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dangermousieI finished Tanith Lee's scifi novel The Silver Metal Lover. it's beautiful and beautifully written and I loved it and it's one of the most romantic things I'd ever read and it made me bawl. Go read it.
I am obsessed with Fanaa. Where can I find more Fanaa icons? Please? Especially if they are from that promo poster or that last song in the movie. Please?
I was also thinking about the movie and realized that Aamir actually doesn't do that many bona fide romantic movies, does he? Dil Chahta Hai romance between Shalini and Akash was what drew me in (the scene where he proposes to her, at her engagement party to another is the moment I decided to check out more Bollywood films), but the movie is, at its core, about friendship. Lagaan and Mangal Pandey, are in very different ways, more about fighting the British than anything else. And while I loved the realism of the relationship in Rang de Basanti, the movie's focus is so not on that. And I think of other movies of Aamir's that I liked: Ghulam or Sarfarosh, and once again, they have love stories, but it's not the primary focus. Of course, then there is Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak which is (if you can get past the shaky subtitles and very dated clothes) a lovely, heart-breaking romance. But he doesn't do many, so Fanaa is a bit of a rarity. But seeing all the sexing and the smouldering, I wish he'd do more now. Honest.
Being somewhat on an Aamir kick after Fanaa, I dug out a movie I'd owned for a while and never got around to watching, one of the Aamir-Juhi movies, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. I'd forgotten how adorable Juhi Chawla was, and what a fun easy chemistry they had. Someone bring Juhi back and not as a bhabi please. She is still gorgeous! I really do like HHRPK, though I am not too far in. If you can get past the hair and the clothes (something that needs to be said for every Bolly movie prior to 1995. If you think Aamir's hair is weird in the first half of Fanaa just wait till you see the dashing mullet he sports in this one), it's a sweet, understated, delightful flick. I actually like its lack of overblown dramatic and a certain (for Bollywood) realism. Aamir is the capable but harried caretaker for three orphans, the children of his sister. Juhi is a rich girl fed up with her father's obsession with artistic leeches. When her father wants to marry her off to one such nonenity, she runs away and through a combination of circumstances ends up hiding in Aamir's house where the kids take to her, so Aamir hires her as their nanny. Love blossoms, but of course various complications ensue. I do like how the children aren't spawn of satan, over the top (if you get past the first scene with the food and throwing it), that Aamir is loving and capable, but not too capable, nor completely incompetent. I love Juhi's trademark bubbliness. It's a lot of fun.
I keep thinking why Zooni? Why did Rehan fall for her? And for some reason, the line from "Music Man" comes to mind: it's just his foot got caught in the door. The interesting thing is, if he could only control himself, if he just did the tour the way he was supposed to, or even if he left her at the train station, none of the following would have happened. If the former was true, she'd have to reason to remember him so much, and even in the latter, much less basis for stuff. Then, if he stumbled on her cottage, he would have been able to complete his mission etc etc.
I am also thinking about the scene with the holy water, where he puts some on her eyes. Thought it was beautiful. Also, I flashbacked to Amar Akbar Anthony and was very glad she wasn't miraculously healed.
It's funny, because I can objectively see the flaws in this movie, but they don't bother me much at all. Partially because it's Bollywood and there is a certain comforting familiarity in this, but largely because I react to Bollywood on a purely emotional level. If a movie 'gets' me emotionally, and this one 'got' me tremendously, if it makes me feel and want to laugh or cry or get all romantic, if I find the chemistry good (and I thought Aamir and Kajol had amazing amazing amazing chemistry) I can overlook a lot of things (not that this movie had a lot of things I had to overlook, but it's a general rule: I watch Bollywood with a different part of my brain). Of course, I also didn't notice any lameness or lack thereof in the action scenes, not just because I watch very little in the way of action movies, but because I was largely comparing it to other Bollywood movies (these are the ones I have seen most 'action' in), and compared to those, it's quite excellent (seriously, watch the climactic action of "International Khiladi" and however little you are familiar with action staples, I dare you not to howl with laughter).
I actually liked the pace. I didn't even realize it could be viewed as slow until I was reading the responses of some BollyWhaters. I think it helped (for me) that I knew so little about the movie going in, just the very basics. But then I appear in the minority (at least in BollyWhat) because I preferred the second half to the first (and not just because of Aamir's hair in the first half. What was with that? Ugh). And I liked the child actor. He was adorable. Of course, it could be my estrogen kicking in :)
It would have been improbable for someone like Zooni who is unlikely to have handled a gun before to have the marksmanship to be able to shoot Rehan accurately in the legs w/o killing him anyway. And it's not as if she did the Annie Oakley thing and shot him straight to the heart. Wherever it was she hit him, was fatal but not immediately. Now I feel better about this point. Still, if you know crazy terrorists are about to show up, and these ones aren't nuts about you, I'd like the one guy around who is crazy about me, to be as able-bodied as possible, just in case. After all, if Tabu and Co. didn't get there in time, all that would have happened is a very dead Rehan and very pissed off terrorists landing, killing Zooni and taking the part anyway. But I doubt Zooni was very clearheaded at that point.
Tabu shooting so well was kinda over the top, but hey, a prolonged barrage from both sides would have really been inappropriate story-telling-wise at that point. And I guess it does fit in with the 'strong woman' theme that was running through the movie. I can't even express how happy I am that Bollywood seems to have more roles for grown-ups and not just college romances. I adore college romances, but the undeniable fact is that none of the top actors are in any way young enough any more to play college students.
Actually, the blindess cure was the second biggest suspension of disbelief for me, as if you went blind before a certain age, you'd never be able to see properly, as your brain wouldn't be able to process it. But hey, I can chalk it to 'Bollywood' medicine.
The biggest was 'we'll get there tomorrow.' I didn't mind too much, but honestly, what did Tabu expect her to do? They didn't even know Zooni had a gun, and even if she did, do they really think she is any match for a desperate strong man, trained in hand-to-hand combat. He could take the gun from her in two seconds flat. If he didn't love her so much (and how would they know about it), the trigger would be on his way to the terrorists and the whole thing would be toast. Oh well...
And thinking more about Zooni giving herself to rehan, I do think that part of her falling for Rehan is the "you love once" stuff, but I do think that the fact it would have always been an uphill battle for her to find a husband, let alone someone she'd fall for is I am sure part of it. She doesn't have as much to lose as (e.g.) her friend Fatty or someone 'normal' like that. True, her family could probably 'buy' her some husband (they appear to be very well off), but she didn't strike me as a woman who'd want to settle for it.
I did not have a problem with the fact that Zooni didn't just take the car and kid and run far away, as opposed merely to Colonel Uncle's house. But I had no problem with that. Not only is it still hard for her to believe that Rehan will do her harm (she even opens the door to him when he does bang on it), but more importantly, she is with a small child in the middle of the wilderness. So she takes the car and drives as far as she can. And then her gas runs out and she is stranded in the frozen wasteland to die horribly slowly with her son. I'd take my chances on Rehan in this event. And of course, she didn't know Colonel Uncle had been killed when she first came here.
A BollyWhat poster made a great point about the symbolism of Rehan leaving Zooni in traffic, disengaging from her, shutting her out, such an early alarm bell of a signal. But I think it's no less a foreshadowing that he completely shut down his call to save her, that when it came to a choice between her life and his mission, he picked her. I too want to go back and rewatch the movie knowing what I know now and see if there is any foreshadowing/symbolism in the couplets.
Someone on BollyWhat was also talking about the terrorist reveal and how knowledge of that plot angle affected the viewing and whether there were any indications earlier. I went in knowing very little. I knew there was some connection between Rehan and terrorism but I didn't even know whether he was a current terrorist, or whether it was something in his past that he gave up and was going to catch up with him etc etc. But I was made uneasy by little things: his phone calls and how he'd completely transform, his reaction to Zooni's clear feelings for him: it was so much more than a Roadside Romeo who doesn't want to get involved (his discussion about not believing in emotions seemed a lot more than just justifications of a self-involved Lothario), even the looks he'd give her at certain points, not to mention his face at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And his a bit bizarre relish about talking about gruesomeness in the ruins (he was probably thinking that all conquerors of Kashmir will eventually end up like that). So I really got the sense of something being severely off about him, even as I was in no doubt about his feelings and kept hoping I was wrong. (And here where the 'overaccessorized' comment in the NYT review, even as it cracks me up, strikes me as irrelevant. True, Rehan the guide wears more bling than I even own. But he is playing the part of such a person. Once he is his own man again in the airport, the bling is gone. That was the best look for him btw: short hair, glasses. And all dark clothing. Kinda Johhny Cash, according to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aliterati hee.)
Of course, as you see him kill those soldiers you know there is no exit, no happy ending for him. But I kept being torn: he was a destroyed human being, but then he'd be wonderful with Zooni and I'd wish very hard for his redemption and peace again. In that way, he really reminded me of Manisha's character in Dil Se. And I do think he kept hoping for a 'happy ending' until the death of Zooni's father. He is in such despair at that point precisely because that is when any hope for happiness for him is gone. (Actually, I think Zooni's decision to turn him in is based on that: if he either killed her father and said it was an accident OR he was a terrorist she might have tried to cope somewhat, but the combo pushed her over the edge).
The ending actually works for me. Someone on BollyWhat came up with a theoretical ending that terrorists arrive and Rehan dies trying to save Zooni and his son, but I wouldn't have liked it. There wouldn't have been the same emotional devastation, no strong role for Zooni, it would have made Rehan redeemed in his ideals (I liked that he still wanted to complete his mission, even if his reasons now were so much more complex. It's character consistent), and most importantly to me, it would have really crowded the personal, drowned it out in all these extra people. To me, the whole movie was working towards that scene with Aamir and Kajol in the snow, no one around, just them (interestingly, Kajol seems to implement 'hate the sin and not the sinner' school of thought. She stops him from carrying out his mission, but she loves him no matter what).
Oh, and I agree with a poster on BollyWhat. I appreciated having no justification for Aamir arriving half dead at Kajol's door. It just felt so inevitably right in the context of what is, in its very genre, an epic melodrama, that any explanation would have just fallen flat. it happened because it had to. No more no less.
I did think the epilogue was a bit anticlimactic: I know they needed it (though Zooni is entirely too well adjusted), but it would have been so powerful to end the movie with that scene of his dying in her arms in the snow.
I am obsessed with Fanaa. Where can I find more Fanaa icons? Please? Especially if they are from that promo poster or that last song in the movie. Please?
I was also thinking about the movie and realized that Aamir actually doesn't do that many bona fide romantic movies, does he? Dil Chahta Hai romance between Shalini and Akash was what drew me in (the scene where he proposes to her, at her engagement party to another is the moment I decided to check out more Bollywood films), but the movie is, at its core, about friendship. Lagaan and Mangal Pandey, are in very different ways, more about fighting the British than anything else. And while I loved the realism of the relationship in Rang de Basanti, the movie's focus is so not on that. And I think of other movies of Aamir's that I liked: Ghulam or Sarfarosh, and once again, they have love stories, but it's not the primary focus. Of course, then there is Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak which is (if you can get past the shaky subtitles and very dated clothes) a lovely, heart-breaking romance. But he doesn't do many, so Fanaa is a bit of a rarity. But seeing all the sexing and the smouldering, I wish he'd do more now. Honest.
Being somewhat on an Aamir kick after Fanaa, I dug out a movie I'd owned for a while and never got around to watching, one of the Aamir-Juhi movies, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke. I'd forgotten how adorable Juhi Chawla was, and what a fun easy chemistry they had. Someone bring Juhi back and not as a bhabi please. She is still gorgeous! I really do like HHRPK, though I am not too far in. If you can get past the hair and the clothes (something that needs to be said for every Bolly movie prior to 1995. If you think Aamir's hair is weird in the first half of Fanaa just wait till you see the dashing mullet he sports in this one), it's a sweet, understated, delightful flick. I actually like its lack of overblown dramatic and a certain (for Bollywood) realism. Aamir is the capable but harried caretaker for three orphans, the children of his sister. Juhi is a rich girl fed up with her father's obsession with artistic leeches. When her father wants to marry her off to one such nonenity, she runs away and through a combination of circumstances ends up hiding in Aamir's house where the kids take to her, so Aamir hires her as their nanny. Love blossoms, but of course various complications ensue. I do like how the children aren't spawn of satan, over the top (if you get past the first scene with the food and throwing it), that Aamir is loving and capable, but not too capable, nor completely incompetent. I love Juhi's trademark bubbliness. It's a lot of fun.
I keep thinking why Zooni? Why did Rehan fall for her? And for some reason, the line from "Music Man" comes to mind: it's just his foot got caught in the door. The interesting thing is, if he could only control himself, if he just did the tour the way he was supposed to, or even if he left her at the train station, none of the following would have happened. If the former was true, she'd have to reason to remember him so much, and even in the latter, much less basis for stuff. Then, if he stumbled on her cottage, he would have been able to complete his mission etc etc.
I am also thinking about the scene with the holy water, where he puts some on her eyes. Thought it was beautiful. Also, I flashbacked to Amar Akbar Anthony and was very glad she wasn't miraculously healed.
It's funny, because I can objectively see the flaws in this movie, but they don't bother me much at all. Partially because it's Bollywood and there is a certain comforting familiarity in this, but largely because I react to Bollywood on a purely emotional level. If a movie 'gets' me emotionally, and this one 'got' me tremendously, if it makes me feel and want to laugh or cry or get all romantic, if I find the chemistry good (and I thought Aamir and Kajol had amazing amazing amazing chemistry) I can overlook a lot of things (not that this movie had a lot of things I had to overlook, but it's a general rule: I watch Bollywood with a different part of my brain). Of course, I also didn't notice any lameness or lack thereof in the action scenes, not just because I watch very little in the way of action movies, but because I was largely comparing it to other Bollywood movies (these are the ones I have seen most 'action' in), and compared to those, it's quite excellent (seriously, watch the climactic action of "International Khiladi" and however little you are familiar with action staples, I dare you not to howl with laughter).
I actually liked the pace. I didn't even realize it could be viewed as slow until I was reading the responses of some BollyWhaters. I think it helped (for me) that I knew so little about the movie going in, just the very basics. But then I appear in the minority (at least in BollyWhat) because I preferred the second half to the first (and not just because of Aamir's hair in the first half. What was with that? Ugh). And I liked the child actor. He was adorable. Of course, it could be my estrogen kicking in :)
It would have been improbable for someone like Zooni who is unlikely to have handled a gun before to have the marksmanship to be able to shoot Rehan accurately in the legs w/o killing him anyway. And it's not as if she did the Annie Oakley thing and shot him straight to the heart. Wherever it was she hit him, was fatal but not immediately. Now I feel better about this point. Still, if you know crazy terrorists are about to show up, and these ones aren't nuts about you, I'd like the one guy around who is crazy about me, to be as able-bodied as possible, just in case. After all, if Tabu and Co. didn't get there in time, all that would have happened is a very dead Rehan and very pissed off terrorists landing, killing Zooni and taking the part anyway. But I doubt Zooni was very clearheaded at that point.
Tabu shooting so well was kinda over the top, but hey, a prolonged barrage from both sides would have really been inappropriate story-telling-wise at that point. And I guess it does fit in with the 'strong woman' theme that was running through the movie. I can't even express how happy I am that Bollywood seems to have more roles for grown-ups and not just college romances. I adore college romances, but the undeniable fact is that none of the top actors are in any way young enough any more to play college students.
Actually, the blindess cure was the second biggest suspension of disbelief for me, as if you went blind before a certain age, you'd never be able to see properly, as your brain wouldn't be able to process it. But hey, I can chalk it to 'Bollywood' medicine.
The biggest was 'we'll get there tomorrow.' I didn't mind too much, but honestly, what did Tabu expect her to do? They didn't even know Zooni had a gun, and even if she did, do they really think she is any match for a desperate strong man, trained in hand-to-hand combat. He could take the gun from her in two seconds flat. If he didn't love her so much (and how would they know about it), the trigger would be on his way to the terrorists and the whole thing would be toast. Oh well...
And thinking more about Zooni giving herself to rehan, I do think that part of her falling for Rehan is the "you love once" stuff, but I do think that the fact it would have always been an uphill battle for her to find a husband, let alone someone she'd fall for is I am sure part of it. She doesn't have as much to lose as (e.g.) her friend Fatty or someone 'normal' like that. True, her family could probably 'buy' her some husband (they appear to be very well off), but she didn't strike me as a woman who'd want to settle for it.
I did not have a problem with the fact that Zooni didn't just take the car and kid and run far away, as opposed merely to Colonel Uncle's house. But I had no problem with that. Not only is it still hard for her to believe that Rehan will do her harm (she even opens the door to him when he does bang on it), but more importantly, she is with a small child in the middle of the wilderness. So she takes the car and drives as far as she can. And then her gas runs out and she is stranded in the frozen wasteland to die horribly slowly with her son. I'd take my chances on Rehan in this event. And of course, she didn't know Colonel Uncle had been killed when she first came here.
A BollyWhat poster made a great point about the symbolism of Rehan leaving Zooni in traffic, disengaging from her, shutting her out, such an early alarm bell of a signal. But I think it's no less a foreshadowing that he completely shut down his call to save her, that when it came to a choice between her life and his mission, he picked her. I too want to go back and rewatch the movie knowing what I know now and see if there is any foreshadowing/symbolism in the couplets.
Someone on BollyWhat was also talking about the terrorist reveal and how knowledge of that plot angle affected the viewing and whether there were any indications earlier. I went in knowing very little. I knew there was some connection between Rehan and terrorism but I didn't even know whether he was a current terrorist, or whether it was something in his past that he gave up and was going to catch up with him etc etc. But I was made uneasy by little things: his phone calls and how he'd completely transform, his reaction to Zooni's clear feelings for him: it was so much more than a Roadside Romeo who doesn't want to get involved (his discussion about not believing in emotions seemed a lot more than just justifications of a self-involved Lothario), even the looks he'd give her at certain points, not to mention his face at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And his a bit bizarre relish about talking about gruesomeness in the ruins (he was probably thinking that all conquerors of Kashmir will eventually end up like that). So I really got the sense of something being severely off about him, even as I was in no doubt about his feelings and kept hoping I was wrong. (And here where the 'overaccessorized' comment in the NYT review, even as it cracks me up, strikes me as irrelevant. True, Rehan the guide wears more bling than I even own. But he is playing the part of such a person. Once he is his own man again in the airport, the bling is gone. That was the best look for him btw: short hair, glasses. And all dark clothing. Kinda Johhny Cash, according to
aliterati hee.) Of course, as you see him kill those soldiers you know there is no exit, no happy ending for him. But I kept being torn: he was a destroyed human being, but then he'd be wonderful with Zooni and I'd wish very hard for his redemption and peace again. In that way, he really reminded me of Manisha's character in Dil Se. And I do think he kept hoping for a 'happy ending' until the death of Zooni's father. He is in such despair at that point precisely because that is when any hope for happiness for him is gone. (Actually, I think Zooni's decision to turn him in is based on that: if he either killed her father and said it was an accident OR he was a terrorist she might have tried to cope somewhat, but the combo pushed her over the edge).
The ending actually works for me. Someone on BollyWhat came up with a theoretical ending that terrorists arrive and Rehan dies trying to save Zooni and his son, but I wouldn't have liked it. There wouldn't have been the same emotional devastation, no strong role for Zooni, it would have made Rehan redeemed in his ideals (I liked that he still wanted to complete his mission, even if his reasons now were so much more complex. It's character consistent), and most importantly to me, it would have really crowded the personal, drowned it out in all these extra people. To me, the whole movie was working towards that scene with Aamir and Kajol in the snow, no one around, just them (interestingly, Kajol seems to implement 'hate the sin and not the sinner' school of thought. She stops him from carrying out his mission, but she loves him no matter what).
Oh, and I agree with a poster on BollyWhat. I appreciated having no justification for Aamir arriving half dead at Kajol's door. It just felt so inevitably right in the context of what is, in its very genre, an epic melodrama, that any explanation would have just fallen flat. it happened because it had to. No more no less.
I did think the epilogue was a bit anticlimactic: I know they needed it (though Zooni is entirely too well adjusted), but it would have been so powerful to end the movie with that scene of his dying in her arms in the snow.
