Indian Women Scorned- Thoughts on Angry Indian Goddesses, Pink and Parched

     Hello people of the blogging world. It's been a while. A long, long while. And obviously, my maybe comeback post (not making any promises) is about three films that the majority of you all haven't seen because they're Indian films. Oh well. Good job, Nik.

      I have been meaning to write a post for ages now but nothing has really inspired me like the films at hand. These are all "feminist" movies primarily focusing on a group of women and reflect the state of womenhood in India. I'll talk about them one-by-one, in order of viewing and, as it turns out, quality.


       The first film I saw is called Angry Indian Goddesses and it is directed by Pan Nalin. It came out sometime last year and I remember it being in the news because the Indian Censor Board had made many cuts and as far as I can recall, people had liked it. I was just really intrigued by its title and its premise which was sold as the first female buddy movie of India. And it kind of starts off that way after the introductory scenes of all the six main female characters in which they kick some male ass in their own styles (set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" no less). They all come together at the Goan residence of one of the leads who is going to get married.

       I was intrigued at the set-up first. Sure they seemed like slightly broadly-sketched representations of the "modern Indian woman" but I could live with that. I guessed the first "twist" almost immediately which I'm sure most people can given how progressive this film is supposed to be. Also, to be completely fair to the movie, there were moments in it that were well-shot and it didn't seem to be falling into the traps that are usually present in Hindi movies. However, it had many, many other failings.

       Here's how I can best describe it: Nalin, Subhadra Mahajan, Arsala Qureishi, who are the writers of the film according to its Wikipedia page, probably made a list of all the issues plaguing Indians currently, mainly the women, and then decided to address all of them one-by-one. This movie is like a checklist of "Big Social Problems GAHHHHHH". Law against homosexuality- check. Isolated childhood because of working parents- check. Rape in India- check. Family pressures on women- check.  And so it goes on. None of it is subtle, obviously. There are I think three separate occasions when the women sit in a circle talking aloud about the topic at hand. I mean talk about being spoon-fed. And finally, the writers decide to actually execute one of these issues which results in these women becoming the "angry Indian goddesses" they are, and it is one of the most awful, idiotic, exploitative climax and endings I have ever seen in a film. It properly pissed me off and made me feel sick in a way openly regressive Bollywood films (which is probably 80% of them) have never managed to do. It is such a tone-deaf film, it could be taught in film schools to show what not to do with your scripts and characters.

       Before I make this whole post a rant about the dreadfulness of Angry Indian Goddesses (and that fucking last act!!!), it's better to move on to the next film in my list. Pink, directed by Aniruddha Roy, is a 2016 film which follows three young women who get involved in a court case after one of them broke a bottle on a powerful man's face when he had tried to molest her. Their lawyer is a retired and sick man who wants to defend the victims against the social and cultural stereotypes used to defame modern and outgoing women in India. He is played by famous Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan.

       I was excited about the concept of Pink even though I had found its trailer to be quite confusing. Then the reviews started rolling in and it was getting a lot of love from everywhere. Believing the hype, I went with my two roommates (our living conditions are very similar to the women in the movie which is a bit creepy). My three word review for it would be that I was disappointed.

      The thing about Pink is that it is a pretty silly movie about a very important topic. I cannot fully hate it because it does spread an incredibly crucial and much-needed message about consent and the possibility of that actually educating people is perhaps much bigger than what all it does wrong story-wise. Also, it is quite entertaining and well-acted. My main complaint comes from the disservice it does to the genre of legal dramas. Legal dramas are usually about morality but there is also intelligence in them. Pink foregoes any intellect in order to cultivate and present a moral message to its viewers. It's so stupidly sentimental in the central court case. I am no lawyer but I could point out ten different things that could've been done in that case. I feel frustrated just thinking about it because what were the writers even thinking?  Also, once again, the way the women have been written was wildly inconsistent and even though they tried to make them like "real" women, there was something severely lacking in them. For a film about gender issues, the men and women were all very caricature-esque. Pink could've been really good, even great, if only the writing matched the the gravity of its message.

       All of which brings us to Parched. I first heard about it from Mette when she praised it on our last podcast episode. It is directed by Leena Yadav who is the only female director among these three movies and it shows instantly. This film is also mainly about three women and unlike the other two cases, they are not urban but rather belong to a small rural community which does not even have a single television set. Also unlike the other two, these women feel like real, living, breathing ladies with flaws and desires and one gets completely roped into their world. This film shows many hardships that women face as well, that too in a way more patriarchal and oppressive environment than those shown in the first two films, but they are organic and don't feel like they've been stuffed down our throats.

      I loved this film so much that I have already started praising it and not even discussed its plot. As I wrote above, it is about three women- one is a lonely widow who is looking for a bride for her son, one who has an abusive husband and incapable of getting pregnant and one who is a sort of stripper and prostitute. But they are all loyal, fierce friends and again, of all the three films, this friendship rang the truest and strongest for me. THIS is a female buddy film in which you get to see how nurturing and accepting female friendships can be, especially in a world where women aren't valued enough. There is also a fourth female character who, although not a part of this trio and without as much screentime, has her own journey. There are many trials and tribulations that the women face and we see many other "Big Social Problems GAHHHHHH" in their lives and world but it is full of subtlety and at the same time, the film is also wild and vibrant.

       Leena Yadav had made two films before Parched. I faintly recall watching her debut film Shabd but I doubt it was anywhere as rich as her latest offering. Not just the acting but also the way it looked was gorgeous. Russel Carpenter, who shot Titanic, was the cinematographer. This film was also quite controversial because it has a nude sex scene which had leaked in porn sites here months ago and yet was censored upon its theatrical release. Such is India. I feel sad that it is not getting the love it deserves. People LOVE Pink but will probably ignore Parched because of the lack of big names in it. It is a truly wonderful little gem.

     There has been a lot of focus on female directed films recently, what with Marya E. Gate's A Year With Women Project and the 52 Films By Women pledge and so on. I have also pledged to watch 52 films by women this year even though I am lagging behind a bit, and have generally tried to become more curious about women-directed films. Normally I can sub-consciously understand the difference between a women-directed and a male-directed film but never has the contrast been as great for me as it has with these three movies.

      The first thing I did after watching Angry Indian Goddesses is to check if it was a man who wrote and directed it, and indeed it was. Of course I am not saying that men cannot write complex women. My favourite filmmakers include Woody Allen and Quentin Tarantino and my life begins and ends with The Hours. I cannot make a claim about Indian filmmakers because I am not as well-versed in Hindi films lately. Still, taking these three films into account, it does reveal something about the way men and women write female characters in a female-driven movie that is making some sort of a social commentary. The male writers and directors clearly seem focused on the "Big Social Problems GAHHHHHH" at hand, not really caring enough about if the female characters are realistic and human. They just draw an idea of what they think the modern, complex woman should look and act like as one can see from the Angry Indian Goddesses' poster's tagline- "angels, lovers, victims, killers, buddies... women" but just listing all these words doesn't necessarily change them into complicated, life-like beings. Again, not making a generalisation (but am, kinda) but since their characters are not well-written, the rest of their story also falters. Instead of tackling the obstacles through the characters and their setting and actions, they change the characterization and situations to best serve the matter that need to be shown (GAHHHHHH). The whole effect obviously is one that which feels very contrived and infuriating. I was angered by Pink because it made so many stupid story-telling choices. It even has the cringeworthiest of all cringeworthy moments where the North-Eastern girl actually announces in court that she gets harassed more because of her ethnicity.  Let's not even get started on Angry Indian Goddesses because I'll never stop then.

      Yadav on the other hand has devoted herself into realizing a film teeming with life and colour where the characters drive the plot. She wrote them with such care that I wanted to befriend them. I felt transported by this film. Sure, there are also some formulaic plot points in it but that almost doesn't matter in a film this vivid and lively with characters to match. These are flawed, sexy, funny women because they just are. It's not to serve a bigger goal the way it is in the cases of Angry Indian Goddesses and Pink. They don't make martyrs of themselves even though they too live under conditions that could be classified as "Big Social Problems GAHHHHHH" (I think I'm going to trademark this term).

       Basically, it's just a better film and women rule and men suck! I'm kidding of course but I do have some pretty strong feelings about all these films, evidently. They brought me out of my cocoon of laziness. I would strongly recommend Parched to everyone and you can also try Pink and Angry Indian Goddesses, the latter just to see about how terrible that final act is. Worst. Ever.


       Since I do not want this to end on such a negative note, I'd just like to say that it is always encouraging to see Indian filmmakers tell women's stories but the focus should always be on the women, on showing their varied and intricate lives because we cannot help but identify some part of ourselves with them and so it is always better to see them being more like us. 

I hope that makes some sense. 

GAHHHHHH!

PS. It's good to be back :)

Guest Post- There can be only one Amar-Prem

Nik's note: Lately, I have been intending to focus on Bollywood slightly more in this blog. And there are few Bollywood movies I love more than Rajkumar Santoshi's cult comedy Andaz Apna Apna. It recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and I thought it would make a perfect post for my blog. Unfortunately though, I am terrible at writing stuff for my own blog and so I asked one of my good friends Ratna to help me out. She's an even bigger fan of the movie than I am and as you will see, has a hilarious style of writing. Ratna has Indianized her article very well and for those of you who might not get her references, I will explain them at the end of the article. I hope you enjoy the post and check out the movie. It is a total classic!

I am not going to make this a regular tribute post for Andaz Apna Apna, and there are a couple of reasons why. Firstly, I am not a 90s kid, i.e. I did not grow up in the 90s when this film came out (I was, by a happy coincidence, born in the very year the film released) and hence will not be able to chart the miraculous growth the film’s popularity saw over the course of these two decades. Secondly, I am sure there are plenty of Bollywood-knowledgeable people out there who have already written great tributes for the film, catching on nuances and Bollywood references in it which my comparatively less-competent eyes have missed even after watching the film half a dozen times.

Keeping these conditions in mind, what possibly could I, a kid from the new millennium, the millennium of shoddy sequels (read: the Dhoom franchise) and disastrous remakes (read: Ram Gopal Verma ki Aag) possibly write which involves Andaz Apna Apna? Well, if recent Bollywood buzz is anything to go by one topic comes to mind- Why We Should Never Ever *Ever* Make A Sequel to Andaz Apna Apna.

A couple of weeks ago my friends alerted me to the report that this gem from the 90s is going to be remade, and my first question was, "Who will play the leads?" 'cuz, let’s face it, it is no easy job recreating the magic Aamir and Salman created in the original. The only other place such crackling chemistry has been seen is between Ram and Bharat from the Hindu epics, as testified by trusty Sevaram Ji¹. Now that tells you something. Coming back to the story, I got the heart-breaking reply: Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Ranbir Kapoor. I really do. I mean, if there is one young man in Bollywood today who is making my dil badtameez², it's him. But honestly, Ranbir Kapoor and comedy? That’s more like a badtameez combination, period. I knew it right in the interval of Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahaani that this blue-blooded, doll-faced, mind-blowingly talented heart-stealer is just not chalked out for the comedy stakes. His overacting (perhaps an attempt at overcompensating for the insipid punchlines in the script) was unbearable after a point and after the film I was almost ready to give up on him, when BAAM came Wake Up Sid! Anywho, point is, his Happy Club left me more perplexed, dejected and bored than happy. I was like, "Is this the same hottie from Bachna Ae Haseeno?!?" I did not even attempt to watch Besharam. The good people who made the film’s trailer put enough material in it to have me warned against such a life-threatening endeavour. Besides, once bitten, twice shy.

Don’t even get me started on how inappropriate Imran Khan is for starring in Andaz Apna Apna. Or for acting, in general. After a very promising start in Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na and Kidnap (though I have a creeping suspicion I am the only one who likes the latter. What? He showed enough of his abs in the film to keep me happy. Don't judge me, okay!), this Khan lad has sped his way downhill into the tooh³ of overacting. He showed some hope in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu and then crushed it again brutally with the comic take on Swades that was Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and the plain nightmarish horror that was Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. While the rest of the acting world gets better with each film they star in, hamara Imran⁴ chooses to be the Benjamin Button of acting: worse with every consecutive film.

It's not Ranbir or Imran’s fault really. Comedy is a difficult genre to master and the best have tried and failed at it. These two are supposed to be two of the best that Bollywood has to offer today, and they are both *terrible* at comedy. I am not saying Salman Khan was a brilliant comedian when he did Andaz Apna Apna, but you have to agree there was something endearing about his portrayal of the slightly naïve, slightly stupid, slightly wicked Prem that has immortalized the character in the annals of Bollywood comedy. Who can forget the high-pitched "Oooi ma!^5" he sounded at the drop of a hat? And Aamir’s Amar? It was Aamir’s Amar, enough said! Amar was the original bloody #1 most stupid duffer (waddup Monsoon Wedding reference) smartass with a heart of gold and a seldom appearing intelligence, and Aamir Khan nailed it with his infamous perfection. I mean, just look at his face⁶ in the restaurant scene where Prem stands on the other side of the glass laughing at their unexpected switch of fortunes. Pure, unadulterated over-smartness going into the perfect degree of shock that is required off someone who has to clean the plates of the couple of dozen guests at the restaurant that evening after realizing on the *same* evening that one is not going to marry the daughter of the crorepati⁷ from London after all. In two simple words, class acting! I admit I don't know who would be playing what, but neither could Ranbir pull something like that off nor could Imran match his uncle's supreme comic timing by even half.

And it's not just Ranbir and Imran. There are plenty of other reasons why Bollywood is no longer capable of producing more Andaz Apna Apna’s. Look at the other members of the cast and crew, the film's director, Rajkumar Santoshi, to begin with. Whatever happened to him once he hit the 21^st century?! What are all these ajab gazab prem kahaanis⁸ and phata poster nikla heroes⁹ he is subjecting us viewers to? Unlike the genuinely humorous Andaz Apna Apna (whose initial failure at the Box Office still remains a mystery to every Indian cine-goer, more so to us products of the next decade), I highly doubt Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahaani and Phata Poster Nikla Hero will stand the test of time to emerge as cult hits. And I suspect it has a lot to do with the kind of scripts Rajkumar Santoshi has started directing. Suddenly it's no longer about comedy arising from unforeseen, albeit hilarious circumstances being tackled by ingenious methods by the stupidly smart and smartly stupid heroes anymore. Sure Santoshi is still following his tried and tested formula of the initial good-for-nothing becoming the eventual saviour of the day, but where are all the dhamaal¹⁰ punchlines and the listen-carefully-or-you'll-miss-it Bollywood references that are supposed to zing up the script? All we get in a Santoshi film now is idolization of the single hero for the first half-hour, followed by a couple of run-of-the-mill romantic songs between the hero and his arm-candy (who we will be returning to later) before the interval, followed by the rushed confusion of the story's climax where every character from the script crowds the scene in what is supposed to be a hilarious fight sequence (if it were not for its predictability) before we are lead to an abrupt resolution where the hero saves the day. Where are all the adorably memorable supporting actors of Andaz Apna Apna that have contributed to half of the film’s current status as a comic classic? I dare you, find me one supporting character from Santoshi's recent comedies that is as memorable as a Crime Master Gogo or a Raabert¹¹. I mean, Santoshi made the original Andaz Apna Apna and now even he can’t make another Andaz Apna Apna. This, unfortunately, points to the fact that no one anymore can make an Andaz Apna Apna.  

And here we come to the arm-candies, aka the Katrina Kaifs and the Ileana D'Cruzes of Bollywood. Enough has been said about their utter dispensability as far as the script is concerned, and yet it is proclaimed that no one would go watch a film that does not have at least one number where the heroine shakes her stuff on the dance floor. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I respect Andaz Apna Apna so much: the film does not objectify its female characters as overtly as they are done today. Yes Raveena Bajaj and Karishma were the trophy girls with the bucks who both boys were competing for and who were stupid enough to not recognize a guy from seeing him a day before in the garb of Nawabs¹² (Wow, that sounds astonishingly like Taani from Rab New Bana Di Jodi¹³), but they made no qualms about it. They tempered their silliness with just the right amount of seemingly genuine wide-eyed innocence for them to not get annoying. Unfortunately, this can hardly be said of Katrina’s rendition of her character in Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahaani. And their costumes! That point I made about the ladies not being unnecessarily sexualized or objectified holds good here. Who can forget the teeny tiny white shorts over black bodysuit monstrosity that Karishma (Kapoor) flaunted in the scene where Dr. Prem Khuarana makes his entry in the house? I believe her stylist at the time must have been Superman. Anywho, the point is that instead of feeling the need to "strengthen" their film with an "item number,¹⁴" filmmakers of the 90s had enough confidence in their material to let their heroines look as unattractive as they wished to (surely Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon were aware that they look unattractive in their outfits, right? Right?!). Which actress today has it in her to be able to pull that off? I suspect the answer once again is ‘no one’.

Among the reasons for not making a sequel to AAA elaborated above, there are a couple of others which jolt me out of sleep with cold shakes at night, such as the thought of the sequel having a Yo Yo Honey Singh¹⁵ soundtrack in it where the original Amar and Prem will be made to dance to lyrics like "Aaj green hain grass grass grass grass…¹⁶" Terrifying!

Anways, here's some good advice for the misguided folks of Bollywood who are considering making a sequel to Andaz Apna Apna: don’t do it. Every time you feel the idea creep up to your brain, remind yourself of what happened when the makers of Hera Pheri thought it would be a good idea to make Phir Hera Pheri, and that should do it. Amar-Prem there can only be one!

-by Ratna A. Chaudhuri

(If you liked this article, please pay Ratna in Benedict Cumberbatches. She says thanks.)

References:

1. Refers to the scene in AAA when Amar and Prem end up staying at the same guest house, run by Sevaram Ji, and start fighting but in the eyes of the latter are as though the brothers Ram and Bharat from Hindu epic, Mahabharata, have incarnated in front of him.
2. Popular song called "Badtameez Dil" from the movie Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani which stars Ranbir Kapoor. Literally means "misbehaving heart".
3. Song called "Tooh" from the movie Gori Tere Pyaar Mein starring Imran Khan. Means "butt" in Punjabi.
4. Humara = our
5. "Oooi ma!" is one of the catchphrases of Prem. Kind of like an OMG.
6. This is one of my most favourite comedy scenes of all time and my current banner is from this scene.
7. One crore = 10 million. So basically their father is a millionaire.
8. Refers to the movie Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani which starred Ranbir and Katrina Kaif.
9. Refers to the movie Phata Poster Nikla Hero
10. Literally "dhamaal" means something like a ruckus but in Bollywood terms, it's closer to the "awesome" of nowadays.
11. Crime Master Gogo and Raabert are supporting characters in the movie who are cult heroes in their own right. The Inigo Montayas and Egon Spenglers of Bollywood tbh. And side note: no one in Bollywood is called Robert. It's always Raabert and frankly, it's better that way.
12. Nawabs are a group of Indians, generally Muslim, from specific parts of India and they are of a higher social status.
13. Instead of explaining the reference, I'll just give an easier example- think everyone and Superman/Clark Kent
14. Most Bollywood movies nowadays have at least one song in it that has a scantily clad actress dancing in a crowd-pleasing number which usually has nonsensical lyrics.
15. Yo Yo Honey Singh is like a pop idol among Indians currently. To those who bitch about Justin Bieber and One Direction, you know NOTHING of our pain, OR stupidity!
16. That's apparently not a real song. I think Ratna is trying to show the kind of idiotic lyrics found in popular Hindi songs today, especially those sung by the uber-talented Yo Yo. The English meaning is "Today the grass is green green green green". Sorta... kinda...

All the movies referenced in the article:

• The Dhoom franchise
• Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag
• Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani
• Wake Up Sid
• Bachna Ae Haseeno
• Besharam
• Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na
• Kidnap
• Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu
• Swades
• Gori Tere Pyaar Mein
• Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
• Monsoon Wedding
• Phata Poster Nikhla Hero
• Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
• Hera Pheri
• Phir Hera Pheri
• And of course, Andaz Apna Apna

Isn't 90s Bollywood dancing just the best? I wonder what the choreographers were on...

Thoughts

        Hi guys! Remember that time when I stopped writing these posts for like 3 months and then promised to never do so again and then did not write them for another month- yeahhhh... sorry about that. I am kind of out of ideas about what to do for this blog. Do you guys have anything that you might want to see me tackle (probably badly but still)? Help, I'm useless.

1) Sofia Coppola is going to direct the live-action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (and not the Disney one)! YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! I literally cannot imagine what this will be like, apart from the gorgeous cinematography *obviously*, and that's kind of awesome. Coppola is such a feminine director and I am really psyched to see what she does with the story. It's based on the original story, i.e., the one with the sad ending and the script is by the writers of 50 Shades of Grey and Shame so that's, er, interesting.

2) So Marvel has apparently lined up movies till 2028. What the fuck?! That's total madness. I'm sorry that I'm an age freak but I'll be 36 then and it's disturbing to think that even though I have no idea where I will be or what I will be doing (hopefully Ryan Gosling- BA DUM TSS) at that point in my life, I *know* that I will be watching Marvel movies then. I can't even imagine what the world will be like in 2028. Just UGH!

3) Pixar is going to make The Incredibles 2 and Cars 3. Even though I was initially pissed off about the former (not even going to address the latter- your mess, Pixar), I heard that Brad Bird is the one making it and then thought about how Pixar DID make the Toy Story trilogy and now I'm on board. Also, even though I forgot to add her, Edna Mode was one of my honourable mentions in Sati's spin-off blogathon because I would love a film just about her. She better return. #nocapes

4) The sequel to Magic Mike is going to be called Magic Mike XXL and I love it. Duh. They haven't finalised the cast yet but going by my recent Google searches, I would like Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Ryan Gosling, Matthew Goode, Jack O' Connell, Xavier Samuel, Rodrigo Santoro, Daniel Sharman, Fassy, the twins from Teen Wolf and so on. Anyone would actually do because the first film made me like people like Alex Pettyfer and it was also the beginning of McConaissance for me. Just let there be some good ol' fashioned male stripping and you have my money (in singles. Duh).

5) Almost casting news- David Fincher wants Christian Bale to star in the Steve Jobs movie that Aaron Sorkin wrote. I dig this. Ryan Gosling might be producing and starring in a Busby Berkeley biopic. This is fantastic. I am slightly bored of his silent, conflicted hero roles. If he does this film, he will be dancing and choreographing and stuff. HELLZ YEAH! Also lots of romancing because Berkeley was married 6 times. HELLZZZ YEAHHHH!!! Chiwetel Ejiofor is being considered to play the villain in the upcoming Bond 24. I am completely on board with this.

6) I don't know if I have declared this yet but 2014 is going to be the Year of Jack O'Connell and I'm super excited about that. The news that he will star in Joe Cornish's next feature Section 6 has increased my excitement tenfold. Cornish's previous movie Attack the Block, which was also his first, is one of smartest and most thrilling movies in recent years so this is excellent. The film is a historical spy thriller about the formation of MI6 after WW1 and its first director, Sir John Mansfield Cummings, who was actually the inspiration behind M in the James Bond series. O'Connell will play a young protege of Cummings.

7) John Green recently made the announcement that following the release of the adaption of his latest novel The Fault in Our Stars, the same team behind it will make the film version of another of his novels, Paper Towns. I really love Paper Towns too and I feel it has a more unique premise than TFiOS and so it could be a pretty interesting movie if made properly. Nat Wolff, who played Isaac in the TFiOS movie will be playing the protagonist Q in Paper Towns. I approve of this because he looks like how I imagined Q to be, unlike Ansel Elgort who is playing Gus in TFiOS.

8) I know most of you guys don't listen to Bollywood music but I have a feeling you might appreciate this if you like music in general. Those of you who do, this is kind of pure genius.

All the songs are listed here. I love most of them before the 2010s.

9) Trailers- I'm going to go from best to worst. So my favourite trailer that has come out in the last *sigh* month is Frank. I have seen it like a million times now and it cracks me up every time. I have this really strong feeling it might become my favourite movie of the year and possibly my favourite Fassy performance. Yes, I know his Steve McQueen movies will always have his best performances but the heart wants what it wants and if I know my heart well enough, it wants Fassy wearing a giant head and acting nuts (I should be a lyricist). The latest X-Men: Days of the Future Past is a tad impressive though I still think the film is going to fail, which sucks because it has incredible actors. Lucy pretty much looks batshit crazy and I really think the film isn't going to be good but hot damn, I LOVE SCARJO SO MUCH! She looks amazing and I definitely want to watch this. The True Blood season 7 teaser which is pretty much useless but I am sooooooooooo glad this show is ending. Jupiter Ascending looks like the kind of movie that will inevitably suck but at the same time, there's Eddie Redmayne in it and so I'll have to watch it. I don't particularly like the trailer of Night Moves because it looks pretty meh but I've read that the film is excellent and I do like the cast so I'm interested. Same goes for Begin Again although its USP for me is that it's made by the guy who made Once, which is a perfect film. Sex Tape can't possibly be an entire movie, right? With that thin and stupid a premise? Also, I like chubby Jason Segel and this weight loss makes me sad. And now, we get to the *really* good stuff. Bad Johnson has one of the craziest premises and posters I have EVER heard of/seen in my life. The trailer is relatively tame but just, WOWSERS! Also, this is exactly the kind of movie I expect Cam Gigandet to do. I saw the next trailer before Captain America: The Winter Soldier so just imagine my reaction- Pizza is a horror film about a pizza delivery man which is actually a remake of a South Indian film and it has just blown my mind. And finally, THE worst trailer of the month is that of the Indian movie copied from Sherlock, Samrat & Co.. No. Just no. Stop it, Bollywood!

Side note: I should totally just start a segment called "Stop it, Bollywood"/ "Why, Bollywood? Why?" and just cry over/rant about Bollywood. It just makes me so mad!

10) Finally, this reunion of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan brings me immense joy-

They should just get married. Well, the only people Matt Smith is allowed to marry, in order of preference, is me, Karen Gillan, Ian McKellen and Jennifer Lawrence. Since he hasn't found me yet, Gillan would do.

On that slightly insane note, byeeee! Oh and happy Thrones day :) Winter, boobs and incest are coming.

Thoughts

          Hello everyone! So guess what? My exams have been postponed for another month which is great news except that they are starting the same day as the new ANTM cycle which is the Guys and Girls cycle AKA my most anticipated thing on TV ever! Gahhhhhhh.
           Don't judge me.

1) Gary Oldman is eyeing Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes for his second directorial feature, Flying Horse. It will be about a photographer who murders a theatre critic who is having an affair with his wife. I think this will be excellent. All of them should definitely act together, even though Oldman has separately costarred with both the actors- with Cumberbatch in Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy and with Fiennes in the Harry Potter movies. Honestly though, if the Harry Potter films were still being made, Cumberbatch would have definitely made it into its gargantuan British cast. He could have been a Death Eater, or maybe a younger version of Snape. Yes! They should actually make a Snape spin-off with Cumberbatch- I will not mind one bit. Anyways, I want Flying Horse now!

2) Speaking of other Hogwarts alumni, Emma Watson is going to reteam with Harry Potter producer David Heyman in Queen of the Tearling, the adaptation of the first book in a trilogy. The story is "set three centuries after an environmental catastrophe when a malevolent Red Queen holds considerable power". People are calling it the Game of Thrones for women, which makes no actual sense if you watch the show- the women are the biggest badasses in Westeros. Like duhhh. Still, I am really happy that Watson is going places, though I don't know if another blockbuster series is a good idea. Having said that, she has already played one of the most inspiring female role models in recent times so she is an apt choice for this.

3) This news came out on the morning of the day Matt Smith announced his retirement which was when my world ended. Anyhoo, Karen Gillan, Smith's ex-costar and companion on Doctor Who, is going to play a lead villain in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which is brilliant! She will be a baddie alongside another beautiful tall person, Lee Pace, and Michael Rooker. Rumours suggest that she will play a bounty-hunter named Angela but we will see if that's true or not. The film will also star Chris Pratt, John C. Reily, Zoe Saldana and Glenn Close. So happy for Gillan- redheads FTW!

4) Other casting news- Eddie Redmayne is going to play Stephen Hawking in Theory of Everything. The film will chronicle that period of Hawking's life when he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease and was told he has a couple of years to live, causing him to go into depression and have problems with his to-be wife. It sounds like a very demanding, dramatic role and it will be interesting to see what Redmayne does with it. It will be directed by Man on Wire director, James Marsh. Next, Leonardo DiCaprio is going to play Rasputin and Jason Hall, the screenwriter who wrote the upcoming Steven Spielberg-Bradley Cooper movie American Sniper, is going to pen the script. It's still very much in early development but it sounds cool and weird and I'm glad to see that Leo is still after that Oscar. GIVE HIM THAT OSCAR, YOU BASTARDS! Finally, the dude who did win the Oscar, Christoph Waltz might be starring in Roman Polanski's True Crimes which is based on a New Yorker article about a Polish detective solving a cold case that leads him into Poland's underworld. Waltz has worked with Polanski on the delightful Carnage, where he outshone everyone else, and it would be very cool to see Waltz do something subdued and grim like this.

5) Oh btw, are you guys listening to our podcast? You can click on the page above named "Across the Universe Podcast" to listen :)

6) I am on such a Bollywood music binge right now, all because of Yeh Jawaan Hai Deewani. This song in particular-

Yes I am plugging a song in a language most of you don't understand about a festival most of you don't celebrate but imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do etcetera etcetera. THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!

7) Posters- Well, not actual posters but discarded ones in fact. Spike Lee's Oldboy remake starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley didn't use these 4 posters but I think they're pretty cool, especially the trunk one.

8) Trailers- Touchy Feely made by Lynn Shelton who direcred the wonderful Your Sister's Sister, looks just as sweet and touching (haha get it?). This too stars Rosemary DeWitt, along with Ellen Page, Scoot McNairy and Allison Janney. Filth has another awesomely disgusting red-band trailer out. I really want to watch this. The Way, Way Back looks very good too. Loving Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell in it. 300: Rise of an Empire looks as over the top as one would expect. It kind of sucks that the main guy isn't hot but hey, Eva Green is one gorgeous lady. The trailer to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has me concerned as it somehow features more Legolas than Bilbo. Also I disapprove of us not hearing Benedict Cumberbatch's voice in it. Thank god for all the Lee Pace though. Pretty elf is pretty. Naomi Watts-starrer Diana has a teaser out and it looks very boring, though I have faith in her. Aside from her exciting new project, Karen Gillan is also the star of Not Another Happy Ending which looks cute albeit predictable but I love her so I will watch it. Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer star in gangster-family-comedy The Family, erstwhile known as the v. exotic Malavita, and I might watch it. Might. The trailer of the week/fortnight is *obviously* Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. It looks amazing and I'm really loving Cate Blanchett losing her mind and Sally Hawkins being just awesome. Two Oscars please.

9) Finally, how awesome is Hannibal? And Mads Mikkelsen? I give you-

Mads Mikkelsen

Sads Mikkelsen

Glads Mikkelsen

Bads Mikkelsen

Knee-pads Mikkelsen

Rads Mikkelsen

Plaids Mikkelsen

Cool-dads Mikkelsen

Honestly, I just wanted a lot of Mads Mikkelsen on my blog. Muahahahahaa.

Be careful of what or who you are eating. Good bye!

Thoughts on Barfi!

         A cousin of mine tells this joke every time we talk about Bollywood- 

Q- What do you call a Bollywood movie that is completely original and has not been copied from any other film?

A- A flop.

          I know that it is a very cynical attitude towards an industry that is primarily responsible for my love for movies in general, and I do like to give it the benefit of the doubt that I barely watch Bollywood movies anymore and hence miss out on quite a few good ones. However, it is also hard to deny that the majority of the "big Bollywood blockbusters" nowadays are either copied from crowd-friendly Hollywood action or comedy movies, or as the latest trend goes, from bombastic, nonsensical and occasionally fun South-Indian movies. Now I am not judging either of these types of movies. They are both made for a specific audience and they deliver suitably. My bone to pick is solely with Bollywood, and this copycat attitude.

           To be fair, Bollywood has been copying, or as we like to call it, "being inspired by" other movies for a very long time, and with all sorts of results. But a recent discussion in my film studies has piqued my interest in this issue. The topic was about how as an industry, or even a country, we don't seem to have a distinctive identity when it comes to our movies, except that they are colourful and have musical numbers. Big whoop. It is kind of sad considering that we are the land of geniuses like Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor. Admittedly I am not that well-versed in their work, not at all in Ray's case (yes, I do hate myself), but the fact is that we are capable of such films and the current state of mainstream Bollywood is a bit tragic. 

           Now all this brings me to Anurag Basu's Barfi! First and foremost I have to say that I enjoyed it thoroughly and I do think that it is a very good movie. But its "inspirations" are so in-your-face. Anyone who is a film buff can easily pick out which films the various elements of Barfi! were taken from. Slapstick gods like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are obvious influences, the look and style is clearly reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie, there are a couple of scenes lifted from Donald O' Connor's incredible "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' in the Rain, and there is also traces of The Double Life of Veronique and Benny and Joon. Due to all this, Basu has been getting a lot of heat on plagiarism allegations, especially since it was announced that Barfi! is India's entry to the Best Foreign Film category at the 85th Oscars.

         Here is my question- what is the difference between an homage and a copy? Because I would say that I was thrilled to a lesser degree than others around me who have not seen the many films that Barfi! borrowed from. Basu, when trying to defend his film, gave examples of film makers like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese who do emulate other films and film makers into their own final products. Tarantino was actually the very person I kept coming back to while discussing Barfi! with a friend right after we had seen it. My main argument was that maybe the reason why I love his movies so much is because I have never watched any of the films that he uses as inspiration. Except one- Bande à part, which is where things got even more complicated in my head, because it is a known fact that the dance in it was a major influence on the Mia-Vincent's Jack Rabbit Slims dance. But apart from both being incredibly awesome and a bit random, they are actually very different dances. So if this indeed is how Tarantino makes all of his films, then they can never be called copies of anything. But Barfi! did in fact imitate scenes, although in different contexts and I really don't know what to make of it.

          Also I have to give credit where credit is deserved, even if we are talking about something as controversial as possible plagiarism. The thing is that yes, Barfi! has "been inspired" by many other films and isn't a completely original work, but once again look at the people and films Basu chose! There is actually a split second where there is a cut-out of Chaplin on the screen in between this very Chaplin-esque chase between the protagonist, Barfii and silly policemen. Therefore instead of yet another film with terrible one-liners and actors with their shirts being ripped off on their own accord and god knows what, here we have a film that celebrates these wonderful movies and people and does a more than decent job of using elements from them in its narrative.

          Obviously Barfi! is much more than just this amalgam. The acting is superb. Ranbir Kapoor is pretty much the actor of his generation at present, and note how I say actor and not star, because the man knows how to act. He is splendid as the titular character, a happy-go-lucky, deaf and dumb, simple man who loves life and lives it to the fullest. Also the two actresses, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz, are both revelations. Chopra plays an autistic girl with a great deal of honesty and sincerity, something I really did not expect from her. D'Cruz, a newcomer in Bollywood, is just so beautiful and acts like a veteran in her field, so natural and understated. A perfect trio for such a film. Also I love that the film was set in Calcutta, aka my hometown, and Darjeeling, and that too in the 70s! There is such a dearth of period films in Bollywood. And I really adored the setting. Very few Bollywood films are set here anymore, and Barfi! looked gorgeous. The music is rather lovely too.

         I am happy that such a happy film has been chosen as India's entry to the Oscars (there have been some dreadful ones in the past) and also that people are liking it so much. Of course many argue about how it is "completely unique" and I reflexively roll my eyes... Also when they say/post that it has been nominated for an Oscar, my blood boils just a little bit. But keeping my crazy cinephile tendencies aside, I am actually pretty convinced that it will not be nominated, seeing how tough the competition is this year with films like Amour, and because of well, all the reasons/rambles I have stated above. 

        I would like to end this post by asking repeating my earlier question and posing a new one-

What is the difference between an homage and a copy?

And if you have seen Barfi!- what did you think of it and its Oscar chances?

       In case your answer to the latter question is 'no', I highly recommend it. 

       Thank you for reading :)

Thoughts

     Yes, this was supposed to be posted two days ago. Sorry for the tardiness people. Downton Abbey had taken over my life. It's pretty fun. I want to be Maggie Smith in my next life. "What is a weekend?"

1) I meant to write about this last week but my memory has become shite now. Anyways, what is with all these television shows being adapted from famous films?! So far I am only excited for Hannibal, which is based on the Thomas Harris books on Hannibal Lecter. Hugh Dancy will play Will Graham, the role that Edward Norton played in the grossly under-viewed Red Dragon. The role of Lecter, made famous by Sir Anthony Hopkins, will be played by Mads Mikkelsen in the show. The best thing about it though is that it has been created by Bryan Fuller, who made my darling Pushing Daisies. Another show is Bates Motel, which is a prequel of Psycho. I got a little warmed up to it when Vera Farmiga took on the role of Mrs. Bates, but then it was announced that Freddie Highmore will play her son, Norman Bates. That's goddamn ridiculous. He's Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for crying out loud! And his total blandness in The Art of Getting By is making me terrified of watching this show, and not in a good way. Norman Bates is one of my two favourite cinematic villains (coincidentally, the other is Hannibal Lecter) and he is just going to get butchered in this show. Ugh. And then, shows based on Heathers and The Apartment are in production as well. The Heathers one will apparently be about the daughters of the characters in the cult classic, called the Ashleys. As Heather Chandler would say, "Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw."

2) Silver Linings Playbook won the top prize at TIFF '12. Who would've thought? Okay so now my most anticipated films of this year are: 10) Silver Linings Playbook, 9) Beasts of the Southern Wild, 8) Much Ado About Nothing, 7) Argo, 6) Skyfall, 5) The Master, 4) Perks of Being a Wallflower, 3) The Hobbit, 2) Seven Psychopaths, 1) Django Unchained. One more film that has caught my eye is Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha. It just looks like something I would like. 

3) Posters- The new Hitchcock biography named Hitchcock (what else?) has caught my eye too, but I am not adding it to the list till a trailer comes out. Which will not be long, I presume, since the absolutely delicious poster has been released. It has the right amount of Hitch's signature cheeky, morbid humour. Also it will be cool to see if Sir Anthony Hopkins can come in the way of Daniel Day Lewis's Lincoln for that much wanted Oscar (I am on the side of the former presently). Skyfall has a number of posters out. There are two main ones. I like the cool blue one more than the more classic one, but both are good. I just think the former is what we would expect out of Craig's Bond, and I like how minimalistic it is. There are a character posters too, like that of the baddie, played by Javier Bardem. Finally there is the surprisingly brilliant poster of Michael Bay's next, Pain and Gain. Have we misjudged him? :O

4) Trailers- The new Hobbit trailer is all kinds of pretty and has re-bumped the film to nearly the top of my most-eagerly-awaited list. This book made me happy, and I adore both Bilbo Baggins and Martin Freeman. Also I am guessing Peter Jackson will try his best to justify the three movies, so maybe he'll make them super-awesome. There is the trailer to the Ethan Hawke starrer horror movie, Sinister. It does look a bit creepy, but it will strictly be a DVD watch for me, if anything. The new Skyfall TV spot has reassured me that Bardem will be a truly scary villain indeed. Also I promise you that I am going to hoot in the theatre when Daniel Craig fixes his suit after jumping on an exploding train. I must. Another TV spot that has coloured me impressed is Park Chan-wook's Stoker that has three actors I really love- Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode. A proper trailer will come out later this week, but I think this film has the fucked-up family/ lots of awesome violence thing down. The extended look at Les Misérables is impressive, but I'm still not all that buzzed about this film. Except for Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway of course. I will probably sell my left kidney to see Jackman sing, and that part in the video when he does gave me goosebumps. Finally, the trailer of the week is Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which has Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif and looks like what a Bollywood film should look like. I have missed those kind of films. Let's hope it is good, in spite of how weird SRK and Kaif look with each other.

5) Finally, Parks and Recreation has returned! Woo hoo! "Meet the meat" has to be one of the funniest things that has ever been said. Anyways, here is Adam Scott speaking about my philosophy in life when it comes to sports-

Well said sir.

Toodles.

Mini Reviews- Bol Bachchan, Ferrari Ki Sawaari, Kahaani

         It was quite recently that I realised how terrible my Bollywood knowledge has become, or rather how terrible it has been all along, since my entire Bollywood world is more or less restricted to the 90s and the early 2000s. Basically till the part I got into what my dad calls my "English movie snob phase". So I have decided to start taking interest in them again, starting with this mini review phase whose theme is, you guessed it, Bollywood.

BOL BACHCHAN (Dir: Rohit Shetty, 2012)

Basic Plot- Hot-headed Abbas Ali has to move to the village of Ranakpur with his sister Sania when he runs into a bit of a trouble back home. However, after rescuing a child from drowning in an ancestral Hindu temple, he finds himself in a pickle again, having to lie about his religion and name to save his skin. That too to the simple yet very strong and powerful Prithviraj Raghivanshi, who has no tolerance for liars and who then employs Ali due to his heroics. Soon the "newly baptised" Abhishek Bachchan realises that despite his best intentions, he needs to continue spinning his web of lies if he wants his protect himself from the wrath of his employer.

       Phew! Writing a Bollywood movie synopsis is no easy task, but I have done my best. Bol Bachchan is, simply put, the kind of movie that makes me worry about Bollywood. It is beyond ridiculous. It is a "masala" movie, a term used to denote films that have a lot a comedic and action scenes, typical romances and an endless crusade of songs, but it is also completely brainless. It employs many of the cliched Bollywood motifs like a village setting, a benevolent but strict overseer, a stranger who comes into the village and then everything starts revolving around him, the oh so hilarious homophobia etc. and really has nothing new to offer. Yes it is based on the Bollywood comedy classic Golmaal (which is brilliant and a total riot and ought to be watched by everyone), where Abbas has to pretend to be his own twin brother to ward off Prithviraj's suspicions, the illusion made possible with a fake mustache that he wears when he is masquerading as Abhishek. However this just clearly goes to show that like many Hollywood movies, even Bollywood remakes are often terrible.

          Abhishek Bachchan plays Abbas Ali and, you guessed it, Abhishek Bachchan (so funny I forgot to laugh!) and Ajay Devgn plays Prithviraj. Now I've never been a fan of Bachchan and continue to be thus. I actually think that Devgn is a pretty fantastic actor when he wants to be. Unfortunately, most of the time he comes in crap like this. The bulk of the film's so-called humour is dependent on his character's insistence on saying famous idioms in his broken English. Though admittedly I laughed in some of them, I don't know how it will translate to non-Hindi speaking audiences. It should just be nonsense, yes? Even more than usual. My other big problem with the film was Shetty's supremely annoying way of filming action scenes- everyone bloody falls in slow motion. Like flying in the air and falling with full impact, or flying in the air and kicking with full impact- basically a lot of flying, in bloody slo mo. Stop flying already!! The actresses, Asin and Prachi Desai are good-for-nothing. I especially found the Sania and Prithviraj love-story disturbing because it was so Vertigo-esque, but no one seemed to mind. Also supporting actors like Archana Puran Singh and Krishna Abhishek made the film even more idiotic. The one good thing I will say though was that the colours in the film were very bright and vibrant. I really liked them.

Rating- 2/10

FERRARI KI SAWAARI (Dir: Rajesh Mapuskar, 2012)

Basic Plot- Rusy is a loving middle-class father and son. His son Kayo is a budding cricketer and Rusy wants to fulfill all of Kayo's dreams. When Kayo gets a chance to go for training in Lords, London, Rusy tries desperately to get the necessary finance, but fails. His ultimate option comes in the form of a Ferrari, that too Sachin Tendulkar's Ferrari, that is needed for the wedding of a politician's son. Due to various circumstances Rusy ends up with the Ferrari, which he has to return, keeping it and his conscience intact. Also, he has to help his bitter and shut-in father Deboo, to open his heart to two things that mattered to him the most- his family and cricket.

            My brother and I saw Ferrari Ki Sawaari with our grandfather, which was his first film in a movie theatre in about twenty-five years. And what a lovely little movie to (hopefully) end this hiatus with! For me, the heart and soul of this film is Sharman Joshi, who plays Rusy. In spite of being in the business for thirteen years, this is Joshi's first lead role. His innocent smile, one that he has throughout most of the film, has this strange power to make one happy and sad simultaneously. It is so representative of his character- a content middle-class man with dreams, someone who is so common in a place like India, but still so rare because very few have the determination to pursue their dreams, or even more extraordinarily, someone else's dreams. I connected with his struggles because it reminded me of my own life so much, as it would with the majority of the people who do watch it. Another thing that the general Indian audiences will relate to is the love for cricket. As much as I personally hate the sport, I cannot deny the significant impact it has on the people of this country- it has the ability to bring them together better than any other singular thing in the world. 

           The Ferrari, that actually does belong to star cricketer Tendulkar, is a symbol for both these things- it is the unattainable dream and something to worship due to the cricket connections. It is as much a character in this film as any other. The other two notable actors are Boman Irani, who plays Deboo and Ritwik Sahore, who plays Kayo. Irani is a masterful actor with an incredible range, and films especially under the Vidhoo Vinod Chopra banner, like Ferrari Ki Sawaari, tap into that. Deboo goes from being this irritable and unlikable person to someone who has a lot of love, but has suffered so much in his life that he very seldom shows it. His backstory and then the changes in his character are excellent. Sahore is an adorable young actor and makes one root for him. 

       There are a few other players in the story- the politician and his unhappy son, Tendulkar's neglectful servant and gatekeeper, the wedding planner and Deboo's old rival, that play crucial roles in the life of Rusy and his family. The film is funny, light and touching. I loved the simplicity that ran through nearly the entire film. The final act does drag quite a bit though, and the climax and ending are a tad too weepy for their own good. But the overall warmth felt throughout most of the film, with the effortless and funny dialogue, and just the acting of the protagonists make it a rewarding experience. It looks pretty good too, capturing a common man's Mumbai and the spirit thereof. The Marathi-style item number with hotter than the friggin' Ferrari, Vidya Balan, is a treat as well.

Rating- 9/10

KAHAANI (Dir: Sujoy Ghosh, 2012)

Basic Plot- Expecting mother, Vidya Bagchi comes to Kolkata from London searching for her missing husband, Arnab Bagchi. A sincere police officer, Satyaki, helps her on her search, but it seems to them that no one even knows of his existence. However the fact that he resembled the chief suspect in a terrorist attack starts to shed some light onto his disappearance, but only Vidya's insistence and sacrifice can brings her the answers that she needs.

              Vidya Balan has officially, and thankfully, become the face of good acting in Bollywood. After her incredibly sultry and applauded performance as a sex-symbol in The Dirty Picture, she brings a different kind of energy into this story of this wife and mother-to-be on a quest. Bagchi's struggles to keep her crumbling world together, while also striving for the truth, especially in a state like hers, is so novel and inspiring. Balan's performance in the climax is specifically exceptional. The other characters in the film are strictly supporting in their role since it is her story, and her story alone. My favourites were the earnest Satyaki, played by Parambrata Chatterjee and the very creepy, yet funny, Bob Biswas, played by Saswata Chatterjee. Of course the city of Kolkata, aka MY CITY, is quite the character too. The director, Sujoy Ghosh, used Satyajit Ray's Calcutta trilogy as an inspiration. There are very few Bollywood movies made in Kolkata anymore, and one set during the rich festival of Durga Puja is particularly rare. I loved seeing streets and places I knew so well, along with the culture, depicted on the screen. This is Balan's second movie set in the City of Joy, the first being her Bollywood debut Parineeta, which is another film whose depiction of the city, this time set in the 60s, I love dearly.

            The film is a stellar thriller. Okay the final reveal might be a bit unoriginal for many of us more "experienced" cinephiles, but the build-up to it keeps one at the edge of their seats. Ghosh used guerrilla film making to avoid attention, which gives it an interesting look and feel. Bagchi, with her pregnancy, is a great feminist character, which is very progressive of the Ghosh. The religious symbolism, her relationship with Satyaki and many other things make this movie very unique, especially for a Bollywood movie, where sadly films like Bol Bachchan are the norm. Still, I am thankful for a movie like Kahaani and how much it has been accepted by the Indian public. Watch it for Balan's performance that continues to reach new heights, and the essence of Kolkata that the film captures so well.

Rating- 9/10