General Bollywood Thread

Bollywood film fans fall in love with PK despite Hindu nationalist protests.

Is the movie worth seeing? It seems to have a interesting premise.

I haven't actually seen PK yet, but I'm familiar with the controver

PK was well-liked aside from the controversy and some plot similarities to the socio-religious satire OMG (2012). (The scriptwriter for PK was the brother of the playwright whose work OMG was adapted from, and he got permission to use story elements from the play in question). Because the subject matter doesn't appeal to me, I've seen neither film.

I saw and liked Neeraj Pandey's Baby this past weekend. I haven't seen Argo, so I can't comment on some alleged similarities between the two films. Not as quirky or unique as his Special 26 (although the level of plot contrivances are similar), and not as action-packed as Holiday (Akshay Kumar's last stab at fighting terrorists onscreen) but it's a solid thriller that holds your attention all the way through (impressive, in a 2hr-40min film with virtually no songs) without embarrassing itself or reinventing the wheel. It's taken some flak for the cartoony "mad mullah" Big Bad, and the hero's tendency to beat on captured terrorists and their go-betweens (although it's more of an Eye for an Eye thing than a Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique thing; when he actually wants information he usually manages to Break Them by Talking).

Those are reasonable concerns to have, but I felt that the film deserved props for trying to discuss the "root causes" of terrorism; for making most of the terrorists feel like actual people in their brief appearances, even if not particularly nice ones; for including enough sympathetic Muslim characters to make it clear that the terrorists were a minority, and for giving the best fight scene to the token female agent.

This is Akshay at his most restrained, playing a character who feels like a desi version of Tom Clancy's Mr. Clark. He was not looking his best in the Nepal sequence (altitude sickness, maybe) but he handled the running and fighting scenes well.

edited 26th Jan '15 2:18:10 PM by odadune

I've been kinda wanting to get into Bollywood movies because of the crazy ridiculous awesome stuff I've heard (a giant ball made of a bunch of robots? awesome.) And because I have developed a strong attraction to Indian women as of late.

Can't blame you for that, given such beauties as Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, but, obviously, not all Indian women are that hot. It's like saying all British women are hot because Emma Watson.

The thing is, Bollywood still hasn't got to the point of 'strong female lead' yet (there are a few, but they're in the minority), so many, many roles are pure eye candy (to the point some British MP (IIRC) said that many Bollywood movies normalize stalking, by its portrayal as 'romantic'). Thus, consequently, many, many actresses are selected on the basis of their looks, not acting. There was a point when one of India's leading actresses (Katrina Kaif) could not, or could barely, speak Hindi in the Hindi film industry, and was on top because of her looks only (to her credit, Kat had worked in Bombay for a long time now, and her Hindi is now as good as anyone else's). It happens everywhere, but especially here.

I actually want to watch Baby, and will probably watch it this week.

Relevant

edited 31st Jan '15 8:13:57 PM by arcanephoenix

You could Vidya Balan was a strong lead in Kahaani, which was a great movie by the way!

Hey quag, you never did say what you thought of the movie about Goan independance. You neither, Archane. Not that I think its the greatest film ever, but you two have unique perspectives so I'm taking advantage of it by asking you.

Man, I've been out of the loop in B-wood these last few months. Anything interesting upcoming this year?

Well, I haven't seen it yet. I have yet to complete my James Bond cycle, and I have to watch Sholay first and foremost, since it's one of the big ones.

Good point.

To be completely honest, I haven't kept track with most of Bollywood either - I've mostly had assignments or FIFA to keep me busy (and if not those, then TV Tropes ). Still, I have heard of a few decent recent (he he) movies:

• Sriram Raghavan's Badlapur, starring Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vinay Pathak and Huma Qureshi. Raghavan, in my opinion, is one of the best (if not the best) directors of thrillers and noir in Bollywood - his 'Johnny Gaddaar' is still among my candidates for top ten Bollywood released in the last fifteen years. 'Travel' Agent Vinod may have been disappointing for many, but this is very much a free-reign project for Raghavan, and apart from Dhawan (and Yami Gautam in a role small enough to be a cameo, as The Lost Lenore), the cast is a lot of alternative Bollywood's best, with Nawaz, Vinay Pathak and Huma having prominent roles. The plot is simple enough - Dhawan's Raghu loses his wife (Yami Gautam) and son when two bank robbers (Nawaz's Liak and Pathak's Harman) kill them while looking for a getaway car, (though only the former goes to jail after the latter escapes with the money) and plots his revenge. Nawaz, as almost always, is perfect, though I worry he is being typecast as a quirky, Vaas-style villain (as in Gangs of Wasseypur and Kick), and Huma and Pathak range from decent to awesome, but I have issues with casting Varun Dhawan for the lead role. He's done as well as he can, but he's simply too young for the role (as are, indeed, any of Bollywood's youngsters), and so he simply doesn't manage to look convincing (I don't even really think it's his fault). To be completely honest it'd have been amazing to see someone like SRK or even Aamir do the role (this is a quite dark character by any standards, let alone Bollywood ones), but Dhawan has tried his best in a tough role, and that deserves applause.

• Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan and Jeetu Arora's MSG: The Messenger of God, starring Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan. India's Jim Jones, ladies and gents! (though without any Kool-Aid. Yet.) The man is controversial, and his movie is, expectedly, an advertisement of himself and his cult, with himself doing stuff that is... pretty usual for Bollywood heroes, with a touch of curing cancer. The movie is pretty likely to get a large secular viewership, too - decent comedies have been at a premium recently.

• Sharat Katariya's Dum Laga Ke Haisha, starring Ayushmann Khurana and Bhumi Pednekar. A surprising good movie about an arranged marriage and love (yes, in that order) between a guy and a... well... very fat girl (which is the main reason for the guy's angst - he is angry that his wife couldn't be more conventionally beautiful). It is jarring to see an actress in a movie so... far away from conventional Bollywood beauty standards (even if Bhumi Pednekar is rather pretty and charming), so... yay, body positivity, I guess!

• Vikramjit Singh's Roy, starring Arjun Rampal, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ranbir Kapoor. Cop-out. I am not wasting any more words on a movie that didn't bother to invest as much effort as the sheer amounts of hype that called it a 'thriller'. False advertising, assholes.

-sigh- very well.

'Who are you?' 'A detective' 'Absolutely not.' 'A policeman?' 'Certainly not' 'So, what do you do?'

-YASH RAJ FILMS PRESENTS-

'I needed some help from you. My father has been missing for two months.' 'Must've come under a tram or bus' *slap*

-CALCUTTA 1943-

'Do you think I've hidden him in a box of paan(betel leaf, usually an appetiser)?' 'No, I think someone has killed him and hidden the body'

-A MYSTERY-

'Do you know -somebody- Banerjee?' (couldn't catch the name) 'I only want to ask some questions... why are you afraid?'

'I've come to talk regarding a murder.'

'The police is saying he is missing, why are you so insistent on saying my father is dead?'

'The truth must be revealed.' 'Your truth cannot even buy me a cigarette, Mr. Byomkesh.'

'My father must've just gone somewhere for no reason, is that not possible?' 'Nothing happens for no reason in this world.'

-A WAR-

'Have you heard of Shanghai's 'Green Gang'? (I have no idea what the Chinese guy says apart from 'Calcutta')

'Please don't hide anything from me. It'll cost you dearly.'

-AND A DETECTIVE-

'The lie closest to the truth is difficult to catch.'

'If not for you, none of this would have happened.'

-Right at the end-

-laughter- 'What will you do now, Mr. Bakshy?'

edited 8th Mar '15 12:49:12 PM by arcanephoenix

Watched Gabbar is Back. Not quite as good as I'd hoped, based on the director's track record down south, but it works pretty well as a cross between V For Vendetta, The Count Of Monte Cristo, and the Death Wish movies. Akshay Kumar is in rare form as the brooding but sarcastic main character who leads a group of vigilantes who kidnap and execute corrupt bureaucrats. Comedian Sunil Grover is nebbishy and likable as a nerdy police constable who is way smarter about hunting the main character than the pompous police task force assigned to the case. Shruti Haasan is very bland as the heroine, who's supposed to be funny but mostly ends up being an excuse for Akshay to be funny. I thought it pretty obvious that her character had an unrequited crush on Akshay's character, but everyone else seems to be interpreting it as a conventional love story.

The sleeper hit Piku-starring Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan-really doesn't sound like my kind of thing, but I'm glad that it's doing well. Next films of interest to me are the Telugu film Baahubali Part 1-a historical epic which will probably get a Hindi dub and a release at the theaters that play Indian films-and Akshay's next release in August, the "Warrior" remake called Brothers.

A hit and run case has been in process against Salman Khan since 2002; and last week he was found guilty and sentenced to five years. He is appealing the conviction, and will be out on bail until the next hearing on the case in mid-June. I do not think this will affect the release of his next film, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, in late July, because I believe they have enough time to finish shooting and he's so popular that he scarcely needs to promote his films. I suspect his late 2015 release Prem Ratan Dhan Payo may be pushed back to next year, depending on how much time the court case takes up, and whether he has to go to jail but wants to extend his career as long as possible.

The only projects he had committed to beyond this were No Entry Mein Entry, a comedy sequel that's been in limbo for years, and the reincarnation love story Shhuddhi, from the director of Brothers and the Agneepath remake. Whether he stars in Shhuddhi will depend on whether he can either get his conviction reversed or the jail time delayed for several years, as Sanjay Dutt did. Whether Shhuddhi gets made at all depends I think on Brothers doing well.

edited 13th May '15 2:01:46 PM by odadune

I can't believe I didn't know about this thread until now.

I don't deserve my username.

Anyway does anyone remember a weird horror film about a pizza delivery guy that came out last year? I was curious but it fell off my radar.

Yeah, it's just called "Pizza": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_(2014_film)

It's a remake of this Tamil movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_(2012_film)

I've not seen either version but I'm told they're both fairly good.

Was Bakshy any good?

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy? The comments I've seen about it imply that it's a good character piece and period piece but a bad thriller. I personally haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Just saw Bajrangi Bhaijaan, finally. Brilliant movie. I recommend it. The little girl in particular does more with her facial expressions than most actresses do otherwise.

What is everyone's opinion on Bajirao Mastani?

edited 27th Dec '15 1:43:47 PM by higherbrainpattern

Have yet to see it. It's Sanjay Leela Bhansali though, so I'll enjoy the opulence when I do. Lot of song promos for it on the Indian tv channels at the moment.

A Bollywood movie will be shot in Portugal (link in Portuguese). The movie in question is Aeroporto - Shaira & Me, and it's gonna be directed by Adhyayen Suman, son of Shekhar Suman. He also has a starring role in it, apparently. It's gonna be produced by Windmill Entertainment, in partnership with All Around Globe (the latter being responsible for movies such as Balupu (2013), Bachchan (2014), Pandaga Chesko (2015) and Chakravyuha (2016) - all four of which had some scenes which were sjot here).

I'm just translating the gist of the content for you guys, since I know nothing about these movies and Adhyayen Suman.

edited 5th Mar '16 7:47:50 AM by Quag15

So I'm just gonna call it: Deepika Padukone is the successor to Madhuri Dixit. She is the currently reigning Queen of Bollywood.

EDIT- Going back to earlier posts on this thread about the top ten, I will update for those who read this:

Vidya is done. Had a kid, taking it relatively easy. Will always have a place a la Rani but she never put in enough quantity to go with her quality to make her a screen queen.

Kareena is almost done. Is pregnant, will be out of the industry a couple of months at the very very least, and was on the downward slope even before she was about to have a kid (laziness, I think an earlier poster here said, seems to be the accurate diagnosis). Whenever she comes back, it won't be as leading lady. Will be trying to compete with Vidya and Rani for the niche of "strong older female (yet young enough to still be sexy)" roles.

Katrina is the only actress in Bollywood that can compete with Deepika in terms of star power, and therefore the only person who could oust her. Her problem remains that she hasn't been able to secure a quality film that's built around her. This means said star power is based still on her looks and her item songs, and thats going to be giving her diminishing returns going forward. Granted, she's done well enough with the likes of Ek Tha Tiger and so Raajneeti and so on to prove that she can do some good with the right script, but it has yet to happen. Thankfully is relying somewhat less on said eye candy and item numbers, and it seems she may be preparing to release such a quality film. But of course we won't know until it happens.

So here is, in my view, the new top ten list of actresses in B-wood, in no particular order after Deepika and Katrina:

1. Deepika 2. Katrina 3. Alia 4. Sonam 5. Shraddha 6. Sonakshi 7. Kareena (for now) 8. Priyanka (doing better in the states at the cost of her career here. Only one worthwhile film of hers recently released. She'll be off the list by next year) 9. Anuskha Sharma (hanging in there, thanks to Sultan, but only just) 10. No idea. Complete wildcard, as any other actress in B-wood right now could fit in that slot.

edited 22nd Jul '16 11:00:01 PM by FFShinra

Note: I have never seen any Indian films before, and am at least aware that in this case I am talking about a Tollywood, not Bollywood, film. Apologies for any errors I make.

I decided to check out Baahubali: The Beginning after learning that the sequel has just become a worldwide blockbuster and even managed to get to #3 in the US. The filmmakers have made the first one free to watch on Youtube.

I really enjoyed the first hour of the film, with the main character Shivu / Baahubali being a cheerful prankster and adventuring through the land, especially the musical number of him scaling the massive waterfall he's been challenging all his life. I also liked the heroine Avanthika getting introduced in a badass manner, with the dichotomy of her vicious warrior self and her repressed feminine side. Parts I also liked were the Lyrical Dissonance in which the tyrannical kingdom is introduced, and the history of the My Master, Right or Wrong slave Kattappa. Not to mention the visuals are gorgeous.

But I didn't connect as well to the following two-thirds of the film. Shivu just seemed to turn into a Boring Invincible Hero, smashing through everything without the roguish charm he had and without a bit of strain or challenge. Inversely Avanthika took a big dip into Chickification helplessness after seemingly being "tamed", all so that Shiva could save her, then neither she or any other of her band of rebels participated in any more action.

Then the plot took an odd turn when Kattappa halted the story to tell an hour long tale about Shivu's invincible and identical dad, seemingly so we could hear all the backstory for the sequel. The final war sequence of the film was massive spectacle, well on the level of The Lord of the Rings, but I didn't feel for it as much because it seemed like a detour. It's like The Lion King if Rafiki spent the last third talking about the history of rivalry between Mufasa and Scar. It was at least cool that they came up with a Conlang for the bad guys, though.

It was a good enough watch for the well choreographed, clear shot, creative action scenes, but I much preferred the characters in the first part of the plot better. I don't know if the sequel is any better in this regard.

edited 14th May '17 1:25:20 AM by Tuckerscreator

I've never seen it, but my mom hated Baahubali. She just found it so boring and she slept through it both times she tried to watch it! She claims that the only reason people like it is because of the special effects, and that the plot is sorely lacking. My dad loves the movie though.

I'm pretty pleasantly surprised that the sequel is doing so well, though. I just find it really neat because it's a Telugu movie, as opposed to a Hindi movie, and my mom's from that area (Andra Pradesh) so I just think that's kind of cool, I guess?

I've heard some of the songs from Baahubali 2 though, and I liked them. My sister didn't like them, but she just doesn't like Telugu songs. Probably because my mom loves Telugu songs. Teenage rebellion and all that. (Telugu is my mom's first language, so I mean. It makes sense that she loves them.)

So I'm working on a web novel set in an India-like fantasy nation, and one of the most persistent things I've found in researching how to be respectful about it is that "the best way to learn how to respectfully portray a culture is to see how they portray themselves".

Would anyone be able to recommend a good place to start with Bollywood Fantasy films? I watched Baahubali: The Beginning (And quite enjoyed it, so all the more reason to dig deeper into Bollywood) and will be trying to find a good subtitled version of The Conclusion, but I wouldn't have any idea where else to look for good stuff.

@Quag 15: Josh takes place in Goa.

Been a while since this thread's seen action, so...

Most movies have been garbage, tbch - it's been a while since the Bollywood scene was this bad. Raees was eh, Jagga Jasoos was shit, Half Girlfriend... well, it's based on a fucking Chetan Bhagat book, what do you expect, Noor was actual garbage, most of the movies I don't even remember. Even Tubelight, a Salman Khan Eid movie, did badly. A Salman Khan movie flopped, if that's not a sign Bollywood is in crisis, I don't know what it.

Jab Harry Met Sejal is coming to theatres next week, with SRK and Anushka Sharma. Three guesses what it is based on.

Apparently Hindi Medium was a decent smallish movie, with Mr. Acting Cred Irrfan Khan and complete unknown to me Pakistani actress Saba Qamar starring as parents trying to get their kid into a top school.

Also, apparently Lipstick under my Burkha is supposed to be very good. It's released just now, after spending a long, long time with the censor board. It's definitely one of our more arty-type films, and those are generally good.