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.
So much more excited about the Dear Zindagi trailer! Partly because it is just the second one, whereas ADHM is now on, what, the 513th trailer? Remember how excited I was back when there were just a couple ADHM trailers? Yeah, that’s worn off by now.
Oh man, it looks SO GOOD!!! Dear Zindagi, not ADHM. ADHM looks the same as before, this new teaser provided no new info.
Today Dear Zindagi got it’s first poster, and Befikre got its 3rd trailer. How is this thusness? Dear Zindagi is coming out 3 weeks before Befikre!!!!
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.
Happy Birthday Mahesh! 68 years old today! And been directing films for the past 42 of those years. And half your movies are searingly intimate and real and incredibly high quality. And half of them are very low quality. What an interesting balance! Anyway, here’s my traditional 12 reasons I love you!
I already did a detailed discussion yesterday comparing and contrasting the first halves of DDLJ and Humpty. And that got so long that I decided to break at intermission and talk about the second half today. This may be slightly too much thought to put in to Humpty (although it is a very good movie. With a terrible title), but it is interesting as an example of how DDLJ has forever changed and influenced the Indian romance film.
I just watched Humpty Sharma again, for like the 7th time. But it was interesting watching it now, while I am in the middle of my DDLJ recap. So I was hyper aware of what it took from DDLJ and what it got rid of.
A mixture of set photos, first looks, and announcements. Thank goodness, we are preparing for the massive Independence Day through Republic Day release schedule. My favorite time of year!
I already put up a quick spoiler-free review, now it’s time to get in depth and deal with what really happens! Time for spoilers!
(if you want another non-spoiler perspective, check out moviemavengal’s review)
Such a disturbing movie. Like, not sure if I can go to sleep tonight kind of disturbing. Very disturbing. But also very high quality.
dontcallitbollywood 