Thursday, February 20, 2014

Trail(er)blazing

So I finally managed to catch up on all my trailer-watching of upcoming Hindi movies, and thought I'd share some that look promising. (No, Gunday is most definitely not part of it. I was put off by the trailer and the overacting that such good actors like Ranveer and Arjun had to do to make the movie more 'gundaydaar' I suppose. And I honestly cannot stand Priyanka Chopra anymore.)

Highway - I fell head over heels in love with Imtiaz Ali after watching Socha Na Tha, which is one of my favourite movies. Then came along Jab We Met and I bowed down to this genius again who actually made Kareena Kapoor likeable to humans. Though Jab We Met was a more 'put-together' movie, there is still something endearing in the raw, unpolished Socha Na Tha, and I still love it to bits. Then came along Love Aaj Kal and I shook my head in disbelief at what a bad movie it was. And then came along Rockstar and I nearly fell off my chair, wondering what had happened to my genius. Then came along Cocktail, which he wrote but did not direct. Another terrible movie. I have to admit I had lost all faith in him till I saw the trailer of Highway. One, the unusual pairing of Randeep Hooda and Alia Bhatt caught my eye, just as Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia in Socha Na Tha had. Two, I really do like both of them as actors. I have watched the trailer countless times and they really do seem to have gotten under the skin of their respective characters. The music is quite catchy too, and I have been playing it for Xena a lot. Now Viv also knows the songs, but the other day he did ask me a very strange question. "What does she mean 'Tu kuja, mann kuja?'", he asked. "Is the song about scratching?" "Yes," I said, "The song is about scratching. She's asking him to scratch himself and his brain to get an idea." OMG I think he believed me. He just stood there and looked at me, trying to process the nonsense I'd just spouted. Anyway, if you're really interested, 'Tu kuja, mann kuja' is Persian for 'Tu kahan, main kahan' and the song is rather interesting because the lyrics quickly jump from Persian to Hindi to Sanskrit. Another song to look out for is Sooha saaha, where Alia sings a bit. (Did you catch her on Koffee with Karan, where Karan asked her to sing a song and she sang 'Om jai jagdish harey'?? That was hilarious, but she sang really well.) She sounds a bit nasal in Sooha saha, but it's a nice song overall. I really really hope that this movie is at the very least like Socha Na Tha or Jab We Met, if not better. Watch the trailer here.

Queen - I have never been a huge fan of Kangana, but lately she's got me hooked. Did you catch this interview of hers with Anupama Chopra? Truly one of the best Bollywood interviews ever. It's blunt, it's funny, it's warm and it's the truth. And then I saw the trailer of Queen. It seems like an out and out Kangana movie, with Rajkummar Rao thrown in because no other hero would probably want a role in a movie titled 'Queen' with Kangana stealing everyone's thunder. What's with this Rajkummar Rao fella? I always thought he was a sensible guy and quite liked him in everything he's acted in, but the day I read that he's gone and changed his name from Rajkumar Yadav to Rajkummar Rao, I stopped liking him. (Yes, I judge that hard sometimes.) Did he think he'd be mistaken for one of Laloo's 737374648 kids, or did he just want to offend all Biharis (and pseudo-Biharis like me)? He says 'Yadav' is the same as 'Rao' in Haryana. Say what?! And the extra m in his first name just makes me want to scream M for murder! Anyway, enough about him. Watch the Queen trailer here.

Total Siyapaa - Ali Zafar is cute. Ali Zafar can act. Ali Zafar can sing. Yami Gautam is cute. Yami Gautam can act. And I for one am still not tired of Kirron Kher playing the punjabi mummyji for the 838273656732892th time. I'm looking forward to this realistic version of Veer-Zara, and hope it doesn't dash my hopes. I have loved Ali Zafar from the time I saw Tere Bin Laden (if you've not watched it, OMG.) and though I found Mere Brother Ki Dulhan very blah, London, Paris, New York was interesting. Watch the Total Siyapaa trailer here.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects - I'm not so sure about this one, but I sure did enjoy Pyaar ke side effects and the sequel surely has better actors. (Okay, that's three times I've used 'sure' in a sentence.) Recently, I made Viv watch it on YouTube (there's a very good print available here; we actually played it on AppleTV.) and we just laughed and laughed and laughed thorough the movie. In spite of Mallika Sherawat. My favourite dialogue from the movie was the bartender's "Excuse me, sir, ma'am has fallen down." I really really hope that the sequel is at least as funny as the prequel, if not funnier. The trailer is very relatable, especially for new parents who really don't know why their baby wouldn't stop crying, or whether a tauliya really has an ulta side. But I loved Vidya Balan's "Main chahti hoon ki tum chaho ki tum na jao." which is what "Tum jana chahte ho toh jao." really means. Really. Watch the trailer here.

And here are those that didn't make the cut - Gulaab Gang (despite the explosive combination of Juhi and Madhuri together, it didn't interest me; I'm sure it will be hit though... or at least critically acclaimed), Dhishkiyaoon (OMG yes, there's a movie by this name and it's Harman Baweja's comeback movie. SSSK is already jumping and down after her last encounter with him.), Youngistan (Jackky Bhagnani returns... as Rahul Gandhi! Uhhh... Though Neil Bhoopalam killed it as a young PM-to-be in 24, Jackky, like his name, just seems silly.), and Main tera hero (I like Varun Dhawan, but this movie just looks plain bad. And to top it, they took Nargis Fakhri Ugh.)



7 comments:

Varsha said...

I am totally there for "Highway" and "Shaadi ke side effects".
Only thing that may be irks me a little bit, is that, many Bollywood movies are being made with English titles. Not that I judge a movie by its name, I may not want the trend to continue.
Kannada movies are being made with Hindi titles... which is even worse.
And I applaud Vidya Balan's dialogue "Mein chahti hoon ki tum chaho...", baapre, I totally succumb to that many times in my conversation with my husband. And my husband has the same expression as Farhaan has.
I am interested in Gulaab Gang, much because of Juhi and Madhuri's "takkar". But that might not pull me to a theater.
I may not want to watch the other movies listed here, in the theater, I would wait for them to come on TV.

the.orchestra.of.life said...

I always wondered ... how does Priyanka Chopra's PR machine work. I have yet to meet someone in person who likes her still she is always top of the charts :|

Geomon said...

damn it! and i used to think we had free will when they said 'go if you wanna go'
:((((

Arun said...

Since I increasingly lack the ability to sit through 180 minutes of movie, and I don't really follow Bollywood closely, this is quite useful, thanks, in getting to movies I might really enjoy. Thanks!

R said...

we have very similar tastes..atleast in movie trailers ;)

R said...

we have very similar tastes..atleast in movie trailers ;)

Ruminating Optimist said...

Aha. Nice little list. We watched "Shaadi ke ..." and needless to say just enjoyed almost every scene in the first half. I could so relate to Farhan's expressions on so many occasions. And yes, "Main chahti hoon ..." was the gem :)