I venture into odd reading waters and Telugu movie industry

[dangermousie]

Does anyone else have books in every corner of their house? I basically have books everywhere. I have proper, bona fide, bulging bookshelves in the living room, dining room, and the office/library (which is where Mr. Mousie and I hang out the most actually), but I also have books in the kitchen (mainly cookbooks), a few books in the bedroom (though I literally only sleep there, you never know when you want something to read).

I also keep books in the bathroom. They are my 'bathtub' reading, random fluffy things I don't mind getting wet (thus my antique edition of Keats stays out :D). I just bought two books to add to that bathtub pile: two books in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series. They are romantic fantasy, or fantastical romance. Depends on your definition I guess. They are all an interconnected series, but since I have no idea of the order, I just got two random ones. Besides, they are hardly convoluted on plot.

Ms. Kenyon seems to realize that one modern woman+one immortal ghoul hunter with severe trauma+hot sex=winning combo, so that's basically the books (some sort of immortal dark hunter society and the women who fall for them). She's clearly onto good thing :P They seem to be as brainless as popcorn but just as addictive. Consider it shoujo manga in print form. Of course, since the other thing I am reading for fun is about Hittite legal system, I am getting mental whiplash :D

In other news, tonight I get to watch my very first Telugu movie, Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (just try saying it fast).

Telugu movie industry is based in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It is (according to wikipedia) the largest producer of movies in India, yes, even more prolific than the much more famous Hindi-speaking Bollywood. Of course, vast majority of these movies are horrible and never seen outside AP (despite being somwhat more prolific than Bollywood, Tollywood is nowhere near as good), but a small portion are nice and get a wider distribution. NN is one of them.



Supposedly a very popular and cute romantic comedy, NN, starts when a NRI [Non-Resident Indian] youngster from London (Siddharth) comes to India with his parents to attend a family wedding. Here he sees a comely young girl Siri (Trisha) and falls for her instantly. She also has a thing going for him, but doesn't come out openly. So where is the hitch? Her brother Sivaramakrishnan (Srihari) who has brought up her in life, doesn't like rich people. From Siddharth's side, his mother (Geeta) is opposed to the idea of her son going for a poor girl. But Siddharth is adamant and steadfast. So Sivaramakrishnan throws the gauntlet, and gives him a piece of land and asks him to come up with more produce than he could.

Produce, people! Seriously. How adorable is that. Proving you are the better man through better farming skills.

Awesome.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Every corner of the apartment and on shelves that are meant for other things, as well as a storage unit? Close enough?

I've read several of Sherilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor's books, but not since I got almost completely sidetracked from romances a couple years ago(have most of them that've come out since then, I think) I prefer her Kinlet MacGregor pseudonym, but I DID read the first Dark Hunter book, Fantasy Lover, though it was a prequel that included a couple of the DH characters, as opposed to actually being a part of the series. IIRC, the DH characters seemed interesting and the book itself was decent enough, if a bit purple prose-y.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oguri Shun in the lead role!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

Yeah, the books like fun if nothing special, which is what I sometimes want :)

Our books are triple stacked and we still have not enough room :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Aah...if only I weren't so tired so I could be bouncing off the walls, too...

That's about how I remember them...actually, you'd probably like Fantasy Lover...about a greek adonis-like guy cursed into a statue to be slave to a string of women for eternity, and, of course, the women only want one thing from him...until the heroine gets the statue and is all "uhm...wait...can't we talk before the naked in bed part? just a bit?"

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL. I checked a bit of that book out on amazon and it lookec cute. Should get it :)

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Hey, that guy was in Rang De Basanti, wasn't he? :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, he was.

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

my books are all over too and even if its weird to have book in the bathroom i have quite a few and they're mostly fluff too..

and i have never heard of tollywood before and through the pics it seems kinda cute

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am glad I am not the only one :)

Yeah, it looks cute. I'll see how it is :)

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Curiously, did you also order Bommarillu? I think NVNN is better than Bommarillu on the whole, though Bommarillu was better-written. NVNN has some VERY cracky humor some people weren't fans of. However, it's one of the absolute best Indian films I've seen and just such a sweet, amazing movie.

Tollywood, well, I wouldn't say it's not as good as Bollywood, but it has been going through a semi-rough patch these last couple of years. The thing about the South-Indian industries is that they favor stars they've loved since the 1970's or something.. It's like, what if Bollywood only had Amitabh, Dharmendra and Rishi Kapoor - in their current versions - as male leads? I love those guys but seriously, it's a great thing Bollywood was open to new talent during the 1990's and 2000's. Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood (Malayam films) - slightly less so.

For example, my fave Tamil actor Vikram is 45 and he's considered "young" as a star.. It's like, WTF.

Anyhoo, thanks to Siddharth favoring the Tollywood industry above Bollywood offers and some new fresh film makers, there's been a small reneissance going on in Tollywood finally and a couple of new fresh faces among the old dudes.

[carviangli.livejournal.com]

Oh! Can I point something out...its a common misconception....
Tamil people generally do not classify stars like Vickram "young"....someone like Bharath who is only 22 I believe and arya 25-ish and my fave new comer Surya's younger brother is like 22. I agree that Kollywood does not have many younger faces which suck because I'd rather see someone slightly closer to my age than cringe at someone like Vijaykanth who is like 52 and Rajini who is like 55...gross I know...my dad is younger than that! Aaargh!My frinds and I- and most tamil movie watches generally dislike this- me included!

Anway, I haven't seen the telegu version (probably should, but I 'd want subs because eventhough its slightly similar to tamil it sounds weird 0.o) I have watched the tamil version Something Something Unnakem Ennakem (Lit. There is Something between us) which is just as sweet (I am assuming) and totally cute! I really loved it and I believe in the tollywood version they didn't kiss- but in the kollywood they do! I have never been so surprised. I mean the amount of tv where people just start ripping clothes off each other but just seeing ( a like 3 second) kiss is like WTF?! to me.

Anway, trisha is in the kollywood version but no Siddharth! Boohoo ( feel deprived of him in Tamil movies after Bollywood and Tollywood stole him!- last I saw of him was Boys in 2003!) Although they do have the very cute and erratic Jeyam Ravi!
So if you have a chance you should see the Kollywood version...it's totally cute- maybe even more than the original

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

There is a kiss?

OMG OMG :)

I am curious now.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I can't see myself getting into regional cinema much (the guys don't appeal to me as much and production values aren't as high) but an occasional foray is interesting.

Netflix didn't have bomarillu but they do have an excellent southie selection in general.

[gangactor.livejournal.com]

hi, nice 2 know that u watched NVNV [what u referred to as NV]
if u liked this movie u can also watch the film Bommarillu in
which the same hero Siddharth has acted.
anyway would love to know more about u
keep shining - gp
http://gangactor.googlepages.com/home

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I do plan to watch Bommarillu as it sounds really cute.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I must see this movie in which love is declared with a cabbage and there is apparently a dance number on a highway with seemingly delighted farmworkers.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's like socialist paradise. Or something :) It's on netflix.