Happy Sultan Day! I have my tickets already for the 7 o’clock show, planning to get there half an hour early so I can get a good seat. But in the meantime, let’s have some Salman songs to get us in the holiday mood!
This is entirely from the Hindustan Times which has done an amazing job laying (lying?) out the new realities of the box office for big ticket films. You should absolutely check out that full article, because it is fascinating! I just have a few things to add to it.
Sultan‘s coming out tomorrow, woo! Which means I can’t put it off any londer, I have to deal with the one part of the film I am really really not looking forward too: Randeep Hooda.
Okay, there is no connection between Sultan and Ghajini except in my mind. But it suddenly hit me that the thing I like best about Ghajini might be similar to what Sultan will do.
Happy 4th of July! I am celebrating by locking my doors and fervently ignoring the massive celebration going on at the end of my street. It’s just so hot! And crowded and loud and blech! Instead, I am going to have a little song festival of American-themed Indian movie songs. As always with these posts, if I missed one you like, just mention it in the comments!
Thanks to a commentator’s recommendations of important Salman movies, I just watched Garv: Pride and Honor. I am so glad I did! Because it is important not just as a Salman movie (I am thinking this was a big turning point as he went from romantic hero to action hero?), but as a perfect example of the modern Indian action movie. Which is why it is good to see before Sultan, since this is the standard that Sultan will be breaking away from.
Sultan week continues! Today, let’s talk about Sultan and Ek Tha Tiger! The one other time Salman worked with Yash Raj Studios.
Big news! Kareena and Saif just confirmed their pregnancy! Yaaaaay! I guess? I mean, it seems like something they both want, so it is nice that it is happening. Although I will miss Kareena onscreen.
Sultan week continues! Day 2, I’ve already talked about Salman as a widower, what relationship Sultan may have to Ali Abbas Zafar’s other films, and what connection it might have with previous Anushka performances. New topic: why a mustache?
Well, that’s easy, they share a director. What I am curious about is what elements the director might bring between the two films. Especially if Sultan came about through the same process as Fan, that is, if it was always the end goal for Ali Abbas Zafar and his early films were just training.
Sultan is coming out in a week, woo! And all signs point to Anushka dying and Salman being a grieving widower looking for a reason to go on (NO SPOILERS or inside info, that’s just a guess based on the trailers). Which is why Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha is the first movie I want to talk about for our run-up week.
Before Fan came out, I talked about how a lot of the news seemed to just sort of stop in anticipation. Because people knew the media and fans would be so focused on the big release, they weren’t be spending much attention to unrelated news. Same thing happening here! A lot of news items tangentially related to Sultan, minimal items not related at all. And I’m not interested in those anyway (I’ll pay attention to IIFA once the performances start being posted on youtube), so I am ignoring everything not Sultan adjacent.
A commentator recommended this to me as a underappreciated Salman movie, and I am so grateful, because I LOVED it! It is the particularly Indian combination of subtle real emotional discussions and totally over the top visuals.
There is more than you think! I’m not just talking about Dostana, or Kal Ho Na Ho, or Dunno Y…Jaane Q, or Bombay Talkies, or Margarita with a Straw, or even Fire. In the whole history of Indian film, there have always been those people off to the side, being themselves and being Queer.
This is kind of a repost, I put this up as one of my first fanvid posts ever. But the original post was kind of short, just the videos. So here it is, expanded and perfected, in honor of Pride.
One of these really really doesn’t matter, but the other one kind of does, because it is hiding a story that does. Well, two stories
2 industry news items today! One which is important in general for, like, society. And the other, which is very important for, like, ME!
Happy Father’s Day! Not quite as fruitful a source for videos/films as Mother’s Day, but almost! And again, I am grateful that it happens every year so I don’t have to feel like I am limiting myself with just my choices for this year.
There’s a bunch of random little news stories today about random people, but they all connect in that they show how the public personality and persona that the media wants you to believe doesn’t always match reality.
2 new videos! One which revealed a lot, and one which revealed NOTHING. But both got me excited.
I love it when the Khans do stuff! Everyone in India gets all excited and opinionated about it. Speaking of excitement and opinions, also new rumors about Kangana and Ranbir!
Data, right? That’s the plural and datum is the singular? And since I am going to be talking about several separate quotes, I want “data”.
Not my favorite Salman film (that would be Bajrangi Bhaijaan), or my favorite film that has Salman in it (that would be Jaan-E-Mann), but my favorite time that he actually ACTS. Instead of just playing Salman Khan-SUPERSTAR. Which is appropriate, because it looks like in Sultan he will be playing an actual character. And a character that changes and develops over the film, just like in Tere Naam.
I feel so ashamed, I am supposed to be a Shahrukh fan, but this trailer really got to me. But I am going to forgive myself, because Salman is on a real hot streak right now of finding that perfect sweet spot between crowd-pleasing and emotional truth.
It’s IPL now, and Ramadan is starting soon, which means everyone is kind of hunkering down and being quiet. Because there’s no big movie to promote, so why talk? But there are some nice non-movie things happening that are getting a little reportage.
dontcallitbollywood 