Me, Myself and the Deols

The introduction post for Deol Dhamaka on bollystalgia (blog by Amaluu) says:


"For the entire month of March, we're going to be celebrating our favorite Jats ..." 


Now, I know that I'm probably one of the big exceptions in this Bolly-Blogger-community, but... (dharamdhamdham)... my first thought was: Why not Kapoor Dhamaka? That would be so much easier, I could write about my love-even-in-horrible-movies Kareena, really-good-but-overhyped-yet-I-love Ranbir, I-don't-know-what-to-think-of-you Rishi and so on.
But before I find myself in the graveyard, I'll leave the Kapoor dynasty for once and will concentrate on "our favorite Jats" (?), the Deols. First of all, I have a question to answer: What is dhamaka? After a long journey on the internet... I didn't find out exactly. My guess is, that it means festival or something similar. Good, sorted that out. The Deol Festival. The Festival of Deols.
I thought of things I could write about for participating in Deol Dhamaka, other than just reviews... Introducing my "relationship" is a good way to start, I think. So my idea was to write a fictive letter to each of the Deols listed on Bollystalgia. (And please take a look at those pictures, which I have created so carefully and with true heart blood.)


"Garam Dharam"/ Dharmendra

Dear Dharmendra,

I'm sorry to tell you that I do not own any DVDs with you. I've only seen two of your (wait a minute... imdb is loading) 254 movies (congrats!). Of course, one of them is your most famous movie, the film above them all: Sholay. Though you're not exactly my type, I found you both funny, sympathetic and good as an actor in this movie. The other film that I've seen with you is Yamla Pagla Deewana, another famous film, though not comparable to Sholay. What made me curious enough to watch it, was that a father and his two sons played a father and his two sons. Add some mediocre to positive reviews, and I got snoopy. Though it's not the best movie I've seen or something, it taught me some interesting things. For instance, you look better in it, than in Sholay, and your chemistry with your sons is fascinating. Three Deols charmed me for the durance of an [overlong] motion picture, and that's what I'll remember the film for. Still, there is a "but". Dharmendra, you just don't apply to me personally. I mean, if I'd meet you, if you weren't a movie star, I don't think I'd like you. And I'm sorry for that... I really am, because I'm going to find someone with a gun in his hand next to my bed very soon for saying this.
Maybe we'll meet again on the silver screen - who knows, which films lay ahead of us/ me?

With kind regards,

Mette

Sunny

Dear Sunny,

you can see it on the picture: I am the owner of a Darr copy. What you can't see, is that big shelf of mine filled with Shahrukh Khan DVDs, or the place for him in my heart - him stammering K..K...Kiran doesn't make that place get smaller, perhaps it even grew because of Darr. However, the sad point about all of this is, that I don't really like you... that much. I don't hate you. But your role in Darr...? Come on. It seems like you wanted to play safe, because I bet you were offered the psycho role, but that was not macho enough for you. 

It was that hero role you wanted, and it was what you got. Not more. You got a part of my attention, and you wasted it, you took it and turned it into a ball of paper that you threw into the garbage. Good for you, that I watched Yamla Pagla Deewana. I don't expect you to be familiar with neither my tweets nor my opinion on Dabangg, but here's what I tweeted about YPD: "Paramveer Singh is the next Chulbul Pandey.". To me, Dabangg was an entertaining masala-adventure-trash, nothing to take seriously, but filmic rubbish at it's best quality. YPD wasn't that bad, actually, or you could say: Not that good. It lacked some of the fast pace that the Salman-starrer contained. But your role brought some of that "Fearless"-flair to me, so that I couldn't resist and had to like it somehow. Especially you. I'm happy I found out about your good side, so that we can talk to each other again.

By the way, did you get a face lift? You look much younger in YPD...

Your friend, 

Mette

Bobby

Dear Bobby, I tried to find some decent pictures of you, but they just lacked all resemblance to you - except for the baby pictures. So even though you look like a certain german ex-minister/doctor (especially the hair), it's clearly you. First of all: you got me into trouble - I thought I'd only seen one of your films (YPD, what else), but after browsing through the whole imdb, I finally found something that would protect my good reputation: Om Shanti Om. The best source if you're looking for stars that you want to have seen films with (who doesn't?). You were fantastic in it, absolutely fantastic, how you expressed the feelings of the character, and... well, whatever. Same for YPD: An epic movie that showed all your talents, proving that you have the character trait of them all: masala. You can be funny, lovely (somehow), disgusting (somehow), scary, entertaining and calm. What else can I say about you...? There are films that I absolutely want to watch, for instance: Ajnabee (not because of Kareena), Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (not because of Preity), Nanhe Jaisalmer (... seriously now: because of you... or the story) and Dostana (not because of the hype around it). 

As you see, we have a future together, and... I'm absolutely looking forward to you and your hair (makes me forget all about Aditya Roy Kapoor), and your... dance(?). Yeah.

Your... fan...

Mette

PS: Sorry, didn't find the OSO-DVD, so no picture.

Esha

Dear Esha,

I'm very disappointed by you these days. I haven't seen them, but I've heard about it, and I've read about it: Hijack? Money Hai Toh Honey Hai? Come on. It all started out so well, with you, with us, in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum. I was sure that you were going to be one of the great Heroines. Yuva was the next step on the latter, then came the big fun in Dhoom... After that Kaal - I actually count myself to the people who like the film. Of course, it's not really scary, or clever, or anything, but I find it very entertaining. I've also had great experience watching it with non-BW-fans. With Dus, though, I had problems. It was... actually, I don't even remember what it's about... or which character you played. The latest film I saw, was No Entry. I know, I know, it's about 6 years old now, but I just couldn't bear to see you in those horrible A minus movies (or B movies, even - btw, I like No Entry). Please do some nice films again, because you used to be one of my girls... and you can be again. I know you've got talent... show it to the world.

Your patient friend,

Mette

Abhay

Beloved Abhay,

even though I've only seen two of your films, you're not comparable with Dharmendra, for me. Of course, he's a bigger star, more famous etc. etc. But my true love goes to you, above all other Deols. The other Deols are just actors, I'm not... crazy about them. Whereas you... After seeing Dev. D, I was enchanted by you. Not like, I was wearing pink glasses or something, I just loved the way you perform, and that you're attractive in a non-obvious way (seeing the first stills of Dev. D, I wasn't exactly focusing on your looks or "attractiveness", but I changed my mind after watching it).

You're not too proud of one of your latest projects, Aisha, but as it's clear to see from my review, I did like the film. The more cursory role suits you well, as an alternation from your other roles.

Yes, Abhay, you are one of my up-coming favorite actors (my rules say, that I need to watch at least three movies of an actor/actress, before he is to be considered).

The two movies I watched are a proof to your talent (Aisha as well, as it's different from your other roles), and I hope that you won't disappoint me in the future.

With love,

Mette

I won't write any more comments on this topic, at least not for now, you can let everything "grow" in your head without more information, I think.

--------------------------

And by the way: It does feel different than before, now that I'm Sixteen Years Old.

PPS: No, I didn't spend my birthday with the nonsense of writing a blog post about my relationship to a family of actors. Most of it was written yesterday, I just finished everything off today, and... posted it.
I also hope no one feels insulted in any way, because I didn't mean to abuse any actor or fan. Though most of this is true, it's just for fun. As always: Don't take anything to seriously.

Thank you for reading,
Mette M. K.

The weeks not over yet... right?

This week, there was no room for Bollywood in my life - how can that possibly happen? Well, I try to ask myself this question, and I instantly find some reasons - which I'll share with you in this post.
I assume the real question is: Are my reasons admissible, or am I betraying my beloved Hindi film industry? Let's get an overview:

Under which pretexts did you leave the Indian film industry out alone this week?
For my defense: I did watch a tiny fragment of Bollywood this week - on Monday, I watched the end of No One Killed Jessica, as I was to tired to watch the whole film on Sunday.
However on...

... Monday, I was too tired after having ballet class from 18:30 till 20:00 and I also didn't want to be too tired next day. The afternoon was spent doing homework and stuff like that.

This is not what you think, Shahid
... we're just friends!

.... Tuesday, I, well, I had to watch How I Met Your Mother with my sister. We're trying to watch all seasons from the beginning and we're only at the 16th episode of season 1. I mean, we have a long way to go. Don't you think this is approved?

... Wednesday, we got our new Wii, so we had to try everything out. And then, as every Wednesday, the latest episode of Desperate Housewives was broadcasted. You must understand, that I really didn't have any time at all that day.

... Thursday, I needed to finish my book A Place Called Freedom (Ken Follett) and then hurried to ballet class, got into shower, ate - and before I knew, it was 9 o'clock p. m. (I was planning on watching my newly bought copy of Shahrukh-ki Deewana that evening, though).

... Friday, hey! That's today. Funny, how fast a week can go, isn't it. Yeah, so, how do I say this...? Don't think that I rate Hollywood higher than you, Bollywood, but there are only 9 days left until Oscar Night (I mean it: Night - how I hate the time difference). What I'm trying to say is: I'll spend this friday evening/ night seeing the most popular and recommended Oscar nominees. Now don't deliver any overhasty judgements and let me defend myself first: I have seen nearly all Filmfare nominees and winners, so even though I haven't seen the actual award ceremony, I'm on the right path. Please give me your blessings, Bollywood, will you?

I might never know the answer, but I feel that what I did was the right thing and there's no reason for convicting me. The week's not over yet, and I might watch one or two Indian films tomorrow. Maybe. And even if not, next week lies ahead. Also, I've written quite a few mini-reviews on my recent views, so you can look forward to my next post. A little hint: Rockstar-Rani in NOKJ and my odd, unexpected sympathy for that film called... something with Khan... and some Farah'os...?

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.


PS: I hope you don't take my trains of thoughts too serious.
PPS: "Trains of thoughts" - what a nice, picturesque expression, don't you think?

How I Fell In Love With the Bollywood 70's (Kabhi Kabhie Review)

Confused by the wide range of opinions on "Action Replayy" (this happened about a lot of other 2010 fillms, too), which was a film I thought would freshen up my curiosity for the world of the Bollywood 70's, I decided to jump into the cold water for real. I watched the two classics "Don" and "Sholay", an experience you can read about here... And as I found out, that I actually liked them, I watched "Kabhi Kabhie". You are the first ones to hear about this experience, too. Okay, I don't know anyone Bollywood-interested personally, so it's obvious, that you're the first ones.

KABHI KABHIE - LOVE IS LIFE (1976)

Director: Yash Chopra
Authors: Pamela Chopra, Sagar Sarhadi
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Raakhee Gulzar, Shashi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Rishi Kapoor

Plot: The young poet Amit is in love with Pooja, but Pooja's parents arrange her marriage with architect Vijay. About 20 years after, the two meet again, and the next generation has to fight for their love.








Written the 15th of January 2011

This DVD has been laying around in my cupboard for almost one year now, courting for my favour with many other films. As I've mentioned previously, I've been quite lazy concerning old films. I could never pull myself together and watch those old classics, apart from "Mughal-E-Azam". Why, I don't even know the answer to that myself. Maybe because... old films are just something else, you need to yourself in the postition of the time and can't except a film that would have been made the same way today. However, I've already seen two old films since the beginning of the year, including this one. I do like it. It's not like I never watch old films (I've especially seen many Danish ones), but the list of Indian ones still leaves room for improvement (okay, the English and German ones too). Per contra to the other two films I've seen (remind: Sholay and Don), "Kabhi Kabhie" is no born-and-bred cult film idolized by everyone, but it is definitely a special film. Firstly, it starts quite unusual, very calm and quiet. We are introduced to the love story of Amit and Pooja, peppered with sweet dialogues and lots of poetry. Then we see a wedding song, in which, at the beginning, only Pooja appears - by the way, it is very well-filmed. The bridegoom arrives, he pulls up his veil, and... shock: It's not Amit! Amit(abh), who has put a spell on us from the very beginning, with all his poetry. Something, that not many actors succeed in, during the first few minutes of a film. Even less actors would succeed in actually allegorizing the, now on principle hated, bridegoom in a sympathetic way. Kudos to Shashi Kapoor, who I experienced for the first time (though his laugh reminded me of the bad guy in Sholay). I also liked Raakhee from the very first moment I saw her, she looks very healthy and beams down a motherly warmth. The chemistry is right, between her and Amitabh, as well as between her and Shashi... Effectively, in the second half, Shashi and Raakhee seem to be the couple having most fun together. Vicky and Pinky, played by Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, are also a cute couple, while I instantly liked Rishi, but had to get used to Neetu at the beginning. Talking about getting used to something: I'm shocked by realizing, how much I've gotten used to the ideals of beauty we have nowadays, though I never thought about it this way. I realized it, when I thought, that Neetu and Raakhee were kind of... chubby. But then my alarm bells rang, thank god! My mind is so manipulated by all those human clothes rails, which are dominating our media.

Amit and Pooja

Talking about clothes rails: Amitabh wears some really cute, cuddly sweaters, that I absolutely want to own... (Beth wrote a post on this, but I can't find it right now). Back to the review. I really liked the camera setting of this film, it was whether too brash, nor too boring. Just at two moments, it seemed unprofessional too me, because they used the "shifting-between-to-faces-1000-times" technique. Otherwise, the scene changes were quite good, mostly rather subtle, but sometimes also with the good old impact.

Funny was, that Amit didn't look like his father at all, in contrast to Vicky, whose father was played by his real-life uncle. In addition, I liked the scene, where Vicky's father tries to catch Pinky's mother, and the two fiancés look at each other and vanish silently. Yes, the film has humor, why else should Vicky ask his horse: "Eritéz mon ami, yaar?"?

Actually, there was just one thing annoying me: Sweety, alias Naseem. She was just disruptive and beyond all bearing. By the way, I just IMDB-ed her, and this was the only film she acted in. Good decision!

"Kabhi Kabhie" is indeed quite long, but I've gotten used to that now, that's just how it is with old films. Though also many new films suffer from this - if they're poor. Because this is the secret advise for a long film, that's able to entertain: It has to be interesting. To the makers of "Shakti", "Sehar" etc. - remember this.

Rating: 7.2

Thank you for reading,

Mette M. K.