Big B in the Great G

Big B, Tobey, and Leo

I admit it.  I went to see the Great Gatsby.  And only because the Big B himself, Amitabh Bachchan, is in it for the length of one memorable scene.  I waited through half the movie to see him grace the screen with Leo and Tobey, and it was definitely worth the price of admission.  Despite rampant criticism, I enjoyed the entire overblown spectacle of Baz Luhrmann's film.

As Mr. Wolfsheim

It's still not clear why Bachchan was cast as Mr. Wolfsheim, an uneducated Jewish gangster.   Caricatured in an overtly racist manner in the novel as a "character around New York-- a denizen of Broadway" who fixed the 1919 World Series (73) and can't keep basic vocabulary straight, there's not a great deal of connection between the book's character and a formerly angry young Bollywood star.  Perhaps Luhrmann was gambling on the Indian audience, figuring that if he put Big B in the movie at least a billion folks in the subcontinent would want to see the movie.

Big B, What Happened To Your Tux?

The real draw, though, has been reading about the Hollywood hoopla on Bachchan's blog.  I am nursing a mild addiction to Bachchan's overblown prose; I'm certain the Big B is actually writing it, because who else could get away with posting comments like: "That is a resolve, a determined mission, a destination evaluated to be achieved. One that shall incentivate all energies in getting to it at all cost. And when achieving it to not merely dwell on it but to keep working at not just keeping it alive but enhancing it, each moment ; the insecurity of the past perpetually haunting our present !!"?  But it's positively escapist to follow Bachchan as he traipses about Cannes, New York, and London for the Gatsby openings, dropping pictures of himself and Abhishek with occasional references to the "wee one." 

Wait, What?

Gatsby the movie is as full of champagne and fireworks and fast cars and glitsy fashion as the book; even in 2D it's positively unreal.  Gatsby and Daisy get a more romantic treatment on film than they do on paper; Carey Mulligan creates a real character behind the "indiscreet voice" that's full of money (120).  Perhaps that's because her daughter never shows up on screen and Gatsby's father never enters the film, leaving them less encumbered by the realities of family.  And despite Leo's annoying "old sport" refrain, he does an admirable job capturing the facade that is Gatsby (and it's all facade).

The Romantically Unencumbered Couple

I went back and read the book, because I didn't remember it being nearly as interesting or as scandalous when I read it in high school (actually, I have no memory of it from high school at all.  Blame it on that horrible American literature class).  It was a nice touch to put Carraway writing away in a sanatorium in the film, and the English major in me was touched by the typeset words floating across the screen.  The film stayed quite true to the book, feeling almost theatrically metaphorical.  But the novel, after the movie, felt flat.  The confrontation in the Plaza Hotel was more real on screen.  My only major quibble with the film is the nixing of the romance between Carraway and Jordan.  Is Jezebel right that Carraway is really gay?  Or is it just too difficult to get that almost-non-relationship into the movie?  The novel's not really that long.

Luhrmann's film does the book proud.  All flash and no substance, just as the novel intended.  The American Dream has passed the 99% behind, and those glittering 1%?  "They're a rotten crowd," according to Carraway, in both the film and the book.  But they're an entertaining 1% to watch.  Is Gatsby the Great American Novel?  It's certainly about the delusion of the Great American Dream, and the psychological longing for all that glitters perfectly in the night.  "I though of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock.  He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.  He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city" (180).  That is the only reason to watch the film, really.  To see the spectacle of the almost-American-Dream, and to pat yourself on the back that you don't run with those crazy creatures once the theatre lights come up.

A Little Amitabh Love...

The Current Amitabh Selection

Eddy and I are only half-way through Khoon Pasina, my latest foray into 1970's Amitabh (1977, to be exact).  Yet even though we've only just identified the villain and begun to establish the depths of their villainy, and Amitabh just spied his love interest who's about to be married off to another shady character, I wanted to have a moment of appreciation for 70's Bachchan.  Because:

• The fires of Partition notwithstanding, there are always several sweet scenes establishing that little Hindu boys and little Muslim boys always friends.  Bonus points for the friends fighting off gangs of boy thugs together.  
• The villains are proper villains.  World-weary, you watch as the constant strain of villainy weighs heavily upon their humanity as they torture petty thieves and subjugate helpless villagers.  And the villains almost always wear black.
• If it's an Amitabh movie, chances are Rekha will show up unexpectedly, and hopefully, in a gaudy tribal outfit with a sharp tongue and some spunky moves.
• Amitabh gets to ride around on a white horse that whinnies on cue while he's flattening bad guys.  And he wears peach bell bottoms and a peach scoop-necked vest over a patterned black button-down shirt while riding.
• Amitabh has a complicated relationship with his mother.  He sneaks into the house late after beating up bad guys, she catches him because she's up crying, he feels bad, he promises to get a job and stop beating up bad guys, then the next day he does it all over again.
• Rekha challenges Amitabh to let loose a tiger, then wrestle it back into its cage as a bizarre demonstration of his interest for her.  Amitabh's stunt double ends up rolling around in the dirt for 10 minutes with a tiger.  PEETA certainly did not approve this scene, but it is sort of amusing to watch man and tiger bust up most of the shops in town.
• Because I absolutely, fiendishly, want to own Amitabh's leather coat in this movie.  It's a caramel color, so highly processed the leather reflects black swaths of light (looking  almost plastic), with huge lapels covered with cheetah patterned fur.  As soon as I find a picture of this fabulous item of clothing it's up on the blog.

Rekha Weighs In

"Goris in the Story," or White Women and Whitening Actresses in Bollywood

Could we highlight Katrina Kaif's lightness a bit more?

You've got to hand it to the man- making a professional academic career out of writing about Bollywood?  I think he's got at least one thing sorted out.  Manisha and I trekked to the Center for South Asian studies yesterday to catch Ajay Gehlawat talk about "goris in the story," or the complicated nature of whiteness in Bollywood (more appropriately known as "Hindi cinema.")  We went on a whirlwind tour of Bollywood from the 30's to the present, moving from white women included only as vamps in films to Indian heroines increasingly taking on the "external and internal" markers of whiteness, making white actresses increasingly, well, Kylie Minogue in Chiggy Wiggy.  And I was properly introduced, for the first time, to Helen.  (Whom I'd seen before and thought was suspiciously white, and well, she is.  And Burmese.)

Oh yes, that's Denise Richards in Bollywood

According to Gehlawat it's only in the 90's that we first start to see a shift in the sexual politics of race in Bollywood.  Somehow I find it a bit hard to believe there there wasn't much shift between the 70's and the 90's in Bollywood, but honestly, I haven't made as detailed a study of it as he has.  Regardless, in the 90's Bollywood Indian male desire for white women was no longer sublimated to item number girls seen as "bad women," but white women become almost legitimate objects of desire.  Gehlawat ties this shift to globalization and the increasing desire for that which is non-Indian.  Which unfortunately leads us to the dubious introduction of Denise Richards into Bollywood.  In Kambakkht Ishk she almost, incredibly, marries Akshay Kumar.  Who would have guessed? 

The third part of our triumvirate, green eyes and all

But guess who blows Denise Richards out of the water and wins Akshay's heart for her own?  No less than  Kareena Kapoor, one of our current triumvirate of light-skinned heroines (including Ash and Katrina).   Kareena, along with other top actresses in Bollywood, is increasingly adopting markers of whiteness in her movies.  Western clothing, traveling and living alone, working, drinking and smoking, consuming western material culture... those are the external markers of whiteness.  And those internal markers?  Independence, assertiveness, and acknowledgement of personal desire... which means white actresses are becoming simple foils (aka Denise) for our increasingly "gorized" Indian heroines.  In "Chhaliya Chhaliya" Gehlawat notes that Kapoor has fully adopted Richards' whiteness, bikini, black backup dancers making her look whiter, and all.

So is this bad, necessarily?  Liberated Bollywood actresses shown as intelligent, independent shapers of their own lives (along the lines of western feminism, at least)?  White women relegated to the sidelines, which is where they should be in a country of a billion people the vast majority of whom are not white?  But the problem is that in the adaptation of whiteness and white culture, ideas of blackness (or even brownness) haven't really been explored.  And then I was shocked and dismayed to see SRK in skin whitening ads.  Something has gone obviously very wrong.

Ah, be still my cringing heart.  Clearly if Indian women can be desirably white, Indian men can and should be whitened as well, literally and figuratively.  I'm not sure if it's a sign of progress that this is being shared across genders.  But the real question, as Manisha says, is "Where are the goras?"  And where are the goras?  We could come up a slim number of examples, most from Hollywood-Bollywood hybrids.  Indian men can legitimately desire white women, but Indian women aren't often portrayed as liking, let alone pairing, with white men.  The legacy of the British rule still looms large, apparently.  Indian heroines can look white and act white, but they can't pair white.  Have Bollywood actresses been liberated, or are they simply caught in pandering to Indian men's desire for white women?  And, in all of this dizzying whitening, exactly what's happened with the conception of brownness and blackness?  Not much, apparently.

Movie Review: Ra.One

SRK as G.One in Ra.One

So I finally caved and watched Ra.One.  By the time SRK movies hit the US legally on DVD I'm reluctant to watch because I've waded for months through the hype (and listened to Chammak Challo on repeat on my running playlist for some time).  But despite some ridiculously long and completely unbelievable action sequences (running upright along the side of a train, scaling entire skyscrapers in a single leap) it was actually pretty cute.  Yes, I'm still freaked out by the sight of SRK with baby blue eyes (they're more electric blue, actually) and the video game premise doesn't exactly do it for me, but the chance to see छम्मक छल्लो translated in subtitles as "Sizzling Siren" is certainly worth the price of a Netflix subscription.

Arjun Rampal as Ra.One

I think we've found the perfect vehicle for Arjun Rampal- when he peels himself off a billboard of a male model and takes shape as the villan Ra.One (pronounced रावण) he's long on looks and short on dialogue, a perfect combination.  SRK does a believable G.One (pronounced जीवन) although you can always count on SRK to go overboard on the SRK-playing-SRK humor in the beginning of the film, then back off and end up just being funny.  There's lots of beautiful metaphors about hearts and evil casting shadows, and there's the traditional ten-headed Ravana who still has to be defeated even with crazy special effects, but for all its talk of angels this is a solidly Hindu movie:  SRK gets to be the superhero who reincarnates (over and over again).  

Kareena Kapoor 

And yes, Kareena "sizzles" while spending most of the duration of the movie being rescued (that's the problem when you've got a superhero and an antihero who are both men).  New twist on Chammak Challo- she's actually possessed by a demonic Ra.One while dancing, which takes sizzling to a whole different level.  While I believe she does all her own dance moves, there were clearly a whole lotta stunt men helping out with this movie, because I can't believe SRK personally flipped his body around and off buildings in fifteen minute increments every half hour of the film.  Ra.One is total fluffy entertainment, lots of action sequences, and completely untaxing on the intellect.  But it does have some of the best editing I've ever seen in a Bollywood movie- the plot makes sense and moves forward.  Simultaneously.  Hats off to the script writer and film editor!

Movie Review: Dor (डोर)

Dor movie poster

I had this movie on Netflix for a while before I sat down to watch it, and I'm not sure why I waited!  Two women, recently married, come together in a cruel twist of fate.  Zeenat (Gul Panag), in Himachal Pradesh, marries the man she loves despite his parent's objections.  Meera (Ayesha Takia), is happily married in Rajasthan.  Driven by economic necessity, both husbands leave their homes to work in Saudi Arabia, becoming roommates.  In unclear circumstances (Accident?  Murder?) Zeenat's husband is accused of killing Meera's husband.  She receives word that her husband will be sentenced to capital punishment  unless she can get a stay signed by Meera.  With nothing other than a photo of Meera's husband, Zeenat sets off to find Meera and convince the new widow to save her own husband from execution.

Zeenat

The beautiful part of this movie is that although the situation is created by their husbands, the entire drama and story of the movie unfolds between two women.  As a widow Meera is only allowed out of the haveli to visit the temple; Meera and Zeenat's friendship develops on the temple steps and beneath the tree outside the temple, its branches covered with fabric representing the prayers of hundreds of women.  The two trace the outlines of grief and forgiveness, anger and acceptance, and truth and deception as they come to know one another.  

Meera

Most of the movie is set in Rajasthan, which gives it a gorgeously romantic feel.  But this beauty is tempered by realities of a life of a widow (broken bangles, plain saris, and a life completely controlled by in-laws).  Shreyas Talpade offers a bit of comic relief as a small-time traveling con-man, but the majority of this film is about two women, one who lost what she considers most dear, and one who needs an incredible act of kindness to save the life of the one she loves.  It's fascinating to watch women from very different backgrounds come to know one another.  And I held my breath right up to the end to see whether the humanity that connects these women would overcome the deep differences between them.  Beautiful, heart-felt, and well worth watching.

Movie Review: Mission Impossible

Hanging from the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Melanie and I went to see Mission Impossible last night.  True, there were much more promisingly intellectual movies to choose from, such as Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher, but I was looking for a straight-up action flick.  (No brains, no deep dilemmas, just running down a lot foreign streets full tilt and blowing things up.)  Watching Tom Cruise free-climb the side of the tallest tower in the world was rather thrilling.  But why did I choose to see it (besides the opportunity to watch a pretty major sand storm thrash Dubai)?  To see Anil Kapoor, of course.  And yes, just as I'd read, the role was pretty much over in the blink of an eye, completely undignified, and on the whole rather unexciting.  When you've got all of Bombay to work with, why focus on a hotel (granted, a gorgeous hotel) interior?  When you do try to chase people on foot through rickshaw-jammed traffic, why choose a big, clean, unexciting part of the city to do it in?  Obviously I should have been on their location team, because I would have come up with a few better ideas.

Anil Kapoor Plays Bombay Bad Boy
And who wrote that tagline?  They could
have saved themselves the space and said:
"Idiot."

I hate to confirm that yes, Anil Kapoor did utter the infamous line "Indian mens are hot."  Right about the time he said, "I'd love to show you my art collection.  It's upstairs.  Private.  Art collection."  All while juggling multiple cell phones, practically throwing expensive champagne at his guests, and talking non-stop about how wealthy he is.  Kapoor rather effectively nailed the stereotype of Indian men of a certain age and class: obnoxious, obsessed with bling, in love with status, unsuave, with a wavering grasp of English, and more than willing to drop their pants at the first sight of an American woman.  Yes, he was rather unceremoniously dispatched once he uttered the code to his almost defunct Cold War satellite under rather minor duress.  I was at least hoping for a look at his art collection, but we didn't get much of a glimpse beyond a fast-panning shot of a miniature.


Now to actually set a Mission Impossible in India... that would be pretty impressive.  It seems only Sacha Baron Cohen got the memo that plots involving nuclear weapons might possibly take place in modern day Hollywood without Russia as the one and only back drop.  Hate to break it to the Hollywood movie action types, but the Cold War ended, oh, several decades ago.  And there are much more frightening scenarios out there: North Korea, Pakistan (I'm cringingly interested in what Republic of Wadiya might come up with.  They say he's talking about Syria, but really, with all that bhangra music in the trailer?), India...  If we wasted the 15 minutes of Mission Impossible in Bombay tracking a Cold War era satellite, well folks, I'd say we've missed the boat on the possibilities for nuclear terror in South Asia.  But in the end, we did get Tom Cruise at the Taj.  I guess that counts for something?

Mr. Cruise at the Taj... somehow it just seems wrong.

Movie Review: From a Bollywood Newbie

Jodhaa-Akbar

It was cold and rainy last night- perfect for an epic based in the sands of Rajasthan and the soil of Delhi.  And it didn't hurt that clips of Jodhaa-Akbar are playing in the Maharaja exhibit at the Asian Art Museum as examples of "maharaja jewelry."  I freely admit I fast-forwarded through all the battle scenes so I could watch what Ash was wearing.  Despite some historical inaccuracies (did Jodhaa actually exist?  Was she actually Akbar's wife?) and a simplistic view of Akbar's tolerance of religion,  it's still sumptuous watching.  It's also the Bollywood film I took my grandparents to see in Dallas, and the first Bollywood film my uncle ever saw.  And after much discussion of Bollywood during my visit to Austin this fall, he's decided to try jumping on the Bollywood bandwagon.

Lagaan

My uncle requested a list of five Bollywood films to watch to "get a feel for the genre."  Manisha and I discussed the list and came up with the following:  3 Idiots, Sholay, Devdas, Umrao Jaan, and Koi Mil Gaya.  He loved 3 Idiots (enough to rent Lagaan for some more Aamir action even while suffering through hours of cricket).

Devdas

So here's the scoop from my uncle, Jim Sylvester, a Bollywood newbie:
'"Devdas' is the kind of movie that I think of when I project some impression of what a Bollywood film would be – lavish sets, cast of mucho many, incredible costumes, and singing and dancing – lots and lots of singing and dancing, and then some more … singing and dancing.  It’s impossible not to focus on Aishwarya Rai when she’s on the screen.  This is one long movie and I think it stumbles at a few points .. but the big dance number at the end, the one with Rai as the aristocrat and her new friend the courtesan, is worth whatever price it takes to get there."

Sholay

My uncle found found Sholay weirdly puzzling and wasn't quite sure how to place a "curry western."  "One of the scenes that stood out for me was the dancing of the horse-cart girl towards the end under the threat that if she were to stop dancing, they would shoot her lover.  Making her dance on broken glass might have been a bit much for the drama, but I could tell (without knowing much) that her dancing was brilliant... I also appreciated the action sequence at the beginning where the two bandit-heroes defend the train from the bad guy bandits... While the bad guys were predictably dropping like flies, the drama of that action sequence was exceptional."  My uncle's main complaint with Sholay is that the action scenes were completely unbelievable.  He's still learning that Amitabh is not subject to the same laws of physics as regular mortals.

So far our Bollywood newbie likes Aamir and Ash and finds curry westerns a bit ridiculous.  Stayed tuned for his reaction to courtesans and aliens.  In the meantime I'd like to give him full credit for finding a new Heineken commercial (which is a take-off on "Jaan Pehechaan Ho"):

Movie Review: Delhi Belly (देहली बेली)

Delhi Belly Disco Fighter

Aamir Khan definitely stole the show as the Disco Fighter in Delhi Belly, which played Saturday night at the Castro Theatre as part of the 3rd i Film Festival (Dholrhythms and Rhythms of Punjab were both in the house).  But it didn't hurt that Akshat Verma, the writer of the film, and Shenaz Treasurywala, who plays Sonia, showed up to answer questions about the film's reception and Aamir Khan's role as both Disco Fighter and producer.


If you every wondered how three bachelors in Delhi might live, especially if they got mixed up with gangsters and diamonds while one of them suffers from a recurring case of Delhi Belly, well, this is your movie.  It's funny- really funny.  And it breaks some new ground in the sexuality and bathroom jokes department for Bollywood films.  Earth shattering- no.  Amusing- definitely.  And in case you really want to see Aamir Khan talking about how he got involved as the Disco Fighter and his thoughts about the song Bhaag DK Bose...

Scantily Clad White Girls at Cricket Matches and in Bollywood Films...

Kerala Cricket Cheerleader

My brother caught this article and sent it my way.  An Indian Premier League cheerleader for the Mumbai Indians, a blonde from South Africa, was fired and sent back home after blogging about the goings on of cricketers at after-parties.  Gabriella Pasqualotto is astute, if not particularly self-aware, about the effect she creates on her blog,  "On our days off, we are free to explore and take in what India has to offer but it's not always easy. You can just imagine, a group of fit, easy on the eye, western ladies cruising the congested busy streets… To the citizens, we are practically like walking porn!  All eyes are on you all the time; it is complete voyeurism.  The women double take, see you and then pretend you do not exist.  The men see your face, then your boobs, your butt, and then your boobs again! As we walk, all you hear is “IPL, IPL!” with a little head jingle!"  Starting in 2008, the IPL started imported foreign women to work as cheerleaders at cricket matches, in an attempt to "create a spectacle and attract fans to the games."  Apparently it's worked, as long as they're not blogging about the sordid details.

IPL Cheerleaders

Indian women do not sign up to be cricket cheerleaders due to "family disapproval", plus the fact that they'd understand exactly what would be said about them during matches.  Quoting a Yahoo! India editor, “It’s a damn good thing that these women are imported because at least they don’t hear the stuff that’s thrown at them in the vernacular... [Pasqualotto] would drop dead in shock if she understood what was being said about her.”  

SRK with Backup Dancers in "Dard-e-Disco"

An article by Rahul Bhatia in Open Magazine further identifies the phenomenon, "you [the Bollywood watching public] also like white background dancers who once populated Khan’s and Akshay Kumar’s songs. Directors can bring you these extras because they come to India for work, and they come cheap... having local dancers on the screen 'is not as visually good' as having foreigners—who are 'okay with opening clothes more.'"  This Bollywood trend toward white backup dancers has upset Hindu nationalist parties in India, with Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena calling for a ban in 2010 on the estimated 1,000 foreign white actors [perhaps a generous term for backup dancers] that regularly work in Bollywood.   Veer Singhvi explains the MNS is engaged in a perhaps misguided attempt to woo female voters, "The MNS says [these dance scenes] are against Indian traditions, vulgar and cheap. They do this to get women's votes because women object to half-naked dancers, but it's not enough of an issue for women to change their minds."  

Akshay Kumar and Kylie Minogue in "Chiggy Wiggy"

So is this a case of dumb foreigners in India?  An Indian male public unable to handle some white skin?  Or a bunch of folks cashing in on the fact that white women in India are naive enough to reveal more than is culturally appropriate?  I don't think anyone's unaware of what's going on; the producers and foreign women are in it for the money, and the Indian male public is in it for the titillation factor.  It's a chicken or the egg question:  do white women needlessly provoke Indian men with their western mores?  Or do Indian men feel it's their right to harass white women simply because they're white?  Based on my own experience, I've decided the majority of Indian men feel it's their right.  But my real question is this:  where are the Indian women in this debate?  The ones who "double take, see you and then pretend you do not exist?"  You'd better believe that they're talking amongst themselves, and I can't imagine they're simply siding with Raj Thackeray.  

Movie Review: Satte Pe Satta (सत्ते पे सत्ता)

Satte Pe Satta

I believe this movie actually takes the prize for the silliest Bollywood movie I've ever seen. Brothers sleeping in barns and acting like animals (literally), tamed and civilized by Hema Malini's character Indu.  The most bizarre vehicular contraption I've ever seen that magically accommodates not only seven brothers but the seven women they love as well.  An evil Amitabh Bachchan look-alike who spontaneously cures a woman of disability by waving a knife at her.  Then the evil-look alike is himself is magically cured of his devious ways when he finds himself bowled over by the religious and upright character of to Hema Malini's Indu.   This spirals into a gigantic show-down with the evil villain, Ranjit (Amjad Khan), involving brothers and guns and goons and florescent pink blood... I barely managed to keep it all straight.  Although the story explores of the animal side of human nature and moralizes about the civilizing influence of parents, I really think it's a testament to the feat of scheduling to get that many actors and actresses on stage at once (and all fit into that bizarre car!).


And if you still don't believe me on the silly bit, check out this singing beach scene (watch out for the boulder!):

Bollywood Review: Guzaarish (गुज़ारिश)

I shouldn't, but I will:  "Three thumbs up for Guzaarish!"  Another stunningly beautiful film by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.  Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) is a famous magician that becomes a quadriplegic after a mysterious accident onstage.  After fourteen years of best-selling books and a successful radio show (Radio Zindagi) extolling the power of positive thinking, Ethan is facing major medical complications (liver and kidney shutdown).  In response, he launches a controversial public campaign for euthanasia (or Ethanasia, as he calls it).  The film doesn't cover a lot of new ground in the euthanasia debate, but the story is an interesting exploration of what it means to live while actively preparing for death.


But really I watched the movie for the sets and the costuming... sumptuous.  Rich greens and golds in the flashback scenes where Ethan is a magician (it makes one think that if Hrithik wasn't a Bollywood star he should have be a magician), and Ethan's mansion is truly atmospheric- stormy blues and blacks, walls dripping with mirrors and old black and white photos.  But it's Sofia D'Souza's (Aishwarya Rai) costuming that deserves its own award.  Layers upon layers of gorgeous fabrics, with increasing hints of red as the movie progresses.  It's a whole lotta material but wearing any of those costumes... what a treat!  The plot had a few week points- I wanted to know more about what drove Ethan to become a renowned magician, and would have liked a bit more back story about some of the tangled relationships that haunted him throughout the movie.  Although technically a love story, the film is really a romance between Bhansali and the visual world.  As a viewer, I'm always happy to watch what his visual passion produces.


So you can see some costuming, here's "Udi Udi."  Persevere through the initial scene at the table and you'll see what I mean...

Bollywood Review: 7 Khoon Maaf and Kurbaan

Feeling brave or up for a touch of horror?  My recent Bollywood movie choices have unwittingly tread in a rather dark direction.  First up was 7 Khoon Maaf ( सात खून माफ़) starring Priyanka Chopra.  Lea had sent me the rather amusing Russian-Hindi smashup song "Darling" so I thought it might be worth checking out.  Netflix bills this as a "dark comedy" but I found the story tragically horrifying as the movie follows the life of a  femme fatale engaged in killing erstwhile spouses.  The first one she kills seems justified, the second a bit selfish on her part, and after that I became preoccupied with trying to figure out how Susanna, in a country with half a billion men, manages to find these lucky few monsters.  Despite deep psychological issues, I give her character credit for the rather artfully metaphoric offing of a Russian spy.  The most compelling parts of the movie are the intoxicating scenes of Susanna falling in love through a variety of sensual modes- music, poetry, food.  But the death scenes themselves seemed a bit flatly macabre.  I envisioned this script being written by two female friends talking over steaming cups of chai: "Let's make a list of the worst sort of men to be married to" and "How many different ways in different places and in different faiths could one get married in India?" and "What are the most satisfying ways to kill someone?" and "If there is a happy ending for a femme fatale, what would it be?"  So I was surprised to find that Vishal Bhardwaj adapted this film from a short story Ruskin Bond.  But the dark nature of this film certainly coincides with his work in Omkara (an absolutely lovely adaptation of Othello that is a must see).  Although visually compelling and psychologically interesting, this just didn't quite have the umpf of Omkara.  But I will say Priyanka Chopra did a convincing job of being simultaneous drunk and homicidal throughout the movie.

And then I stumbled on Kurbaan (क़ुरबान), a 2009 Karan Johar movie with the tagline "Some love stories have blood on them" (yes, which might have tipped me off).  Ah, but I figured action film, terrorist sleeper cells in the US, Saif and Kareena, might be good.  The first half was a predictable falling-in-love of two professors against some famous Delhi backdrops (Humayun's tomb is beautifully featured in one of the songs).  And then, not to give too much away, it turns out that the man Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) has fallen in love with is actually a feared terrorist.  Mix in some benign FBI agents, a journalist who decides to infiltrate a sleeper cell without contacting any law enforcement, and more gruesome CSI closeups of dead people than you'd want... and you get a surprisingly intense little movie.  Johar tried to seize this opportunity to explore the mindset and motivation of terrorists operating in a foreign country. But all he really showed was when terrorists take a break from building bombs, all they're interested in is creating greater degrees of separation from the people around them.  The end of the film visually flatlined into women in hijab, swaths of concrete, unending subway cars, and a whole lot of cell phones.  Against this flat background, Ehsaan (Saif Ali Khan) reveals himself to be terrorist with a streak of sympathetic humanity, despite the trail of carnage and destruction he's left behind him.  Despite his character's evolution, though, this film is no glorification of violent Islamic extremism.

Katrina Kaif: Barbie Doll?

Katrina's New Likeness

Thanks to Judy and Susan for giving me the heads up on this one.  This spring Katrina Kaif became the new face of Barbie... of Mattel India, that is.   She is the first Bollywood actress to have a Barbie doll specifically made in her likeness.


Is this a step forward, an Indian Bollywood star and former model becoming the face of one of the most recognizable global icons of femininity?  Or is it wrong to enshrine the hopes of prepubescent girls in a plastic form whose figure couldn't anatomically exist in real life, let alone walk?  "I Can Be A Movie Star" is perhaps a good role model for girls aspiring to become actresses (I only wish that female Bollywood stars got paid what male Bollywood stars do).  Glamour, power, money, allure... in the name of art, theatre, and acting, of course!  But I suppose the inevitable always crops up- the desire of young girls to see Katrina in the flesh, not just in doll form.  Exactly how would you explain this to your elementary-school-aged daughter... and you would want her to play with it?

Review: Dil Bole Hadippa!

Susan's copy of Dil Bole Hadippa! (दिल बोले हड़िप्पा) has been making the rounds and I managed to snag it for a couple of days.  Because Rani was starring in the movie Jared consented to watch it as well (after the cheesy opening he was completely hooked).  I think Rani had more fun making this movie than any other I've seen her in. Barred from playing cricket because she's a woman, she decides to disguise herself as "Veer Pratap Singh" to get a chance to be on the team.  She has a fabulous time zooming around the cricket field pretending to be a guy and falling in love with Shahid's character all at the same time.  The ending is perfectly predictable, but it's a cute and sweet little Bollywood film with a couple of good numbers:  "Discowale Khisko" and "Hadippa," although they both seem a little out of place with Rani appearing in them as a woman.  Especially "Hadippa," which has no purpose or relation to the rest of the movie- obviously it was tacked on at the end to show a bit of skin and generate interest.  Although I think the best thing about this movie is that Wikipedia translated its title as "The Heart Says Hurrah!"  Who doesn't love that?

SRK: The Man, The Myth, The Hair (Part II)

So many experts have weighed in about the SRK phenomenon:  Lea (playing devil's advocate), Shab and Andrea (for so much more than the SRK t-shirt, although the SRK t-shirt rocks), Nina (for pointing out some of the many virtues of "Dar De Disco"), Susan and Judy (for sending their SRK favorites), Jared ("it must be the hair"),  Jane ("Mo Hobbits must be the worst movie ever made"), and pretty much everyone I've ever discussed Shahrukh Kahn with, which is a surprisingly large number of people.

As promised, here is Part II of SRK:  The Man, The Myth, The Hair.  Today we are exploring the SRK phenomenon through music.  What better way is there to get a true taste of a Bollywood hero except through a sampling of his dancing?

Best Song:  "Maarjani" from Billu Barber
All I can say is that this is my all time favorite Bollywood song.

Best Road Trip with a Sadhu:  "Yun Hi Chala Chal" from Swades
What is cooler than SRK tooling around India in an RV singing with a sadhu?  You can't possibly top that.

Best Bollywood Adaptation:  "Pretty Woman" from Kal Ho Na Ho

Classically Bollywood version of the quintessential American song... fascinating to watch.  This is New York from a Bollywood perspective.  Sikhs guys dancing on taxi cabs, gospel choirs, punk white dudes bothering everyone, you name it and it's here.

Best Hair:  "Chhaiyya Chhaiyya" from Dil Se

For the full story on "Chhaiyya Chhaiyya" check out my previous post.  SRK's hair is famous.  Really famous.  And this is his hair at its best.

Best Fake Man Candy:  "Dar De Disco" from Om Shanti Om

I have on very good authority (okay, so I bought the two disk documentary Inner/Outer World of Shahrukh Khan while I was in Jaipur.  Jared made me do it!  And in the name of research I watched most of it.  The outer world was much less interesting than the inner world.) that SRK's 6 pack in this video is fake.  He puts on a fake torso (I watched him do so in the documentary while he was performing).  Scandalous!

Worst Song Chemistry:  "Tum Bhi Ho, Main Bhi Hoon" from Main Hoon Na

Actually this is the worst movie chemistry as well.  Nothing was going on between Sushmita Sen and Shahrukh in this movie, even though she was supposed to be a chemistry teacher!  But you have to love them dancing around in a flooded classroom with a post-apocalyptic backdrop.  I mean, really?

SRK: The Man, The Myth, The Hair (Part I)

What is the magic of Shahrukh Khan?  The essence of the Baadshah?  The elemental nature of the Bollywood blockbuster himself?  This international phenomenon, more widely recognized than Brad Pitt, received the most votes for the "world's sexiest man" because, as he sheepishly described, "there are a lot of Indians in the world."  What exactly is it?  World obsession with his fabulous hair (always a possibility)?  A certain rakish charm he projects?  The ability to cry onscreen at the drop of a hat?  The fact that he looks like he's having the time of his life in each and every single dance number he's ever been in?  The skill to die engagingly over the course of an hour and a half in numerous movies?  Or the fact that he's starred in innumerable romantic comedies that require at least a box of kleenex to get through?  Whatever it is, he's not the Baadshah for nothing.  Here are the top movie reasons why SRK is the actor to watch:

Best Sappy Love Story:   DDLJ

The classic SRK-Kajol romance.  Despite the fact that the film's a bit sexist and the mandolin riff gets a tad annoying about the millionth time, DDLJ qualifies at the quintessential SRK charm fest.  SRK and Kajol running across mustard fields in "Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam" remains a timeless Bollywood moment.

SRK In a Nutshell:  Devdas
What's not to love in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's hypnotically lavish epic:  Aishwariya Rai plays a tortured, unrequited lover, Madhuri Dixit as tragic and enchanting courtesan, and SRK as the fabulously conflicted and self-destructive alcoholic.  Madhuri and Aishwariya get all the dancing credit in this film, but Shahrukh deserves all the accolades for a wrenching performance.



Best Slow Demise:  Kal Ho Naa Ho
There's much to be said for the ultimate tragic love triangle- SRK sets up the woman he loves with a friend while he dies from an unexplained heart ailment.   No one makes dying look as good as SRK, especially when it takes the entire second half of the movie.

Best Moustache:  Paheli
Paheli is a charming little movie set in Rajasthan and narrated by puppets.  It supports not one but two SRKs, sometimes in the same frame (one of them is supposed to be a ghost).  Throughout Shahrukh sports a fabulous fake mustache, much better than what he sports in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.  Rani Mukherjee is great in this movie.




Best Navel Gazing:  Om Shanti Om
It really doesn't get any more SRK than Om Shanti Om.  Although the movie has a plot (including a reincarnated SRK), the film is really only about Shahrukh and how Shahrukh sees Bollywood (which is the only view of Bollywood there is, right?).   However, it does provide some fabulous songs, which will be explored in the coming post- SRK:  The Man, The Myth, The Hair (Part II)