Laawaris (MY Favorite..)

Laawaris was my first Bollywood movie ever.


Before I get into the movie, I have to tell you a little story about myself, because it kind of explains how I got so interested in Hindi cinema in the first place.

My father is Pakistani, with roots tracing back to the Punjab of India, and my mother German and Mexican, born and raised in the U.S.(as I was). When I was four, we actually lived in Karachi for six months, and the music,language, clothing and food lingers in some of my earliest memories.My parents divorced shortly after my return to the United States and I had no contact with my birth father for 20 years.

As a child, I often found it hard to fit in because I wasn't full German, wasn't full Mexican, wasn't full anything...and I really didn't know any Pakistanis. I always felt like a piece of me was missing, like a part of myself was taboo in my family because my mother had been hurt by my father and didn't have very pleasant memories of Pakistan. One day, I was up early watching Saturday morning cartoons and came across a song from a Hindi movie. I don't know how I knew it was similar to my dad's language, but I did. There was an eerie sense of familiarity in the music which I found strangely comforting. I'm not sure why, but this song of a woman dancing around a lounge stuck in my head for years....


20 years later, when I met my father and his wife Uzma, it was like a whole new cultural experience for me...But I loved every minute of it! Finally, I could learn and piece together the part of my heritage that had been a mystery for so many years...We looked through pictures of my family in Pakistan, ate Uzma's yummy cooking, and sipped chai. Uzma even sent me home with some of the black powdery eyeliner my mother loved so much from Pakistan! Today I have a nice relationship with them, visiting them in New York every now and then.

Ok, so back to Bollywood. It all started when a clerk at a gas station had poor enough eyesight to tell me I looked like Zeenat Aman(Now that I've seen her, I'm very,VERY sad to say I look nothing like her. I'm not even going to lie to you!). Curious, I called Uzma(You have to remember that I never felt like I fit in any kind of cultural group, so I was pleased to see that somebody had actually treated me like I should know who Zeenat Aman was, rather than looking at me like, "Oh, I wonder whatshe's mixed with?"), and of course she laughed and said we may have similar hair. But she did find it cute, so she promised to search through her movies and send me one with Zeenat Aman in it...













I'm totally not going to paste a pic of myself here because you would just laugh too hard...

But it actually took me awhile to watch this movie. I was interested, but not enough to place it at the top of my priority list(at that time, I actually did have a life). Finally, one night I popped it in...and guess what....

The first song in Laawaris was the same one I had seen on tv so many years ago! Now what are the odds of that? Of all the hundreds of Hindi films there are, what are the chances of my ever coming across that random song again? And to add to the irony, the movie was sort of about a man meeting his birth father and coming to terms with his identity...Freaky....

I wish I could say more about the movie, but to be honest, I had a hard time paying attention. The scenes would jump from one random place to the next(Where did Zeenat Aman come from anyways? She just sort of appeared... and her and the lead actor were suddenly singing on mountaintops), and the subtitles were really hard to follow. And is it just me, but do some of the scenes seem like they go on forever?

I would really like to re-watch this and re-post, because now being a Bollywood lover and more used to the swing of things, I would probably be a lot more forgiving and enjoy the movie more!

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Om Shanti Om

Nothing was going to keep me from going to see Om Shanti Om. Nothing!



It was only playing once in my hometown. I actually had to skip class to go(Ironically, a class about Indian culture). My brother was supposed to accompany me, but he got sick the night before (wimp) and backed out. Mom offered to watch my daughter, but if she wouldn't have I would have dragged little Isa too.

What an experience!The movie was pure entertainment...And if I was uncertain at any point I know for sure now that Shahrukh Khan lives for the sake of making movies his fans will enjoy. If director Farah Khan was the breath in Om Shanti Om,then SRK was the air that gave it life, stretching his over hyped image to its length just so we would get a good laugh. I've never seen Main Hoon Naa, but if its anything like this, I'm in!



The critics said Om Shanti Om lacked a substantial plot(yet they ironically embraced Saawariya), but let's face it, the movie was only supposed to be sugary fluff anyways. And when you hold it up to those standards, the plot was actually pretty good. The whole good guy/bad guy aspect reminded me of any typical Hollywood commercial flick, particularly one you would go take your kid to see that's like based off of a comic character or something, but the reincarnation spin added a different twist from that idea(unless you've grown up on Bollywood, in which case you may be sick of reincarnation used in films). But who cares about the plot, right? I didn't, for once(that's how much fun I had)!

The movie theater was packed. Not a seat left in the house. Since I was alone, I did get some odd stares, but I sat next to a mother with a baby(who miraculously didn't make a peep for the entire film--I was so glad I didn't bring my daughter)and a seat that was out of order, which worked out kind of nice because I didn't feel smushed in by strangers(not that I'm uncomfortable with that in particular, but I always like a little elbow room).



As it turned out, the fullness of the movie theater made everything more exciting, because the audience was so reactive. This was helpful when attempting to understand all of the jokes, a bit of a challenge for a Bollywood rookie such as myself. If the audience laughed, I knew it was a joke(obviously). The cool thing was, most of the time I did get the jokes, and was laughing right along with them(how far I've come in my journey through Bollywood!)!

Speaking of audience reaction, Deepika Padukone got the most cheers from the guys that I've seen since Salma Hayek made her debut inDesperado. When she made her second entrance in the last half of the film, I even heard a guy shout, "Thank you, Director!"



I was completely starstruck for the awards ceremony piece and the 31 star cameo song, "Deewangi". I literally had butterflies in my stomach as I waited with baited breath for each star to appear, particularly Kajol...and the crowd's delight heightened my own. Kajol,Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty got the loudest applause from everyone, and Rekha got something between an applause and a gasp. The only thing I didn't get about this song was that while its supposed to be oh-so-cool, the English lyrics would be laughable if ever played in any of the nightclubs here in the U.S.("All cool boys, come on make some noise"? Come ON, people!).



I won't go on a tangent about SRK's now famous six pack. But I will say that I usually don't care whether guys are ripped or not, and I already love SRK for non-physical reasons. But when "Dard-E-Disco" came on, most of us were speechless(read into that what you will). Even the guys. I imagine plenty of them in the theater that night went home to dust off their Ab-rollers.

The romance of the film was weak, but that was okay too. At least I got "Main Agar Kahoon", which allowed me to do one of my favorite things--watch Shahrukh Khan fall in love.



The characters were adorable when playing the starstruck fan roles. I could have just hugged SRK's Om from the first half of the film, and I could see myself in Sandy, Deepika's second character, as she watched Om Kapoor's movies with hearts in her eyes(never mind that she's supposed to be a teenager and I'm 26).

One final thought on Deepika...As we all were leaving the theater, I overheard someone say, "She did a much better job than Sonam", while her friends nodded in agreement. Not an entirely fair statement, in my opinion, but worth mentioning.

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Salaam-E-Ishq

I'm glad I watched Salaam-E-Ishq.

No, really I am! Yes, it was about two and a half hours longer than it should have been. Yes, it was about six couples whose stories I didn't care about as much as I should have. But I saw it fairly early in my Bollywood watching days, and it gave me a huge bonus incentive-an introduction to 13 Bollywood actors I had previously never seen before.

I guess the movie was so-so. It had some cool moments(the title song) and some real yawners(most of Salman Khan's scenes). I watched it once by myself and then showed it to Ceci(Ok,and once with my mom and bro--so three times). It was way better when you had someone to laugh at the silly parts with you and join you in drooling over John Abraham.

But, sadly, the highlight for me of this film was just getting familiarized with the stars in it... So, here's a few of my first impressions...

John Abraham-Hey, isn't this the guy from "Where's the Party Tonight?" I know I've seen him before, and clearly it wasn't in real life(I wouldn't be that lucky).

Vidya Balan-She acted like her doting husband was an annoyance, even before her accident. The snottier she was to him, the more he chased after her. Hmm. Maybe I could learn a few things from Tehzeeb.

Priyanka Chopra-I don't mean to sound hung up on physical beauty here but how can you not mention beauty in the same sentence describing Priyanka Chopra? Her character was stuck up in the movie, but I hear a lot of positive things about her in real life. If she's as sweet as she seems on the inside, then some women really do have it all!

Salman Khan-I knew he was a big name in Bollywood, but I was unimpressed. He and Priyanka didn't really have a well written story, though. At least Priyanka got me to laugh a few times. Salman just reminded me of an obsessive fan/stalker.

Govinda-While I didn't see any real chemistry between him and his other half Stephanie in the beginning, by the end of the film this pair was hands-down my fave couple! Really funny and really sweet...the whole movie could have been about them(and a lot shorter) and I would have been happy.

Shannon Esrechowitz-I wonder how she got into this movie. I'm not being sarcastic, I really want to know! I mean, does she love Bollywood? Was she approached? Did her agent set it up? I liked her, but I just was curious. Anyways, they made sure to pick a girl that looked good in liquid eyeliner. They made sure.

Akshaye Khanna-He reminds me of a young Robert de Niro...And I thought his commitment phobia story was funny, a nice comic relief from some of the boring scenes. Hooray for happy endings, but he totally deserved that blow from Ayesia Takia! Speaking of...

Ayesia Takia-She seemed sweet here, but didn't have a big enough role to really show what she can do. A movie like Dor shows she is capable of much, much more if given the opportunity.

Anil Kapoor-I can't judge him from this film. He played a man going through a mid-life crisis pretty believably, so I guess that was the point. But given that I now know he's been around for awhile, I'd like to see one of his meatier roles before I judge him.

Juhi Chawla-Same as above. But why would anybody want to cheat onher? And did anybody else think the "other woman" kind of looked like Juhi anyways?

Sohail Khan/Isha Koppikar-I would sacrifice the few laughs this couple gave me to cut them from the film. Nothing personal...but in a movie that stretches almost four hours long, do you really need a "filler"?

Some extra points:

*Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same guy who directed Kal Ho Naa Ho? I just don't see it...But I guess he didn't write the scripts, so whatever...

*Why isn't "Babuji Deere Chalna" on the soundtrack? I know its an older song remixed...Was it a copyright thing?

*When I first saw the scene where Kkamini lists the actresses, I didn't know who any of them were...Now I know almost all! I'm so happy!

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Dor

I'm finding that in Bollywood its pretty rare to see a movie that doesn't rely on a male character to tell the story.

I'm happy to report that Dor is the exception.

Dor is a beautiful movie about a friendship between two women, with a powerful message of forgiveness. I warmed to both actresses instantly, and the final scene moved me to tears.I don't want to say too much and give any of the movie away, but its definately a gem. I recommend it to anyone!


I already knew a bit about how widows can be treated in India and Pakistan. My stepmother's sister was recently widowed and lives in Pakistan. She's very young and going through a very difficult time...I've never met her but she's always in my prayers. Knowing the reality she faces and watching the scenes with Ayesia Takia, I kept thinking how heartbreaking this must be for any woman already grieving her love.


On a lighter note,does Ayesia Takia slap someone in all of her films? Because this is the second one I've seen with her in it, and she's hit someone both times. Granted, they may have deserved it(Akshaye Khanna, I'm looking at you), but watch out, Bollywood!

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