Reads (& Flicks) of the Month: November

Sadly, I've only read one book this month — well, not read, maybe viewed: Celluloid.

But I have watched:

• Queen — will buy it soon!
• Chandni Chowk to China — ugh. The only reason I borrowed this was that it was one of the handful of Hindi titles my library carries and I plan to go through all of them (well, except the ones I already own)
• Barton Fink: interesting — and Adrian and Ambrose together!
• Brazil: it's both horrifying and sad. Now waiting for the day the world decides to go the way of Brazil ... I knew the last bit must've been a dream or Sam's imagination but I could help trying to believe he got to live happily ever after with Jill. Damn it Gillian, why couldn't you make the ending more ambiguous?
• Brave — finally ...
• Barfi! — one of the DVDs I bought yesterday!
• Peter Pan (1953) — I'd only ever seen the 1988 animation when I was a kid. Is it me, or did Disney make the relationship dynamics between Tinklebell and Peter, Tinkerbell and Wendy, and Peter and Wendy, a whole lot of weird? And what's with all that sexual jealousy that all the female inhabitants of Neverland have of Wendy? I honesty never saw that sexual jealousy as a child but now it's pretty much in my face.
• Agent Vinod — to reiterate: NO FUCKING NO NO NO NO NO. Just ... NO.
• The City of Lost Children (currently watching)

Rewarded myself for surviving this shit-hole of a month by buying six DVDs yesterday — three (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and Jhankaar Beats) to replace the VCD titles and three 'new' titles (Heyy Babyy — why, girl, why did you buy this?! — Barfi!, and Jolly LLB).

Also managed to catch Revolver Rani yesterday on TV. Oh Kangana and Vir Das look kinda cute together! Also, the people (not the actors) behind Agent Vinod should take a cue from Revolver Rani and fucking learn to come up with scene/contextually suitable songs and how to insert the song-and-dance scenes appropriate so the viewer (well, me) won't go WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS so bloody often.

=\

So I just finished Agent Vinod and ... Lawd what a fucking time waster.

When I saw the word "Interval", I was like, interval — only now?!

Whenever the music came, it never made any fucking sense. NO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER.

The bomb with the Rubaiyat as a key of sort — NO.

Bebo's character could carry a fucking conversation with two bullet shots to her fucking liver — what the fucking fuck is that?

The fact is, I saw what must have been a promo pic from Humshakals — this one to be precise:

I thought Khan looked pretty cute in drag — though not as cute (pretty, even!) as Sharman Joshi in Golmaal — but OMG. It's weird because he doesn't look like he has a high body fat percentage, but his thighs look ... well, fat. And no definable quads to speak of (I had larger quads than him when I was still doing aerials) for someone who looks like he must lift or work out.

Bah. Anyway. Agent Vinod — NO FUCKING NO NO NO NO NO. Just ... NO.

Another Bollywood Weekend

Made myself watch Barfi! last night. I've read good reviews of it but avoided it because I know it'll upset my emotional balance.

Actually, I like it a lot so I'm gonna buy the DVD and never watch. it (Well ... maybe just the scenes of Barfi and Jhilmil interacting because those are adorably charming.)

My only complaints:

• the instrumental track (I love Delicatessen and Amelie, and however good Barfi! is, it's not as whimsical as Jeunet's works);
• even if it's a tribute to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Basu should've directed Kapoor to try to be a little more original (wtf is fuck black-and-white life-size cutout of Chaplin doing in the flick? There's no need to bash that reference over your audience's collective heads);
• Shruti looks too young for Barfi (I'd initially thought D'Cruz must be at least a decade younger than Kapoor) which made it a little creepy for me at first;
• it's one of those films that show erroneously that if a guy is unrelenting in his pursuit of a girl, without regard for her lack of feelings for him, he'll eventually wear her down and she'll just give up.

Also caught Hasee Toh Phasee — OMG I <3 Parineeti Chopra!!! She is just utterly, utterly adorable. AND she can act. Jackpot!

Can't wait for next weekend when I'll finally reward myself with a shitload of new movies!

Much Ado About Bollywood

Ever since I read Much Ado About Nothing, I've decide that this comedy will make the fucking best Bollywood flick (second only to Rangeela), and I've been thinking about the casting. So, I'm going with:

Ben & Bea

• Aamir Khan & Urmilla Matondkar (for their awesome chemistry and banter in Rangeela)
• Rahul Bose & Konkana Sen Sharma (my favorite jodi next to Munna & Mili <3)]
• Kajol & Ajay Devgan (not too sure about this. Raju Chacha flopped but apparently U, Me Aur Hum did well? I think Kajol would make a great Beatrice at any rate)
• Sanjay Suri & Juhi Chawla (cuz Jhankaar Beats is my second favorite movie!)
• Vidya Balan & ? (love her — I just don't know who would complement her best)
• Tabu & ?
• Madhuri Dixit & ?
• Rani Mukherji & Abhishek Bachchan (they look and work awesome together)

Claudio & Hero

• Arjun Rampal & Dia Mirza (my first choice since 2003/4! They look so cute together in Deewanapan and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.)
• Jimmy Shergill & Kangana Ranaut (I wish Jimmy Shergill gets better roles in Hindi films — I don't watch Punjabi films — but here I am imagining him and Kangana not-so-great roles ...)
• Ranbir Kapoor & ? (Katrina Kaif CANNOT act; maybe Sonakshi Sinha or Anushka Sharma? Not so sure about the screen chemistry though)
• Shahid Kapoor & Amrita Rao (?)

Leonato

• Naseeruddin Shah
• Anupam Kher (he made a great Mr Bennett in Bride & Prejudice, so maybe he's a great dad-figure-type)

Don Pedro

• Boman Irani (well, either Don Pedro or in the Dogberry-type role ...)

Don John

• Saif Ali Khan (I think he's evil evil evil — and prolly a great upgrade from Keanu Reeves' Don John)
• Hrithik Roshan

Dogberry + one or two others

• Arshad Warsi
• Sharman Joshi (he does great comedic stuff with both Arshad Warsi in the Golmaal franchise and Madhavan in 3 Idiots)
• Madhavan

And who best to write/direct this than Rajkumar Hirani? Music by A. R. Rahman — of course.

I would watch the fuck out of this movie. Please get it made!

Full Circle

So the other day as I was excitedly compiling a long list of DVDs I'll buy as treat for surviving this godawful November, I came across the synopsis of Salaam Namaste. I realized that movie sorta comes full circle from Kya Kehna - Saif Ali Khan's character finally accepted the baby after being a complete asshole ... and before he gets to be a forever asshole! 

L

After the workshop, as she passed by my front gates (where I was playing with Pumpkin) on her way out, she stopped, and, after a short exchange, she asked for my number. I gave it to her without asking why.

Disappointingly, though, she didn't call. =(

Ah well, it would've been nice to have a new friend ...

Books, Books, Books!

I love ordering from Book Depository - and not just because of free shipping. The books arrive one by one, and I love getting things in the post that aren't bills and other boring shit.

The first of my order to arrive was Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller. Then, when I got from class last night, the rest of my order - Lang Leav's Love & Misadventure and Dave McKean's Celluloid!

Joy, joy, joy!¡!

In Times of Stress ...

INDULGE IN BOLLYWOOD!

So, the last time I had multiple deadlines all at the same time, I escaped by reading. this time it's my old love, Bollywood movies.

Also, my The World Before Her DVD from the Kickstarter I supported arrived! The Hindu fundamentalist camp is horrible, and the girl who is thankful her father let her live even though she was a girl-child is horrifying.

I also recently caught Queen which I really like — OMG Kangana Ranaut as Rani is soooooooo adorable!

Today, I also attended a modern calligraphy workshop which was really nice (I have terrible handwriting)! Can't wait to go to the next level workshop!