tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post1152405044543577862..comments2023-11-10T08:26:51.182-06:00Comments on Beth Loves Bollywood: antiheroes, superheroes, bad behavior, and restraint: in response to the NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, October 4, 2013Beth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-68346789263270026162013-10-28T21:36:43.114-05:002013-10-28T21:36:43.114-05:00Sorry for late replies!
filmi-contrast - The idea...Sorry for late replies!<br /><br />filmi-contrast - The idea of too much fantasy is an interesting one. I think for me it will vary on what those fantasies are and who's involved in telling them. Desai can do whatever he wants, but Roshan cannot, at least in this, because we must never forget he also made <i>Khoon Bhari Maang</i>, which is completely fantastic in all senses of the word (and feminist, even). <br /><br />Re: constraint and hero - the idea that the hero is weaker than the villain is pretty much what the hero of <i>Ra.One</i> says before he is killed by a...pixel demon, isn't it? And both versions of the hero were weaker than the villain until one of them got the power-up of having the love of a child who believed in his dead father's dream and BARF. But yeah, I'd love to see a superheroine too. I can't think of a single one unless you count Priyanka's...what is she, like the guide to the hero quest? in <i>Drona</i>. I do not count that, though. :)<br /><br />Aparna and Deepti - Embarrassing film revelations are always welcome here - and be proud! :)Beth Loves Bollywoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-46185390213971887762013-10-25T06:33:39.311-05:002013-10-25T06:33:39.311-05:00Aparna: chuck the guilt and welcome to the club. W...Aparna: chuck the guilt and welcome to the club. Wasn't there a Houdini-like magic trick in this film, in which the magician locks himself up in a wooden chest and somehow escapes - and the magician was played by a freaking 7-year-old?Deepti Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09462873637851411701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-61557143740103425442013-10-25T06:20:27.332-05:002013-10-25T06:20:27.332-05:00Aparna: Tut tut, chuck the guilt, I say welcome to...Aparna: Tut tut, chuck the guilt, I say welcome to the club. The other day I guessed the name of an awful horror film from one shot of one of the sidekicks drowning :)<br />By the way, didn't Life Ho To Aisi have this Houdini-like escape trick - performed by a freaking 7-year-old?Deepti Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09462873637851411701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-34074629962026304682013-10-24T13:06:44.804-05:002013-10-24T13:06:44.804-05:00Deepti Sharma (feeling guilty that I remember this...Deepti Sharma (feeling guilty that I remember this film at all): It was 'Vah Life ho to aisi'. I actually loved Sanjay Dutt's role in it as the cool Yamraj who get addicted to Scotch and it had good music - what a waste otherwise!<br />Aparnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17465535925292456208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-39215388089199960532013-10-24T13:06:12.163-05:002013-10-24T13:06:12.163-05:00Deepti Sharma (feeling guilty that I remember this...Deepti Sharma (feeling guilty that I remember this film at all): It was 'Vah Life ho to aisi'. I actually loved Sanjay Dutt's role in it as the cool Yamraj who get addicted to Scotch and it had good music - what a waste otherwise!<br />Aparnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17465535925292456208noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-902401500899105592013-10-16T03:44:21.057-05:002013-10-16T03:44:21.057-05:00There was this god-awful Shahid Kapoor film called...There was this god-awful Shahid Kapoor film called... okay, I've forgotten what it's called. It has this sequence in which a character argues that real heroes don't need capes and spandex, and Hanuman was the original Superhero - he could fly, grow bigger or smaller at will, carry a whole mountain on his palm, and set a whole city on fire with his tail. All Shahid needs to do to get his super power is to chant the Hanuman Chalisa.<br /><br />It was actually a brilliant little touch in a very stinky film.Deepti Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09462873637851411701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-79587673321436906522013-10-14T20:43:38.041-05:002013-10-14T20:43:38.041-05:00My brother just revealed last week that he had bee...My brother just revealed last week that he had been delving into Bollywood on the sly (yay, a convert!) and had quickly landed upon Hrithik Roshan as a favorite male lead. If this wasn't surprise enough (I think I was under the false assumption that Hrithik, as talented as he may be, mainly appeals to the hetero-lady crowd) he told me he had seen Krrish--and enjoyed it in a "so-bad-it's good" kind of way. Considering my brother tends to be picky about superheroes, I was curious about the appeal. <br /><br />So we fell into the discussion of WHY. (Why does it work? Or not work? Or for me, why does it exist?! lol.) He just saw it as an extension of the over the top kind of stuff Bollywood turns out all the time. I agree, but see it as kind of superfluous, considering that anything Western-style superheroes "accomplish," everyday Indian cinematic heroes get done with less fuss and without any need for gamma-ray exposure. <br /><br />I think that injecting superhuman powers into an already larger than life hero genre creates a product that mostly feels campy and overdone. Like how Dharam-Veer was a swashbuckling fantasy on top of the already fantastical genre of masala. That's ALOT on top of ALOT. Dharam-Veer is great, but it's more fantasy than I need to see most of the time (in other than Desai's hands esp.). <br /><br />You mentioned "cinematic constraints" later in your post. I wonder if "constraint" is actually the key to making an Indian superhero work. Instead of giving the hero MORE power, take away his power. Truly make him miserable. Perhaps turn him into an anti-hero who has been robbed of something important to him and subsequently hates the world he has to save. If we must have the sci-fi, it must be something that makes life difficult, rather than easier. And rather than looking cool, he should probably take a lesson from Peter Parker . . . start wiping down his glasses . . . borrow some of Rishi's sweaters from the 90's . . . and open a book or two. That, I might want to see. <br /><br />But, actually, no. Forget about all that! It's too much work. Just turn the superhero into a super-heroine. *Gasp!* Now that WOULD be something new and not even close to overdone in Bollywoodland.<br />~Miranda Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-77882785114126358742013-10-13T10:36:19.088-05:002013-10-13T10:36:19.088-05:00writerinindia - Great reminder about Shotgun, Vino...writerinindia - Great reminder about Shotgun, Vinod, and the always-fascinating Ajit. I have seen <i>Red Rose</i> (and written about it) but don't know enough about Rajesh Khanna's career to propose much about how it fits into his overall arc from megahero to...other things. <br /><br />veracious - Thanks! Agree with you about Vinod. Is the film you're talking about <i>Aan Milo Sajna</i>? I remember the end of that one blowing my mind.<br /><br />I absolutely agree that superheroes seem to—and I'd probably say must—fall out differently along different cultural lines, and why wouldn't they. The mask question is interesting and makes me wonder if that's part of why Krrish's mask doesn't really work for me. It's not even a complete facial mask—it's the hint of obscured identity, though if I recall the earlier film right it did in fact keep people from recognizing him, didn't it? Maybe, overall, Indian heroes and hero stories have no need for anonymity. And, as you say, the star is the signifier that something (super)heroic will happen. <br /><br />In an earlier episode of PCHH they talk about different writers' approaches to the question of whether Superman is essential super but Clark Kent is his costume (and thus his opinion of humans—weak, meek, need saving) or whether Clark is his true essence (raised on earth by his human parents) and Superman is his costume (and an aspirational one at that). Beth Loves Bollywoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-55964719537816949712013-10-13T07:13:38.657-05:002013-10-13T07:13:38.657-05:00Ah, fantastic post!
The anti-heroes thing made me...Ah, fantastic post!<br /><br />The anti-heroes thing made me think of a few Vinod Khanna films I watched last year, one in which he was absolutely the textbook definition of THE WORST, and yet gets redeemed. I liked the movie, but I could not quite buy the redemption aspect. (I won't name the film as to not spoil anything, unless you want me to.)<br /><br />The superhero thing is interesting, because I think somebody could easily look at these films from the point of view of cultural differences. It strikes me that masks are an important part of many superheroes, whereas in India, it almost seems like the heroes don't need to be masked. They are themselves, they openly defy authority, and save people. In the Western canon (and in, say, Mexico where the masked wrestler El Santo became a hero in many a film) heroes are "just like you and I" until they put on the mask and do heroic deeds. I guess in that context, the masks and capes and cowls become symbols for the heroism, whereas in the Indian context, the symbol for the hero is almost the star himself. Salman will save the day, Rajnikanth will save the day etc - their cinematic presence is the symbol for their heroism.<br /><br />Or something. These are just some random thoughts not yet formulated into a theory. veracioushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14437521137603205617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-75278509188056140352013-10-13T04:29:39.215-05:002013-10-13T04:29:39.215-05:00An up and coming actor may worry about taking a ro...An up and coming actor may worry about taking a role which will delegate him to character actor roles which do not pay so well. The worst Shah Rukh Khan was risking when doing Darr, for a top Bollywood producer, was becoming a top Bollywood villain. And there are notable examples of actors who started off as villains and ended as top heroes - Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna. <br />Incidentally, Ajit started as a Bollywood hero and went on to become a legendary Bollywood villain of the villain stature of Pran himself.<br />Also do see Rajesh Khanna's Red Rose, where he plays a psychopath.<br /><br />As far as super heroes and victory of Good over Evil stories are concerned, Indians have their two epics to fulfill the function.writerinindiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08918059054453440862noreply@blogger.com