Bizarre yet Hillarious Bollywood Video-Ma-Jig

Movie Review: Chameli Starring Kareena Kapoor and Rahul Bose

One of my favorite movies of all time is Chameli, starring Kareena Kapoor and Rahul Bose, directed by Sudhir Mishra, and released in 2003. For those of you who are into the occassional "aaaart pilm" - I highly recommend it and give it 4 stars. If you have never watched a Bollywood movie, and can only watch one, it would have to be this or Sholay.

There are actually very few song scenes in the movie. Here is a snippet from the film when Kareena Kapoor "sings" Bhaage Re Mann.



And here is a snippet from AishFan, an IMDB user:

This movie is definitely a breakthrough in Bollywood cinema in terms of the story and the approach to telling it. The entire movie takes place in just one night. It is interesting to see how a family values, extremely wealthy man spends a night with a prostitute. Beginning with his prejudice, he slowly grows to accept, protect, and, one can even say, love her. It took an entire movie summed up in an extremely brief "climax" to perfectly convince and portray the theme that 'It doesn't matter what the backgrounds, gender, etc. are; there should just be love.'

Indian Thriller Video

This video is hilarious. It's an unintended spoof of Michael Jackson's thriller. If you're looking to waste a little time, check it out.

Review of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti

Movie Review: People are often asking me for tips on great Bollywood films that don't have annoying singing and dancing - well Rang De Basanti has some singing and dancing, but its totally intertwined with the plot, and the film is beautiful and engaging. First, a bit of the what's it about. From Wikipedia (yes its strange that films now have Wikipedia write ups), but alas:

Struggling British filmmaker Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India after she reads the diary of her grandfather, who served in the British Force during India's struggle for Independence. She comes to India in order to make a short film about some of the heroes of the Indian Independence Movement, men such as Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad. With the help of her friend Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), she sets out to find actors suitable for the roles. Sonia introduces Sue to some of her male friends [...]

Don't get too disappointed - for me, a typical clue that a Bollywood film is going to be terrible: when they start hauling out the whole east meets west theme (think Bride and Prejudice) - the Brit actually speaks Hindi with a not too annoying accent. The shooting is so well done - I especially loved the really grainy scenes shot in dumpy dhabas - all the friends inhaling food, laughing, and most typically Punjabi - picking on each other. There's also not a single motorcycle muscle flexing scene. Here's some more plot-y stuff from Wikipedia:

Sue convinces them to act in her film. Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni), a political party activist, later joins the group though he is initially disliked by the other boys on account of his Hindutva beliefs and contempt of Aslam, who is a Muslim.

As the young men learn their lines and learn more about the history of the Independence movement, they realize that, unlike the men they are playing, they have lived completely for their own pleasures and have ignored India's pressing problems. They lack the spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice.

Strong film. I give it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

dilwale dulhania le jayenge

movie review: just saw Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge last night. i'm sure i'm veering out of the desi mainstream when i say this, but this flic was just too steriotypically blah. i honestly felt guilty when it was over for wasting so much of a beautiful sunny sunday afternoon. here were my problems: i was shocked when intermission showed up, i could have sworn we were wrapping up, but alas, we were simply leaving england for the punjabi homeland, which we certainly could have done sooner. the lamborghini/motorcyle/fight w/ the juts/prancing switzerland business is so stereotypically bollywood - its been done over and over and over again. i also tire of the 'i love india' speeches, and the brainless 'east is west, punjab is best' type one liners. still, some things were good - for one, we were spared shahruhk's stomach gurgling 'i'm so sad' acting. less cynically, the songs are pretty good, as are the dance scenes. perhaps i'm just feeling ready to trash a film since the past few i've seen have been so good. had i seen this last year when i was wallowing in a long string of muscle-flexing-junior-high-school-machismo-bollywoods, i might have been more sympathetic. for now, i give it 2 1/2 stars, while seriously contemplating dropping it to 2. more at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112870/

parineeta

movie review: i really need to do more than write about the movies i've seen. alas, that seems to be the only thing driving me to the computer at night. anyway, saw parineeta last night. i have no idea why we've had such great luck w/ films lately. its especially odd given our process for picking films. basically we live in a mostly white-neo-hippy-dip-only-slightly-hip corner of the city, in other words, hardly a brown skinned person for miles (since the grand pop up mansions are more readily affordable elsewhere). so, we drive to this dump of a store on aurora that sells meat in little plastic baggies with protruding bones, random spices, and the occassional packet of naan. behind a broken glass counter lies a stash of semi-bootlegged dvds. i typically ask the guy in punjabi for some 'ARRRT' film. he says, "oh they're all so terrible these days - too much hip thrusting and not enough brooding. i have nothing.' then i plead w/ him to show me something, anything. he sighs, slowly bends down, reaches inside without taking his eyes off me, grabs a handful of DVDs, and throws them on the counter. he shakes his head and wanders away to cut some more meat. anyway, so... the movie. it was really good. set in 63' calcutta - my guess is the scene bares little resemblence to the real calcutta - as i've never seen a jazz club in india, let alone one as cool as that in the film. the setting, fantasy or real, is beautiful. well shot, w/ nice touches to 'date' the film in the right era. what i liked especially, is parineeta's classic bollywood, w/ the singing and dancing and love story and propensity for melodrama, but its well done. i give it 3 1/2 stars.

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and for the spiders: movie review

yahaan

movie review: saw yahaan, a film by shoojit sircar, last night. was a very touching film. not a typical bollywood film. best one i've seen since chameli. the cinematography was very interesting. was shot in almost black and white with very sparing use of color. i really wish i had seen it on the big screen as opposed to my crusty laptop. i hadn't realized how long its been since i've seen so many images of kashmir. its a shame kashmir has suffered so much these past 10+ years. the story of hope through love is a compelling one. for a more synopsis-y type review, see: this link. i think she was a little harsh though. i thought the pace of the film was fine - i had no problems moving between the various movements. i also thought the action scenes were well done - and with the exception of the ending, not overly so as many b/h ollywood films tend to be. something that struck me was how difficult this film would be for an american to make now. in the 40s, no problem. now, we're so jaded in our 'love' stories, atleast on the artsy side of the film spectrum, that honest love as simple is this would be too foreign for its audience. it would certainly require raw sexuality, or something twisted, and less first sight type warmth. on the whole, i give it 3 and 1/2 stars. i'd have given it a 4 if it wasn't for the slightly overly 'action-y' ending. still a definite should see.

ek hasina thi

movie review: saw ek hasina thi last night. definitely not your typical bollywood song and dance film. read a great review of it here. i was all set to write about the film, then i read this - it captures 95% of what i was going to say. i also agree w/ the 3 star rating, as well as the assessment of the strong first half vs. more formulaic, though still engaging, second half.

what else, we just got back from watching the sunset over puget sound at the park. our neighborhood converges at this one lovely point anytime the sunset looks promising. this evening was no exception. also learned a new trick w/ my son - normally, we play helicopter, and i swirl him around and round by holding onto his hands while he stares at the ground. today, we flipped him on his back, and i held his ankles while he could gaze up at the sky. minor change, certainly a bit less safe, but he was dizzy and giddy and clearly preferred our new found form.

bewafaa

movie review: last night we rented bewafaa. was pretty good. i'd give it 2 3/4 stars out of 4. the story line was good, not too cliched. the music was below average for a bollywood flick. too much of that mid tempo brooding singing that was common back in the 70s. not enough catchy big fashion flash. a lot of this was due to the plot, though. tough to be happy and dancy when melancholy is required. also, found the half western/half eastern thing poorly executed. the main girl's mom's white, dad's punjabi, and that somehow had something to do w/ who the girl was. the only way it tied in was this singer guy from montreal specialized in 'fusion' music. only problem was 'singer guy' wasn't western at all, nor was his music. started thinking about this whole 'marry your sister's husband in the event of her death' thing. if it wasn't for my instinctive western discomfort w/ the idea, it actually makes a lot of sense - keeps the family together, kids get to be truly loved, and as the film explores well, the problem's in the touchy husband / wife dynamic.