My youngest son Ben is home for the summer from college. He agreed to watch an action movie with me, and of the films I described, he picked Shahrukh Khan’s Don. This was his first Shahrukh Khan film, although he has certainly walked through the room as I’ve watched, and rewatched SRK’s many films. Ben has only seen a handful of Indian films – the Babhubali films, Student of the Year and Dabangg 1 and 3.
Gulabo Sitabo was one of the first Indian film releases straight to streaming services, skipping theaters due to COVID-19. With the cast of Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan, plus the behind the camera team of writer Juhi Chaturvedi & director Shoojit Sircar, my expectations were high. I was sorely disappointed in this film. The narrative was just not compelling enough to sustain for the length of the movie. Gulabo Sitabo is playing on Amazon Prime.
Streaming service Simply South has a #ThrowbackThursday series, and they re-released the classic Rajinikanth 1978 film Mullum Malaram (The Thorn & the Flower) in a crisp newly mastered print with new subtitles by rekhs. It was glorious! I loved seeing Rajinikanth the master actor, without all the gestures and schtick. Some of these old films are on Youtube, but frequently the songs are not subbed. I could fully appreciate the beauty of the poetry of the lyrics with rekhs’s new subtitles.
Do check out this classic on Simply South.
Shah Shahid invited me as his guest on his Splitscreen Podcast where we talked about Bollywood news and upcoming films. It was a wonderful conversation! We talked about the Sanju trailer, and Veere Di Wedding. I also introduced a few Regional film trailers to Shah, including Ranam Detroit Crossing, Mahanati and Naa Peru Surya.
I just watched the teaser trailer for Sanju, and my mouth is hanging open in amazement.
Rajkumar Hirani is the same director who made Munna Bhai MBBS and also blockbusters like PK and 3 Idiots. This trailer is simply genius, and I love how Ranbir breaks the fourth wall and talks right to the audience.
I am blown away by the makeup and how Ranbir carries himself just like Sanjay. We have 2 months to wait, until June 29th.
Here’s the trailer so you can see for yourself just how well Ranbir Kapoor pulls it off:
I’m so looking forward to Salman Khan’s big Christmas release where he reteams with Katrina Kaif in the sequel Tiger Zinda Hai. This uses the same real life story as the Malayalam film Take Off (which i still need to see.)
This first song from the film is perfect for Salman, and Katrina gets to show off her moves. The video was filmed on a Greek Island that is just stunningly gorgeous! I’ve ben to Santorini, and the islands are really that jaw droppingly beautiful in person.
This is long, but I had many, many questions on my Pardesi Youtube channel and on Twitter. In the video description, there is an index so you can skip ahead to questions that interest you. I expand on my introduction video, and tell more about the story of how I fell in love with Indian cinema. I discuss my favorite directors in the Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil cinema industries.
I really wanted to like Judwaa 2. I had a blast watching the first Judwaa earlier in the week, starring Salman Khan and Karishma Kapoor. While Varun Dhawan gave 1000 percent to the double role, I just didn’t find it as funny. Jackie Fernandez wasn’t given as much to do as Karishma. Both she and Taapsee were treated like bimbos.
It was depressing to watch a scene of Varun smacking Jackie’s behind in a store. Really? You’re going for that same joke 20 years later? And Taapsee gets kissed to the point she cries. Again. NOT FUNNY.
So much could have been done with this twin story. It needed a better script. One set in the 21st century.
I enjoy the chemistry of Bhumi Padnekar and Ayushmann Khurrana together. This is a really sweet romantic film. I have to hand it to Ayushmann to go there. He is the same one who tackled sperm donation in Vicky Donor, a really enjoyable film, and now stars in a comedy about erectile dysfunction.
In an Indian romantic comedy, nothing is private, and every family member has to give their two cents about the couple’s predicament.
One of my favorite scenes has Bhumi insist that Ayushmann give her the band baaja baaraat she really wants, and when he does it is a glorious moment.
Both Bhumi and Ayushmann are riding the success this summer of their last pairing, Dum Laga Ke Haisha. I wish their films hadn’t been clustered so close together. I’m not sure the public is ready to see so much of them all at once. This film has a lot of charm, and it’s definitely worth a trip to the theater.
A Gentleman was at first talked about as a sequel to Bang Bang. It isn’t really, but it’s very similar in the tone and feel. Which means that I liked it a lot.
Siddharth Malhotra is great in the action scenes. And I loved his dorky persona, too. Lots of inside jokes about Desis in America. The fight sequence in the middle of Home Depot cracked me up.
Jacqueline Fernandez is great at comedy. I gained new respect for her from this film. She also had a great American accent. She doesn’t really get a big dance number, but she pole dances (!!!) in a song sequence at a karaoke bar.
Jacqueline had great chemistry with Siddharth. She’s got Guarav in the friendzone, and then is attracted to the exciting dangerous Rishi.
Basically if you like films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and True Lies, you’re going to like this film. A Gentleman is just a fun action comedy.
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