I wasn't going to post on vacation but I have been told that even though I will be out of town for it (self-centered, right? LOL!), I should probably put up a link to the DC South Asian Film Festival! Omi Vaidya will be there with Big In Bollywood and there are a couple other interesting films playing like Shagird and Ashes.
Done and done. So, go out and see some good films if you're in town! (I'll be out at the beach but it's all good!)
And an announcement - I'll be on vacation from Saturday to Saturday and I'm not sure what my Internet situation is going to be like. Hopefully nothing terribly exciting will happen in B-town while I'm gone but... I'll be back in time to bring you plenty of excitement over ROWDY RATHORE!
BOL BACHCHAN! I never thought the day would come where I was looking forward to an Abhishek Bachchan movie but if he keeps hooking up with my man Rohit Shetty, then I think we might be on the road to forgetting his past misjudgments.
First of all, ROHIT SHETTY CAR STUNTS AND SLOW MOTION FIGHTING!
Secondly, ROHIT SHETTY COMEDY AUNTIES! Hello, Archana Puran Singh!
Thirdly, Abhishek seems relaxed and having fun instead of trying too hard. Give me a performance on a level with the Dostana one and I'll be satisfied.
Fourthly, I think Asin pairs quite well opposite these older heroes. She has a REALLY strong personality that can hold it's own opposite the biggest of heroes. Plus, if her past choice in scripts is anything to go by - Ghajini, Ready, Housefull 2 - we're looking at a mass entertainer that should bring in the bidness.
I cannot wait! How many films does this make coming up that look really, really good? Thank god our May dry spell is almost over. They actually brought Vicky Donor back to our theater because everything else blew so bad.
If you are in Australia, you can watch Anil Kapoor in a documentary on slavery in India.
And if you are in Mumbai, don't forget to check out Kashish Film Festival for films about community that is too often cruelly stereotyped and marginalized.
Last thing before the news - this isn't a film but I have a feeling other people would be interested, too. I know there are some mafia buffs out there (myself included). The title: "Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia" by S. Hussain Zaidi. Unfortunately Flipkart doesn't ship overseas, as far as I know, but maybe we can all find some copies on eBay or something.
The narrative of these stories is always that India is making films incorrectly and with films like Gangs of Wasseypur is finally starting to understand how to do film right (i.e. OUR way).
Bullshit. 1.2 billion people (give or take a few) aren’t wrong.
From Lakshmi Chaudhry at Firstpost:
Bollywood is now the official bimbo of the international film scene. No one cares what our movies say as long as they look good and offer mindless fun. In fact, that’s our designated job according the kitsch-is-cool pose adopted by American critics. Cartoonish characters, absurd plotlines and bad dialogue? Thank you, that’s exactly what we ordered, with a giant serving of exotic locales, dance numbers, and costumes, please!
Lakshmi also calls out Rachel Saltz for her bullshit reviews, much to my eternal pleasure.
Obviously, I'm not part of the "our" but it does annoy me to see cinema that I love with my whole heart and am deeply affected by (I still think on O.P. Ralhan's films when I need to remind myself to hate the crime, not the criminal) summed up as "over-the-top musical romances with silly and exotic outfits." Sure, there is a pleasure in silly outfits but the other pleasures of Indian films are much more rewarding. (If you ask me, which nobody did.)
Anyways.
The fact that Tesson used the term “Indian cinema” and not Bollywood was telling and indicative of the tectonic shift that is happening in the world’s biggest film industry. Traditional Bollywood fare — star-driven song-and-dance melodramas that adhere to formulaic plots and recognizable archetypes — are now being challenged by low-budget indie productions with auteur sensibilities and decidedly edgy subject matter.
Do we really have to trot out these talking points year after year? What do you mean NOW being challenged AND what do you mean by "Indian cinema" and "Bollywood"? There have been the regional industries along with Hindi language parallel cinema for a long, long time and those aren't Bollywood. On top of that, Western media, you need to get the stick out of your ass about song-and-dance. Just because a film has song-and-dance doesn't make it less serious or less artistic or less meaningful or LESS GOOD than a film without it. The same goes for the archetypes. Sholay: big budget, uses archetypes, has so much song and dance AND a formulaic plot and also happens to be one of the GREATEST FILMS ever made.
Okay? So, stop just googling the stories that came out in the New York Times the last time "Indian cinema" popped up on your radars (that would be Slumdog Millionaire and before that... maybe Bride and Prejudice, then Lagaan and/or the last Deepa Mehta or Mira Nair film) and start actually watching the films and/or reading things by people who ACTUALLY WATCH INDIAN FILMS AND BOLLYWOOD.
Have I ranted enough? I just HATE these lazy pieces by journalists who google around for 15 minutes and then write some half-assed piece that is supposed to be dispensing "wisdom." When, really, throwing together a couple of quotes from Anurag Kashyap about how the "mainstream" isn't mindless anymore means nothing coming from a Western media outlet that doesn't even have any idea of what the Bollywood mainstream IS let alone what goes against it.
I'm not saying that Ready is packed full of meaning but I don't think you can easily dismiss MAINSTREAM films like Munnabhai MBBS as meaningless or as part of this small budget "trend" The Hollywood Reporter thinks it's discovering.
Anyways. What other stories do we have today...
Now! GOSSIP! A nice mixture of high-low brow today...
Okay!
And confidential to Western journalists googling around for material on Aishwarya Rai and her pregnancy weight issues, allow me to direct you to this guest post for The F-Word I wrote about Bollywood actresses and the changing standards for weight. Then check out some pictures of beauty beyond size zero.
I've been on a real music kick recently and here is what my top five jams of the year so far are (in reverse order):
Shahrukh has been banned from the stadium for five years.
Having listened to the audio clip posted, he just sounds like a spoiled brat. And the defensive tone of his remarks at the press conference don't belie that impression at all.
Firstpost has a great take on the incident and on Shahrukh's increasingly obvious midlife crisis. I highly recommend checking it out!
“Ae bewada,” calls out an anonymous voice from the crowd, carrying high and clear over the chatter. An enraged Shah Rukh Khan yells right back, “Tu peeche se mat bolna… samne se aake bol ae peeli shirt ****… yahin gaad doonga.” (Don’t talk to me from back there. Come in front of me, you yellow shirt. I will bury you right here.)
And now onto other news!
Can you even wait for the fallout from this year?
And a big congratulations to Armaan Kirmani from Patiala House who will be going with his film Soulmates! Go follow him on twitter because I'm sure he'll be posting updates!
I'll try to keep my eyes peeled for news of Miss Lovely and Gangs of Wasseypur along with whatever red carpet pics I can find.
And now... La Pinto. What do we think of her dress?
But first! Are you in Detroit? What are you doing on Saturday? The correct answer is attending the Bollywood-Orchestra concert at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.
Under the direction of conductor Nan Washburn, 25 Philharmonic musicians, 21 singers and 15 professional artists of Indian origin will perform 17 songs from Bollywood films, including "Jai Ho" from 2008's "Slumdog Millionaire." And actual movie clips will be synchronized to the music on four large screens.
Lolo for Verve! Dangerous Ishhq may not have been the resounding success we all wanted but... who cares! It's LOLO! We never loved her for her acting abilities anyways... ♥
A few of tributes from the daily rags.
We all know her classics - "Dhak Dhak," "Dola Re," etc. - but here are some of my favorite Madhuri numbers!
I'm going to try to keep on top of daily news at the least and I do have a post for Box Office Poison simmering, so hopefully I can get that to you soon! Things should calm down in June, which I am really looking forward to believe you me!
This has been all over the twitter circles I frequent but, yes, Pakistan's Coke Studio is back! Check out one of my favorite bands: SYMT.
A big hat tip to my buddy Dishoom Bhai for sending the video my way.
The official website is here. ENJOY!
I hope everybody had a Happy Mother's Day that was celebrating!
In the meantime, enjoy a little video tribute to Nirupa Roy!
OKAY! I'm going to try to hit up Dangerous Ishhq tonight but I can't promise anything. I'll try, though. It is LOLO after all. I feel a strong sense of duty to support her comeback. We over-30 ladies need to stick to together.
Now, onto news!
Sonakshi giving her all with "Chamak Challo Chel Chabeli" (and long-time-no-hear to Kumar Sanu)!
"Jiya Ho Bihar Ki Lala" from Gangs of Wasseypur. This looks like it's going to be... intense.
Everybody and their mother has posted this already but... DAMN! This is going to be good! I loved Kabul Express and all the non-Neil Nitin Mukesh parts of New York so Kabir Khan is a-ok in my books. No sighting of Katrina yet but considering he got a nice performance out of her in New York, I think we're looking at THE film of the year.
Now, don't kill it with hype and constant news stories and ads and publicity.
Please.
New Hampshire folks!! Go and check out the Bollywood screenings on May 12th and the New England Bollywood Film Festival.
Also, Gangs of Wasseypur is heading to the Sydney Film Festival for people in Australia.
Okay! Let's see what else is happening today!
His television show Satyamev Jayate is the only thing anybody is talking about. (Apparently to the extent that the official site crashed.)
So, let's see what the fuss is about!
And good news - the Kashish Film Festival is back for its 3rd year at the end of May! If you're in Mumbai, go out and support your gay brothers and sisters with films that respect them instead of the usual and highly offensive stereotyping that goes on...
Check out an interview with festival director Pallav Patankar!
We have a lot of queer content coming from inside the country, in regional languages not necessarily English, and that will be interesting because earlier in India we were not generating that much queer based content. And it's encouraging to see that people are coming up with local stories with local languages instead of Hindi or English. We have a film in Marathi, we have a film in Kannada and we have a film in Punjabi which is going to be quite new for us.
And with the public service announcements out of the way... onto news!
Anyways... let's move on to REAL Bollywood news!
Now, we're back to our regularly scheduled programming! Although you'll forgive me if I didn't have time to link to the epic story of somebody actually hiring Koena Mitra to launch their new plastic surgery clinic. The headline is enough, I think.
Okay! Let's hit it!
Shakti Kapoor: GAY ICON!
And Madhuri Dixit to do a medley of classic film dances on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa!
I'll catch up on anything I missed tomorrow!!
Have a great day!
Leaving aside the fact that nowhere in the Smash promotional material nor in the reaction to the song in the Western press did anybody even briefly drop a hint that they knew that the "Arabian Nights" aren't actually a Bollywood thing, I thought it would be worth pointing out to Mr. Jaffrey some Bollywood songs that manage to meld two different cultures without resorting to putting white people in Aladdin vests and have them steal lamps. (Because that is what Arabic culture is all about, ammirite? Stealing lamps and waving peacock feather fans for the sultan's wife. I suppose we should be grateful that at least Smash didn't make them terrorists in Aladdin vests, since that seems to be the only other option for representation of Arabs on American television.)
Yes, Bollywood does trade in ethnic stereotype humor (aka all of Double Dhamaal) but that doesn't mean they don't know how to get it right from time to time!
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