserves a post. If only a small one.
Monday Malayalam: Godha, a Snow White in Kerala
This film FINALLY made it’s way to einthusan. And it is just as wonderful as Angie promised me. Not as spectacularly well-made and imaginative as Ohm Shanti Oshaana, but that same totally satisfying feel of a female protagonist going after what she wants and getting it in a completely happy way. Everyone happy, really.
Hindi Film 101 Swara and a Reply to Swara About Padmavat as a Case Study in Appropriate and Inappropriate Public Discussion
I’m not going to get into the presentation of Jahuar in Padmavat again, I touched on it in my no spoilers review, and I will get to it possibly tomorrow in my full SPOILER summary. But I do want to have a conversation about conversation, and how it works and how it starts and spreads, based on Swara Bhaskar’s open letter objecting to Jahuar in Padmavat versus the response to it that is being sent around today.
Monday Morning Questions! With a Question for YOU! How Many People Can You Love?
Angie and Niki and I started going back and forth on the Wednesday post last week about whether it is possible to be a fan of multiple people/sports teams at once. Which began to make me realize that there might be multiple ways of being fans. And I am curious, out of the 3 categories I am thinking of, which you might identify for yourself. Oh, and this is also the weekly post to bring up any general discussion topics you might want to talk about!
Padmavat Summary, WHOLE THING, (SPOILERS), Part 2
Part 1 came out yesterday, moving right along to part 2. This isn’t a real “scene by scene”, not the way I have done it in the past with every line and every shot considered. This is more a summary of the film with some minor discussion, similar to what I did for Bajirao. (full index of summary here)
Padmavat Full Coverage Index
Not a full scene by scene, more just a detailed plot summary with occasional tangents. But still interesting! And longish. Oh, and I also threw in my initial think piece about Orientalism and my “no spoilers” review.
Thanks for Commenting! Will You Be My Valentine?
Is it weird that I send greeting cards to my blog readers? It’s a little weird, isn’t it? Oh well, you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. But you should! My cards are AWESOME and all you have to do is give me your address so I know where to send it.
Silly Sunday: an Acid Survivor Romance, Inspired by Shahrukh at Davos
This popped into my mind during a discussion in the comments on posts about Davos and I just had to write it down. I’m very excited!
Padmavat WHOLE THING! Part 1 (SPOILERS): Ostriches and Pearls and Brahmins, Oh My!
This is a tricky one, on the one hand there is so much in it that I really want to go through step by step and make sure I don’t miss anything. On the other hand, there isn’t enough in it (and I don’t want to spend so much time) for me to do a “real” scene by scene, shot by shot, style discussion. So I’m gonna do kind of a half one. Sort of like I did for Bajirao. Go through everything that happened, but not in super detail. (no spoiler review is here)
Dog Update! Slight Improvement
Why is my dog journey somehow taking longer than my apartment journey? Or, like, applying for grad school? I think it’s probably me. I am way way way way way too picky.
Padmavat Review (NO SPOILERS): Intent Versus Effect
I saw it! Not opening night, but soon enough. Theater was half full, half the audience was talking and the other half was shushing them, very odd dynamic. I’m used to all talking or no one, not this mix and match. Which kind of fit the mix and match I saw within the film.
TGIF: FilmFare! Who Wore it Best Which Year? Madhuri versus Madhuri, Dia versus Dia, Sonam versus Sonam, Rekha versus Rekha, Shahrukh versus Shahrukh, and Ranveer versus Ranveer
In our discussion on this year’s FilmFare post, we ended up linking back to previous years for reference, which made me think of a TGIF theme! Why not put up photos from previous years and have people compete with themselves? (index of all TGIF posts here)
Padmavat Counter Programming, Heroic Muslim Songs and Happy Muslim Songs from Hindi Films
I’ll be seeing Padmavat tonight, mainly because I haven’t been able to go see a movie in a while, and here it is. A large part of the reason it will no doubt get a big box office, here it is and there hasn’t been anything else for a long time. And also, my friend Dina is free to go with me and I haven’t seen her in almost a month. But, to counteract what I am beginning to hear about Padmavat, I am going to give us a little reminder of all the wonderfully strong female characters that there have been in Hindi film, and all the wonderful historical Muslim characters there have been.
Friday New Classic: Shirin Farhad Ki Nikal Padi, a New Interpretation of a Classic Love Poem
This is just a fun happy movie that I felt like talking about because it is the complete opposite of the big dramatic movie that came out last night and which I will be seeing tonight. And they are both based on classic poems!
FanVid Post! To Feed Our Shahrukh Urges
You probably haven’t noticed, but I am trying to be an “adult”, and do straight adult analysis and stuff lately, no fun TGIF, less sexy FanFic, and so on. And it’s HARD. I don’t like it! So my girly fan stuff is bursting out of me, and I have to do an all SRK fanvid post!
News Round-Up: Arjun Reddy Remake, Karan Johar Paan, and Sanju Madhuri
Finally, some interesting news stories! I’ve been checking for days, and there hasn’t been anything that I consider juicy (no, rumors of possible conflict, and discussion of something someone said that might be offensive are not juicy). But today, lots of actual industrial news! So happy!
Happy Birthday Kavita Krishnamurthy! A Dozen Reasons I Love You!
I am always up for an excuse for a songs post! And Kavita is a hidden gem of a playback singer, not as famous and revered as Lataji or Ashaji, but an amazing singer.
Hindi Film 101/DDLJ Part 44: The Rescue of Amrish Puri and the Tragedy of the Fearful Immigrant
Well, this turned into a whole thing! I started just wanting to establish Amrish’s character journey at this part in the film, and I just ended up going on and on until it went way beyond the usual Scene By Scene and turned into a screed on the tragedy and trauma of the immigrant (full index of DDLJ posts here)
Youtube Video, Hollywood and China and Aamir Khan
Enjoy! Similar to this post here but with a few more examples and a different explanation.
Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Reading and Thinking and Watching This Week?
Happy Wednesday! 2 more days to Padmavat! And (hopefully) one day until I get a dog. Seriously, how hard is it to get a dog????? They’re dogs! They just want to be loved!!!! LET ME HAVE ONE!!!! But, nooooooooo. I have to fill out 5 different forms and go through an interview and on and on and on. I am nearing the point of just driving out to the country and picking one up on the side of the road. Anyway, what’s going on in your life?
Happy Birthday Subhash Ghai! A Dozen Reasons I Love You!
A director! Not that common. But he is such an interesting and distinctive director that I can’t resist doing a post on him.
Tuesday Tamil: Iru Kodugal, I watch a Gemini Genesan Movie!
I’m back to K. Balachander! He is just so great. And available on Rajshri Tamil on youtube. And I have also now seen a Gemini Ganesan movie! Which was super distracting, because it was kind of a little bit about his real life and I have no idea if that was on purpose or not. Was his real life situation with multiple wives so well known that it would make sense to bring that into one of his movies?
dontcallitbollywood 