There are so many Khans around! Because it is a very common name/title in the northern regions where Urdu is spoke and men are tall and handsome and refugees fled in droves to Bombay in the 1940s. But there’s only one Khan family in Hindi film, all the other little Khanses aren’t actually related to each other. Isn’t that interesting?
Continue readingSalman didn’t give us the big family Eid photo, which is fine, it’s not the big big Eid. Although this sounds like a nice one, remembering the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son by sharing food with the needy of your community, your friends, and your family. And it is also a moment for one of my favorite traditions from the Indian film industry, the holiday greetings and messages to the fans from the stars.
Did you know Feroz Khan and Vinod Khanna share a death anniversary? And it’s today? That’s kind of spooky, Jefferson-Adams 4th of July level spooky*. Clearly the experience of making Qurbani together was so important that it bonded them a deep level.
Now, FINALLY, we reach the films people know! Which is a story in itself, the way films were ignored and forgotten during the early years, even TV only plays stuff from after 1970, let alone being able to find it streaming or on DVD or VHS. But, setting that aside for a moment, let’s look at these new “modern” films. (part 1 here and part 2 here)
I talked about this movie a little already when the first “Laila” trailer came out. But I thought it deserved another post! Especially since Raees is supposed to pick up on the older tradition of gangster movies from back in the 80s.
I sent this link around to all my friends, of course, and about a minute later I got a message from one of them saying “Shahrukh doesn’t even show up for the first 29 seconds, what’s the point?” Followed by a complaint about the presence of a shirt. So you can see that we have a fairly limited area of interest for song sequences. But, setting that aside and viewing this objectively, I think this is a pretty good one!
Well, I guess if you give people everything they want, they will give you the one small thing you ask for in return.
Is it still Friendship Day in India? Am I getting in just under the wire or did I miss it? Oh well, either way I want to do a quick post on it with a few of my favorite songs about friendship.
dontcallitbollywood 