when Beth met Shashi....

Last week at work we decided to bring in our favorite bad/ridiculous/silly movies so that we could have a little fun during one of the slowest weeks of the year. (If you have an auditorium with a good sound system at your disposal, you should use it, we figure.) Although we never got around to more than about half an hour of watching, I was ready, Commando in hand. (Not the Ahh-nold/Alyssa Milano one. The Mithun/Kim/Amrish Puri/Danny Denzongpa/Shakti Kapoor/Dalip Tahil/Satish Shah/Asrani/Iftekhar/Bob Christo/Tom Alter one. Everyone is in this movie.) Yesterday I was trying to tidy my desk and realized Commando was still sitting there, so before putting it in my bag I enjoyed one last look at Mithun's mullet on the front of the case and idly flipped it over to see who else made the cover. "Oh," I thought to myself, "there's the guy who played Mithun's brother-in-arms [Hemant Birje], and baddie Shakti Kapoor, and...huh, that other guy looks a lot like a KapooOHMYGODTHAT'S SHASHI!"*


Now I must face the sad and undoubtedly very inauspicious truth that my first Shashi movie was not, as previously thought, Shaan, but Commando. What is one to do with such knowledge?

Rewatch it and make screen captures, of course!
  • Shashi, rescuer of injured colleagues and leader in a national crisis!
  • Shashi, father figure and comforter in times of great sadness!
  • Shashi, knower of important international policy!
  • Shashi, adviser on secret missions!
I'd like to say he's the best part of the movie, but I had absolutely no recollection of him from my first watching of it a year ago, and this time I scanned it at 32XFF just to figure out where he appeared. He's certainly not any worse than anyone else, I'll give him that.

And if anyone wants a slightly used copy of Commando, say the word.

* The phrase "...that looks like a KapooOHMYGOD" was invented by and used with permission of Filmi Geek.

Comments

3 points to make.

1. The "...that looks like a KapooOHMYGOD" line has also often been used by the PPCC, most notably in Awaara (well, we sort of knew Shashi was in that, but we forgot until we saw it again).

2. And OMG the PPCC also first saw Shashi in a completely un-Shashi-like state, that being in In Custody, where he is, charitably-put, prone to projectile vomiting and other unattractive qualities. Hence just as you consider Shaan your first REAL Shashi experience, we consider Silsila ours. And what an experience it is! OMG, watch Silsila, he is so sexy in it. We forgot. Rowr.

3. OMG YOU STOLE THE PPCC'S THUNDER IT'S LIKE WE SHARE ONE BRAIN BECAUSE WE HAD PLANNED A PURELY SHASHI-CENTRIC POST FOR TODAY IT'S ALL WRITTEN UP AND EVERYTHING AND YET YOU'VE GONE AND BEATEN US TO IT WHYYYYYYYY!!!! What are we to dooooo now?!!!!

I leave you with this. Arrrgh. It's hard to find the Shashi in all that... fat. God, just lay off the frickin' cake for a minute.
With so many varied movies to his credit, it probably comes up often. Which in no way diminishes how fun it is to say. Somehow it's more satisfying than "That fellow looks a bit like Anupam KhOMYGOD!" or "That couldn't possibly be Farida JalOHMYGOD!" I think this is because of the actual spoken and implied metaphorical oooh in the name "Kapoor."

The Dreaded Male Kapoor Bloat was known to me before I knew anything about Shashi, having first seen Shammi in Parvarish and wondering how he could be "the Indian Elvis." It's not the bulk so much at is the arrangement of it. I am in no position to throw stones about pudge, but they look like they have shoved multiple rectangular bed pillows under the front of their jackets. It's like they're in very bad fat suits, dressed up to play Santa at the mall - even worse than the insultingly idiotic "fat Monica" in Friends. Additionally, I would never, ever deny anyone, especially someone I love as much as Shashi, cake, for cake is the finest dessert and should be enjoyed by one and all.

There is ample Shashi-related thunder for everyone! The Shashi storm knows no bounds! Please post!
N David said…
WOW!!

I love Bollywood too but my love is so under-informed.. I am blogrolling you this instant!

I am blindfolded at

http://blindfolded.wordpress.com

You are allowing only googlers to comment?
Sanket Vyas said…
Growing up on a steady diet of Bollywood I was a part of the Amitabh generation wherein he was the end all when it came to my ideal in male actors. But Shashi was right up there and from a guy's point of view he is many things that AB never was & never could be. It's a celebration of differences & some of my favorite movies are the ones they were in together. And for the record - my first Shashi movie was 'Do Aur Do Paanch'. Inspired madness that went beyond the usual melodramatic that was Bollywood back in the day.
blindfolded - it helps cut down on spam. I know it's inconvenient, and I really do appreciate people being willing to sign in to post :)

Sanket - I would love to know more about your thoughts on both AB and SK - that would make a great post! I found an article over the summer about the different male superstars of the 70s and why all of them were necessary to fill our imaginations. http://www.egothemag.com/archives/
2005/05/hero_1.htm I agree, of course, that AB and SK are very different, and I love their pairings. That would be another great post - discussing all of their films!

Sigh. So many projects, so little time.
Vivek said…
Maybe you already know this - but here it is anyway.

Shashi had managed to stay away from the Kapoor pudge till he put on a bunch of weight for his role in 'Utsav' - this coincided with his wife's passing away (from all accounts devastating for him) - and it is quite possible he just gave up/in/didn't care?
Vivek said…
Oh and my favorite Shashi movie - Vijeta. But maybe that had as much to do with Govind Nihalani.
Vivek - I hadn't heard that about the role, and I'm glad you filled me in. I knew a bit about Jennifer's death - and I think it is more than fair for him to have decided whatever he wanted. As I told PPCC, I'd never deny anybody cake!
Unknown said…
You absolutely HAVE TO read this review from my good friend Tapan - http://dirtscapes.blogspot.com/2007/08/commando-movie-review.html

Its better than the film itself [;-)]

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs

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