Indian Cinema [PART 4]

[dvd_freak]

Originally Posted by newginafets

I have some Hindi DVDs like:

Water
Swades
Black
1976
Dhoop
Saawariya
Majboor
Monsoon Wedding
Shiva
Iqbal
Salaam Bombay
Bombay

I think they are great!!

Those are definitely some good movies you have there.

[toddly6666]

Flixtime, which dvd should I buy: Veer-Zara, Swades, or Lakshya?

[flixtime]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Flixtime, which dvd should I buy: Veer-Zara, Swades, or Lakshya?

I suppose saving up for your child's college fund is not an option for me to select. To not be a wiseass, let me try and recall...I think SWADES was probably the best of those three. LAKSHYA has Hrithik Roshan who we both like, but his performance suffers from KOI MIL GAYA hangover...since he got so much acclaim for his performance in that earlier film, he seemed to carry over a lot of that character to LAKSHYA. I seem to recall not liking LAKSHYA very much, and given the talent involved it was certainly a disappointment. For some reason I remember the first twenty minutes or so of intro. really felt stretched and could have been done all within five minutes. VEER-ZAARA I recall not liking too much either. If I remember right, the second half features quite a bit of courtroom melodrama but it was kind of dumb where a lawyer saves the most obvious question/bit of information until the end of the trial and pulls it out as some great, inspired bit of lawyering when it is basically the most obvious think anyone could possibly ask. But maybe that is another movie I'm thinking about. So that leaves us with SWADES which I remember liking well enough except maybe for the short intro section which takes place in the U.S. But SWADES also garnered a lot of praise because thematically it was about returning to one's home roots and such...so that appeal might not be as strong for non-Indian viewers.

toddly, are you most definitely locked in on buying one of those three...or might you consider something like DOR (2006) or MAIN MADHURI DIXIT BANNA CHAHTI HOON! (2003)...if you haven't seen them.

[toddly6666]

I'm in the mood for a good recent Bollywood flick that doesn't star Kumar or Kareena Kapoor, and low creepy actor/cheese factor. The last good Bollywood film was still Luck By Chance. There really seems to be a lack of good films recently. So, I should go with SWADES? I'll check out the trailers for Dor and MAIN MADHURI DIXIT BANNA CHAHTI HOON

[flixtime]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

So, I should go with SWADES?

Not really sure it's something that you'd get too excited about. Maybe just put aside my thoughts on the films and go with whichever one seems to be calling out to you.

The Hindi film strike really slowed things down this year, even then LUCK BY CHANCE - at least in my book - was something special, a movie like that doesn't come around on a regular basis.

Did you ever catch RAB NE BANA DI JODI...maybe that'd work a little better than SWADES (I really don't recall much about SWADES). Or maybe something like OM SHANTI OM.


Might as well post some youtube clips for a Friday:

LUCK BY CHANCE - very sweet romantic ballad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijnS4SVDhfk

OM SHANTI OM - featuring guest appearances by many Bollywood stars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ECqdpmVMO0

JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM - Kiss of Love song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3GHI3bUJq4

[nitin77]

swades and lakshya were both ok IMHO. VZ was far too long and unconvincing. Lakshya, for me, faltered in the second half rather than the first. Swades I think had good and bad patches in both.

Planning to see Welcome to Sajjanpur next, anyone seen that?

[zombeaner]

I'm working on Sajjanpur, and the first hour is decent.

Swades was almost like a "real" movie, so that is a goof thing.

[flixtime]

Watched WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR a long while back via rental. I thought I mentioned it here but maybe not. Don't remember much...maybe average at best, certainly successful in a few areas, but too many faults to recommend...can't be too critical of it considering it was a "little" movie as compared to bigger-budget Bollywood fare...maybe an interesting non-success.

[nitin77]

zombeaner,

im in awe of that collection btw, some great titles I would love to have.

[zombeaner]

Originally Posted by nitin77

zombeaner,

im in awe of that collection btw, some great titles I would love to have.

I'm in awe of it as well. 200 or so DVDs are still sitting in boxes because I have nowhere to put them anymore. Every time I try to thin the herd I get sentimental and end up leaving everything in. Trying to pick a movie to watch is becoming more of a chore these days.

[nitin77]

finished Sajjanpur, although again I had to selectively fast forward through it.

Nice idea, but the execution is lacking IMHO. Way too long for what it is and some of it could have definitely been cut. Had it been about 90-100 min I would have said it was decent, as it is, I think its probably just below average.

[starman9000]

I saw Quick gun Murugun this weekend, that was one strange movie. (well, strange for me as it was my first experience in Indian theater)

"Wanted" looks pretty interesting.

[nitin77]

Om Shanti Om - ended up enjoying this even though it has no emotional pull whatsoever. But the self reflexive tone was actually a pleasant change from most bollywood cinema and it sure does look nice. Could have been better but was worth a watch.

[nitin77]

on a bit of a mini bollywood roll here, just finished Jhoom Barabar Jhoom which turned out to be reasonably entertaining lightweight entertainment. Length is again an issue with this type of film but I have to admit the rather long dance sequences were very nice, actually the whole thing excelled at spectacle.

[zombeaner]

I like those two as well. Bunty aur Babli has a similar tone to JBJ and a fantastic item number with Aishwariya Rai. I enjoyed that one as well.

[toddly6666]

Flixtime, thanks for two of the recommendations: Although I didn't finish watching them, DOR and SWADES seem pretty good. MAIN MADHURI DIXIT BANNA CHAHTI HOON, however, seems like a painful movie to watch right from the beginning. I also picked up LAKSHYA, which I haven't watched yet.

[flixtime]

You know...you guys watching all this Bollywood stuff lately...well...you're really starting to weird me out!


toddly, thank you for giving DOR a chance...hope it works out for you, especially given how much I've pushed it these past couple of years in this thread.

Curious to hear your final thoughts on MAIN MADHURI DIXIT if ever you get around to finishing it.


Might as well close with some more youtube goodness, a great ten-minute extravaganza from JAAN-E-MANN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvE7NKhbllI


And since you guys are being mean to Kareena Kapoor lately, I'm going to show her some love with this number:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kitv-G88cBs

[flixtime]

Originally Posted by starman9000

"Wanted" looks pretty interesting.

starman9000, decided to look this up just now. I'd keep your expectations very modest. It appears that WANTED is simply a Hindi-language remake of a mega-hit Telugu film from 2006 called POKIRI (starring Mahesh Babu, which I covered back in Part 3 of this discussion...poorly done Tony Jaa-inspired action seems to come to mind). As is often the case, since POKIRI shattered Telugu box-office records, it was remade into Tamil in 2007 called POKKIRI (note, the extra "K" in the title). The director of the Tamil version is also going to direct this Hindi remake.

The recent trend (prime example being the Telugu ATHADU (starring Mahesh Babu) being remade as the Hindi EK THE POWER OF ONE) indicates WANTED should be no better than average. Basically the type of Hindi action film that was popular two decades ago but is seen as outdated nowadays...but still continues as popular in slow-to-evolve South Indian cinema. Salman Khan seems a weak choice for this type of film. Actually at one time, I believe Aamir Khan was attached to the Hindi-language POKIRI remake, but maybe he opted for GHAJINI instead.

[starman9000]

Thanks flixtime, I'm a complete newb to Indian cinema, so I was just going by the many video's and previews I saw of it. I wish I could have gone to another flick besides Quick Gun, but my hosts really wanted me to go to an English speaking movie.

[nitin77]

review of Wanted :

http://www.planetbollywood.com/displ...=f092209125242

[flixtime]

India has announced their Oscar submission...drumroll, please...it's a low-budget, Marathi-language film called HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY about the fellow who made India's first ever movie back in 1913...haven't seen the film but it seems like an interesting selection.

Here's a link to the official site:
http://harishchandrachifactory.com/


Some of the better known films it beat out: DELHI 6, FASHION, DEV. D, KAMINEY, and NEW YORK.

[nitin77]

Fashion would have been a terrible ambassador.

I liked Delhi 6, not oscar entry material at all though. Havent seen the others.

Just finished Maqbool, as it stands I cant wait to watch Kaminey because Vishal Bhardwaj is now my favorite indian filmmaker. I'd put this on par with Omkara, perhaps not as technically proficient, but the rest of it is just high quality stuff. Dialogue is excellent, acting is superb all round and a few odd pacing gaffes in the second half are about the only negative I can think of.

[toddly6666]

ARUNDHATI
Awesome movie! And it's Telugu too! My first Telugu film! It's one of the fastest paced Indian film I have seen. Totally entertaining - my eyes were glued to the screen for the whole movie. The two hours just moves speedy fast. How to sum up ARUNDHATI? Very easily - it's an awesome horror/fantasy B-movie that seems like an Indian film directed by Sam Raimi - it's basically a mix of EVIL DEAD, DRAG ME TO HELL, and a little HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. Good acting from the three leads - the girl, the fakir, and the villain - and an exciting story. No filler in this movie. That's what I'm most impressed about this film - no...filler...And there's tons of special effects in this film - done very well considering this is a Telugu film. I would say that it matches the special effects of 1995, similar to what you would expect when watching Mortal Kombat. Gotta give them credit for trying! And this movie would definitely be R-Rated for the violence.

The DVD is not bad. The anamorphic video is good enough. But it's the audio (Telugu DD 5.1 or DTS) that rocks. The English subtitles are a bit crappy. I really hope an American horror studio buys this movie, because it will be so much better with better English subtitles. No extras.

FILM: 8 (this is a Telugu film that doesn't suck...for its "B-movie horror/fantasy" genre at least)
DVD VIDEO: 7
DVD AUDIO: 8
ENGLISH SUBTITLES: 7

[Ravid]

Originally Posted by starman9000

I saw Quick gun Murugun this weekend, that was one strange movie. (well, strange for me as it was my first experience in Indian theater)

I've been waiting to see this for a while. I didn't know it was playing in the US. Its certainly not playing in my city. It seems like the kind of movie where you'd have to know something about old Indian (especially Tamil) movies to understand where much of the humor comes from.

[nitin77]

just saw Kaminey.

Flixtime, I think you were way too harsh on this because although I was disappointed with this as a followup to Maqbool and Omkara, it was fairly solid stuff. Lock Stock was the obvious inspiration and although this doesnt reach anywhere near the same heights (too long, not as funny, action scenes are too chaotic), I found it entertaining.

On a side note, I wonder if the dvd I saw, which was *very* dark, was the intended look or just another screwup in hindi dvds. I could hardly make out anything during the Dhan Te Nan song at all.