Tag: india

  • It’s ALIVE! And Growing~

    The Indian film journey mindmap [1][2] collection is a little monster, and it keeps on getting bigger. This time some of the additions included about 21 films with Tabu, a few with Aamir Khan, a couple more from Madhuri Dixit… and about half a dozen with Konkona Sen Sharma.

    Oh, and Juhi Chawla now has her own hub.

    The connections now seem unreadable.

    * RED bubbles denotes films from Jenna’s Beginner’s Guide to Indian Film
    ** BLUE bubbles are film hubs where a lot of actors show up.
    *** PURPLE bubble is RED + BLUE. Duh.

    indian-film-journey-continues-jan1814

  • From the Vault: Rani Mukerji IIFA 2006 Black Performance

    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.

  • Huzaah! Gulaab Gang~

    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.

  • The Pressure of Marriage, No Tension~

    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.”

    tokyo-kazoku-marriage-pressure-no-tension-mbbs

  • Oh, Gosh~ Tabu

    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.

    tabu

  • Five YAM Magazine Posts for 2014!

    Happy new year, everyone!

    Sorry for the lack of posts last month. To make up for it, here are five posts so you can catch up to my 2013 and to get you going this 2014.

    amys-top50-songs-2013

  • Tabu’s Joan Crawford Traits

    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.

    tabu-crawford

    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.

  • This Journey…

    … is getting ridiculously messy [1].

    indian-movie-journey-dec0113-update

    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.

  • Google Search: Reunion

    Oh wow, I’m even very moved.

    I know very little about the history between India and Pakistan, except for the passing talks within some of the movies I’ve been watching. Still, I was moved to nearly tears (I’m still emotional). It follows Google’s search formula, but it’s probably the most moving of their commercials.

    And it comes with multiple subtitles!

  • Candid Rani~

    I ran into this off-shoot photo of Rani around. Is it me? Has anyone else thought that Rani doesn’t photograph too well for fashion shoots? I really like her on film (and movie stills), I like her on regular snaps, but magazine shoots are just so~~~ I often tell myself that they don’t do her justice.

    What are her best photoshoots?

    This Filmfare shot is one of the rare photos I’ve liked her in.

    rani-mukerji-filmfare-off-shoot-mar2011