Archives For india

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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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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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.

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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.

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.

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!

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

On Online Mind Maps

November 2, 2013 — 1 Comment

I haven’t worked with mind maps since my school days were over. I remember I used to work with FreeMind, but it’s been so long since then that I wondered whether there were any good web-based mind-mapping applications around today. I found two slightly different ones that I tested working on a mind map of my Indian Movie-watching Journey [1].

First, there was MindMeister, which worked the most similar to FreeMind. The free version seems to be bare, it doesn’t allow you to save styles (for formatting) or setup your share options — smart~ — it just goes from ‘private’ to ‘public’ … or you have to invite people, which should work for most. But it works and it lets you save your work, export in different sizes and formats, so it’s all good.

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Ever since I saw Madhuri Dixit on Devdas, I was fascinated with her eyebrows because… well, BECAUSE!

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source.

Can you do that? HAVE YOU TRIED TO PULL THAT OFF? That’s a talent right there. And it seems to be her thing. I mean, I can move my eyebrows alright- one up and up the other goes, but it looks more like a look of mad confusion than the actual ease with which she uses.

Here~

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You know how everyone EVERYONE likes to point out Aishwarya Rai was Miss World and ALWAYS point out she was at one point the most beautiful in the world. It irks me, because you get to see Devdas and see the most stunning amazingness.

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And she’s overlooked by us (non-indian audience).

I mean, it does help that she’s gorgeously dressed and accessorized. And Madhuri Dixit has such charisma while talking or performing — not her dance numbers on film — but live or pre-recorded presentations. I haven’t gotten around to watching HER starring filmography just yet, but I literally spent a couple of hours browsing through her videos on YouTube.

I loved her throwing in some Michael Jackson movements, and she gave me some Flashdance vibe at some point, but she does have such ease to entertain and enjoy herself on stage. It makes the experience of watching her such a pleasure. I really can’t wait to get to her filmography.

Any day now.