That title isn’t meant to minimize her. I would give the same title to a post about her husband Aditya Chopra. They are people for whom film is literally in their blood, and their family life revolves around continuing that tradition.
Continue readingThis is an out of date post from a couple years ago, but only out of date in that the “most recent” film choices are no longer most recent. And, like, Anushka wasn’t married yet. Otherwise it is still a great post for giving you an idea of the pattern most actresses follow in their careers and how they play out.
Continue readingOkay, sharpen your claws, build up the knives of resentment, stoke the fires of your class/gender anger, and let us focus all of that on the one perfect representation of every man who ever tried to tell you his pain was more important than yours, that his success is a tribute to talent and not privilege, that if we disagree with him it is just because we don’t have the depth to understand his thoughts. Take down Ranbir, and we can take down every patronizing boss, every bad boyfriend, every dumb colleague promoted over you, every person who looks at the world and only sees a mirror, not a window. Yes, our Ranbir Hate, in one great cleansing burst, will Save the World.
Continue readingI am going to do my best to attempt a starting point of class and film in India. Not caste, I’m not even touching caste, just class. And a little bit Kangana too, but again just an attempt at a start with her.
Continue readingThis is not a complete accurate every variable accounted for post, but it is a starting point for an actual fact based discussion of how most young stars get their start in Hindi film. And we’ve been talking about that a lot lately, so I thought I should repost it.
Continue readingMerry Christmas Angie! And Merry Christmas to all of us, because while I find Arjun unremarkable as an actor, as a person I find him surprisingly inspiring and, a strange word to use for a movie actor, but maybe a little bit Noble?
Continue readingPart 1 didn’t get as many comments as I expected, but it did get decent views, so I am moving on!
Continue readingYou know why I don’t like doing 101s on people in the middle of their careers? First, because people feel more passionate about it and are likely to disagree with me and I hate it when people disagree with me. And second, because it is a continuing story and things that may happen in the future will affect the accuracy of what I say here. So please keep that in mind, disagree respectfully and correct me respectfully, and forgive me if you come back to this post 2 years from now and it is no longer correct.
Continue readingEvery once in a while the war drums start beating about how item songs are the cause of all the bad things that happen to women in India, and it always bothers me, because “item songs” ends up including a whole range of songs that are completely different in meaning. Oh, and this is kind of a partner with this post that goes into what objectification means, and this post that talks about male and female gaze)
Continue readingSuch an interesting man! His background is interesting, his early career and strange accidental fame is interesting, and he remains interesting to this day. Not always successful, not always likable, but interesting.
Continue readingShahid Kapoor is SO FASCINATING!!! His career reflects the changing guard of Indian film for the past 2 decades more than anyone else I can think of. And those changes are so vast that much of what he has been through in his career has disappeared, as people cannot even conceive of how things used to be. And, coincidentally, I scheduled reviews of two 2009 Shahid movies for today, so it is a good day for it.
Continue readingOh boy, a Big Thought post! As always with these posts, every single point and discussion is TM Me, so if you find yourself repeating them somewhere else on the internet, please please give proper attribution. There is nothing more depressing than when I end up on some other site and realize a post or comment is just my ideas repackaged and relabeled under someone else’s name.
Continue readingOh Abhay and Bobby! So cute, so charming, so heartthrob-y. And then, suddenly, not. Time is a cruel master.
Continue readingWhen I am writing a review, I often branch off into Deep Thoughts inspired by the topic of the film. They are related to the film and belong in the review, but they are also above and beyond the film. Since my last two reviews have gotten soooooooooooo few views (Uyare and Nenu Naa Rakshisi), and I put a lot of work into those big thinky parts of them, I decided to do something a little different and pull out those sections from the reviews and give a new post to discuss just them. Oh, and also the section of my Rockstar review which was similarly abstract.
Continue readingThank you Reflects on Life and MKP and Popka Superstar for encouraging me to write this post! It’s probably not exactly what you pictured (nothing ever is, life is a series of disappointments), but at least it’s kind of getting at it.
Continue readingI finally watched Umrao Jaan, and now I am all interested in Tawaif’s. Hopefully you are too!
Continue readingReady for a thought post? Of course you are! Thought posts are the best! Or at least, I like them.
Continue readingYou ready for an incomplete history and incomplete list of films? I’m gonna take a stab at describing Indian/South Asian immigration patterns based on the class I took in college 10 years ago and various articles and stuff I’ve read since. It’s not really that expert. But at least it will get the discussion started! And to help with discussion, some filmi examples.
Continue readingI wrote this a long time back, but I think it is still relevant. There are more and more women directors in India, but it is still a rare thing.
Continue readingThanks to Procrastinatrix for giving me the idea for the title! As soon as I read it, suddenly Farah’s whole career clicked into place.
Continue readingI am, like, BARELY qualified to write this. I read a couple articles, I did a grad school seminar that discussed Pakistan history, and I’ve seen maybe a half dozen Pakistani films. So really, not a lot of knowledge! Any less and I would refuse to write this at all. I encourage you to go out and learn from others, and to comment and teach me more if you know more, this is just a starting point.
Continue readingI was in the middle of writing a 101 on Pakistani film when I realized I can’t really do that without talking about the relationship between Hindi and Urdu, and I can’t do that without talking about South Asian languages in general, and thus we find ourselves here.
Continue readingHrithik has had an oddly eventful life. Besides the movie-star thing, there’s just a lot of stuff that happened! And so I have to do a Part 2, even though he is only 45.
Continue readingI’m breaking my own rule because Hrithik is still in his career, things could still happen in his life, so it is a bit early for a 101 post. But he also has had such a fascinating unexpected life so far, I feel like he deserves a post. Or two posts, because there is SO MUCH.
Continue readingI’m back! And we are now done with Dharmendra. At least, as the leading character. Time to move him back to a supporting role and bring in some younger actors.
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dontcallitbollywood 