A Russian-Indian fairy tale
May. 8th, 2005 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI know I owe a bunch of replies to quite a few guys, and I'll get back to it tomorrow. I promise. But for now I want to do a movie gush.
x-posted at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bollywood
Today I watched something that I haven't seen in a very very long time. A fairy tale done right. It is a modern-day fairy tale, but the motifs are clearly there. The big bad bears and wolves (granted, in this case they are a wannabe rapist and a bunch of terrorists), the Prince Charming (an Ambassador's son, Aditya played by Salman Khan) on a white horse (a nice sports car whose mark I am ignorant of), the Fairy Godmother (a Secret Service agent played by Mithun), and of course, a Princess (a 17 year old student, Lucky Negi played by the gorgeous Sneha Ullal). It's a Bollywood movie called Lucky. Why do I call it a fairy tale? Well, not only the plot reminds me of one: 17 year old Lucky sets out for an exam but after having a day from hell is rescued by the son of an Indian ambassador. They end up having quite a journey that involves poisoned water, trudging through snow, danger, fantasy songs, and of course True Love. And the film makers know they are making a fairy tale. Not only do they reference it in their interviews, there are always clever nods throughout the movie. Not only do they make their setting St. Petersburg, which through their lens looks like a fairy tale city, but there are references to a wannabe rapist being the big bad wolf, the "prince charming" (otherwise known as Adi) gives our heroine, Lucky, a skein of wool to find him with (whether the minotaur or Hansel and Gretel are referenced, I am not sure), and the "Godmother" refers to Lucky as a Princess. Also, the Prince is the one who wakes the Princess from her enchanted sleep (and vice versa). And of course, the best reference is when Adi is trying to keep Lucky from falling asleep because he is worried she has hypothermia so he sticks a pea under a huge layer of mattresses she is lying on and she leans over and says "I can't sleep. Something is poking me."
The movie was so light and romantic and fun and charming. It was lovely. I didn't even have a problem about a 17 year old heroine (a very Princess-like age and a hero that was around 30ish). Long and very spoilery rambling follows behind the cut.
Let me gush. Gush, gush gush gush GUSH. OK, better now.
I loved it. First off, I have a new favorite Salman character: Aditya. I'd take him home in a heart-beat. He is funny and charming and light-hearted without being a doofus (unlike in CMB) and is intense but not messed up (unlike in Tere Naam) and is deeply decent without being a bore about it (unlike in Baghban). Basically, Lucky is a lucky girl.
Salman's Russian accent actually impressed me. It was clearly accented, but not very heavily. I could understand it with no problem at all, unlike the Russian of the e.g. doctor who I could barely understand, and who kept calling his daughter Doch (a very formal version of "Daughter") which might be a Hindi thing, but I can't imagine a Russian dad doing it). When Salman was begging the funeral procession for a doctor (though I don't think the funeral people are a good candidate for help), and later asking the doctor to help or she will die...awwwww. *major melt time*
I also cracked up when he tried to get Sneha on the train and the soldier went: "you are soldier? Not a very Russian one." LOL When he was begging to get them on the train or they will die...awwww, why do I find Salman Khan begging desperately in accented Russian irresistibly sexy? Perhaps that reveals too much about me, so I better stop :D
OK, Mithun's character annoyed me a bit but not too much (it would have been more realistic not to have him there but it's a fairy tale after all).
If anyone wants translations of any of the bits, let me know. The Russian was somewhere between excellent and highly accented, depending on the character. I am also wondering why the embassy is in St. Petersburg and not Moscow. Oh well.
I loved the songs. My favorite was the one where Lucky is unconscious and Salman is singing to himself. All that glorious angst... But all the rest were great too. All the song picturizations were excellent. Loved the beginning of the last song (when they roll down the bank, and he is hugging her, protecting her even during the fall), and the bit where she is in a bridal outfit and he is in a tux. Down, hormones :D
Now some points that were addressed in other reviews I've read all over the place.
Re: Lucky and her passivity/immaturity/real feelings. I think the feelings were quite real. She is 17, but in Russia at least a few years back, that was well within the age a girl might get married. Early end of scale, but still not at all as weird as it would be in the U.S. Plus, why would any woman not fall in love for real with a handsome, dashing man who is doing his utmost to take care of her and clearly loves her back. Prime husband material here. They also have a greater basis for happiness and love than a lot of BW couples who fall in love after a first song. They actually get to know each other.
Passivity/maturity. I have no problem here. She tries to beat off the wannabe rapist. She has that fun Lucky Lips song. She is clearly intelligent (she is a very good student who enjoys school), and she even manages to tease Adi back a little bit. Yes, she is not being Xena. But she is 17. She has been sheltered all her life, she is having a day from hell (almost raped, shot at, stuck in a middle of a war, poisoned, and that?s only the beginning), she is very young, and she is with an attractive older man when she has probably not been used to any men other than those of her family. Plus, her social interactions outside the family circle are likely to be small as her family moves all the time. That doesn't mean she is a doormat. She breaks out of the train, she is the one who tells Salman she loves him and wants to marry him, she hits the rapist, etc etc. I remember when I was 17. I was painfully shy. Then I went to college and because the overly bold lippy person I am right now. But that was less than 10 years ago, and I think in Lucky's situation, I would have been very much like she was. Yes, a heroine would drive the car, save Salman with a quip etc. But she is not a heroine. She is a rather ordinary 17 year old. I think she struck a little too close to the bone here, actually :D
Also, I liked Sneha's performance. Would she make Madhuri tremble in her shoes? Maybe not, but she was charming, lovely and very natural and I really liked her chracter. She is also stunning. In some angles she looks like Ash, but not for most of the movie.
Re: Salman's character and his real feelings. He is madly in love with her. I think Lucky has a lifetime of being cossetted and teased and spoiled rotten to look forward to. Look at the way he is talking to himself before she is poisoned "I like her but she is a bit too young for me" in a rather wryly wistful tone. And when he is begging for help, and even gives up his car but won't touch her necklace. Or when he is begging the doctor to let her stay saying he will go down on his knees (once again, down hormones :D). Yes, he is a decent guy, but there is more to it than this. Look at his face when the doctor tells him that he must love her very much. He is so very torn. And of course the song that follows. Or when he tries to protect her from the terrorist guy. It's not a man being protective of a child he is helping, it's a man fighting for a woman he loves. Or the duet in the snow. He went from thinking of her as a brat to a princess (I love the repeated fairy tale motif as others have noted).
Yet he can never make the first move. Not just because of the age difference, but because of their position. She is an unworldly innocent who is completely in his keeping and care. It would be taking gross advantage of the situation and her innocence and he would not do that. And right before they met, some guy assaulted her. He really couldn't make the first move of any sort. Yet if you look at his face whenever he looks at her post-poisoning (I think that's what jolted him), you can see his whole face is softening and he is kinda melting. As a Russian saying goes "she could make ropes out of him" i.e. bend and twist him any way she wants. And if you notice, when she goes back and tells him she loves him, she has blood symbolically in her part (i.e. the parting of her hair, which is covered with red dye when a bride gets married as a blood symbol). And from then on, he is a lot more open. He hugs her back, and he's pretty much avoided light casual touch before that, but e.g. when they are at the boarding place at the plane, he is always keeping her in his physical vicinity and is touching her waist etc. Her confession freed him up to act...
And no, once again, he is not getting the bad end of the bargain. She is beautiful, smart and sweet. Not every woman has to be a bulldozer. More assertiveness would come when she is not in the middle of a civil war and a bit older. She grew up quite a bit even through the movie.
OK, my Top 10 scenes follow (in no order):
1 Sun Zara: the angst and the melody and Salman realizing his feelings (but only being able to express them because she is unconscious as someone pointed out) is gorgeous. And her trusting: "are we home?" When he touches her hand with his face, or when he prays to the icons or when he lies on the floor. Love, love, love.
2 The whole Lucky-is-poisoned sequence. From when he runs to her, to his brokenly begging the funeral procession for help (what a lovely nightmarish image, with a silent prosession not even listening) to offering all his money and his car to the man to take him to the doctor, and his frustration and bitterness that the man is so greedy but knowing he has no choice. I think what really impressed me then, for a first time, is how decent a man Adi is.
3 When the doc is kicking them out, and Salman doesn't care for himself but is begging the doc to let Lucky stay and is willing to do anything and plead in any way possible. And once again, the desperation and the quietness. And Lucky overhearing. No wonder she fell for him. And then when he goes into her room and she is dressed and he teases her very gently and looks at her lovingly. *Dangermousie is a puddle of goo*
4 When Salman tries to put Lucky on the train. Wow. And then collapses.
5 When Lucky breaks out of the train, hands and face bloody and runs back to him, and he is lying on the tracks (it seems the only thing keeping him alive through the movie is having to take care of her, LOL), and he asks her "why did you come back?" even though he clearly knows why because he needs to hear her answer and she says she loves him (go Lucky) and he says he knows sounding so relieved and they finally hug. Awwwww...
6 At the end when she says she will go to his house. And when Mithun calls Lucky his princess, thus confirming the fairy tale motif. And the way that ever since her confession Adi pretty much is always in her physical space (I can't explain it, but if you've seen it, you know what I mean. It's a level of physical comfort).
7 The papier-mache dolls in the museum. So original and unsual and fun.
8 Any time Salman speaks Russian. Seriously, it should have been rated R for an effect it had on this female viewer. Also, my my what a lovely low growly sexy voice he has when he is not trying to act funny. Down, hormones, again! :D
9 Lucky carping back at Adi that he is always teasing her and doesn't know how to talk to women. And the little princess and the pea reference.
10 When the terrorist leader smacks Sneha and you see the rage in Salman's eyes. Lucky was very brave during that whole sequence. She is quiet but not a wimp.
OK, this is VERY long so I better stop.
x-posted at
bollywoodToday I watched something that I haven't seen in a very very long time. A fairy tale done right. It is a modern-day fairy tale, but the motifs are clearly there. The big bad bears and wolves (granted, in this case they are a wannabe rapist and a bunch of terrorists), the Prince Charming (an Ambassador's son, Aditya played by Salman Khan) on a white horse (a nice sports car whose mark I am ignorant of), the Fairy Godmother (a Secret Service agent played by Mithun), and of course, a Princess (a 17 year old student, Lucky Negi played by the gorgeous Sneha Ullal). It's a Bollywood movie called Lucky. Why do I call it a fairy tale? Well, not only the plot reminds me of one: 17 year old Lucky sets out for an exam but after having a day from hell is rescued by the son of an Indian ambassador. They end up having quite a journey that involves poisoned water, trudging through snow, danger, fantasy songs, and of course True Love. And the film makers know they are making a fairy tale. Not only do they reference it in their interviews, there are always clever nods throughout the movie. Not only do they make their setting St. Petersburg, which through their lens looks like a fairy tale city, but there are references to a wannabe rapist being the big bad wolf, the "prince charming" (otherwise known as Adi) gives our heroine, Lucky, a skein of wool to find him with (whether the minotaur or Hansel and Gretel are referenced, I am not sure), and the "Godmother" refers to Lucky as a Princess. Also, the Prince is the one who wakes the Princess from her enchanted sleep (and vice versa). And of course, the best reference is when Adi is trying to keep Lucky from falling asleep because he is worried she has hypothermia so he sticks a pea under a huge layer of mattresses she is lying on and she leans over and says "I can't sleep. Something is poking me."
The movie was so light and romantic and fun and charming. It was lovely. I didn't even have a problem about a 17 year old heroine (a very Princess-like age and a hero that was around 30ish). Long and very spoilery rambling follows behind the cut.
Let me gush. Gush, gush gush gush GUSH. OK, better now.
I loved it. First off, I have a new favorite Salman character: Aditya. I'd take him home in a heart-beat. He is funny and charming and light-hearted without being a doofus (unlike in CMB) and is intense but not messed up (unlike in Tere Naam) and is deeply decent without being a bore about it (unlike in Baghban). Basically, Lucky is a lucky girl.
Salman's Russian accent actually impressed me. It was clearly accented, but not very heavily. I could understand it with no problem at all, unlike the Russian of the e.g. doctor who I could barely understand, and who kept calling his daughter Doch (a very formal version of "Daughter") which might be a Hindi thing, but I can't imagine a Russian dad doing it). When Salman was begging the funeral procession for a doctor (though I don't think the funeral people are a good candidate for help), and later asking the doctor to help or she will die...awwwww. *major melt time*
I also cracked up when he tried to get Sneha on the train and the soldier went: "you are soldier? Not a very Russian one." LOL When he was begging to get them on the train or they will die...awwww, why do I find Salman Khan begging desperately in accented Russian irresistibly sexy? Perhaps that reveals too much about me, so I better stop :D
OK, Mithun's character annoyed me a bit but not too much (it would have been more realistic not to have him there but it's a fairy tale after all).
If anyone wants translations of any of the bits, let me know. The Russian was somewhere between excellent and highly accented, depending on the character. I am also wondering why the embassy is in St. Petersburg and not Moscow. Oh well.
I loved the songs. My favorite was the one where Lucky is unconscious and Salman is singing to himself. All that glorious angst... But all the rest were great too. All the song picturizations were excellent. Loved the beginning of the last song (when they roll down the bank, and he is hugging her, protecting her even during the fall), and the bit where she is in a bridal outfit and he is in a tux. Down, hormones :D
Now some points that were addressed in other reviews I've read all over the place.
Re: Lucky and her passivity/immaturity/real feelings. I think the feelings were quite real. She is 17, but in Russia at least a few years back, that was well within the age a girl might get married. Early end of scale, but still not at all as weird as it would be in the U.S. Plus, why would any woman not fall in love for real with a handsome, dashing man who is doing his utmost to take care of her and clearly loves her back. Prime husband material here. They also have a greater basis for happiness and love than a lot of BW couples who fall in love after a first song. They actually get to know each other.
Passivity/maturity. I have no problem here. She tries to beat off the wannabe rapist. She has that fun Lucky Lips song. She is clearly intelligent (she is a very good student who enjoys school), and she even manages to tease Adi back a little bit. Yes, she is not being Xena. But she is 17. She has been sheltered all her life, she is having a day from hell (almost raped, shot at, stuck in a middle of a war, poisoned, and that?s only the beginning), she is very young, and she is with an attractive older man when she has probably not been used to any men other than those of her family. Plus, her social interactions outside the family circle are likely to be small as her family moves all the time. That doesn't mean she is a doormat. She breaks out of the train, she is the one who tells Salman she loves him and wants to marry him, she hits the rapist, etc etc. I remember when I was 17. I was painfully shy. Then I went to college and because the overly bold lippy person I am right now. But that was less than 10 years ago, and I think in Lucky's situation, I would have been very much like she was. Yes, a heroine would drive the car, save Salman with a quip etc. But she is not a heroine. She is a rather ordinary 17 year old. I think she struck a little too close to the bone here, actually :D
Also, I liked Sneha's performance. Would she make Madhuri tremble in her shoes? Maybe not, but she was charming, lovely and very natural and I really liked her chracter. She is also stunning. In some angles she looks like Ash, but not for most of the movie.
Re: Salman's character and his real feelings. He is madly in love with her. I think Lucky has a lifetime of being cossetted and teased and spoiled rotten to look forward to. Look at the way he is talking to himself before she is poisoned "I like her but she is a bit too young for me" in a rather wryly wistful tone. And when he is begging for help, and even gives up his car but won't touch her necklace. Or when he is begging the doctor to let her stay saying he will go down on his knees (once again, down hormones :D). Yes, he is a decent guy, but there is more to it than this. Look at his face when the doctor tells him that he must love her very much. He is so very torn. And of course the song that follows. Or when he tries to protect her from the terrorist guy. It's not a man being protective of a child he is helping, it's a man fighting for a woman he loves. Or the duet in the snow. He went from thinking of her as a brat to a princess (I love the repeated fairy tale motif as others have noted).
Yet he can never make the first move. Not just because of the age difference, but because of their position. She is an unworldly innocent who is completely in his keeping and care. It would be taking gross advantage of the situation and her innocence and he would not do that. And right before they met, some guy assaulted her. He really couldn't make the first move of any sort. Yet if you look at his face whenever he looks at her post-poisoning (I think that's what jolted him), you can see his whole face is softening and he is kinda melting. As a Russian saying goes "she could make ropes out of him" i.e. bend and twist him any way she wants. And if you notice, when she goes back and tells him she loves him, she has blood symbolically in her part (i.e. the parting of her hair, which is covered with red dye when a bride gets married as a blood symbol). And from then on, he is a lot more open. He hugs her back, and he's pretty much avoided light casual touch before that, but e.g. when they are at the boarding place at the plane, he is always keeping her in his physical vicinity and is touching her waist etc. Her confession freed him up to act...
And no, once again, he is not getting the bad end of the bargain. She is beautiful, smart and sweet. Not every woman has to be a bulldozer. More assertiveness would come when she is not in the middle of a civil war and a bit older. She grew up quite a bit even through the movie.
OK, my Top 10 scenes follow (in no order):
1 Sun Zara: the angst and the melody and Salman realizing his feelings (but only being able to express them because she is unconscious as someone pointed out) is gorgeous. And her trusting: "are we home?" When he touches her hand with his face, or when he prays to the icons or when he lies on the floor. Love, love, love.
2 The whole Lucky-is-poisoned sequence. From when he runs to her, to his brokenly begging the funeral procession for help (what a lovely nightmarish image, with a silent prosession not even listening) to offering all his money and his car to the man to take him to the doctor, and his frustration and bitterness that the man is so greedy but knowing he has no choice. I think what really impressed me then, for a first time, is how decent a man Adi is.
3 When the doc is kicking them out, and Salman doesn't care for himself but is begging the doc to let Lucky stay and is willing to do anything and plead in any way possible. And once again, the desperation and the quietness. And Lucky overhearing. No wonder she fell for him. And then when he goes into her room and she is dressed and he teases her very gently and looks at her lovingly. *Dangermousie is a puddle of goo*
4 When Salman tries to put Lucky on the train. Wow. And then collapses.
5 When Lucky breaks out of the train, hands and face bloody and runs back to him, and he is lying on the tracks (it seems the only thing keeping him alive through the movie is having to take care of her, LOL), and he asks her "why did you come back?" even though he clearly knows why because he needs to hear her answer and she says she loves him (go Lucky) and he says he knows sounding so relieved and they finally hug. Awwwww...
6 At the end when she says she will go to his house. And when Mithun calls Lucky his princess, thus confirming the fairy tale motif. And the way that ever since her confession Adi pretty much is always in her physical space (I can't explain it, but if you've seen it, you know what I mean. It's a level of physical comfort).
7 The papier-mache dolls in the museum. So original and unsual and fun.
8 Any time Salman speaks Russian. Seriously, it should have been rated R for an effect it had on this female viewer. Also, my my what a lovely low growly sexy voice he has when he is not trying to act funny. Down, hormones, again! :D
9 Lucky carping back at Adi that he is always teasing her and doesn't know how to talk to women. And the little princess and the pea reference.
10 When the terrorist leader smacks Sneha and you see the rage in Salman's eyes. Lucky was very brave during that whole sequence. She is quiet but not a wimp.
OK, this is VERY long so I better stop.
