This is one of those movies that I knew was really good, and I just haven’t gotten around to watching it. Well, haven’t gotten around to it, and it was kind of hard to find a copy of. But, thanks to the proliferation of international streaming services, I now longer had that excuse, so I finally watched it!
Wicked witches, evil uncles, twins, love potions, Madhuri Dixit, horses, fairy tale kingdoms, Danny Denzongpa, bungee cord fight scenes, geese, have I said anything bad so far? No! There is nothing bad in this movie! It’s all goodness, goodness so rich that maybe it was hard for people to stomach, and thus its massive flop at the box office on release. And, I was surprised to learn from the comments on my sexy songs post, not something that the readers here might even be aware of.
This movie is just barely a classic. It’s not the best, it’s got quite a few massive flaws in fact, but it’s still really interesting and worthy of discussion. And the best part is how well it shows women rescuing themselves, very appropriate for today’s discussion.
It’s been pointed out that I might appear to undervalue this film and that is why I haven’t spoken much about it. Truly, I don’t undervalue it! It’s just such an unusual film that it doesn’t fit easily with a discussion of anything else. Nothing else is really like it, and therefore available for comparison with it. And it didn’t start a particular trend in filmmaking (beyond the general “Family Films” trend), because it would be so hard to imitate. But yes, I do know about this movie, I know all sorts of things about it and I am aware of it’s place in film history.
Happy Friday! Somehow I am just in an SRK-Madhuri mood after Anjaam. And it’s Valentine’s week, and this is a really really Valentine’s heavy film. So, why not?
Okay, I’ve talked about all the important Devdases, all the good ones that are closely related to the novel and deal with the ideas of hidden tragedies and casual disasters and all those cool things. Time to deal with the one that is just really really really pretty!
I watched this movie with my friend for Valentine’s and, truly, it is the perfect Valentine’s movie! All the romantic relationships are a different variety of horrible, erotic love leads only to misery, and happiness come from embracing inner strength and aloneness and killing EVERYBODY. (it might also be the perfect PMS movie) I should also mention, just to complete the picture, that my friend and I ate 2 dozen mini-eclairs straight out of the container while watching this film. The Perfect Evening.
Yay, it’s Madhuri’s birthday! Officially, in America, not just in India like when I put up my last post. I already posted the first 25 reasons I love her, now here are the last 26. (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)
I really should have posted this on Tuesday for “World Theater Day”, or yesterday for Akshaye’s birthday. Oh well, better late than never.
It’s Madhuri’s birthday today! Well, today in India. But I want to start celebrating as soon as possible, so I am putting up my birthday posts today. And it’s a big birthday, and she is a big star, so I am doing one reason for every year she was alive, 51 in total. (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)
Madhuri is wonderful and amazing, and ever since her post-children return to the industry, she isn’t getting the platforms she deserves. But I have ideas!
News/trailers/posters round-up really. There are some new movies talked about that we should all be aware of and give our opinions of, because I know we all LOVE giving opinions.
So many trailers today! And also, good buzz for 102 Not Out. Shoot! I was thinking about taking a week off from watching movies, or else going regional instead. Oh well, I probably would have wanted to see it anyway just for Rishi and Amitji’s reunion.
I put up a post a few days ago which did NOT get as many views as it deserved (because it was really good! Read it here!), so now I am going to put up a fun version of it. Can you pick the correct answer?????
This 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.
I already did action film and rom-com lists to match this. My goal is, once you have finished the list of DVDs recommended on websites, or by the librarian, or handed to you in the DVD store, what next? And there is a surprisingly long list of films with strong female central characters in Hindi film.
I really should have posted this on Tuesday for “World Theater Day”, or yesterday for Akshaye’s birthday. Oh well, better late than never.
This movie is just barely a classic. It’s not the best, it’s got quite a few massive flaws in fact, but it’s still really interesting and worthy of discussion. And the best part is how well it shows women rescuing themselves, very appropriate for today’s discussion.
I’ve got a couple of story ideas, but I’ve got vacation brain so I can’t fully work them out. You get to help me with that! It’ll be fun!
First, if you are in a grumpy “I hate romance and love and couples!” mood, that is your right, and you should go watch Anjaam and look at yesterday’s “men in wet shirts” post. But if your mood is more “falala, happiness and flowers and my boyfriend/husband is so awesome!”, then this will just serve to increase that feeling. Or, alternatively, if you are in a sort of miserable “there are no happy couples or true love in the world” vibe, this will convince you that is false. Also, I have a clear and declared winner for the Best Couple Award, you will have to convince me out of it.
Happy Friday! Somehow I am just in an SRK-Madhuri mood after Anjaam. And it’s Valentine’s week, and this is a really really Valentine’s heavy film. So, why not?
I watched this movie with my friend for Valentine’s and, truly, it is the perfect Valentine’s movie! All the romantic relationships are a different variety of horrible, erotic love leads only to misery, and happiness come from embracing inner strength and aloneness and killing EVERYBODY. (it might also be the perfect PMS movie) I should also mention, just to complete the picture, that my friend and I ate 2 dozen mini-eclairs straight out of the container while watching this film. The Perfect Evening.
In our discussion on this year’s FilmFare post, we ended up linking back to previous years for reference, which made me think of a TGIF theme! Why not put up photos from previous years and have people compete with themselves? (index of all TGIF posts here)
Finally, some interesting news stories! I’ve been checking for days, and there hasn’t been anything that I consider juicy (no, rumors of possible conflict, and discussion of something someone said that might be offensive are not juicy). But today, lots of actual industrial news! So happy!
This should be fun! 3 films patchworked together from Daboo’s photos. All based on Sanjay, of course, because he is the best.
dontcallitbollywood 