Raincoat, (2004)

So aside from being productive/creative this Labor Day weekend, I also watched three very different movies. I re-watched Princess Mononoke, a breathtaking and beautiful merger of Miyazaki's mythology and traditional hand-drawn animation. I also saw The Station Agent, an almost perfect little film that ended too soon.

And then I watched Raincoat (2003).

Raincoat is an O. Henry-inspired film that follows Manu (Ajay Devgan) as takes a detour from finding investors to meet up with his long lost love, Niru (Aishwarya Rai), who had married into money. Of course, now she has neither money nor a worthwhile marriage, but she doesn't let that on. Instead of being honest with one another, the pair spends an afternoon lying to one another to make themselves seem happier than they really are. And, because it's inspired by O. Henry, you know there's going to be a twist at the end - and, if you're familiar with O. Henry, you can probably already guess what that twist is.

The positives - the acting is wonderful. Of course, I could watch Ajay look soulful all day, but he's also good to watch in motion. Aishwarya channels her usual aloofness in a role that actually requires it. The bit players -Niru's landlord, Manu's friends - are also straight on. They create real people rather than the ordinary Bollywood caricatures; director Rituparno Ghosh goes with a more subdued approach (that also means no naach-gaana). The characters are really well-drawn, the cinematography is excellent - this would be a perfect little film.

It would be, except that it was too long. The inspiration for the film - O. Henry's story "The Gift of the Magi" - is short for a reason. The premise doesn't stretch all that far. It focused mostly on dialogue between the two main characters, interspersed with flashbacks to when they were young and happy together, but there was also a lot of "dead air" during the film. It was a continual, drawn-out feeling of waiting. Quite frankly, it got kind of boring.

It's certainly worth watching once for Ajay and Aishwarya's acting combined with Ghosh's attention to detail, but I don't think this rental merits a re-watch any time soon.

Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, (2001)

Sometimes a movie can be so compelling that it grips me immediately and I have to pen a post A.S.A.P. Sometimes a movie can be so awful that I have to share my mirth in laughing at it. Sometimes a movie just doesn't strike you as one or the other. Sometimes a movie doesn't really strike you at all.

Yeh Raaste Hai Pyaar Ke is one such film. I was intrigued by the horribly-basmatic sounding plot, which includes lookalikes and car chases and wrongful deaths and, and also by the fact that it features actors I've never seen together before - Preity Zinta and Ajay Devgan? Ajay Devgan and Madhuri Dixit?

While the leads were blandly appealing, when I was watching the film, I had the distinct feeling that it was made ten years too late with actors who had way better things to do. I mean, Madhuri, seriously, when was Devdas made? Not long after this plot. It was the bit actors - the family of villains, the heroine's evil aunt, etc. - who seemed to be relishing their roles to the max. Does anyone say to the max anymore? I am totally bringing that back.

Of course, I should add that Ajay is pretty easy on the eyes as he wears a variety of suit/t-shirt combos while jumping through car windshields.

The story itself combines pure masala with emotional drama, complete with unlikely twists, Sunny Deol, imagined scenes, and questionable fashion choices. It seems like every hour is a different film. First it focuses on the lives of Vicky (Ajay) and Sakshi (Preity), two wily thieves who can steal a car and carry a catchy tune at the same time. Eventually, a vengeful villain attempts to assassinate our hero, mowing down his double by mistake. Poor Rohit (also Ajay! Bet you didn't see that one coming). More pitiful still is his widow, Neha (Madhuri), who won't believe that her husband has died on their wedding night - and we flashback to their courtship for another hour. Due to falling asleep on a bus by mistake (literally on a bus) Vicky lands in Rohit's hometown and assumes his identity, with the blessings (and many lakhs) of Rohit's father. Of course, both being thought dead and posing as a married man leave Sakshi high and dry, and the villains eventually realize that they've killed the wrong guy. Mayhem ensues.

I don't mean to sound too down on the film - it was an enjoyable time-pass, after all. The songs were catchy and it's always fun to see Madhuri out-dance her costars.

Just what is Totally Basmatic?

Astute new reader manythoughts has posed this question to me:

I am curious about one thing, though: What does your blog name mean?

That, my friend, is a very interesting question. I don't know that "totally basmatic" has a solid definition. Its fluidity as a term has been a great asset to me, as I can describe nearly all films, horribly good or just plain horrible, as "basmatic" in one way or another.

I can tell you how I came up with the name. As far as I know, "basmatic" isn't a real word. It came from a play on words with "basmati," however. This is how I came up with the idea.

Sometimes when I pop a DVD in the player to watch a movie, there are film previews and also commercials for assorted things. Oftentimes it is impossible to skip these commercials, as the DVDs won't allow it. Sometimes these commercials are for wedding halls in Edison, New Jersey, or jewelry shops in Jackson Heights, Queens. Sometimes these commercials are for basmati rice.

There is one particular basmati rice commercial that stars a woman, her daughter, an infant, and a dog. In the commercial the mother is teaching the daughter to cook, instructing to always use "this brand" basmati rice for the best results. The acting is hokey, but better than many Bollywood films. At the end of the commercial, everyone puts sunglasses on (including the infant and the dog) and when the lid of the rice pot is removed a beam of light pours through the kitchen.

I came up with "totally basmatic" because I wanted to evoke that same sense of both wonder and ridiculousness in my blog. I think it's become somewhat of a joke because many Bollywood viewers, especially those of us in America, find ourselves subjected to this commercial over and over and over and over again. When I say something is "totally basmatic" it's a little facetious but it also means that it is something that I greatly enjoy, whether in a bad film or a good one.

So, to those who read this blog, what is your definition for "totally basmatic"?

And if you know what basmati rice commercial I'm talking about, could you send me some screenshots so I don't look like such a lunatic without photographic evidence? I've been desperately going through my DVD collection to find it, but it doesn't help when said collection is split across three states and two continents.

Vivah, 2006

Sooraj Barjatya is not known for making compelling films. They do not glue you to the edge of your seat, they do not grip you mercilessly, and they do not, unfortunately, make for an exciting or even biased film review.

They're just so damn nice.

I mean, let's look at the guy's history. His films have been gradually losing any and all possible sources of conflict. First there was Maine Pyar Kiya, which was chockfull of excitement - murderous doves, tight acid-washed jeans and mullets, oh my! Then there was Hum Aapke Hain Koun,* which had a conflict - a pretty big one - but it waited until the last half hour so to even bring it up. Hum Saath-Saath Hain was much the same, except with a bigger cast, I think. Then we had Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon. The main conflict I had with that movie was my concern with when Hrithik would take off his shirt.

Now there's Vivah. I tried during the first two hours and forty-five minutes or so to deduce the main source of conflict. Here are a list of things that are not conflicts in this movie:

• The heroine is an orphan
  
• The "second heroine" has more personality in her fingernail than the first heroine has at all
  
• Resentful aunt
  
• There seem to be no animals in this film, especially ones that either channel the will of a higher power or are badly computer-animated
  
• Shahid Kapoor is not interested in me
  

In fact, the main conflict in this film is something I couldn't have predicted if I tried. It looks dire for all of ten minutes, but then... it's a Barjatya film. You know it's going to be all right in the end.

*(Okay, I know that there was Ena Pravukal in between, but the only thing I know about that film is that it's in Malayalam).

I'm looking for some sloth enablers...

I know, I know. I'd just gotten back into the swing of posting and then I fell off the planet again. I've actually got several half-written reviews waiting in the wings to be posted, but we'll have to wait for creative inspiration... or rather, creative motivation... to grab hold of me again.

I've also been terribly remiss in updating my links. If you would like to be/deserve to bb linked in my blog, leave a comment to this entry with a 50 word essay on the theme of "dinosaurs vs. astronauts" and I'll get back to you shortly. I was going to say "include the reason why I should link you" but dinosaurs and astronauts are so much more interesting, don't you think?

I know there's people in the Bollywood Blogs Network I need to add, so don't worry about the essay if you're one of them.

A Bollywood meeting of the minds!

An emailed invitation from T-hype lured me away from my super-busy social calendar into Curry Hill for a casual meeting of like-minded Bollybloggers!

And I have the picture to prove it!

Unless that was the picture that proves something else...

Anyway, it was great meeting you, Pooja, Filmiholic, and special kudos goes toT-hype, who I dragged around Queens all afternoon!

Julie, 1975

I am always intrigued by the portrayal of Christianity in films, and my interest has been piqued especially by how strongly religion effects Indian movies in particular. I picked up Julie on from the library shelf because the back spoke of the struggles of "an Anglo-Indian Christian family" struggling together through a terrible ordeal.

Note to self: stop getting so many movies from the library or you'll owe them a million dollars in late fees.

Getting back on track, the terrible ordeal that Julie and her family had to face was (dunh dunh dunh) baby-making premaritally. Baby-making that resulted in a baby, mind you. With the Hindu neighbor, no less! No doubt a progressive film in its time, it can't help but seem dated and excessively Lifetime-y now. The plot is as follows: Julie loves Shashi, Shashi loves Julie, Shashi's parents go out of town, Julie's mother goes ballistic, vegeta vegeta vegeta. Julie is sent away to a relative's to have the baby after confiding in her best friend Usha, who is conveniently Shashi's sister. Dad dies while Julie is away, so Mom decides to relocate the whole family to England, which would separate Julie from her child forever (on a tangentially related note, I never spell "separate" correctly). Of course, Shashi et al. aren't about to let that happen, and a teary good-bye turns into a teary reunion and they all live happily ever after the end.

Of course, the one reason I picked this film up in the first place was a disappointment to me throughout the film. The only religious aspect about Julie's family was the glowing picture of Jesus hanging up in their living room. It was only a device to establish Julie's "otherness," as though to say "This sort of thing would never happen to a good Hindu girl" - enter Usha as Julie's foil - and even Julie's dad was a drinker, unlike a good Hindu dad. Julie's family had Anglican names and her mother was always concerned about how they were viewed in "the community," but that had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with superficiality. The only smidgen of even treatment I saw was Shashi's mother's dismay at Julie's habit of walking into the house with her shoes on, but her quick turnaround at the end went against her previously created character and re-established her as the good guy, as opposed to Julie's scheming mother.

Good points about the film? Well, Laxmi as Julie is really pretty. And it also features Sridevi in her first Hindi film as Julie's little sister! Aside from that, though, I'm at a loss. Typical Indian melodrama at the expense of the Christian Anglo-Indian community.