Archive for the 'Film' Category
Monday, February 4th, 2008
sorry to lower the tone, but i couldn’t resist
Via Sepia Mutiny, I couldn’t help linking to this (video below).
There is a serious point though. Given the increasing purchasing power of the Indian middle class, both in India and in the diaspora, and the fact that almost all songs are voiced over, is it unrealistic to think that in the not too distant future Bollywood will feature a significant number of caucasian actors and actresses?
I appreciate that there is a strong Bollywood tradition of indigenous actors and actresses and people like Shahrukh Khan and Aishwariya Rai are huge stars. However given the general Indian obsession with fair skin and blonde hair, the fact that Bollywood is becoming more explicit and the increasing impact of American culture on India, I don’t think that this is that outlandish.
Carrying on with this thought I do think that it is more likely too see western actresses being wooed by Amir Khan rather than Bipasha Basu being serenaded by Tom Cruise. Having said that, given that Brett Lee is almost certain to get leading Bollywood parts when he retires, maybe this isn’t that implausible.
Anyways, without further delay watch this and weep.
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
thank you very much
what can i say, atomsmasher? i’m a romantic at heart, and a sucker for slickly produced romantic-comedy-musicals. i suggest you give it a go. jab we met isn’t half bad for what it is.
ANYway, moin akhtar is definitely a legend. i think live comedy is probably a culturally confined thing to a large extent. but then moin akhtar’s comedy is also physical - in terms of his costumes and acting, etc. - so i’m not sure what sort of reception he would receive in europe or north america, even if he performs in english or greek or polish or something.
poor junoon - they put out a string of good albums, only to end up the whipping boys of pakistani music critics everywhere, especially at the baja. funny that salman ahmad started off with vital signs. i still have some respect for him because of the music junoon made in the 90s, like "neend aati nahi", or "khudi", or "jugal bandi". i never got into the sufi-rock they started taking so seriously - they were a rock band.
i still like ali azmat though. he’s taken a new direction and some of his social circus stuff is pretty good. he has one heck of a singing voice, and i’ve heard he puts on an excellent live show. i just think he should stay away from hosting television shows, however. sometimes pappo yaar - the show on aag - is just painful and distressing [wait for the "final thoughts" for something especially excruciating].
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
it was acceptable in the 90s
now that [at the end there] was really horrifying. the twisted workings of our minds are too hazardous for public display. have pity! think of the children!
okay, so steve jobs’s speech was cool. i felt like he was reading it most of the time though. and dil dil pakistan is awesome. vital signs were teh roxor. their final album - 1995’s hum tum - is an absolute classic. the sequence ‘guzray zamaney waley’-'janaan janaan’-'hum tum’-'mein chup raha’-'dair ho gayee’-'un ka khayal’-'namumkin’ must have few, if any, parallels in pakistani pop [that's practically the whole album too!]. luckily for all of us, it’s on-line at sangeet radio. i must confess, though, that i came to this album really late, sometime in 2003 or 2004 when rohail hyatt released a few remastered mp3s from hum tum via bandbaja. [this was back when the baja was actually a music zine, before its sole purpose became playing host to remotely witty one-liners.]
anyway, i’d like to share with you another classic song from the vital signs: woh kaun thi - in which video our beloved signs show sting and the police that, try as they might, no one can match the psycho-obsessive stalker skills of a pakistani man. *^_^*
oh, and i’ve also fallen for post-independence indian films of late. though not quite wet sari tree hugging, some of the films i’ve been watching come dangerously close. for example, the much-hyped rang de basanti and taare zameen par - i have to admit a newfound admiration for amir khan, by the way. also, more damaging to my meticulously-nurtured reputation as a connoisseur of fine film - jab we met, dil chahta hai, and kal ho na ho [yes, yes, have your fun]. strangely enough, it’s been helping this awkward homesickness i’ve had for a while. some of my cousins, through one of whom i’m now related to our resident unsuitable boy, would watch indian films religiously back in the 90s, and i would be a willing accomplice in their hedonistic pursuits of haraam pleasures.
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Comedians aint stupid
Yeah, my first thought too, was that the poster was quite horrifying. But I wonder if we didnt have the emotional baggage of the tragedy on 9/11, would have been able to look at it without an automatic grimace?
Speaking of film, I’m currently majorly smitten by post independance Indian cinema (no, I dont mean Bollywood’s wet-saree tree hugging); Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa in particular is certainly an ‘interesting’ film, steeped in a very classical indianess.
Dil dil Pakistan shows up as number 3…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/features/topten/profiles/index.shtml
I must have shoved this down the throat of everybody i know, but : Steve Job’s Stanford address is pretty swell
My train of thought as follows:
Conan >> “gee, he did a nice graduation day speech at Harvard” >> graduation day speeches are nice bits of chicken soup >> who else did a decent graduation day speech? >> not at my college, clearly >> is KFC really bad for you? >> ah, the apple guy >> you mean steve jobs? >> yeah >> something about trans-fatty acids gives them a bad name, apparently.. >> [null ]
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
recuperation
that’s a creepy poster, like something out of a horror film.
i’ve been out of circulation for the past couple of days with a fever and a variety of other ailments. however, a strict regimen of sprite, the simpsons, and late night with conan o’brien has worked wonders.
also, i’ve made use of the time to get back into listening to the white stripes. they come up with some unexpected stuff. for instance, the union forever takes all its lyrics from citizen kane - a film i’ve yet to watch, unfortunately. we’re going to be friends is another one. oh, and little room is good too. incidentally, these are all from the same album - white blood cells.
[whew, almost ran out of colours there]