I just wanted to share my joy. And also explain why posting has been down today. It’s because I have been obsessively putting my apartment together. It’s still not perfect, but it’s getting there! Most importantly, as the headline says, MY POSTERS ARE UP!!!!
I was looking for movie-to-have-on-in-the-background-while-unpacking, and Netflix reminded me that it has Dus now (for full list of all Indian movies on Netflix, check out accessbollywood.net here; for my opinion and recommendations of Indian movies on Netflix look at my post here). And I am so glad I was reminded! It really is the perfect movie. In a very particular category of movie.
Continuing our character posts, next up, Kattappa! Introduced 4th in the films, after Sivagami, Shivudu, and Avantika. And again, this is not meant to be the end all-be all on this character. Just sort of an interesting leaping off point to consider him. (full index of Bahubali posts, including other character posts, is here)
This took an interesting turn! I wanted to talk about Sujata and caste in India, and I ended up spending a lot of time talking about race in America. Because, in the end, they are both about social illusions we have been trained to accept, which can be broken by something as simple as hearing a baby’s cry.
Another Jab Harry Met Sejal trailer! Isn’t it nice of Shahrukh to make sure my views stay up even as Bahubali fever ends? Or, to put it another way, isn’t it smart of Shahrukh to hold is promotion until there is a gap in the news cycle which he can fill?
I’m just cruising along with these character posts! Partly because, as I said before, they are more sort of discussion starts than the end all-be all. Every single moment of character development has been covered in the scene by scene posts, this is just gathering together some of the more interesting thoughts in one place. (full index of all Bahubali posts, including the other character posts, available here)
Another Bahubali post! A short one, more of a beginning of a discussion if you want to keep talking in the comments, than the definitive comprehensive take on things. (to see all the Bahubali posts, check the Index here)
Now, on Rahman’s birthday, I will call him “the Greatest Composer Since RD Burman” and it will be an equal compliment. The two of them are up there, all by themselves, on the list of popular film composers. For his birthday, I will give you 55 reasons to love him (mostly songs)
Good news! I found a post I did for Eid last year, so I can join in the celebrations after all. Better late than never. As I said last year, I am 95% sure all these songs are appropriate. But if a miss-translated a lyric or something, and one of them is more secular than religious, let me know right away so I can pull it out of a post where it doesn’t belong.
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Happy Pride! Not a lot out there for representation of Queerness in Indian film, but I will highlight what I can.
There isn’t a terrible lot of it (although it will be added to by today’s post), but I thought, for Pride, I should give us all some options for our Queer fantasies.
Happy Pride! For once I am NOT in charge of the service at my church, which is around the corner from the parade (our kids have a lemonade stand out front, we rake in the money), so I do not have to go down to the loud crowded hot unpleasant parade area. Instead I get to celebrate by reposting the same fanvid post I put up last year. Thank you slashfic fanvid makers! You are just the best people, and on Pride Sunday, I salute you!
Continue readingKepzandme alerted me to it being SRK’s 25th anniversary in films today, 25 years since Deewana came out. I am sure everyone in the world is doing 25 songs, 25 scenes, 25 films, kind of posts. I’m not going to bother trying to add to that. Instead, I will do something only I can do, and put in my personal 25 best memories, in no particular order.
On the Monday Questions post, a couple of people asked me why I don’t write more about classic films. Well, it’s because no one reads those posts! Not a big mystery. People want to read spoilers for new movies in theaters, and news items that mention Shahrukh Khan. If this blog was called “what Shahrukh is doing every minute of every day and also this is the ending of that new movie you saw advertised”, I would be infinitely popular. But I would also be both bored (not that interesting to just list off plot points in a movie) and exhausted (Shahrukh does a lot of stuff!). So let’s see if I can manage to put in one more post topic that is just for me, and no one will read, but I will enjoy writing.
Welcome back to another Bahubali Theme Post! Now that I’ve gone through the big themes I could think of (Dharma, Male and Female, the Elements), time to really dig in and look character by character. And why not start where the films start, with Sivagami. (yes yes, I will use the character names for these posts, because it’s not about the finished film and the actor’s portrayal, so much as the characters conceived in the screenplay) (full index of all Bahubali posts, including this one, is here)
No subtitles though. Which, following my theory from yesterday, means that Shahrukh used to love me and was telling me through subtitling his videos. But now no longer loves me and is breaking up with me through NOT subtitling his videos. WHY SHAHRUKH???? WHY???? I’ll change for you! I’ll do whatever you ask! Just take me back!
Really quick post, just so we can all discuss. And so those of you who need this information ASAP can get it. New JHMS teaser! I am still cautiously optimistic. Although slightly less so than I was after the last two teasers.
Happy Tubelight Monday!!! Only 4 days left until the “real” Tubelight day. Or maybe 3 if we are lucky and there is a last minute Thursday release in America. So, let’s talk about Kabir Khan and Salman and their first collaboration, Ek Tha Tiger.
Happy Father’s Day Again! My weekly fanfic post this morning (it’s really good! You should read it) exhausted me, so this will be a quick-ish post. But it is Tubelight week, I can’t let the day go by without acknowledgement.
Happy Father’s Day! I am celebrating by doing nothing! Probably. I might go out to lunch with my parents after church if they want to. But we have all had very exhausting weeks, and his Father’s Day wish may be to just go straight home and take a nap instead. But I am excited at the idea of doing a Sunday speculative post that is fatherhood themed! Such a rich source of film plots, that is very rarely used.
Happy Tubelight Week again! Let’s talk about the film I was immediately reminded of when I saw the first Tubelight trailer, the classic Dr. Kotnis. Well, and the real person Dr. Kotnis.
Accessbollywood.net does the real work of keeping this list updated, if you want a day by day update, subscribe to them. But if you want my opinion and recommendation on every single one, read on.
Another podcast! And another week when there was no movie to see in theaters, so we watched a DVD! Another Nivin, Jacobinte Swargarajyam. Because I know it would be unlike any movie Dina had ever seen before. And I was right! (you can read my original review here)
Whenever I say “Chinese”, I have that knee-jerk moment of “wait, is that right?” Because of course you don’t know if a person is Taiwanese, or Taiwanese who prefer to be called Chinese, or ethnically Chinese but from Cambodia, or just straight up American/British/Norwegian/Indian, whatever other country they were born and raised in, despite a Chinese appearace. And then with languages, there’s the whole Mandarin versus Cantonese thing, and with films there’s the whole Chinese versus Taiwanese versus Hong Kong, and so on and so on. But in this case, YES! Chinese! I am talking about attractive men who were born and raised within either Hong Kong or the People’s Republic of China, and who openly identify as Chinese and nothing else. Because it’s Tubelight week, and Salman Khan is teaching us all about peace and openness. And also I had about an 18 month period of being really really into Hong Kong cinema.
dontcallitbollywood 