Another index completed! I am just slamming through these. Of course, my actual new coverage is slowing down, but maybe you can entertain yourselves by crawling through the archives in this new convenient format. I had A LOT to say about this movie
Why I didn’t do this from the start, I don’t know. It takes way way longer to update each post, or for you to search through the archives, than for me to just have one place to find everything. So, starting with the first film that got full massive coverage, I bring you, THE DILWALE INDEX!!!!!
This is perhaps my least favorite part of the movie. Not because it is boring or unbeautiful or anything, just because it feels like the part that fits least with the rest of it. I can make it work (as I will explain below), but it isn’t quite the perfect fit with no struggle that the rest of the film is. (full index of Jab Harry Met Sejal posts here)
Well, this is a let down. Nothing is going to be as good as the last section. Well, until I get to the last-last section. Anyway, this bit has some hard work to do bringing us down from the emotional high we just experienced. It does the job, but it’s not very interesting.
Not as exciting a section as the last one, no direct SRKajol interaction, but plenty of back and forth between Shahrukh and other characters. (full DDLJ index here)
You know the only thing it isn’t the “peak” of? Sexiness. Comes in at least third, after the maroon dress bedroom scene, and of course the ending. But it’s a little sexy too, in that “people liking each other and being happy is sexy” kind of way. Not in the “I must have you right now and am shaking with desire!” kind of way that the other two scenes are. I mean, the characters are shaking with desire, not the audience. Although if you were too, I won’t judge. (full index of JHMS coverage here)
Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I get to talk about my favorite part of the film! I’m SO EXCITED! Even though I kind of already went over this whole section in my first review. I don’t care, I’ll find new things to say. (full index of Jab Harry Met Sejal coverage here)
Oh boy oh boy! I get to continue my favorite section! I probably won’t get all the way to “Radha” today, that will be our little Independence Day treat tomorrow. (full index of Jab Harry Met Sejal posts here)
Oh boy! Another great interesting section! Although not as interesting as the next section, my favorite part of the film. (full index of Jab Harry Met Sejal coverage here)
I’m here! I’m excited! The first scene which really needs explanation and discussion or else it makes no sense. The one that we all get to have arguments about what it really means and if it is stupid or works and how we all (and all the characters) feel about things. Oh boy! (full Jab Harry Met Sejal index here)
Happy Friday! And Happy 4th part of JHMS scene by scene. I saw it for the 4th time last night, and you know, it holds up! Besides a couple of kind of slow parts in the second half, mostly just because the second half had more moments when Shahrukh and Anushka weren’t on screen together, and that’s what makes the movie work. But the songs, the character, all of that is still rewarding re-watching. But now I really need to stop, because the lack of sleep is beginning to catch up with me. (full index of JHMS coverage here)
Happy Thursday! My 4th and final watch is tonight. Which is usually the watch where I stop enjoying the film. 1st time, so-so, but there is so much to process I am overwhelmed. 2nd time, much better, I can relax and focus. 3rd time, usually as good as the 2nd time. 4th time, now I am starting to get bored because I know absolutely everything already. And then 5th time is DVD/streaming a couple months later, and I am back in. Anyway, good news is, now that I have seen it 3 times, my memories are pretty locked in and I can do the scene by scenes without struggling too much. (full JHMS index here)
Oh boy! Moving right along, I’m like a whole 5 minutes in! Which wouldn’t seem like a lot, except I’ve been working on my DDLJ scene by scene, and that is sooooooooooooooo much slower. And here I am, only on part 2, and we are already past the opening credits! Woo-hoo! Lightening speed! (although, in case you were wondering, no DDLJ today, skipping another Wednesday. Partly because this post took up a lot of time, partly because getting only 6 hours of sleep because I am seeing JHMS every night is not in fact conducive to clear thinking) (full index of scene by scene here)
Welcome to the first scene by scene since Bahubali 2! Which might make you go “really? This movie?” But yes! Really! This movie! It deserves it. (full index of JHMS coverage here)
Yes yes, I haven’t forgotten DDLJ! I skipped last week because of the Net Neutrality protest, but now I am back! (full index of DDLJ posts here)
I’m back! We’ll see how this goes. I’ve cut Hindi Film 101 down to once a week to give me a little breathing space, and I get to pick if it is Tuesday or Thursday. That should help. (DDLJ full index here)
Welcome back to DDLJ! I’m going to try my best to put up a post every Wednesday, we’ll see how I do. I already had to stop my box office posts when I got regular with Hindi Film 101, this may mean the end of birthday and/or trailer news posts. I’ll check viewership and see what the concensus is as to which are more important and based on that I may need to take another DDLJ break at some point. (All DDLJ posts indexed here)
Not a good movie. Really really not. Terrible script, and casting mistakes. And then a lot of money poured on top which just serves to make the flaws stand out even more. Like bright lighting on a really really ugly statue. Anyway, save your money and skip the film, just read this instead! Which I almost never say, but in this case, yes. It’s the best thing to do.
The last couple of sections were kind of downers. Everything was going wrong. Kajol was miserable, Amrish was angry, Farida was sad, and the world just felt out of synch. And now here is Shahrukh! Finally! To set the world spinning the right way again. (full index of all DDLJ posts is here)
This is one of my least popular, and most difficult, blog series. It’s hardcore analysis, social and shot by shot and narrative and history of the film industry and history of India and everything I have ever learned all in one place. I am up to section 20 now, and 100 screen shots, and I am barely past intermission. But I thought I should probably just put together an index post to make it easy for latecomers to catch up. And hopefully get a few more readers to justify the amount of effort I am putting in!
Continue readingOkay, after all of the boring place setting stuff to get us into the second half, we finally have a really meaty scene! And it’s also the scene that illustrates the alternative theory of the film. The surface obvious theory, the one that all the critics talk about and so on, is the resolution of the NRI identity/tragedy of the immigrant theory. But the second theory, the one I have been following along, is the questioning of gender roles and patriarchal authority. (last section here, and page indexing all the DDLJ posts here)
Welcome back to DDLJ watch! My new system is to pull all the screenshots, put them in order, and then write the post around it. It’s working so far, but then I haven’t gotten to any huge discussion points since I started the new system. (part 18 here, you can go back from there)
I’ve done it! Whole thing! And it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Don’t worry, Bahubali orgy isn’t over yet, there will be a big over-arching themes post next week, and there is the start of what will be a multipart fanfic tomorrow. But this is IT for the scene by scene stuff. (part 25 here, you can crawl back through the archives from there)
Happy Friday! The Battle continues! I was thinking I would be done with my scene by scene posts by now, but I guess not. Maybe I can do another surge today, and then I can come back for the ending and final summary posts next week. We’ll see. (part 24 here, you can go back from there)
More big battle! My goodness, if this is the edited version, can you imagine how long it was to begin with? Although it’s also strangely soothing to have all this big battle with physical fireworks after the emotional drudgery of the past few scenes. (part 23 here, you can go back through the archives from there)
dontcallitbollywood 