The Bollywood Thread

[Karen]

I wasn't interested in Baabul the first time I heard about it - Rani leaves me cold; Salman, ugh. But now I'm thinking that the story might be nice if it's handled well. And Salman dies! Probably not a gory onscreen death, but at least it's something. I still don't intend to see the movie, but I guess I'm a little more open to the possibility.

Oh, and now I get the Rekha love. She wasn't a thin model type beauty like Aishwarya, but striking in her own way. I want to see Silsila next.

[chonies]

Whoa! Thanks for the spoiler information. I think that sells it for me--I hate him, on screen and off.

Rekha also has a fabulously drama thing going on in the background of her life story, like wearing sindoor and junk. I want to read more about her because she seems wacky in a potentially delightful way, although it might have teetered precipitously close to the darkside once or twice. But yes, gorgeous.

[spycandy]

I don't care for Rani either, so I think I will give Baabul a pass. I really want to see Dhoom 2, though. I heard a rumor that Shah Rukh Khan is going to be the villain in Dhoom 3, is this true?

[chonies]

Out of curiousity, why don't you like Rani? Is it the pumpkin head? I've loved her in everything I've seen but I also suspect that she might be considered a one-note character.

[spycandy]

You know, I can't even put into words why I dislike Rani, maybe it's because she seems one-note, like you said. But I love some of her movies, like Bunty Aur Babli. She also comes off as kida smug to me

[Karen]

When it comes to how I feel about her, Rani is the Bollywood equivalent of Sandra Bullock: she's popular, she can look pretty enough, she's not a terrible actress, but despite all that I find that I just don't care about her work.

Train-wreck fascination made me rewatch bits of K3G today and not fast-forward when Kareena appeared. Oh, how I hated those "comic" moments.

[spycandy]

Aww, I love K3G, mostly for the SRK/Kaajol moments though. I think Kareena was born to play that role, I imagine that's how she is in real life, ha ha.

[chonies]

Both Kareena and Karishma need to be stopped, although I think Karishma is the bigger offender.

[spycandy]

See, I think Kareena is more useless. I dislike Karishma, but I think she is a slightly better actress.

[chonies]

Dang! Fourth page back!

Anyway, has anyone seen Guru yet? It's playing nearby but so is Salaam-e-Ishq and I'm trying to decide which one to see this weekend. Is Salaam-e-Ishq any good? I have a feeling this is the last weekend for SeI but the first weekend for Guru. And it's a long drive and they're screened at the same time. Sigh.

In related news, is the female in this picture[/color] Shannon Esra? I'm kind of intrigued that she's being billed as "the first caucasian actress to be cast in a Bollywood lead", and I wonder if she's going to be speaking Hindi. I immediately thought of Katrina Kaif, who is always described as half Indian, who's Hindi is so bad it's dubbed. Why does she keep getting cast? She's pretty, but her dancing isn't great, she needs to be dubbed...and she's dating Salman Khan.

But anyway, I have high hopes for Guru.