BW: Fanaa, Chalte Chalte, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Fanaa: pretty fantastic. The whole second half, which was a complete turn around from the first, was unexpected but pretty great. Of course Kajol was fabulous. I marvel at that woman's ability to play anywhere from 19 to 30 something. She's just gorgeous! This was my first exposure to Aamir Kahn. He's not attractive, but is charismatic, only he doesn't use this to his advantage as much as our beloved goofy-faced SRK. Rishi Kapoor and Kirron Kher as the parents were great, esp Rishi. I haven't seen anything from his hay-day (Dewaana doesn't count) but I like him in older paternal roles. I was a HUGE fan of their mountain cottage and the tongue twister song. I liked the Muslim Kashmiri Indian angle. It ended well.

Chalte Chalte: I've decided to see the movies that Rab Ne's Phir Milenge is based off of, one of them being Chalte Chalte. This was produced by SRK's first production company he started w/ his buds Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza and apparently was their first film that didn't flop, but it flopped with me. I'm not a huge fan of Rani Muhkerjee. Of course she left a bad taste in my mouth as Tina, I don't care how instrumental she was in getting Anjali and Rahul back together, and in K3G through no fault of her own she got in their way again, even for so small a moment. It's a little inexplicable, but I just don't like her much. Basically her character Priya runs into SRK's and he's instantly in love, but she's heading back to Greece to get engaged to her childhood friend. He follows her and she chooses him. But that's only the first half! Then the marital problems and pig-headedness come into play. Raj and Priya are both heavily flawed but refuse to correct themselves for the long-term. I wasn't convinced by the "happy ending". SRK's performance reminded me of many others, mostly Devdas. Johny Lever played the town drunk that sang DDLJ the whole time. I didn't realize that Raj's song he sings for the gma is the title to the movie! Now I can pronounce it! but only if I sing it...

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna: are you joking me?! Good gravy, if I thought Chalte Chalte was a downer w/ an unlikable SRK this was 100 times worse. Two marriages, neither entirely blissful, but ok until one husband (SRK) and one wife (Rani) decide to be "friends" and help each other's marriages, only they end up being completely selfish and only helping themselves. There was not enough punishment and too much moral indiscretion w/o remorse. I refuse to believe this had a happy ending. I really hated Rani, but hey, I always have, and REALLY hated SRK. Imagine Devdas (the character's name is Dev, ha) and Raj from Chalte Chalte times a million and that was how unlikable and self destructive and pig-headed this character was. Mad props to KJo for making such an unlikable character out of SRK, and for playing emotions like a violin yet again.
Good things about KANK:
-Amitabh Bachchan plays the PIMP father that wears exquisite furs
-Abhishek Bachchan plays Rani's husband and Sexy Sam's son. He's a dear and has impeccable suit jackets that he flips the collars of, revealing fantastically colored under collars. At first I was like WAH? and then I was converted. Props Manish Malhotra, mad props.
-Preity Zinta was SRK's wife. She's my second fave after Kajol.
-Kajol had a cameo and shook her groove thang like no body's bizz-nezz.
-John Abraham was the D.J.
-Kirron Kher played SRK's mom, she's great.
-The costumes were fantastic.
-I bought this so I have the case and all. When you open it you pull down on this dealy and the discs are revealed by this crazy pop-up book mechanism, like you pull the bottom of the case and another disc holder pops out of the top too! It's straight up redick.
Question: How much is My Name Is Khan going to cost if KANK beat out K3G? Gosh Karan, you got some mad dough.

That's it really, I could rant more, and I'm sure the only people who care at all have seen these, but I don't want to spoil too much. My Hindi's going well. I practiced my dependent vowels today. Sometime I'll actually start the dialogues after I'm done w/ the miserable alphabet!

four things. BW: Chak De! India

All the possible people I could think of have no contacts w/ the Karan Johar shoot. Fish. It would be SO perfect!
I watched Chak De! India today. Absolutely phenomenal. I enjoy a good Indian sports drama w/ a scruffy, flat fronted, aviatorified SRK over Hoosers any day.
I made myself a jumper yesterday. It's super cute. I over corrected my shoulder asymmetry so it slants, grrr....
I plan to sew, watch movies and learn Hindi all summer.

BW: SRK & Kajol in San Fran!!!

Shah Rukh and Kajol, my two most FAVORITE Bollywood actors (SRK b/c hey, he's SRK, and Kajol b/c she's SO gorgeous and Indian and family-centric) are in San Fran RIGHT NOW filming Karan Johar's (one of my most favorite directors (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Naa Ho) and SRK's personal costume designer for some reason) newest movie (My Name is Kahn)! Can I change my NE ticket for a San Fran one? Local Indians have been trying to track down the shoot to get a glimpse of the actors, but they haven't found them so far. I'm sure I could...

I was thinking, even before I found the above out, there are a TON of Bollywood shoots in the U.S. Dostana was in Miami, Hrithik Roshan's newest is in Las Vegas, the SFL fashion trip to New York saw a wedding shoot earlier this spring; I could totally find a North American shoot to intern w/ next year even! Then I could make friends and get to India sooner. So fun! Now I just need to get a Bollywood in that can get me a position.

UPDATE: I might have the connections needed to get a wardrobe position on this shoot!!! Mary, who I work with/for might know some big costuming union/guild/association lady that would know about the shoot and would have enough clout to get me an interview or application or something. W/ my resume and the recomendations from top BYU officials, I would have a good shot at this! I can't stress how HUGE of an opportunity this would be, never mind the huge names that involved (did I mention Shah Rukh Kahn as the most recognized face in the WORLD?! and that he and Kajol starred in the longest running movie in the WORLD?!! and that, well, there are just a lot of pros to this situation).

UPDATE UPDATE: Mary's contacts were only in LA, but if I can find an address or phone number she's willing to recomend me, but Indian phone numbers do no good when they're in the U.S. already! And when I can't call India from my phone!

BW: Veer-Zaara

Shout out to Anjali, who now reads my blog for the Bollywood entries, so there!!

Ok, Veer-Zaara, so good! Veer Pratap Singh, played by Shahrukh Khan, is an Indian Airforce squadron leader and rescue pilot. Zaara Hayaat Khan (Preity Zinta) is a very privilaged Pakistani girl that goes to India to scatter her Bebe's (nanny?) ashes b/c Bebe was Indian and left in '47 to take care of Zaara's family. Of course her bus has an accident and Veer has to save her and they fall in love. The story is being told by Veer to his lawyer (Rani Mukherjee) 22 years later as he rots away in a Pakistani prison. Why he's in prison and all that is what you have to watch it to find out. Needless to say you kind of figure out that Veer and Zaara are seperated at some point.

I REALLY liked this one for the Pakistani/Indian relationship and the contrasts, but similarities between the two cultures that are composed of essentially the same people. Of course Shah Rukh Kahn is a Muslim Indian who always plays Hindu Indians which made the Muslim scenes v. cool to think about. Preity Zinta plays a Muslim Pakistani, but is I'd guess in reality a Hindu Indian. As far as I know Indians played all the roles. There is an AMAZING monologue by Veer at the end about how his country and Pakistan are so similar and how Pakistanis and Indians look the same. This is what I told my high school pals all the time!! But the politics were great! Another treat was Amitabh Bachchan playing Veer's bauji.

I really liked trying to pick out the differences between the Pakistanis and the Indians. For one the Pakistani women had very dark, severe eye make-up and I think they were even darker. Of course Preity and Rani are Bollywood heroines because they're fair, but I do think they had them be a little darker in this one, esp in Pakistan. There weren't really saris in Pakistan, but the costuming was similar. The wedding had similar jewelry and costumes, but was not so extravagant. Mad props to Karan Johar, who's usually a screenwriter and director, for costuming SRK (Manish Malhotra did the other costumes, he does a lot of films I watch). I was a little worred when he was in a horrible powder blue suit at the beginning, but SRK was actually really appropriately casual and studly throughout, and he had this wicked outfit w/ jeans and a denim jacket that actually worked! Mad props Karan, mad props.

I wasn't a fan of Lata Mangeshkar doing Zaara's playback. I'm not a fan of the voice, I think she sounds like she always has a frog, but I also only ever think of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham when I hear her voice. I just think she's better for older women. I was a fan of SRK's singers, I think Udit Narayan works best for him (and Abhijeet too, but he doesn't sing in V-Z).

Anyway, I was very pleased to find out that of course SRK was nominated for the Filmfare for best actor in 2004. He didn't win for Veer-Zaara, which I was peeved about b/c I'm totally biased and think he should win if he's nominated, but all was put at right when I discovered that at least V-Z won best film. And what do you know!! SRK was also nominated for Main Hoon Na and Swades: We, the People (for which he won). Good thing I unwittingly check out those two this week as well! I can't even think of a Western actor that produces three movies a year, let alone gets nominated for three!

So yeah, I probably forgot to mention some stuff, but v. good movie. I liked the past/present acting, it had a Hindu holiday w/ mad dancing, and no Western-ish songs, I liked that. I really like Yash/Raj films. Main Hoon Na at Bollywood night, love Farah Khan!

Shelby out.