Musings of the Obsessive Kind

HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I have watched a variety of things on the trip.

First off, BOLLYWOOD. On the flight to Singapore (on Emirates) which had TONS of Bollywood/Tamil/Bengali etc movies (I even watched a Philippine one, 'I have fallen for you'), I have ended up watching the oldie-but-goodie Jab Jab Phool Khile, a 1965 movie starring Shashi Kapoor (YUM) and Nanda. The movie is basically a romance/travelogue/comedy with a bit of a socialist message about equality thrown in. It has a gorgeous soundtrack, Kashmiri scenery and Shashi looking gorgeous. In addition, this is the first movie in which I've seen Nanda and she is adorable: charming and fun and looking like a real girl (i.e. hideously fat by modern standards).

The story: Nanda is a daughter of a rich family who hires a houseboat owned by the eccentric Shashi Kapoor in Kashmir. After a few adorable, hilarious misunderstandings, the two fall in love, but will class differences and Nanda's scheming family keep them apart?

This movie is basically why I love Bollywood. It just feels happy to be watching this, you know?

Check out this bit of sweetness and sixties haircuts:

( Vids here )

I have also started the delightful (at least first 15 minutes in) Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal starring John Abraham (mmmmmmm...yum), Arshad Warsi (who is, as always, awesome), and Bipasha Basu (for the ooomph factor). DDDG is about a last-rate football club, Southhall United. While its players and its Captain (Arshad Warsi) are dedicated, the Club is not only not treated seriously and had not won a match in decades, but it also faces disbanding by the city council. Only way out? For the club to win the championship. It might just be possible when an ace player (John Abraham) joins, if he and the Team's Captain don't tear each other apart first...Anyway, it looked awesome but we had to deplane. Luckily, I bought a VCD of it in Little India (in Singapore) and shall continue shortly. (I also bought a formal wear outfit at Sheetal's but that's another story...so pretty!)

Basically, I am back on Bollywood kick.

In drama news, I am through seven episodes of Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003, starring Fujiki Naohito and Ueto Aya.



I love it, even as it makes me want to wash all the grime off, that I get by watching it. It's a very dark story, but I find myself loving it. KKK2003 is about a man who is dying (he recently gave up his elite job as an engineer to teach, part as a reaction to this) and who lets a female student believe she is the one who has the terminal illness so he would have someone to share his loneliness with. And somehow a relationship, based on a huge lie, but with genuine dependence and even love grows out of it. Yeah. It's messed-up and twisted, sure (and the story makes no bones that it is), but it's an amazing drama. It is beautifully filmed, written and acted. I end up involved with all the characters, who are all damaged in some way, from secondary individuals, to Hina and Ikumi, the protagonists. Ueto Aya manages to infuse the heroine with such fragile strength (yes, I know this makes no sense but that is how it is), such freshness and purity, that you cannot help but love her, and not find her tedious or cloying. And Fujiki Naohito? The more I see him, the more I like him. He takes a character who should, by all rights, evoke only disgust and loathing, and makes you also feel deeply for him, makes you understand how a person is driven so far off the edge as to do something like this (and this is before you see his attempted suicide scars, just by the look in his eyes). Your dislike is mixed with pity, and sympathy, and ridiculous, pervasive despire for this impossible couple to work out somehow. You recoil and awwww at the same time. Hina is his salvation, paradoxically. I don't mean she makes him keep on living, but she makes his living worthwhile, not just for himself, but generally: she wakes up his heart and makes him care, care desperately, for something/someone outside his misery. Giant paradox, but there it is...

Here is a MV:



I know I owe everybody replies!

HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I have watched a variety of things on the trip.

First off, BOLLYWOOD. On the flight to Singapore (on Emirates) which had TONS of Bollywood/Tamil/Bengali etc movies (I even watched a Philippine one, 'I have fallen for you'), I have ended up watching the oldie-but-goodie Jab Jab Phool Khile, a 1965 movie starring Shashi Kapoor (YUM) and Nanda. The movie is basically a romance/travelogue/comedy with a bit of a socialist message about equality thrown in. It has a gorgeous soundtrack, Kashmiri scenery and Shashi looking gorgeous. In addition, this is the first movie in which I've seen Nanda and she is adorable: charming and fun and looking like a real girl (i.e. hideously fat by modern standards).

The story: Nanda is a daughter of a rich family who hires a houseboat owned by the eccentric Shashi Kapoor in Kashmir. After a few adorable, hilarious misunderstandings, the two fall in love, but will class differences and Nanda's scheming family keep them apart?

This movie is basically why I love Bollywood. It just feels happy to be watching this, you know?

Check out this bit of sweetness and sixties haircuts:

( Vids here )

I have also started the delightful (at least first 15 minutes in) Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal starring John Abraham (mmmmmmm...yum), Arshad Warsi (who is, as always, awesome), and Bipasha Basu (for the ooomph factor). DDDG is about a last-rate football club, Southhall United. While its players and its Captain (Arshad Warsi) are dedicated, the Club is not only not treated seriously and had not won a match in decades, but it also faces disbanding by the city council. Only way out? For the club to win the championship. It might just be possible when an ace player (John Abraham) joins, if he and the Team's Captain don't tear each other apart first...Anyway, it looked awesome but we had to deplane. Luckily, I bought a VCD of it in Little India (in Singapore) and shall continue shortly. (I also bought a formal wear outfit at Sheetal's but that's another story...so pretty!)

Basically, I am back on Bollywood kick.

In drama news, I am through seven episodes of Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003, starring Fujiki Naohito and Ueto Aya.



I love it, even as it makes me want to wash all the grime off, that I get by watching it. It's a very dark story, but I find myself loving it. KKK2003 is about a man who is dying (he recently gave up his elite job as an engineer to teach, part as a reaction to this) and who lets a female student believe she is the one who has the terminal illness so he would have someone to share his loneliness with. And somehow a relationship, based on a huge lie, but with genuine dependence and even love grows out of it. Yeah. It's messed-up and twisted, sure (and the story makes no bones that it is), but it's an amazing drama. It is beautifully filmed, written and acted. I end up involved with all the characters, who are all damaged in some way, from secondary individuals, to Hina and Ikumi, the protagonists. Ueto Aya manages to infuse the heroine with such fragile strength (yes, I know this makes no sense but that is how it is), such freshness and purity, that you cannot help but love her, and not find her tedious or cloying. And Fujiki Naohito? The more I see him, the more I like him. He takes a character who should, by all rights, evoke only disgust and loathing, and makes you also feel deeply for him, makes you understand how a person is driven so far off the edge as to do something like this (and this is before you see his attempted suicide scars, just by the look in his eyes). Your dislike is mixed with pity, and sympathy, and ridiculous, pervasive despire for this impossible couple to work out somehow. You recoil and awwww at the same time. Hina is his salvation, paradoxically. I don't mean she makes him keep on living, but she makes his living worthwhile, not just for himself, but generally: she wakes up his heart and makes him care, care desperately, for something/someone outside his misery. Giant paradox, but there it is...

Here is a MV:



I know I owe everybody replies!

For me, jdramas are the most 'polar' dramas of the bunch. Most of dramas that ended up not working out for me have been jdramas (probably in part because they are so much shorter than tw and kdramas, so I am less picky which ones to try). And I have realized that barring something extraordinary, any jdrama made before 1999 or so won't work for me (Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake being the only exception, and that is basically a kdrama masquerading as a jdrama). I am shallow, and cinematography and production values on those are not what I like. I finally realized it after remembering that both Long Vacation and Love Generation, two huge huge hits of the 1990s, did not work for me at all. I also do not click with most women jdramas try to label as 'quirkily spunky.' No thank you. They come across as pushy bitches to me with a side of demented cheerfulness. I can't care for a character who I'd hate to deal with in RL, unless they are deeply flawedly interesting (e.g. in Love Generation, in the beginning eps, I was putting myself in the shoes of someone having to deal with the heroine, and I think I would have strangled her).

BUT.

BUT.

When jdramas do work for me, they work brilliantly: with nuanced portrayals, complicated roles, some awesome acting, and gorgeous filming. Some of my all-time favorite dramas as jdramas.

So far, my next choice in jdramas is threefold. They are all pretty dark though, so help me pick.

1. Byakuyakou with Ayase Haruka and and Yamada Takayuki. A dark story about the OTP who escape parental abuse through murder but are trapped by it forever. Pros are that the storyline is something I'd love, I adore AH and YT is gorgeous. Cons: please spoil me for the ending. I can't see how it will end well, but at least let me know I won't die weeping.

Here is a MV. The last minute of it is spoilery for the end (I think).



2. Long Love Letter: a particular high school class is catapulted into an apocalyptic future. Pros: People on my flist loved it, has Yamapi etc etc. Cons: once again, is it too depressing to bear?



3. Kou Kou Kyoushi 2003: Posted about wanting to watch it some time ago. A teacher with a terminal illness and a student hook up. Pros: looks beautiful and stars Fujiki Naohito. Cons: supposed to be VERY dark.

In honor of New Year (but actually just because I feel like it), I present some random youtube vids that caught my fancy.

( Awesome shippy vid for Coffee Prince's secondary couple )

( A longer Hong Gil Dong aka Korean Robin Hood trailer and other HGD stuff )

( Kdrama Exhibition of Fireworks MV )

( Fujiki Naohito singing )

( I have just discovered Hamada Shogo )

( MV for Kou Kou Kyoushi, a jdrama with Fujiki Naohito )

( A bunch of songs from Jab We Met, best Bolly movie this year )

( Doctor Who Season 4 trailer )

In honor of New Year (but actually just because I feel like it), I present some random youtube vids that caught my fancy.

( Awesome shippy vid for Coffee Prince's secondary couple )

( A longer Hong Gil Dong aka Korean Robin Hood trailer and other HGD stuff )

( Kdrama Exhibition of Fireworks MV )

( Fujiki Naohito singing )

( I have just discovered Hamada Shogo )

( MV for Kou Kou Kyoushi, a jdrama with Fujiki Naohito )

( A bunch of songs from Jab We Met, best Bolly movie this year )

( Doctor Who Season 4 trailer )