Phas Gaye Re Obama (2010): screwball satire!

Movies like this make me seriously question the name of this blog! True, older films had so much going for them, but some of the new Hindi comedies make me wonder whether newer ones aren’t even better. This one is almost as good as my other new favourite Tere Bin Laden. It has all the hall marks of a well made screwball comedy but it is also a brilliant satire. From global recession to American business ethics, and Indian politics and it’s murky back waters – Subhash Kapoor spares no one!

Mini reviews – 2010 edition

Between my new job and my new car, I’ve not had the time or the energy to update the blog very often. But today, chatting with Beth and Amrita about films reminded me of my priorities. Life is too short to watch movies and not write about them. And since I don’t want to waste time deciding which of my recent watches I should write about, I’m going to write about as many as I can squeeze into one post! So here goes…

Do Dooni Char (2010)

The first thing I knew about this film was that it would bring Neetu Singh back to the screen after a quarter of a century. (No, a mute guest appearance does not count!) I was really excited at the prospect. And when I read some more about it in the blogosphere, I realised that I had more reasons to look forward to it than just Neetu Singh’s "return". The film promised a heart warming story and great performances. After watching it, I must say that it delivers on it promise, and then some!

Crimes against gender: confessions of a Bhartiya Naari

In a perfect world, everybody would realise that a woman is "feminine" no matter what she does, simply because she is female. Since it’s not a perfect world, only a select few (like yours truly and other such intelligent women) recognise the fact. But the lovely Banno has challenged me to confess my crimes against my gender, so I must show some! How do I find out what constitutes a crime against my gender? I must admit that my only yardstick for this comes from old Bollywood films. So let’s see what they say a woman should be like, and what crimes I’ve committed against Bhartiya naari-hood.

Shabd (2005) – the power of words

Having declared publicly, on the internet, that I NEVER follow new songs into movies, it was perhaps inevitable that I'd break my own rule! The culprit songs in question were the dreamy Khoya khoya sa, and the dance number Sholon si sholon si – songs that I’ve loved ever since I saw them appear on TV promos 4-5 years ago. I am not sure why I suddenly felt the need to watch the film for these songs, but I did, and I certainly dont regret it. Parts of the film left me a bit dissatisfied, but its a very well made film and was an engrossing watch.

The story opens with critical acclaim for Booker Prize Winning author Shaukat Vashisht (Sanjay Dutt). Unfortunately for Shaukat, the acclaim soon turns sour, with reviewers trashing his next book and calling his characters and plots 'unreal'. Instead of using his talents to write for Bollywood, as any sensible writer of 'unreal' stories would, Shaukat goes into hibernation.

My favorite filmi Mr. Rights!

The Valentine spirit is everywhere. From heart-shaped, diamond-studded pendants on special offer, to heart-shaped candy in heart-shaped boxes, and long-stemmed red roses - its hard to escape the “romantic” season. Naturally, that made me think of my filmi Valentine. An exhaustive search down memory lane turned up rather less material than I had hoped for! Most Bollywood heroes are too busy fighting bad guys and making up to their dost and/or Maa, to do more than sing the requisite “eve-teasing” number and romantic duet with their heroines. Any cherishing of the beloved, done in Hindi films, is usually done by the woman. Fortunately for us women, Hindi Cinema does bring us some men of substance and beauty, who take time off from saving the world (and/or bromancing their buddies) to pay attention to their lady-loves. Needless to say, thats where I looked for my filmi Mr. Right. And here they are – all top ten of them, in no particular order:

Rocket Singh: Salesman of The Year (2009)

What is it about idealism that is so attractive? While a shirtless Salman leaves me completely unmoved*, a self-less social worker or an idealistic writer makes me melt with the “milk of human kindness”. Put that idealism into an underdog, and you have a sure-fire hit, as far as OiG is concerned! And that is exactly what Shimit Amin-Jaideep Sahani do in Rocket Singh. They create an everyman hero who is helplessly idealistic and a complete babe-in-the-woods for the milieu he chooses. The result is fairly predictable, but so very heart-warming!

Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor) or ‘HP’ as his friends call him, is an average Joe. He barely scrapes through his BCom finals (he does seem to be better than Sid, at exams!) and doesnt dare sit for the CAT (entrance exam for MBA in India), because he knows his intellectual limitations. So, he sets his sights on a job in sales because there, “brains are more useful than numbers”.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) – help me complete the story!

Yes, you did read correctly. I’ve seen this movie thrice and realised that each time I’ve been fobbed off with an incomplete tale. The missing part has been bothering me for the last 10 years and I’ve finally decided to do something about it. If Karan Johar wont tell it to the world, I WILL! Before we go any further, though, I should warn you about spoilers. If you are the one person in the world who hasnt yet seen the film (and dont want it to be spoiled for you), now is the time to stop reading. Also:

**********Very long post Alert! Poll Ahead.**********

A quick recap of the story before I point out the missing bits: Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) are best friends in college when a new girl in their class, Tina (Rani Mukherjee), upsets the cosmic balance. Tina is everything that Anjali is not – she is feminine while Anjali is tomboyish, she is cute and sexy while Anjali is “one of the guys”. Even more important for Rahul, she never even tries to beat him at basketball, something that Anjali does with ease. It doesnt take Rahul long to fall for Tina. Poor clueless Anjali - it takes Rahul’s practise proposal (yes the jerk actually practices on Anjali for his proposal to Tina!) for her to realise how much she loves Rahul. Too late! Rahul and Tina decide to get married. A heartbroken Anjali leaves college and Rahul-Tina’s lives.

Double-trouble or twice as nice? My favorite Bollywood-double roles

Writers elsewhere have noted that the double role not only allows the audience to have twice as much of their favorite star in one film, it also saves the producer money by getting one actor to play two characters for the price of one! As far as I am concerned though, double roles usually mean double the fun and/or double the style. Since double roles come in all flavors and shapes, I have arranged my favorite double roles according to the specific genres they fall into. And here they are for your reading pleasure.

The bad and the beautiful – catching up with 2007 films

My dwindling bank balance has decreed a strict moratorium on DVD-buying sprees. How then to quench the thirst for movies and more movies? This is where Calgary Public Library comes to the rescue! For the past few weeks I’ve been catching up on all the 2007-08 movies that I missed watching on the big screen. Here’s a brief review of some of them:

Salaam-e-ishq – Dard-e-dimaag for the viewer!

I cant say I began watching with a lot of expectations but I still managed to be disappointed! To those of you not familiar with the plot, the movie follows the love-under-threat stories of five loosely-related couples - Ashutosh-Tehzeeb (John Abraham-Vidya Balan) whose young marriage is under threat because of Tehzeeb’s tragic loss of memory; Shiven-Gia (Akshaye Khanna-Ayesha Takia) whose love is imperiled because Shiven doesnt want to commit matrimony; Vinay-Seema (Anil Kapoor-Juhi Chawla) whose marriage is going through Vinay’s mid-life crisis; Kamna-Rahul (Priyanka Chopra-Salman Khan) in whose love-story Karan Johar plays an unlikely cupid; Raju-Stephanie (Govinda-Shannon Esrechowitz) whose love story you hope and pray does NOT take off but does! There is a random sixth couple Ram-Phoolwati (Sohail Khan-Isha Kopikkar) whose unsuccessful attempts to consummate their marriage will [not] educate the uninitiated about the “donts” of marital sex.

Emerging trends in interrogation techniques: an overview of Bollywood-related methods.

While walking along the University’s pristine corridors yesterday, I had the good fortune to run into Prof. Lakshmi Jawaab-Talab and her grad student Gopi Jasoos. I know her from my grad school days in India. Once she’d ascertained my marital status, enquired closely into my career plans, finances, etc., she told me what brought her to Calgary. “The Canadian Govt was very impressed by my review article on the use of bad movies to interrogate tough suspects. Canada’s neighbours churn out bad movies and suspects in such large quantities that its become a matter of grave concern even so far up North. So here I am, about to give a series of lecture-demonstrations to Canadian law enforcement agencies!”

The paratha conspiracy: Mujhse Dosti Karoge (2002)

A movie about email-pals? A story of true-love being above beauty? A love triangle? WRONG. In case none of you have caught on to it, the movie reveals a chilling international conspiracy to steal the process and exploitation rights of gobhi-ka-paratha (a cauliflower-stuffed Indian bread, hereafter referred to as g-k-p).

Gobhi ke parathe (image taken from this blog which also has the recipe for the parathe!)

Come lets laugh - Top 10 Bollywood Comedies

It seems to be the season of "Top 10" in blogland. Both FilmiGirl and the Post-Punk Cinema Club have put up their selection of top 10 songs for various decades. Never having done a top 10 of anything before, I promptly and shamelessly decided to copy the idea. However, to weed out Top 10 songs from literally hundreds of songs every decade is a Herculean task and a beginner like me needs something much simpler. After much cogitation I settled on Top 10 Comedies simply because great comedies in Bollywood appear but rarely and it shouldnt be hard to select 10. Having committed myself to the task, I realised that Bollywood has way too many great comedies to make this any easier than top 10 songs!

What you see here is the result of sheer hard work and days of frantic weeding and ruthless trimming - I've even managed to limit myself to only two comedies each from directors Basu Chatterji and Hrishikesh Mukherji who between them were responsible for most of the great comedies in the 70s and 80s!

If jest be the food of life, read on... and dont forget to tell me about your favorite comedies.

10. Andaz Apna Apna (1994) - Yaallah!!

Two bumbling young men meet up on the path of get-rich-quick by attempting to marry the same rich girl. Alternately collaborating and competing with each other for their heiress, they run into bizarre villains, confusing look-alikes and every possible situation that a hero of a successful 70s masala block-buster could look forward to. From these trials they emerge triumphant, with their love-lives and fortunes made. What makes it especially amusing is its use of cliches to create a hilarious parody of masala movies. Salman Khan and Aamir Khan as the aspiring fortune-hunters are uproariously funny and ably supported by their heroines - Raveena Tandon and Karishma Kapoor - their villains - Shakti Kapoor, Shehzad Khan and Viju Khote - and the goody-baddy lookalikes played by Paresh Rawal. Raj Kumar Santoshi's tongue-in-cheek nod to 70s Bollywood still has me in splits everytime I watch it, though I havent watched it as often as Veracious seems to have!

Hum Tum (2004) or A Jerk Who Grew Up To Be A Man!

This is the story of two very different people who are victims of improbable co-incidences in three different continents over several years who finally give in to their fate and fall in love. In other words, its a run-of-the-mill masala movie with a difference (quite a paradox, that) and I love it! Its the movie I like to watch when I am feeling blue and need a laugh or when I am happy and need to see my happiness reflected on-screen.

 

Rhea (Rani Mukherjee) is your normal feisty, intelligent, attractive, girl-next-door. On her way to the US of A for further studies, she runs into Karan (Saif Khan) who fancies himself a lot and fancies women even more. He never misses an opportunity to impress the ladies. That his efforts meet with indifferent success is completely due to the ladies' bad taste and no fault of his! Rhea is one of a long line of girls who are unappreciative of Karan's seductive appeal. The guy does everything he can to impress her - he double guesses her food orders wrongly, goes through her purse while she sleeps, ogles every thing in skirts, tells her how much he likes mentally undressing women, and even kisses her. Really Rhea - you are hard to please!

Bride and Prejudice (2004) - Jane Austen gets spiced up

The title says it all. The movie has lots of brides, brides-in-waiting, brides-to-be (there are grooms too, of course, but they don’t really amount to much) and a truckload of prejudices. The movie is roughly based on Jane Austen’s romantic comedy Pride and Prejudice. By roughly, I mean that Austen’s story comes in for some rough handling here. However, we will ignore Jane’s hurt sensibilities at the mangling of her novel and enjoy this adaptation on its masala merits! Those of you who are familiar with Pride and Prejudice probably don’t need to be told the plot. Those who aren’t, you need to read the book ASAP or proceed with reading the rest of this post.

Clueless-but-Cute-American William Darcy (Martin Henderson) comes to Hicksville, India (Amritsar to the uninitiated; and the appellation is his, not mine!) to attend a friend’s wedding. Also with him are his friends the Anglophilic Indians (Naveen Andrews and Indira Varma) who rejoice in the Indian names of Balraj and Kiran Bingley. You may charitably conclude that they are the Indian descendants of Austen's Bingleys who settled in London's high society.

The two Parineetas

Continuing with this month's theme - movies from books - here's a look at Sharat Chandra Chatterji's famous romantic story Parineeta brought to life on the silver screen by two exceptional directors, 50 years apart.

1. Parineeta (1953)

Producer: Ashok Kumar
Director: Bimal Roy
Starring: Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, Asit Baran, Nasir Hussain, etc.

2. Parineeta (2005)

Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Director: Pradeep Sarkar

Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Sanjay Dutt, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, etc.

The story involves a romance between a lovable orphan and her bossy mentor.

Indian literature in Bollywood

A while ago I was reading this article on Gulshan Nanda - a Hindi writer whose frothy romances were very popular in the 1960's and 70's, and who was responsible for several successfull Hindi movies (Saawan Ki Ghata, Patthar Ke Sanam, Kati Patang, Sharmelee, Jheel Ke Us Paar, Jugnu, etc.). The author of the article claims, among other things, that
a) "good" Hindi literature never made it to Hindi cinema,
b) the task of bringing Hindi literature to movies is beyond the scope of Bollywood directors.

This got me thinking - did serious Hindi literature never make it to Bollywood? Right off the bat I can recall several examples of Indian literary classics that did make it to Bollywood, though were not very popular. Here are the ones I've seen and liked. They're from Hindi literature as well as literature from other Indian languages. Though not large in number, they do refute the author's claims that Bollywood is incapable of making movies based on Indian literature. If any of you know of some other examples, I would love to hear about it.