What I've been watching

I spent the whole weekend teaching and making Christmas cards and didn't get to watch anything new, which is probably a good thing since I'm so behind on my reviews. So, here's my quick catch up post with some quick thoughts on what I've seen lately.


Kuch Na Kaho
I love Abhishek. He's reminds me of the type of guy you want to bring home to meet your family, and he was adorably mature in this film of the bachelor who finds love where he least expects it. It also stars Aishwarya, who was decent in it, though her character somehow lost all common sense half way through the film. Arbaaz Khan, as Aishwarya's estranged husband, was effectively despicable. A very good timepass film, even though it is entirely predictable and the movie's climax just kind of comes and goes. Watch it for Abhishek. Shankar-Eshan-Loy does a good job at the music, and the opening credits are quite clever.



Cute & pretty! I love Abhi!


Krazzy 4
Even though I was warned this was stupid, I had to put it on because I spent the money renting it and I knew that Shah Rukh had a song in it, plus it starred my new favorite comedy team Arshad Warsi and Irfan Khan. It's about four mental patients who, on a day trip to watch a cricket match, lose their doctor (who actually ends up being kidnapped in an attempt to give the film a more serious slightly suspenseful political angle).

I actually didn't mind this one. I enjoyed the actors much more than the special appearance by SRK believe it or not. The song, the hair, the clothes, all of it seemed wrong, like it should have been someone else doing it other than Shah Rukh (I especially cringe at the hair - it reminds me of my hair that has been forever immortalized in a very bad grade 5 school picture!) Juhi Chawla makes an appearance as......you guessed it, the doctor (I think somewhere along the way she was unjustly typecast!) I'm not sure if Director Jaideep Sen was very confident in his movie making abilities because it wasn't enough to see Shah Rukh in a special appearance, but we also get Hrithik in an appearance shaking his money maker to the same song in the closing credits. Which one do you like better?






Love Aaj Kal
The movie that I was looking forward to the most, and the Bollywood film I am probably most disappointed with so far. Maybe it was the hype (it ranked as the #1 favorite movie of the summer along with Kaminey on my poll), maybe it was Saif (because I adore him), maybe it was the music, but I could not wait to throw this on. At the end of it all I came to a couple of conclusions. #1 - Deepika could have been replaced by a wet mop and it wouldn't have made any difference; #2 - I need more in-depth story that develops characters in order to emotionally connect with them.

While the abridged version of how Jai and Meera meet and fall in love is unconventional, it felt incomplete to me. I'm not sure if it was Imtiaz Ali's intention to show us that love knows no distinction between the past and present or to show us how much love has changed, but I found the love story between Veer Singh and Harleen infinitely more interesting than the one between Jai and Meera, probably because Veer and Harleen are more sympathetic than their shallow modern counterparts. There certainly is a handful of "don't know what you got" story lines out there, but if I wanted to watch someone preach about how this generation expresses love by taking each other for granted then I'd just take a look at my reality. It's called escapism for a reason. Also, while Giselle Monteiro is definitely beautiful and conveys emotions better than Deepika even without talking, I wish that her role had been buffed up a little with even a little bit of dialogue at least. I wondered why she was so tall until I found out she is a model. It was almost comical seeing her tower over her colleagues.

There were a couple of things I liked about this one though. It was nice to see Rishi Kapoor in a very likable, albeit too short, role. I thought Saif did a commendable job and looks especially convincing in the second half both in the role of a passionate Sikh lover and a desperate modern man tired of his ambitions. My favorite thing about the film was probably the music (Chor Bazaar is easily my favorite pick).



I hope that Kaminey lives up to it's hype.

13 Response to "What I've been watching"

  1. Filmbuff Says:
    November 23, 2009 at 5:16 PM

    I liked Love Aak Kal for Saif's acting in both roles as well as the Harleen/Sardar story.

    Haven't seen Kaminey yet.

  2. Shellie says:
    November 23, 2009 at 7:26 PM

    Saif was the best thing about Love Aaj Kal for me, but it wasn't enough for me to love the movie. I almost would have enjoyed a whole movie surrounding Harleen/Veer story.

  3. ajnabi says:
    November 24, 2009 at 6:25 AM

    Sigh. I'm still going to see Love Aaj Kal but I wish it had more sympathetic characters in the modern story. Self-centered twits don't hold my attention well. (And, er, neither does Deepika.)

  4. Shellie says:
    November 24, 2009 at 6:59 AM

    Lots of people liked it ajnabi, so chances are there will be at least something you'll like about it too. I finally saw why people don't like Deepika though in this one.

  5. Bollywood says:
    November 24, 2009 at 10:27 AM
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  6. bollyviewer says:
    November 24, 2009 at 1:40 PM

    lol at "the movie's climax just kind of comes and goes" - so true about Kuch Na Kaho!

    You're so right that the SRK Krazzy 4 song should have been picturised on someone else - Hrithik perhaps. I never saw the Hrithik version (for some reason the film promos on B4U always had the SRK version) which looks good but also somehow wrong - he seems to be majorly channeling somebody (Michael Jackon?).

    And I am with you on preferring the "past" love in Love Aaj Kal - Saif is much better in that role. My major problem with the movie was that it was so cliched - in the "past" everybody is so determinedly romantic and in the "present" they go out of their ways to be the exact opposite! Besides, Saif is a bit too old to be playing the clueless idiot, though I forget that most of the time because of his good acting. :-) I liked it, I guess, because I was expecting something like Salaam Namaste and was thankful to be spared that!

  7. Adventures of Deesa says:
    November 24, 2009 at 3:14 PM

    Krazzy 4 is exactly like the movie dream team from 1989!
    Check it out
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_Team_(film)

  8. Shellie says:
    November 24, 2009 at 3:27 PM

    tBF - I can't wait to see how you analyze and interpret Love Aaj Kal. It wasn't a total loss for me, but it certainly doesn't rank up there.

    bollyviewer - he seems to be majorly channeling somebody (Michael Jackon?)
    That's exactly the impression that I got from him. The Hrithik one was much better - it would have been better if he'd done the one in the movie.
    I liked Salaam Namaste actually.

  9. Shellie says:
    November 25, 2009 at 7:58 AM

    @ Adventures of Deesa - hey cuz! How nice of you to stop by my little bollywood world. I knew when I'd seen Krazzy 4 that it reminded me of a movie with Michael Keaton - I just couldn't think of what it was called and I don't really recall the movie that much, just that it was about a group of people from a hospital.
    Thanks for coming by! Hope all is well in school and stuff for you.

  10. Adventures of Deesa says:
    November 26, 2009 at 10:48 PM

    I read it all the time! I love Bollywood!

  11. Shellie says:
    November 27, 2009 at 6:23 AM

    Then why are we strangers!!!!

  12. Jules says:
    November 29, 2009 at 10:09 PM

    LOL... wet mop. You're hilarious!! Loved Hrithik's version of the Krazzzy 4 song...I really love his dancing!

  13. Shellie says:
    November 29, 2009 at 10:16 PM

    Jules - Ha ha. It's funny because it's true!

    Hrithik + dancing = hotness