A Bollywood related ramble
Jun. 26th, 2005 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieThis will likely be uninteresting to non-BW people on the flist, sorry.
I just realized that as much as I like Shahrukh Khan, the actor, I like Shahrukh Khan, the producer, better. (Just so the few non BW people who decide to read this won't be confused, Shahrukh Khan or SRK (as I am a lazy typist) is the most popular actor of Bollywood (Indian) cinema, and my favorite actor, period).
He picks such interesting movies to produce (he acts in them as well). I adore the light froth of something like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but I love the fact that all his produced movies have a message, something extra. Even Main Hoon Na, that delightfully slapsticky confection, has a serious message about India-Pakistan reconciliation. And then there are Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, about media corruption (my least fave of the bunch, but I love its take on the media-politician corruption); Chalte Chalte, about learning to live with one another in real-life, every day marriage, disagreements and all; my very favorite of the bunch, Asoka, about redemption and pacifism; and the latest, Paheli, which is the most pro-women movie I've seen come out of mainstream Bollywood in...ever (even Lajja had the wife take the husband back. Not here). And the cool thing is, since it's Shahrukh Khan, Bollywood's No. 1 darling, and the movies have no expense spared, gorgeous music, good actors and sets, all the people will see it who would have never gone to watch a preachy art movie with no actors they really know.
I just realized that as much as I like Shahrukh Khan, the actor, I like Shahrukh Khan, the producer, better. (Just so the few non BW people who decide to read this won't be confused, Shahrukh Khan or SRK (as I am a lazy typist) is the most popular actor of Bollywood (Indian) cinema, and my favorite actor, period).
He picks such interesting movies to produce (he acts in them as well). I adore the light froth of something like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but I love the fact that all his produced movies have a message, something extra. Even Main Hoon Na, that delightfully slapsticky confection, has a serious message about India-Pakistan reconciliation. And then there are Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, about media corruption (my least fave of the bunch, but I love its take on the media-politician corruption); Chalte Chalte, about learning to live with one another in real-life, every day marriage, disagreements and all; my very favorite of the bunch, Asoka, about redemption and pacifism; and the latest, Paheli, which is the most pro-women movie I've seen come out of mainstream Bollywood in...ever (even Lajja had the wife take the husband back. Not here). And the cool thing is, since it's Shahrukh Khan, Bollywood's No. 1 darling, and the movies have no expense spared, gorgeous music, good actors and sets, all the people will see it who would have never gone to watch a preachy art movie with no actors they really know.
