DHARAM'S CHILDREN - Part 3

And so today I come to concluding part of my series on the acting children of my dear Dharmendra... the series has been a lot of fun for me and I've learnt a lot. I'm actually going to miss it. Today's star is the spunky Esha Deol.... but first the theme song...

Chorus:
Dharam’s Children
The series ends today
With the story of young Esha
First child of Dharam and Hema (the last line doesn't really work, but please bear with me)

Verse:
Esha is a Daddy’s girl
They are really close
She has a very bright future
Because she hates to lose (ha, so cheesy!)

(Repeat Chorus)

Esha Deol was born in India on 2 November 1982 to Hema Malini and Dharmendra. Her name means ‘the divine beloved’. She attended the elite Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, a middle school which also lists Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, and Esha’s half-brothers Sunny and Bobby among its alumni.

According to IMDb and Wikipedia, Esha has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Technology and a Master’s degree in Media Arts, (I’m not sure which of these degrees she got at Oxford, but she apparently studied there). Other sources seem to contradict the whole Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees thing; and Esha implies in one interview that she left formal education after her twelfth year, preferring to focus on her acting career instead.

Esha looks like Hema (especially when she smiles), but she also looks a lot like Dharmendra – I think she’s got a nice blend of both parents’ features. Her features are quite strong and well-defined (which I like), like her dad’s; and she has her mother’s sweet smile. Esha is 5 feet 6 inches tall and has a really fit and toned physique thanks to a rigorous workout and dance regimen.
Esha and her younger sister Ahana are accomplished dancers in the Odissi dance form. Esha has performed onstage several times with her mother, who is trained in Bharatanatyam. Esha is also a football buff and plays the beautiful game (as well as other sports) very well, which I think is super-cool.

In addition to Hindi and English, Esha speaks fluent Tamil (as a result of which she was in one of Mani Ratnam’s Tamil-language films, ‘Aayitha Ezhuthu’ (2004)). Apparently, her Punjabi is pretty good too (Dad must be pleased with that!) Esha calls herself a ‘Daddy’s girl’ (she and I have that in common). In light of that relationship, her decision to become a Bollywood actress is really interesting, as her dad disapproved at first. I like the fact that she just did her thing.

Like her brothers, Esha’s entry into Bollywood was met with positive vibes – her performance in her debut film ‘Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche’ received good reviews, and with its release she was well on her way to success. Since kicking off her Bollywood career in 2001, Esha has made a princely 20 films – obviously she’s a hard working lady who is determined to succeed in her chosen career, so props to her for that.


Sadly, according to some, Esha just might be a bit of a brat. There are reports that she once slapped fellow actress Amrita Rao, and she also slapped actor Zakir Hussein rather hard during a scene (I find that really hilarious, which I guess is not very nice of me). I am not sure whether the whole ‘brat’ thing is true or whether it’s really just the usual unfair and negative stereotyping of a strong, opinionated, outspoken young woman. From her interviews, she definitely comes across as blunt, direct and a little bit of a diva (I personally like a bit of divaliciousness – in other people) – but not exactly a brat. I guess I’ll never know which is true.


Having acknowledged her talent and beauty, I must also acknowledge that until recently, I didn’t like Esha. She just seemed to me like one of those arrogant, temperamental, the-world-owes-me-a-big-fat-favour-’cos-I’m-just-so-fabulous drama queens; and the fact that she once was a close friend of Kareena Kapoor, a woman I often think of as Bollywood’s Paris Hilton (not quite fair of me, though, as she does have talent, whereas Paris has none) didn’t exactly help matters. And I had only seen Esha onscreen once, in an absolutely awful film. But since seeing her in another film and doing a bit of research on her for this feature, I can admit that my views have changed (or at least, that they’re now open to change).

I’ve only seen two of Esha’s movies, and here they are:

Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa: Esha co-stars with Tusshar Kapoor in ‘Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa’ (KDNK), surely one of the most irritating and tiresome Bollywood movies I have so far had the displeasure of coming across (I hate to sound mean, but this is on the real). The problem is not really the performances, although I really have nothing good to say about Tusshar’s acting in this film (I find him so annoying in general). But the story! It is really, really annoying – it just drags on and on and bugs the hell out of you like a mosquito constantly buzzing away somewhere close to your head. In fact, this movie is pretty close to torture in some ways. I stuck it out because I always like to finish what I start, but by the end, I wished I’d been bold enough to just stop fifteen minutes into it.

Basically Esha’s character (also named Esha) falls for Tusshar’s character, Rahul. But Rahul has no plans of marrying Esha, and instead wants to keep things ‘as they are’ (which is basically, nowhere). The reason for Rahul’s reluctance? He’s been raised by rich, but also embarrassing, neglectful, slightly pagal parents, who have turned him off the idea of marriage and scarred him for life (I wanted to feel sorry for him for a second, but he was such a drama queen that I quickly withdrew my sympathy). So far this is all slightly tolerable – but then the film-makers proceed to turn the bulk of this film into a ‘marry me’/‘no’ back-and-forth rigmarole between Esha and Rahul, an exchange which makes less and less sense as the film goes on, and basically drives you up the wall. It’s all shallowness, immaturity, and worst of all, fierce lashings of needless and ridiculous drama.

And the ending is simply abominable (I should warn that the next couple of sentences will contain a spoiler). After doing her best to persuade Rahul to marry her, and getting rudely embarrassed in return; Esha is pressured into another marriage by her family. Just before the wedding (in time-honoured Bollywood style), Rahul comes to his senses and decides to marry Esha after all – so he interrupts the wedding. But don’t except a nice, cute, heart-warming ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, ‘Muhjse Dosti Karoge’, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ or ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ type of ending (although by this time the characters have gotten on your last nerve and you truly don’t care what happens to them anyway), because Esha spoils the moment by abandoning her poor innocent groom (not that I care about him either) at the ceremonial fire and running off to tell Rahul that she doesn’t care whether he marries her or not and she’d rather ‘live in’ with her beloved forever and blah blah blah. I mean, come on, who is supposed to believe that she suddenly doesn’t care after she’s just spent the last few eons desperately trying to make Rahul marry her?
I’m actually getting cheesed off just recalling the silliness of this film. Anyway, for what it’s worth, Esha looks pretty (see picture above) in it and her acting is ok. There are a couple of funny moments and one or two ok songs. The rest, as far as I’m concerned, really should have been canned. It just makes you go ‘Aaarrghh!’ Never, ever, again.

Just Married: When I started my ‘Dharam’s Children’ series, I had only seen KDNK, so I was not feeling the least bit charitable towards Miss Deol – KDNK was not a good vehicle for her acting talent at all. I am so glad I was able to see ‘Just Married’, a film by talented writer-director (and daughter of great actress Rakhee and phenomenal screenwriter Gulzar) Meghna Gulzar, because it has given me a totally different and refreshing take on this young lady. I can now actually agree with the people who say that Esha got her dad’s acting chops and her mum’s star quality. Just shows what a huge difference some good material can make.



‘Just Married’ is the story of Rithika (played by Esha) and Abhay (played by Fardeen Khan, whom I now have a new-found respect for – now I want to edit my ‘Favourite Khans’ post now and put him in there somewhere), a newly married couple who know nothing about each other and go off to Ooty for their honeymoon after an arranged marriage. I really like this film – it’s sweet, mature and kind of gentle in a way. It explores all those delicate, funny, uncomfortable human emotions – uncertainty, nervousness, shyness, transition, forced intimacy; in a lovely way. I heard it didn’t do too well because it was released soon after ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt.’ and people thought it was the same kind of story. That’s a bit sad, I think because I’ve seen both films and they aren’t that similar. They’re both about honeymooning couples, and they both feature an older couple and a ‘modern’ couple, but that’s about it.

‘Just Married’ is a very different kind of film from ‘Travels’; it is really not a fun romp, it’s quite ‘quiet’ and grounded, although it does have its amusing moments. Where ‘Travels’ focused equally on the stories of each of the couples, ‘Just Married’ is very much Rithika and Abhay’s story, with the other stories kind of feeding into theirs, in a very sweet and interesting way. I’m not saying either movie trumps the other; they’re both very good, but they’re very different – it’s just a shame for Gulzar and her team that they both came out around the same time, and hers came out second.

Anyway, I loved ‘Just Married’ because it made me think, it entertained me, it was intelligently made, and I left the cinema feeling a bit emotional and wanting to fall in love (and that feeling doesn’t hit me very often). Esha and Fardeen were both fab in their roles – they were totally believable – Esha as the friendly, independent but also awkward and confused young bride; Fardeen as the sincere, but also a bit confused young groom. I just thought they were so sweet together, and each performance balanced the other out – I loved that their characters were both ‘modern’, but not in a stereotypical, shallow way. And the rest of the cast (Shatish Shah, Kirron Kher, and some other people I don’t know) did a great job of supporting them; each couple with very interesting stories of their own.

So I loved Esha in ‘Just Married’ – and just on the strength of that subtle, ‘real’ performance, I think she’s quite a good actress, when she’s got good material to work with. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her.

A few resources on Esha Deol:

http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2000/may/08esha.htm (an oldie, when she was just getting her foot through the door. Very interesting and cute – she once wore braces! (another thing she and I have in common))

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/jan/13esha.htm

http://www.webindia123.com/movie/interview/in010605.htm (an upbeat interview)

http://www.radiosargam.com/features/interviews/eshamain.htm

http://www.desipowerchat.com/bollywood/a33_esha_deol/esha_deol_not_just_sexy.htm

http://www.seasonsindia.com/cinemascope/iviewEsha_sea.htm

http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/32/3975 (Ouch!)

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/ar/i/actors/624/3/general/4/ (after ‘Just Married’)

http://www.radiosargam.com/features/interviews/eshamarch.html (Hmm... )

http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/may/19esha.htm (now I want to see ‘Yuva’!)

http://movies.indiatimes.com/quickies/1792434.cms (this one is narcissism galore! This is one girl who luuurrves herself – it’s definitely a fun read!)

‘TAAL’, ‘CHORI CHORI’ AND ‘PYAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA’

There’s been quite a bit of activity in my Bollyworld of recent. I recently watched 3 movies, to be discussed in the lengthy post below. I also saw ‘Just Married’ at the cinema yesterday, to be discussed in my Esha Deol post ('Dharam’s Children' Pt.III), whenever I get round to it. And I have quite a few movies to look forward to in the coming weeks. Yum.

‘TAAL’

I watched ‘Taal’ over the weekend. I like when you can tell that a writer/director has made a film close to his/her heart. With ‘Taal’, Subhash Ghai set out to make a modern story with a strong musical element. The musical element, provided by A. R. Rahman, is indeed strong, with a soundtrack that’s quite varied and a bit adventurous. While I didn’t like every single song, I enjoyed most of them, especially ‘Ishq Bina Kya’, sung with beautiful, emotional nuance by Alka Yagnik. I wasn’t surprised to discover that A. R. Rahman and Alka both won Filmfare awards for this film. In line with his focus on the power of music, Subhash Ghai also gives himself a cute little cameo singing along to his Walkman in a market.

As far as the story goes, it’s nothing ground-breaking. A rich boy named Manav (played by Akshaye Khanna), on a visit to Chamba, falls for a lowly village damsel named Manasi (or Mansi, played by Aishwarya Rai), and she (after a little resistance) returns his affections. When Manasi’s father, a renowned folk singer named Tarababu (played by Alok Nath) finds out, he tries to bring the affair into the open (and to forge suitable family ties) by visiting Manav’s father (played by Amrish Puri), who has lately become a friend. Things don’t go very well during the visit, and Manasi and her father are despondent until they meet a famous pop singer named Vikrant (played by Anil Kapoor), who gives Manasi a shot at fame and a new lease of life. But Manav still wants Manasi, and isn’t prepared to take ‘no’ for an answer (in fact his unshakeable confidence that he will get his Manasi back is a bit weird and annoying).

While the story is nothing new, I like the way it was told. I enjoyed the beautiful scenic shots in Chamba, and I thought the song picturisations were very lovely. As mentioned above, the music is charming, and some of the choreography is very good (some of it is dodgy). While the film as a whole is a bit uneven, with some really good scenes and some bits that were just out of place, I enjoyed the way it was wrapped up. I liked the emphasis on relationships, and the fact that all the relationships in the film got some attention and resolution, from the obvious (Manav and Manasi, Tarababu and Manav’s father), to those that would typically be considered less significant (Manav and Vikrant, Manav and his father, Manasi and Vikrant).

I thought the performances were quite strong. Akshaye Khanna hands in an understated and quite mature performance, and although I found his character very annoying in some parts of the film, I think Akshaye handled him quite well. He lets you see the courage, strength and confidence of the character, although some of that I felt was a bit questionable. He is also quite sweet in some scenes, especially with Ash.

I loved Aishwarya in the first half of the film – or perhaps I should say I loved what Ghai did with her (and the character of Manasi) in the first half. It was an unusual treatment – Ash (nicely stripped down, with wavy, simple hair and little make up) plays an innocent girl becoming aware of herself, the opposite sex (in the person of Manav) and most interestingly, her power over the opposite sex. I like that Manasi was depicted as fighting a battle she not only did not want to win, but one she knew she would eventually rejoice over losing. Ash plays this Manasi well, with a sexual awareness, sensuousness and intensity that is compelling, yet simple and without guile. The second, post-fame and success, meek and a bit majboor, burdened with love and divided loyalties, Manasi we meet in the second half of ‘Taal’, I found much less interesting, because she was someone I’ve seen many times before.

Alok Nath is good with these kinds of roles, and ‘Taal’ is no exception. I especially liked him and Ash in the scene at Manav’s home in Bombay (it was a bit of a stretch, though – I think realistically, most people would have just upped and left after a while). Amrish Puri is very good in his role as well. And there is a sweet little pooch called Brownie who had no wondrous abilities and was just so cute.

But for me, the standout performance in this film is by Anil Kapoor, with a gorgeous, meaty comic role (he won a Filmfare award for it). His character, Vikrant Kapur, is self-consciously over-the-top and dramatic, but also intelligent and even a bit sensitive. Vikrant is a showman, constantly playing ‘pop star’, surrounded by lots of spandex-clad dancers who just never seem to stop dancing and just seem kinda trippy. He even has his dancers on the go when he’s recording songs in the studio. He’s really crazy (his scene expounding his ‘7 Commandments’ is priceless comedy), but somehow you don’t find him annoying or grating (at least, I didn’t). Even when he starts acting out of character (as he does later in the film), he does a funny little scene to remind you he’s still the wacky Vikrant you’ve come to like. And in the midst of all the craziness, there’s a depth to his character that comes through here and there.

This scene was hilarious: 'Arrest him!' 'No, why should I?' 'Arrest him!' 'No!' 'Then dance!' Loved it...

All-in-all, I liked ‘Taal’. Not sure if I’d like to watch it again, but I enjoyed it very much and think Ghai and his team did a good job.

‘CHORI CHORI’

This was such a chore to watch. I just found it flat and bland, there was nothing particularly cute, or sweet, or endearing, or enjoyable about it. It was just a load of ‘blah’ for me. And it’s a bit perplexing for me because the film stars two of my favourite Bollywood actors, Rani Mukerji and Ajay ‘the hotness’ Devgan. I so wanted to like their performances, to enjoy the movie, but it just wasn’t happening.

Let’s start with the obvious – the tagline for this movie is ‘Everyone falls in love’. It should’ve been ‘Everyone falls in love except the stars of this movie’. I did not believe that they fell in love, I could not relate to their angst, torment and emotion, there was less than zero chemistry between them, and it was just… not good. And then the story – it wasn’t charming, or sweet, or witty – although it was obviously trying to be. It wasn’t even offbeat, edgy, black comedy – which I think it was also trying to be. It was just blah – a bit annoying, if anything.

I didn’t like the characters – Rani’s character is meant to be street-smart and sharp, yet somehow likeable (I think). I didn’t feel any of it – I just thought she was such a big fat liar and kept lying with an amazing casualness and ease which I found somewhat appalling. Maybe I need to loosen up, but I didn’t like her at all. Ajay’s character was a big fat bore and just seemed empty, uncaring, selfish and uninteresting – even his excitement and passion was half-hearted. The depiction of Ajay’s family is no more than an unwieldy caricature, and Ajay’s ex, played by Sonali Bendre, really does nothing except look sad/regretful.

The music in the film is not particularly great either. In fact, there’s nothing particularly great about this film. It looks pretty enough, but it lacks heart and substance. And it’s sad, because it has potential (I guess). And because I’m always searching for slightly sensational theories to back up observed phenomena, perhaps the biggest lesson of ‘Chori Chori’ is: never make a romantic movie opposite your cousin’s husband, especially when you and said cousin don’t get on well enough to laugh over a few drinks at the movie launch party.

‘PYAAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA’ (PKTDK)

Once upon a time I tried to watch this film – but then a few minutes into it, a shirtless guitar-playing Salman Khan leapt out at me and I was exasperated. I think I was in one of those I-don’t-want-no-crap moods that day – I skimmed over a few scenes and then just gave up. Looking back, I think I had just suffered through Salman’s ‘Lucky – No Time for Love’, which I absolutely hated – so my Salman tolerance-level must’ve been at an all-time low. Recently, I got a chance to borrow a few DVDs from a fellow Bollywood fan, and there it was in her collection – PKTDK. I thought to myself, why not give it another try? At the very least, you’ll be able to give your ‘slacking’ Dharmendra movie list a much-needed boost. I’m glad I did.

PKTDK, like ‘Taal’, is basically a rich boy (played by Salman) meets and falls in love with lowly girl (played by Kajol) movie. However, on this occasion, the major obstacle to the lovers’ bliss is Kajol’s over-protective and rather violent bhaiyya (played by Arbaaz Khan), who takes fierce delight in battering all of Kajol’s prospects. Salman does not help his case by making a terrible first impression on bhaiyya, and also by being a young, happy-go-lucky kinda fella. Despite his best efforts, bhaiyya remains stubbornly unimpressed. Can’t believe I haven’t mentioned my darling Dharmendra yet, who plays Kajol’s wise and strong chachu, who has looked after her and her brother since the loss of their parents. To cut a long story short, obviously there is much drama but love prevails at the end because the protagonists (Salman in particular) are determined to take risks in the name of love, and not to give way to their fears (hence the title).

I really enjoyed this movie – it was actually fun and kinda sweet. Kajol and Salman both did well, and I think they made a nice couple, surprisingly. The songs are mostly cute. There’s a scene with ‘duplicates’ of Bollywood stars that’s really quite funny. And there are quite a few hilarious subtitles, some of which are showcased below (we always love that!)

Don't know why I love this... I just do.

'Wed me thee'?? If you're going for the Shakespearean approach to subtitling (nothing wrong with that, it's always fun), at least do it right and say 'wed thee me'...

And of course, it was so great to see my Dharmendra kicking bad guys’ behinds and being all fatherly and sweet. And his voice still does ‘it’ for me. If I have any complaints about Dharam in this film, they are (a) it would have been nice to see more of him; (b) his dubbing skills seemed a bit off – there was sometimes a glaring lack of sync – like once his lips said ‘strong boy lakhta hai’, but his voice said ‘he’s a strong boy’ (I think I'm nit-picking); and (c) there were a few ‘voiceless’ scenes where they deliberately don’t let you hear the character’s voices – and I would've liked to hear his. Anyway, whatever, I don’t care enough about this to bother about it much. It was just nice to see him again.

But the craziest thing about watching PKTDK was the realisation that I AM CHANGING (and not in a cute, inspirational I’m-getting-stronger-and-wiser Effie-White-in-Dreamgirls way either). No – I am changing: from a girl who didn’t like Salman at all, to one whose Salman tolerance-level is currently rather high! I mean, the shirtless scene didn’t bother me that much this time. I didn’t wince much at his silly, goofy wiggling-his-bumbum scenes. I wasn’t constantly rolling my eyes at his frequent corniness – OMG! I think he just might be (gasp!) growing on me. I find this very, very, very disturbing.

THE THREES TAG (with a Bollywood twist)

I got tagged by Maja. I've done this tag before, on another blog, but just couldn't resist doing it again. This time, I've tried to make all my answers Bollywood-related.

3 things that scare me

• Amrish Puri in some of his really evil roles
• Rishi Kapoor’s ’80s sweaters (and the fact that no-one told him not to wear them – I mean, whatever happened to the milk of human kindness?)
• Jackie Shroff dancing around in the ocean (in his infamous Speedo) in ‘Rangeela’

3 people who make me laugh

• Dilip Kumar
• Amitabh Bachchan in his some of his older flicks
• Johnny Lever (at least when he’s not being really annoying)

3 things I love

• Watching Bollywood DVDs alone on my laptop with the lights turned down
• Catching a Bollywood movie at the cinema with Uzo
• Kajol’s unibrow, Ajay Devgan’s teeth, SRK’s dancing, Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, Vinod Khanna’s brown eyes, ‘Aaj Ki Raat’ from ‘Don’ (2006), Jaya Bhaduri’s older performances (I know, that’s more than one, lekhin kya karoon?)

3 things I hate

• Poor sub-titling
• When they use ‘wonder dogs’ in Bollywood movies – I don’t know why, but I just can’t shake the feeling that those animals are harmed
• The slightly-pink porridge-consistency fake blood they used in the older Bollywood films

3 things I don't understand

• Hindi (except the odd word here and there)
• The whole revenge theme and why it’s such a big thing in Bollywood cinema
• How Salman got worse (as an actor and dancer) instead of better

3 things on my desk
(I’m writing this in my bedroom, and I don’t have a desk so I’ll do ‘3 things on my bed’)

• Clothes I really should hang up right away (but won’t just yet)
• My laptop
• My workout DVD

3 things I'm doing right now

• Listening to the cheesy-but-good VH1 Divas Live performance of ‘You’ve Got A Friend’
• Hoping and praying we don’t have a power cut tonight so that I can get some sleep
• Wishing there were more hours in a day to do all the things I want to do

3 things I want to do before I die

• Visit India at least 7 times
• Travel to many more countries around the world
• Be in a Bollywood movie (and definitely not as a stereotypical black baddie or African ‘tribal’ dancer) – well, a girl can dream, right?

3 things I can do

• Multi-task compulsively
• Take loads of screencaps while watching a Bollywood DVD
• Collect random facts about Bollywood people

3 things you should listen to

• The songs from ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!’, the songs from ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’, the songs from ‘Aradhana’, the songs from ‘Abhimaan’, the songs from ‘Junglee’, the songs from ‘Don’ (2006) (well, except ‘Yeh Mera Dil’), and the songs from ‘Umrao Jaan’ (the older movie).
• ‘O Saathi Re’ from ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’… and just about anything else sung by Kishore Kumar – just an exquisite, gorgeous voice.
• Amitabh Bachchan’s ultra-expressive voice, Rani Mukherjee’s husky low voice, and Dharmendra’s sexy voice.
  (again, too many, but what’s a girl to do?)

3 things you should never listen to

• That naughty little voice that tells you to order/buy another Bollywood DVD when you know you really can’t afford it (I’m actually getting pretty good at ignoring it now!)
• People who ridicule and put down your interests and hobbies (e.g. Bollywood)
• 'Yeh Mera Dil' from 'Don' (2006)

3 things I want to learn

• A lot more about India’s history and culture
• Hindi (so I can just turn off the subtitles hameesha AND converse with Hindi-speakers in their own language – now wouldn’t that be too cool?) and some other languages
• To dance like Aishwarya Rai or Madhuri Dixit (yeah, right! LOL at just how realistic that is)

3 favourite foods (Indian)
(I have way more than 3, so I’ll just do the places where I’ve been known to eat Indian)

• Food from the Indian restaurant in Hotel Victoria Palace, off Idejo Street in Victoria Island, Lagos (I really want to try their Sunday lunch buffet sometime soon – Uzo, are you game?)
• Food from The Bridge Tandoori Restaurant down the road from Tower Bridge in London (I miss it!)
• Food from Sherlaton Restaurant in Victoria Island (not as good as Victoria Palace, IMO, but good)

3 beverages I drink regularly

• Water
• Water
• Water (love the stuff)

3 childhood (Bollywood-related) TV shows / books

• Can’t remember how, but I stumbled upon a Filmfare magazine sometime in the ’80s. I remember thinking the women were so gorgeous and the guys were so NOT (hey, I was a kid!) The mag was full of pictures of Madhuri Dixit (I thought she was gorgeous) and Pooja Bhatt (I thought she looked like such a baddd girl – she was wearing black leather in all the pictures).
• Mahabharat – at least I think it was (from when we had cable – it was broadcast early on Sunday mornings.
• I can’t think of a third – so I’ll go for a Bollywood movie from my childhood: Mard, starring Amitabh Bachchan – a very weird, but somehow very entertaining kind of film.

DHARAM'S CHILDREN - Part 2

Today’s star is Sunny D, as I like to call him. Not only does his name sound a lot like ‘Sunny Delight’, he’s very robust and intense (like the drink), and sometimes he can be rather (and oddly) delightful (mostly when he smiles and tries to dance). I don’t know why, but I think there’s an appealing little kid buried beneath all that brawn.

... But that hasn't stopped you from dancing anyway, has it, Sunny? Not your fault, I know, Bollywood is big on dancing. Nice line, though – the fact that you said it makes you seem like a really good sport…

But first the theme song – Bobby got only one verse last week, but as the ‘bhaiyya’, I say Sunny deserves two. I don’t play with seniority:

Chorus:

Dharam’s children
Want to be Bollywood stars
Just like their father
So they work real hard

Verse 1:

Next up we have Sunny
He’s the action man
He’s really big and brawny
And he cannot dance

Verse 2:

Sunny D is quite the badass
You don’t wanna mess with him
He’s got muscular substance
But there’s a big kid within

Sunny, the most successful of Dharam’s three acting children, was born Ajay Singh Deol in New Delhi on either, depending on whom you believe, 19th October 1956 (according to IMDb) or 19th October 1961 (according to BollyWHAT? and Wikipedia – although elsewhere on Wikipedia he’s listed as being born in 1956). So, he’s either 45 or 50 – I personally think he’s probably 45.

Despite being the older brother, he’s shorter than Bobby, about 5-11 (other sources say 5-9). He’s happily married to Pooja (although there’ve been rumours about dalliances with actresses in the past, including Dimple Kapadia and Raveena Tandon) and has two sons, Rajvir and Ranvir. Apparently, he’s quite the shy and quiet one… the strong and silent type (I'm very fond of that type, so I have a bit of a soft spot for him).

His first of 76 movies (as listed on IMDb) was 1983’s ‘Betaab’, which was a hit, the first of many Sunny-starrers to rake it in at the box office. Before taking on Bollywood, Sunny studied acting in Birmingham, England. It’s worth noting here that like Bobby (I remarked upon this in my Bobby post), his Bollywood career also began in his late twenties – maybe there’s no ‘reason’ for that other than they needed to be ‘ready’ before plunging into movies. His most successful movie is 2001’s blockbuster, ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’. He directed ‘Dillagi’ in 1999, co-starring with Bobby for the first time – although it got good reviews, it bombed at the box office. He’s won several acting awards (for ‘Ghayal’, ‘Damini’ and ‘Gadar’).

I like Sunny Deol. I think he’s quite a good actor, and I really like the fact that he knows his niche (action movies) and hasn’t strayed too far from it, instead of pretending he can do it all. He has won many loyal fans for his reliability as an action hero. Despite the jibes of the naysayers, he has been consistently doing what he does for years, and I think he’s good at it. He’s really hardworking and does a lot of his own stunts. And I love that he made a great comeback with 'Gadar' - I always love comebacks.

I’ve found Sunny’s acting credible in the few films of his I’ve seen – but I don’t think he’s hot (at the moment, that is; that might change). I’m not sure why, especially as he looks very much like my darling Dharmendra. The resemblance is striking – he’s definitely not as handsome as Dharam, but he does look a lot like him. He even has the slight throatiness to his voice that I love about Dharmendra’s – it’s not as sexy as his dad’s, but it’s there. But I just don’t think he’s hot. I like the way he beats up the bad guys, but I don’t think it’s sexy. I guess this whole line of thought is the problem – the resemblance to his dad always makes you compare their acting, their hotness, their whatever. It’s so unfair really.

And now for the Sunny movies I’ve seen:

‘DARR’: ‘Darr’ was a film that shot two of its three stars to a higher level of fame. Playing ‘Kiran’, sweet and sparkly Juhi Chawla managed to revive the hype that had waned since her turn in ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ a few years before. Even more notable was the rise of Shahrukh Khan, who handed in an excellent performance as an obsessed stalker who would do anything to get his ‘K-k-kiran’. While Juhi and SRK basked in the limelight of their success in ‘Darr’, the third star of the film, Sunny Deol, was left behind, looking and feeling like a lemon.

Sunny was mad when he realised that SRK was getting all the post-release attention – according to him, Yash Chopra completely manipulated and misrepresented his role in ‘Darr’. He felt deceived and even, in what must have been an exceptionally surly moment, put down SRK’s role as being easy-peasy (quite childish on Sunny’s part, I think). ‘Darr’ created a rift between Sunny and Yash Raj Films that continues today. And SRK, of course, went on to superstardom.

There’s nothing majorly wrong with Sunny’s performance in ‘Darr’. As Juhi’s Navy commando husband, he is strong, dependable, loyal, understanding and protective, doing his best to save her from her demented stalker. He had good chemistry with Juhi too. The only problem is that SRK had the opportunity to do so much more with his role – he just grabs your attention everytime he’s on the screen. He makes you believe in his craziness, and makes you understand Juhi’s terror. He also makes you, strangely enough, relate to his pain and angst. Sunny didn’t stand a chance… his character just didn’t have as much ‘meat’ to him.

While Sunny’s performance was ok in my eyes and he does all the action and romantic bits very well, there were two things I personally didn’t like about Sunny’s ‘Darr’ character – but I can’t blame him for them – it was the scriptwriter and director’s call (which makes me think they may indeed have done a number on poor Sunny). One was the scene in which his character is avidly watching a stripper on TV while on a private getaway with his new bride, who then has to come and ‘distract’ him by doing a striptease of her own. I thought that was a bit (no, very) cheap. The other was the very end of the movie when Sunny’s character mocks SRK’s ‘K-k-kiran’ stutter, and they all laugh uproariously. I found that in very poor taste, especially after what had happened to the guy, who was, after all, very sick and disturbed – no wonder SRK got more sympathy from the audience.

Even if Chopra did deceive Sunny about his role in the film (I think it seems possible), it was churlish of him to throw a public tantrum (that big kid coming through, huh?). Methinks ’twould have been more dignified to congratulate SRK and just move on. But I guess he had to be true to himself and express his feelings.

‘INSANIYAT’: Really, the less said about this star-studded, big-budget film the better. I hated it. Only watched it for five minutes and gave up – so I have no idea whether or not Sunny was good in it.

‘INDIAN’: Sunny plays an honest, tough, often brutal policeman who goes after terrorists, corrupt politicians and other bad guys. His job is made tougher by corrupt members of the police and sarkar, who secretly work for the terrorists. Shilpa plays Sunny’s wife and mother of his two cute little kids, who finds her marital relationship threatened by Sunny’s actions against someone she loves. Sunny faces difficult trials because of his determination to fight the bad guys, a duty he claims not just as a policeman, but as an Indian (hence the name of the film).

‘Indian’ is not a terrible film, but I certainly wouldn’t call it good either – I would say it’s watchable. There are huge holes in the plot, and some highly improbable situations, and sometimes it drags on a bit, but I guess it’s your basic ‘ok’ action movie (lots and lots of fight scenes, people getting beaten up, guns and bombs). There is some romance between Sunny and Shilpa, but it’s not that memorable, mainly, in my opinion, because there’s not a lot of chemistry there. I liked Sunny’s hard-as-nails, uncompromising performance, even if he did go waaaay over the top now and again. His dancing was awful as ever, but otherwise he was alright. I liked that you could tell he was putting his best into it. I think he did well.

‘JAAL: THE TRAP’: I found ‘Jaal’ surprisingly watchable. It’s another good-guys-against-bad-terrorists action film, but I thought it was quite well done. It has some of the same extra-patriotic overtones as ‘Indian’, with Sunny playing a patriotic musician called Ajay (he does a song called ‘Sher Dil Indian’, accompanied with bad dancing) who has also trained as a commando. He gets drawn into a trap by terrorists, and the story is about how it all happens and how he gets out. There are a few unexpected twists and turns along the way, and I liked that.

Sunny is quite good in this film – he has a good range – I of course found the whole ‘musician’ thing totally unbelievable (especially when he started to dance), but he does very well with the action bits, the romantic bits and even the odd comedic bit. He and Tabu (in quite a good performance by her, I thought) had very nice chemistry, right up to the end. Reema Sen basically plays an irritating brat - but she does it well, although there's zero chemistry between her and Sunny. As for Anupam Kher – I wasn’t quite convinced by his role, but it was ok. Amrish Puri is really good playing Sunny Deol’s dad in this film, and I loved all their scenes together – especially the one where they’re on a bike together. Farida Jalal had a teeny role as Ajay’s mother.

Another thing ‘Jaal’ has going for it is really nice music – I enjoyed all the songs and thought they were nicely picturised, in a way that tied in well with the story – there’s quite a bemusing bit where in the middle of a romantic song, Tabu and Sunny are interrupted by rampaging sheep, helicopters and terrorists. They do the same thing in another romantic song, this time with Reema. I have to say I liked the oddness of it.

‘Jaal’ has its faults – there are some holes in the plot and some undue violence and unnecessary killing (but then, it’s an action film, and you find that a lot, in Bollywood and everywhere else), and the train scene at the climax drags a bit. There are also some silly and overdone stunts, like when they try to make what’s obviously a bungee jump appear to be a freefall – twice. And the rom-com bits are just plain silly and nonsensical. But generally I liked this movie and I enjoyed Sunny’s performance.

The critics say Sunny Deol has no range as an actor, but I’d like to offer up a few specimens from ‘Jaal’ to counter that claim…

The don’t-you-mess-with-me-cos-I’m-such-a-baddddassss expression:
The if-I-wasn’t-such-a-baddddassss-I’d-be-peeing-in-my-pants-right-now expression:
The WTH? expression:
The you’ve-rocked-my-world-and-touched-me-to-the-depths-of-my-soul expression:
The I’m-such-a-cool-dude-with-my-collar-up-like-this expression:
And finally… the I-must-do-what-I-must-do-and-not-be-shaken expression:

And here are some of the many resources on Sunny Deol available on the web…

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/apr/10sunny.htm - An interview after the release of ‘The Hero’. He has some sweet words to say about this dad – totally love that.

http://www.bollywhat.com/Biographies/sunny_bio.html - His BollyWHAT entry.

http://entertainment.oneindia.in/movies/bollywood/interviews/sunny-deol-061206.html - Quite a sweet interview.

http://www.rhythminfo.com/ArtistInterview.asp?artistid=29&pagecat=Interview - The patriotic thing comes through here.

http://www.parinda.com/movies/sunny_deol.shtml - A good profile with some startlingly old-fashioned views on fatherhood from Sunny, and links to other resources.

http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/07sun.htm - Basking in the success of ‘Gadar’.

http://www.indiaoz.com.au/bollywood/stars/sunny_deol/ - Very entertaining article on his films and personal life – a bit gossip-rag-ish, though.

http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2000/oct/19sunny.htm - A neat little bit of introspection.

www.imdb.com/name/nm0219971/miscsites - His IMDb miscellaneous links

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0219971/ - His IMDb entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Deol - His Wikipedia entry

LIVEBLOGGING 'MOTHER INDIA' (1957)

I must warn that there are some spoilers in this.

00.39 I hereby bestow upon thee the In Praise of All Things Dharmendra-Related award for the most unappealing opening frame ever.

04.11 Awww… you don’t want the pretty garland? Maa, you seem very sad. What gives? Oh, I see... it reminds you of your bridal garland, huh? Flashback time…

07.07 Mr. Groom, you look both terrified and eager… I’d be spooked if I was your dulhan…

09.02 Giving your groom a leg-massage on the wedding night? Oh dear… so who gives you a massage?

10.26 And so the slaving away begins… poor dear, you have to help the in-laws pay off their mortgage…. Not exactly an auspicious welcome.

12.23 Well at least your husband seems nice enough for a coy game or two…

16.23 Hubby seems nice enough, and he’s got a sweet smile… but I get the strong feeling something terrible will happen to him soon.

17.31 Oh goody, a song! It’s about time we had one.

21.14 A little bitty bachcha… awww….

23.00 Oh no… turns out mother-in-law was swindled by the evil money-lender. Injustice!

38.04 I love the gutsiness of this kid. So great.

42.06 Awww… why can’t this sort of sadness and despair be confined to the movies? This movie is a real downer. Nice fake clouds though.

42.27 Radha is a good woman, if I were in this situation, not only would I let my hubby beat the horrible moneylender up, I’d probably join in. But violence solves nothing, and Radha, wise woman that she is, knows this.

43.09 Gotta love this kid. Who played him? I think he’s remarkable.

44.07 Awww… and you were such a good man up till now! Why hit your good wife who has done all she can to support and care for you and the kids? Why? This film is very upsetting.

45.07 Kids are amazingly resilient. The older ones who are more aware of their dire straits are sad, the youngest smiling away. God bless children.

46.09 How beautiful. These people are determined to make me cry.

47.05 It was obvious that something terrible would happen to Shamu – but it’s terribly depressing nonetheless.

48.23 So not PC… but sweet and charming anyway.

50.46 The only phrase I can use to describe this is a kicked around cliché – ‘man’s inhumanity to man’.

56.44 This is just so sad. It’s a good song though.

1.00.07 What? Dadi’s dead too??!! No doubt Shamu’s death was a contributing factor.

1.01.10 Wow, a death, a new life… the circle of life. Eeyah, four kids and only you, Radha?

1.02.03 I love this kid. Bas.

1.03.47 Talk about an iconic image. Wow – great picture. Nargis was bahut khoobsurat.

1.07.42 This looks very DeMillean… nice shot.

1.08.36 Na wa o... in fact e be like say na pidgin wey I go take nack dis one. Oyibo no go do am, dis one don pass me. Wich kain wahala bi dis now? Sufferhead don join bodi.

1.09.06 Wow… powerful imagery – woman and mother, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders – like some Greek god. The divinity of womanhood.

1.10.16 Oh great, now she has to go and lose her strongest reminder of her dear Shamu as well. There is really no end to Radha’s suffering, is there?

1.14.59 How many women have been forced to make these terrible choices?

1.15.49 Powerful. This is a great performance by Nargis. I will have to look for more of her films now.

1.18.04 Those 3 dots on the chin. I remember Ash had them in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ too. Is it a religious symbol, or cultural or both? I’ve also noticed that a lot of words I’m used to hearing with the ‘z’ sound (ziruddh, zameen) are being pronounced with the ‘j’ sound (jiruddh, jameen) in ‘Mother India’. Is this a different regional dialect of Hindi?

1.19.06 I really hate it when they don’t subtitle the songs, especially when the songs are so significant. And didn’t they subtitle the last song where she was yearning for Shamu? I really need to know what she’s saying here.

1.21.06 Testimony to the woman’s ability to inspire and lead…

1.21.21 They’re big boys now… as an old friend would say, hmmm, how time flies!

1.23.28 Eeyah… wouldn’t it have been great if this could have happened? But life had other plans – plans of hardship and heartbreak…

1.24.28 Again, I so do love this kid! If it weren’t for the ‘be careful what you wish for’ thing, I’d wish for a kid as lively and full of oats as this one!

1.25.04 I’m so loving the music in this film

1.32.04 Wait a minute, wait a minute… so all the ‘ah ah, ooh ooh’ Birju was doing was a ploy to ‘toast’ this girl – to tell her she’s nicer than all the village belles? And here I was thinking he was coming to learn so that he could read Sukhi Lala’s account books… oh, okay he was getting to that part…

1.33.06 Sacrificing so much and yet still getting robbed…

1.38.01 I miss Nargis… she totally dominates this movie… it’s mean, but I really don’t want to see her son’s girlfriend dancing around. But the song is pretty hot.


1.41.31 Awww, this is very pretty. Sunset and shadows…

1.42.43 This is my first Sunil Dutt film – bahut scary aadmi hai. I see where Sanjay gets ‘it’.

1.44.47 Oh dear… super-tragic as it was, I think I’m liking pre-interval ‘Mother India’ better than post-interval ‘Mother India’. It’s getting a tad draggy now. Quit clowning and get to the point, Birju.

1.45.34 Oh that’s so sweet, she really loved her Shamu… can’t blame her, he was kinda sweet, except for that time he hit her…

1.47.31 Apparently Birju is still a kid – he never grew up. Oh my.

1.48.06 I just might be scarred for life after watching this… there’s so much here to make you lose hope in humanity.

1.51.06 Not only did Birju never grow up; he also seems to be off his rocker.

1.57.06 Birju and Radha are so cute together. I’d be sorta jealous if I were Ramu.

2.00.04 I love Nargis. This is such a good performance. This scene is so cute.

2.02.02 Okay okay, what kind of nonsense is this? I’m not watching ‘Mother India’ for bowls of swinging pudding and such messy frivolities; I came here to get ‘edjumacated’… LOL

2.05.04 Birju, why the heck would you go and tell your chief tormentor that your suit has been rejected?

2.11.50 Ramu is living his father’s life. Which means, tragedy is about to strike this family again.

2.13.59 Hell no, Birju. You did NOT just slap your bhabhi. Hell to the no. You should be hung out to dry for that.

2.14.20 I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that Birju slapped her or the fact that Ramu is shrugging it off. Nasty.

2.16.20 Awww, she’s still missing Shamu…

2.18.10 A Holi song – wasn’t expecting one in this film. Nice.

2.20.20 Aww... this kid, I’ve missed you! These flashback/what-might’ve-been scenes are tough to watch – so moving.

2.23.25 Birju is crazy for real. What has possessed him to ruin Holi? I know – it’s love for his mother.

2.24.58 The warning to not argue with men makes me smile – a grim smile. How often have I heard that ‘women shouldn’t argue with men’ spiel – especially in the village?

2.26.20 Okay now this is getting insane – this is really more than enough tragedy!

2.35.06 Okay now this all just too crazy for words…. WTH?!

2.40.28 Talk about a demanding role – this one just takes the cake! Is there anything Nargis hasn’t done in this role?

2.46.09 Oh Birju, what hast thou done to thyself?

2.49.17 Powerful metaphor here on the uses of knowledge, I think.

2.53.03 Ok now that’s just insane – Radha, how COULD you? (I mean, I know why you did it, but still, it's BIRJU??!!) And that horse is just plain nasty.

2.54.04 And here comes the fresh but tainted wave of modernity… washing out the old and bringing in the new? Was the old bad? Will the new be better? Questions with no answers…

This was hard to watch but somehow I know I’ll do it again, to see if I can learn more and dig deeper into the layers of the film, as I’m sure a lot of it has gone straight over my head… I liked the first half of the film better than the second, but the whole film is really good.

THE END

Ok... this, my first liveblog, might also be my last. Who knew liveblogging was such hard work? And with my suckiness at summarising stuff, it's probably not the best option for me. It was fun to try it, though.