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Oh, wow~ it never occurred to me to search for Black on YouTube, or else I would have seen this performance the main cast of the film put together. Is this like a thing the International Indian Film Academy Awards does? Letting each nominated film present itself with a special performance? Do they generally do like an item song and that’s it? Because I loved that they sort of did the whole film into this 10min. sequence. Spoiler and all.

I would love it at the Academy Awards, instead of a movie montage.

According to a comment on YouTube, the whole performance was choreographed by Shiamak Davar and performed by his dance company.

A little bit more than ten years ago, Anita Mui passed away leaving a legacy of music and movies that will be remembered. Even my dad knew Anita Mui (besides from Jackie Chan movies), he told me he knew her from her singing the Song of Sunset (夕陽之歌) [1][2], which he loved both in this version and its Japanese original.

Ten years after her passing, her (very famous) friends got together to put something really special… a super performance to remember her by. Titled Anita Mui. 10. Longing. Music. Concert (梅艷芳。10。思念。音樂。會), the event garnered an array of Hong Kong (and overall Chinese) best — of the best for a night of music and memories.

Jacky Cheng, A-Mei, HOCC was there, Miriam Yeung, Sammi Cheng. Eric Tsang being melancholic, Jackie Chan throwing a joke… Eason Chan with his hair~ Maggie Cheung was freaking there, Aaron Kwok swung his hips, and Carina Lau introduced her hubby Tony Leung, and Tony SANG! People cheered. At a point in the concert, I told my mom “the only one missing here is Andy Lau.” Lo and behold, who turns up for one of the last numbers~

The only one I missed was Faye Wong. Just coz.

Anyway, my dad would’ve been happy with this show. I hope he and Anita are sharing a drink together up above.

In my Indian Movie Journey, I haven’t exactly found fist-pumping fighting sequences. In fact, more often than not I found Indian fight foley to be quite funny with thuds and thumps. When I saw some snaps of Madhuri Dixit being violent, I was afraid she was gonna look a bit silly. But… she’s proven me wrong. At least the cut of the first trailer makes it very Fist-Pump Girl Power.

I’ve already watched it about a dozen times.

I’m so pumped, I’m gonna send it to MUBI right away.

Also… big big rush with Juhi Chawla here.

subs here.

Fandom funny crossover~

I was watching (finally) Tokyo Kazoku — which I liked more than I thought I would — and just felt this incredible marriage pressure during the the scene in which Yu’s character is accepted by the father with that terribly heavy “There may be some hard times ahead, but if you’ll consent to be his wife, I’ll be able to die in peace.

My mind immediately went to Arshad Warsi’s Circuit; “No tension, bhai.

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BiBi, Papa would’ve been proud of that performance. It brought so many feelings.

BiBi’s participating in the Chinese version of the Korean contest I Am a Singer, now in its second season. Last time, Laure Shang was in it and was eliminated fairly early on.

Let’s hope BiBi makes it through.

I haven’t run into many magazine photoshoots with Tabu (only about a handful), but gosh~ look at those striking features. Even in as bare a photoshoot as this one.

And she’s the best when on screen. Effortless flawless.

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Tabu’s Joan Crawford Traits

December 25, 2013 — 2 Comments

For the past week or so, I got into my Tabu movie journey and while watching Hawa, there was a particular shot that just struck me like a lightning bolt (pun!) and reminded me of Joan Crawford.

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It’s a strong eyebrow thing (I have going on). Plus, Tabu’s got a nose with character (and the character to back it up). With her acting chops, she could totally pull off- let’s just skip The Women, coz I can’t picture a catty Indian version of that and just go straight into Crawford’s 40s- A Woman’s Face (or its En Kvinnas Ansikte version), Mildred Pierce (of course, I would love that), Humoresque, Possessed (1947), Daisy Kenyon, Flamingo Road, and The Damned Don’t Cry. Tabu is also at the perfect age.

The only thing about her that’s off is that… she doesn’t have the hunger for fame and power that I sense from Crawford.

Possessed and Mildred Pierce in contemporary Indian are topping my list.

I ran into this clip of Chulpan Khamatova, which I thought was a Behind the Scene voice-over session for some animation, but turns out to be a music video with Khamatova (alongside Andrei Makarevich, Vyacheslav Butusov and Sergei Makovetsky) singing. Multi-talented, I tell you [1].

The song is called My Letin (Мы летим) — which translates to We Fly — and is a song included in the series Flying Animals (Летающие звери, Letayushtie Zveri), an animated charity series that aims to aid children with their treatments with the show’s profits. They don’t ask for money, they generate it by selling their products.

You can check them out on Facebook, VK, LiveJournal, SoundcloudTwitter, Instagram, their official site at FlyAni.ru, and -of course- YouTube.

This Journey…

December 1, 2013 — 4 Comments

… is getting ridiculously messy [1].

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But I gotta admit I’m loving it.

So… the Ram-Leela thing didn’t pan out (boo hoo!). Instead, we’re getting Dhoom 3 for the New Year, so I gave Dhoom a watch. Without noticing (much) my life had also been inundated by Bachchan Jr., not that I mind much… I had a better first impression of him (I think it was in Yuva), than I did with Aamir Khan, as well as Kareena Kapoor. Poor the both of them, I hated them from the get go. However, I found that I kinda liked them together. Talaash was a good one, but they really reeled me in with 3 Idiots to the point that I don’t think I hate them any longer. I’d better avoid Aamir from most things pre-2006, though.

Besides getting acquainted with Vidya Balan — I’m on my third Kahaani re-watch and still loving it — as well as getting cozy with Madhuri Dixit’s filmography, I’ve been getting to know Sanjay Dutt, whom I totally thought was Salman Khan’s dad (from the Deewangi Deewangi number on Om Shanti Om). I was really REALLY surprised by the range of his acting, since I thought that he was gonna be one-note like the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Schwarzenegger, or Bruce Willis. I even found him endearing as Munna Bhai. I’ve never had that happened to me with any of them.

As for the rest? I like Preity Zinta more outside in the real world (interviews and maybe Twitter), Hrithik Roshan isn’t all that bad (and he’s super hot), and I still find SRK more endearing than cool (or anything else). I re-watched Life of Pi, and I’m super psyched about embarking on Tabu’s filmography, and I just found out (like a couple of hours ago) that Naseerudin Shah played Gandhi on Hey Ram. Totally gasped at that one.

I’m so totally game for the third Munna Bhai installment, excited for Dedh Ishqiya… and I don’t think I mind Dhoom or Don. I also daydreamed SRK made a Don-esque movie set in Hong Kong alongside Jackie Chan. I’d be totally game for that. I’d hate to see Jackie losing to him, though, so they should both play bad guys… or SRK should play good cops with him, even if that may result too much like a Rush Hour movie. It’s gotta be a serious funny action movie with them.

Is It Yuuuuuuu?

November 29, 2013 — 8 Comments

I noticed a few people popping by searching for Yu Aoi, so I went looking for news on her tonight and I ran into this photo tagged with her name on Pinterest.

is-it-yu

If it is, in fact, Yu Aoi. This is the first time I haven’t recognized her in a photo. Not like I’m like an expert or anything (though I do daydream someone calls me for a documentary on her life LOL).

First- the hair throws me off. So it may be one of those rare instances. The themes and styles seem to fit, and the whole shoot gives you strong Dandelion vibes for some reason. But one of the reasons, I don’t think it is Yu-chan is because I don’t see her freckles. She has three particular spots that always show up on her photos: the two marks on the right side of her right eye (the ones that looked like Shiro), and the mark on her left cheek near her nose.

Top suspect? One of them Korean look-alikes [see also and this]. At first, I thought it could be Hwang Seung Un [1][CM], but after a quick read, I decided it’s more likely Son Soo Hyun [1]. Seriously, some of their similarities [check the Busker Busker MV] are uncanny.

I wouldn’t mind one of those crazy comedy projects in which the two of them play sisters but speak completely different languages when speaking to each other. Specially directed by Satoshi Miki.