The Many Shirts of Sid

Over the course of the year Wake Up Sid has become one of my favorite movies.  It's not convoluted or contrived or overly sappy, it doesn't try to hard to be cool, there's no faux-badassness or celebrity vanity showing through.  It's just a sweet, simple story about two people and the lives they make for themselves.

There's a freshness in the film that you unfortunately don't see a lot of in Bollywood these days--it's the type of film that could have easily been overlooked in favor of some of the flashier fare that shows up in theaters if it weren't for a few of the bigger names associated with it (Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, and Karan Johar).  Yes, there's a trendy urban sensibility on display, punctuated by a good-sized dose of "spending my father's money" but the characters don't live in a bubble, which is something I appreciate about the story.

I'll save further comment for a proper review but the one thing I really love about Wake Up Sid is, well, Sid.  Let's face it:  Ranbir Kapoor is a beautiful man.  One or two films aside (*cough* Anjaana Anjaani), I'm a huge fan of his.  It helps that he's more than a pretty face--the boy can act.

What else can he do, you ask?

He can wear a freaking t-shirt.  And seeing as how the production team went to great lengths to feature him in every version of "pop culturally-relevant graphic t-shirt" known to man, I feel it's only appropriate to ogle...erm, observe him in a few of them.

Who am I kidding?  Let's look at alllllllllll of them.  :)

 Sid wakes up.

 Let's get some Scooby Snacks ya'll!

 Daaaaaaaaance the night away...

I can't come up with a witty caption for this one, I'm too busy staring at Ranbir's arms and drooling.

I was thinking that Anupam Kher always rocks as the father...except for RDB, of course...

 Incorrect.

Nothing's wrong with me...I'm wearing a Joker shirt!  What's wrong with YOU?

No.  No no no no no.  Take this off immediately.

Beavis and Butthead Do India.  

Silly Aisha.  No one enjoys work.

Win.

Sneaky sneaky.

HULK SMASH.

Your guess is as good as mine on this one.  Digging the salmon though.

"Soooo Aisha, I'm wearing this spiffy Mr. Spaceman t-shirt..."

Joe failed.  Joe sad.

Sid wears approximately 57 different shirts in this movie but only two different pairs of boxers.  Hmmm.

Mumbai = Gotham.  Can't believe it took me this long to figure out.

Who you gonna call?  (Psst!  Ranbir!  Call ME!)

There's pretty much no color that this boy can't pull off.  And Tom and Jerry!  I love me some Tom and Jerry, those little rascals...

I think someone in the costume department is a Trekkie.  Just saying...

No cartoon characters--this is Sid's most formal interview t-shirt.

I pretty much expect to go to Mumbai and get a job that lets me wear random tshirts at work now.

And so is this shirt.

An homage to me, his American girlfriend.  Obviously.

Arms again.  Drool.

What a pretty shirt you've got there, chai-wallah.

It's cool Ranbir, I don't want guns either.  Peace love and understanding, baby.

The real beef between Sid and Rishi?  Sid got all the cool shirts and Rishi was mad jealous.

They call me Mellow Yellow...

This is like that scene in BILB where Jonathan Rhys-Meyers shows up at the Bhamras' house in his sexy white shirt and Pinky's all like "yeah?" and he's all like "hello" and I'm all like "melt."

Plaid?  Next thing you know he'll be living in Williamsburg and reading Hipster Hitler.

Dull, grey, and no cartoon characters?  Sid, man, I know you're depressed and lovesick but COME. ON.  You can do better than this.

 

On the one hand, he's wearing women's clothing.  On the other hand, his shirt is see through.  I'm gonna call this one a draw.

The Tweeple Film Awards

Wandering Twitter the past few days you may have noticed the #TwiFi hashtag floating around.  What's the deal?

It’s a Tweeple Choice Award – a truly democratic award that is Of the people, By the people and For the people, to honour the most deserving in Hindi Cinema 2010. It’s a movement started by film buffs on Twitter to counter the bullshit that ‘Bollywood’ film awards are.

 Yours truly is in the running to be one of the ten bloggers chosen to join established critics in selecting the real best of the best in Hindi cinema--if you're a fan of this blog I'd love your vote (you can vote for three bloggers!).

You need  a Twitter account to vote--cast your votes here!  Voting closes on Tuesday.  For a list of all the excellent bloggers in the running, as well as more information about the Tweeple Film Awards, check out their Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/TwiFiAwards

And make sure to follow the awards on Twitter for updates and results!  http://twitter.com/twi_fi_awards

The NY Daily News Is In Horrible Need of An Editor (And a Clue)

I don't have much to say on the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan/Elle "controversy," except that the entire cover looks washed out and I'm not willing to give Aish any props for having refused to endorse lightening creams when these ads are still out there for the world to see:

HOWEVER.  This morning the New York Daily News decided to tackle the topic.  Naturally the NY Daily News is a highly reputable (snicker) totally professional (chortle) error free (rollicking laughter) publication, but even so I was surprised (actually was I?  Hmm.) to see this crap floating around.

Let's talk about the three things that are wrong here.

1.  Her name is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.  Not Bachran.  This isn't just a typo, it was done consistently throughout the article and in the accompanying sidebar.  I was so frustrated by it that I had to tweet (TWEET! gah) a message to the NYDN to get them to fix it.  There's no excuse for misspelling a major celebrity's name--it's on the cover of the magazine in the picture they included for the story.  Can't spell her name?  Just look at the picture!  Lame.

2.  She did not "say she may take legal action" as the headline suggests.  The Times of India (in a typically obnoxious, vague, and poorly sourced article) said that "someone close to the actress" said that she was upset and "might do something."  The source never said she would sue and Aishwarya certainly has not given a quote to anyone about this.  So how about we try to be a bit more accurate in our headlines?

3.  "Consider" suing.  Not "conside" suing. That one was probably a legitimate typo but I'm feeling especially bitchy today.

Grumble grumble grrrr.

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!

Trailer--Anaganaga O Dheerudu

I don't watch a whole lot of Telugu films, but I will absolutely make an exception for Anaganaga O Dheerudu.  It stars Siddharth, who I absolutely love, and though the story doesn't look like anything I'd normally be willing to watch, the production value and cinematography look top notch here, and the plot seems gripping.  I was so transfixed by this trailer (with English subs, woot!) that I watched it four times in a row, so I think that's a good sign.  :)