Well, this was a delightful movie! I had high hopes based on the trailer, but then Toilet was such a disappointment with a really similar premise that I got spooked. But no! This movie is great! No reservations about it at all, exactly the sweet love story the trailer implied.
Oh boy, second page of notes! I’m excited! And also some stuff I forgot to take notes on that I will just throw in there somehow. (index of Luck By Chance coverage here)
Truly, one of the all time best decisions of my life, right up there with the time I realized I could mix peanut butter and chocolate syrup together before I put it on the ice cream. I got to have a lovely evening on my couch with 90s happiness, instead of a dull evening in the movie theaters with 2000s angst and macho.
I know this is the film that invented the Angry Young Man. I know it is a Big Story about power and the state and so on and so forth. And that’s why I enjoy it and respect it the same way I enjoy any of the other Amitabh classics, Sholay or Deewar or Trishul or Agneepath. But the reason I love it just for me, is because Jaya and Amitabh are SO IN LOVE. Like, so in love that it is blinding. It’s not a surprise they got married as soon as they finished filming, it would have been a surprise if the DIDN’T get married.
Like I said in my first review, I got about 5 minutes into this movie and paused to get a pencil and paper. Because there is SO MUCH. Not like so much depth and soul (although there is that too, that’s what my other two reviews covered), but so much data. I know I probably missed at least half of it, but here is what I got from my 5 pages of notes. (Full Luck By Chance Index here)
If you haven’t seen this movie, or want to think about performances and songs and mise-en-scene, go back to my last review. This is for talking about what actually happens and what we think of the characters and what the point of it all might have been.
Well, I finally watched it! Took me 6 hours because I had to keep pausing to take notes. So, there will be a much bigger review(s) coming over the next few days. But I want to start with just a simple review of it as a film, not as a sociological study.
HA! I WAS RIGHT!!! I rule all!!!! I am SO HAPPY!!!!! The twist that I hoped was the twist was the twist, not the other twist that could have been the twist. And I’m happy not just because I am clearly a GENIUS, but because the twist I hoped was the twist is so much better than the other twist would have been. (no spoilers review here) But you shouldn’t know what the twist is! Because it is SO MUCH more enjoyable going in blind, and this movie is SO GOOD. This is a definite “don’t spoil yourself if there is any chance at all you will be able to see this movie” kind of movie.
Okay, let me throw some titles out there for you: Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Desperado. Johnny Gaddar. Burn After Reading. Dishoom. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Bang Bang. Get Shorty. Jhankar Beats. Now, are you smiling? Are you happy? Are you remembering good times? Or are you rolling your eyes because these are all stupid worthless fluff films? If you are one of the first people, this is the film for you (and also, we should be friends). If you are one of the second people, this is not the film for you (and we can still be friends, but maybe should only watch classic movies together not new stuff) (spoilers review here)
Not sure why I suddenly felt like writing about this film, but I did, so you will have to put up with it. And it is a really really good film. An odd film, not as easy a sell as Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare trilogy, but brilliant if you give it a chance. Plus, it’s Ganesh Chaturpathi, and this is a nice Bombay themed film for that.
What a nice movie! Just nice nice nice. Everyone is a good person trying to do good things. But it turns out that the good-est person doing the best-est things is the one who is right there in the title. Also, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN/CAN WATCH!!!! If at all possible, this film deserves to be seen in theaters without spoilers. But I know some of you have already seen it, and some of you won’t be able to see if for weeks if ever, so in that case you can read on. (no spoilers review here)
Oh boy, I really do not want to write this post! But it was a special request, and it really feels like something I HAVE to do the Friday before Independence Day. But I refuse to watch this movie one more time (ha!) because it makes me way way too sad. So be aware, this will all be based on memories from like 4 years ago, the last time I felt masochistic enough to watch it. (I’ve written on this film before, and promised then that it wouldn’t be the last post. You can read it here)
(okay, if you speak Hindi, and have seen this film, that title is hilarious! Or at least, I find it funny) There was a “Best of Shammi” collection on sale at my local DVD store and I couldn’t resist. So be prepared for a fair number of Shammi films over the next few Fridays. Although I don’t know if any of them will be able to measure up to this one!
Well, I watched this movie almost two weeks ago, and then I had to think about it for a long time before I was ready to write about it. Which is a good sign. On the other hand, I watched Dil Hai Tumhaare and then scribbled something off the very next day, because not a lot to think about there! (also, my schedule is totally messed up this week, so it’s Friday classics on Thursday night. There’s something else going up tomorrow morning)
I did watch a real classic for this week! Really really! I watched Andaz and everything! But I just didn’t feel like writing about it, maybe yesterday’s epic “how to make a film” post exhausted me, maybe something else. Anyway, that review of a “good” movie will be going up at a some point, probably next Friday. But in the meantime you will have to make do with this review of a not-so-good movie that my friends badgered me into watching with them on Tuesday night.
Thanks to it suddenly popping up on Netflix (my Netflix list post is now woefully out of date, look for an update soon), I decided to rewatch Mughal-E-Azam. And it’s SO SO SO SO much better than I realized when I watched it before.
This took an interesting turn! I wanted to talk about Sujata and caste in India, and I ended up spending a lot of time talking about race in America. Because, in the end, they are both about social illusions we have been trained to accept, which can be broken by something as simple as hearing a baby’s cry.
On the Monday Questions post, a couple of people asked me why I don’t write more about classic films. Well, it’s because no one reads those posts! Not a big mystery. People want to read spoilers for new movies in theaters, and news items that mention Shahrukh Khan. If this blog was called “what Shahrukh is doing every minute of every day and also this is the ending of that new movie you saw advertised”, I would be infinitely popular. But I would also be both bored (not that interesting to just list off plot points in a movie) and exhausted (Shahrukh does a lot of stuff!). So let’s see if I can manage to put in one more post topic that is just for me, and no one will read, but I will enjoy writing.
dontcallitbollywood 