Outlook's Bollywood Special

Outlook has published a set of interesting articles on various filmi topics. My favorites:
  • Dibakar Banerjee, the director of my favorite film of 2008, wonders whether non-filmi love could ever make it on to the big screen.
  • Nandini Ramnath summarizes and ranks heroes from the last 40 years. (No Shashi. BOOOO. But Vinod! Yaaaay!)
  • Naman Ramahcandran lists some of the other kinds of love to hit the big screen.
  • Sudhir Mishra investigates the appeal of Devdas - and it ends happily, Dev.D. style.
Thanks to Indie Quill for the tip!

Comments

ajnabi said…
I liked the roundup of unconventional love stories article the best, I think. But the Devdas one was a little confusing to me. I couldn't follow the conclusions the author drew; I think I might have to be Indian to get it. ;-)
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Shellie said…
Great articles. While I can't comment on our heroes from yesterday I think Nandini did a fairly decent job outlining her favorite heroes. Although, I think she missed the mark with Aamir - while he doesn't go for the chocolate boy image anymore we still see glimpses of his romantic side now and again (he certainly had some drool appeal in Ghajini.

I enjoyed the one on different types of love the most, and while I can't say that I'd rush out for a movie about incest, I applaud those filmakers that aren't shy about introducing debatable content in their movies.
bollyviewer said…
Very interesting articles. Thanks for linking to them (and to Indie Quill for finding them). Thats the sort of thing that should make it to Bollywood books and not the sort of Filmfare/Stardust-lite stuff that does. I loved Nandini Ramnath's summary of yesteryear heroes. She was so caustic about Rajesh Khanna and feels exactly like me about Aamir Khan! lol
Amrita said…
The FIRST thing I noticed, Beth, was the lack of Shashi-love. We'll show them all!
Ajnabi - I couldn't either. I need to try it again - or, as in the case of the films themselves, maybe not. The best way to save myself from Devdas might be to ignore him completely in ALL forms :)

shell - I think so too. To each their own - I learned this lesson by heart the day I met someone crazy for Uday Chopra :)

bollyviewer - Agree agree. I thought the critique of Rajesh Khanna was especially funny given how vehement some of his internet-vocal fans are.

Amrita - Insert planning/plotting/scheming laugh in The Voice!
Ellie said…
The hero roundup gave me particular joy because she captured exactly how I feel about Salman Khan, more eloquently than I have been able to express myself. (I generally start strong and then trail off into making faces). She was also dead on about Aamir and SRK, in my opinion, although I have heard some impassioned arguments to the contrary on Aamir (nobody has seriously tried to suggest that SRK is utterly devoid of charm, and I am perfectly willing to concede that he has some flaws as an actor, although it hurts me to say so). Thanks for the great links!
Ellie - Yes, her description of Salman made me giggle and nod along. I also love your description of your descriptions! :)
Anonymous said…
I read a couple of your reviews on Karan Johar movies (because I had nothing better to do). I hope you can do a overall assessment of the guy someday -- you'd of course trash him for making all the crap. He has not made a single memorable film.
norrbu - Ooh thanks for sharing your blog! Will dig in!

As for KJo...um.... Yeah. It's complicated. Despite rational objections (from myself and others) and that totally saccharine little girl, I do really enjoy KKHH. I used to like KHNH quite a bit but it has faded on subsequent re-watching. I think KANK is totally overrated and am pretty sure no one would care about it if it weren't by him and starring the people it does. I think K3G is so awful I've only watched it once - which means that my impressions of it being regressive, overdrawn, and mawkish might be incorrect, but I hardly want to go back to correct them. But there's something about Karan himself as a celebrity that I like, so it's hard for me to write him off entirely.
Suhan said…
[QUOTE] I thought the critique of Rajesh Khanna was especially funny given how vehement some of his internet-vocal fans are.[END QUOTE]

Err, I hope when you say 'vehement' you mean that we are 'passionate' rather than just 'forcibly expressive'? :-)

And Nandini Ramnath is now officially mud amongst Kaka's (Rajesh Khanna) fans. We don't say you have to love him, but if you must criticize him, at least do so after having viewed his work which she doesn't appear to have done. Given how few gems each actor can really lay claim to, there's been some that he's done that really shouldn't be dismissed so offhandedly.
The famous Suhan! Yay! :)

To be fair, my experience with Rajesh Khanna fans is primarily through the comments on Memsaab's blog. I haven't seen any of his movies (unless you count Disco Dancer), so I haven't sought out any writing about him. And indeed, "passionate" is a word I would use.

As for her critique, it'd be hard to use much material with only three or four sentences in which to respond. I do wish she had named at least particular film for each actor - but given the brevity of the format, I don't think she could have said much more about anyone than she did. It's not an in-depth analysis (nor does it claim to be). And the idea of Rishi never looking camp?!? To each their own, I say! (She overlooked Shashi entirely, after all!)
Anonymous said…
I have enjoyed reading your blog for a while now & have a small favour - please advice if your links may lead to material of a questionable nature ...

I'm referring to the 'Indie Quill' link. The latest posts on that site were offensive in the least.

This time I'm choosing to remain 'Anonymous' ...
Anonymous said…
But i agree with Nandini Ramnath...Late 60's and early 70's
Rajesh just didnt allow any other actor to show his face....such was his domination...
Indian women just like the studio bosses had no other choice but Rajesh Khanna...

But she didnt tell the full story.....

Post mid 70's til early 80's studio bosses took over from reigning super star and
unleashed such powers that virtually shouted and
kicked the Indian women out of cinema halls that threw them back into the kitchen
to the point of no return.....and you cant have more depressing scenario than this...
The Anon said…
sth for u Beth :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8CFoXUQRwc

also do u know why T-Hype has stopped blogging ?? She hasnt posted for quite a while now.
Anonymous 1 - Thank you for reading! As for the link - I hadn't looked to see what the latest posts were at Indie Quill before I linked, but even if I had, it would not have occurred to me to say anything about the content (other than possibly "NSFW, depending on where you work"). I generally assume that any of the people I link to in my sidebar (where IQ is always posted) are saying things that I think are interesting and relevant in some way, so I don't think twice about re-linking to them in a more specific context. That doesn't really answer your comment, probably, but I hope it explains why that post was the way it was and why most subsequent links from me to my regular haunts probably won't be prescreened either.

Anonymous 2 - Clearly I need to see what all the fuss is about!

The Anon - Thank you! A very lovely start to my morning. T-Hype has been in Korea for the last...I think almost a year and has been occupied with other adventures :)

Popular Posts