Happy Friday! Finally got to the end of the week! Phew. And as a reward, a completely fun and silly movie and a completely fun and silly review.
Amrita has been a bit forgotten lately (at least since she got married), but she was part of some great films. And some great songs. So why not celebrate that as she turns 37? (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)
I know I’ve been doing a lot of song posts lately, but I am sick of reporting on Padmavat and not much else has been happening. So, songs it is! Just to keep us busy for a bit until the one-two of Padman and Aiyaary next week. Oh, and there’s a dog video at the end, if you are into that sort of thing.
Happy Monday again! Normally this is when I would put up a news post, but there is nothing that I am interested talking about. And I am having a hard time getting focused at work. So, time for a songs post, songs that will help me get the weekend wriggles out and back into a Monday frame of mind. Just like when I tell my Sunday School kids “okay, we are going to have 30 seconds to shake the wriggles out, and then be serious”
My sister, the teacher, celebrates Shahrukh and Amitabh in her own special way. On their birthdays every year, her homework problems have a very special theme. Also, there is background music playing during class. And depending on the ethnic make-up of the group, they either really get into it (like when she was teaching in New Jersey and the class was 2/3rds desi) or are super confused. Anyway, this year she is letting me share with you all, so we can all learn about Shahrukh, and also math.
I did a serious one yesterday, so now I get to do a silly one! 21 hairstyles. Which was surprisingly hard, because he really doesn’t like to change it up much.
I was tempted to do one long post for one of these, but that would break the list pattern. Plus, be harder to write. So some will be longer, some will be shorter, but there will be a full 25. And that will give you all a lot to talk about in the comments.
(Be sure to read to the end, the last bits are the best bits)
Okay, how many Teacher’s Days ARE there?!?!? I already did the American/International Teacher’s Day, and Guru Purnima (click the links if you feel the need to review former teacher songs), and now there’s ANOTHER Teacher’s Day? Just for India? Thank goodness there are so many teacher songs! (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)
Amrita has been a bit forgotten lately (at least since she got married), but she was part of some great films. And some great songs. So why not celebrate that as she turns 36?
Tabu is 45 today! Not the biggest star, at least not any more, but one I am inordinately fond of. So, 14 reasons I love her, for the age she was when she made her first film.
That feels sudden! Because I barely knew she was dating anyone. Because, sadly, the media isn’t exactly falling over itself keeping me up to date with the goings on of Amrita Rao.
Happy Teachers Day! (At least, in America) So many sexy teacher songs in Indian film! Every film director in the world must have had a massive crush on a teacher at some point. Good news is, it looks like Teachers Day may be different in India than America, so I will get to put up a whole bunch of other videos in a few months!
So, I am a huge huge sucker for a good fanvid, have been for years. Going all the way back to when I was in college and I would take a break from studying to browse around and try to dig up a new SRKajol vid.
After over a decade of loving these things, I think I have figured out 3 categories of fanvids, specific to Indian fandom.
First, there is fanvid that expands on the themes of an existing artwork, for instance this fabulous one from Alina Yuvvraaj:
Or these, from lalilly:
Then there are the fanvids that expand on the particular awesomeness of a particular star. Like this, my all time favorite from Zizi K:
Or this one from Alina Yuvvraaj again:
So, both of those kinds of videos, based on a particular movie or a particular star, you can find in any fandom. Where I think it starts to get unique, is in the next two categories.
First, there are the videos based on a particular mood. Since Indian film follows the Rasa theory, where the goal is to evoke a particular mood at a particular moment, rather than a cohesive mood through out one narrative, a wide variety of films might have particular scenes that flow seamlessly between the borders of their individual movies.
Like this, the moment when you are in love without realizing it yet and happy (from half a dozen different movies with the same moment). By Zizi K again:
Or this, which evokes the specific mood of “young and drunk at a club”, by MRSEMRAAN:
Or this, which has the very specific-to-Indian-film emotion described right there in the title. Women who are sad, and the men who love them from MRSEMRAAN again:
And then finally, there is my favorite category, the totally made up full narratives that go across multiple films and, occasionally, all the way into real life footage. This is really unique to Indian film, because Indian film is uniquely cohesive film to film. The same jodis play the same characters going through the same narrative beats over the over again. And even into real life, in interviews and publicity tours, they interact the same way. And who knows, maybe it is even related to the reincarnation in Hinduism! According to some versions, even Ram and Sita were reborn multiple times and lived out their story over and over.
Anyway, one of my favorites, which seamlessly moves between real life and film. Almost convinces me that Kajol really is eating her heart out, from MissCinemaObsessive:
and then I watch this from lalilly and feel better:
(see, they’re just friends after all!)
Or this one, where she actually does get him, even though he is himself and she is village-Kajol, from Zizi K:
Or this, where it’s not just SRKajol, but SRKajol vs Kajol/Salman and Kajol/Saif, from LUANSU (LUANSU was also the first fanvid maker I found, back in college):
It’s not just SRKajol, I literally screamed with delight when I found this one, hitting up the scandals old school! And using all film footage to tell a real life story, very impressive! From TheMelicrazyy:
And this leads into the bonus subcategory, fake storylines pulling together multiple films, but with stars who never actually acted together! Because actors and their characters are so consistent across films, and all films are so consistant with the kind of scenes they include, you can actually craft a narrative revolving around people who have never been onscreen together (my favorite of these is the Abhishek/Kajol/Rani “Teardrops on My Guitar” that was briefly posted like 6 years ago by Nouf89, and then pulled down. My white whale! If someone out there has it, please send me a copy!). But these are nice too. From rmskch:
(this is so impressive! Remember they have only been onscreen together for less than ten seconds in her friendly appearance in KANK)
And I had never even considered these options, from 3bit89:
(none of these three has ever costarred with each other in anything!)
So, did I do this right? Are there the same number of categories as promised in the post-title? I think so:
