Multiply (In A Minor Key)

My guess: The almost-full moon, my period, and physically, emotionally, and psychically stressed and exhausted. So it's a 'Multiply' kinda day — that one with a soundtrack composed of 'Addict', 'Hurt', 'Multiply (In A Minor Key)' and X-Japan ballads.

Of course I did what I always do — shut down, went offline, and did a bit of therapeutic cutting.

It's the simple roll box which I got from Paul Jackson's Folding Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form to which I added random patterns I cut into the long-side panels. It looks okay, but I think the patterns should be planned next time so the two sides that each has two layers would look nicer.

I think for Hazel's gift I might do a shadow box/frame with different folds on which patterns are cut. White on white on white maybe.

As I was folding and unfolding, cutting, and refolding, I watched (casually, meaning with an ear open but without really watching the screen) Bobby Jasoos. I do like this movie but it's mainly because of Vidya; Ali Faizal did fuck-all and didn't look very compatible to Vidya. The story was interesting enough but the denouement was a bit of a letdown.

I also finished Bol Bachchan — oh lord why had I even started on this in the first place?! It's Rohit Shetty, ffs. Argh, why don't I ever learn???

It's ridiculous to feel so bloody fragile and sensitive that every little thing seems to matter and bruise the soul so much.

So tired, so tired, so tired, so tired ...

Tashi Is A Dick

Nowadays I usually watch Delhi Belly starting from the scene in which Nitin delicately adorns with a flower the corpse he's photographing. To be honest, I just watch the bits Nitin is in — I just adore Nitin more and more!

On the other hand, the more I rewatch the movie, the more I think Tashi is a dick to Nitin. Like when Nitin says he has work to do (i.e. photography for blackmail), Tashi just drops the package in Nitin's scooter basket and stuff the scrap on which the address is written into Nitin's pocket.

Also, I just realized during yesterday's rewatch that Nitin actually doesn't smoke at all in the movie (though I could be wrong). In the last bit of the movie wherein the three dudes are hanging out at the flat's balcony, the cigarette between Nitin's fingers never goes anywhere near his lips; all he does is just take swigs from one of the two bottles in his hands.

GOOD. I hope at least he is a non-smoker and not an silent secondhand asshole murderer.

I was reading through the cast list yesterday and found out that the actor playing Mr Maharaj is called Neville. Neville LOL! And Tashi and Nitin share a birthday (Well, the actors playing them do)!

Oh lord, I really hope there's a sequel to Delhi Belly ... I'm beginning to know the dialogues by heart!

Type-e-Ishq

I found a couple of unfavorable reviews for Daawat-e-Ishq and both said something about how the romance between Gullu and Taru is unrealistic because it took place over three days. I suppose they could be right; I mean, it is wholly believable that that two people could fall in love in three days, but perhaps not as realistic that they decide to marry within/after a week of meeting. Then again, stranger things have happened.

For viewers like me, because I found the two leads so lovable, it easy to accept Gullu's and Taru's relationship (and subsequent marriage). Of course, I'd have loved to have the courtship/getting-to-know-you bit stretch a little longer. In fact, I wish the script had sacrificed the Amju-Gullu thing in favor of Taru-Gullu. Like, I didn't need to know Amju and Gullu had been crushing on each other for a month, how they appear to be diametrically different people (veggie vs non-veg). I would prefer to have more Taru-Gullu conversations.

Anyway, I still like Daawat and 'Mannat' has become my earworm du jour. (It's the somewhat incantatory nature of the chorus, I think, that I like so much.)

What's not to love about the movie, really? Besides really adorable leads, Lucknow tourism and food porn, and music, there's a whole lotta kohl. Dude wore guy-liner the whole time — even when Pari's character wasn't wearing any! Eye-liner/kohl is totally my favorite thing to see on both genders.

One other thing I love about Daawat: the title typeface. God, I've always been a sucker for ball (and teardrop) terminals and there are some fucking gorgeous beauties in the titles:

It looks similar to Elephant but with customized swashes. (I actually don't think this typeface was customized for Daawat; I seem to recall seeing a typeface like this before).

WHAT IS THIS TYPEFACE — I HAVE TO KNOW!

Weekend

Ek Tha Tiger the Hindi film on the free-to-view channel yesterday, so of course I headed to Mustafa again to buy DVDs and medjool dates before meeting Auntie Al, her client, and her girlfriend for dinner. I bought Dil Kabaddi, Special 26, and Mirch.

After I came home from aerial yoga today, I watched Dil Kabaddi. Since I haven't watched Husbands and Wives (and will never), I found Dil Kabaddi decent because I love the main cast. I didn't quite get the couple played by Rahul Bose and Konkana Sen Sharma, but I understood how problems came to be in relationships. Had I watched this film earlier in my life, I would've felt validated in my staunch belief in never ever getting (hetero) married for love. For anything else — economic, financial, legal reasons etc. — yes, go ahead and have your marriage of convenience.

The casting is lovely — Irrfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Konkana, Soha Ali Khan, and Rahul Khanna — I never thought I would be able to catch Irrfan, Rahul B., and Konkana together in a movie that won't make me cry and my heart ache! This is also the first time I saw Soha Ali Khan in a movie and I think she's a rather decent actor.

Anyway, 6.5/10 from me for Dil Kabaddi! (Can I please see Monty and Shruti again in another comedy?)

Next thing I watched was Special 26.

THANK GOODNESS I only took a glance through the sea of text that is its Wiki synopsis. I was on tenterhooks for second half of the film, wishing so hard there would be an ending that didn't consist of a poor girl waiting pointlessly at the airport and everybody else in jail. THANK YOU SCRIPTWRITER-DIRECTOR! (Mental note: Neeraj Pandey's other films to be on must-watch list.)

Special 26 is the Ocean's Eleven of Hindi cinema. Forget all the other shitty "(loosely) based on" ripoffs. Special 26 had as much cojones and kept me wondering how the hell they would get out of the situation with the loot. Hell yeah, Akshay Kumar made a great mastermind figure. AWESOME FILM! 8/10!

Currently rewatching Special 26. Less stressful because I now know I can expect a happy ending!

Delhi Belly Prequel-Sequel: A Suggestion

Because I have yet to stop watching Delhi Belly (although I admittedly don't do it daily anymore), the more times I rewatch it, the more questions I have.

Like, why does the dudes' flat only get running water for two hours a day while their landlord's flat (below theirs) seems to have running water on demand?

Or, how did the two policemen, DIG Mohan Shrivistava and IG Phool Chand Jain, know which room everybody (Cowboy & gang, Tashi & gang, Sonia, and Vladmir) was squashed in and got the hotel staff to open the door to?

Anyway, those can be overlooked. Now, how about a prequel for a sequel?

How about a prequel that tells the story of:

• How the three dudes met and ended up living in such a crummy flat?
  My guess: Nitin and Tashi met at varsity and took pity on Arup after watching him get hazed. Since their professions have to do with newspapers, they might have shared a couple of classes as well. The crummy flat was in fact the least crummy of flats they viewed and could afford.
• How Tashi hooked up with Sonia?
  My guess: Tashi had to cover a stupid story (like what he had done with VJ Sophaya) in high society — maybe he interviewed Sonia's mom about her fucking stupid clock collection. Sonia made the first move and Tashi just went along because, hey hot chick who will bone me!, and also because he seems to be the kind that would go with, rather than against, the flow.
• How Nitin started using corpses as models and talked Leena into letting him photograph her johns for blackmailing purposes — and WHY?
  My guess: Maybe he's always had weird (and prolly socially-unacceptable) taste and was derided by his professors at varsity. When he graduated, prospective employers blanched at his portfolio. Left with no choice, Nitin attempted to hawk his photographs in the bazaar and was laughed out of town. Hanging out with Tashi one day he tagged along when Tashi got a call about a scoop. It was a particularly gruesome and bizarre murder and dismemberment but Nitin's aesthetics worked for him in this case and he managed to bagged a freelance position at Tashi's workplace.
  I like to think Nitin doesn't frequent brothels, so maybe Nitin was hired by an jealous wife (wife of his and Tashi's boss) to snap shots of her no-good philandering bastard of a husband who happens to be a frequent visitor at a brothel and Leena's number one customer. A one-off freelance gig turned into something more consistently lucrative ...
  OR Nitin was Leena's number one customer until he arrived too early for his 'appointment'. As he waited for his turn, he noticed, through Leena's never-closed windows that Tashi's boss was getting serviced ...
• How Cowboy come to import black market diamonds?
  My guess: Hm, I actually don't have a clue for this one, except that maybe his less-than-competent subordinates managed to inadvertently foil every single attempt by Cowboy to engage in gangsterism. Finally, Cowboy's dying grandfather (the biggest, baddest badass to ever badass) bequeathed his antique/handicraft shop and underworld business to Cowboy, with instructions to marry and produce an heir for the family business. So, basically, Cowboy took over gramps' business, managed to grow it despite his bumbling lackeys, and then had to start bride-shopping. He was besotted with Leena until he discovered she was his grampa's favorite prostitute ...

Four!

I finally found an original copy of Delhi Belly yesterday! It's a little exorbitant but then I was desperate. I mean, I watch the show nearly every day — suuuper obsessed — and there's only so much Hindi I can understand without subtitles ...

Yesterday, I finally finished Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Throughout most of the movie (shortly before the interval onward), I kept wondering how different from DDLJ this could possibly be. Is Humpty gonna be bashed at the train station (nope, at the dulhan's house); is Simran Kavya gonna get the "jaa,Simran Kavya, jaa; jee le apni zindagi" lines (no, it's Humpty). Then at the end of the fucking movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. WTF? ... oh. Produced by KJo. Whatevs. Again, Alia Bhatt looks way too young to be a bride — I mean, isn't child marriage outlawed?

Today, I finished four movies:

Jodi Breakers — I like Bipasha Basu, but, honestly, I thought she would've learned to act by now. She's been in films for over a decade now, no? Also, the story had promise but failed to meet expectations.

Finding Fanny — this one I love! It's quirky, beautiful, and hopeful. (It's also the first time I saw Deepika Padukone in a movie.) The characters are all adorable (<3 Dimple Kapadia!), but creepy artist man (Pankaj Kapur) is creepy. And poor Nereus ... =( I hope Homi Adajania continues to write and direct; I like both the films he'd written and directed so far.

Cheeni Kum — I've wanted to watch this for so long, but when I finally watched it, it was just ... okay. Maybe I'd like it more had Bachchan Sr. not been in it (yes, I'm not a fan) cuz I just adore Tabu.

Straight — yes, yes, YES! This is such a sweet film — and boy did it surprise me by not being anti-gay/homophobic! (This totally isn't your 'typical' masala movie, right? Bollywood has a pretty shit record when it comes to portrayal of any homosexuality or transgendered characters.) Siddharth Makkar's character's impassioned speech about love after he just came out to his cousin was great; Gul Panag should've had more to do in it because she's good, you know (and those dimples!)? Vinay Pathak was great in this (then again, he's always aces in my books) and I felt a lot of sympathy for his character. I will watch and rewatch this movie for sure, again and again and again, but finding an original copy is prolly gonna be a big pain in the ass ... and expensive too.

I also bought 7 Khoon Maaf yesterday so I'm gonna watch it tomorrow. Having Monday off is just fucking awesome.

Final Weekend Until ... Hell (Part 2)

After aerial yoga, came home to watch Badmaa$h Company and followed it by Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana. The former was okay — at least it wasn't a Sajid Khan flick — and the actors are all decent. This is the second flick I've seen with Anushka Sharma in it and I'm starting to think she's like SRK — one-note expressions for all the emotions in her repertoire. Prolly will watch Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl just to confirm or banish my suspicions. And, hey, Vir Das was good!

Apparently, this was a day of redemption. First Karan Kapoor in Badmaa$h Company, then Omi in Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana. Goodness, where on earth has Kunal Kapoor been?! I thought the first and only time I saw him was in Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities but I later realized he was also in Rang De Basanti (I could only watch this one time and, oh god, how I cried!). I like Chicken Khurana so much more than Badmaa$h.

OMG HUMA QURESHI! I first saw her in the harrowing short, 'Sujata', in Shorts. Not only is she a good actor, she's fucking gorgeous as well. Oh please let me go out with a girl like her one day ... Anyway, what a sweet story Chicken Khurana is! I totally teared at Grampa's recollection of his beautiful biwi and how Chicken Khurana came to be. LOL weed-chicken curry — I'll totally eat that!

... and back to Delhi Belly. Gawd, just can't get enough of it! It's gonna be like Rangeela — watching it as I ate my dinner all those years in my tiny studio.

Please please please please please Goddess, let me get my hands on an original copy of the original (English) Delhi Belly soon!!!

Final Weekend Until ... Hell (Part 1)

I went to get a haircut today and just couldn't resist heading to Little India again for DVDs. Delhi Belly is the only thing on my list. If it's not available, I'll just keep going back every week until March ... whereupon I'll go back to that dodgy shop that sold me Wake Up Sid and Tanu Weds Manu. Desperate times, desperate measures. So, no, Delhi Belly wasn't anywhere on the shelves today, but I bought Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana and Badmaa$h Company — couldn't resist!

Watched Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na on New Year's Day. I quite like it, even if that story has been told since the beginning of time, and despite the Khan brothers on horseback (WTF). Omg, does Genelia D'Souza in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na not look a whole lot like Sonali Kulkarni in Dil Chahta Hai?!

Also watched Salaam-e-Ishq on New Year's Day which was A FUCKING WASTE OF MY BLOODY TIME. Who the fuck dreamed up that shit?! The only story I liked was the Vidya Balan-John Abraham one which seemed to have been shoehorned into the film. Also, that Govinda-gori memsahib story had been done so much better in Hari Om. Hari Om I actually adored: it had all them feels, man. And Vijay Raaz as eponymous Hari Om was charming and endearing; Govinda's Raju was neither.

Anyway, I've been rewatching Delhi Belly on a daily basis now. It's the original (English) version so I understand most of it; the Hindi bits I figure out by putting together the words I do understand and the context. The more I rewatch it, the more I understand. But, the more I rewatch it, the more my suspicion that Imran Khan might just be the weakest actor of the whole cast deepens. (I think his cursing was quite unconvincing. Are there actually people on earth who DON'T swear daily?! The dude who cursed most fluently was Nitin of "when a donkey fucks a rickshaw na, this is what you get"!)

I also realized last night who the Jain landlord (Paresh Ganatra) reminded me of: Vinny from My Cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci)!

My newest earworms!

Met Geeta for dinner last Saturday, but before that, I went looking for more DVDs. In the end, I bought:

• Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year — you know who I think will be awesome as HP (not that Ranbir Kapoor wasn't good in this)? Ayushmann Khurrana. Khurrana would've made a wicked awesome Harpreet Singh Bedi. Also, this is prolly a show I'll be watching over and over again.
• Band Baaja Baaraat — Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma looked sho shweet together. I wonder, though, whether she had to wear flats in the entire show because they didn't want her towering over Singh? I also worry that Anuskha Sharma might turn out to be a one-note actor (meaning she emotes in the exact same manner in every single movie, like SRK, like Amisha Patel, like so many other actors ...), but I'll decide after PK and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
• Sunday — why did I buy such a show (and a Rohit Shetty one at that ...)? Cuz I'd thought Ajay Devgn and Arshad Warsi would be great together. But the best bit of this crap show was actually Irrfan Khan. Man, I hope he does more comic roles in the future!
• Fashion (not watched yet)
• Teri Meri Kahani (not watched yet, but I have no high hopes for this — I just wanted a light, brain-free romcom)
• Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (same — not watched, just wanted brain-free rom-com).

So, I still couldn't find Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge nor Wake Up Sid. SO FRUSTRATING.

Also watched The Ghost Writer (didn't realize it was Polanski film — I would NEVER have watched it otherwise — Hollywood and the Indian film industry should STOP being rape apologists) and tried to watch Maleficent. Tried. It's just not very engrossing ...

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!¡!

Ink ... or Something

Back in 2008, at the end of every quarter I'd treat myself to something. I ended up with two navel piercings (one above, one below), one lower navel microdermal (on the keloid left by the lower navel piercing), one sternum piercing, and a blacklight tattoo. And I haven't had anything done since ...

I've been itching for a new ink but lack ideas - until now (desperate times). I decided on:

1) "Not here, you're where I stand, hearing the sea, crazy for the shore, seeing the moon ache and fret for the earth." [Top of the fern]

2) A geometric stencil & watercolor pair of Betta fish [one above each elbow, in opposite directions]

3) My 'Hope' verse OR last stanza of Pope's 'Ode on Solitude' - or both! [inside of left forearm; side of ribs]

4) I also want something on nape, prolly a dragonfly

5) Doggie's fore paws prints [where she usually hits me when I lock the gate]

I honestly CANNOT wait to get something done. It beats cutting myself in my books - though to each her own ...