Why are they singing about Hetch Hetchy?

Is there a plot summary?

No way in hell are we going to end up second best to a country with such crappy entertainment.

I'm guessing the young guy is ogged, and the older guy is the cockblocker he summoned from a possible world.

I kept expecting the guys' chorus line to break out with the moves from "Greased Lightning!"

The lead guy could do with dropping 20lbs.

Yeah, I've never understood why, when the actresses are stunnahs, so many Bollywood men are so tubby.

6: which makes 4 just oh so true.

Subtitled.

Both those guys were tools, she was right to blow them off.

Hollywood should have never given up the musical format. Or started taking itself seriously.

I don't have anything to say about Bollywood; just want to thank whoever it was who linked the Stephen Dixon interview in comments the other day. One of the best interviews I've read in a while -- I loved how they structured it so you heard his voice and his experiences, rather than the interviewer interjecting his own cleverness all the time. I especially liked Dixon's story about Khrushchev:

I interviewed him when he came to America. I was the first person to get an interview with him. If I did the same thing [now] I did then, I'd get shot. Running up the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial. All the reporters were cordoned off, but I just went under the cordon and ran up the steps, and Khrushchev looked at me and said, "Well, who are you?" in Russian. And then the translator asked me who I was in English. I said I just wanted a brief interview. And I got an interview. That was in 1960, when he was visiting America.

[...] I remember when I got back to the pool of reporters, they asked me, "What did he say? What did he say?" I told them I didn't know, it was all in Russian. And I had to get the exclusive back to the office. So I hailed the cab, gave the driver money, and told him to drop it off at the radio station.

ok watching it the second time, with subtitles, it is clear she's taking the older dude more seriously. Why?

Also, the song is spelled Kajra Re, but the are clearly adding another syllable when they sing it: Ka-ja-ra-re. What's up with that?

Were this an American song called "night eyes" sung by a hair metal band, it would have the same level of cheese, but I wouldn't enjoy it. Does the distancing that comes with cultural boundaries make it easier to enjoy cheese?

(At least as dancers, though, these people are more talented than hair metal bands, who really had no skill at anything.)

She's not blowing off all the dudes. She seems to be interested in the skeevy older one. The guys look like they were on the wrong set though, compared to the girls.

Also, the song is spelled Kajra Re, but the are clearly adding another syllable when they sing it: What's up with that?

I don't really know anything about Hindi, but it could be some sort of epenthesis rule, maybe just to fit the meter of the song.

13: From what I've been able to tell, they are -- it's a movie about two guys on the run, stumbling through a bunch of different milieux, wackily.

Also, I really like her costume. I would look good in that. It should be officewear.

16: If you were a Bollywood star, it would be.

16: also, more offices should feature dancing like that.

18: Only if more offices features hotties like that. Otherwise, um, not so much with the dancing.

Would certainly make the department colloquia more interesting.

Not to mention closing arguments.

Only if more offices features hotties like that. Otherwise, um, not so much with the dancing.

Word. My shift is pretty much all dudes at the moment. WTF.

But if you could reject someone's closing argument by blowing out their candle, that would rule.

I heart Bollywood. *Obviously* she prefers the skeevy, unattractive older guy because he knows how to play the game. I bet she ends up with the sweet younger guy, though.

At SLU we have a really nice string quartet that does a short residence every year and is available to visit your classroom. I suggested to their representative that they should just set up in my classroom and provide improvised musical accompaniment to the class discussion. For some reason this suggestion was not taken seriously.

I should totally send that link to my sister: new bridesmaid's dresses, girl!

you know who is fucking supernaturally hot? aishwara rai. this reminds me of something that I've long wanted to do but never have, which is go see one of these movies in a theater full of (singaporean) tamil people. they have subtitles, and I bet they have great muruku to snack on. (muruku are various sorts of fried things made of gram flour. twisties, pretzel-shapes, chippie things mixed with peanuts, that sort of thing.)

gswift: Bollywood is only the biggest piece of India's film industry. There's also Tollywood and other regional industries.

So that's what that song looks like. It's from Bubli aur Bunty which I have not seen, but I own the soundtrack. Y'all know the older guy is Ash's future father-in-law (Big B himself) and the younger guy is her fiance Abhishek? They probably arranged for her to do that guest number in the early stages of the courtship. The actual heroine of that movie is one of my favorites. (In other words, I don't think she ends up going with either of those guys.)

I'm one of those desi kids who loves Bollywood music, can dig Bollywood dance numbers and likes Bollywood movies but generally doesn't like they way they mix. It usually works better, for my (Americanized? something) tastes, if they are more historical or fantastical---Lagaan, Paheli, Parineeta, even Devdas. If you can deal with musicals in general, Lagaan is great on that front. Asoka was a tragic exception--a movie where I loved the soundtrack but would have been 200% happier with the movie if I could have excised each of the songs. I tend to prefer it when the songs are either merely "picturized" or the fiction that these people can sing is dispensed with. ( I ldo ove to watch them dance.) So I daydream of a director who can eventually make the perfect short (say, 2 hour) Bollywood movie wherein the songs are perfectly integrated into the movie. Futile I'm sure.

But what do I know? My blood hales from West Bengal, home of the frequently grim and realistic works of Satyajit Ray. We don't get our money's worth at a movie until everyone is weeping at the futility and unfairness of life.

(Which is why the recent rash of Bengali novels being turned into Bollywood movies again is kinda fun. My favorite recent picturization with lyrics here. Listen carefully, you might hear a familiar word. Parineeta also featured a guest number from the smokin' Rekha. )

I work in an office filled with attractive women. Multiple floors of them.

you know who is fucking supernaturally hot? aishwara rai.

No kidding, yo.

I watched the whole Apu trilogy before most people were born. I did notice that the series was divided into chunks by a series of funerals. I liked the slow-movingness of it, but no one else did.

The belly dancer is too skinny, probably a concession to Maxim kids. The chunkier guy is about right. The subtitles helpe me understand that I wasn't missing any subtleties.

27, 29 -- does she always have such a vapid expression on her face?

before most people were born

I am hoping we are currently in a historical moment which this phrase describes correctly.

About 1967. Most people have been born since then, no? Worldwide.

bahh, youre crazyl

that guy isn't quite as hot as aishwarya, but not so not hot as to get blown off right away, wihch is all that matters, really.

29: Yes. Yes you do.

30. Of those Aparajito is the one I usually refuse to rewatch b/c it's so depressing. But even Aparajito has nothing on the Postmaster short in the Teen Kanya set. So. Fucking. Bleak.

Kanchenjunga is my favorite Ray movie in which almost nothing happens.

does she always have such a vapid expression on her face?

Who cares?

Me -- I care.

You're high. Chicks who look like that can wear any expression they please.

38: While I'm not the world's biggest Ash fan (much bigger fan of Vidya Balan or Rani Mukherjee or Madhuri Dixit) that is totally an non-representative shot--it almost doesn't look like her to me.

40 -- ok. I had never seen her before and was going on the first result I got from Google, or IMDB, or some such search engine.

She never struck me eas being vapid, yo.

I bow to the greater hottness-perception of the Mineshaft. Madhuri Dixit should totally have a younger sister named Ipse.

You realize that she is the chick in this clip Ogged has blogged?

(that is to say, greater hottness-and-vapidity-perception)

44 -- oh! No, I did not realize that. The picture I conjured up with Google does not look like the woman dancer in that video, which I guess is what 40 is saying.

She's not vapid on film. She has a very expressive face.

Although I tend to make fun of Bollywood stuff, I have to admit that this was a nice touch on Inside Man.

46: Ah let me spell it out then.
This clip Ogged has blogged is from Bubli Aur Bunty.
The heroine = Aishwarya Rai, often referred to as Ash. The older guy is Amitabh "big B" Bacchan, the older king of Bollywood. The younger guy is his son--and Ash's recently announced fiance--Abhishek Bacchan. The actual heroine of this movie is Rani Mukherjee.

I linked to Parineeta whose heroine is Vidya Balan and whose hero is Saif Ali Khan, and the second clip I linked shows Rekha and Sanjay Dutt.

(And John, Saif Ali Khan is the real life son of Sharmila Tagore, who made her debut in Apur Sansar, and the Cricket Captain/Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan.)

"She's not vapid on film. She has a very expressive face."

Thats not what vapid means to me. ITs an emotional shallowness that means emotions are too easily won. you can just push a button and out come happieness or surprise or dissallusion or what ever have you.

The chick in this clip is incandescently hot.

I shouldn't say this, but my research indicates a shortage of South Asian porn. One of the least represented demographics. Someone should file a protest.

I saw a straight on Bollywood movie, something contemporary where the leads would break into choreoography and song walking home from work, and absolutely loved it. Loved everything about it.
Sexiness, romance, and innocence at once. Sophistication without cynicism. That scene from above is typical. Loved it. I have started Lagaan but it felt too serious.

I love Indian, Hindi, Sufi music. All of it. I hear a lot of Mexican pop on my neighborhood and can't stand it, but even the poppiest Indian pop has the traces of classical...grace notes?...I don't know but I love it all.

Somehow from the pictures Rani Mukherjee was the lead in the movie I saw. I wish I could remember more, it was just a silly romance.

The chick in this clip is incandescently hot.

As an Iranian, naturally I believe that Hindustan should be wiped from the scene of history, but Aishwarya Rai really does look like she descended to Earth from some other, more perfect, planet.

Yeah for me its the combo of blue eyes whihc i alwasy l ike b/c they make for better hits: brown = fucking earth tonesn which SNORE.

But plus you add in indianisms which maybe i've all a softie for b/c of my crush on Dhivya in 9-11th grades and now i can't think logically.

Wait, what? I thought you just wanted to enslave us or somesuch. Most of my Iranian friends dig teh Bollywood at least a little.

Most of my Iranian friends dig teh Bollywood at least a little.

Just because their hate burns with the fire of a thousand suns doesn't mean they won't bang your women.

Does the distancing that comes with cultural boundaries make it easier to enjoy cheese?

No need to worry about distancing yourself from that undesirable outgroup (eg, metal dudes).

dammit

59:me

50: I figured you meant vapid in the sense of dull, flat, and emotionless.

Metal dudes totally get laid like WHoah. IF the music didn't choack i'd be all over that.

Blue eyes make for better hits? What?

if hits were crushes, yes teo.

I like reading words meaning what other words mean.

also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Frank_Sinatra%27s_awards_and_accolades

65: Indeed.

I have blue eyes. Top of the charts, here I come!

SEe, now i've got a crush on you.

Just because their hate burns with the fire of a thousand suns doesn't mean they won't bang your women.

"your women" would include me, which might explain why the haterade was kept under wraps.

My favorite pair of movie star blue eyes are Peter O'Toole's, when peaks over the frame of a painting in How To Steal A Million

So Iranians don't love disco either? They hate that too with the fire of a thousand suns?

I'm starting to get a unified-field theory of the mullahs. They were wild and crazy guys chasing the American foxes with the large American breasts, and the Beegees and Abba sent them over the edge. I sympathize enormously, but those bands were Swedish and Australian. Why hate on America? Not fair!

My favorite pair of movie star blue eyes are Peter O'Toole's, when peaks over the frame of a painting in How To Steal A Million

Ohhhhh yeah.

Is there an argument for how the arc of moviemaking starts at different moments for each culture, but follow roughly the same evolution?

Also, I just saw Venus. For my money, the Observer review got it exactly wrong, and the Guardian review got it exactly right. (Reviews.)

First off, I don't think that Aishwarya Rai is so hott. Sure, she's pretty, but it's the kind of prettiness that just looks like it's been morphed together from a bunch of other pretty faces. Now Nargis -- she was HOTT!

Question for Ile: Why can't Bollywood do a multi-biopic about the Raj Kapoor dynasty? That would make it possible to seamlessly integrate the music-and-dance numbers into the diegesis in a way that could make for an even bigger crossover smash than Lagaan!

Also, Ile, Devdas?!?! Since this comes up in a discussion of generic Bollywood, I'm assuming you mean the 2002 version which is like the Brendan Fraser Mummy as it compares to the Boris Karloff Mummy. I.e. ruined and grotesque. Like, both of the families are richer than Croesus, their servants have servants who also, in turn, have servants, and the problem with the kids getting married is that there's acting in the slightly-less-rich family's background? Pre-diculous.

Also, I prefer to think of John Emerson watching the Apu trilogy at the dawn of the world, in a Platonic cave, with Aslan.

We in Egypt (now in Portland) heart Amitabh Bachchan!!!! Thank you for posting this. My son knew it and was explaining it to me (yes, he thought it needed explaining.)

I don't think that Aishwarya Rai is so hott

Now Nargis -- she was HOTT!

So.

Okay, I'm not a liberal. I'm an anarchist. Liberals always sell us out.

Secondly, Nargis looks ... wait for it ... like a real person! Aishwarya Rai, is, as I said above, pretty, but she's all bleached out and airbrushed and fussed over. I mean, what, specifically, do you all like about her face? To me, she looks exactly like every other contemporary ingenue -- Bollywood, Hollywood, bleedin' Natalie Wood -- big eyes; skinny; small, regular features; nothing even a tiny bit distinctive. If Nargis looked at you with a sultry expression, man, you better believe she meant it. When Aishwarya Rai tries to give come-hither glances, it's ruined by the expectation that, even if you did find yourself having sex with her, she'd probably be letting out the occasional vapid moan while texting her friend in Paris about the new Maserati she's going to buy.

Also, that's not even that great a picture of Nargis.

Rai's attractive, but I think I prefer the Big Brother woman (though apparently she's v. irritating). Agree, sort of, with #75, though it might not be that specific variant of liberal aesthetic.

I didn't use that second picture, minne, because it looked like someone in drag. But I'm happy if you're happy.

This movie looks interesting.

(I realize there is a very high probability that that joke has already appeared on Unfogged; if so, apologies.)

Whatever. Nargis had a strong jaw, not like these chinless wonders you see on screen nowadays. That hardly makes her look like a drag performer. Also, since we're meant to be talking about film here, I'd point out that AR's only claim to competence here is as an exposition of Kuleshov's theories of montage. You can intercut her with anything and her expression will look appropriate, because there's nothing there. Nargis, by contrast, could actually act. Like, you know, an actress.

I reject your teachings, anarchist. Someone once pointed out to me that in a lot of scenes that we consider well-acted, the performers maintain basically blank expressions, which the viewer then interprets as he sees fit. It's not always true, but it's been surprising to me how often it is true.

And anyway, we're a gay-friendly blog; it's totally cool that you like a Bollywood drag queen.

77: It sounds like that sort of liberal aesthetic b/c its usually one opposed to sorority girl looks, since those are the most broadly appealing sort that need to be pushed back.

82: I was thinking that it's a species of the Cult of Authenticity principles. You don't really understand Musician X (or medium Y, or aesthetic Z) if you prefer the more popular Album B to the better Album A. It's not really a liberal characteristic; everyone does it, and sometimes it's even appropriate. If you're going to make judgments about Quality, you have to make them somehow.

Much sexier in my humble opinion. Plus, Preity Zinta has a somewhat normal body shape and the video doesn't shy away from it.

Shah Rokh doesn't hurt the sexxy factor, either. MUCH better than Amitabh Bacchan.

Minne, like I said I'm not the 100% Ash fan many other people are, but I have no idea what you're talking about. She's quite expressive in a very classical way.

Re: Devdas: I was specifically referring to how the songs work with the rest of the movie---i.e. they didn't leave me cringing and longing to take a razor blade to the reel, like, say Asoka. That said I'm not the 2002 Devdas hater most people are for two big reasons---a) when I saw it I had not seen any of the previous more famous and respectable versions nor read the book and b) I had no expectations that it would be some massively different breakaway film.

I don't think Paro's family had any servants in 2002 movie? I'll have to finish the book, but you can be relatively poor in India and still have servants because other people are even poorer and b/c you have better credit--especially back in the 1900s. Acting in the family would have been a big deal, though I'm sure it was introduced to get that (most annoying) song in, but the real big deal was actually mentioned---bride-buying versus dowry indicates a small but significant separation in class. I think the point in the movie is that they were "respectable" (enough to send Paro to school in the book which wasa huge deal in its time) but still not good enough for Devdas's family, b/c Devdas's family didn't care about his feelings--and eventually Paro didn't care about hers. So instead of worrying about the finely wrought original story, I took 2002 on its own terms which just relies on that basic problem--the Indian version of Romeo and Juliet where the lovers have so internalized the idea of duty they themselves are the agents of their own destruction combined with Devdas overcoming his own prejudices only in time to die. So I saw it like an opera--all the bling was an external expression of intense feeling of the characters for their painfully absurd but sadly plausible situation. Now I'm pretty sure that's what the director wanted people to see (based on interviews), but I think he failed in properly signalling that to most viewers, and simply offended them with the bling. But yeah, it has nothing to do with the Dilip Kumar movie and very little to do with the novel. It's very much like opera versions of stories.

Preity is super cute, but I don't find her a stunner.

Speaking of the better versions of Devdas and normal bodies, Vijayanti Mala in Bimal Roy's Madhumati.

84: Wait, what? You linked to a hot song from Dil Se and it wasn't Chaiya Chaiya? I mean, I've never seen the whole movie, but dude! They were dancing on top of a moving train!

Preity Zinta is far too wholesome looking.

I'm guessing the young guy is ogged

Really? Maybe I'm not watching this the right way.

Unrelated to that, I would love to see Hollywood go back to doing musicals. Yes, yes, I'm living the stereotype.

84, 86: But they dance surrounded by elephants! Elephants! Without freaking right the fuck out, even!

86: chaiya chaiya does not feature enough exposed SRK flesh for my taste, though the train dance is pretty stunning.

87: FYI, Preity is the hero's betrothed in the film, but she is not the real love interest-- he's smitten with Manisha Koirala, the sexy suicide bomber. Preity was cast to be extra wholesome in contrast.

I couldn't stomach Devdas for the reasons in 73, but Dil Se remains my favorite modern bollywood movie. It's just so beautifully shot.

For sure, the hottest suicide bombers are the Tamils.

88: I want more Blues Brothers. And I'm a sucker for scenes like the parade in Ferris Bueller or the manly tape in In and Out. But I didn't like Moulin Rouge that much. It's a tricky balance.

90: The thing is I really like that song, and I wish the picturization had been closer to the lyrics. . .it's a song for night time, for smoke and flames and shadows and bedrooms--it only touches on that at the very end. I found the choreography between her and SRK very jerky and forced. But yeah, SRK and all the shirtless guys. . . nice.

People have been telling me to see Dil Se for years.

Hotter than the Basque?

85: Am I just totally confused about the 2002 Devdas? I thought it was the one where we cut between the two families' respective houses and it's a near thing which one of them is the more absurdly opulent. This of course being in huge contrast to the 1955 Dilip Kumar version, which I had seen just a week or two before seeing the 2002 version. I was talking about servants in more of a metaphorical way -- I don't remember a lot of servants in the movie, but obviously they must be there, 'cause both mansions had a heck of a lot of things to dust (also, some people I know were just talking about servants in re: wealthy Indians). And does the 2002 version have that crazy all-electric blue sequence? I dunno, I'm not much of a Bollywood fan, so some of it tends to run together since I'm not up on all the gossip and stuff.

I didn't like Moulin Rouge that much.

I very much did, but I'd watch Ewan McGregor read from the phone book for two hours if that's what was playing.

i want to see naked vidya balan