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.
Probably not a coincidence, right? Not like “ugh, another big controversy I am caught in! Hey look, I have a longform writing platform to discuss it. What a coinky-dink!” Probably more like “should I take this column offer from NDTV? I probably should, because it will be useful the next time I am inevitably caught in a controversy.”
So weird that Alia is 24 today! When I was 24, I had just lost my 3rd post-college job and started working minimum wage in a movie theater. Which is kind of like being a major movie star I guess? At least we were both making money of the film industry. Except I had more popcorn smell that never gets out of your hair, and she has more glamorous premieres.
I’m back! After I scribbled off my No Spoilers Review in the middle of the night, I am now awake (sort of) and am ready for my SPOILERS review! And in this case, I am going to say that you should read this whether or not you have seen the movie. There are already various think pieces going around that critique the film by taking elements in isolation, I want to critique it by taking everything in context.
Final trailer! And it is a mystifying one. I just cannot figure out how it fits in with the other bits of the movie that we have seen so far. Thank goodness I only have 7 more days until I can see the whole thing!
March is gonna be a GOOD MONTH!!!! Much better than February, where we have that Pakistani rom-com that looks pretty great, and Rangoon, which I am still not very interested in.
So glad that Badrinath Ki Dulhania is being made! And that the first trailer makes it seem like it will be yet another riff on DDLJ, but with a different focus from Humpty Sharma.
I just watched Dear Zindagi straight through for the 5th time. With my friend who missed it in theaters. And who had also suffered through Josh with me on an earlier movie night. And suddenly, IT ALL MADE SENSE!!!!
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!
I was trying sooooooooooo hard to finish in the last section. But I was also getting soooooooooo sleepy as it got later and later, so I finally gave up. However, I did manage to get all the way to the emotional peak and resolution of the film, so everything I have to cover here is just epilogue stuff. (part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, part 6 here, part 7 here)
Ha! I originally had a typo of there, making it “the heat of Alia’s dysfunction”. Which sounds kind of sexy, but also kind of sci-fi-y. And, maybe, this scene is “sexy” in that caring and sensitive men are always “Sexy”, but it’s not sci-fi-y at all. So I went ahead and fixed the typo. (part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here)
The last section got a little extreme with the general thematic analysis. But this time, I am going to stay strictly focused on what happens in this actual section. Or at least, that’s the goal.
I have now seen this movie 4 times, which means in theory I should be able to remember in in exact detail and give a perfect summary. But in reality means I am going to mix up the order of a couple of scenes and forget an important line and stuff. Oh well, someday my brain-recorder technology will be perfected and I won’t have to worry about this any more. (SPOILER review here, non-spoiler here, and part 1 of the summary here)
I mentioned in my SPOILER review, how this is a very very female story, both in content and style. Sure, the narrative is all about one woman’s journey, based on emotions and relationships and all that “girly” stuff. But it is also told in a very female way, more about what is unsaid than what is said, through body language and intuition and so on. Which starts in the very first series of shots.
First, just like I did for ADHM, I put up a SPOILER review for DZ first so people who have seen the movie have a place to discuss it. So please, no spoilers in the comments here! And no specific questions like “what did you think it meant when the aliens landed and it turned into a gritty post-apocalyptic drama?” here either. This is the place for people who haven’t yet seen the movie to hang out and learn about it. Everyone else, go hang out here.
Yes, I AM going to spoil the whole movie! I feel terrible about this, considering that Shahrukh was nice enough to release it 2 days early in America so I could see it before leaving for Thanksgiving. But on the other hand, a bunch of other people in America also saw it today, and we should have a place to discuss it. And there are those people (sometimes I am one of them) who want to know how a movie ends before they even decide to see it. But if you are choosing between seeing the movie and reading this post, SEE THE MOVIE!!! It’s really really good.
Om Shanti Om! Not the most obvious comparison for Dear Zindagi. But I’m thinking specifically of the second half, and the way Shahrukh interacts with Deepika, changing her into a stronger and deeper person. And the way that interacts with the first half, where it is the other way around.
My second Anushka movie of the week! This time it is NOT a May-December romance. Or I guess it is a May romance but not a December romance? It’s unrequited is what I am saying. And I have to kind of wonder if there is going to be something similar in Dear Zindagi, if only because, how could Alia NOT fall in love with Shahrukh after spending time talking to him? How can anyone?
If you care about the censor board’s opinion, they like Dear Zindagi. Personally, I don’t care at all, but I am kind of surprised by the extreme level of support they are giving it! Oh, and there’s also a new teaser. Oh, and the full album just came out! 7 days before the movie release. And no Ali Zafar songs in sight.
I want to spend another day listening to lament songs and distracting myself by doing work-work, like reconciling the office bank statement. But Shahrukh is dragging me out of it. I can’t NOT post about a new Dear Zindagi trailer.
Internet Piracy for the win!!!! Stupid Hotstar.com, the legal website, won’t accept payment from outside India, even using a credit card. So I hunted and googled and got ten minutes into one video that was pulled literally as I was watching it, and finally a found a deep dark place that had a high quality version available which lasted long enough for me to see the whole show.
Yaaaaaaay! A full length song trailer!!!! It looks nice. And I kind of wonder if we are only getting this, a song trailer for a song already released, because of the behind the scenes drama.
