Such a good movie! And such an interesting movie, a challenging movie, because it deals with the birth of a monster and how society was culpable in his birth, without also forgiving him for what he did or pretending he is less than what he was.
This is Voter Registration week in America, so the perfect week to talk about Yuva! (yes yes, I know Aaytha Ezhuthu is better, I can’t find it, and I’ve already seen Yuva)
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.)
Happy Friday! I thought of all these cool movies I wanted to review, and then I thought “No! I should save them for a Friday when I plan in advance so people can watch them!” So this Friday, instead, a very un-cool movie.
An experiment! We all watched the same movie, and now I have to review it. Which is A LOT of pressure on me, since for once you have all seen the movie as recently as me and probably understood it better. Oh well, you can think of this as a starting point for a discussion, not the end.
These are really stories you wrote yourself. Or at least started yourself, on the Wednesday post I had a wonderful time coming up with ideas based on the casts you wanted to see. These are those same ideas, just brushed up and expanded a little bit.
I did a TON of research on this. And turns out there is no such thing as a “Pathani suit”. there are various specific things that it could be, traditional garb in the North Indian/Pakistani cultures, but what is generally called “Pathani” is really just loose Salwar and a very long Kameez.
My boss is gone today which means I can look at photos on my computer without fear of being observed and judged. Well, my co-workers might judge me, but whatever, I don’t care what they think. And I was just talking with Meenakshy about who looks good in a Dhoti, so why not do a Dhoti post? Similar too but different from my previous Lungi post. (for the purposes of this post, “Dhoti” means any single cloth that is used as a wrap skirt by an Indian man)
This movie was GREAT! Finally, a film I completely totally enjoyed in the theater. And in a packed theater too! All the stadium seating was sold out and some of the floor seats. I am sure everyone loved it as much as I did, because how could they not?
This movie is just barely a classic. It’s not the best, it’s got quite a few massive flaws in fact, but it’s still really interesting and worthy of discussion. And the best part is how well it shows women rescuing themselves, very appropriate for today’s discussion.
On Friday I did a “TGIF” of happy couples, and then I realized that I was kind of skipping to the end, posting the couples without defining “happy” before. And I also find it legitimately fascinating how tricky the public versus private requirements of Hindi film industry marriages are.
It’s Preity’s birthday week! And Urmila’s too! And both of them deserve to be working more, even though they are over 40. So, I have IDEAS!
Happy day before the Women’s March to the Polls! Which is a kick off and a reminder that it is all our responsibilities not just to vote, but also to run for office if possible. So, the perfect week to talk about Yuva! (yes yes, I know Aaytha Ezhuthu is better, I can’t find it, and I’ve already seen Yuva)
Well, here’s exciting news! For the first time since these things started being tracked, Shahrukh Khan is NOT the most valuable celebrity brand in India!!!! Instead, he has been knocked off his perch by Virat Kohli. Which made me start thinking in a different way about Virat, about Shahrukh, and about all the other perches Shahrukh should be knocked off of.
More news!!!! Yaaaaaay! Lots of little things that are interesting to keep an eye on and see how they pan out. And of course Padmavat, the story that will never die.
What a fun movie! Sure, not all the jokes landed for me, but a fair number of them did. And the cast was clearly having a great time. And most of all, the filmmakers knew what they were doing! I could relax and let go and be aware that I was in capable hands. And to talk about that, I need to get into SPOILERS. Which kind of matter for this movie, so if you think you might see it in theaters, maybe read the No Spoilers review instead.
Two movie weekend! Secret Superstar Friday night, Golmaal Saturday afternoon. And it was So Much Fun!!!! Not a great movie, not by any means, but a very fun silly movie. I liked it, the two young men sitting behind me liked it, the big family sitting in front of me liked it, and the little boy of the family really really liked it.
Only 2 (1?) days left! And finally, the movie that was my first thought when I saw the trailer, Pyaar to Hona Hi Tha. Which is very very hard to find and watch (thank you HotStar India and your obsession with copyright and streaming locations!), so forgive me if I miss-remember anything.
Happy Thursday! It’s too bad this family is so nice, makes for a kind of dull Hindi Film 101 series. But at least now we have gotten to the interesting people, Tanuja and Kajol. Well, exciting might be a better term. Nutan was plenty interesting too. (don’t forget to go to the end and vote for what you want to read about next!)
Okay, I was thinking this would be a nice easy starting point for my new Hindi Film 101 series, and it is taking FOREVER. But I’m glad I’m doing it this way, because each of these branches and generations really needs their own focus area. And (hopefully) it will make it easier for you to refer back to them (part 1 with Prithviraj, Shammi, and Shashi here, part 2 with Raj and Nargis here)
Third and final Shivaay post! I already put up a No Spoilers review, and a Spoilers review. Now it’s time for the more specific detailed summary of the whooooooooole movie.
I’m going to put up a full summary later, probably today or tomorrow. But in the meantime, here’s a review for people who’ve seen the movie, or are never planning to see the movie and don’t care about SPOILERS.
I saw Shivaay tonight! Because it was the practical thing to do based on theater schedules, even though everyone else is seeing ADHM. I’m glad I saw it, not necessarily glad I saw it before ADHM.
I normally don’t use bad language, but I couldn’t resist the alliteration! And really, the man is less than scum.
The biggest news is really the meta-news that there are 3 news stories about ADHM to one about Shivaay. Clearly, the people who run English language industry news sites are pretty sure that their readers care more about ADHM then Shivaay news.
