Showing posts with label irrfan khan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label irrfan khan. Show all posts

Jan 11, 2011

Irrfan, I Love You

New York, I Love You is the second of the "Cities of Love" features and follows the hugely successful (and far superior, in my opinion) Paris, je t'aime.  While I absolutely adored Paris, je t'aime, I had no interest whatsoever in seeing the New York iteration, in part because I tend to hate sequels and copies, and also because I don't have even a passing interest in NYC.

However, I do have an interest in Irrfan Khan--ever since seeing Maqbool and The Namesake I've been head over heels for him, and I consider him one of India's most talented actors.  One of NYILU's little vignettes is a piece directed by Mira Nair (swoon) which stars Irrfan alongside Natalie Portman (swoon again) so off to Netflix I went.

I have to say I have somewhat mixed emotions about the piece.  Irrfan is great, Natalie is mostly great (unconvincing accent aside) but the piece as a whole didn't hit the right notes for me.  It felt a bit preachy, a little bit too "let's celebrate what we have in common" and all that jazz.

Irrfan plays Mansukhbhai, a merchant in NYC's bustling diamond district, and Natalie Portman is Rifka, a Hasidic gem dealer who comes to see Mansukhbhai about some diamonds the day before her wedding.





The hard bargaining begins right away, with Mansukhbhai discussing the price over an intercom with an associate in Gujarati, and quoting a higher price to Rifka.  She understands enough Gujarati to call him on his numbers, and they have a laugh--this isn't the first time they've played this game.

He eats as she considers his offer.

"You can't eat meat right, you Hindus?"

"No, we are not Hindus.  We're Jains."

They discuss food--for Mansukhbhai it's no meat, no fish, no potatos and no garlic.  For Rifka it's no pork, no shrimp, nothing that hasn't been blessed.  In the customs of food they have much in common.

"That is why there are no Christians in the diamond market.  How can you trust a person who will eat anything?"






They agree on a price, and he reaches to shake her hand.

"Mazel."

"I'm sorry, I can't shake your hand.  I'm not allowed to touch any man who isn't my husband."

Talk turns to family.  Rifka asks about his children, whose pictures hang on the office walls.  Of his wife Mansukhbhai reports that "last year she decided that marriage is a sin.  Now she's in India, with her head shaved, going door to door collecting food in a bowl."

Rifka then displays her own shaved head--her hair a banished memory in accordance to her strict Jewish faith.

"And now for the rest of my life I have to wear some other woman's hair."





At this point the story turns from one of believable simplicity to surreal (and possibly imagined?) romance.  Mansukhbhai tells Rifka that her wig might be made of his wife's hair, as so many wigs are made of the hair that Indian women cut off and leave in temples, and Rifka, who wouldn't allow Mansukhbhai to shake her hand only a few minutes earlier, not allows him not only to touch her bald head but to kiss it. 





Fast forward a day to Rifka's wedding.  We see her being joyously hoisted aloft on a chair, her husband the same on the other side of the partition which divides the men and women at the wedding.  As her husband bobs in and out of sight her face changes, and we see instead the happy face of Mansukhbhai across the wall.






Meanwhile, Mansukhbhai drives his car along the city streets and smiles to himself as he, like Rifka, imagines himself with a very different partner and a very different life.




I wanted to like this so terribly but I ended up finding it somewhat tacky (particularly when Mansukhbhai sees them reflected in his diamond).  I might have felt better about the short as a whole if it had ended with their eyes meeting over the partition at Rifka's wedding--the last thirty seconds seemed somewhat cheap.  And I certainly expected something more from Mira Nair--granted, this is a five minute film but it could have been so much more.  Instead it preached and wandered--"what's so wrong with women's hair anyways?"  The short seemed set up to be a lesson on religion and culture rather than a story to get lost in.  It was contrived.

Irrfan, I thought, was excellent, as he always is, and Natalie was lovely, though as I said her accent was somewhat...stereotypical.  Interestingly enough there was supposed to be a third character, a real-life Hasidic man was cast to play Natalie's husband.  The Hasidic community threatened him if he continued, as participating in a film was against the community's values.  He withdrew from the project only a few days into filming.  It would have been interesting to see how the story was originally meant to play out.

If you have Netflix then you wouldn't be completely wasting your time to check this bit of the film out (it's about ten minutes into the movie), but otherwise don't bother renting New York, I Love You just to see it.  It's sadly not quite worth the trouble.

Dec 24, 2010

First Look at Saat Khoon Maaf

Bollywood Hungama has revealed the first release poster for Vishal Bhardwaj's Saat Khoon Maaf.  The film stars Priyanka Chopra as a woman who murders her seven husbands, and costars Naseeruddin Shan (squee!), John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, and Konkona Sen Sharma.




And the trailer to go along with it!


Mar 6, 2010

Irrfan "In Treatment"

Seems it's an Irrfan Khan sort of day!  And really, when isn't it for me?  A little bird just told me that Anil Kapoor isn't the only Indian actor riding the successful wave of Slumdog Millionaire right to America's shores.  Irrfan is finally getting some well-deserved recognition stateside and will be playing a prominent role in all 43 episodes of the third season of "In Treatment," the therapy drama starring Gabriel Byrne.  I might have to start watching!

Irrfan Khan to star in "In Treatment"

Song of the Day--Marjaani (Billu Barber)


Marjani

Film: Billu Barber
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Irrfan Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta, Om Puri
Music: Pritam

The first time I heard this song it was being performed at one of the zillion awards functions by Bipasha Basu, and it took me ages to track it down.  But track it down I did, and it was worth it.  Marjaani is one of the handful of item numbers that make up the bulk of the "Billu" (or "Billu Barber") soundtrack, and is by far my favorite number in the film.  It has a sound very similar to some of the Persian pop music I listen to, and that feel is backed up by the beautiful set and costumes.  There are two things about this video that I absolutely love.  The first is how much fun Shah Rukh and Kareena seem to be having.  Look at their faces!  Acting or no, they both look like they're having a great time together.  The second is Irrfan--though he only features in the video for a few seconds here and there, those few seconds pack a punch.  The sweet, earnest look on his face as he's vying for a better look at the action towards the end of the song totally makes this clip for me.  He's excellent.  So, so excellent.

Dec 11, 2009

Gossip Roundup--Dec 11

Priyanka Chopra at Miss World
Priyanka Chopra, a Miss World winner in 2000, has jetted off to Johannesburg, South Africa to serve as a judge for this year's pageant.  The 2009 Miss World Pageant begins December 12.

As an aside, I get that Priyanka is a former winner and that it isn't unusual to have past title-holders come back to judge, but is it possible for maybe one day to go by where Priyanka doesn't try to further peg herself into the "fashionista" slot?  Now not only are all of her roles in the fashionable-fashiony-fashion designer vein, but her real life is too?  Please please expand a bit Priyanka.  Please.


Aishwarya Rai to Star Opposite Ben Kingsley

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been cast opposite Ben Kingsley in the 2011 release "Taj Mahal."  Kingsley, an Academy Award winner for the 1982 hit film Gandhi, in which he portrayed the title character, will play Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who ruled Northern India in the 17th century.  Aishwarya naturally has been cast as his wife, the beautiful Mumtaz Mahal, for whom Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal.  (Interestingly, Sir Ben's real-life wife has been cast as the Emperor's first wife, Khandari Begum.) Kingsley's own production team is helming the $30 million project, with shooting scheduled to begin in July. 

Irrfan Khan Too Shy to Dance?


In this installment of "news that makes me love Irrfan Khan even more than I already do," it seems that Irrfan was too shy to film his dance sequence in front of co-star Kangna Ranaut.  He had to ask the director to get her to leave before he could bring himself to pull off the moves.  How sweet!
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