Shah Rukh Khan was perfect in this movie. The King of Romance is back. It was such a treat seeing him on the big screen. And revisting SRK as the Punjabi munda was awesome.
On the other hand, I very much loved his bad-assery, too.
Kat was beautiful and Anushka did her usual energetic girl role with aplomb.
I do have some issues with the movie. First and foremost, the reason Meera (Kat) and Samar (SRK) couldn't be together was bullshit. At first I thought maybe it was just bullshit for an atheist like me, but a few short convons on twitter showed I'm not alone with this opinion. And Samar agreed, too. Whatever happened to the good old "parents don't agree"? It was certainly more convincing than all these contrived reasons why lovers can't be together we get from newer Bollywood movies.
An old Bollywood staple that I'm not such a big fan of is the falling in love at first sight based on nothing but looks. Yeah, that happens here, too. But ok, at least he got to know her pretty quickly.
Coming back to afore-mentioned bad assery, I loved the scene where SRK challenges god in the church.
Kudos to JTHJ for making a topic out of the age gap. Yes, Kat is still way younger than SRK in real life, not in the movie), but not having Samar romance Akira (Anushka) and the discussing the age gap is much appreciated, never mind that Akira fell for Samar. I can accept and understand that.
What happened before Ishq Shava has to be seen to be believed. So go watch the movie, since it's not on youtube yet :)
I wasn't aware it snows so much in London :D But it makes for pretty images. As did the fountain scene.
The much talked about kissing scenes, I'm aware it's a huge deal for SRK and a premarital sex scene , too in a Yash Chopra movie!!! Objectively the kisses are super tame though. I any case, I liked them.
I'm happy with the ending, though I was worried for a few seconds.
The cinema hall was full and there were quite a lot NRIs, so I got treated to clapping and cheering upon SRK's entry, which was unexpected, but very nice. No dancing along or throwing coins at the screen, though, and that was very nice too, wouldn't wanna have my view of SRK obstructed even for a second.
Overall JTHJ is a fun and romantic movie with well made action scenes, that doesn't get boring despite the 3 hours runtime. It is The SRK Show, though, so if for some stupid reason you don't like him, don't watch it.
Mausam will forever hold a special place in my heart. It was the very first Hindi film I saw on the big screen.
One year has passed. Happy First Anniversary, Mausam!
Here is what I wrote after watching Mausam a year ago:
Literary symmetry is a beautiful thing. The first
Hindi Film I ever watched was a Shahid Kapoor movie (Chance Pe Dance). The
first Hindi Film I ever watched on the big screen was a Shahid Kapoor movie -
Mausam.
I had made my peace with having to wait to see Mausam
until weeks or even months after its release, like it's the case with every
Bollywood movie - I need to wait for the subtitled DVDs. Alas, imagine my joy
when I found out that Mausam would be screened at a cinema in Vienna (travel
time there a bit over an hour). So I happily arranged everything for the
perfect Mausam experience on the 16th September. And then, less happily and
with much nerves lost, rearranged everything for the perfect Mausam experience
on 24th :). I can tell you, it was fully worth every hour of sleep I lost,
fretting over whether it would work out (would my friend have to cancel on me
last minute due to babysitter problems? Would the cinema for some reason cancel
the film? etc, etc. When it comes to things important to me, I'm quite the
worrier).
But it worked out perfectly and here are my thoughts
on the actual movie (Disclaimer: contains major spoilers, do not read if you
haven't seen the movie - really, seriously - I totally give away the ending.
Consider yourself warned!):
When Shahid appeared on screen, I almost pinched
myself. Seeing him on the big screen was rapture. The first season of Mausam
was alternatively fun and very touching. (Though I do not understand what was
so funny about the musical chairs scene. A good 80% of the audience were
obviously NRI, and they laughed at this scene, while I rolled my eyes. The only
thing I love about it was Hari's facial expression. Conclusion: Indian humour
is beyond me, but I already knew that from other BW movies :) )
I want to applaud how cleverly the exchange of notes
was translated, being what Harinder and Aayat wrote were actually the lyrics of
the song that was playing, and thankfully, the song was subtitled (note on the
subtitles: They were perfect. This is not the case with every Hindi movie).
I generally don't get the love at the first sight
concept, but again, that's a common Bollywood staple, so I'm willing to accept
it.
The cut to season two, Edinburgh, was sudden. The
Scotland scenes themselves were good. I especially loved how Officer Harry
displayed his love and understanding for art, in this case Mozart's Serenade
Nr. 13. Generally not a fan of "keeping to miss each other by a
blink" scenarios, I was a bit annoyed that Aayat didn't made her presence
known earlier, but thankfully they did find each other in Edinburgh, and the
telepathic conversation was brilliant. My heart broke when Harry failed to show
up at the dinner.
Season 3 showed a bit more of kick ass Harry. When he
was angry at the phone with Rajjo, I was happy to not be on the receiving end
of his wrath (which is testimony to Shahid's superb acting).
Contrary to the majority opinion, I really liked the
last segment. I liked Harry working to recover the use of his hand, I liked him
being wary about whether Aayat would even want him given his handicap, I liked
the running after the train scene and my heart broke at the Aayat-Akram-child -
misconception (though of course that's not novel, it was beautifully executed).
I absolutely loved the scenes leading up to the
climax, from the moment Harry saved Aayat in the riots and their subsequent
conversation in the tube. I did not know what to make of the white horse, that
surely is some kind of symbolism, probably for hope, as someone on twitter
pointed out to me. But hey, Shahid and a white horse in the same frame, I'm not
complaining. The climax itself, hm. I can suspend my disbelief and accept that
sheer willpower enables him to catch the child, but HOW DID HE GET DOWN?????
Mausam has a very very happy ending (I can't help but
wonder, what about the horse? Did they adopt it, too? :D), but I by far prefer
that toa tragic ending.
A word on Squadron Leader Harinder Singh:
Shahid kicked ass in the airforce scenes. He looked
deliciously macho in his flight gear. I'm not very fond of the moustache. But
the stubble in the last segment was scorching hot. I would have loved more
airforce scenes. I also had hope we'd get to see a little of young Hari
actually training to become a pilot. Not extensively, since I knew that wasn't
the premise of the movie, but a little bit. So that's one minor disappointment.
Also I'd have liked for Harry's plane to actually go down and him making his
way back on his own through enemy territory. That'd have been cool.
For his poise, attitude, sincerity and competence in
his profession and of course devotion to Aayat, Harry has made his way into my
circle of "Most Beloved Fictional Characters".
Acting performances:
Shahid was superb. But there was never any doubt about
that. He portrays Hari's transition from irresponsible freeloader to mature
Squadron Leader flawlessly. Sonam was good and gorgeous, wearing super pretty
clothes and Aditi Sharma was great.
Further points:
- I loved all the tube scenes (also a nice example of
the concept of literary symmetry), but the last one, after Harry saved Aayat
the most (Though why Hindi Films insist on doing this "previously in this
movie" collage I will never know. Even if the movie is 3 hours long, my
short term memory isn't that bad that I can't remember what happened two and a
half hours ago).
- Not showing us how Harry got down when his engine
was burning and then again from the Ferris wheel was a cop out.
- The jumps in place and time were confusing for me, I
had to think it through after the movie, to really keep track of everything.
- The historical events were a good idea, although I
think they were lost on me, since they didn't trigger
knowledge/associations/sets of emotions in me like they might for an Indian
audience
- Rajjo was a character I'd have loved to hate, but
couldn't. Who could blame her for falling for Hari, and if we're honest, Hari
used her and led her on. So I don't blame her about being bitter about it even
after years and also about not being over him by then, even after marriage and
becoming a mother. What she did was despicable, but so was Hari's behaviour
towards her. Instead of ignoring her in the train, I'd have loved it if he had
acknowledged he had hurt her and apologized for it.
- There were a lot of beautiful visuals. Full moon
& rose, anyone?
-Sajh Dhaj Ke on the big screen. Overwhelming.
- I did not understand what for Aayat was wearing the
burqa at the beginning (other than it was necessary for the plot, but not from
where her character is coming).
Conclusion: Yes, Mausam is slow paced. Yes, Mausam has
some problems in the logical department (but honestly, what movie doesn't).
Also, maybe there are a few separations too many, it does get repetitive (don't
kill me, but when Harry runs down the stairs after Aayat, for a second I had a
Milenge Milenge flashback. Thankfully Mausam is a much better movie than MM).
But all that is more than made up by the beautiful visuals, outstanding
performances and brilliant moments.
This post is about one aspect of Twilight I hate. There are many more, ones that actually have an impact on REAL life, a post on that will come later.
So. Vampires. They are powerful. Frightening. Sexy. They are predators.
Take a look at this picture with a selection of popular vampires over the 20th and 21st century.
Can you see the one thing all these vampires have in common?
That's right, they have FANGS.
Meet Edward Cullen:
Do you, dear reader, find a difference between Edward in all his vampire glory and the vampires above?
That's right, Edward SPARKLES! In sunlight. He has no fangs.
These three things tell us that Edward is not a real vampire.
In Sunlight? WTF? Sunlight kills vampires.
As non pretty as it is, this is what happens to vampires in the sun: they go up in smoke.
Vampires are creatures of the night. They cannot, much to their frigging chagrin, walk in the sunlight. Many vampires long to walk in the sunlight, some succeed in it, but they have to go through major hassles to achieve that. Drinking fairy blood, getting a daylight ring from a powerful witch. Real vampires do not frolick around in the sun sparkling like a unicorn.
Why do real vampires have fangs? Because they are dangerous PREDATORS!
What do you think will be better in catching prey? A sparkling unicorn or a fanged velociraptor?
Granted, some vampires go veg, but even that deer might be hard to bite without fangs.
(this really is basic evolutionary logic)
That they are dangerous is one part of the immense sex appeal of vampires. Sparkling really ruins that dark, dangerous vibe for me.
I am aware vampires are not real and authors can alter the existing lore as they damn well please. And I am aware that Meyer is laughing all the way to the bank.
But how can she expect anyone to take a SPARKLING vampire seriously?
I'll tell you how: For many of the young Twilight fans, Edward is their first exposure to the vampire world. This became clear to me the other day when talking to a good friend of mine on Twitter. I have had the blessing of an early birth, so my first tryts with vampires were Buffy and Ann Rice (where, btw, it was made clear that stalking is a creepy, intrusive, disrespectful and aggressive act, not the ultimate romantic gesture). So young Twilight fans are not to blame, but they are to be pitied, for they do not know any better. And this pretty much is killing me. (Also, older Twilight fans do not have this excuse! :P)
I leave you with a quote of Damon Salvatore and rest my case:
“Why don’t you sparkle?” “Because we’re in the real world where vampires burn in the sun.”
P.S. Vampire newbies being stronger than really old vampires makes no sense at all. Think about it.
Kaminey is the movie that sold me on Hindi Films. Back in spring 2010, as a complete Bollywood newbie, I had watched a couple of Bollywood movies before I stumbled on Kaminey. They were typical song and dance, lip sync, brightly coloured movies, as I expected (what I didn't expect was Shahid Kapoor's charm that simply overwhelmed me in Chance Pe Dance and Dil Bole Hadippa. Also, the dude was hot :D) In Western ignorance I wasn't aware that Bollywood, like Hollywood, is a place, not a genre.
So the very first frame of Kaminey puzzled me. Why was it so dark? (I have to say that the first Kaminey DVD I bought was super super dark. I guess that's the DVD's fault. I'm talking about the infamous MoserBaer DVD, that quite a few of you know, I'm sure. The one that has like 15 mins of unforwardable ads in the beginning). I was intrigued. What unfolded before me was a tarantinoesque action thriller, that wasn't insulting the intelligence of its viewer and brilliantly bringing together its various storylines in a fulminant climax. I was very impressed. Nevermind it being a Hindi film, I count Kaminey as one of the best movies I have ever seen, be it BW or HW.
My extended Kaminey review, where I rightfully sing Shahid's praises, can be read here .
In celebration of its 3rd anniversary I watched it again yesterday, and I still love the movie. Poor Charlie trapped by his dreams and Guddu, forced by circumstances to put his core of steel to use.
Due to the first DVD I bought being crap quality (see above and it has a huge MoserBaer logo displayed througout the movie) I bought the blu ray when it was released and since REM released Kaminey in German, I had to buy that one too, because all REM DVDs come with posters!
Here are my Kaminey DVDs, all 3 of them :)
Here is the poster inside the REM DVD (double sided):
Here are my Kaminey 3rd anniversary creations:
And for this occasion I changed my twitter dp and bg:
I went on a 4 day holiday, and ended up seeing three castles. Here are some pics of the most impressive and most medieval one, Castle Rappottenstein in Lower Austria. It is located in a region called Wood Quarter, some of the pics may tip you of why :)
Pics were taken either by my friend with a super fancy camera, or by me, with my iphone :D
I love how they used the rock formations to build the castle on and into.
These cannon balls are from when the Swedish tried to take the castle. But they failed, in fact this castle was never conquered.
This thing to the right of the small window is the toilet.
This got added post middle ages, which you can tell because it's fancy and pretty. And the guide told us :D
Kitchen. That's a really big pot!
Pics from inside:
We got to lift the swords, which probably means they are replicas. Still pretty cool.
Now for some outside and garden pics with landscape:
Did I mention I want my own castle?! :)
Dungeons, not nice place to be, cold, dark and wet:
