It’s Karan Johar’s birthday week! So what better time to finally do a 101 on him? 101s on living active people are always tricky, because if people are alive, they change. But I will do my best by Karan as he is right now and we will see if I need to do an update later.
Continue readingI just got really angry while writing a review of Bewarchi, and I also got really angry because I just accidentally watched one of those “family family” Telugu movies that make smoke shoot out of my ears. So, while hopped up on anger, I thought I would write a post tearing down invisible classism. Not to end a discussion, but to start one.
Continue readingI find the differences in how heroines start between industries FASCINATING. I can’t possibly cover every possible variation, but I can use Sai Pallavi as a jumping off point to talk about how it can sometimes happen.
Continue readingOh boy, a big scary 101 that people are going to yell at me and disagree with me about what I say! Those are always the best ones.
Continue readingI already wrote my farewell post to Rishi, what he meant to me, but I want to put together a post about Rishi the person. As a Kapoor, we (the public) know a remarkable amount about him personally, and Rishi in interviews and his memoir has made even more available. I’m not going to try to rake up scandal or demonize him, but I want to do my best to give a fair and balanced look at the life of this man we have just lost.
Continue readingI love thinking about Zora Sehgal, because she is a great person for “you are never out of time to try something new”. Right now we are all going “oh darn, I missed my chance to do ____ (trip, graduation, whatever)”. And here’s Zora to go “no no no! Whatever it is, it can still happen, at any point. Your life is full of opportunities, always.”
Continue readingWhat a fun game/way to express our irritation! I am sure as Indian film fans (desi or non-desi) we have all dealt with the scornful outsider who thinks they know everything but really knows nothing.
Continue readingThis is an off-shoot of my post on misogyny/objectification/patriarchy, in the comments there was a discussion of whether or not men are objectified in Indian film, which got me thinking about the “male” and “female” gaze questions.
Continue readingPart 3! What happened to Jaya as her husband’s star waxed and waned, her children grew up, life moved on and she seemed to be left behind?
Continue readingPart 2! Jaya post-marriage, the sticky years between 1973 and 1983. The affair rumors, Silsila, and finally almost losing her husband.
Continue readingI honestly thought I had already written this, and I am very excited to discover I have not. Jaya is a fascinating woman, and a bit of a mystery in many ways. Oh also, I will use literally ANY excuse to post adorable young Amitabh-Jaya photos. I think they are tied with Dips-Ranveer for “all time cutest dating couple”.
Continue readingKind of a boring guy which, coincidentally, is what makes him so interesting. How does a boring boring person find a way to maintain some level of stardom?
Continue readingI’m gonna get a bunch of people yelling at me for this because it isn’t totally perfectly comprehensive and accurate. I’m sorry! I’m trying! This is close enough!
Continue readingIt’s funny, this is one of the people that I think I diverge in my impression from some of you. But not in an angry aggressive way, none of us feel super strongly about our opinions, there’s just a difference somehow. It’s interesting! And you can disagree totally with my conclusions, but still enjoy the basic facts I lay out.
Continue readingI wrote this as part of my series on Salman Khan, but I’m gonna rewrite and refocus it a bit to give Helen the spotlight she deserves.
Continue readingBrace yourself for the sympathetic overlooked sibling pain! Or for the triggering of “I’m sorry for being so awesome and making people not notice you!” noticed sibling guilt. Or I suppose for agonizing parental worry as you see this pattern appearing within your own family. Anyway, for me, this is because I am about to visit New York City, which is essentially the glitzy big sibling to Chicago, and all my Chicago feathers are already rumpled. We’re just as good! We just don’t like to talk about ourselves as much!
Continue readingThis is NOT a review of Sanam Tere Kasam. Okay, the second half is. But the first half is just a discussion of female romantic fantasies, and it’s important, and you should read it even if you don’t care about the rest of it.
Continue readingOh boy, a Thought Post! These are the posts where I talk a bit too much to call it a “Discussion Post”, but a bit too little to call it a “101”. It’s just a bunch of thoughts, and then you can leapfrog off of it.
Continue readingIf you have been following Indian film for the past 20 years or so, that headline will make total sense to you. If you have not, then I will explain below. It’s FASCINATING.
Continue readingI just reviewed Junglee, one of the few Indian movies directed by an American which I can still legitimately call “Indian”. And in that review, I started talking about what is and is not universal in the job of a director, and then I realized I really should make this a 101.
Continue readingI started the 101s with the Kapoors, so this is one of the very first posts I put up. But it’s still accurate, and it’s still good, so I am reposting it! And now you can learn about the Kurrent Kapoor Sisters.
Continue readingI wrote this about 6 months ago, but I want to repost it now in context with the other actress 101s I have been doing. Just in case you missed it 6 months ago, or in case you read it and want to come back to it with fresh eyes, comparing her with Vidya, and Anushka, and Deepika.
Continue readingOkay, I’ve done Rani and Anushka and Dips, it’s time to attempt Vidya. There is A LOT that happened to her, but really when I look at her career, it is more of a straight line than I realized.
Continue readingOh Dips! I can’t be the only one who has a vaguely worried and protective feeling about her, right? She just seems to have been hit by life so many times.
Continue readingAgain, I don’t like to do 101s of people who are in the middle of their careers. Things that happen in the future could make everything look different, the most important part of their lives could be still to come. But as of this snapshot moment in time, at the end of 2019, this is how it looks.
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