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Post by emily on Aug 9, 2017 14:55:12 GMT
Jab Harry Met Sejal. It was pretty awful. I kinda knew we were doomed from the start with that blatant rip-off title. It's hard to believe this is the same director that charmed me with Jab We Met . SRK can't keep doing these roles (at one point, my brother leaned over and was like, "Isn't he 50?!"). At least Anushka was ok, and their chemistry was nice. Best part was the music, although there were too many songs, IMO.
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Post by moviemavengal on Aug 10, 2017 0:24:50 GMT
Hey gang, I know it's been a long time since I've posted. FYI some of us post on the what are you watching Wednesday posts on Don't Call It Bollywood every week. I started something crazy this past week -- a Youtube channel called Pardesi with Kartik from Bollyfools. Kartik first interviewed me after I saw the first IMAX showing of Baahubali 2. He then urged me to join Bollyfools Youtube channel. I had been doing video reviews of Indian cinema, (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam) on Bollyfools for a few months, and chose a Shahrukh film week to venture out on my own. I agree with Emily that JHMS was disappointing, but whoo was SRK sexy! That kiss!! In the last week, I also saw the delightful Telugu rom com Fidaa. It stars Sai Pallavi who was so great in the Malayalam films Kali and Premam. She is AMAZING!! Some of my viewers who speak Telugu told me she not only learned the language but nailed the specific accent for her character. I also do trailer reactions, which to be honest I find a bit weird, but the Bollyfools type of audience is what I'm trying to catch the attention of, and Kartik tells me that's what they like. I hope you'll give my Pardesi channel a look, and maybe subscribe. I've also moved over all the video reviews I had done on Bollyfools to the new channel. I learned so much about Indian cinema from all of you here on Bollywhat. I owe you all a debt! Ooh -- something else cool that happened on one of my last reviews on Bollyfools for Vikram Vedha -- Madhavan actually tweeted back to me when I tagged him on the review. Gah!! I was floating on air all day.
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Post by chrisanthi on Aug 11, 2017 13:05:10 GMT
Meri Pyaari Bindu - Let me start by saying that I did like the film. It wasn’t groundbreaking or anything but it was a pleasant rom-com. I had found Ayushmann annoying in Vicky Donor but here I found him sweet. At times, I found Parineeti to be too loud and I couldn’t really get a hang of her character (I tell myself that this was because the story was told from Ayushmann’s point of view and not because female characters are badly written). Ayushmann and Parineeti looked sweet together and they had a nice chemistry. All the goodwill that I felt towards this film practically vanished when they fat shamed Parineeti - at one point he tells her that he’ll marry her if she “improves her figure” and in another scene he picks her up and says that she’s heavy - no, no, no, no, NO!! For how long are films and the media going to keep on conveying the message that women need to be rail-thin in order to be desirable/worthwhile/human beings? (yes, I do feel very strongly about this issue). Ok now that I’ve somewhat calmed down, the people who did the clothes did a terrible job with Parineeti’s outfits - her clothes in the flashback scenes didn’t remind me of stuff that I used to wear or that I’d see other women wearing and that sari in the last scene was just an abomination - I realise that they were going for something that was traditional but had a quirky twist to it but they failed big time; not only was it a horrible colour (depending on the light it was a mustardy yellow/ pale chartreuse with black stripes), it didn’t suit her at all. And one last observation, in one scene we see Parineeti giving Ayushmann a dog in 1999 and we see the same dog in the present; surely the dog would have died - I mean he would have been at least 17. And, on the off chance that it hadn’t, it would have been really, really old and not running around.
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Post by chrisanthi on Aug 12, 2017 8:07:51 GMT
Rangoon - Yeah, I can see why this was a flop. The story had potential even though the film was predictable in parts and I’m not sure about the ending - my initial reaction was that Saif’s actions weren’t consistent with his character but now I’m not so sure. Saif wasn’t particularly good but he did nail some scenes - he was so good in them. Shahid was baaaaaaaaaaad. Kangana was by far the best of the three - not a great performance but a solid one and I loved that her character wasn’t a simpering, submissive, damsel in distress. I loved the Japanese actor and I loved his interaction with Kangana. The two English guys were the stereotypical arrogant, smug Englishers; they weren’t bad. The war scenes looked fake to me and in some scenes you could see that it was cgi. I did like Kangana’s look but her clothes were not from the 40s. Best to give this one a miss.
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Post by patapin on Aug 13, 2017 9:57:44 GMT
Chandni Chowk to China (2009) I have mixed feelings... Because I loved the first part, made of fun, action and romance, with a very comic Akshay Kumar, who remembers me his hilarious character in "Housefull'. Then came the interval, and the rest of the movie was mostly fights, fights, fights.
Against: a very bad video editing. Sometimes you are watching a scene, but you miss what happened before. For: two good video clips:
and
And now, "something completely different":
I found Salangai oli (Sagara Sangamam), but have no subtitles. Has any of you the possibility to get them?
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filmilibrarian
Guest appearance
Posts: 102
Favorite actor: Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor
Favorite actress: Vidya Balan, Rani Mukherjee, Anushka Sharma, Konkona Sen Sharma, Deepika Padukone
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Padmavati, A Gentleman, Lucknow Central, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Mubarakan, Simran, Chef, Ittefaq
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Post by filmilibrarian on Aug 24, 2017 14:21:46 GMT
I haven't been around much either so thought I'd come back and say hi, too. I'm a frequent commenter over at dontcallitbollywood.com along with moviemavengal. Since I've been here last I've, of course, seen too many Indian films to name so I'll just say that I watched Nil Battey Sannata last night and loved it! Swara Bhaskar is one of my new favorite "actresses" to watch, along with Radhika Apte. NBS was such a good mother daughter tearjerker. Also a big fan this year of Swara's performance in Anaarkali of Aarah.
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Post by knifebollywood on Aug 26, 2017 10:43:21 GMT
Vivegam! What a superb acting by Vivek Oberoi! Clearly the BEST action Film of 2017!! Anf of course then there is Kajal Agarwal's Hot Scene!
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Post by chrisanthi on Aug 27, 2017 2:29:20 GMT
Khubsoorat (1980): I do like Rekha even though I haven’t seen a lot of her movies; here Rekha played a role that I hadn’t seen her play before - she was playfull, mischievous and charming (she was also intelligent but she’s been intelligent in all the movies I’ve seen with her; I like that she doesn’t play dumb characters). The film had a light, playfull feel to it though it got very serious near the end. Admittedly I did feel sorry for the mother not that the others were wrong but the way they went about it wasn’t right. I liked the remake with Sonam but the original is way better - I think a lot of it has to do with Rekha’s charm and Ashok Kumar. Thoroughly recommend it.
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Post by patapin on Sept 22, 2017 8:23:41 GMT
Gulaab Gang (2014): should have deserved a better treatment. Lack of subtility. Can you beat violence with violence? 2 choreographies to keep, then throw the rest.
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Post by chrisanthi on Sept 28, 2017 3:40:46 GMT
Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya - A movie with two of my favourite actors - what could be better? Well… when I sat down to watch this I was in a bad mood which disappeared within a few minutes because Abhi and Karisma are so cute together; they had a sweet chemistry between them and the film had a light-hearted feel to it. I haven’t seen a lot of films with Karisma and I never found her to be a good actress; in some scenes here she is reeeeeeeally bad. Her character was overly jealous, too meek, doesn’t stand up for herself, doesn’t communicate what she wants, and I wanted to slap her - I did swear at her a few times. When Karisma first sees Akki she looks at him as if she’s interested in him romantically but her character wouldn’t have been in that frame of mind. Akki and Karisma had no chemistry whatsoever and, as such, I found the scenes between them a bit boring - the film picked up when Abhi appeared again. At the end, I felt like throwing a cushion at the tv - there’s a limit to how much promoting of traditional women’s roles; meek, quiet women as the ideal; and women forgiving their husbands everything I can take. And, finally, a comment about the clothes - Manish Malhotra put Karisma in some very pretty Indian outfits (special mention of a light blue suit and a blue and green saree). What was this obsession of putting Abhi in turtlenecks?
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Post by chrisanthi on Sept 30, 2017 7:00:09 GMT
Kahaani 2 - I liked it. It’s not as good as the first one but still good. I thought that some of the stuff was quite obvious and, at parts, I wanted the film to go faster so I could see if I was right. I love VIiya and she was her usual very good here (ok she was a bit screechy/manic in one scene but I think that was a conscious decision). Arjun Rampal is one of those actors about whom I say “good looking man but can’t act.” His non-expressive type of acting worked here.
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Post by MrB on Jan 13, 2018 16:59:36 GMT
Jab Harry Met Sejal. Mediocre. The foreign locations looked good, as they always do with Imtiaz Ali films, and SRK and Anushka Sharma acted as well as they could under the circumstances. But the attitude was an uncomfortable mix of old DDLJ-era travelogue views, where Europe is a continent of predatory men seeking to rape every akeli ladki, and an implausibly free-spirited choice by Sejal to play Harry's girlfriend while they scour picturesque cities for her engagement ring. With this setup, it was never going to make a coherent film, and going through the usual Ali motions of the lost male character, who is rescued by the female one, did not help.
Only worthwhile if you a die-hard SRK or Anushka fan.
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Post by emily on Jan 16, 2018 3:12:09 GMT
I had an RK dream the other night, so I decided to rewatch Sangam. Still so good. Think I might crack into the lesser-known Raj-Nargis films next.
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Post by MrB on Jan 23, 2018 12:44:03 GMT
Judwaa 2. This movie barely needs a review: it's a David Dhawan film, a remake of an earlier David Dhawan film, and starring David Dhawan's son. They definitely doubled down on the Dhawan. I really enjoyed it in an old-school way: it has slapstick, weak puns, loads of references to other films, and sublime silliness, all delivered with gusto by the usual Dhawan repertory company, who know how to make you laugh with almost any material. Varun Dhawan is a more-than-adequate replacement for the young Salman Khan, but Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu are little more than glamorous scene dressing. There's not much more to say: if you like, or are nostalgic for, the early David Dhawan comedies, you'll have fun with this one; if not, it won't convert you.
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Post by patapin on Feb 20, 2018 16:01:58 GMT
Drishyam (2015), by Nishikant Kamat. A good thriller with many lacks anyhow. Very good play from Ajay Devgn, Prathamesh Parab and Kamlesh Sawant.
Alas, Tabu wasn't in a great mood, I'd say, and every time she spoke, everybody fell asleep in my home.
6/10
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