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I decided to watch Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam after seeing a clip of it in my theatre history class (Bollywood on some level continues the Indian tradition of kathkhali dance and such). Wow! It's so cool! I loved the music and dance sequences, and the story was even pretty good.
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Hmm, I wonder if they're available for rental at Bollywood Video down the road. (Yes, I'm serious.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I LOVE BOTH OF THOSE MOVIES! They are two of my favourites! Very long though, but they have great music and Kajol! And one of them has that dude with the hazel eyes.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Syn, they both have "that dude with the hazel eyes" - Hrithik Roshan (mmmmmmmmm). K3G is one of my favourite Bollywood films - I took two of my English friends to see that and they enjoyed it, so it must have been fairly good (I maintain that Bollywood is rather an acquired taste). I haven't seen any Bollywood since then, actually, tho I got half way through Kal Ho Naa Ho. I loved the first half but then my nan had to take the DVD back, so I never got to see the second half. It's supposed to be amazing though.
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I've got three more recent flicks to reccommend to you: Dil Chatha Hai, Lagaan and Swades. The last is my current favorite - it's fun as a musical, but also a really moving, very relevant film. I love how they haven't fallen into the ArtFilm trap of dreading sentiment. I happen to think that sentiment is an important part of the human experience.
If you want more of my opinion on the music itself, check out my last review on this thread, "Bollywood for Beginners."
Posts: 285 | Registered: Apr 2005
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You mean, *gasp*, I'm not the only one here who watches Bollywood movies?
We buy them by the truckload, but only if they have English subtitles. Our favorite actors include Shahrukh Khan, of course, Amitabh Bachchan, Hritik Roshan, Amitabh's son, Preity Zinta, and a bunch more. It's sad that I'm remembering their names and faces.
We have dozens of them. Literally. Every single time we go out buying DVDs, Fahim searches for more and adds them to the pile.
Oh, have any of you seen Koi...Mil Gaya First Bollywood sci-fi. Cross between ET and Flowers for Algernon. Hritik's in it. Pretty cool.
And the IMDB database has most Bollywood movies in it. That should help.
Edit to add: Um, I should have qualified the subtitles comment earlier. The Bollywood movies are subtitled in English, or at least, every single one we've ever seen is. It's the Tamil movies from Tamil Nadu (think Madras) that aren't always subtitled in English.
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Bollywood is Bombay, and is called that because it's India's answer to Hollywood. Bollywood puts out something like 800 movies a year. Big business.
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Thanks, quid. That said, the only Indian movies I saw where when I was little - and they were sooo long I thought I'd die there. Maybe now it would be different... Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yeah, they are long. Think a standard Hollywood movie, then add another 1 1/2 to 2 hours of singing nd dancing, and you've got . . . a Bollywood movie. Never mind that it might be a movie set in a POW camp and the men are all starving, like Dewaar and the men suddenly have all sorts of energy that they didn't have five minutes before.
Having said that, they are strangely addicting. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I think the best transitional Bollywood flick for Americans to watch is Lagaan. It's so good, I've got a 45-year-old forester friend loving it every bit as ardently as my 6, 8, and 10-year old siblings do.
But Swades.... man, that's the best thing that's ever happened.
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I saw part of that movie. The part I saw was cool. I wish I could have watched more. Stupid only-one-hour long class...
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote: kq, you have a Bollywood Video store??? That is so cool!
Yeah, it is. It's right near the library. Maybe we'll have to check it out when we go tomorrow. (We almost always use Netflix.) Maybe we should rent something for DallasCon! Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Anything with Shahrukh Khan is good - he's one of the hottest names in Bollywood right now, and has been for quite a few years. He's good - sappy love stories, and he cries and plays sad boy very very well.
If you need recommendations, let me know. Fahim's seen nearly everything with the big stars in it. But damn him, he doesn't need the subtitles. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I wonder if the videos at Bollywood Video have subtitles... Probably at least some of them do. Give me some recommendations that they're likely to have, and I'll see if I make it there. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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All of the Bollywood DVDs that we buy have English subtitles, and considering I live in a country where not even most people are fluent in English, I doubt you'll have a problem.
Favorite Bollywood movies:
Mohabbatein with Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan (which I always mispronounce), and Uday Chopra.
Dhoom with Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan (Amitabh's son).
Kyun! Ho Gaya Na with Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai (former Miss Universe, IIRC, turned hot actress.)
Kal Ho Naa Ho with Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Preity Zinta. It's a real tear jerker, so make sure you've got boxes of Kleenex. Shows Shahrukh's sappy love sick side to a T. Departure movie for Saif, which he pulled off incredibly well. He's great as the sidekick, comic, too.
Chalte Chalte with Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee, another Miss Universe turned actress, I believe. She's also a big name in Bollywood.
Main Hoon Na, yet another Shahrukh Khan (are you getting the idea that we like his movies? If you aren't, you should!) movie, also with Sushmita Sen and Sunil Shetty, who's in other movies I've listed above.
Hum Tum with Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee, and a special appearance of Abhishek Bachchan. It's funny and cute.
If you need any more ideas, please let me know. The ones I've listed above are all recent and they're the blockbusters, so your neighborhood Hindi Movie Mart ought to have them.
Have fun!
Edit to add: If all of the above are sold out, go with any movie that has Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hritikh Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, or Uday Chopra and you ought to be fine.
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I'm adding Veer-Zaara to the list. It's got Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, and Amitabh Bachchan in it, and even though we're only an hour into it (I'm posting during a song & dance number), it's good. Shahrukh, as the prisoner in the Pakistani prison, looks grimy, filthy, and disgustingly dirty. But damn, he cleans up nice! Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I concur with Susie Derkins' recommendation of Swades . It can be an excellent beginning of an education into some parts of Indian culture that many in the west would find shocking. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of education, children being married. Still, it doesn't show all of that in all of its ugliness, and from that point of view, it's still sugar-coated, yet. . . It's a powerful, moving film. We enjoyed it very much.
Of course it has Shahrukh Khan. Always a big draw.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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We watched The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey tonight. It's based on the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 in India against the British East India Company and, near as I can tell, it's historically accurate.
It stars Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerjee, Toby Stephens (Die Another Day, Space Cowboys), and Ameesha Patel.
The plot is disjointed and some major characters are not shown to their full advantage.
And yet. It was powerful and dramatic and well worth seeing.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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We just finished watching Bunty aur Babli with Abishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerjee, and Amitabh Bachchan (Abishek's father) - it was fun! I won't call it a great movie - there are some irritating parts, like Rani's inability to cry in a way that I find believable - but it was good, entertaining, and a whole lotta fun. This was also the first time Abishek and Amitabh acted together, which most of y'all won't really care about, but there it is anyway.
Short version is that Bunty and Babli both run away from home to find a life more to their liking, they hook up, and go on a merry round of scams and cons while redistributing their excess funds to the poor. They get married, and just after Babli gives birth... Well, that would be spoiling it, now wouldn't it? Just watch it. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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