Song of the Day--Paayaliya (Dev D)

I'm Back! And an Assortment of Random Things I'm Looking Forward To

It's been a long time since I've posted here hasn't it?  I have a bit of an excuse--I was in Jamaica, playing bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my best friends (and meeting so many fantastic people!), then in San Juan, Puerto Rico, exploring Old Town and getting a wee bit tipsy (true story) with some more friends, and then finally on a Caribbean cruise with my dad and sister.

I'm so spoiled.

 Congratulations Danielle and Omar!  <3

Anyways, now I'm back, and I'm slowly catching up on all the awesome (and not so awesome) goings-on in Filmiland.

What's not so awesome?  Ready.  I'm soooooo over hearing about Ready.  I'm just...not interested.  Asin's great and Salman's occasionally entertaining but when you watch three or four trailers in a row for a film and are still hard pressed to remember what it's about...well, that's a bad sign.  Looks like another mass-produced formulaic bore.  Yawn.

What's awesome?  I'm glad you asked.

This is awesome:





Let's talk about this. Because I wasn't super excited when I heard about the project, and I wasn't super excited when someone sent me the trailer. But then I watched it. And I watched it again.  And I decided I was kind of intrigued.

Politics of Love is about an Obama campaign worker (played by Mallika Sherawat) who falls in love with a McCain campaign worker.  Craaaaaaazy, I know.  And not just any old McCain campaign worker.  A black McCain campaign worker (I know I know, but it's a movie so it doesn't have to be realistic.)

Anyways...drama drama, etc etc.  It's your standard girl meets boy, boy happens to work for the spawn of Satan film where everything works out in the end with the help of sassy family and friends and a "can't we all get along" speech (or not...I haven't seen it but I'm assuming there'll be one of those in there somewhere).

So why wasn't I super excited about it?  Because even a few years later I still have freaking Obama fatigue.  I'm one of those super liberals who isn't really an Obama fan...you know the drill.  Anyways.  I wasn't sure how much "zomg isn't Obama amazing?!" I could take in one two minute trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The fact that I was able to set my political fatigue aside and get (albeit oh so briefly) involved with the rest of the trailer is a good sign.  I'm not a big Mallika Sherawat fan either but I'm willing to give this a try.

Plus, come on, Loretta Devine?  I fucking love her.

Continuing with things that are awesome, let's talk about Chammak Challo.  You know the one.  Akon doing his thing on a track that got leaked and made Shahrukh Khan cry?

Three things.  First, this track is HOT.  Like...I've listened to it a hundred times in two days hot.  Second, a note to SRK: if it makes you feel at all better, I had absolutely no intention of seeing RA.One at all until I heard Chammak Challo.  Now I'm willing to go just to check out the picturization.  So see?  Life's not all bad.  :)  Third, Akon could become a Bollywood playback singer in a heartbeat.  His Hindi sounds better when he sings than mine does, and I've been studying Hindi for damn near five years now.  If he and Vishal ever did an album together...just sayin'...

Akon. So hot right now. Akon.

Ahem.  Moving on...


Another trailer, this time for Breakaway, the new Russell Peters/Rob Lowe film about a desi ice hockey team.  Think The Mighty Ducks meets Bend It Like Beckham.  It has all the things I look for in a film: Rob Lowe, Russell Peters, Anupam Kher, and Sikhs on ice.

And finally, the official trailer for Aarakshan is out, and it looks like a humdinger.  I'm excited to see Saif finally do something that looks interesting.  Add in the riveting Prateik Babbar and you've got a film I'm dying to see.

Not a bad group of things to be excited about!

There is one thing I'm starting to get a little nervous about, and that's  Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.  I have exceptionally high hopes and expectations for Zoya's second film, based on both how absolutely amazing Luck By Chance was and on the ZNMD cast.  Other than Katrina Kaif, the film has a cast you simply can't go wrong with.  Hrithik, Farhan, Abhay, and Kalki are all favorites of mine and are phenomenally talented.  And of course I'm drawn to anything set in Spain.  Which brings me to my concern:

Spain. I love it. The best times of my life have been in Spain. Every once in a while I swear I can still smell it.

And I'm afraid that it's about to be turned into a film cliche. La Tomatina? Running with the bulls? I worry that my beloved Spain is being used as an exotic backdrop rather than as a legitimate character in the film.

That, along with the fact that I'm horribly underwhelmed by the soundtrack, is bringing down my expectations just a little bit. Who knows, it could end up being a phenomenal film. But I'm getting a bit worried...


Oh oh oh!  Forgot to add the trailer for My Friend Pinto, which looks HILARIOUS and stars Prateik Babbar (swoon) and Kalki Koechlin (total girl crush).  I can't wait for this one!

Yes, But Can They Act? (The Women)

I'll admit it--I'm a Bollywood pusher.  I'm quick to suggest Hindi films to my friends, always eager to send them links to fun videos of stars they've said they like, and really take pleasure in seeing them enjoy films which I'm sure they thought would be cheesy and awful (or films that were cheesy and awful, but that they enjoyed all the same).  The question I always have to ask myself before I show a film to a friend is "which one will do the trick?"  Though not exactly big Bollywood fans, most of my friends have exceptional taste in films, and I know I can't get away with showing them any old thing and hoping they'll be impressed.  They won't be.  I try to start with films that are as familiar as possible:  films with believable storylines, a judicious use of dancing, and, above all, good acting.

Ahh, good acting.  From my first exposure to Hindi films I wondered if that even really existed as a requirement to getting into the film industry.  So much of what I saw early on was mediocre, forced, and, well...filmi.  Don't get me wrong, I love Shah Rukh Khan, but the first films I saw of his were Devdas, Kal Ho Na Ho, and KKKG.  All wonderful films, but a bit thin on the acting skill.

So who in the industry has actual acting chops?  Here's my list.  Mind you this is based solely on the films I've seen (I think that should be fairly obvious!) so feel free to let me know if my judgement has been misplaced!

Let's start with the ladies (in no particular order), as for some reason it's by far the shorter of the two lists:

Konkona Sen Sharma
I first caught her in Amu, a decidedly non-Bollywood film about the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in Delhi, and she began making impressive showings in more and more of the films I loved: Life in a Metro, Wake Up Sid, Omkara, Luck By Chance, and Mixed Doubles.  She brings a certain vivaciousness to her roles, and definitely makes interesting script choices.  I've yet to be disappointed by one of her performances, and have started working my way (albeit somewhat slowly) through her entire body of work.

Shabana Azmi
Admittedly I haven't seen much of Shabana Azmi's work, but I've loved what little I have.  I think the first of her films I saw was the British film Madame Sousatzka, which hardly anyone remembers, but she was lovely in it, playing the mother of a young piano prodigy.  And then of course there was Deepa Mehta's Fire, with a lesbian storyline which angered conservative filmgoers and led to cinema halls being burnt to the ground.  Needless to say she was absolutely brilliant in it.  I've just begun to watch Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. and so far she's just as lovely as I expected.

Nandita Das
I've sadly only seen three of her films: Fire, Earth, and Provoked.  I thought she did well with the material she was given in Provoked, and she was absoutely brilliant in both Deepa Mehta films.  I'll never forget the scene in Fire where she dons a man's suit and mustache and dances Chaplin-esque in front of the mirror.  She is always competely believable in her roles; no hysterics from Nandita Das.

Mahi Gill
She made a stunning debut in Dev D; it will be fascinating to see how her career progresses from that.

Vidya Balan
So far the first really mainstream actress on my list.  I saw her in her debut, Parineeta, and was blown away.  She played Lolita in a perfectly understated way, and you couldn't help but be lost in her character.  The majority of the films I've seen her in since have been similarly impressive: Lage Raho Munnabhai and Bhool Bulaiyaa.  Others have been so-so, but I think that's more a lack of decent material (ahem, Kismet Konnection) at fault than her.

Kalki Koechlin
Very good, I thought, in Dev D.  Again, will be interesting to see what sorts of projects she takes on in the future.

Tabu
Anyone who knows me knows Tabu's my girl.  I adore her.  Cheeni Kum, Kandukondain Kandukondain, The Namesake (especially The Namesake), Maqbool...the woman can do no wrong.  The way she madly, deperately ran around the house in The Namesake, turning on all the lights and crying out in grief on the walkway killed me.  She's perfect.  She has a way of making me think, after a film is over, that she alone saved the movie for me.  Cheeni Kum is a perfect example of this: though I thought Amitabh's character at the beginning wasn't half bad, by the end the movie had become almost unbearable, with the sole exception of Tabu's elegant performance.

Gracey Singh
Again, haven't had the good fortune to see very much of her, but that's not for lack of trying: though definitely one of the most intriguing and talented actresses (and dancers!) to hit the big screen in the last decade, she gave up films after doing only two.  But those two were so good:  Lagaan had me from beginning to end, and there's still no finer dance sequence than Radha Kaise Na Jale, in my opinion.  And in Munnabhai MBBS she was light and sweet and just right.

Shefali Shetty (Shah)
I've seen her in exactly one film, and it's my favorite: Monsoon Wedding.  She was heartbreaking in that film, and it's a performance that ranks as one of the best I've ever seen--not just in Indian cinema but in film, period.  

If I've left anyone out, apologies.  It's not that I don't love them (there are very few actresses I truly dislike), but it's likely that all I've seen of them are the same old recycled overly dramatic/vapid girlfriend roles.  There are a few (Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, etc) who I do think have started to hit their stride but who honestly have not yet established themselves as "solid" actresses the way the women above have.