Help me with Bollywood and Indian cinema in general

Why don't you watch and review it somewhere then?

need more recs!

I hoping Endhiran winds up on netflix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yysbbPStfWw

just watched There'll Always Be Stars in the Sky. It's p interesting, but also kinda judgmental and insulting - at one point the narration says "though the audience believes the actors are actually singing, the songs are ACTUALLY sung by playback singers." ru serious? i'm sure 99% if not the entirety of the audience knows that

"at times gypsies serenade their snakes with tunes they have unwittingly borrowed from films"

In this thread Shakey Mo Collier rhapsodizes about Om Shanti Om the best Bollywood film ever

don't be sad I saw that movie

Asoka bombed with the Hindi press and struggled with the public but i'd rate it as one of the best action/adventure/romance epics ever made. The direction / cinematography by Santosh Sivan are stunning, the music (mostly Sunidhi Chauhan on vocals) is great and the story is gripping. It's the classic Hindi kitchen sink film with loss, betrayal, love and a whacking great pitched battle with dudes on elephants.

Did anyone see Fashion?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J3fkfUDkx8

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjUxNzM3NTYw.html rahat fateh ali khan

return of madhuri.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjYyNTgyMTQw.html priyanka is new old school love in the desert whisper in the ear number

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlczCe16Ao

parineeti.

what else recent to see?

one of the cinemas here shows a new Bollywood movie every Sunday night, i need to find somebody to go with, this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7xFJVWbMlQ

was on the other week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o66nNnGZ5Rg

i have a thing for alia bhattttt

http://gallery.oneindia.in/ph-big/2013/05/alia-bhatt-shooting-for-highway-aru-valley-kashmir_13689409087.jpg

http://imgur.com/vunNZiD.jpg

http://s4.firstpost.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/alia_highway_380.gif

My recent adventures beyond Bollywood....

Tollywood:

Yamadonga (2007) - Directed by the same guy as RRR and featuring N.T. Rama Rao Junior, who plays one of the leads in that. It is supposedly about a mortal challenging the God of Death, though in true Indian cinema fashion this really only comes into play over an hour into the film. Before that there's a lot of fun action, with N.T. a thief being chased through streets (remember Rajamouli put the Disney Aladdin on his S&S list). Things actually get a bit less exciting once he arrives in the Afterlife - the sets are gorgeous but things get much more talky and dependent on cultural context I don't fully possess. There's an amusing sequence where N.T. mounts a dirty electoral campaign to overtake the God. There's also a scene where he dances with his grandfather, who was also a Tollywood star, and who is revived as a deepfake; Tollywood def ahead of the curve here in 2007. Interesting that the Hindu pantheon seems very close to ancient Greek or Norse gods - fickle, proud, no great claim to moral superiority.

Aditya 369 (1991) - Total banger! Directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, who rules, and featuring Nadamuri Balakrischna, this is like if a rad 90's kid's sci-fi film got crossed with a Hong Kong action thriller, with some Errol Flynn swordplay thrown in. This one too actually got less entertaining for me once the supposedly main entertainment, in this case time travel, kicked in, as again it gets talky and there's lots of in jokes concerning old Telugu court habits and poets. But as soon as Balakrischna introduces the court to 50's Rock & Roll I was back in. There's a quick jump to the future with some Star Wars copyright infringement and then it's back to the present for a big action scene. Ends on a joke and a freeze frame. Hell yeah.

Kollywood:

Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1990) - Also by Singeetam, but working in Tamil as opposed to Telugu. This starts with the director singing a song about the movie and inviting you to watch it, as more films should. There's a lot in here that's just boring static medium shots but then every now and then the director hits you with an action sequence straight out of the silent era, a MGM calibre musical number or a terrifying stunt. The plot is pure farce (quadruplets get separated at birth, all played by Tamil star Kamal Hassan). Last 50 minutes or so are pure screwball heaven as romantic interests confront sundry Kamals they think are "their" Kamal. Also there's a really big dude. Both these Singeetam films are on Amazon Prime in really run down copies and I won't pretend it doesn't make me feel cool and "in the know" to be watching something that's escaped restoration to this extent.

Thinivu (2023) - Saw this in the cinema. Perhaps the least interesting of this batch, though still good entertainment. Starts out as a crime thriller that just twists and twists, had me lost entirely by the intermission. It eventually resolves in a satisfactory manner and then becomes an anti-capitalist screed which hey, I'm always up for. Mostly I just loved the audience reaction at protagonist Ajith Kumar, a fucking STAR of the kind the West doesn't produce anymore. Which lead me to...

Mankhata (2011) - One of A K's defining roles, this was more bitter and cynical than any of the other films mentioned here (though still with plenty of comic relief and musical numbers). Has a very 10's yellow tint that was a bit difficult to get past, too. But Kumar makes for a great anti hero and Raai Laxmi is a smouldering femme fatale. The blood was blotted out in ways that made it seem like weird cosmic portals were being opened by bullet wounds.

There is no non-embarrassing way to reveal that you are a fifty-something white woman who has recently become obsessed with Shah Rukh Khan, so I'm just going to fess up to it here and leave it at that.

Seeing his new one tomorrow! Excited. Also watched his Letterman ep, the interview felt very surface level and unfocused but Khan was super charming and the segments between interviews worked better - Khan and Letterman in the kitchen especially.

The number of times I have rolled my eyes in the last six months and said "FFS, Rahul, cop the fuck on."

Good non-SRK Indian film I have seen recently: An Action Hero (now on Netflix). Exciting, funny film about an Indian action hero who gets into serious real-life trouble. It makes some good points about how celebrities are covered in the media as well as being a solid bit of kickpunching. Obviously as an outsider my perspective on politics in India is limited, but I catch a bit of what's going on.

Seeing his new one tomorrow! Excited.

We had opening night IMAX tickets for Dublin, but Irish Rail let us down badly and we missed it. Very annoying.

Coming to Netflix tomorrow!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myG0f2RKizY

Pathaan was good, a very well made version of a kind of film (spy blockbuster) that I don't particularly care for. Much closer to American blockbuster stuff than to what I've seen come out of Tollywood and Kollywood, and so a bit less interesting to me (aware this opens me up to charges of exoticism). Khan was charming of course, and holy shit what a six pack for a 59 year old man! At one point he delivers the line "I'm so sexy" so perfectly - not boasting or joking around, just a gruff calculation that his hotness might be an obstacle. Only two songs boo.

Fascinated by the political balancing act this film does: you can leave the film believing either that it sends a message about how India's actions in Kashmir escalated tensions with Pakistan and were a mistake, or that it's a celebration of India emerging triumphant against anyone who'd criticise these actions. Indian secret agent and Pakistani secret agent fall in love seems to be a mainstay of the franchise, from my wikipedia'ing; I guess Bond had something similar in From Russia With Love. Obviously the star being who he is the islamophobia is kept in check. Ultimately the measure of a person's worth seems to be their loyalty to their nation (whether that be India or Pakistan), and the perfect distillation of the villain's evil is his speech about feeling allegiance to no country, and his country being "wherever he lives" - the dreaded cosmopolite!

Audience seemed uncharacteristically subdued too, was disappointed at the lack of applause. Biggest round actually came at the appearence of a special guest star, whom I won't reveal as spoilers.

Khan's interview alerted me to the chasteness of Bollywood and indeed although there were three occasions where ppl almost kissed, it never ended up actually happening. Not to be an apologist for censorship but maybe they're doing something right, because despite that this movie was way sexier than anything modern Hollywood has going.

Excited for that Netflix thing!

Khan's interview alerted me to the chasteness of Bollywood

Even by the standards of the industry, SRK seems to be pretty prudish, to the extent that it is quite funny to see the lengths he will go to NOT kiss a co-star. I realized that I'd got completely used to this when I watched Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone kissing up a storm in Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela. (They are married to each other now, but they weren't at the time.)

I don't know about the rest of the world, but Netflix in Ireland is telling me that Om Shanti Om will expire on March 31st. It is probably my favourite of all the films I've watched in the last few months. Do I get all the references? No. Maybe ten percent of them. But the songs are fantastic, everyone looks so beautiful, the story is crazy, and it's really funny.

Thinivu (2023) - Saw this in the cinema.

Is it this film? Just turned up on my Netflix recommendations if so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnBZboK17_A

Yeah! I was a bit hard on it in my write-up there, it's well worth seeing. The ending credits song has a line about how even Ghandi had an account with Swiss.

Cool. Added to my list!

Rajinikanth rules. Both films with him I've seen cast him as a blue collar underdog: in Thalapathi he's an orphan who gets involved in organized crime - this is the most single minded and grim I've seen commercial Indian cinema get, there's almost no comic support and while there's plenty of songs they're all very sad. Baasha is more in the line of the wild tonal shifts I've come to expect: our man's a taxi driver who gathers money to give to his colleagues when they need medical assistance or a dowry for a wedding. But he has a mysterious past! Flashbacks keep happening and the action becomes clearer each time, like in Once Upon A Time In The West. Also loved the song where female lead Nagma gets thirsty for Rajinikanth and starts seeing him everywhere, including a group of five Rajinikanths working out at the gym.

Pathaan has finally hit the small screen. I am unfeasibly excited, but I'm being good and waiting for the husband so we can both watch it. We watched Raees the other night -- husband definitely prefers action SRK to romance SRK.

saw Pathaan at a local cinema a month ago - great fun, not an empty seat, big vibe

I'm trying to branch out a bit from the action, What If A Guy Was Awesome? side of Indian cinema.

Watched Andhadhun yesterday. The first hour or so of it reminded me of 80's Hong Kong cinema (I know I go to this comparison a lot) in that the general aesthetic (in this case, prestige pop starbucks millenial shit) would be unbearable for me in a Western film but somehow once it gets filtered through another culture it becomes almost unbearably stylish and awesome. Loved how twisted things got at one point. That being said, once Tabu poisons the guy to actually go blind, I felt the twists started coming off as forced, and the main relationship I was invested in got sidelined. I also suspect the stuff with the auto driver and his wife is casteist in that way that you could easily miss as an outside viewer but that becomes obvious once you've been alerted to it.

Def looking forward to the Azanavour Combo's concert in Main Square, Somewhere in Europe tho!

did you see Queen? good fun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(2013_film)

Added to my letterboxd watchlist, I like the idea of a reverse Eat Pray Love.

I'm trying to branch out a bit from the action, What If A Guy Was Awesome? side of Indian cinema.

This is a very good description.

Pathaan was great. The only thing I would've liked is a couple more songs. Amazing the personal training regime you can keep up when you spend two years in a Russian prison.

Like, I feel that if I captured Pathaan (see my upcoming three-part adventure on An Archive of Our Own), the first thing I would do is stop him from training all the time. The man's a menace.

the after credits scene was my favourite

Our household is now fully invested in the YRF Spy universe (I guess everyone has to pick a team), so last night we watched Tiger Zinda Hai. Then we watched the train scene from Pathaan again. It made me realize that one of the sliiiiightly disappointing things about Pathaan is that so much of it is clearly greenscreen and CGI, whereas in Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai, it's the immediacy of the real, practical stunts and effects that gives the film its impact. Ah well, I guess that's COVID for you. And also I guess it's harder to crash a real train than an oil truck.

Has anyone seen MISS LOVELY?

No, I have it bookmarked to watch, but I haven't seen it yet.

Just finished. Will sleep on it and report tomorrow.

Latest viewing I've had is Agneepath (1990). Amitabh Bachchan's protagonist is like a mix of Tony Montana and Boris Karloff. Very over the top even by standards of the genre. Not my fave Indian gangster epic but as usual with these running times you get some good stuff in there - the musical number in Mauritius, incorporating local sounds and what I think was a Bachchan impersonator, was a highlight, and Mithun Chakraborty very good as salt-of-the-earth comic relief friend.

Yeah, I didn't like that one particularly. I found it all very ugly and unpleasant and a bit dull.

Yesterday we watched Bajirao Mastani (2018), starring Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra. It was good stuff. Excellent songs, sumptuous costumes and sets, everybody looking magnificent, lot of doomed love going on, yes please.

MISS LOVELY was great. Excellent period look.

Story is ultimately maybe pretty conventional but the way it twisted and turned as it played out was always interesting.

I'm annoyed that I forgot to add that to my Mubi list, because the search function on Mubi is terrible and now I can't find it. I assume it's still there.

Some recent Netflix films:
Mersal (2017) - not Hindi, but Tamil. An overlong and formulaic but nevertheless entertaining social-issue masala film starring huge Tamil star Vijay. Annoyingly, the songs are not subtitled in English. Written and directed by Atless, this gets a bit preachy, but the action is good and it all looks gorgeous, even the really stark bits. And while Vijay doesn't have the instant appeal of SRK to an old white lady like me, his hero-ness grows on you.

Shimla Mirchi (2020) - starring Rajkummar Rao, Rakul Preet Singh and Hema Malini (who you may remember from Sholay). This is based on a French comedy and it shows. Didn't get great reviews when it came out, and it's definitely way too long, but the leads are all lovely and, sure, it's harmless enough.

Yeh Jawaani hai Deewani (2013) - I gather from social media that this is a bit of a modern classic for those who love Bollywood college-based romances. And who does not love Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone? Certainly nobody in my house. Anyway, yes, this is one of those and very good at it.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) - written and directed by Karan Johar (who pulled in a lot of "friends" for friendly appearances for this), and starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, this starts out really charming with two winning leads, but falls into the trap of thinking that the leading man's pain is more important than anything else, which just gets kind of annoying after a while. Also there are som questionable hair and makeup choices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00E3ZEvuen4

This is a three-part documentary on Salim-Javed that's on Amazon Prime now. Interesting enough for beginners like me, but if you know a lot about the industry, you will presumably already know everything it covers. And there's not much chat about the political background of their writing, or their inspirations (although Salim Khan does happily admit to *ahem* taking a lot of inspiration from existing Hollywood films). It still surprises me how everyone is related to everyone else in the Hindi film business. All in all, it's slight, but a good starting point.

My big problem with this documentary, like the one about YRF on Netflix, is that it's not accompanied by a whole slew of their films. Just Sholay and Dostana are available on Amazon in Ireland, at least. The others don't seem to be streaming anywhere I can find.

I'll have to check that one out! I saw Sholay on DVD ages ago - some comedy support that you kinda have to take on its own terms but man, what a climax.

Another documentary worth checking out, though I don't see it streaming anywhere, is Urf (2022) about the industry of bollywood superstar impersonators, also known as "juniors" - so the film follows a few of these, including guys making their living as SRK and Bachchan lookalikes. Sometimes they get roles in (very low budget) films, but the regular programming is more like appearences at parties, weddings, etc. The juniors themselves alternate between the defensive (this is a job, it takes talent, etc.) and wistfullness as they expected to get more "legitimate" roles in the industry.

Oh yeah, I just watched the trailer. Might try and dig that out online somewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf-vRit1W_0

Mr India is on Prime Video (in the U.K. at least). A mainstay of Saturday morning Channel 4 schedules for years in the 1990s.

Shakti on Prime too! It looks like some others like Majboor are potentially available with an Eros Now subscription.

I had an Eros Now subscription for a while, but it stopped working and no amount of emailing could convince them to make it work, so I gave up.
The version of Sholay on Prime in the UK is a slightly weird theatrical version remastered for 3D cinema. There are a few bits where special-effects stones fly at u face, but otherwise it still looks good.

I voted for Rocky Aur Rani, Thunivu, Leo and Jawan. Doubtful any will place but maybe if you send in a ballot too, trishyb? :)

ORBEMHARBBIE: The ILX film poll for 2023 viewings voting thread: Ballots due 30th October

Oh yeah, good call, will do.

Oh nuts, I forgot.

sic is decrying the lack of ballots in the thread so you should still send one in!

Wow, Saif Ali Khan was stabbed six times in his home in Mumbai.Looks like he had some pretty serious injuries.

scary

Very disappointed that despite the main plot of Tamil comedy Dragon being a dude forced to go back to uni and do his degree, and despite much talk of exam papers, it features absolutely no mentions of guess papers.

So here's some news! I've just learned about a new Bluray reissue house, The Cloud Door, named after the famous 1990s film:

https://www.the-cloud-door.com/

The focus as stated is on South Asian and diasporic films, founded by two fellows over in the UK. Here's an interview with them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrHu6nds2ek

Anyway they have their first release planned along with a Kickstarter to really get things going overall -- consider supporting it, I sez!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcd/om-dar-b-dar-1988-limited-edition-blu-ray-and-extras

It is The King's 60th birthday tomorrow, and cinemas around the world are showing some of his most popular films (or the ones that he owns the rights to, at any rate). Not in Ireland, though, no fear.

Anyway, we watched War 2 last night. It was fine. Certainly a hell of a lot better than Tiger 2. Disappointingly cheap green screen throughout, though. I could understand the need for frugality in some scenes because they certainly did race a bunch of cars around the streets of Valencia, which must have been expensive, but the green screen just looked SO CHEAP. I don't think Hrithik stood in a real room at any point in the film. And, just like in Jawan, there's a real feeling of "how old are you supposed to be, exactly?" about Hrithik's character.

I've added bbcasiannetwork to my instagram feed and they often have good bollywood stuff

This was a good call. Thanks as always.

https://kashcollectiveco.com/

Oh man. So cool.

Having purchased an Alia Bhatt t shirt I felt compelled to check out her star vehicle Gangubai Kathiawadi. Biopic (heavily fictionalised, as is the way with these things) of a brothel madam who got into politics and worked to help the rights of sex workers (she even meets Nehru at the end!). People on letterboxd were complaining that the transition from victim (she gets trafficked into the brothel she ends up running) to badass is too rushed, but frankly this being at heart an aspirational fantasy of female agency I was happy that it didn't go too far down the misery porn route. The premise overpromises a bit, suggesting she also gets into organised crime in a way she really doesn't, she just has a gangster friend with a moral code who supports her. But anyway Alia has charisma to spare and seeing her stand up for her girls is great entertainment.

Also forever blown away by how sexy Indian cinema is. There is a small subplot about her falling for this young tailor, literally the only scenes about it are him measuring her for a fitting and a scene of them communicating entirely via gestures as she throws some playing cards at him. Zero nudity, but...whoa.

I really enjoyed that film as well, and for the same reasons as you. I don't need an hour of Alia being degraded, thanks, I would rather have extra time of her kicking ass and taking names and generally looking like the queen she is.

A whole load of YRF soft-focus, pastel-jumpered classics just reappeared on Netflix after a long absence. For all your yearning needs.

Nice, thanks.

Also vaguely interested in that Kapoor reality show but I think I'll wait until I have a free weekend or something, lol.

I tried to watch a bit of that, but they switch between Hindi and English a lot and there are no subtitles, unless you put on the CC subtitles. Also the show definitely assumes you know all about them, which I don't. It's not aimed at me, clearly.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/shah-rukh-khan-kajol-ddlj-statue-london-1236599595/

Cute!