tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7969229527397863692024-03-14T05:41:52.851-05:00Masala ZindabadThe podcast that celebrates vintage mainstream Hindi cinema! Occasional detours into current Hindi films, vintage Bengali, and whatever else catches our eye.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-29838059756562817312017-03-06T19:32:00.002-06:002017-03-07T20:33:02.456-06:00New Season! New Series!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Click the player above to listen to the latest episode!<br />
<span style="text-align: left;">D</span>ownload file <a href="https://ia801508.us.archive.org/2/items/Sharmilee_201703/Sharmilee.mp3">here</a><span style="text-align: left;"><br />
and catch old episodes of Masala Zindabad on </span><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632" style="text-align: left;">iTunes</a><span style="text-align: left;">! <br />
(</span><span style="text-align: left;">We're working on getting it to iTunes again; please stand by.)</span><br />
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We're back! This new season kicks off with a series on comfort movies. First up is the 1971 <i>Sharmilee</i>, starring Rakhee, Shashi Kapoor, Ranjeet, Nasir Hussain, and Iftekhar, with a groovy item number by Jayshree T.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Watch <i>Sharmilee</i> <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3d5k9w" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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Want more? Amrita recommends you watch this with Rakhee's </span><i style="text-align: left;">Black Mail</i><span style="text-align: left;">, costarring a delicious Dharmendra (film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLsRdQpuXJM" target="_blank">here</a>),</span><span style="text-align: left;"> and Beth votes for the Shashi-tastic Manmohan Desai film </span><i style="text-align: left;">Aa Gale Lag Jaa</i><span style="text-align: left;"> (our podcast episode </span><a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/08/aa-gale-lag-jaa-you-roller-skating.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="text-align: left;">; film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwOGpuTObWA" target="_blank">here</a>)</span><span style="text-align: left;">. </span></div>
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Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-43126823578692517812015-06-04T19:58:00.000-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.478-06:00Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We <i>love</i> this movie! So much that we talk about it for almost an hour!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="30" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="https://archive.org/embed/Bakshy" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="500"></iframe><br />
(<a href="https://ia601506.us.archive.org/25/items/Bakshy/Bakshy.mp3">mp3 file</a>)</div>
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Join us in a conversation about Dibakar Banerjee's latest in which we discuss:<br />
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<li>detectives in Hindi films</li>
<li>book adaptations</li>
<li>Calcutta on film</li>
<li>distributing Uttam Kumar-ness in a 2015 film</li>
<li>the unibrow</li>
<li>femme fatales</li>
<li>white character actors who know what they're doing</li>
<li>the soundtrack</li>
<li>outsiders and emotional experiences of place</li>
<li>rewarding thoughtful viewers</li>
<li>signs of the hand of Aditya Chopra</li>
<li>"Bengalis may hate us for this, but..." and "My mommy doesn't make it like this! Boo!"</li>
<li>the finer points of the problematic-ness of the ending</li>
<li>in Dibakar We Trust, because he does things for reasons other than box office and cleavage</li>
<li>not being able to predict what he will do next, though that does not stop us from having opinions on the matter, especially since he's working with Yash Raj Films</li>
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And a warning: we do discuss aspects of the film's final 15 minutes; we try to say "Spoiler! Spoiler!" in situ but make no promises.<br />
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Aside on Bengali detective movies: since recording this episode, Beth has actually seen the Rituparno Ghosh adaptation of a Bakshy story, <i>Satyanweshi</i>, starring Sujoy Ghosh, and she liked it, even more than the 2011 <i>Abar Byomkesh</i> starring Abir Chatterjee. She did <i>not</i> like the newest Feluda, <i><a href="http://www.bethlovesbollywood.com/2015/07/mini-reviews-for-june-2015.html#badshahiangti">Badshahi Angti</a>, </i>which also stars Abir Chatterjee.<br />
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Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-20554455626349207582011-11-13T12:13:00.001-06:002017-03-07T20:31:55.404-06:00Don!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Download file <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ20a/MZ20a.mp3">here</a></div>
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Catch Masala Zindabad on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes </a></div>
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Click the player above to listen to the latest episode</div>
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Visit our <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/listen-online.html">Listen Online</a> page to play all episodes online / get embed code</div>
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Season 3 of Masala Zindabad kicks off just in time to speculate on one of the biggest releases of 2011. Join us as we review what worked and didn't in both the 1978 and 2006 versions of <i>Don</i> as we queue up for tickets for the new one!<br />
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<span class="sb2" style="color: black;"><span class="f12a">Everyone should read this fascinating </span></span><span class="sb2" style="color: black;"><span class="f12a"><a href="http://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/oct/16sld1.htm">interview with Chandra Barot</a>, the director of the 1978 <i>Don</i>, by </span></span><span class="sb2" style="color: black;"><span class="f12a">Syed
Firdaus Ashraf on Rediff. Among the tidbits you'll learn: it was
dreamed up as a fundraising project for a friend, it was made on a
shoestring over the course of three and a half years,</span></span><span class="sb2" style="color: black;"><span class="f12a"> its producer died during shooting, and</span></span><span class="sb2" style="color: black;"><span class="f12a"> it had very tough competition at the box office. And read about how Don's bow ties ripple through to today's fashion, at least for one interviewee in <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-28/trends/29836016_1_bow-tie-fashion-alber-elbaz">this Times of India story</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span class="sb2" style="color: black;"><span class="f12a">A note from the Quality Control Office: We apologize for the technical problems with this recording. Most of our discussion of the character of Roma did not record (you will hear what sounds like a context-less discussion of how she is introduced in the 2006 version of the film), and there are also some bits that drop syllables or short strings of word and sound a little like a radio station that isn't quite coming in. Also, I (Beth) forgot to add music as an intro and fade-out, but given everything else that happened with my work and home computers today, I'm lucky just to still have a keyboard that works. Sorry!</span></span></div>
Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-33362942832116894372011-08-26T00:33:00.000-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.467-06:00Aa Gale Lag Jaa, You Roller-Skating Demon!<div style="text-align: center;">Download file <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ19/MZ19.mp3">here</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;">Catch Masala Zindabad on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes </a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Click the player above to listen to the latest episode</div><div style="text-align: center;">Visit our <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/listen-online.html">Listen Online</a> page (<i>NEW!</i>) to play all episodes online / get embed code
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<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mjbe_kR1KYo" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe>
<br /><i>What Every Woman Needs: stalkers in fancy dress! </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />As regular visitors will have no doubt realized by now, this is a podcast that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the international territory of Shashi Pradesh, a magical land of wicked grins, illegal amounts of charm, great hair, seductive eyes, and surprising amounts of body hair.
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUX3cNhc5kio2dbpEgW00b4HusRWjGCHeHmA6tD5yJTQzBjb_hOXA015Z_z0TTQRVnXSqGLU75LHW0f1t_ZKxjvNSJtKEwQTAE9U_wDudDBOFgLu9FcqSLO6xIo0sxSeB3v8VvvqSh33sX/s1600/stab3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUX3cNhc5kio2dbpEgW00b4HusRWjGCHeHmA6tD5yJTQzBjb_hOXA015Z_z0TTQRVnXSqGLU75LHW0f1t_ZKxjvNSJtKEwQTAE9U_wDudDBOFgLu9FcqSLO6xIo0sxSeB3v8VvvqSh33sX/s400/stab3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925015154051426" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Moi?</span>
<br /></div>Our national dance is called The Aggravated Puppet and it is awesome. It won't surprise you, therefore, to learn that Masala Zindabad has more than one measly "favorite Shashi Kapoor movie." We have one for every season and every mood! But one we love to discuss again and again and just once more for luck is 1973's<i> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177473/">Aa Gale Lag Jaa</a></i>.
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<br /><i>In which Shashi is still figuring out the difference between newborns and footballs. SOB!!!</i></div>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This under-rated Manmohan Desai movie co-starring Sharmila Tagore, Om Prakash, and Shatrughan Sinha is beloved for reasons that took us many years and several blog posts to fully examine. Meet us in ten years, and we might just surprise you with a few more to add to the list. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXWX62g4jMsuwWX8uxopsEn2gMvvGTbbmXTl4UCUSIbaoJcwiFf1AD3xRexUMsOehH1nCWisOTEwVFEhKfPEYeB18oWn7vkg14zIiFYSCZTOwpAvNhVeIoehaYZeB1gcPz4wySwClHWqJO/s1600/AaGaleLagJaa-00114.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXWX62g4jMsuwWX8uxopsEn2gMvvGTbbmXTl4UCUSIbaoJcwiFf1AD3xRexUMsOehH1nCWisOTEwVFEhKfPEYeB18oWn7vkg14zIiFYSCZTOwpAvNhVeIoehaYZeB1gcPz4wySwClHWqJO/s400/AaGaleLagJaa-00114.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925607813558562" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qnwilwI_9lzTwmLeeCwJYgIhUiGvODV9vw52ZxsgZpD9_pj_bm8kXgAKK1u1DIlDgALyg8v6p0heasFS1RvYZSAU8xAKCFW18wtFZRwNkLToIES63bz6waoKuKYC4y3QaEraN9BseZuo/s1600/AaGaleLagJaa-00116.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qnwilwI_9lzTwmLeeCwJYgIhUiGvODV9vw52ZxsgZpD9_pj_bm8kXgAKK1u1DIlDgALyg8v6p0heasFS1RvYZSAU8xAKCFW18wtFZRwNkLToIES63bz6waoKuKYC4y3QaEraN9BseZuo/s400/AaGaleLagJaa-00116.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925597468450882" border="0" /></a>
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEeCP8C1kfzirvSsD94qxFFdyVFbQb2o7QX-U3bUHIY9klR_bDLY7ZvMRONg8RLQrxAKtTQloMPTqUyMVgotzVOoLvDEsJeZ8Suin1rSTXeXcwTEeydxfbWAdGKvqLOQBGvzOJo5joDXo/s1600/AaGaleLagJaa-00134.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEeCP8C1kfzirvSsD94qxFFdyVFbQb2o7QX-U3bUHIY9klR_bDLY7ZvMRONg8RLQrxAKtTQloMPTqUyMVgotzVOoLvDEsJeZ8Suin1rSTXeXcwTEeydxfbWAdGKvqLOQBGvzOJo5joDXo/s400/AaGaleLagJaa-00134.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925592824214066" border="0" /></a>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Aa Gale Lag Jaa</i>, therefore, is a movie eminently worthy of our full and solo attention. So today, join us for an excursion to the mystical land of Shashi Pradesh. We follow a free immigration policy and our oaths of allegiance are very accommodating.
<br />
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ssqckAkG-BU" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe>
<br /><i>And now! Accordions on roller skates! With a side of yodeling and heartbreak! What more do you neeeeeed?!</i> </div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_BccxEcGqemExjQkLRe6rvKa3GmpihuTHv7rz5Pu0_YewMjxPdjN6WY82SuC5VjArFzknGf5FkRe1k_D4ILG-WD4lHKs-5Sqdf2u8DJVVO9KEN6w9-OSxtK5QfOaFsLhyphenhyphenl_qPzMLLqP1_/s1600/SKbaby1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 315px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_BccxEcGqemExjQkLRe6rvKa3GmpihuTHv7rz5Pu0_YewMjxPdjN6WY82SuC5VjArFzknGf5FkRe1k_D4ILG-WD4lHKs-5Sqdf2u8DJVVO9KEN6w9-OSxtK5QfOaFsLhyphenhyphenl_qPzMLLqP1_/s400/SKbaby1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925017895644706" border="0" /></a><i>Perhaps you like rumpled yet elegant beachfront single dads with roly-poly sqooshy-wooshy babies?</i>
<br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEeCP8C1kfzirvSsD94qxFFdyVFbQb2o7QX-U3bUHIY9klR_bDLY7ZvMRONg8RLQrxAKtTQloMPTqUyMVgotzVOoLvDEsJeZ8Suin1rSTXeXcwTEeydxfbWAdGKvqLOQBGvzOJo5joDXo/s1600/AaGaleLagJaa-00134.jpg"> </a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBl9X8eM-mxc7DpoIYGLSG6WxJ3EiCkrxTvG-0T6vsOeYAkfmGVkX1t3MvfrpTGEOdI47-ycu3BbIXi9mWrMjT9Q4hu6Wc_w8GjUTsTXN1FnauAEoI8qFXl3h_2QT4cssMKVtSz3-vMcTO/s1600/AaGaleLagJaa-00092.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBl9X8eM-mxc7DpoIYGLSG6WxJ3EiCkrxTvG-0T6vsOeYAkfmGVkX1t3MvfrpTGEOdI47-ycu3BbIXi9mWrMjT9Q4hu6Wc_w8GjUTsTXN1FnauAEoI8qFXl3h_2QT4cssMKVtSz3-vMcTO/s400/AaGaleLagJaa-00092.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925588836445298" border="0" /></a><i>So wholesome!</i>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>
<br /></i></div>PS - All Germans please note: we in no way, shape or form hold you responsible for Shatrughan Sinha.
<br />PPS - Never, <span style="font-style: italic;">ever</span> use this medical technique. Unless your patient is Shashi.
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiDpiJvLlV03OohdGKZayw0vmXUUrdeMuRklFPqlxUc4V0fuAAd6i5If6o-Km9t20RSN1IhuSvnEAjaVecJeUjsW69-cwsCoi78g_XUXAMTa-GYlLI2g3cfUHXzkZn4PsaB9-y9ydhWBU/s1600/AaGaleLagJaa2-00068.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiDpiJvLlV03OohdGKZayw0vmXUUrdeMuRklFPqlxUc4V0fuAAd6i5If6o-Km9t20RSN1IhuSvnEAjaVecJeUjsW69-cwsCoi78g_XUXAMTa-GYlLI2g3cfUHXzkZn4PsaB9-y9ydhWBU/s400/AaGaleLagJaa2-00068.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644925613101903330" border="0" /></a>
<br /></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-23688411000215373162011-08-19T04:35:00.002-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.442-06:00No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast: The Wild, Wonderful World of ANIPALS!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Download file <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ18/MZ18anipalsfinalwsounds.mp3">here</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Catch Masala Zindabad on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Click the player above to listen to the latest episode</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Visit our <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/listen-online.html">Listen Online</a> page (<i>NEW!</i>) to play all episodes online / get embed code</div>
<br />
<br />
Todd from <a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/">Die Danger Die Die Kill</a> and <a href="http://teleport-city.com/wordpress/?author=3">Teleport City</a> is back to talk with us about filmi friends furry, feathered, and finned. Join Charles from <span style="font-style: italic;">Doodh Ka Karz</span>,
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjX-sHBF8iULu-7z85Bij-hFQ7k-rX2ULeyA-OucAYFo5fTRBuyMnqcJ2t54dWV_M9TDicme_8Znzs6KothqlqFu07ecEYxA-OhQ7k01r5XGutIOA3p9jUt4gZ1ceQZuzkJJqRlbYCYRI/s1600/charles.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641992392404145154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjX-sHBF8iULu-7z85Bij-hFQ7k-rX2ULeyA-OucAYFo5fTRBuyMnqcJ2t54dWV_M9TDicme_8Znzs6KothqlqFu07ecEYxA-OhQ7k01r5XGutIOA3p9jUt4gZ1ceQZuzkJJqRlbYCYRI/s400/charles.jpg" style="height: 192px; width: 350px;" /></a>
<br />
Sheroo the Wonder Bird (<span style="font-style: italic;">Dharam Veer),
</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeq1Hlob3rpB8izcvy4TIvB3iSoACAfKa6crqBwBD-_zE9ipeRfSlXwssf7-vk4SuG9w3MFYTXCfz9q1m0whQmy_5NN6TkMY7lbPx5MOKJJUsxJo43rkk4zShc0S__-g1qafnyprxAEpW/s1600/sheroo.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641989739457470114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioeq1Hlob3rpB8izcvy4TIvB3iSoACAfKa6crqBwBD-_zE9ipeRfSlXwssf7-vk4SuG9w3MFYTXCfz9q1m0whQmy_5NN6TkMY7lbPx5MOKJJUsxJo43rkk4zShc0S__-g1qafnyprxAEpW/s400/sheroo.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 262px; width: 350px;" /></a>
<br />
the respectful tiger (<span style="font-style: italic;">M</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ard</span>),
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwr56wTSMDH5MjPE77exT0Brc7E9kQ3_Zkhgqhr2GF1-bG4Z4kXxFjvXZFExgTEcDNpAcJVccD-zzaV7hpwrh5x7qopBPFKXna_oTXC0OuCMm4xsP6CEwXjVDtOJctKTf_DrbMjYtoGb7V/s1600/vlcsnap-00299+copy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641989747535845170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwr56wTSMDH5MjPE77exT0Brc7E9kQ3_Zkhgqhr2GF1-bG4Z4kXxFjvXZFExgTEcDNpAcJVccD-zzaV7hpwrh5x7qopBPFKXna_oTXC0OuCMm4xsP6CEwXjVDtOJctKTf_DrbMjYtoGb7V/s400/vlcsnap-00299+copy.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 262px; width: 350px;" /></a>
<br />
the villain-busting Fluffy (<span style="font-style: italic;">Khel Mohabbat Ka</span>),
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3czGNRdwtboQs9wETOY84vsq0SDVdmq6CujHh0N-7c6h8X9DZZ5zgK24Oz6DfHCGleOY1Vns1pkRo525wbgO9ugQrrNUB-yVkgELI2FLd56w0zQqwYbCJGi8QJ9QYIlAEiO3SFZNoXkf/s1600/KhelMohabbatKa-00355.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641991935185973586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3czGNRdwtboQs9wETOY84vsq0SDVdmq6CujHh0N-7c6h8X9DZZ5zgK24Oz6DfHCGleOY1Vns1pkRo525wbgO9ugQrrNUB-yVkgELI2FLd56w0zQqwYbCJGi8QJ9QYIlAEiO3SFZNoXkf/s400/KhelMohabbatKa-00355.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 268px; width: 350px;" /></a>
<br />
the subliminal marmoset (<span class="st"><span style="font-style: italic;">Pyasa Shaitan</span>)</span>,
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh471f4Yj1YRnUeTSBquXfqVyAcJZNRX40nWmr_Bfps6G9Zc7ROBwjeJnbQk1kBs8dSbDdyNqN33OVvZOC13JHEXkcODN10lry1X5fGHzaCsJR0k4GxIYg7RgOgkK-7ugivEVm8P7dEYdGn/s1600/marmoset.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641991939183666754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh471f4Yj1YRnUeTSBquXfqVyAcJZNRX40nWmr_Bfps6G9Zc7ROBwjeJnbQk1kBs8dSbDdyNqN33OVvZOC13JHEXkcODN10lry1X5fGHzaCsJR0k4GxIYg7RgOgkK-7ugivEVm8P7dEYdGn/s400/marmoset.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 258px; width: 350px;" /></a>
<br />
and the top primate himself, Pedro from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Zimbo</span> films,
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCP0HYwYFYUvLyv8ZY4euBX7dulkGIzacpSEcxvccIRssYNDBZYdLqIzc7nggmH3gC3yljpvza6jugAXSksM9FABECm9iypAd6KgSYo402SmAz_HS0N_HjcfCsbPzTqRBAINgxkeOc1Ay/s1600/PEDRO.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641991942929374882" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCP0HYwYFYUvLyv8ZY4euBX7dulkGIzacpSEcxvccIRssYNDBZYdLqIzc7nggmH3gC3yljpvza6jugAXSksM9FABECm9iypAd6KgSYo402SmAz_HS0N_HjcfCsbPzTqRBAINgxkeOc1Ay/s400/PEDRO.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 265px; width: 350px;" /></a>
<br />
as we discuss Indian cinema's contributions to zoology.
<br />
<ul>
<li>Are all birds (including Allah Rakha from <span style="font-style: italic;">Coolie</span>) inherently evil?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwl-MVXJQ-Ttgc3yY2hH3zu0v6FYR3DBMmOTHYyyn4AiXHJLRrdmLNQpx08z2vQF4RpcolSPDzO4jGqji-k2CMdL5R5dMfcl1skj05i-xICmMBWv76cBnx8ywuib1PXFqSIj869mPVRmv/s1600/ALLAH_RAKHA.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641992397188478802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifwl-MVXJQ-Ttgc3yY2hH3zu0v6FYR3DBMmOTHYyyn4AiXHJLRrdmLNQpx08z2vQF4RpcolSPDzO4jGqji-k2CMdL5R5dMfcl1skj05i-xICmMBWv76cBnx8ywuib1PXFqSIj869mPVRmv/s400/ALLAH_RAKHA.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 280px; width: 375px;" /></a></li>
<br />
<li>Which dog has the better trick: shooting Shetty (<span style="font-style: italic;">Rani aur Jaani</span>)
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrN5h3Rzh9h189dN4ICcOEEaRqJoHiq-vmItNkPgHQuQf_0GTXXwZlZ5pevdbMmPTaC6hRHpRaSU2Yd5rheGZbTMLJLLCmlX93BBJ8lzuTDawUUnU9vYsXV4fjsAxCoSkLERAgUGIbeKxE/s1600/PETER.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641991942976027394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrN5h3Rzh9h189dN4ICcOEEaRqJoHiq-vmItNkPgHQuQf_0GTXXwZlZ5pevdbMmPTaC6hRHpRaSU2Yd5rheGZbTMLJLLCmlX93BBJ8lzuTDawUUnU9vYsXV4fjsAxCoSkLERAgUGIbeKxE/s400/PETER.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 275px; width: 375px;" />
</a>or sniffing out Kader Khan and Kabir Bedi (<span style="font-style: italic;">Khoon Bhari Maang</span>)?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrN5h3Rzh9h189dN4ICcOEEaRqJoHiq-vmItNkPgHQuQf_0GTXXwZlZ5pevdbMmPTaC6hRHpRaSU2Yd5rheGZbTMLJLLCmlX93BBJ8lzuTDawUUnU9vYsXV4fjsAxCoSkLERAgUGIbeKxE/s1600/PETER.JPG">
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyNjXIgJniZc0gsFIYLaxr7lXvrp47id3b115axPJa0CemaWdNa2tJi8ejprHHG18s2UeYUWymX_zGoILYzEKbLiQEhT372CxqOK-G5xr_-1XQZNiCEABIiwuuk5eaK9W8kA5kaVYzTiC/s1600/KhoonBhariMaang-00089+copy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641983104500957138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyNjXIgJniZc0gsFIYLaxr7lXvrp47id3b115axPJa0CemaWdNa2tJi8ejprHHG18s2UeYUWymX_zGoILYzEKbLiQEhT372CxqOK-G5xr_-1XQZNiCEABIiwuuk5eaK9W8kA5kaVYzTiC/s400/KhoonBhariMaang-00089+copy.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 200px; width: 375px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrN5h3Rzh9h189dN4ICcOEEaRqJoHiq-vmItNkPgHQuQf_0GTXXwZlZ5pevdbMmPTaC6hRHpRaSU2Yd5rheGZbTMLJLLCmlX93BBJ8lzuTDawUUnU9vYsXV4fjsAxCoSkLERAgUGIbeKxE/s1600/PETER.JPG">
</a></li>
<br />
<li>Can you really call yourself a spy film villain if you <span style="font-style: italic;">don't</span> have a lap cat as in <span style="font-style: italic;">Maha Badmaash</span>?
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XG6eT18jPLXpQda8AtqPPu5QaIxqpEr1WbkMTPkhrADoF_4YNBjZ1-hvgbM04mlpsy5SpwM-9n7xcrJmai5vMoS1G23BaunjOSzi_1IKyxvEeC699KwnwryJ7hDHTx2tG7bBc3I0QJix/s1600/MahaBadmaash-00013.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641991932935569378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XG6eT18jPLXpQda8AtqPPu5QaIxqpEr1WbkMTPkhrADoF_4YNBjZ1-hvgbM04mlpsy5SpwM-9n7xcrJmai5vMoS1G23BaunjOSzi_1IKyxvEeC699KwnwryJ7hDHTx2tG7bBc3I0QJix/s400/MahaBadmaash-00013.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 281px; width: 375px;" /></a></li>
<br />
<li>Does any Hindi film character love their pet...or rather, any pet their human companion more than Moti of <span style="font-style: italic;">Teri Meherbaniyan</span>?
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglr8uYZBkU3D2Bn_PfAi584trg0KkUnqNQ2RiJIbO1zJ566DWLjb0uSeOEMxvoburN3wllf_mrILMsxHziOvlA0iKEN14wl4NaZf01oT_JAHHVO6tYYwTF1FCaGeFIAN227wXKDbbYTLg2/s1600/TERI19.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641989743121870098" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglr8uYZBkU3D2Bn_PfAi584trg0KkUnqNQ2RiJIbO1zJ566DWLjb0uSeOEMxvoburN3wllf_mrILMsxHziOvlA0iKEN14wl4NaZf01oT_JAHHVO6tYYwTF1FCaGeFIAN227wXKDbbYTLg2/s400/TERI19.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 291px; width: 375px;" /></a></li>
<br />
<li>Is Shashi Kapoor's <span style="font-style: italic;">Ajooba</span> the most diversely populated anipal movie of all time? <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQCtE1uziTahMFdywdUx1g3sqDJXnFr8WkXaDxCKlLBPVfLE9_0c_VqaC5J4IND6FF41GneBRrz4ZBP_bSkyboxGtd7ZFej4E6JxhoCvFKbJZTCpAIHi8Sz2OEIQsqJomIzX3EM-uu8L_Z/s1600/Ajooba2-00223.jpg">
<br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641992580836810178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQCtE1uziTahMFdywdUx1g3sqDJXnFr8WkXaDxCKlLBPVfLE9_0c_VqaC5J4IND6FF41GneBRrz4ZBP_bSkyboxGtd7ZFej4E6JxhoCvFKbJZTCpAIHi8Sz2OEIQsqJomIzX3EM-uu8L_Z/s400/Ajooba2-00223.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 281px; width: 375px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjRmEXo_aJ-OtEMmer-FiwJsTOVPog8uXWSbONNqRZz68Ru8WSaj1f7cHQzE07OJCIHXB7tRWwqJKI-JkRBhGJy_fCzybrF9zZr6HVsJGJjgvn0mwpEOpOykZhSRUOHPzjKQzgOcm8Ssz/s1600/Ajooba2-00240_parrots_of_love.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641994612218425426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjRmEXo_aJ-OtEMmer-FiwJsTOVPog8uXWSbONNqRZz68Ru8WSaj1f7cHQzE07OJCIHXB7tRWwqJKI-JkRBhGJy_fCzybrF9zZr6HVsJGJjgvn0mwpEOpOykZhSRUOHPzjKQzgOcm8Ssz/s400/Ajooba2-00240_parrots_of_love.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 282px; width: 375px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0Nkyxq0VoY8iDkdb6FZ8USz0ZHdF0iNACHE6NuKH_m3xM0T9-CU6q6jPxxo5WmMeVDYwctsUAOf1dNbaybs-IW4iNrqpnQTZOjHR-sHVHkJrG-0kNDJoa01XMRPAM1q97L5aycUeS2HJ/s1600/elephant_rock.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641994617193373970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0Nkyxq0VoY8iDkdb6FZ8USz0ZHdF0iNACHE6NuKH_m3xM0T9-CU6q6jPxxo5WmMeVDYwctsUAOf1dNbaybs-IW4iNrqpnQTZOjHR-sHVHkJrG-0kNDJoa01XMRPAM1q97L5aycUeS2HJ/s400/elephant_rock.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 280px; width: 375px;" /></a><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="330" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/quRO4jDoK4o" width="400"></iframe></li>
<br />
<li>And speaking of <span style="font-style: italic;">Ajooba</span>, perhaps you prefer <span style="font-style: italic;">Khoon Pasina</span>'s take on the classic theme of Amitabh vs. tiger?
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</li>
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<li>How villainous is this evil killer from <span style="font-style: italic;">James Bond 777</span>?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZllpmGqftFUcWy-CNXMiZvLizM8yK-pDWKhetbGTN0HG6Boixd_TOX6rS5nXxJmP7kx40WTUfs7i2Lzq28zCfjHHIk5C7ZwTCycBbOQBTi2NF4tV4duy0IQRwe0lGvTGZkm_46l7gyMMr/s1600/ADORABLE777.jpg">
<br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641992588422582354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZllpmGqftFUcWy-CNXMiZvLizM8yK-pDWKhetbGTN0HG6Boixd_TOX6rS5nXxJmP7kx40WTUfs7i2Lzq28zCfjHHIk5C7ZwTCycBbOQBTi2NF4tV4duy0IQRwe0lGvTGZkm_46l7gyMMr/s400/ADORABLE777.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 283px; width: 375px;" />
</a>Could he be turned to the good (but still very feisty) side by Moti (<span style="font-style: italic;">Mard</span>)?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZllpmGqftFUcWy-CNXMiZvLizM8yK-pDWKhetbGTN0HG6Boixd_TOX6rS5nXxJmP7kx40WTUfs7i2Lzq28zCfjHHIk5C7ZwTCycBbOQBTi2NF4tV4duy0IQRwe0lGvTGZkm_46l7gyMMr/s1600/ADORABLE777.jpg">
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEnBZhUN7UHm0eFl2zKR_TfaiggrDwWbYskZTa9hICv6OcOCeexl-U-cROdTetQYqHzBfeO3EDTjwGbeskxEuM9t7y_5NySHyqtLqoGztWBf5oUBGDW4mBS0Zlx3gLcKmOc_ysR0zMAuh/s1600/screenshot_10+copy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641989737502229602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEnBZhUN7UHm0eFl2zKR_TfaiggrDwWbYskZTa9hICv6OcOCeexl-U-cROdTetQYqHzBfeO3EDTjwGbeskxEuM9t7y_5NySHyqtLqoGztWBf5oUBGDW4mBS0Zlx3gLcKmOc_ysR0zMAuh/s400/screenshot_10+copy.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 289px; width: 375px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZllpmGqftFUcWy-CNXMiZvLizM8yK-pDWKhetbGTN0HG6Boixd_TOX6rS5nXxJmP7kx40WTUfs7i2Lzq28zCfjHHIk5C7ZwTCycBbOQBTi2NF4tV4duy0IQRwe0lGvTGZkm_46l7gyMMr/s1600/ADORABLE777.jpg">
</a></li>
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<li>The growing field of human-ichthyological communications as depicted in <span style="font-style: italic;">Arya 2</span>.
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDodMOdkMip1I3vclBox5yfDMliTYgeqTI5TyOhLob7BSgx05TLH_FDWg7msnkN0Sky4dq-ZuT9WKGjIuww-JtfU8Yn-03zBl1BcP089SKHt8GhrPD6FOTFQJHY7Z5eQmMJR3gP3tOaYV/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-10+at+10.33.07+PM+copy.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641989736432049282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDodMOdkMip1I3vclBox5yfDMliTYgeqTI5TyOhLob7BSgx05TLH_FDWg7msnkN0Sky4dq-ZuT9WKGjIuww-JtfU8Yn-03zBl1BcP089SKHt8GhrPD6FOTFQJHY7Z5eQmMJR3gP3tOaYV/s400/Screen+shot+2011-07-10+at+10.33.07+PM+copy.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 211px; width: 375px;" /></a>
</li>
</ul>
If this epic hour-long episode leaves you wanting more, you can read all of Todd's Animalympics posts <a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/search/label/animalympics">here</a>.
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Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-64314054130608593402011-08-12T14:02:00.001-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.574-06:00We Love the 80s: Disco, Glitz and Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumKKcSPcinCgrjbZAYkQhDRXb86JHaDMgHubKxdQIXSnCc_qvl1H960mQ9eY9JWhLaSb45IkKkiqatUP3ah1Eh6hR1Z1cQtCPV-Ljja5RlPki1cm9t76kbGm-FS3uMDwpwQVaYRiOgXa/s1600/80s.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640043447598674242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumKKcSPcinCgrjbZAYkQhDRXb86JHaDMgHubKxdQIXSnCc_qvl1H960mQ9eY9JWhLaSb45IkKkiqatUP3ah1Eh6hR1Z1cQtCPV-Ljja5RlPki1cm9t76kbGm-FS3uMDwpwQVaYRiOgXa/s400/80s.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 1px; width: 1px;" /></a> <br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;">Download file <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ17/MZ17.mp3">here</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Catch Masala Zindabad on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes </a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Click the player above to listen to the latest episode</div><div style="text-align: center;">Visit our <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/listen-online.html">Listen Online</a> page (<i>NEW!</i>) to play all episodes online / get embed code</div><br />
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This week, we take on the mammoth froth of catchy music and bad fashion that is the 1980s in Hindi cinema with Anandini from the amazing retro-blog <b><a href="http://bollystalgia.blogspot.com/">Bollystalgia</a></b>. <br />
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Given the general lack of love experienced by this decade in Hindi fandom, the decade where the parallel movement was put on life support, we thought it might be fun to compare a list of movies that won the Filmfare Award for Best Film through the 80s with their blockbuster counterparts. The two lists threw up a few surprises to say the least!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumKKcSPcinCgrjbZAYkQhDRXb86JHaDMgHubKxdQIXSnCc_qvl1H960mQ9eY9JWhLaSb45IkKkiqatUP3ah1Eh6hR1Z1cQtCPV-Ljja5RlPki1cm9t76kbGm-FS3uMDwpwQVaYRiOgXa/s1600/80s.jpg"> This chart</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumKKcSPcinCgrjbZAYkQhDRXb86JHaDMgHubKxdQIXSnCc_qvl1H960mQ9eY9JWhLaSb45IkKkiqatUP3ah1Eh6hR1Z1cQtCPV-Ljja5RlPki1cm9t76kbGm-FS3uMDwpwQVaYRiOgXa/s1600/80s.jpg"> will show you what we mean. </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumKKcSPcinCgrjbZAYkQhDRXb86JHaDMgHubKxdQIXSnCc_qvl1H960mQ9eY9JWhLaSb45IkKkiqatUP3ah1Eh6hR1Z1cQtCPV-Ljja5RlPki1cm9t76kbGm-FS3uMDwpwQVaYRiOgXa/s1600/80s.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640042744399233922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYDzpfz6_Aav55ypopIVwHz7UKMA7hxUi_bbaBYZBajmBaRWkS-8z6KCkrWnUbBnUAF4TMgMUXlnOYd-_jCp4DwuqKMpRPHCKVS8xUv-uBu7tcB_mXIOlibtESn4ZaUx_yOnJNuhLog_O/s400/80s-90s+Bollywood%25281%2529.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 1px; width: 1px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkumKKcSPcinCgrjbZAYkQhDRXb86JHaDMgHubKxdQIXSnCc_qvl1H960mQ9eY9JWhLaSb45IkKkiqatUP3ah1Eh6hR1Z1cQtCPV-Ljja5RlPki1cm9t76kbGm-FS3uMDwpwQVaYRiOgXa/s1600/80s.jpg"> <br />
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Of course, lists don't always represent the reality. For example, Amitabh Bachchan delivered some of his greatest hits during this decade without rating a mention in these lists. Meanwhile, the list is full of the old guard, which isn't an accurate description of a decade dominated by newcomers like Sunny Deol and Anil Kapoor. The trend continues today - the Khans dominate the box office even though the chatter is all about the young guns like Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan and Shahid Kapur. <br />
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<i>Yes, you really DO need to watch Toofan!</i></center> <br />
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In this episode we discuss <br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>our list of the quintessential 80s movies / actors </li>
<li>why Sridevi was hot and Jayaprada was not </li>
<li>where is Amitabh? Delivering some of his greatest hits followed by some of his greatest clankers.</li>
<li>the star kids of yesteryear like Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Kumar Gaurav <br />
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<li>where is Mithun? Becoming a national icon. <br />
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<li>Rishi becomes Sweater Uncle</li>
<li>Jeetendra was the hero of our childhood </li>
<li>the always fascinating topic of 80s fashion! Say yes to apsaras in netting! <br />
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PS - According to an interview with Anusha Rizvi (<i>Peepli Live</i>) Kamal Swaroop's <i>Om Dar-ba-dar</i> - the title makes more sense once you figure out the pronunciation - was an excellent film that was either never released or couldn't manage a distribution deal. If anybody has seen it or knows where we might get to see it, do let us know! <br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-56676704447860626702011-08-08T02:35:00.003-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.500-06:00Straddlers: Actors of Parallel and Mainstream Cinema, part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In the concluding part of our conversation with Carla of <a href="http://filmigeek.net/">Filmi Geek</a> about actors who have tried both mainstream and parallel cinema, we cover more key members of the cast who have been successfully straddling worlds for years as well as some newer performers: <br />
<ul><li>Rekha (Carla: "She's just so much better when she gets to be fiery.")</li>
<li>Om Puri (Carla: "...and then he's in <span style="font-style: italic;">Disco Dancer.</span>")</li>
<li>Aishwarya Rai (Amrita: "She has 'righteous face' going on.") <br />
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<li>Kay Menon (Amrita: "I have <span style="font-style: italic;">no</span> idea why he isn't a huge star.")</li>
<li>Konkona Sen Sharma (Beth: "Once again, KSS is the great hope of our podcast.") <br />
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<li>and apologies to Neha Dhupia, Mahie Gill, and Abhay Deol, whom we talked about for several minutes, but the computer garbled their segment into unintelligible gibberish. As for the latter, we all three love him very much and he'll have to feature in a later episode. <br />
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</ul>Also for discussion: <br />
<ul><li>What other actors would we like to see in Indian—and non-Indian—art films? <br />
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<li>Would any moneybags out there like to make Carla's "Shabana Azmi + Helen Mirren" film? <br />
</li>
<li>Should the US have followed India's lead in banning <span style="font-style: italic;">Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</span> for its insane depiction of the country by blocking <span style="font-style: italic;">My Name Is Khan</span>?</li>
</ul>This episode is the second of a two-part conversation. You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Straddlers part 2</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ16b/MZ16b.mp3">here</a>. Part 1 is available for download <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ16a/MZ16a.mp3">here</a>. </div>Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-19962253111099578562011-08-04T22:07:00.004-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.420-06:00Straddlers: Actors of Parallel and Mainstream Cinema, part 1Carla of <a href="http://filmigeek.net/">Filmi Geek</a> joins us to talk about actors past and present who have worked in parallel cinema as well as more mainstream films. And what a star cast it is! Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Shashi Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Sanjeev Kumar, Anupam Kher.... Points of discussion include:
<br /><ul><li>What would it take to tempt you to sign a movie that turned out to be <span style="font-style: italic;">Dance Dance</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">Toofan</span> after you've done things that are decidedly <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Dance Dance</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">Toofan</span>?
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<br /></li><li>How to portray that certain kind of madness that results from Jeevan having stolen you away from your mother Indrani Mukherjee when you were just a wee baby.
<br /></li><li>The sensation of recognizing the family features under very different exteriors, aka "That looks like a KapooOHMYGOD!!!"</li><li>Does Shabana Azmi convince you she's a masala heroine in her early years?
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<br /></li><li>The relationship between <span style="font-style: italic;">Masoom</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Main Hoon Na</span>.</li><li>Naseeruddin Shah shakes it in "Oye Oye" from <span style="font-style: italic;">Tridev </span>
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<br /><span>before we get to his later...er...foibles of blue footie pajamas and the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">BOOM!</span> of <span style="font-style: italic;">Asambhav</span> (pleasingly by the same director as <span style="font-style: italic;">Tridev</span>).
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<br /></li></ul>This episode is the first of a two-part conversation. You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Straddlers part 1</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ16a/MZ16a.mp3">here</a>. Part 2 is now downloadable <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ16b/MZ16b.mp3">here</a>.
<br />Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-22515386171643367782011-07-29T01:09:00.000-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.427-06:00Manmohan Desai & the WomenOver the course of a career that spanned three vastly different decades, Manmohan Desai revolutionized Hindi cinema - not by inventing something new, but by knitting the most recognizable bits of the very old into a one-size-fits-all comforter dubbed a masala movie. His work at the pinnacle of his creative years are classic Bollywood: <i>Raampur ka Lakshman, Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Roti, Dharam Veer, Chacha Bhatija, Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony, Suhaag, Naseeb, Coolie, Mard</i>...a truly astonishing ten years.<br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8m08K4Nhc-c" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe></center><br /><br />Most people will agree that <i>Amar Akbar Anthony</i> was the ultimate masala movie ever made; our panel on the podcast today will testify that <i>Mard</i> is possibly one of the most camp movies ever filmed. The classic Desai film is always fun, patriotic, and family-friendly with wink-nudges for the adults. Everyone is the movie suffers through multiple horrifying incidents but at the end of three hours it all ends happily. They have become a part of the fabric of Indian life and have been remade into other languages, referenced in newspaper articles, and studied and cited.<br /><br />So we sat down with known Desai-lover Angela of the <a href="http://p-pcc.blogspot.com/">Post-Punk Cinema Club</a> to discuss the women in his movies - from the classic all-suffering Maa to the kickass criminal chicks, the virgin prostitute to the nice girls forgotten in all the action.<br /><center><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrXhWwmrWbfJwGjYusvzXzU0nvnzVQCWkM4O7x0Mwf6P92ztkTHCAIR-RuYhNww6MzCKxL6Wp0MTFP0vC8kA4QfWZNiCWtEmUkFiNvX4UTxNu-gCE3nKDSXDNNlQpEJd1tZeJ6jWVq3yIy/s1600/vlcsnap-00048.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 363px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrXhWwmrWbfJwGjYusvzXzU0nvnzVQCWkM4O7x0Mwf6P92ztkTHCAIR-RuYhNww6MzCKxL6Wp0MTFP0vC8kA4QfWZNiCWtEmUkFiNvX4UTxNu-gCE3nKDSXDNNlQpEJd1tZeJ6jWVq3yIy/s400/vlcsnap-00048.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634565986167459810" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKXXZOZrcTQY2KBZ5iz_kG1aZM-DggWf90sdfau93cZ1C6AQqCa8lGRPm_ICXdEIHoxJluKlh6GcVHQ73BXj0YNs3m3bwpXsgrz4S8HLQpICodSp24-2fP0VEbAHVwuNtJRGdxBf9WI4nA/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-12-30+at+9.00.01+PM.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 102px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKXXZOZrcTQY2KBZ5iz_kG1aZM-DggWf90sdfau93cZ1C6AQqCa8lGRPm_ICXdEIHoxJluKlh6GcVHQ73BXj0YNs3m3bwpXsgrz4S8HLQpICodSp24-2fP0VEbAHVwuNtJRGdxBf9WI4nA/s400/Screen+shot+2010-12-30+at+9.00.01+PM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634563830005245762" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjkYmxxWorXvG_HI5iWdGVxHH1xN3yVoWHOUYr1cUHomhzEgjLzF6FphtjawksiJ9_45-NPlaPbbK8Ij5Q7khyphenhyphenl6z4VGO24WwJxILxf8F7-IJNqFkBqtLDxmbcwRU2u8-oHb43lNnYIde/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-12-30+at+9.00.25+PM.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 102px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjkYmxxWorXvG_HI5iWdGVxHH1xN3yVoWHOUYr1cUHomhzEgjLzF6FphtjawksiJ9_45-NPlaPbbK8Ij5Q7khyphenhyphenl6z4VGO24WwJxILxf8F7-IJNqFkBqtLDxmbcwRU2u8-oHb43lNnYIde/s400/Screen+shot+2010-12-30+at+9.00.25+PM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634563823931972418" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZgw0WMZLThjoO5d_zH72Y_v5yNNFlvF_ikplYuITBdyWzMzl0Xa2uSdKFDF3VhVv7D4hCush_Nmi1-aZosM5gR_BXbg7e6M76IueTBOuHJhZkNwfWLpRo4APgi1ZhpOiRRciKU0fM9Zw/s1600/qiwaali1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZgw0WMZLThjoO5d_zH72Y_v5yNNFlvF_ikplYuITBdyWzMzl0Xa2uSdKFDF3VhVv7D4hCush_Nmi1-aZosM5gR_BXbg7e6M76IueTBOuHJhZkNwfWLpRo4APgi1ZhpOiRRciKU0fM9Zw/s400/qiwaali1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634563835421890258" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYiHTeiDyfxH-myxTxAC7XidpcUpXbZKHHocton0qwRbUgq1ghy10K9doYbaQEkIyN956Hi9i1IfjXLPRXo6_boTKnRYMjszbdglCbOVEG-1R0WlbUkn_cUPNt9G-t9vhd7q0zd2L6pjnl/s1600/Suhaag-SK_eyeroll2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYiHTeiDyfxH-myxTxAC7XidpcUpXbZKHHocton0qwRbUgq1ghy10K9doYbaQEkIyN956Hi9i1IfjXLPRXo6_boTKnRYMjszbdglCbOVEG-1R0WlbUkn_cUPNt9G-t9vhd7q0zd2L6pjnl/s400/Suhaag-SK_eyeroll2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634563838754576450" border="0" /></a></center><br /><br />And of course, in true Masala Zindabad fashion, along the way we found the time to detour on to subjects like Shashi Kapoor's lovemaking skills vs. Amitabh Bachchan's, a short investigation into Dharmendra's underwear (again), and how religion leads to Bollywood fandom. You're welcome.<br /><center><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOY-bq7jGm__GWZTw5t0mt6Cqf1_zvUpe4Qupm3CDlWePjaXVtpNmOSlls8vc3gCPtmmYRsHJNKstoUpEExcF3jhWB778bNixT5UMMv4krHhxHicPLQfirWKedYcfbrau4UDGlDrd0Wzm_/s1600/vlcsnap-00136.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOY-bq7jGm__GWZTw5t0mt6Cqf1_zvUpe4Qupm3CDlWePjaXVtpNmOSlls8vc3gCPtmmYRsHJNKstoUpEExcF3jhWB778bNixT5UMMv4krHhxHicPLQfirWKedYcfbrau4UDGlDrd0Wzm_/s400/vlcsnap-00136.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634565990677285874" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAnFI0UG6MhJRzXqdyutWrbWos0FfNsJDrZ8JLFf8QT_Z-Fp_QVF0W_VYKXivJuGucMf1E8q-aFO60RtkyujhCTRFDWZJuQbWkDX78pZSikqV34k0Hj_wEibIr8S4i3Pxh9rzRFdBdPv5j/s1600/whip2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAnFI0UG6MhJRzXqdyutWrbWos0FfNsJDrZ8JLFf8QT_Z-Fp_QVF0W_VYKXivJuGucMf1E8q-aFO60RtkyujhCTRFDWZJuQbWkDX78pZSikqV34k0Hj_wEibIr8S4i3Pxh9rzRFdBdPv5j/s400/whip2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634565996589412786" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6NMp8lg44o-X2gi3kMOanzXEfmYJkuyFms1vglOhsaEjaoHo7mVO7pStSaMQDp9JrrJOv3M3trDh-H33YiLYlq8X3IlbKE8jzh9ZmnEU4ESj7-Gy6dj34AJLdYVusSNe3oaU02l-phRZ/s1600/whipped.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 358px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6NMp8lg44o-X2gi3kMOanzXEfmYJkuyFms1vglOhsaEjaoHo7mVO7pStSaMQDp9JrrJOv3M3trDh-H33YiLYlq8X3IlbKE8jzh9ZmnEU4ESj7-Gy6dj34AJLdYVusSNe3oaU02l-phRZ/s400/whipped.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634566000823047650" border="0" /></a></center><br />You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Manmohan Desai & the Women</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ15_0/MZ15.mp3">here</a>.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-27526060550519017232011-07-22T02:22:00.005-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.451-06:00Iconic Female Characters in Hindi Cinema part 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the final episode of our series on iconic female characters with <a href="http://bollyviewer-oldisgold.blogspot.com/">Ira of Old is Gold</a>, we move from Sridevi in <span style="font-style: italic;">Chandni</span> up to Konkona Sen Sharma's mature, modern working woman in <span style="font-style: italic;">Wake Up Sid. </span>Despite both of these women making choices we don't quite understand - picking an irritating Kapoor father/son pair over the much better Khanna set - they're fascinating artifacts of their eras. No discussion of important characters of the 1990s would be complete without Simran, the girl millions of fans wanted to be. Does she still seem enviable in 2011? We're more impressed by how family attitudes towards daughters have changed by the time movies get to Geet of <span style="font-style: italic;">Jab We Met</span> barely a decade later.<br />
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And yes, there is another detour about Shashi Kapoor...and Dharmendra's thighs. Trust us, they make sense when you listen to the whole thing.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wvwElQql_kY" width="425"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-size: 85%;">"O Meri Mehbooba" from <span style="font-style: italic;">Dharam Veer</span>. And here's <a href="http://indiequill.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/raunchy-haunch/">Amrita's theory about thighs</a> in case you hadn't read it.</span><br />
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You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Iconic Female Characters part 4</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ13b/MZ13b.mp3">here</a>.
The other parts of this series are here:<br />
• <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi.html">1: the Bharatiya Nari</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_24.html">2: Fearless Nadia, Chhoti Bahu, Sujata</a></span><br />
• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/07/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi.html">3: Mother India, Seeta, Geeta, and Bobby</a><br />
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Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-82712383031704972172011-07-15T00:13:00.001-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.638-06:00Filmistan High Class Reunion: Koffee with Karan Season 3 in ReviewMaria of the blog <a href="http://filmiholic.com/">Filmiholic</a> returns to Masala Zindabad to review the rest of season 3 of <a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Koffee with Karan</span></a>. Just like your yearbook, we're giving out our own awards—Karan's were so <span style="font-style: italic;">predictable</span>, darlings— to statement, moments, and performances on the show.<br /><br /><b>The Good:</b><br /><ul><li>guest we'd actually want to meet for coffee or a drink</li><li>most pleasantly surprising guest<br /><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=3162&page=9&grp=1#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626416251405630018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV1eRXLZq7laWATQBCQAKnNVRSDo3GCMqz9dT5jV5JJXH09nskl9P5EB6kNQV6lBZolAwvD8POTDAbEGUI_a2eN8CWUh3JaSWHAitJaYyW9DSMBDscbf62vVq9fb4p0X3dLOu9O7UD2hoh/s400/25011105362738.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 250px; width: 375px;" border="0" /></a><br /></li><li>cattiest Rapid Fire round<br /></li></ul><b>The Bad:</b><br /><ul><li>most eye-roll-inducing guest/moment/episode<br /><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=3095&Page=7&grp=1#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626416877857944610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC3nPVXxK4RCR5FDqTbZArKtjKt4VtEXB7e6fhKWWmMp6KNfxlwTt9o-T_l1f5EtoN6LxFOqt2r8eigLeZjtnGn-fB1o4JzYCO4niIUjMH1DdlqfJIZs98hCzzl2KwscgSYdcMhJojLXI/s400/2001111221028.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 150px; width: 98px;" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0Bla8nyrMDh1k5j-RqZr_fsMCzSSDM9BgWKq2kLdZfp0gEUAaZbzkkndXKcV_gZ5l6_IY6Pq1VZ7LobzKNUX9Vspy2hnFZNTdq0bYZX3a1HS355NfnX7h939EA4ZsAwqcKfwY1yEuLjT/s1600/KWK+JohnAbraham.png"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628673957115177922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0Bla8nyrMDh1k5j-RqZr_fsMCzSSDM9BgWKq2kLdZfp0gEUAaZbzkkndXKcV_gZ5l6_IY6Pq1VZ7LobzKNUX9Vspy2hnFZNTdq0bYZX3a1HS355NfnX7h939EA4ZsAwqcKfwY1yEuLjT/s400/KWK+JohnAbraham.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 150px; width: 276px;" border="0" /></a><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=2874&page=13&grp=2#more"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cXJPA61b1NQTxne7_ZQV-c_EC_0AdVm-i4-a2HbrTGhxRp-QRauv6OO0xp9wZZLq94P2GAsyFfyNx06mss4uJU8PT44LCDVl9Ujr-w-RqJ9Idrpf13AKZOY2AbHCOhfCYeCkv5lWLXHT/s1600/KWK+Priyankablush1.png"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628679077396955538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cXJPA61b1NQTxne7_ZQV-c_EC_0AdVm-i4-a2HbrTGhxRp-QRauv6OO0xp9wZZLq94P2GAsyFfyNx06mss4uJU8PT44LCDVl9Ujr-w-RqJ9Idrpf13AKZOY2AbHCOhfCYeCkv5lWLXHT/s400/KWK+Priyankablush1.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 214px; width: 375px;" border="0" /></a><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=2874&page=13&grp=2#more"><br /></a></li><li>most adolescent behavior<br /><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=3395&page=20&grp=3#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628671032154961602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX3GiduA0uAnwxkT-GWy-dTrMSWWmV_AtqLu1IDSV9eWXyWcfiN-8H1wn_4XLnzs9CXrVHtchy_SzhuifPfEHXlTAWE3ZV4c9VT77PtI_9WkXTgaUFtPfezC2hRrLjSyOyWaLoQ2saSmqN/s400/Ranv_Anushka_15021104073516.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 250px; width: 375px;" border="0" /><br /></a><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=3395&page=20&grp=3#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626415882442804114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYboy5kDtBzSQeqjy-ksh71GJwvLsA0fEYdRdV94M_5AI5uqudQ6Oggh_9ftrNCQHtLwxoDp4m2e0xfEmddCs3hduPwbgPq65-r_vY8iMChCBDuP6iEpIIQ-O1kB-gfu4_aF7c14ij0Uzl/s400/10021106425647.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 249px; width: 375px;" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=2874&page=13&grp=2#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628671708829658674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv13bmczlY_7o-H4KgYot12dA_DuZhf_izl5u_x3Bnik6wspIEWynQVzx0it3jDs_IYhMSy_fZzu75Rb4qIpDXUE69E67m5zM5Vm-croIcnBjIl-V-hPfRZQuTmvJ7fIZvukPCuMLR7MY0/s400/Rani_Vidya_06011103355932.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 249px; width: 375px;" border="0" /></a><br /></li></ul><b>The Ugly:</b><br /><ul><li>guest whose ensemble made us say "What were they thinking?!?"<br /><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=3566&page=1&grp=0#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628670515530945666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmnrRr6nRAL1PGLYwQTig-TZ6WazvHiALdJJVgUmkDLWmaMutvV8iFO3D1bP12fq27hy3PYZ_GxElhPOz9YZV_7YxWAixABz-FV39w-oaP8izoLezs0Ix3TI682Det-3kP6NvnSht3OM5/s400/Madh_2402110313371.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 282px; width: 190px;" border="0" /></a><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=2659&page=5#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628672786467325186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG4HXMdpr3PMarw55Q-Jupnno_w1DKwkgHvZU76PGEb5xH0ORe9mcoBPcMHYWdVQvBI4dOeXW2F1ls8cglF957ycEYLUHfN8YXH37whBt-F5KCpwZpBFL5r8ySUH4wxNGq6T5gg_OhpY_X/s400/AB_22121002533611.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 282px; width: 189px;" border="0" /></a></li><li>biggest cringe/"Oh no they <span style="font-style: italic;">didn't</span>!"<br /></li></ul>Special Award for Outstanding Achievement in Yadda Yadda Yadda:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://starworld.startv.in/kwk/gallery.aspx?aid=2739&Page=31&grp=5#more"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628845257228934306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjreUQvXNpjIGYhtRnZl5g4a2hrTMDJzCs5lbCsEb0aJm0-tvFJuNLMxzaB2s7KMG4KzCtAiZDGVOgpflwMYsHqGChryIUDpjB9_XOtJ9s9NYyoSfARcegJaNoXzeJoiQjJUv7aTsHjevr9/s400/SRK.jpg" style="height: 267px; width: 420px;" border="0" /></a></div><br />A few suggestions for the future of the show:<br /><ul><li>number one change we wish they'd make to the format of the show</li><li>guests we'd love to see<br /></li></ul>And some thoughts on the new show by Simi Garewal, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startv.in%2Fshows.asp%3Fchannel_id%3D3%26serialid%3D236&rct=j&q=India%27s%20Most%20Desirable&ei=iAsdTsubGvDgsQLT9a3iCA&usg=AFQjCNEVyMXsyPOpLxxRgTuO1BNlKofQng&cad=rja"><span style="font-style: italic;">India's Most Desirable</span></a>. Plus, if anyone knows why a man so interesting and articulate as Karan Johar insists on making such a terrible show, let us know!<br /><br />If you missed <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2010/12/inside-halls-of-filmistan-high-koffee.html">our first post on <span style="font-style: italic;">KWK</span></a> midway through its season, you can listen <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ05/MZ05.mp3">at this link</a>. Masala Zindabad is available on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a> and through subscription to our feed, and you can download this episode <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ14/Mariawholerough.mp3">here</a>.Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-77920647840152661712011-07-08T03:17:00.002-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.617-06:00Iconic Female Characters in Hindi Cinema part 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWcCtU5_yoHEixCW1uh7Jbe5sYS7-nuSOoJCnMxNedesiZ2fIxN6SqeFykfvhb5jENoOS1ZruXYyY01yodTSfpjDhXW5WeW9U7pcSJwskzMal2yZTflQehJWdkAfV-9WgWG4IFY9IAFqvJ/s1600/ep3_coll1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWcCtU5_yoHEixCW1uh7Jbe5sYS7-nuSOoJCnMxNedesiZ2fIxN6SqeFykfvhb5jENoOS1ZruXYyY01yodTSfpjDhXW5WeW9U7pcSJwskzMal2yZTflQehJWdkAfV-9WgWG4IFY9IAFqvJ/s400/ep3_coll1.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626411048318051394" style="cursor: pointer; height: 118px; width: 475px;" /></a><br />
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In the third episode of our series on iconic female characters with <a href="http://bollyviewer-oldisgold.blogspot.com/">Ira of Old is Gold</a>, our discussion moves from <span style="font-style: italic;">Mother India</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">Seeta aur Geeta</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">Bobby</span>.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUCGRf9XTvGhe6A_1TiNwdrjfSR4eyRbcUnvJm1I6u6HMpYQFtPOZ5aK3TtwiNacG_Y1JfbJWKvEow5lwuJxiE1_rB8gPNT098vPeL1bYL8enLTnf4AwTtPRQ2PC7IvBtp2Z_vnL6z4PZl/s1600/Bobby-gogonono.jpg"><br /></a><br />
<ul>
<li>Beth wonders why the general term "Mother India" seems to connote something so much meeker and lamer than Nargis's character really is.</li>
<li>Ira proposes that even Geeta is not quite as independent as we'd like.</li>
<li>Amrita gets all kinds of grossed out thinking about Raj Kapoor's use of actual teenage actors to tell the more uncomfortable arcs of Bobby's story.</li>
</ul>
Also, this episode originally included a momentary tangent into Shashi Kapoor love scenes that one of us might have <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ13a-x/Shashitangentouttake.mp3">uploaded</a> just for fun. Maybe. Possibly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztQS89-wG43zw8ev6AxO7CXGZSb03hS7gDxRQMsWFMqLHe78QDSjWRRqElr_6-gKxkEGqOfMWhS8GSMqKnN_bhFvO88yd8R8wk95DosikkKOVvNSmwk9PTIh0xTJJ_7Q5i1FU7jXJJq0f/s1600/ep3_coll2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztQS89-wG43zw8ev6AxO7CXGZSb03hS7gDxRQMsWFMqLHe78QDSjWRRqElr_6-gKxkEGqOfMWhS8GSMqKnN_bhFvO88yd8R8wk95DosikkKOVvNSmwk9PTIh0xTJJ_7Q5i1FU7jXJJq0f/s400/ep3_coll2.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626411061669177810" style="cursor: pointer; height: 118px; width: 475px;" /></a><br />
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In case you missed them, here are parts <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi.html">1</a> and <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_24.html">2</a> of this series. You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Iconic Female Characers</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ13/Irapart3finaldraftwithmusiccorrected.mp3">here</a>.<br />
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The other parts of this series are here:<br />
• <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi.html">1: the Bharatiya Nari</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_24.html">2: Fearless Nadia, Chhoti Bahu, Sujata</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• </span><a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/07/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_22.html" style="font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">4: Chandni, Simran, Geet – and Sid wakes up</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></div>
Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-67561655367966408232011-07-03T06:46:00.013-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.601-06:00the International Indian Film Academy awards in Toronto (insert joke about "I I F, eh?")<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In this admittedly unpolished post, Beth reflects on her trip to Toronto for the IIFAs last weekend. Lots of pictures, too! <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ12/MZ12.mp3">Listen here</a></span>, subscribe to our feed, or <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ12/MZ12.mp3">find us on </a><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />before IIFA day</span><br />The lobby of the Fairmont Royal York hotel where many of the press and small events were held and several stars stayed.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyOXs0_jfXM5sRaLgemiFCDzkkedY4Q1h8xvNNRd8762Ed39InscxYAHx3PdRHF2HMhEFtt46mg6sOZzD6SVkJeI1yGuMrvxTD9srS-3IA05MdVQsHFWZNFuKCegVYRq9-tW7-8AgjrN2/s1600/IMG_0197+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624588248601399874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyOXs0_jfXM5sRaLgemiFCDzkkedY4Q1h8xvNNRd8762Ed39InscxYAHx3PdRHF2HMhEFtt46mg6sOZzD6SVkJeI1yGuMrvxTD9srS-3IA05MdVQsHFWZNFuKCegVYRq9-tW7-8AgjrN2/s400/IMG_0197+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 400px; width: 300px;" border="0" /></a><br />This turned out to be my most successful celebrity-spotting location. Like this:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCJZMZwmqjZydDcDgQIxaQRNIzWbCILVXpzoeGe9acEC4FrgXosdIYqMl6VdwsOuJSrY_GEJNp6GLBJoRSjdTpUFCIvmc6K5GPlIsJGyN3h9pOh_sQWegVhZmyOnuLf97M_ELCRf-yY2A/s1600/IMG_0287+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624588288141648450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCJZMZwmqjZydDcDgQIxaQRNIzWbCILVXpzoeGe9acEC4FrgXosdIYqMl6VdwsOuJSrY_GEJNp6GLBJoRSjdTpUFCIvmc6K5GPlIsJGyN3h9pOh_sQWegVhZmyOnuLf97M_ELCRf-yY2A/s400/IMG_0287+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 400px; width: 300px;" border="0" /></a><br />I also saw Madhavan, Arshad Warsi (<a href="http://bethlovesbollywood.blogspot.com/2006/07/i-just-know-that-when-i-get-home.html">whom I am fated to encounter on the steps of fancy hotels, apparently</a>), Javed Akhtar, and Zeenat Aman, plus Tommy Sandhu, Raj, and Pablo from the BBC Asian Network.<br /><br />Javed Akhtar and Vishal Bhardwaj at the IIFA music workshop. Squee!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMoXZpEGNWozqJLvnwf4tVJhRcE_zVLGulBEBkR-l1Dc2XM_A0TfQS33RWGh6RXk_9PNRHmEtEdZhunLibDyJRH7c1FUSSNc5Auj-bXHM4m0E8QME3yOZJW-p041asqF5-ZMcztgJPCg2/s1600/IMG_0237+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624588258108920082" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMoXZpEGNWozqJLvnwf4tVJhRcE_zVLGulBEBkR-l1Dc2XM_A0TfQS33RWGh6RXk_9PNRHmEtEdZhunLibDyJRH7c1FUSSNc5Auj-bXHM4m0E8QME3yOZJW-p041asqF5-ZMcztgJPCg2/s400/IMG_0237+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Composing a song live at IIFA music workshop: from left, Ehsaan Noorani, Javed Akhtar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Shankar Mahadevan, and Salim Merchant. Akhtar wrote a few lines and the musicians made up a song on the spot.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRraRUMoqEjMgseZNX1rmr9Y73Jpqxc496A2j3Q75qWIzrs-E7CuE2Q0ENX34KgMD-tn2FPkMdtEmYLTtWpuGnqMp7Tees4GuCwrBo0os5t74SUhptqQ0jrhTuPm0w75dxamKnmxlmYVX3/s1600/IMG_0266+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624588265015595954" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRraRUMoqEjMgseZNX1rmr9Y73Jpqxc496A2j3Q75qWIzrs-E7CuE2Q0ENX34KgMD-tn2FPkMdtEmYLTtWpuGnqMp7Tees4GuCwrBo0os5t74SUhptqQ0jrhTuPm0w75dxamKnmxlmYVX3/s400/IMG_0266+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">awards night </span><br />The green carpet outside the stadium about five hours before the start of the show.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNe_6DgW8jqh_9WMf6CqRmNsf7wQXzeNu_Ax1EHnu6TdUvb5pSe_hC0L1xWEYF6eaJy8w9oP_I3AvSfXj-rSx3V_Tt5U0h8ucVuT72kM9c_kpviF4HdAiKKAqHRW-9Ifneui_rl7mwm3X/s1600/IMG_0289+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624589646435014850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLNe_6DgW8jqh_9WMf6CqRmNsf7wQXzeNu_Ax1EHnu6TdUvb5pSe_hC0L1xWEYF6eaJy8w9oP_I3AvSfXj-rSx3V_Tt5U0h8ucVuT72kM9c_kpviF4HdAiKKAqHRW-9Ifneui_rl7mwm3X/s400/IMG_0289+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The stage.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPNrVYcOgcpFqDjdFlKgp80oHgRxHC5YAYP55nURmKTPLSrdxpBGE3OYzQa5vbV5gd1ZPvreKtQVZGgAeTMwEV2NPzHwekOMWMeLMD8GP2G1RsbP-oGUxa43hRqKnKd6eIweCjireiIVf/s1600/IMG_0310+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624589664980865474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPNrVYcOgcpFqDjdFlKgp80oHgRxHC5YAYP55nURmKTPLSrdxpBGE3OYzQa5vbV5gd1ZPvreKtQVZGgAeTMwEV2NPzHwekOMWMeLMD8GP2G1RsbP-oGUxa43hRqKnKd6eIweCjireiIVf/s400/IMG_0310+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Sonu Sood wins best villain.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1Nq-OF5AXPwx49R6e1uujKSGYQEprwszxY70bWwjA4vwxnrh0CjXsTubViaHb-ZL5VjAnlZDlzp6dhNek50doWEDtvFZKR5MAAp_yUHgCD0LPrfhExbbyxdEuEd7dNs94zlxCRi-f595/s1600/IMG_0509+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590471286677186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd1Nq-OF5AXPwx49R6e1uujKSGYQEprwszxY70bWwjA4vwxnrh0CjXsTubViaHb-ZL5VjAnlZDlzp6dhNek50doWEDtvFZKR5MAAp_yUHgCD0LPrfhExbbyxdEuEd7dNs94zlxCRi-f595/s400/IMG_0509+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 317px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Bipasha Basu's set.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0N78RtoyIPehxOdTaYeW5yFj-ouIGkSGxFwR8k59MTia2plX9neNg-Y6a5gVYfgRP5UlyrEPsXKLSkQUgPJZMsU-5yu9-AW8iJnIGVFG0ovQlcGUduqL4mySbheKwCeL4XueFpGPFlpg/s1600/IMG_0460+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624589679569731922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0N78RtoyIPehxOdTaYeW5yFj-ouIGkSGxFwR8k59MTia2plX9neNg-Y6a5gVYfgRP5UlyrEPsXKLSkQUgPJZMsU-5yu9-AW8iJnIGVFG0ovQlcGUduqL4mySbheKwCeL4XueFpGPFlpg/s400/IMG_0460+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The set for "the sons of Punjab."<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDw98ITqzhJgsnMh5bLfrvRUjVAR-ptT5iiIigPuqd4yAcwqS5ceB-1sBnk8QGJFWSVcmc_INw0zWSif2LtetXjoO5oTKncWQ84LO3u1Dhn_AbKescGU_ImK2qkUtRAZlnnVm2P0Qky8x/s1600/IMG_0339_copy.jpg"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624612282738947362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVDw98ITqzhJgsnMh5bLfrvRUjVAR-ptT5iiIigPuqd4yAcwqS5ceB-1sBnk8QGJFWSVcmc_INw0zWSif2LtetXjoO5oTKncWQ84LO3u1Dhn_AbKescGU_ImK2qkUtRAZlnnVm2P0Qky8x/s400/IMG_0339_copy.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br />If you squint, you might be able to make out Bobby in white just a step or two behind the front row in the center of the stage.<br /><br />Ranveer Singh wins best male debut and elicits mighty squeals.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_bR3pT0APeTmhSe4XIGAnCfS4aX_hoBbAzu7ZKRsB4Zs769nnfjltTQG3VQgOSzuEos4uWnkKbwicOgXbVgd12Npz34udhz4fws0rcmrOdn9a_EB_KamZ-6lA52V7L2j6N-tb7vH5KzK/s1600/IMG_0485+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590450055398514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_bR3pT0APeTmhSe4XIGAnCfS4aX_hoBbAzu7ZKRsB4Zs769nnfjltTQG3VQgOSzuEos4uWnkKbwicOgXbVgd12Npz34udhz4fws0rcmrOdn9a_EB_KamZ-6lA52V7L2j6N-tb7vH5KzK/s400/IMG_0485+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 331px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor present best couple, and Neetu looks like she's heard it all before.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdcfWlg7p-uPf_fI4PShjz6IYvOkmet3Uax9SxWMQ09Rb4sKMZDUmJVBWYeuArBSBUumKnfXi-1Rk19m1APTJTbQvAn2W1iGA04qSfnlX2Sl781kxTX0uB1QK3hnuETle2IRoxTMT-GR3g/s1600/IMG_0479+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590435926113282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdcfWlg7p-uPf_fI4PShjz6IYvOkmet3Uax9SxWMQ09Rb4sKMZDUmJVBWYeuArBSBUumKnfXi-1Rk19m1APTJTbQvAn2W1iGA04qSfnlX2Sl781kxTX0uB1QK3hnuETle2IRoxTMT-GR3g/s400/IMG_0479+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 309px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br />In fact, even I had heard this before. Rishi spouted the statistic about how many heroines have launched opposite him (23, I believe he said), the same one he trotted out at an interview I heard him do in London last year, and my reaction was also the same: "That means you were a hero too damn long!"<br /><br />"What the <span style="font-style: italic;">what</span>?" moments: Hillary Swank and Cuba Gooding Junior help present top awards.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGSzjfWVTDIs2c-tSSa4XzDYmOkEuNcCpl8X-OvVgI9gAytXnBQSB5TaMeN9LQ5uyIbvAbHtfJrPTlAmSzRR9di8FA3ee6UQcxz8C3W9sUavUFJjoFpOs0z-rbGVvs0rRo9hj83QIBx5sD/s1600/IMG_0517+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590479789552226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGSzjfWVTDIs2c-tSSa4XzDYmOkEuNcCpl8X-OvVgI9gAytXnBQSB5TaMeN9LQ5uyIbvAbHtfJrPTlAmSzRR9di8FA3ee6UQcxz8C3W9sUavUFJjoFpOs0z-rbGVvs0rRo9hj83QIBx5sD/s400/IMG_0517+copy.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 154px; width: 200px;" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9cteHLecy6E3Q6Br-S_fQ0IZ-Tjt_q6_pRZqwdz_cLdgyBlapuyNxBeac3ycMCAYR5NrhqSNzNWYfuyMivFRhc1q1zO23iCEBzuu0cJLM90-0CwN5va8vZkqmfgkYpE1-JNJVBfW8KK3/s1600/IMG_0524+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590921338115842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9cteHLecy6E3Q6Br-S_fQ0IZ-Tjt_q6_pRZqwdz_cLdgyBlapuyNxBeac3ycMCAYR5NrhqSNzNWYfuyMivFRhc1q1zO23iCEBzuu0cJLM90-0CwN5va8vZkqmfgkYpE1-JNJVBfW8KK3/s400/IMG_0524+copy.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 154px; width: 200px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> at the Toronto International Film Festival's Raj Kapoor retrospective red carpet</span><br />Vivan Bhatena aka the cricket-playing boyfriend from <span style="font-style: italic;">Chak De India</span>.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWSD2nA9oJZuyXgrXVI7iTDjElDqVIAIDbFiidQE5_j789DCr0qKT86vo-X0U0a7FeTRUA9dIehQiCNnj2H-Tgqt9rZOG_gUBn2UFKMKlXuM3qPjfSkMegNY5TsmLS5hkMSS3AHG27Jnd/s1600/IMG_0622+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624591239776391506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWSD2nA9oJZuyXgrXVI7iTDjElDqVIAIDbFiidQE5_j789DCr0qKT86vo-X0U0a7FeTRUA9dIehQiCNnj2H-Tgqt9rZOG_gUBn2UFKMKlXuM3qPjfSkMegNY5TsmLS5hkMSS3AHG27Jnd/s400/IMG_0622+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Raj's sons and the premiere of Ontario (as you do).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgct0lvq726OHA6MX4EjA3v0TwsMhKc2FdKLJE-0VDJx5PHINUnenc7TpZ5-8iqZbs2QGnuLEEPfeaYI0mMARXZwA2ambUPtKDN-RMVG6j2vizlf-oFp8Z1ZIxc_dDJSorgrcDnYPjeHf1z/s1600/IMG_0626+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624591247800776370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgct0lvq726OHA6MX4EjA3v0TwsMhKc2FdKLJE-0VDJx5PHINUnenc7TpZ5-8iqZbs2QGnuLEEPfeaYI0mMARXZwA2ambUPtKDN-RMVG6j2vizlf-oFp8Z1ZIxc_dDJSorgrcDnYPjeHf1z/s400/IMG_0626+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I have no idea who this is but the people in front of me wanted her autograph.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1tKtDafBcjJB0Vo00Y3lvFRi31Kx2O7riuTsx82gs5OoBn2B5YX4tluf55G5qCgbFhLWzpMNn2a4dy4FzVYYUNoi34uwmTIO5gP8GUeaxrBnW5CkZTsVmDH1ZJW3MSK2RG6H1VzqNqZGT/s1600/IMG_0606+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590959226711538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1tKtDafBcjJB0Vo00Y3lvFRi31Kx2O7riuTsx82gs5OoBn2B5YX4tluf55G5qCgbFhLWzpMNn2a4dy4FzVYYUNoi34uwmTIO5gP8GUeaxrBnW5CkZTsVmDH1ZJW3MSK2RG6H1VzqNqZGT/s400/IMG_0606+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I was told the woman in white is Krishna Kapoor; in pink, Raj/Shammi/Shashi's sister Urmi?<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzMkVEwwAM8qSXXKEsV5Z-FcdEmNpZF1ZBvQIbEQr0uVP2m-ms3wF5xhA5o6c9Ok-7lKFWTESDjAQojQOXYyt7Pt65n1vGXOYBNCST62g_wd-IPf9dpRgURtafe0EYuhJkZgQGO7Zd0bF/s1600/IMG_0602+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590946007202642" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzMkVEwwAM8qSXXKEsV5Z-FcdEmNpZF1ZBvQIbEQr0uVP2m-ms3wF5xhA5o6c9Ok-7lKFWTESDjAQojQOXYyt7Pt65n1vGXOYBNCST62g_wd-IPf9dpRgURtafe0EYuhJkZgQGO7Zd0bF/s400/IMG_0602+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Javed Jaffrey! He was really nice.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB_KLoFVV5Lx_5r2FMma6ixkaw3L84h5ONrFbON3f7wVlco6RxzmTZ8MJHX0FN6_eq3X6ueDjF627w-KvgTTISycx04Eaxzos-P5wk7wwDh1iI6vZi-o2Uq24asAM1DS2Bbo_7Bi80MvsW/s1600/IMG_0581+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590931864330818" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB_KLoFVV5Lx_5r2FMma6ixkaw3L84h5ONrFbON3f7wVlco6RxzmTZ8MJHX0FN6_eq3X6ueDjF627w-KvgTTISycx04Eaxzos-P5wk7wwDh1iI6vZi-o2Uq24asAM1DS2Bbo_7Bi80MvsW/s400/IMG_0581+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Best for last: Zeenat Aman and Neetu Singh.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrg8T7J2V7hWlN7s8JN_zzLTWz-SxYdlaDWPGyyaXQmvVA00pvHEJvz3rINnb5d2cj3TSVpw9aRHa-HMYga_4eq2ZzitBRaJFAonqQ02mbOJpjb8TIVhFq5JdjA1j5D_tzOcnT7135mx_/s1600/IMG_0618+copy.JPG"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624590967287017490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrg8T7J2V7hWlN7s8JN_zzLTWz-SxYdlaDWPGyyaXQmvVA00pvHEJvz3rINnb5d2cj3TSVpw9aRHa-HMYga_4eq2ZzitBRaJFAonqQ02mbOJpjb8TIVhFq5JdjA1j5D_tzOcnT7135mx_/s400/IMG_0618+copy.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; height: 300px; width: 400px;" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Other bloggers at the IIFAs: <a href="http://www.totallyfilmi.com/">Totally Filmi</a>, <a href="http://dolcenamak.blogspot.com/">Dolce and Namak</a>, <a href="http://filmigirl.blogspot.com/">Filmi Girl</a>, <a href="http://shellsbollyworld.blogspot.com/">Shell's Bollyworld</a>, and <a href="http://bollyspice.com/22347/commentary-the-2011-iifa-awards-bollywoods-true-international-debut">Daniel</a> at <a href="http://bollyspice.com/">Bollyspice.</a> And <a href="http://galleryakc.com/2011/06/29/making-movies-canada-india-bollywood/">here's a lovely post</a> with photos and quotes from the "Bollywood, Hollywood, and Beyond" panel discussion with Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Kabir Bedi, and Lisa Ray. Dolce and Namak also wrote it up <a href="http://dolcenamak.blogspot.com/2011/07/bollywood-hollywood-and-beyond.html">here</a>.<br /></div>Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-67416650080907053552011-07-01T00:03:00.001-05:002011-07-01T00:03:00.104-05:00Going to the Movies: Irna Q.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ubQ9hrKO6XI" width="480"></iframe></center><br />
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Our first Going to the Movies of what we're calling the second season of Masala Zindabad (because we can!) features <b>Irna Q</b> of the excellent blog <a href="http://bollywoodinbritain.wordpress.com/">Bollywood in Britain</a>. Seriously, head on over there and read something. You won't regret it.<br />
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Irna brings us a charming story about the importance of <i>Pakeezah</i> in her life and how she accidentally gifted her friend Jodie with a new career when she asked her to perform one of the songs at her wedding. <br />
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Available on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, through subscription to our feed, or download <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethIrnaQ./IrnaQureshi.mp3">here</a>.<br />
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This story and all others will be collected at <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/going-to-movies.html">the series page</a>, which is also linked on the left of the main site. We'd love to hear yours, so send yours in! Submission requirements and instructions, as well as an overview of the project, are on the series page.<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-62560776652543018832011-06-24T00:03:00.004-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.511-06:00Iconic Female Characters in Hindi Cinema Part 2: Fearless Nadia, Chhoti Bahu, Sujata<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the second episode of Iconic Female Characters with <a href="http://bollyviewer-oldisgold.blogspot.com/">Ira of Old is Gold</a>, our discussion moves from Fearless Nadia to Chhoti Bahu to Sujata. <br />
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We wonder if race played a role in the evolution of Nadia and her enduring effect on Indian cinema. Also, why does Beth hate the idea of a woman whose life has no value other than to love her husband? It worked so well for Chhoti Bahu! <br />
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What? Oh. <br />
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Plus, Amrita remembers her mother's favorite movie all wrong and Ira muses on the trend in Indian cinema where siblings pass around their exes. Spoilers abound but sixty to seventy years after the date of release, you ought to expect it. <br />
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You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Female Icons 2</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on iTunes or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/MasalaZindabadMZ10b/Irapart2final.mp3">here</a>.</div>
The other parts of this series are here:<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://ia600603.us.archive.org/4/items/Amrita_BethMZ10a/MZ10A.mp3">1: the Bharatiya Nari</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/07/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi.html">3: Mother India, Seeta, Geeta, and Bobby</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/07/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_22.html">4: Chandni, Simran, Geet – and Sid wakes up</a> </span></div>
Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-63428445937586428382011-06-17T00:08:00.002-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.553-06:00Tollywood in Oz<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://cinemachaat.wordpress.com/author/masalaaddict/">Temple</a> of <a href="http://cinemachaat.wordpress.com/">Cinema Chaat</a> joins us to share her love for, among other masala marvels, Chiranjeevi. You know, this guy:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">WARNING!</span> The following clips contain silver go-go boots, crocheted capes, a robot, sparkles, leg warmers, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">flying, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">reverse camera action, and lots and lots of lycra.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xATwe5P_Too" frameborder="0" height="405" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />More glitter planets? Coming right up!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/urdjgQZqXF8" frameborder="0" height="314" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />Mythological!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RrPdKdScq3Y" frameborder="0" height="314" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />Pleather!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VcsjE-wkOLo" frameborder="0" height="405" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />Hitched-up lunghi means business!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6EsWHHGRm9w" frameborder="0" height="314" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />And Beth's favorite.<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iiYlF8oZ-CA" frameborder="0" height="405" width="500"></iframe><br /><br />What started with <a href="http://cinemachaat.wordpress.com/tag/magadheera/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Magadheera</span></a> (go on, ask her how many times she's seen it) has quickly spiraled into passion for the Megastar family, crowned by the dancing king himself. Temple also tells amazing tales of movie-watching in Melbourne, Australia, including her stint as an extra in the stands of the big matches in <span style="font-style: italic;">Chak De India</span> or being a 5'10" gori in the cinema hall during the latest Tollywood releases.<br /><blockquote>other audience members, at interval: Do you understand what's going on?<br />Temple: Sort of.<br />other audience members: Do you speak Telugu?<br />Temple: No.<br />other audience members: Are you going to learn Telugu?<br />Temple: No.<br />other audience members: Oh. You speak Tamil, then.<br />Temple: No, but she [gestures at film-watching and blog-writing companion <a href="http://cinemachaat.wordpress.com/author/heatherrmwilson/">Heather</a>] knows a bit.<br />other audience members: Hmm. Hindi?<br />Temple: A bit.<br />other audience members: Ah. But you don't speak Telugu?<br />Temple: [sigh]</blockquote>Almost lost amidst all this fabulousness is a throwaway reference to house favorite and famed dance demon Shashi Kapoor (the dancing starts around 4:00 in the clip below):<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EEzzWrYGKGg" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe><br /><br />You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Tollywood in Oz</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ11/MZ11.mp3">here</a>. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-66305592861184180012011-06-10T00:03:00.001-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.592-06:00Iconic Female Characters in Hindi Cinema part 1: introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://bollyviewer-oldisgold.blogspot.com/">Ira of Old Is Gold</a> joined us for a long—and we mean looong—conversation about iconic female characters in Hindi cinema. In this introductory segment, we discuss a few fictional filmi women who are icons to us, as well as cinematic iterations of the Bharatiya Nari ("Indian woman," for our non-Hindi-speaking friends). Future segments will move roughly chronologically through the twentieth century and into today's films, investigating memorable and representative female characters like Fearless Nadia, Radha of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mother India</span>, Bobby, and Simran.<br />
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The opening music in this episode is courtesy of Paresh of <a href="http://currysmugglers.com/">the Curry Smugglers</a>. As you will hear, it's a clip of a mix of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCL1RpgYxRM">MIA's "Galang"</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ9VDYtPVh8">"Mehbooba Mehbooba" from <span style="font-style: italic;">Sholay</span></a>. According to Paresh, it's "from a bootleg by a DJ named Sunit out of parts unknown. It's the only remix that MIA has blessed on the bootleg circuit, probably because of its inherent coolness factor."<br />
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You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Female Icons</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a> or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ10a/MZ10A.mp3">here</a>. <span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">The upcoming parts of this series are here:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/06/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_24.html">2: Fearless Nadia, Chhoti Bahu, Sujata</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/07/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi.html">3: Mother India, Seeta, Geeta, and Bobby</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c003b; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">• <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/07/iconic-female-characters-in-hindi_22.html">4: Chandni, Simran, Geet – and Sid wakes up</a> </span></div>
Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-62345675957160161872011-06-03T02:07:00.000-05:002017-03-07T20:33:02.505-06:00Doss the Boss: Action Films of Director KSR Doss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">We're back, baby! This episode is worth the wait: with Thrills Coodinator Todd of <a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/">Die Danger Die Die Kill</a> and <a href="http://teleport-city.com/wordpress/?author=3">Teleport City</a> on board, we romp and stomp through the films of director K. S. R. Doss. "Color! Action! Pure cinema!" raves Todd. If you've never seen any of Doss's 70s films (the focus of our show), you're in for an amazing treat. Elements like frenetic fights, stylized acting, "dances like Laxmi Chhaya on crystal meth," and even the female players leaping in with reckless abandon add up to the feeling that Doss "is trying to destroy the concept of subtlety itself...there's no room for anything to be understated." <span style="font-style: italic;">And we love them!</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1i7uBMrASjGAPG8NzbH42ffYDg8tpHfIjel7agEKEmQUwdMSSuCVotjWCVxx6EU_cfv0O2IhAduP-okTUW_AQB1WVXylPv4ejJTxzQ5Ri6NFgibBnrsZa3XYwK397AalJv2z25qqnV9m1/s1600/collage2.jpg"><img alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613799794358340194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1i7uBMrASjGAPG8NzbH42ffYDg8tpHfIjel7agEKEmQUwdMSSuCVotjWCVxx6EU_cfv0O2IhAduP-okTUW_AQB1WVXylPv4ejJTxzQ5Ri6NFgibBnrsZa3XYwK397AalJv2z25qqnV9m1/s400/collage2.jpg" style="height: 468px; width: 300px;" border="0" /></a></div><br />In addition to summaries and details of a few of Doss's films in detail, we discuss his influences and techniques, common elements across the films, what the kick-ass female characters are all about, and the relationships between his work and today's Telugu action films (other than the Superstar Krishna and Son connection).<br /><br />Todd's take of some of the films mentioned in this episode can be found at the following links:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/2009/05/james-bond-777-india-1971.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">James Bond 777</span></a></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/2009/01/kaun-sachha-kaun-jhoota-india-1972.html">Kaun Saccha Kaun Jhoota</a><br /></span></li><li><a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/2010/04/mosagallaku-mosagaadu-india-1971.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mosagallaku Mosagadu</span></a></li><li><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/2009/04/pistolwali-india-1972.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Pistolwali</span></a><br /></span></li><li><a href="http://teleport-city.com/wordpress/?p=10862"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rani Mera Naam</span></span></a></li><li>and a video podcast on<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://diedangerdiediekill.blogspot.com/2011/01/fighting-femmes-fiends-and-fanatics.html">Rani aur Jani</a> at </span></span>Steve Mayhem's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/SteveMayhemPresents#p/u">Fighting Femmes, Fiends, and Fanatics series</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></li></ul>Beth has also written up <a href="http://bethlovesbollywood.blogspot.com/2011/04/james-bond-777.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">James Bond 777</span></a> and <a href="http://bethlovesbollywood.blogspot.com/2011/05/mosagallaku-mosagaadu.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mosgallaku Mosgadu</span></a>. <span style="font-style: italic;">James Bond 777</span> is now available on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEct-EaBJlg">Youtube</a>.<br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad: Doss the Boss</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a> or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ09_0/MZ09.mp3">here</a>.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-76345170459362149132011-04-27T09:45:00.000-05:002011-05-30T20:52:08.156-05:00Pyaar Ki Yeh Ek Kahani: a spoiler-laden, snarky, and totally inappropriate discussion of Ekta Kapoor's teen vampire soap<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Earlier this month, <a href="http://cinemachaat.wordpress.com/author/melbournemasalaaddicts/">Temple</a>, a good friend of Masala Zindabaddies and co-author of the blog <a href="http://cinemachaat.wordpress.com/">Cinema Chaat</a>, sat down with Beth to share her thoughts on Hindi-language TV's answer to <i>Twilight. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">We apologize for the spoilers, but really, how can you talk about a soap opera beyond the first three episodes without giving </span><i>something</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> away? (And FYI, we're also many months behind what is currently happening on the show.)<br /></span></span><p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >For those who do not know the show, here's a basic overview. Piya Jaiswal, an orphan, enrolls at Mount College, where is she befriended by </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >loud-mouth tomboy </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Misha Dobriyal, beloved by popular boy Kabir Rathod, and glared at but also frequently saved from certain death by secret vampire Abhay Raichand.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFiukmJqT1ldvbNV6gCuLuionGNAmrC2lsMhAQMLZRBkU8LCfX2uHGKoL77KIufmAwG4Ausg7i6LyTC9jG2827IKNvBO7kkKEaFi4sVRrJhUZX-yMvJF8fBOXT8aJ55y-4hqIynnGVUyip/s1600/2610100613166.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 129px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFiukmJqT1ldvbNV6gCuLuionGNAmrC2lsMhAQMLZRBkU8LCfX2uHGKoL77KIufmAwG4Ausg7i6LyTC9jG2827IKNvBO7kkKEaFi4sVRrJhUZX-yMvJF8fBOXT8aJ55y-4hqIynnGVUyip/s400/2610100613166.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600274980164450946" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEurdSpfh97p8brkM2K3cbh5DtXhw7C7VJeVmQ8fZhuJBmii8HbO08r0s-VlFDBMqXl3A7m5f9GfAgvQnPTStKUhY2A9cp_raR8HnmakiSBcH2UcVO92lAZFgYm-2Bwi19kbNb7KBig4cp/s1600/2810100718447.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEurdSpfh97p8brkM2K3cbh5DtXhw7C7VJeVmQ8fZhuJBmii8HbO08r0s-VlFDBMqXl3A7m5f9GfAgvQnPTStKUhY2A9cp_raR8HnmakiSBcH2UcVO92lAZFgYm-2Bwi19kbNb7KBig4cp/s400/2810100718447.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600274006161014002" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">Kabir and Pia; Abhay and Piya.</span><br />Piya's colleagues all have complicated families. Misha's sister Panchi is engaged to Danish, and they both spend a lot of time hanging around the college drama club even though they've graduated. Danish is also Kabir's brother and works for Abhay's dad.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHcq-eKd0meHI9dRXLMdjQHo-85ewKFFIS1Y3pgnrVSsCDpr1gkNnZ4CDfTRJFF0JKLt_piyIWlR9Fo0WHkbkt0qUGnTOIL1ytIfC3ROpEetjAeZTHO0Q6A05SDn6SxtCFu6DUuCgk2CRR/s1600/2610100613337.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHcq-eKd0meHI9dRXLMdjQHo-85ewKFFIS1Y3pgnrVSsCDpr1gkNnZ4CDfTRJFF0JKLt_piyIWlR9Fo0WHkbkt0qUGnTOIL1ytIfC3ROpEetjAeZTHO0Q6A05SDn6SxtCFu6DUuCgk2CRR/s400/2610100613337.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600271722240319746" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Panchi and Danish in front of one of the show's beloved-by-us horrible murals. </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" > Rounding out the college cast are Tee (Tanushree), the local Poo character who comes complete with a crew of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mean Girl</span>-esque slaves, and Tracker, the boy-crazy space cadet. More character information can be found on the show's official site <a href="http://www.starone.in/character.aspx?sid=67">here</a>.</span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>viewers</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: So Beth. You watch <span style="font-style: italic;">PKYEK</span> over Skype with <a href="http://notabilia.wordpress.com/">a friend in Singapore</a>. How did you get yourself into that? And WHY—this is important—did you get me watching it too?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: It's Amrita's fault. Pure and simple. One day we were chatting about the podcast and then things turned to TV, as they often do with us. She sent me a few links to clips of Abhay running, which of course are hilarious, and bits of dialogue, and somehow I was sunk. What's weird is that I do not care about vampires one way or the other. I haven't read or seen <i>Twilight</i> or any of the other vampire shows. I like <i>Buffy</i>, but.... I also hate daily soap operas. So I am not sure why this appeals at all. The teenagers help. I do like silly teen soaps. <i>The OC</i>, <i>Degrassi</i>, <i>Gossip Girl</i>, etc.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Aaaah I am almost the complete opposite: I hate teen soaps but I find the really bad vampire themed books films and TV amusing in how bad they can be. And I love a bit of terrible acting...and this show makes me feel like my Hindi is not that bad. Though I must leap into Hindi-speaking grandmother mode here and say the dialogue is such a Hinglish mess, and even their Hindi is a bit peculiar grammar wise at times ( I think) that I just don't know. Do the youth really say things like “my dil was telling me, yaar”?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I know <i>I</i> do.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: The good thing is I can understand the words as well as the fabulous drama. Which moves, and I will steal a line from an old parody of <i>Days of Our Lives</i>, “like meatloaf through a straw.” Glaciers get there faster than Piya does. I made a friend watch the famous dance of love and as I was searching for the clip, she pointed at Abhay and said “So he's a vampire." Piya has been staring at him for 36 episodes I have watched and no such lightbulb moment.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: WOW. Had you told your friend this was a vampire show?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I mentioned there were vampires but not who or any more detail. She saw a thumbnail and that's all it took.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Does anyone in India watch this? Do we know if its successful?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: There is a forum that indicates it is, yes. Amrita sent me that when she first told me about the show—as an example of raving lunacy, I believe.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I can't judge. Australia gave the world <i>Neighbours</i>. And here we are, dedicating time and thought to this raving lunacy.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Exactly. I was thinking we both come from cultures with grand soap opera traditions that we ignore.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I used to watch some daytime soaps when I was at uni and avoiding actually going to uni. The great thing was you could miss months and months and still catch up within a couple of days. But I am resistant to the soap. I get bored if there is no character development or resolution if issues. So I think I am watching <i>Pyaar Ki Yeh Ek Kahani</i> as car-crash entertainment. It's so bad yet I cannot look away! Or I'd miss the fab interior designs.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: SBIG is the only explanation I have.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: As <a href="http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/">Greta</a> once said, “the spirit of making do”! And I have to say, 20-odd minutes of terrible quality cheese can be just the thing to make me smile after a crappy day. Bless Ekta Kapoor. Lets just hope Jeetendra doesn't appear as a were-snake!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: WHY is there a "not" in that sentence????</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Oh Beth.... Jeetendra as a salsa-ing were-snake is not good. And you know he always has to salsa because he thinks he can.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>set design</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: The sets are very special. The mansions in particular appeal to me. You know how I like filmi mansions.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Me too! Especially ones strewn with stuffed animals and objects.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: That poor elephant...and the GOBLETS! THE GOBLETS! Opaque for a reason, I'm sure.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: The fireplaces!<br /></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: And the bar at Misha's house! That is quite a bar. We've seen lairs with less booze.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: The light fittings are awesome. And the constantly changing candles chez Vampire. I am more amazed at the quantity of lights than the quality but someone has a serious lamp fetish.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: ooh I hadn't noticed! Maybe they are sublimating the taste for human blood into lamps? As more socially acceptable?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: That makes as much sense as anything else.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Why isn't Tee more concerned about the horrible state of computing at Mount College? I haven't seen that many beige computers since university IN THE MID 90s. No one on this campus has laptops, do they?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think it is a licensing thing—they blur out the logos on all the cars and a few other things too so maybe no branding was licensed for use?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Perhaps it says something that no brand seems to want to be affiliated with this show?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Bingo! You must be right. I don't think I've even seen a packet of Lays....</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: How have we not discussed all the murals?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: There is Jim Morrison! I don't know about Australia, but in the US there is a certain age after which you cannot be displaying Jim Morrison, and I believe that age is 22.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhznYSLPm605jLStZdMyFQbPIuJP7TyOdsF8vUAW0FQtYruuC2VrXmcjTwwFF9iMnG9X0P-AHS1ZqAd0yf60MFEU9sHYhOK3Pek1QnLsVLCISUiqq04c7mbGm44-3Y0Q_1STTgOUUKv9I32/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-10+at+10.36.59+PM.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhznYSLPm605jLStZdMyFQbPIuJP7TyOdsF8vUAW0FQtYruuC2VrXmcjTwwFF9iMnG9X0P-AHS1ZqAd0yf60MFEU9sHYhOK3Pek1QnLsVLCISUiqq04c7mbGm44-3Y0Q_1STTgOUUKv9I32/s400/Screen+shot+2011-04-10+at+10.36.59+PM.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600276827128946626" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Misha is under that of course, but the very special huge graffiti style one in her bedroom...it's so precisely NOT rock 'n' roll.</span><br /></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think that is universal—and is also one of those things that if you walked into a guy's house and saw Jim or Bob Marley it may be a relationship-altering moment. Oh god, Misha's bedroom mural—spray-paint 80s, pre hip hop.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: There's Jimi Hendrix too, isn't there? </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Oooh yes, I think so. And what about all the random wall art at Mount College? Did that school get great value for money from their art teacher or what?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Define "value."</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: “Cover every flat surface with something and your budget is INR320.”</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: SOLD. Perhaps that is what Panchi does all day long at the school. Before we leave sets, I feel like my love of the roof of the college [which has the name of the school on it in huge letters] indicates perhaps there is something wrong with me? Do schools do that? The school in <i>Main Hoon Na</i> does not, for example. That is my reference for filmed boarding schools in the mountains.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: No—and yes, there is something wrong with you. But funny you mention <i>MHN</i>: I am fairly sure someone saw “Chale Jaise Hawaien” and decided that was the inspiration for the look of the very exclusive Mount College (with one teacher and nine students on a sprawling campus with only one classroom). The fees must be MASSIVE to keep it running and fund such a prestigious drama department.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Agree. Too bad the dancing is unspeakably worse than in that delightful song.</span></p><p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think you meant to call it “dancing.”</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>the hero</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Hmmm. I notice neither of us is mentioning Abhay. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: He is SO UNLIKEABLE. He has no charisma whatsoever.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: He is totally unappealing. Even if you like mean/bad/silent he is boring.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I don't really like Angel in <i>Buffy</i> either, but Angel at least has some spark and occasionally smiles. I do like how they direct that actor to position his head so that he is always looking up from under his brows. It adds to the sullenness.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I have a deep hatred of the <i>Twilight-</i>inspired sparkly Twu Wuv vampire so he is already on my bad side.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: What IS the sexual attraction for women to vampires?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think its a combination of things—penetration (biting) and the fact that females under the influence of vampires were allowed to be very sexual and even aggressive in exploiting men to fulfill their desires. And vampires are essentially inhuman and never going to make you cook dinner and pop out babies. It's all sex and power and no dishwashing.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: All sex and no responsibility? You'd think I'd be all over that, but no.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: One thing I notice in a lot of more recent genre fiction is that the emphasis has really shifted to vampires being amazing in bed, when earlier writers were quite explicit about the issues around lack of blood pressure and circulation</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Rather. Yes, how is it that they manage?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Some authors try and get around it by saying the vampire feeds first; others just ignore the mechanics. But it seems to be OK for a 100-year-old pervert to creep into your room at night and watch you sleep if he is a vampire and your name is Bella. Maybe vampires are now a way of indulging in behaviors or fantasies that would not be as acceptable if it involved two people. But now we are getting onto another rant of mine about why heroines in many YA and genre books can only be strong and kick-arse if they have been horribly damaged in some way. So I will stop and go back. Maybe that why Abhay's pants are so tight—they are like support hose to keep the blood from pooling in his feet. Mr. Raichand has that very tight collar on his satiny shirts too.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I do like the pants-as-medical-device angle.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>the heroine</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Oooh I know something important we must mention: PIYA: WHY IS SHE SO DUMB?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Piya is meant to be at the college on a very special full scholarship, so I am baffled by her total stupidity. She probably gets the dumb from her father. How can he not realize that the girl called “Piya” who is the same age and name as his “dead” daughter is his daughter? Even his wife knows! </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I really do not know.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: The whole orphan thing is interesting as the very term is used in such a pejorative way when Tee and the Mean Girls talk against Piya.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: They are SO HORRIBLE about that! There are so many things for teeangers to be awful about—why that one, I wonder?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think orphan = bad luck or bad fate that you somehow brought on yourself and so also punished your parents by shortening their lives. I may be over-thinking this.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Orphans are so prominent in films that it is good for us to get our heads around the concept. Side note: why wasn't there a Bollywood <i>Annie</i> with Sridevi as Annie? </span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I hate singing orphans. I think there is more mileage to be had criticizing Piya's very frumpy skirt/scarf/singlet combos.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I am more concerned by her dopey facial expressions.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: She has a a very pained “thinking” face because she is dumb and it hurts.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: And it's so...weak.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: You know she is supposed to be such a nice girl and yet she turns up at Panchi's engagement party wearing a strapless laced-back corset style blouse with her lengha. I don't know that that is appropriate orphan attire.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I was SO horrified by her turning up at the Raichand house with her birthday cake.<br /></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: She makes some very strange choices. Her costume party tiara is THE worst tiara ever.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9d9awUetmHpcSPcmh9QKDwZtLv3Vd8hAYeMuLued8_SMpYo8E726e20Ao6X0o4KYxtO13VkT9ST3Yslwau_rUomdXfUHxO-O1OQC6OBsmwsjiacQ5_WpR3LqPUm8XHeljaH1o5TnM6PJ/s1600/1611100518187.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9d9awUetmHpcSPcmh9QKDwZtLv3Vd8hAYeMuLued8_SMpYo8E726e20Ao6X0o4KYxtO13VkT9ST3Yslwau_rUomdXfUHxO-O1OQC6OBsmwsjiacQ5_WpR3LqPUm8XHeljaH1o5TnM6PJ/s400/1611100518187.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600274973541027874" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>other characters</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I am not sure why Panchi and Danish are so involved with the drama...both the drama club AND the interpersonal drama, though I gather I will learn soon about the latter. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Panchi and Danish don't have anything else to do, clearly. I wonder how Mr. Raichand feels about his employee never doing anything remotely like work?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Probably fine—lulls him into a stupor all the better for being munched on. I'm at the point where I really want Danish to be eaten.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I like to think Mr. Raichand is the vampire with standards and wouldn't gnaw on Danish. Mrs. Manshoulders [Temple's name for Mrs. Raichand], on the other hand.... She's hungry...sorry, THIRSTY.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8PfQp9q12J821siKbipZEFyXeQI0j7c5fu2uesmM4U3pDLsTFs8CwDCoofJEXASwwurFX8NK9DVZUQZpC0ko34LfeiDLm73cDCIpAAqEOnFv_wxbRo8FxY-rgbr59A42j7N-G0tCBVbSP/s1600/1611100517295.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8PfQp9q12J821siKbipZEFyXeQI0j7c5fu2uesmM4U3pDLsTFs8CwDCoofJEXASwwurFX8NK9DVZUQZpC0ko34LfeiDLm73cDCIpAAqEOnFv_wxbRo8FxY-rgbr59A42j7N-G0tCBVbSP/s400/1611100517295.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600274013619453330" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Raichands. The transparent drinking vessels indicate that they're at someone else's house.</span><br /></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Maybe she will sleep with him THEN vamp him? Double-vamp, so to speak? He does wear very tight shirts. Like he's the accountant at a gay bar.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: No, it's unlikely she will seduce him first—she will just tear him apart like a roast chicken. She's on the verge of a breakdown already.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I would be too if I were responsible for Abhay.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: In your opinion, who is the least annoying character?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Least annoying character is probably Kabir—all round good guy. He seems to have fewer neuroses than the rest.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Yes, I agree totally. There is no contest. Kabir seems like an actual nice and normal-ish person, given that he is a pampered 20-year-old.</span></p><p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>costume design</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Why doesn't Tee put some pants on? Why don't they all wear more? It's snowing, FFS. And Tracker and Tee are in micro shorts.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Actual snow or magical Abhay-inspired snow? And can you explain Misha's jean shorts?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: No, no I can't. Apart from her clearly being the tomboy rebel. There is little sense to her mini vests and cutoffs, although I am thankful that the shorts are almost knee-length and not the traditional Daisy Dukes.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: They're so unflattering. But at least they're not obscene.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Not like Abhay's padding.<br /></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Why did you say that? Are you serious? You think there's crotch padding?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Well its very .....eye-catching. And yes, I think in some scenes they have padded—or else he has a career awaiting in a different kind of film industry.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Oh thanks for that.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Since the plot progresses at the pace of an elderly snail, I have lots of time to think “Codpiece? No.” As he minced around in too-tight jeans with his little bandy legs I was thinking "This? This is the hero?"</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: he needs go-go boots and a cape STAT. THAT is what heroes wear.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>script </b></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: One thing that got my hopes up, as the writing is generally terrible, was the palaver around Misha's birthday party. It's the fallout from Kabir's letter. And many of the girls were given lines from <i>Kuch Kuch Hota Hai</i> (“My first love is incomplete”) etc. and it showed signs of being a bit more filmi and pop-referential. And I thought “Maybe they were going for parody? Maybe this is actually cleverer than it seems?” But no.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: You'd think someone who is spawn-of-Jeetendra would do more of that. It would be a huge—and I mean MASSIVE—coup if they could all of a sudden display that they were clever.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Yeah! And make viewing this fun for the right reasons. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I can only watch two episodes in a row. Then my brain revolts.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I feel a bit bad that I am so negative about young “actors”' who may think this is the path to a career. But they should all think of something else.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I agree, they are almost all completely terrible.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: But what they have to work with doesn't help.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Not at all. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I am saddened by the poor writing as I think the idea could have been translated to something fun and interesting and melodramatic.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I agree—it could have been a lot better. Infinitely better. More clever, more biting (ha!), MUCH better production values.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>the</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><b>vampire issue</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Has Amrita mentioned whether any of the so-called folklore or mythology in this show is at all Indian-inspired? Or is it all, as it seems to me, to be a pastiche of recent American films/TV that used their own mishmash of European vampire fiction as a basis?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I do not believe she has.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: It seems very <i>Twilight</i>/<i>Vampire Diaries</i> (not that I have seen either) so I wonder why they decided this particular vampire style would be more successful. Was <i>Twilight</i> big?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Good question.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: My friend Tina did her doctorate on the vampire in popular fiction, so we have discussed at length how often films/TV/books just make up their own rules which glamorize vampires and have nothing to do with the more messy and unappealing folkloric basis. I sent her a clip of this, and she would like to be in the show, preferably appearing as Queen Victoria in a flashback.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: That's pretty fab! I would like to be Piya's sensible friend from her orphanage days who comes to visit and says "What the eff is with all these people? TRANSFER." </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Perhaps I could be a teacher— one with a named subject and an expectation regarding homework. Or the person who walks by and says to the sex 'n' drugs girls “You might want to close the curtains.”</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I know nothing of vampire lore. What are some of the key things the show is overlooking?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Most of what we see on film/TV nowadays is heavily based on Bram Stoker's Dracula rather than actual vampire legends. If you look at Stoker's rules: daylight is a no-no, vampires have to be invited into a home, they need to sleep in or with their native soil or soil from their grave, they can't abide religious symbols (crosses etc.—not sure how that translates to Hinduism)....</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Too bad no one has hurled a trishul at Abhay yet.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: So I think they have used the <i>Twilight</i> “Vampire Lite” version which is equally strange. I have a friend who refers to Edward Cullen as a "sparklepire" or "glittery marble cupcake Adonis." I don't know why that is so attractive, but it sells in spades, so go figure. I can't quite see Abhay winning the hearts and minds or other organs of legions of girls.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: And Abhay has no glitter, no cupcake. He does seem to have wind machine powers on Piya, at least.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Abhay is going for package enhancement rather than glittery sparkle. I think I preferred him when he was an enigmatic blur.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Perhaps saving Piya is good?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Why? She is a Darwin Award waiting to happen.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY THAT!</span></p><p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Trucks, cliffs, lunatics, just falling over her own feet....</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: normal;">Beth: I was looking at your friend's academic vampire site (<a href="http://www.academicvampire.co.uk/thesis.htm" target="_blank">http://www.academicvampire.co.uk/thesis.htm</a>) and she suggests that vampires are used to discuss current social anxieties or conflicts etc. I cannot imagine this show actually has that much thought put into it. But if it DID, maybe it is about class and status, since Piya is nothing and Abhay is rich, yet both are outsiders.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I like her point that the vampire casts no reflection so we create our own image reflecting stuff back.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: That seems so obvious now that she's said it!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I like vampire fiction and for a lot of the reasons Tina spells out. I was hoping this might have had a bit more to it, but I think its just rich boy arsehole vampire and poor orphan clumsy good-hearted girl, Romeo and Juliet, cliché cliché, cliché. But I am going to keep watching.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Of course. He really is an unredeemable jerk, isn't he? </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Well, all the conflict and WTFery would vanish if he weren't, so I hope he keeps glowering. I mean, if he was halfway decent and Kabir seems decent, it wouldn't work as a supposed triangle, as it wouldn't matter which one Piya chose. You need the tension of good boy vs. bad choice to keep the drama. Not that they are doing so well, but it is kind of there.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I have never understood the attraction to the bad boy. I assume that's what he's supposed to be?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: It's “other,” I think—the alternative to sensible, expected, comfortable, predictable.... What if you could not be the person everyone expects you to be? So I think bad boys are there because they usually are other choices you might make in your life. And lots of sex.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Do we think Abhay works as "other"?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think his position in the drama means he should be “other”—and hell, he is a vampire—but the writing is off-track and they seem a bit muddled. He has been clear in some of his clench-jawed monologues about his feelings towards the humans. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>some compliments...sort of</b></span></p> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Here is one nice thing about the show, or at least the network: <a href="http://www.startv.in/shows.asp?serialid=134&channel_id=2">their online player thingy</a> works REALLY well for me. I have had fewer problems with it than with Hulu or Netflix.[Update to post (5/30/2011): not long after this post was published, the Star TV online player stopped working in the United States, at least for this show. Not sure about other countries outside India. Good luck!</span></div><p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;" align="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Is that a straw I see grasped in your hand?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Possibly, but also genuine appreciation for a company that has brought me hours of...um...enjoyment? </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Yes, it is a very convenient way to watch this, and I appreciate the ease of navigation and the tiny plot precis on each clip. Have you noticed how often people are shocked? “Misha is shocked to learn...” and “Piya is shocked when...” and so on.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I had noticed that and assumed that it's standard lingo for soaps. If characters knew things already, we wouldn't have a show.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: They should be in a constant state of exhaustion, all that flirting and shock. But they are never surprised or intrigued or curious or anything—just shocked.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: "Shocked" is a good short word. "Curious" implies further thought.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: It's so dramatic and, of course, nothing really happens.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Not a whit.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: 36 episodes in and so far no vampire bloodsucking. Just an attempted murder or two.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I wonder if the show was promoted as vampire-ish in India? Did people know going in he would be a vampire?</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I can't imagine you would keep watching a sub-standard school romance if there was no hook. And they have made 300 billion episodes, so either it was marketed or there were planted leaks about the next shocking revelation. Mrs. Manshoulders and Mr. Raichand were pretty obviously vampires or very committed goths from the get-go.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Yes, they are decidedly odd, and there is an ep fairly early on where her eyes do something weird. </span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: As do Abhay's. It's a sign of the pyaas. There was a missed chance when none of the vampires came to the Halloween party as vampires. Danish did—fangs and all.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: That's ironic.<br /></span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: So close but not quite. That's they real story of <i>PKYEK</i>. That and the production design that is clearly done on the cheap. I am always fascinated by what they spend their money on and what they skimp on.</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Where do you think they DID put money? Abhay's guitar riff?</span></p> <p style="margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: That, hair gel, lip gloss, wigs for Tracker, and lots of lamps and candles. They didn't spend it on the sets for <i>Romeo and Juliet—</i>that balcony looked more like a tennis umpire's chair.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Oh the balcony. I am weeping just thinking of it.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: One vaguely interesting thing is Maya [Piya's roommate who is pregnant by Danish, who has been a colossal sh*t about it]. What do you think about how they portray her? She was always bruised from confrontations with her mystery man as she demanded he leave his rich girlfriend, though the bruises did seem to wash off. Piya as the morally upright perfect girl seems quite supportive and accepting of a lot of what Maya is going through. I was expecting Maya to be reviled rather than people blaming Abhay (wrongly) but even in some hospital scenes after she is attacked , there doesn't seem to be a sense of she deserved her troubles. So that was something a little unexpected. Yes, that is me grasping at straws now!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: there is another semi-sensible reason I quite like watching it: I tend to watch a lot of vintage Hindi films and I know my taste tends towards the good old-fashioned masala so this is quite intriguing as I wonder what the youth and their parents are watching on telly and why—and whether this will eventually feed into films and the kinds of stories that will be up on the big screen.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: If this is at the forefront of anything, I think we might as well just call it quits now.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Exactly! But I am well aware my taste in films is regarded by the kids at the DVD shop as hopelessly old-fashioned so who knows? At least it might mean poor old Tee can stop her chicken dance seduction!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: I think Farah Khan will have a job for awhile, at least.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>a few of Temple's favorites scenes</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: You won't have seen the flashbacks to 300 years ago yet?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: No, not yet, and I am very excited about them. Historical costumes make everything better. As do roller skates, but that's a different topic.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Well, here is something that your inner historian will love: flamenco</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Ooh, flamenco in the Himalayas in 1700?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Your idea of historical may differ from the producers'.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: It usually does.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Sadly none of this lot have put their skates on. Yet. We can hope.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Skates would be yet another way for Piya to endanger herself—it's bound to happen.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Have you seen the school fete? It has a kissing booth, and a dunking booth, and a sad beaded bracelet stall. Guess who runs which of these for bonus points. I don't know how much money they could raise given there seem to be very few other students.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Oooh okay! Dunking is Kabir, since he is sporty-ish ?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Close....</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Oh god, Misha?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: YES.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Kissing is either Tee or Tracker.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Tee. Tracker helps Misha at the dunking booth. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: ...and bracelets must be Piya?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: YES. Piya and her fricking beads that she never makes or sells, but whatever.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: "...but whatever" is an important tool to have in one's supplies if one is to watch this show</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: as is “or something.”</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><b>final thoughts</b></span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: So we are no closer to knowing why this show exists and why we watch it!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: We are not. Do you have any closing thoughts?</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I have given you nothing to work with! Apart from knowing that you are not alone. And I am recruiting more, er , sufferers.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: You brought in a PhD, for goodness's sake!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I so want Tina in <i>PKYEK</i>. In her turn as Queen Victoria recently, she spoke Hindi, so I say give me Ekta's email. I've got a proposal.... The “sparklepire” line comes from a lovely YA author, Zoe Marriott. We've done more research than anyone on the show.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: That does not surprise me even a little bit. We've done more research than the whole crew of <i>Veer</i>. I'm used to it.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: Imagine if the cast of <i>PKYEK</i> find this post!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Oh surely they know that they are involved with utter nonsense.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Temple: I think some of them might just be a bit serious.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Beth: Deary me.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.1in; margin-right: 0in; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> </p>Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-40513428297989947952011-04-04T01:37:00.000-05:002011-04-04T01:37:24.952-05:00Going to the Movies: CheeC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Friendly frequent commenter CheeC from Chennai talks about the importance of Rajnikanth on her film-going history, complete with firecrackers and standing-room-only films.<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1D9EX3ZnMUw" title="YouTube video player" width="425"></iframe><br />
She also bravely recounts the traumatizing childhood experience of her first Hindi film, <span style="font-style: italic;">Shaan</span>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJus7xJPgz7swviEjkVAm_nbExISOfxeBITT_itnFWqnFPgDgKL0j6T4sm08I0l4m_6Tjlkqq9CmMcUVmNW67OSfJdLWQ8FOEWAmK8TfQsf9tnQ6Ad0T32KMRWFetgsx6S4riiQ3ZkdpM/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-04-03+at+6.20.35+PM.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591502734796747698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJus7xJPgz7swviEjkVAm_nbExISOfxeBITT_itnFWqnFPgDgKL0j6T4sm08I0l4m_6Tjlkqq9CmMcUVmNW67OSfJdLWQ8FOEWAmK8TfQsf9tnQ6Ad0T32KMRWFetgsx6S4riiQ3ZkdpM/s400/Screen+shot+2011-04-03+at+6.20.35+PM.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 233px; width: 425px;" /></a><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLFZVIdcCKM" title="YouTube video player" width="425"></iframe><br />
And in an appropriately filmi coincidence, CheeC, like our last participant <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/2011/03/going-to-movies-ramsu.html">Ramsu</a>, also went to BITS and reminisces about movies there. Although it must be noted their taste in Malayalam movies is vastly different.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09Z9dhoCYNEo7MBGo3fOxM1qvOnY-J6H07mXD-l-nktisbV9l2_LXghcjW369K3_UxMQv1S2-CA3_ZsOM-qGktDSkW3u8DBQO0wAi-EEALMuqWtvwYyj31o8ZHRyp_lihYKKr5asG7-7F/s1600/BITS_ClocktowerAudi.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588784449367756946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09Z9dhoCYNEo7MBGo3fOxM1qvOnY-J6H07mXD-l-nktisbV9l2_LXghcjW369K3_UxMQv1S2-CA3_ZsOM-qGktDSkW3u8DBQO0wAi-EEALMuqWtvwYyj31o8ZHRyp_lihYKKr5asG7-7F/s400/BITS_ClocktowerAudi.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; height: 282px; width: 425px;" /></a><br />
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Available on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, through subscription to our feed, or download <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethCheeC/CheeC.mp3">here</a>.<br />
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This story and all others will be collected at <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/going-to-movies.html">the series page</a>, which is also linked on the left of the main site. We'd love to hear yours and hope to add a new each week, so send yours in! Submission requirements and instructions, as well as an overview of the project, are on the series page. </div></div>Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-24368376081616925482011-03-27T10:38:00.001-05:002011-03-27T14:04:59.522-05:00Going to the Movies: Ramsu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Heading up the return of the "Going to the Movies" series is Ramsu, author of the blog <a href="http://celluloidrant.wordpress.com/">24 Frames Per Second</a>. Ramsu's reflections focus on his undergraduate days at BITS and seeing films in the local single-screen...masterpieces like <span style="font-style: italic;">Jurrat</span>—"Man, that was a bad movie"—featuring Kumar Gaurav in "the great sequoia of wooden performances." He also encapsulates his philosophy of entertainment in a short discussion of the works of "the god B movies and patron saint of disco, Mithun" with a bonus riff on interpreting the works of Mithun through the lens of Shakespeare. What Beth wouldn't give for time-travel to get to go to these movies with Ramsu....<br /><br />Available on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, through subscription to our feed, or download <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethRamsu2/Ramsu.mp3">here</a>.<br /><br />This story and all others will be collected at <a href="http://masalazindabad.blogspot.com/p/going-to-movies.html">the series page</a>, which is also linked on the left of the main site. We'd love to hear yours and hope to add a new each week, so send yours in! Submission requirements and instructions, as well as an overview of the project, are on the series page. </div>Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-81698050808613959262011-03-21T13:52:00.000-05:002011-03-21T13:52:36.038-05:007 Khoon Maaf - Spoilers Abound<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmD4kTFcwiXTQzx9GN9uplTVmhKcxKW6-LbUZpRmwT_XRbux5nw2NCDOYDWa8q5LjmDwQR8wgdGmbfZnbtEGGmk-0fY1KKHx2Uo8YXOR2RUM_O4-Fe3e5ByRbcu-Gtk6KymeM5ThR5CI/s1600/7+khoon+Maaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmD4kTFcwiXTQzx9GN9uplTVmhKcxKW6-LbUZpRmwT_XRbux5nw2NCDOYDWa8q5LjmDwQR8wgdGmbfZnbtEGGmk-0fY1KKHx2Uo8YXOR2RUM_O4-Fe3e5ByRbcu-Gtk6KymeM5ThR5CI/s320/7+khoon+Maaf.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br />
I know, I know. I know what you guys are thinking - when is this blog getting back on its feet? Soon, I promise! In the meantime, get out your inner spoiler lover and read a discussion (rated X for language!) between Maria from Filmiholic and Amrita from IndieQuill.<br />
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<b>Amrita</b>: So. Since you just saw <b><i>7 Khoon Maaf</i></b> - what is your first impression? Tell me about the cinematic aftertaste.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Hmmm, I quite liked it. I don't understand why there's been such negative reaction to it.<br />
On the down side, I don't know if I totally understand Susanna's motivation (father issues? bad taste in men?), and I don't fault Priyanka for that. I would blame the writer/director.<br />
On the upside, I loved how well composed these separate vignettes are, how much they reveal in such a short time, and with just little brush strokes of details.<br />
How about you? What was your initial reaction?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: For some reason, the violence took me aback. Which I found to be a strange reaction in myself because I expect a Vishal Bhardwaj movie to be set in a violent world. But as the movie opened with that extremely realistic looking blood spatter -<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: - and the dripping sounds -<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: - it threw me off and I never quite regained my balance. I realize now that because I find his movies to be such an immersive experience, the violence always recedes and becomes a part of the atmosphere, leaving the story itself in my memory. But here, it was somehow all up in my face.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Did you see <i>Rakht Charitra</i>? Did this violence affect you worse than in that?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I did see <i>Rakht Charitra</i>. Part 1. I thought this was more violent. And I wonder if that's because this was more about domestic violence than murder. Sexual assault pushes a lot more of my buttons than blood and gore. Anyway, the murders themselves are very restrained, aren't they? Even the worst of them, that climax with the burning house and Naseeruddin Shah's brains splattered all over the wall, wasn't much compared to the psychological and emotional pain running through the movie. I suspect this is where I confess to being a girly girl.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Awww.... well I must say I thought the bed scenes with Irrfan Khan were quite strong, in that it looked like he really was hurting her. But the blood and gore doesn't seem to bother me. I guess over a lifetime I've seen so much in other films, it doesn't hardly register. <br />
Beyond the violence, which was hard for you, tell me what you liked about the film?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I don't think of the violence as a minus necessarily, but it registered strongly enough that I would warn several of my friends about it before I recommended it to them...<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: What about the use of the word "fuck"?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: VB chose to do that thing where you translate English quips and jokes into Hindi - stuff like "Marry in haste, repent at leisure", and he also got people to say things like, "She must have been one hell of a lay" in English and I have to say, much as I love him and his work, he doesn't do this any better than any of the others that have tried.<br />
The man who made that "lay" comment sounded really apologetic and awkward, for instance. It was really obvious he didn't find it a natural quip to make. And the "marry in haste" thing just sounded weird.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Yes, that use of the word "lay" would sound very out of place, and out of date, if you used it in the States or the UK nowadays.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Right - except I can believe the Indian guy using out-of-date terminology. We are famous as a nation for our Edwardian turn of speech, after all. I’ll get my Dad to write you a letter if you need proof. My problem here is more specific - I just don't believe that particular line coming out of that particular man's mouth. <br />
But! The swearing was well done. Every time someone said “fuck” I felt it was appropriate. And that was a nice touch of realism, getting the characters to use it more and more starting with the 90s, which is when I remember it becoming a part of casual conversation in India. Or perhaps I feel that way because that’s when I entered middle school and heard a senior say it for the first time. Swearing wasn’t very common around my house and we were all a lot more innocent back then, I think. <br />
How about you?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Yes, I agree. I thought "fuck" was used well, though I was quite surprised to hear it in a "mainstream" (if we can say that) Hindi film, without being beeped over. Well done, Vishal!<br />
It felt real and appropriate, and I <i>loved </i>Maggie Aunty for using it.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: It was surprising, wasn't it? The first time I heard it, I thought I'd misheard and then I was like, ‘Nope, that's “fuck” all right.’ And it sounded natural in that world, not posturing<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Indeed.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Moving on, I loved the fact that we began with Arun introducing Susanna and her world in Urdu. The relationship between language and description is intense. There’s a real sense of nostalgia, tragic loss, poetry and love running through his monologues, and as Arun changes he begins to describe his world in more practical Hindi. It’s a great little detail and one of the reasons why I love VB so much. He might fail from time to time as with the "lay" comment, but for the most part he has a grasp on how to describe a world, in words and in visuals.<br />
For a world that's so lightly described and chock full of inaccuracies, where so many things exist simply because they do - he manages to make it breathe simply by his choices of detail and language.<br />
Did you pick up on the language at all? I feel that’s something the subtitles wouldn’t convey.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Hmmm, interesting. It's good for me to hear you saying this because I'm still digesting it all.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Right now, it's more the visual and the story itself that's at the most easily accessed part of my brain. I think I'd need a second viewing to pick up on what you're talking about.<br />
On a totally different subject, I know this is very secondary, but I kept thinking "How busy is the decor that house!" The floral patterns and the ruffles and the candles.... my God, it was like Liberace meets Laura Ashley! And even when she skipped off to J & K, same thing except it was all Mughlai flowers and Kashmiri embroidery. But I loved all that. It adds a wonderful layer to the story.<br />
And<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>did you notice the title on the book Arun brings her? Did it not say "Seven Wives..... or something like that? At first I thought it was the Ruskin Bond book, but I don't think so.<br />
Okay. How about the first 3 husbands?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Let's discuss the husbands!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Of the first three, shall we do a quick thumbs up or thumbs down for each?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I mean, who would you thumbs up for?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>:<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Who was interesting & attractive in spite of being a bloody bastard?<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span>I'd say Neil and Irrfan.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I thought Neil Nitin Mukesh blew it out of the park. I mean, it took me a moment even to recognize him. Neil was also the one person you never saw actually hit Susanna or abuse her in some way, but he was the scariest of the lot because every single moment was pregnant with the potential for extreme violence. And you could feel her fear and desperation the way you didn't really feel it with the other husbands, except maybe Irrfan.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I think this is the best I've seen him in anything so far. Now I can finally agree with another girlfriend who says he's hot.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: And it was nice to see him do something different from his debut movie. I feel he's basically been doing poor-Bombay-boy-on-the-make type roles forever.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I loved him glowering from the bar when Susanna danced. And can we talk about the stump?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: EWWWWWWWWWWWW! (Sorry to all our amputee readers but <i>come on</i>!)<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: But, my GOD - hats off to Vishal Bhardwaj for that detail!<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Seriously!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: It was so unforeseen, and slimy and just a perfect touch!<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: It was such a little detail but it totally summed up that relationship in one creepy-ass shot.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Truly amazing. For little details like that, I think he is a master.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: It's why I love him!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: John Abraham was a total throwaway role. Though I did like him in the rain on the grave.....<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Hahahah, you liked it when he was dead? Yeah, he plays an excellent corpse.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Ha ha.....no, I mean when they were both alive, embracing and laying back on the grave in the rain. Which I'm sure was Edwin's (Neil’s)...<br />
But oh my God, why was John dressed like Axl Rose? Ugh! Did you fall over laughing when you saw John Abraham as a choir boy?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I was basically laughing at John all through his segment but yes, he looked ludicrous. John was completely out of place. He's worked out his body to such an extent now that he can't fit into ensembles like these any more.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>He looks completely unnatural. His back is so muscled, he’s now a Mutant Ninja Turtle except his shell is his overworked muscle.<br />
Meanwhile, there’s Irrfan and his poetry.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Ohhhhhh, Mama!<br />
I don't usually like him with long hair, but he was fantastic in this story! And then the surprise in bed under the covers.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: That was not what I expected to be going on under the covers!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: At first, did you too think "Damn, Wasiullah's got some great moves to be getting Susanna to yell like that!"<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Yes! Hahahaha! I was all, wow! dreamy poet by day and hot little mink by night, huh?<br />
And then, the covers came off and it was like, um, NO.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Ha ha - what's Urdu for "hot little mink"?<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Not Wasiullah, clearly! But that's also the point where the movie began to careen all over the place in tone, I think. <br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I've never been to Kashmir, but that one little vignette really cements my curiosity. Just before we leave him behind, didn't you think Irrfan was terrific? One of the best of the seven?<br />
Especially the bed scene... that felt SO real.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Yes, second only to Neil.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Tell me about the careening.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Right, so the careening. I think it starts with the scene where Arun finds out she killed Wasiullah and he says something like, "She could have just left, why did she have to kill him?" in a very blasé / borderline petulant fashion. And while that demonstrates the shift in all their thinking where murder is no longer shocking to these people since they've participated in two others already, and cements their close ties to Susanna, the way he says it struck me as VB trying to inject a little humor into the situation. And yes, this is a black comedy, but he'd done such a good job of turning two of Susanna's first three husbands into real monsters that I think it became a little hard for that kind of levity to flourish. I think the Russian bit, for instance, was magnificently silly and as a standalone it was hilarious. Especially when he comes back from Moscow and they greet him by giggling and telling him Susanna's out shopping for a new wedding dress.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Yes, that line was great.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I felt that was the tone VB had maybe wanted to hit from the first scene but by the time he arrived at it, it felt out of place. In some other movie, that entire scene would have been great: macabre but silly and hilarious - him getting a massage from a malevolent dwarf who slobbers gibberish in his ear while the sinister trio of family retainers describe how they killed all the other husbands. But coming after that intense first half, it felt schizophrenic.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Yes… and by the way, how great was that trio?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: VB has a thing for trios clearly!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Didn't they feel like some characters out of Shakespeare... almost like a silent Greek chorus. Chiming in with their actions if not words.<br />
Confirm one thing for me: Susanna's house... it's supposed to be in Goa, no?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Pondicherry, I thought. She has that photograph in which it's written “Daddy and Me in Our House in Pondicherry”. And when Arun's wife comes looking for him at the end, it sure looks like they're walking through the streets of Pondicherry.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Yes, but I thought she had 2 houses... one in what I assumed was supposed to Goa and the childhood home in Pondicherry.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I thought it was the one house - the only one we see. The one she burns down at the end<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: My take was that she lived there as a kid, with Papa dearest, but that she had been living elsewhere later in life. And with all the Portuguese names, I just assumed Goa. Though true enough, the Portuguese were in Kerala too, so who’s to say you can’t find Portuguese names in Pondi as well. But in the credits they mentioned Coorg.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Yeah, the names are confusing but I didn't get the impression there was a second house. Maybe I wasn't paying attention enough? I feel this is a movie where you can easily get confused or miss things. As for Coorg, that explains the look of her plantation house but I think we’re supposed to imagine it’s the same place. I think VB was opting for a look and feel thing rather than nailing it down to a specific location. <br />
Maybe that's also because they call her Saheb and there's all this reference to the house being a kind of living museum chock full of antiques collected by various rich Johanneses through the centuries and usually, the trope for characters like that, the eccentric lady of local manor, is that they and their house are one and the same. They're linked together, which is why the house burns, thematically speaking<br />
What made you think there was a second house?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: When I saw the photo on the wall, I thought it must be that they were living somewhere else in the "present", because otherwise it would seem odd to have the name of the location on it, if you were still living in the same town or city...<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Can’t argue that.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: But anyway, I didn't mean to get us hung up on that detail. Given how so many French are Catholic, it could as well be that she lived in P'cherry the whole time.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: What did you think of the Russian?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Ugh. That was the weakest story for me. You could see she did like all smart women do by a certain point and say "Why do I need to be married?" But I guess, if nothing else, he was an excuse to get the horny old man into the story, the next bakra. And that <i>Darrling</i> song seemed to be given very short shrift, after all the exposure it got in the ads. What did you think of the Russian episode?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Nothing about it made much sense to me. It was like a comedy break. Why does he pursue her? Why does a Russian spy choose a woman who has NO useful ties whatsoever as a cover? And then press her to marry him when she doesn't want to? He said something about how he couldn't stay in the country, but if he was a diplomat and helping the Indians with the nuclear tests, then why wouldn’t the two governments find a way for him to stay as long as needed?<br />
I didn't understand any of it. Maybe I spaced out for a minute there?<br />
But again, Vishal slipped in little details that was so true - Indian students in the 90s going to Russia for medical degrees. <i>So many</i> kids went.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Yes, agreed.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Amrita</b>: It's like that scene from the John Abraham segment where the record executive asks, “What-series?” because he’d never heard of T-series, which then releases <i>O Mama</i> as <i>O Mata</i> - it made me laugh and laugh, the whole thing because it was so spot on for that time period on so many levels.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Ha ha...<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Ok, and on to the horny cop.<br />
If it's true that Mohanlal did turn down the role, it's a pity - I would have LOVED him in that part!<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I'm kind of glad he did. I'm sure Mohanlal would have done a great job but now I've seen Annu Kapoor in it, I can't imagine anyone else. He was so slimy and despo.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: And again, I was surprised by the bed scene - PC on top, Annu Sir grunting and climaxing.... my goodness, all quite new to me in a Hindi film, but really well done by Bhardwaj.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Yup, yup. And death by Viagra is lulz.<br />
What did you think of Naseer?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Hmmmm, I had mixed feelings. I mean, he makes it all look effortless, and I guess that's a given with him.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I thought he was the weakest of the bunch with that ridiculous accent!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: But this role was, to me, like a darker, less funny version of the hippie-dippie role he did in that film starring Aasif Mandvi, <i>Today's Special</i>. Also, his role/story felt rushed.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Amrita</b>: Yes, it all took place overnight. And how freakin’ stupid is Susanna to swallow that story about inheriting his estate?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: True.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: With which we come to Susanna.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>What did you think of Priyanka?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't seen all of <i>Fashion</i> or <i>Kaminey</i>. So, my main memory of her prior to this is from <i>Bluffmaster</i>, in which she was fine in her role. But I thought she was damn good here!<br />
The deadpan expression as she watches the cop leave after his first sleepover with her was just one of many great little glimpses.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I thought she was great until the second half when she's telling Arun about the Naseer track and all of a sudden she slips into her kitten voice and that just ruins it for me. <br />
Probably why I hated Naseer’s track as well.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: What a terrific character Susanna is, no?<br />
A murdering wife who takes care of the men who do her wrong AND drinks when she damn well pleases. Brava!<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I loved that scene in which Arun tells her she's scary now and she laughs and tells him that she's found someone to love her as she is... thing is Susanna's always had people who loved her as she is. Like Arun and Auntie and Khan and Gunga. And they know how scary she is on the inside.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Hmmm, yes, but all the men she loved, wanted her for something else.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Arun is the sole survivor because he sees her as she is, loves her in spite of it, but refuses to let her fuck with him beyond a certain point while simultaneously forgiving her for trying to do it. And perhaps he's the only man who could love Susanna because she raised him to love her.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Did that not strike a false note? The fact that he wouldn't sleep with her when he had the chance?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Well, that scene where she propositions him threw me off.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>I don't understand it from either one of them. What was that about?<br />
Was it her trying to re-exert her control on him because she really did OWN him before he left for Russia, and he was able to step back because he'd spent years away from her and had built sufficient distance to now recognize that things were off key?<br />
Except, Susanna's always had a sort of creepily maternal instinct where he's concerned - aware of his feelings for her, manipulative and dismissive of them, but not seriously reciprocating. And she's not slutty either. She's not sleeping with men all over the place. She is very deliberate in her choice of men, for whatever unfathomable reason.<br />
So, what the hell was that?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Well, I took it as her feeling vulnerable.... believing her looks were going. The way she kept asking him "I haven't changed, right?" And he was there, at hand, and she thought he'd never pass up the chance since he'd always been crush on her.<br />
To me, she was not really thinking of any consequences - she was just desperate for the affirmation & love.<br />
Now, what's the deal with the spider!? You think if he hadn't come along, Susana would have had her way with Arun?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I thought it was a clumsy metaphor<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Yes, a bit too obvious, but I think at one level he wanted her, yet the spider was a wake-up call, maybe not even that it could be considered quasi-incestuous to bed her, but on a more practical level, could he end up as a future victim of hers?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Possibly. He <i>was</i> a victim of hers in one sense - they all were.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>She was responsible for all their deaths directly or indirectly. Except for Gunga, who presumably died offscreen or something after Arun carried him off. But even he had to pay a price.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: And yet, Junior seemed to have gone on to a normal and perfectly fine life.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Coz he left and bottled it all away. Which suggests he wasn’t entirely healthy in the head department.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: What did you think of Konkona Sen? I read someone refer to her as "shrill" - which I don't see.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: She was fine. I mean her role was to basically express shock and play The Wife. If my husband went walkabout over some old lady who was a serial killer, I’d be freakin’ shrill too.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: And what about the music?<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Did you love it? Just feel "meh"?<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Amrita</b>: I LOVED it.<br />
I was a little meh about how they used the tracks with each love story having its own soundtrack<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>but he managed to mix it up pretty well. I laughed and laughed during <i>O Mama</i>; <i>Bekaran</i> was haunting; and <i>Darrling</i> was fun and interesting. How about you?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I really liked the start of <i>Oh Mama</i>.<br />
Oh and we must discuss the 7th husband!<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>What price Susanna and Him doing their whirling dervish bit together?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Amrita</b>: Can I tell you? I laughed. Flat-out roared. I don’t think mine was the reaction they were hoping for.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I must say, I was thinking to myself if that were another religion being depicted, I would have anticipated cinema halls being threatened or set on fire...<br />
But you know those loose-living, boozehounds who love Jesus. They won’t mind! (Or so the thinking goes)<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: It was also an unexpectedly religious ending to a very gory movie.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: I thought it was a bizarre and yet somehow fitting end to the story.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I mean, would this play in American evangelical circles do you think? Susanna, a girl from India, tries everyone including Hindus and a Muslim and finally falls for Jesus?<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Well, but she loved Jesus all along, no? And hewed quite tightly to the Catholic bit, even though she had her nagin temple and a stint in J&K. Always had the cross and the beads. Always came back to the family chapel....<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: She briefly converted in Kashmir for Irrfan. And we never saw her do anything in the chapel other than get married and attend funeral services, no? Although she does fiddle around with a rosary from time to time, like in that scene before she pounces on poor Arun.<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: But she does mention Him several times, no? It could also be a function of her aging, like so many others who get more religious as they get closer to their own graves...<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: But yeah, Whirling Jesus was a bizarre but fitting end to this story as you say<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: And you know, even with the cross and the beads and returning to the family chapel... it reminds me of what people say so often about Hinduism:<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>that it's not as much a religion as a way of life.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Maybe her Catholicism was just a comforting, familiar series of rituals and accoutrements that she returned to again and again.<br />
But I did enjoy the twist of Susanna becoming a bride of Christ, and twirling with Jesus, like Meg Ryan's character with her mother in <i>You've Got Mail</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Ahahahah! Again, not the reference they were looking for probably!<br />
<br />
<b>Maria</b>: Tee hee! The priest was played by Ruskin Bond, did you see that?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Oh, was that him?<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>I couldn't pick him out of a line up so no, I didn’t notice.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Yeah, he did an interview in TOI or somewhere about the role.<br />
So, would you recommend the film?<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: I would, but only to select people. I can absolutely see a lot of people not being on board for completely different reasons<span style="color: #888888;">.</span> I think a lot of my guy friends wouldn't care for it because it's too tapped in to the female psyche. A lot of my girl friends wouldn't like it because it's too violent. And a lot of my movie loving friends wouldn't like it because it's pretty uneven.<br />
But the people to whom I <i>would</i> recommend it to, would probably really like it. I don't think anybody would love it though.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: You got ek dum big bunch of fussy friends, girl!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Amrita</b>: TRUTH, sister!<br />
What about you?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #888888;"></span><b>Maria</b>: Yes, I would recommend it, but with caveats.<br />
Like you, I can imagine some people might like parts of it, but also find it uneven. Which I do too, but for me, the majority of the parts (the secondary characters, the music, the dark humor, the frankness in the language and the physical, and Priyanka and Neil and Irrfan) make it worthwhile, even with the negatives (the Russian, the hurried Naseer story).<br />
And cheers to young Master Shah for a strong debut, and many, many cheers to Vishal Saab for always having such kick-ass women characters!<br />
<br />
<b>Amrita</b>: Seriously!<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-39672816415903868222011-02-19T13:38:00.000-06:002011-02-19T23:17:54.299-06:00Dhobi Ghat - A Spoilery Discussion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><m:smallfrac m:val="off"> <m:dispdef> <m:lmargin m:val="0"> <m:rmargin m:val="0"> <m:defjc m:val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440"> <m:intlim m:val="subSup"> <m:narylim m:val="undOvr"> </m:narylim></m:intlim> </m:wrapindent> </m:defjc></m:rmargin></m:lmargin></m:dispdef></m:smallfrac><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Maria from <a href="http://filmiholic.com/">Filmiholic</a> and Amrita from <a href="http://indiequill.wordpress.com/">IndieQuill</a> loved</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> debutant writer/director Kiran Rao's <i>Dhobi Ghat</i> (<i>Mumbai Diaries</i>) so much, they couldn't resist discussing it. (Plus: Check out the Filmiholic <a href="http://filmiholic.com/2011/01/22/dhobi-ghat-mumbai-diaries/">review</a>.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The following is an <b>extremely spoilery</b> chat about everything from Aamir Khan's restrained sexiness to the outstanding performances by newcomers Monica Dogra, Prateik Babbar and Kriti Malhotra. We also talk about Mumbai as a possible fifth character, Gustavo Santaolalla's music, Tushar Kanti Ray's cinematography, and the various criticisms directed the way of this movie. </span><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">***</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Okay, so <i>Dhobi Ghat </i>/ <i>Mumbai Diaries</i> - do we love it?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I loved it, but I'm not a born & bred Mumbaikar. I'm not even Indian, so I'm curious to hear your reaction.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I loved it too!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Ah ha!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: It’s one of those movies whose description didn't really do it much justice - it's so much more interesting and <i>lovely</i> than anything that’s been written about it so far would suggest.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Did you like something in particular about it?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes, I liked several things a lot. What comes to mind first right now is the music, because I've been listening to Gustavo Santaolalla's music a lot the last few days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: It was perfect!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I thought it was unexpected for an Indian film, and often rather melancholy, which is why I loved it, probably! If you had told me they were going to have a cavaquinho and a bunch of Indian instruments, I would have thought "Ummm, sure, okay...." But it all went together beautifully.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Was there something you really loved?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: A combination of several things, I think, and how they all came together to make this one movie that's really quite ephemeral.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>So much of the film is dependent upon the moods that Kiran Rao stages at various points. And it's a combination of the music, the amazing cinematography, and the actors' performance. After a long time, I was watching an Indian movie that was firing on all cylinders, you know?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes!<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>That's a great description of it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Also, this is proof positive that more women need to make movies. The way the camera followed the actors, especially the male ones, was significantly different from how a male director would have presented them. For example, there's that scene in which Prateik is standing under the glow of a naked lightbulb and he's all sweaty in these gross surroundings, and they shoot him in profile - it's a shot I've seen in <i>so</i> many arthouse movies made in India before: "sweaty poor person in grotty urban shack". I think people like Om Puri spent the entire 80s doing shots like those. But this time, there was a certain vulnerability and sexiness to that shot. We weren't just watching a character, we were also being presented with the <i>maleness</i> of that character in a way.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Obviously this has to do with Prateik being a hottie but even so...<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>What do you think?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: And he (Munna) was so guileless.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>I remember being really touched and impressed by Prateik in <i>Jaane Tu...</i> so I had good expectations for him here, but he <i>so</i> exceeded them. Yes, agreed, he is indeed a hottie. But the way in this role he was also vulnerable, and a stand-up guy, and unaware of the effect his smoking hotness was having on people around him.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>Like when he does that shirtless pose when Shai's photographing him,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes! Great scene!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I really just took that as him aping what he's seen filmi guys do, not him thinking "I'm too sexy for my shirt"<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>And by the way <span style="color: #888888;"> </span>it just occurs to me now, but<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>three cheers for how the wardrobe people got his clothes right.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>When watching those Saturday morning desi entertainment shows here in the US, whenever I see them interviewing Bombay guys exiting cinemas<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>to ask them about X or Y film they just saw,<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>even if you can tell the dude may not have a stack of money in his wallet, 9 times out of 10 he'll be wearing a somewhat flash, fashion-forward shirt, and probably with some accessories, and I’ve even observed this just being in the city – Mumbai guys often have quite a particular style and daring and a bit of the peacock about them, and I don't observe the same in Madras when I'm there, no offense intended to the lovely men of Tamil Nadu, who have their own different vibe going on.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: No, you're right! It’s one of the things I noticed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: The white turtleneck sweater...</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Also the Salman Khan poster and the Being Human bracelet or whatever that's an exact copy of the one Salman is always wearing - the chunky silver chain with a large turquoise in the center?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes, the bracelet caught my eye too. It reminds me of the men in Buenos Aires... well, the women too. You may not have a lot of dough, but you always want to be sharp when you leave the house.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: But yes, there's a guilelessness to Munna that is irresistible. And I'm pretty sure Shai ended the movie completely in love with him but unable to cross that class divide long enough to admit it to herself or to him in the face of what everyone from her bai to her friends have said about her hanging out with an illiterate dhobi. And the fact that she punctured the fantasy by surprising him at his second job drew a firm line under that dream for Munna, I think, and is only reinforced by his brother’s death.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes, the ending had me on the verge of tears. I <i>so so so</i> wanted them to end up together.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Right?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: But that's how I am. And didn't it break your heart how he let her go in the end, and smiled as he walked away into the traffic!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: OMG, that moment in which Munna leans over her as she lies sleeping in the chair and then thinks better of it? I think that was the moment that I realized that he was never going to step over that line and I was simultaneously happy for him because I would have died if she'd woken up and flipped out at him, which I bet she would have done because Shai is not very good at managing her way out of delicate situations with anything resembling finesse, but also sad because he'll never get the princess. And he totally deserves anything his itty bitty heart desires!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I kept thinking Arun would somehow find Yasmin and rescue her from her horrible husband because you could see that she was exactly Arun's type. And that Shai would somehow make it work with Munna. And of course, neither of those things happened.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Oh, very interesting, Amrita, that never occurred to me about Yasmin and Arun.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Oh yeah, I thought that Arun and Yasmin would be perfect together right off the bat. The moment Shai walked out of the bedroom the morning after and started chattering nonstop without paying any attention whatsoever to the undercurrents in the room or bothering to read Arun, who is definitely one of those people who requires to be read rather than questioned, I knew those two were a huge mistake. Yasmin, on the other hand, is bright and naive but also romantically involved with Bombay in a way that Shai who studies it scrupulously is not, just like Arun. The movie slowly reveals her to be someone who spends a lot of time studying other people. Had she and Arun ever met up, they'd have had a (very quiet) love affair for the ages, I bet. My heart rather aches at the thought.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What did you think of it?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Hmmm, that really never occurred to me. I did wonder what Arun's ex- was like, because I thought he was just one of these intense guys that few people can get near and who are emotionally locked away somewhere, etc. But now that I consider what you've said<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>and I think of the painting and the way he took to wearing her chain and ring, you've given me something to think about when I see the movie again in the future. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What I rather liked about the film as well was how, for me at least, Aamir was in the background. I know he was 1 of the 4 main characters, but for me he really stepped back after the initial love scene, and the 3 "youngsters" came to the fore.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yeah, he’s objectified by Shai and is an unknown observer of Yasmin as well as a bit player in Munna’s life but the emotional core of the film lies elsewhere. Did you think Arun was just being an emotional vampire with Yasmin?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Emotional vampire! That would be a great follow-up song for the Patna ke Presleys!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Hee hee!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Oh and can we talk about the housewife? She and Munna were doing the horizontal mambo, no?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: In a creepy cougar way, yes.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>She made my stomach turn from the get go.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: That was my take, immediately, but I heard one critic in India wonder about that, like "And there seems to be a possible relationship hinted at with a bored housewife", and I was thinking, "Possible??"</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Hinted? Hahahah!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So, going back for a minute to the Aamir thing - I've been saying this over and over again in various places that I'd like to see Aamir shut up a bit more and let his movies speak for themselves as well as his characters. And then he did that for this movie and guess what?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was right!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Ha ha!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I was <i>soooooooo</i> right! I've never found Aamir sexy in any way, but in this movie he was totally smoking! Male sexiness is all about presentation. <i>Ghajini</i> is proof that it’s not enough for a guy to work out and strip off. He might have great muscles in that movie but he looked like he lived under a bridge and made his living scaring unwary travelers. Now, maybe I'm projecting because I know his wife is the director, but it really felt like she was taking us on a tour of what exactly she finds attractive about him. And I have to say, I wouldn't kick that out of my bed either. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I know it’s bad for you, but I did love him smoking non-stop in this film. We see less and less of it nowadays since everyone’s so conscious about not making it look attractive to young, impressionable minds. (It cracks me up when Star Vijay runs Tamil films with a character who smokes or drinks, as all of a sudden, a crawl of Tamil script floats across the screen that I can only imagine says “Smoking/drinking can be hazardous to your health”.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And I did think the love scene with Shai and Arun was beautifully done. It was telegraphed and often out of focus in such a way that it left you wanting more. It was sexy and sensual in only a matter of seconds. And yet it showed you no cleavage, no one biting their lower lip, no hand clenching the sheet in ecstasy, the usual tropes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: The toe ring thing was excellent. Heh.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes, that was a lovely detail.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: It was more of a discovery than a romp.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: And it was so real.... the drinks, the looking at books, the slow-dancing....one thing leads to another... I was so amazed that Kiran made a debut film that felt like it had been made by someone who had been making movies for years. Not that I didn’t think she could, just that I wouldn’t have expected such a complete first film from anyone.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: It was very confident, yes. And masterful. You know in cases like these, when the first time director has a famous husband who has a reputation for putting his oar in and casts him in the movie as well, there's always speculation that maybe the more famous person partly directed it or something. Especially because they’ve been saying that he’s ghost-directed almost every successful movie he’s made over the past 10 years. I find it interesting that no one said anything of the kind about Kiran and her film. Possibly because everyone has seen Aamir direct and knows he couldn't pull off something this restrained and wispy about subjects who pack such a wallop. Even its sweetness is gentle, not mawkish. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Why do you think he attracts so much scorn as well as admiration?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Aamir? I don't think he attracts scorn. I think I'm a party of one struggling against an overwhelming tide of love.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: No, don't be so sure, dearest.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Seriously?!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: When I was emailing back and forth with some friends, before going to meet him for the first time to interview him about <i>Peepli Live</i>, someone, don't recall who, said, in effect "Oh, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou...." and someone else piled on and said something about having a low tolerance for all the self-righteousness, or words to the effect.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Hahahah! Are you sure that wasn’t me? I know I've been fairly strident about his evangelical approach to filmmaking. I’m sure he's perfectly nice in person and it's not like I object to his work or what he's trying to accomplish, but he doesn't come off very well in print and it's gotten to a point where I look at each new Aamir movie with the dread I once reserved for Math homework.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: He <i>was</i> really nice in person, it was disarming....Also, I just wanted to say that I really applaud and embrace Aamir for doing a brilliant director's commentary on the DVD of the film. It was packed with interesting facts, and he was terrific, even though it was just him alone doing all the talking and explaining.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Oh, really? Now that <i>is</i> good news. Change I can believe in!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: And to bring the loop back to <i>Dhobi Ghat</i>, I will happily say that I applaud Aamir Khan Productions for their approach to marketing a film, at least as far as their outreach to journos is concerned. I know Aamir was flayed alive by a lot of people for being <i>too</i> hands-on with <i>Peepli Live</i>, but I thought the website and the materials about <i>Dhobi Ghat</i> were lovely and informative and helpful.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Ahem. Now, there are a lot of people out there who didn't like this film. They felt it was pretentious and slow and somehow un-Indian. Has this been your experience?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Not at all, and I was dismayed by so many of those comments. What did your friends think of the film?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: My friends in real life don't really watch Bollywood all that much and the only friend that does is a huge Aamir fan, so Aamir could basically film himself brushing his teeth and my friend would find it fantastic and illuminating so I don't have real world references in this area, I’m afraid.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: HA HA. Okay, what did you think of Monica and Kriti's debuts?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I fell a little in love with Yasmin myself - she was such a fresh little daisy with her game face on, the kind of person at whom you smile instinctively the way Arun does when he’s watching her, and Kriti makes her wilt slowly bit-by-bit on those tapes. It was a great performance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Wasn't she something!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Monica's portrayal of Shai was also great from a completely different angle. I mean, Shai is such a frickin' 13 year old and super annoying and unaware. I wanted to kick her ass all the time. So yes, that was a fine job as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: And she really did the whole languid and entitled rich girl thing well. I thought they both were such amazing discoveries. Really, I think all 3 of them will be hard pressed to top their work here in their next film.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What did you think about the critiques that the film is more of a mood piece but has no narrative structure? I really didn't feel that way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Neither did I. It's certainly a finely crafted mood piece, but it definitely has a narrative structure to it. When somebody says X movie lacks a narrative structure, I take it to mean that it’s chaotically strung together with random bits of information that add up to nothing. In <i>Dhobi Ghat</i>, however, everything is absolutely connected and headed somewhere. It's very light and elegant and lacks a <i>dun-dun-DUN! </i>approach to filmmaking but I don't get where that particular criticism is coming from. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What do you think they're trying to say by that - that it doesn't Say Something like a good little art film should or that it's too esoteric or what?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I don't know, really. I mean, the questions that we have at the start..... will they get together or won't they? Who's the girl on the tapes and what happens to her? We follow the stories from A to B and get the answers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Did you get a sense that it was a fair portrayal of Mumbai? Maybe "fair" is not the right word.... let's say, accurate?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Well, here's the thing - I don’t think Mumbai is a character in this movie. It's simply not that kind of film. It's about four characters who exist within this city and you can make the argument that they would never have a connecting story in any other city, but it's not about Mumbai per se. It's very definitely about these <i>people</i>. And they each love or, in the case of Munna, depend upon this city in their own ways. They each attribute certain qualities to the city and describe it terms that hold meaning for them but their relationship with Mumbai doesn’t so much tell you about the city itself, but rather who these characters are. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yasmin, for example, sees the city as a lonely place surrounded by the beautiful void of the sea which keeps her secrets and leaves her alienated. I don’t get any particular insight into Mumbai with this, but I do see who Yasmin is as a person long before she begins to vocalize her problems. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">That said, I think it portrays their separate realities very well. These are things that I could imagine taking place in Mumbai with these people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Did you think it was ridiculous how they kept just missing each other, and/or </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">running into each other? I didn't have a problem with it. Happens in NYC all the time. Millions of people and you still bump into folks you know all the time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yeah, that’s been my experience as well. I’m a city girl born and bred and I didn’t think twice about it because it happens all the time. And even apart from the usual coincidence aspect, the story provides a good reason why these people keep coming into contact, however peripherally, with each other – both Shai and Arun are part of the minority upper class mining the massive underclass in the search for authenticity as it relates to their art. It makes sense that they’d end up in the same neighborhoods. Now that I think about it, though, it does feel as though all of Mumbai only has one dhobi. And he has, like, three customers if he needs a second job on top of all that.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Can I tell you two small things I loved in the film? First, the goofy face Munna makes when Shai asks him if he's ever been in love or has a girlfriend? That half-embarrassed, half-"as if!” look. And the scene of them in the taxi, with him clutching the cat and the brother with the goldfish. I really thought this was going to be the kind of movie where they'd just leave them behind because that’s the way life can be tough and you’re poor, you don’t have the middle-class luxury of coddling your pets. So, I was so happy to see the fictitious cat and goldfish not being tossed away to fend for themselves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I love that he has a kitty! And that he loves it enough to take it with him. That was the best surprise the movie sprung on me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes! Munna, the perfect guy.<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>You <i>know</i> he had to be a character in a movie!<span style="color: #888888;"> </span>No one's that good in real life!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Truth! So, to circle back, do we love this movie?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Yes! We love this movie!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Okay, it's official then! People should watch it if they haven't already!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: One piece of trivia in closing?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Absolutely!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Did you realize, my dear Amrita, that this is the 2nd film in as many years to feature a star-crossed love between a dhobi and a woman? In 2011 it was <i>Dhobi Ghat</i>, in 2010, <i>Madrasapattinam</i> starring Tamil fillum star Arya (as the dhobi). Set at the dawn of independence in 1947... the object of his affections, a young British girl visiting her father in Madras.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Amrita</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: AHAHAHAH! How many days before Wikipedia is edited with the scornful entry – “Hindi remake of Tamil film”? Place your bets now!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Filmiholic</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/v5qeJgbadZ4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-6829273067089259492011-01-15T23:07:00.000-06:002017-03-07T20:33:02.607-06:00Viva Vamps!Greta of <a href="http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/">Memsaab Story</a> returns to Masala Zindabad for a discussion of vamps in Hindi films. Far more than one-number dancers or silent eye candy, the Amazons of Bollywood are sexy, bad, in charge, and out of control. Often they pay the ultimate price for behaving outside the bounds of filmified society, but in our conversation we discover interesting twists and exceptions to the moralizing cliché that sex = death.<br /><br />Also for discussion:<br /><ul><li>What's the difference between an item girl and a vamp?</li><li>How do vamps relate to heroes? Must a vamp be defined in contrast to the heroic? Is there any kind of bond between them other than sacrifice and reform?<br /></li><li>What kind of personality would a performer need to be a true vamp?<br /></li><li>Have changing real-life conditions for women throughout the decades shaped the need or desire for vamps in contemporary films?</li></ul>Some of the links we mention:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://hubpages.com/profile/THE+LIP">the evocatively worded profile on Faryal by "The Lip"</a> (the source of the hilarious line about Faryal that Memsaab signs off with at the end of the episode)<a href="http://hubpages.com/profile/THE+LIP"><br /></a></li><li><a href="http://indiequill.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/70s-bollywood-vamp/">Amrita's discussion of 70s vamps</a></li></ul>Here are some clips of Faryal, Memsaab's current favorite vamp.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:x-small;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Dmk12BESJ_U?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Dmk12BESJ_U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></span></div><span style="font-size:x-small;"> "Dekh To Kya Hai Aaj Ki Mehfil" (</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:x-small;" >Puraskar</span><span style="font-size:x-small;">, 1970)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uHd0e0XWttY?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uHd0e0XWttY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div><span style="font-size:x-small;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Jewel Thief</span>, 1967</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:x-small;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kNGjXVdk6XA?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kNGjXVdk6XA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></span></div><span style="font-size:x-small;"> "Chilman Ka Girjaana Allah Allah" (<span style="font-style: italic;">Shararat</span>, 1972)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5iRtIXmHD_I?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5iRtIXmHD_I?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div><span style="font-size:x-small;">"Yeh Duniya To Hai Bas Paise Ki" (<span style="font-style: italic;">Do Thug</span>, 1975)</span><br /><br />The infamous not-really-a-bad-girl Padma Khanna number.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LWlPXUAjeks?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LWlPXUAjeks?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:x-small;">"Husn Ke Lakhon Rang"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:x-small;" > </span><span style="font-size:x-small;">(</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:x-small;" >Johny Mera Naam</span><span style="font-size:x-small;"> 1970)<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />And a turn from a modern-day vamp, Mumaith Khan.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WGninLxIej8?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WGninLxIej8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:x-small;">"Bongaru Kodipetta" (<span style="font-style: italic;">Magadheera</span>, 2009)</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">You can listen to <b>Masala Zindabad - Viva Vamps!</b> by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a> or downloading <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ08/MZ08.mp3">here</a>.</div></div>Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796922952739786369.post-53591756633396768582011-01-13T07:36:00.000-06:002017-03-07T20:33:02.494-06:00What. the. Frack?! The Films of 2010 - Part 2In part two of our series on the films of 2010, <a href="http://samratsharma.com/words/">Samrat</a> is back with Amrita and Beth to talk about more oddballs, underdogs, and also-rans. Today's episode covers:<br /><br />A few more <span style="font-weight: bold;">Unusuals</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Striker, Robot</span><br /><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZhvZeKrMyyA?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZhvZeKrMyyA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="295" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QBgkGzypE4o?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QBgkGzypE4o?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="295" width="480"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:x-small;"><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Can you think of heroes more different than Siddharth and Rajnikanth? Neither could we.</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />The Little Movies that Could</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Love Sex aur Dhoka, Udaan, Do Dooni Char</span></div><br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ehIXdlYzjOM?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ehIXdlYzjOM?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Other Things We Couldn't Remember</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Badmaash Company</span>,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Chance Pe Dance</span>, the roller skating one....<br /><br /><object height="295" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QK6tSXgUrK0?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QK6tSXgUrK0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="295" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />Plus wondering how <span style="font-style: italic;">Tees Maar Khan </span>would turn out (this episode was recorded before it released) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">our top picks for the year</span>. Listen to Samrat's impressively prescient diagnosis and why Kay Kay Menon is awesome. For a more detailed discussion of <i>Tees Maar Khan</i>, join Beth et al at <a href="http://upodcasting.com/1365/upodcastthe-perils-of-bollywood-fandom-and-reactions-to-tees-maar-khan">Upodcast</a>: The Perils of Bollywood Fandom & Reactions to <span style="font-style: italic;">Tees Maar Khan</span>.<br /><br />Available on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/masala-zindabad/id406151632">iTunes</a>, through subscription of our feed, or download <a href="http://www.archive.org/download/Amrita_BethMZ07/MZ07.mp3">here</a>.Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.com2