Monday Malayalam: Shajahanum Pareekuttiyum, What if Movies are Just Conning Us?

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This was a kind of interesting film.  Not a great film, maybe not even a good film?  But an interesting one.  Well, interesting in the last twenty minutes.  The set-up for that was a bit of a drag.  But most important (for me), this was a FREE film!  It suddenly popped up at my library, while I was in the middle of the move (DVDs finally unpacked as of this morning, but books still in boxes), and I had to watch library DVDs.  So it was perfect for me.

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Bahubali Theme Post: Dharma Versus Justice

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I was trying to explain this to my father in the car after seeing the film with him.  The difference between Dharma and Justice.  And it’s a hard one to explain, if you aren’t already familiar with the meaning of Dharma.  Because a quick one-to-one Hindi to English translation would actually be Dharma=Justice.  But it’s so much more than that, as the film shows. (full index of all Bahubali posts here)

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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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Monday Morning Questions Post, 2 Weeks Before Tubelight!

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Eid is on a Saturday this year, right?  Which is very convenient for me!  I can do a Tubelight first day-first show without having to take time off work.  Even better, thanks to the time difference and convenience for theater owners, it might be playing in the US on Friday first show at the regular time I would see it anyway!

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Sunday Speculative Post: Raabta Inspired Me! What Other Southern Films Could Be Not-Really-Remade

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I don’t want to say that Raabta is better than Magadheera, or even as good.  But it is a very clever reimagining which takes the same story but replace the from the southern industry (comedy scenes, action scenes, stalking romance) with the strengths of the Hindi industry (clever dialogue, cutting edge international setting, slightly more complicated characters).  So, what other southern films could we do that with?  Not that we SHOULD do it, but that we could.

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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 (SPOILERS): Magadheera, But Totally Different

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As you know from my no spoilers review, which already went up, I LOVED Raabta.  It was not at all what I was expecting.  I wasn’t even going to see it, but then my sister was in town, and watching a bad romance film in theaters is kind of the perfect sororal activity.  And it turned out to be a good romance, instead of a bad one!  Which is even more perfect for a sororal activity.

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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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TGIF Post: In Bed!

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You know that joke, right?  You read a fortune cookie, or something else similarly general and metaphorical and then add “in bed!” to the end to make it sexual.  In this case, I am putting all my regular TGIF suspects in bed.  Because I just purchased and built my first bed since I left my parents’ house (finally graduating from futons!), and I am very interested in beds right now.

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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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Happy Birthday Sonam Kapoor! A Baker’s Dozen Reasons that I Love You!

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Happy Birthday Sonam!  So many birthdays in early June!  But that’s no reason to ignore Sonam.  She blew me away in Neerja, and then she blew me away again with her intelligent interviews on the status of female stars and female lead films in the industry. (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)

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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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Hindi Film 101: Shahrukh’s Filmography Continues! Where Do You Go When You Reach the Top?

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Happy Thursday!  Welcome back to our journey through SRK’s filmography.  Not to see which films are good and which are bad and so on, but as a case study for how a career can grow.  (part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here)

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Happy Birthday Shilpa Shetty! 12 Reasons I Love You

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Happy Birthday Shilpa!  You aren’t the most talented or trained of actresses, but you are definitely one of the most loveable!  In honor of your birthday, 12 reasons that I love you, one for every two years since Baazigar. (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)

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Happy Birthday Dimple!

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Happy Birthday Dimple!  I cannot BELIEVE you are 60!  You are still the most elegant, the classiest, the coolest lady in Hindi film.  Here are 15 reasons I love you, one for every year you were alive when Bobby came out and made you a superstar. (this is a reposted and updated post from last year)

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DDLJ Part 20: Farida Jalal Lays It All Out

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Okay, after all of the boring place setting stuff to get us into the second half, we finally have a really meaty scene!  And it’s also the scene that illustrates the alternative theory of the film.  The surface obvious theory, the one that all the critics talk about and so on, is the resolution of the NRI identity/tragedy of the immigrant theory.  But the second theory, the one I have been following along, is the questioning of gender roles and patriarchal authority. (last section here, and page indexing all the DDLJ posts here)

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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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Tuesday Telugu: I Saw Maya Bazaar! A Movie in Which Illusions Are There To Reveal Truths

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I saw Maya Bazaar!  FINALLY!  I knew about it for ages, and then I found a copy for sale on DVD which was rare enough that I wanted to snap it up.  And then the DVD sat on the shelf by the TV for months and months and months until finally I gave in and watched it.

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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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Monday Malayalam: Leela, a Movie About Musth

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Well, this was a bit of an interesting downer!  A movie about sex that was not at all sexy.  Appropriately so, sex work is not sexy for the sex workers, it is just a job that they do from necessity.  And it’s not necessarily sexy for their clients either, it is also something from desperation and misery.  So, woo!  An accurate depiction of life for a sex worker!  Which means, depressing and grinding and tiring and dangerous and yet dull at the same time.

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