Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, December 5, 2011
Three Idiots
When Indians would pooh-pooh Bollywood masala to me, I used to cite a list of great Bollywood films to make them admit they actually do like good masala movies. Now, I just mention 3 Idiots. FTW!
For those of you who still don't get Bollywood, the masala formula is, roughly, this: singing, dancing, comedy, drama, melodrama1, death, birth, a monsoon dance number--and maybe a fight scene--a movie that you, your kid sister, your prudish Auntie and your dad can all watch and enjoy without boredom or embarrassment. A good one should make you laugh, cry, and hum the best song for a week. A great one will do all that, and maybe even change the way you view the world.
The formula has grown pretty tired in the last fifteen years, as younger directors have edged--or run screaming--away from it. Writer-director Rajkumar Hirani and his co-writer Abhijat Joshi ran screaming into it and made masala wildly entertaining and meaningful again. And they did it with the dull subject of education reform. Is there anything so boring these two couldn't transform it into something magical? (The History of Indian Mud maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it.) This is a movie for the whole family, even your foul-mouthed Auntie and the snobbish professor Uncle who claims he hasn't seen a Bollywood film since Pakeezah.
First, the quibbles: I usually LOVE Boman Irani, but his character in this didn't quite work for me; the birth scene almost breached my threshold for corn; and, the film lags a bit in the middle. But the rest of the movie is so sweethearted and so much fun those diddling things don't matter much in the grand scheme. The slapstick and sight gags are inspired, the melodrama moving, the corn sweet, the musical numbers dazzling. Hirani and Joshi use the masala formula with appreciation, to support the film's many moments of more subversive comedy and finely-tuned drama. The camera-mounted copter scene still haunts me. The ending still makes me laugh.
What an ingenious and irresistible vehicle for its message, to foster talent, question authority, think outside the box, and foremost, provide education for all. Idiots was a megahit all over India--across all demographics. It got the whole country talking about education reform, just as the Indian parliament was taking on the long-awaited Right to Education bill. Beyond India and the overseas NRI2 markets, it has a fervent cult following in Hollywood and is now a viral hit among Chinese youth. Reports say Stephen Chow, no less, will adapt and direct a Chinese version.
In their previous film, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Hirani and Joshi took on Gandhism and political corruption in their own smart-silly way. Their next is rumored to be about "Godmen," i.e., yogis, gurus, priests, mullahs et al. (They are proliferating with the mass media in India. It seems like every third channel on TV is someone in holy robes preaching the truth according to him. Also, peddling his spiritual books, DVDs and eponymous brand of ayurvedic herbal products.)
UPDATE: Aamir Khan and Hirani will team up again for Hirani's next movie.
1 What's melodrama to the middle and upper classes is everyday life for many in India. Idiots handled this well, showing the absurd sacrifices already poor people have to make to send a child to school, even on scholarship.
2 Non-resident Indian.
For those of you who still don't get Bollywood, the masala formula is, roughly, this: singing, dancing, comedy, drama, melodrama1, death, birth, a monsoon dance number--and maybe a fight scene--a movie that you, your kid sister, your prudish Auntie and your dad can all watch and enjoy without boredom or embarrassment. A good one should make you laugh, cry, and hum the best song for a week. A great one will do all that, and maybe even change the way you view the world.
The formula has grown pretty tired in the last fifteen years, as younger directors have edged--or run screaming--away from it. Writer-director Rajkumar Hirani and his co-writer Abhijat Joshi ran screaming into it and made masala wildly entertaining and meaningful again. And they did it with the dull subject of education reform. Is there anything so boring these two couldn't transform it into something magical? (The History of Indian Mud maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it.) This is a movie for the whole family, even your foul-mouthed Auntie and the snobbish professor Uncle who claims he hasn't seen a Bollywood film since Pakeezah.
First, the quibbles: I usually LOVE Boman Irani, but his character in this didn't quite work for me; the birth scene almost breached my threshold for corn; and, the film lags a bit in the middle. But the rest of the movie is so sweethearted and so much fun those diddling things don't matter much in the grand scheme. The slapstick and sight gags are inspired, the melodrama moving, the corn sweet, the musical numbers dazzling. Hirani and Joshi use the masala formula with appreciation, to support the film's many moments of more subversive comedy and finely-tuned drama. The camera-mounted copter scene still haunts me. The ending still makes me laugh.
What an ingenious and irresistible vehicle for its message, to foster talent, question authority, think outside the box, and foremost, provide education for all. Idiots was a megahit all over India--across all demographics. It got the whole country talking about education reform, just as the Indian parliament was taking on the long-awaited Right to Education bill. Beyond India and the overseas NRI2 markets, it has a fervent cult following in Hollywood and is now a viral hit among Chinese youth. Reports say Stephen Chow, no less, will adapt and direct a Chinese version.
In their previous film, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Hirani and Joshi took on Gandhism and political corruption in their own smart-silly way. Their next is rumored to be about "Godmen," i.e., yogis, gurus, priests, mullahs et al. (They are proliferating with the mass media in India. It seems like every third channel on TV is someone in holy robes preaching the truth according to him. Also, peddling his spiritual books, DVDs and eponymous brand of ayurvedic herbal products.)
UPDATE: Aamir Khan and Hirani will team up again for Hirani's next movie.
1 What's melodrama to the middle and upper classes is everyday life for many in India. Idiots handled this well, showing the absurd sacrifices already poor people have to make to send a child to school, even on scholarship.
2 Non-resident Indian.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Shiva and Shakti
Catching up on my Indian film reading...interesting how so much of the groundbreaking cinema (and television) these days, comes from potent male-female partnerships--husbands and wives, brothers and sisters--notably: Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao at AKP, Anurag Kashyap and Kalki Koechlin, Farhan and Zoya Akhtar at Excel, Ekta and Tushar Kapoor at Balaji. So Indian, so organic.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Big B in 3D Great Gatsby, WSJ and NYT
Amitabh Bachchan has been tapped to co-star with Leonardo Dicaprio and Tobey Macguire in Baz Luhrman's 3D Great Gatsby, in a juicy character role as Meyer Wolfsheim, inspired by real-life gangster Arnold Rothstein.
More proof that America is starting to take India very seriously.... The Wall Street Journal has revamped and beefed up their India coverage and added a Bollywood blogger to their India Real Time line-up....
And the New York Times has launched a whole new blog on India, called India Ink, with an impressive list of contributors.
Hollywood and the western media woke up to India in a big way the last ten years. I'm waiting for western publishing to do the same. So far, they seem oblivious to India's lit boom. But I predict in the next two years every author who can will be maneuvering, manipulating and sweet-talking their way into Indian litfest invitations. (I could predict which ones will, but I'll keep that to myself. :) )
More proof that America is starting to take India very seriously.... The Wall Street Journal has revamped and beefed up their India coverage and added a Bollywood blogger to their India Real Time line-up....
And the New York Times has launched a whole new blog on India, called India Ink, with an impressive list of contributors.
Hollywood and the western media woke up to India in a big way the last ten years. I'm waiting for western publishing to do the same. So far, they seem oblivious to India's lit boom. But I predict in the next two years every author who can will be maneuvering, manipulating and sweet-talking their way into Indian litfest invitations. (I could predict which ones will, but I'll keep that to myself. :) )
Friday, September 2, 2011
Bol
"Shoaib Mansoor is rapidly becoming the flag-bearer for new Pakistani cinema."
"The film is a tour de force, both in terms of the performances by the two main protagonists, daughter Humaima and father Manzar and in the narrative which spills over with umpteen twists and turns, geared to shock and shake you up, with their horrific tenor. If Humaima Malik is picture perfect as the rebellious daughter who dares to question her father and even take drastic measures to ensure that justice prevails amidst all the inequity, then Manzar Sehbai is magnificent as the tyrannical man who is desperate to hang on to family honour and moribund traditions." (TOI)
"The film is a tour de force, both in terms of the performances by the two main protagonists, daughter Humaima and father Manzar and in the narrative which spills over with umpteen twists and turns, geared to shock and shake you up, with their horrific tenor. If Humaima Malik is picture perfect as the rebellious daughter who dares to question her father and even take drastic measures to ensure that justice prevails amidst all the inequity, then Manzar Sehbai is magnificent as the tyrannical man who is desperate to hang on to family honour and moribund traditions." (TOI)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The Dirty Picture
The Dirty Picture, the Silk Smitha biopic, is generating much chatter after the release of the official promos.
Smitha, a South Indian movie heroine, died in 1996, a probable suicide at age 36. For that and other reasons, she draws comparisons to Marilyn Monroe.
Normally, I dislike those E!nglish parallels ("He's India's George Clooney!" "She's India's Meryl Streep!") But in this case, it's less about putting it into a western context for easier digestibility, and more about something universal that connects both Marilyn and Silk, women who arose in puritannical times and shook all the timbers with their unbridled and complex sexuality, before being consumed.
Silk took on bolder roles than Marilyn however: "A vast majority of her movies are softcore and a common theme is her playing a freakishly strong agent in skimpy bikinis beating up huge thugs." (Wikipedia) More Silk Smitha videos here.
Produced by Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Films, directed by Milan Luthria and starring Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi.
Smitha, a South Indian movie heroine, died in 1996, a probable suicide at age 36. For that and other reasons, she draws comparisons to Marilyn Monroe.
Normally, I dislike those E!nglish parallels ("He's India's George Clooney!" "She's India's Meryl Streep!") But in this case, it's less about putting it into a western context for easier digestibility, and more about something universal that connects both Marilyn and Silk, women who arose in puritannical times and shook all the timbers with their unbridled and complex sexuality, before being consumed.Silk took on bolder roles than Marilyn however: "A vast majority of her movies are softcore and a common theme is her playing a freakishly strong agent in skimpy bikinis beating up huge thugs." (Wikipedia) More Silk Smitha videos here.
Produced by Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Films, directed by Milan Luthria and starring Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Bollywood in Britain
Stumbled into a great blog today. Read about Bollywood's impact on one British-Pakistani woman. Enjoy.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Breakaway/Speedy Singhs: Shera Di Kaum
First song from Breakaway, aka Speedy Singhs, Akshay Kumar's Indo-Canadian production about a Sikh ice hockey team, opening soon, with Akki, Russell Peters, Ludacris, Rob Lowe, Anupam Kher and newcomer Vinay Virmani, who also co-wrote the script:
And here is the trailer:
Opens in India September 23rd, 2011. Co-Produced by Akshay Kumar and Paul Gross (Canada's Akshay Kumar).
Trivia: There is a thriving ice hockey league in Leh, Ladakh in Northern India. The head of India's ice hockey association is also named...Akshay Kumar. They should have a mini-premiere in Leh, with the other Akshay.
And here is the trailer:
Opens in India September 23rd, 2011. Co-Produced by Akshay Kumar and Paul Gross (Canada's Akshay Kumar).
Trivia: There is a thriving ice hockey league in Leh, Ladakh in Northern India. The head of India's ice hockey association is also named...Akshay Kumar. They should have a mini-premiere in Leh, with the other Akshay.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Ryan Gilbey's Bollywood Contract
The Guardian is now taking Hindi cinema seriously... for the non-Desi audience. Here's Gilbey's superb reviews of Zindagi Na Milegi Doba and Sangham.
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