Devdas and its near-twin, Parineeta

Here's what happened: I watched Devdas (Bhansali's version), and then a little while later I watched Parineeta. And I had a slight sense of deja vu. The stylistic feel of the movies was different (I really don't think anyone is quite like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, love him or loathe him), but there were definite echos as far as story goes. Turns out both movies are adaptions of novels by the same writer, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. I wouldn't judge an author's entire set of works by only two, but these two certainly dealt in similar characters and situations. Both featured childhood next-door neighbors and friends who grow up together and in love with each other, and the complications brought by the differing social statuses of their families.

Film: Devdas

Year: 2002

Stars: Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit

Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

How I watched it: On DVD delivered by Netflix
Short answer to "Did I like it?": Yes. With an exclamation point. Yes!

I was, quite simply, mesmerized by this film. I have read complaints about it before and since watching it, and I can definitely see how the opulent sets and the heightened tone could be not to everyone's tastes, but it worked beautifully for me. (One peeve--people who complain that it was "unrealistic." That's like attending the opera and harping on how it's so unrealistic to think people would sing everything to each other, and what's with the horned hats? Bhansali doesn't seem to go in for realism. It's a choice, not a blunder.)

Every frame is shot with the maximum aesthetic effect in mind. The music is delicious and the dancing is simply stunning. Aishwarya and Madhuri are the best I've ever seen them, and SRK is made for the over-the-top melodrama that Bhansali relishes, but he's not obnoxiously frenetic here. The story is sad, but a very cathartic sad, a sad that feels like tears over beautiful poetry.

If you like beauty and spectacle in your Bollywood, this is a must-watch. And, in case it wasn't clear, well, it has Aishwarya Rai AND Madhuri Dixit DANCING. Even together, once.

* * * * *

Film: Parineeta
Year: 2005
Stars: Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt
Directed by: Pradeep Sarkar
How I watched it: On DVD delivered by Netflix
Short answer to "Did I like it?": Yes. Yes, I did.

I stayed up too late watching this movie. Apparently, it is dangerous to assume I will be able to turn off the movie at intermission and wait until the next day. It didn't happen. I was having too much fun staring at Vidya being all beautiful and riveting and Saif being all intense and brooding and Sanjay Dutt being all gentle and noble.

There are several similarities to Devdas here, but the music and dancing were far, far inferior. (Was there any dancing? Now I can't really recall. There was an interesting and fun item number by Rekha, sung to the tune of Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On." No, really.) However, there is much less altered reality and general over-the-top-ness, if that sort of thing bothers you (although the climax does have more than a touch of melodrama.) Also, this one has

 (SPOILER ALERT!) 

a happy ending. Sort of. Depending on whether you think Saif's character is basically a decent guy who just needed to get out from under his father's thumb and wake up to what was going on, or whether you think he is mostly a controlling and abusive whiner. I could go either way by the time the film wound to its close, so while I enjoyed it, the vacillating sense of whether or not I was happy with the outcome kept it from being a clear winner. Not that it really could have been any other way, as it turned out, but still.

I did absolutely love Vidya Balan in this. She was fabulous and flawless. I also loved her character, who could be sometimes strong and sometimes weak, firm as well as needy, clear-headed except when absolutely foolishly driven by emotion. You know, a complex, real human being.

Impressed lately by: Vidya Balan

Without really meaning to, I watched three movies featuring Vidya Balan recently.

She hadn't really been on my radar, although after watching her onscreen for awhile I thought I had seen her before. I had- in my least favorite Shahid Kapoor film to date, Kismat Konnection. No wonder I hadn't made a point of seeing other films featuring her until now. But I've been glad to find she is actually an accomplished actor, and she seems to choose very interesting roles, too.

I just realized that two out of the three movies in question I became interested in watching from posts on the ...so they dance! blog. Yes, I trust her taste I guess!

The first was No One Killed Jessica.

Vidya plays a young woman whose sister is carelessly murdered at a party one night. The perpetrator is the son of a rich, powerful man, who bribes and threatens so that ultimately his son is acquitted. Rani Mukerji plays a reporter who tries to bring justice.

The movie is good, although not my favorite type of Bollywood film, and certainly my least favorite role for Rani that I've seen. Vidya impressed me here with her naturalness, and in the way she was completely submerged into her character.

Then I saw Kahaani ("story"), a much-praised thriller from last year.

I say the praise is well-deserved! I found Kahaani initially intriguing, and then completely riveting. Like many thrillers, however, I suspect closer attention to details along the way will start a few plot points unraveling, so I'm actually not going to hurry to rewatch this. I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I don't want to blemish it at all. Vidya was absolutely engaging, at turns tough as nails and achingly vulnerable. Her face revealed and concealed at the same time, and here she was, which they hid as best they could in NOKJ, absolutely stunning. Her supporting cast, by the way, was as fantastic as she was. Go watch it! I didn't even care that there were no song-and-dance numbers!

Then, most recently, I saw Paa ("Dad").

This is a shameless tear-jerker of a movie. I really enjoyed the central story. There are some side issues dealing with Indian politics, which were not as enjoyable to me, although interesting. The core of the movie, however, is about a boy suffering from a disease that causes him to age much faster than normal, and how he comes to know the father that has never been in his life. It is not a synopsis that made me want to hurry to see it, but I felt in the mood for something sweet and it delivered that and more. I didn't realize that Vidya was in it before turning it on, but she was magnificent. She plays the child's mother, and it is not a side-lined role. She delivers a complex and moving portrayal of a strong, accomplished, many-layered woman. It is fabulous. I also loved the relationship her character had with her own mother.

So, within the space of not too much time, I saw Vidya play three characters that were all very different, but all strong women who take charge of their own destinies, in movies that I found interesting and somewhat outside of mainstream. I am impressed with Vidya. I am impressed with her talent and versatility, and in her taste in selecting roles.

You've come a long way since Kismat Konnection, Vidya. Good for you!

Searching for Shahid, Part 1

After falling head-over-heels for Jab We Met, it seemed a logical way to find more Bollywood movies to love would be to check out the filmography of that charming Shahid Kapoor. I liked him so much in JWM, he was sure to lead me to many more fine film experiences, right? Right?

Well, let us see...

I found Chance Pe Dance, Kismat Konnection (Yes, I watched the whole thing! ...Why do you ask?), Chup Chup Ke, Vivah, Dil Bole Hadippa!, Milenge Milenge, Badmaash Company, and Kaminey.

The first one I watched was Chance Pe Dance, which was entertaining enough, but, especially considering I was searching for something as good as JWM, a disappointment. Also, for a movie with "dance" right in the title, it is surprisingly light on dancing. And the dancing we do get is the kind of hip hop designed to show off Shahid's muscles.

You see? Not that his physique is unimpressive, but I prefer some impressive choreography. And the dancing was all just so... Western. So that was disappointing, but the story is engaging enough, about a wannabe movie star trying to make it in Bollywood, and his misadventures on his way to the top. There is romance, there is the tension between honoring family commitments and chasing your dreams, there is professional betrayal. There is also a major sideways step in the plot involving Shahid taking a job teaching dance at a school when he can no longer foot his bills. But then there is a happy ending with Shahid looking fantastic on a red carpet. I was entertained but not riveted.

Personal hygiene happens in the school bathroom when he can no longer make rent.

To be fair, I must mention that my 10-year-old son says this is his favorite Bollywood movie. It's true that he has only watched six, but all of the other five that he has watched (Veer-Zaara, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Dil To Pagal Hai, Dil Bole Hadippa! and Billu Barber) I would put ahead of this one. So I asked why, and he said, "It's the first Bollywood I got to see all the way through."  There is something fascinating about this phenomenon; I've heard others say the same thing. Others who have had wider experience in Bollywood cinema. Apparently, if you are destined to like Bollywood at all, the first film that brings you to this world will hold a special place in your heart forever.


On to Kismat Konnection...

Ok, I think I almost gave up on Bollywood after Kismat Konnection and wrote Jab We Met off as a fluke. The premise is that Shahid is a struggling architect who can't catch a career break. He visits a psychic who tells him he has to find his lucky charm, and then as long as his charm is with him everything will go right.

"Of course I can tell the future! Look what I'm wearing!"

Well, his lucky charm turns out to be a person- yes, a woman (naturally). Not only that, she is someone he only recently met but already managed to antagonize. So he has to get on her good side and convince her to be there for all his business interactions. And of course they fall in love. This was set in Toronto, and was my first introduction to what I have come to find is a not uncommon Bollywood phenomenon: atrocious acting by white characters. Just extras, but still. I don't know where Bollywood filmmakers find these people. After all, Toronto has a pretty vibrant film scene and is probably stuffed to the gills with hopefuls who would love to be cast in a movie. Surely they could find white people who don't act like they've just been inhaling paint thinner? The good news on this score is that, according to the movie, it is fairly easy to live and work in Toronto while pretty much only interacting with Hindi-speakers.

All-in-all, watching this movie was not such a great experience. But Shahid did well with what he had to work with- he really can act! I remember one scene in particular, when Shahid and his lucky charm are starting to fall in love. Shahid is staring at the heroine while he thinks she can't see, and he looks so sweet and wistfully besotted. But still, this movie had a mega-dose of the Bollywood corniness without its larger-than-life charm, and without any of the beautiful costumes or scenery. And really, without the heart and charisma that just makes it work. Also, the music was so forgettable that I've literally forgotten it. I'm assuming there was some, but I don't remember it at all.

Say whatever you must to get out of watching this movie.

And then I found Chup Chup Ke. Not only Shahid, but his Jab We Met co-star Kareena Kapoor as well!

I actually love this movie a lot, but oddly enough, the first time I tried to watch it I gave up and turned it off. There is a particular reason for that, though. The movie involves two bumbling fisherman characters (on the cover above), and they provide a lot of physical comedy. At the point that I turned it off on my first go-around, it involved one of them mistakenly getting a tooth pulled (without pain meds).   I feel vicarious pain too acutely, I suppose, because not only was that not funny to me but it made me feel faintly sick. Perhaps I've just had one root canal too many. But for some reason I kept thinking about this film, and the beginning had intrigued me, so after a little interval I went back and tried again, using the special technological feature known as "fast-forwarding" to avoid the scene I had so disliked the first time.

It is a lot of fun! But a bit strange, yes, definitely a strange story. Shahid is a would-be entrepreneur who has racked up a lot a debt from various failed enterprises. He decides to commit suicide so his family can collect life insurance on him and escape hounding by the debt collectors. He throws himself into the ocean, but of course, as Shahid is far too handsome to die, he is fished up by the aforementioned fishermen and ends up getting his lot thrown in with them. Oh yes, and he pretends to be deaf and dumb (there's a reason!). The fishermen have their own problems with debt, and Shahid and one of the fishermen end up working in a rich family's house as a consequence. In that house lives Kareena, who is mute, although not deaf. I won't try to explain more, because the plot is on the convoluted side and will suffer from being laid out for viewing out of the context of the film itself. But watching it is a lot of fun. Romance! Angst! Love triangles! Misunderstandings! Friendship! Family ties! AND (drum roll please) Shahid Kapoor dancing! My husband came in while I was watching Dil Vich Lagiya Ve, and even he remarked, "Well, that Shahid Kapoor guy certainly can dance." Yes. Yes, he can. Anyway, I recommend giving Chup Chup Ke a try!

Beautiful people dancing in beautiful clothes make me happy.

Coming up in the next Searching for Shahid installment- Vivah, Dil Bole Hadippa! and Milenge Milenge. What do you think of Shahid Kapoor's filmography?