The Sports Thread 2021 (4)

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The incomparable Amitabh – My diary of a passionate engagement over two decades (Utkal) – Updated

The year 1971. I am in the final year of school, right in the center of the Hindi heartland, in Raipur, eating, drinking and dreaming Hindi films. After a spate of super hits, the then heartthrob of Indian film lovers, Rajesh Khanna, has delivered some okey-dokey films. And then came Anand. We were all zapped. What a film! What a performance! And who won’t be touched by ‘ Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye’ or ‘ Zindagi kaise Yeh Paheli Hai’ ? The superstar had redeemed himself. But amidst all this, we also talked of the character called ‘ Babu Moshai’ and an actor called Amitabh Bachchan. His performance too was praiseworthy, we all agreed. Looking back, Little did anyone realize that like the slayer of Kamsa being born in the prison cell of the Mathura king, the man who would dethrone the superstar, had got his definitive break in the triumphant comeback film of the superstar himself. Come to think of it, the Angry Young Man was born in Anand itself. ” Bolte kuyn nahin ho? Pichhle ten mahinese bak bak karte mere sar kha gaye ho. Ab chup kyuon ho? ‘ The way Amitabh delivered those lines, the intensity, the total concentration, it was never done before in Indian films. But we quickly forgot him and looked at actors like Navin Nischal ( Sawan Bhadon, Prawana) and Anil Dhawan ( Chetna, Piya Ka ghar) as the big stars of the next generation. ( Dharmendra was already a big star rivalling Rajesh Khanna with hits like Mera Gaon Mera Desh and Seeta Aur Geeta. ) .

tonymontana’s viewings (Updated)

Squid Game

The latest sensation from Netflix after probably Money Heist. Social media accounts and fan pages are filled with memes with spoilers galore.
It no doubt may be a crazily entertaining series for many but also provides food for thought: have our tastes deteriorated wherever the fun element comes from watching people (known by numbers) perish by the hundreds? Many films such as the Battle Royale series and Hunger Games have been made on the subject, but this theme, albeit intentional, makes for a sick, demented premise. Is the joke on the viewer finding voyeuristic pleasure in themes such as these, fooling him into believing he’s enlightened by some disruptive masterpiece? Ha!

No Time To Die Movie Review — Goodbye, Mr. Craig! You will be sorely missed…

It’s not a perfect film and has its flaws, mainly an under-developed villain and some moments full of bloat towards the end, but overall, it’s a solid Bond film made with a specific purpose in mind — to bid farewell to Daniel Craig. And it serves its purpose well enough, despite not being a timeless classic like Casino Royale or Skyfall.

An Jo on ‘No Time to Die’

Mild Spoilers

The irony of the title isn’t lost as one connects it to the finale in ‘No Time To Die’; the last movie in which Craig plays 007, ever since revolutionizing the Bond series with the best in Craig’s series, ‘Casino Royale,’  closely followed by ‘Skyfall.’ However, the rest of the movie would fall into the ‘trying-to-be’ mold and doesn’t spectacularly succeed. It has neither the smartness of ‘Casino Royale’ in balancing and fleshing out, bit-by-bit, Bond getting hooked onto emotions, nor the bold walk towards maternal feelings and the weird sibling rivalry that Bardem has with Craig. [“Orphans make the best spies,” says M to Craig in ‘Skyfall’ when he asks her why she selected him.]

Sanjana’s note on Annabelle Sethupathi

Spoilers

No one can take a film named Annabelle Sethupathy, Annabelle Rathore or Annabelle whatever seriously. This film is nothing but a spoof on ghosts. I wanted to watch it in tamil to listen to Yogi Babu’s funny tamil slapstick comedy. But there was only Hindi version available on hotstar yesterday And today also no tamil version and I had to watch the next half in chaste Kannada version.. Half hearted truly!

Shivaay on Shershaah

Perhaps the best thing the viewers would usually do while tuning in to watch Shershaah is to have minimalistic expectation, considering the fact that its a Siddharth Malhotra starrer from a Dharma Production. Even though you know this is a film that celebrates one of India’s bravest war heroes, you cannot really have much expectation from the Siddharth-Karan Jo pair. Or can you? This is where hiring a director like veteran Vishnuvardhan (a relative unknown in Bollywood circles) ends up being a blessing in disguise and a mini masterstroke.

Bhoot Police Movie Review: There’s a solid film in there, somewhere, but it’s ruined by bad acting!

In one of the film’s comic moments, a joke is cracked on nepotism and how it benefits the unworthy. All I can say is, full marks for self-awareness, but in doing so, the joke’s on the audience and it’s certainly not funny!

The Sports Thread 2021 (3)

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An Jo note on KBC 13

A note on KBC 13

In the last 2 weeks of KBC 13 that I have seen, the host rocks, as is the flow, but it is—and as it ought to be—the participants from the width and breadth of the nation who rock the show even better and shine brighter.

Shivaay on The Empire

In one line, its the kind of show that oscillates between the engaging to the boring in equal measure.

The show begins with Emperor Babur narrating his rise to fame and the event preceding the first battle of Panipat. For a show that marketed itself as an adaptation of the great 1526 AD battle, it takes far too much of time and too many episodes to get down to the battle. Babur’s character lacks depth (doesn’t help that Kunal Kapoor plays it half heartedly with mediocre dialogue delivery). If the show is anything to go by, the beginning of the Mughal Era in Hindustan was by sheer fate and there’s almost nothing about Babur that appears brave or smart enough for him to have conquered Hindustan. Where the show excels however is the character development of its leading ladies. Shabana Azmi is excellent as the ruthless manipulative yet iron willed Esan Dawlat (Babur’s maternal grand mom) while Drishti Dhami sheds her soap opera image to give a graceful performance as Babur’s sword wielding shrewd & brave sister Khanzada.

Sanjana on Fans and their fandom

The stars, the politicians cant defend themselves coming here. While the bloggers here can hit and get hit in return! And stars and politicians cant be separated from some of the bloggers here. They think that they represent srk, aamir, akshay, hrithik, ajay, bachchan, politicians and they become keyboard warriors!

Bell Bottom Movie Review — It’s Masala 2.0… but for the lead actor!

An Jo on BELL BOTTOM

Bell Bottom is one heck of a ride

‘BELL BOTTOM’, the first Hindi film to be released in theaters since the lock-down, is quite an interesting film; which also includes the part the Akshay Kumar is the first actor to take the bullet for the suffering industry by releasing it in theaters knowing fully well that it could end up a very, very risky decision, and of course, I think it has ended up like that going by the BO results. However, I am glad that someone took the risk, and hopefully, it paves the path for further risky adventures.
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An Jo on Shershaah

I must say I didn’t expect but I quite liked the movie! Of course, it is a hagiography. The film is nothing but a pictorial version of news clippings and readings that one has been exposed to. There is no ‘psychological’ depth here when considering the thought behind Vikram Batra the person and the one exposed in media and swallowed and regurgitated by people.

Independence Day 2021: Bollywood’s flag-bearers of patriotic cinema

Independence Day 2021: Bollywood’s flag-bearers of patriotic cinema, from Manoj Kumar to Akshay Kumar

Shaikh Ayaz
India at 75: Patriotism or jingoism? A look at why the Indian flag is flying high in today’s Bollywood movies, from Uri to Shershaah to Bhuj and looking back at the original Bharat Kumar.

Independence Day. Can you imagine this occasion without Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak, Nehru, Netaji Bose, BR Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel… and from the Bollywood side, Akshay Kumar? You might as well add John Abraham and Kangana Ranaut to that list, lest the duo have any hard feelings later. These are just three of the Hindi marquee stars, with a little help from Ajay Devgn, who are responsible for the extraordinary rise of patriotic-themed Hindi movies in the last decade. Put another way, if the “josh” of nationalistic content is high these days — sorry, Uri (2019) guys — blame it on the Desi Boyz (2011) and our very own Rani Jhansi (Manikarnika, 2019) who famously called herself an “ultranationalist.”

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Thoughts on Nationalism around Independence Day.. (Updated)

this comment first appeared on Bachchan’s blog a year or two ago..

I remain as always suspicious of nationalism. Or rather I like to celebrate love for one’s place of birth or the land one grows up in with the more jingoistic uses of one’s country. To be even more precise I’d argue that one never really loves one’s ‘country’. What one loves is a slice of life that one experiences in one or different parts of the country. But this by does not mean that one loves the country as such. One of course claims this all the time. It is common language. But there is a substitution that takes place here. Someone who is born in, grows up in, and spends his or her entire life in Thirunelveli believes in the Indian nation state as much as someone who does all these things in Faridabad. The nation ‘fiction’ embraces both these inhabitants whose experiences are otherwise completely different. All nation-states are fictions that essentially assert that to belong to the nation-state is an identity that supersedes that of one’s ethnic or religious or regional particularity. The ‘one’ of the nation-state subsumes everything. But why?

Shershaah Movie Review — Yeh Dil Maange More!

Shershaah movie review and analysis…in 7 mins!

Top 10 Masala Films of All Time – Part 2

This is Part II of my video essay on the Top 10 Bollywood Masala Films of all time. This was supposed to be my first video series but it somehow got delayed for various reasons.

I’ve chosen my top 10 based on the following criteria (in order):

a) Historical significance
b) The film’s legacy and lasting impact
c) The cut-off point or the earliest point (1973)
d) Personal choice, which accounts for at least 1 film out of the top 10

Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did while making it. And thanks, of course, for all the guess work regarding that one film amongst the top 5. I’m afraid only Sanjana got that one right!