Part 1 came out yesterday, moving right along to part 2. This isn’t a real “scene by scene”, not the way I have done it in the past with every line and every shot considered. This is more a summary of the film with some minor discussion, similar to what I did for Bajirao. (full index of summary here)
This is a tricky one, on the one hand there is so much in it that I really want to go through step by step and make sure I don’t miss anything. On the other hand, there isn’t enough in it (and I don’t want to spend so much time) for me to do a “real” scene by scene, shot by shot, style discussion. So I’m gonna do kind of a half one. Sort of like I did for Bajirao. Go through everything that happened, but not in super detail. (no spoiler review is here)
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)
I spent three hours yesterday looking at dogs. Well, 20 minutes looking at dogs, 2 hours and 40 minutes driving between shelters that turned out to be closed or not have any dogs and talking about dogs with my friend who came with me in order to stop me from taking home every dog there. Anyway, what with all the doggie talk, it is obvious what the topic of this week’s fanfic will be.
There’s nothing I find really exciting in the news, but there’s a lot of little things we can talk about. Mostly casting announcements.
I could give you an elaborate reason why I felt the need for this post, but there really isn’t one besides “my views are down thanks to Thanksgiving and I want something that will get us all talking”. So, starter kit for male stars!
This is just because I have been watching Cheers and now I can’t get the idea of a remake out of my head. So I had to dig up a few more TV show options as well, just to round out the post. Feel free to give me suggestions in the comments for more I could use if I missed your favorite! Especially since my TV taste trends towards the classic.
I’m getting a little better at this, checking the news stories. Still not great, I’m still only using one source which is terrible, and I still don’t have a ton of background on things. But I’m getting there!
I was going to make this my Sunday post, but I really feel like the Sunday options should be full and in depth sort of things. Whereas TGIF is more for the “read in 5 minutes, return to whenever you feel down kind of stuff”. And so, inspired by a conversation I had with Filmilibrarian in the comments a couple days ago, “What every movie star would do if you were trapped in an elevator with them for 6 hours”. (oh, and feel free to play along in the comments if you have an alternate idea, or for an actor I missed)
Happy Easter! I am going to cut up cardboard in the basement with my Sunday School class, and then maybe have brunch with Grandpa afterwards to celebrate. Oh, and eat the chocolate bunny that my parents gave me. And also, think about the most Easter-y of all Indian films, Amar Akbar Anthony!
I am making an exception and putting up two 101 posts in one day! Because I want to finish off the Kapoors all nice and tidy on a Thursday, so I can start fresh with somebody else next week. Speaking off, there will be a poll at the end of this entry for you to decide who you want to read about next. (also, after some nagging and requests, I have set up a menu area for Hindi Film 101, you can see them all here)
I followed the controversy back when it first came out, but I couldn’t find a version to watch anywhere back then. And then the controversy died down, and it was posted online again, but I stopped caring. Until a couple of people in the comments here reminded me!
No big massive full summary coming for Befikre! Partly because Dear Zindagi exhausted me, partly because my sense is that my commentators aren’t as interested in a massive discussion of this movie, as they are of other movies. But mostly because I don’t think it is analyzable, to take it apart would be to destroy it.
I was very very nervous about how this movie would work, but it totally worked! I was afraid it was going to be a big Aditya Chopra movie taking the industry in another new direction where I didn’t want it to go. But turns out, it’s just a little Aditya Chopra movie, a nice harmless little thing that just happens to be made really really well.
Thank goodness, Aditya Chopra is still capable of running his life and business! As trailer after trailer came out for Befikre, I kept thinking “really, Adi? You are betting the farm on this….thing?” But nope! He isn’t betting the farm, he is just betting, like, that one cow that doesn’t give very good milk any more.
I don’t mean he’s getting the famous Kapoor figure (fingers crossed he never has that). Or the onscreen charm (he has always had that), but he is beginning to get just a hint of that terrifying interview quality. From what I’ve seen and read, it sounds like all the Kapoor men (except Shashi) have that a little bit, that slight hint of “Lord of the Manor, Don’t Cross Me or I’ll Have You Killed” in their eyes. On the other hand, Ranveer is still a total sweetheart. (first episode discussed here, and second here, and third here)
Yet another Befikre trailer! I really did not much like the first one. And then I disliked the second one slightly less, and the third one even less, and now the fourth one has continued the trend, and I almost enjoy it!
“I’ve been looking the landscape over…” I’m I the only one who has that Gershwin song in their head whenever they read “things are looking up”? Moving on, Befikre! New Trailer, and I actually like this one! Oh, and also it was passed by the censors.
I saw the existing trailer on the big screen last night before Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (second watch, many new thoughts!). And seeing it on the big screen, not on my little youtube window, one thing became clear: I really don’t like this movie.
This ADHM news has me depressed, so I thought I would throw in some nice happy news items. Well, “news” items.
Today Dear Zindagi got it’s first poster, and Befikre got its 3rd trailer. How is this thusness? Dear Zindagi is coming out 3 weeks before Befikre!!!!
Feel free to disagree! But my reaction, after watching it, is that it is trying so hard to be “different” from the regular Indian films, that it ended up being exactly the same as a million other western films. Most obviously the French movie Love Me If You Dare (I haven’t seen it, but it was fairly successful and widely reviewed and talked about when it first came out).
At what point does Ranveer stop being charming and start being irritating? ANOTHER twitter video in honor of a Khan? Come on, Ranveer! Get a new schtick!
FanVid Post time! I was debating between that and a post running through all the previous superhero movies in honor of The Flying Jatt. But FanVids are more fun, right? And maybe I do the superhero post at some point in the next few days.
Nothing terribly surprising in box office, so I am mashing it in with a couple of other stories as well.
dontcallitbollywood 