Okayy so the collab of the year 2020 had been announced. After several suspicious « house visits/contract meetings» we finally got the annoucement of insta. Alia Bhatt is doing Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next, titled « GANGUBAI, Mafia Queen ».

Alia is excited coz 3 posts in a row on her page... I should be excited too but I actually am legitimately scared for this.

Warning ⚠️ lots of unpopular opinions below. All are personal so be free to think and comment differently!

SLB makes boring movies. Padmavaat and Bajirao storylines are one pagers that he lost in between visual effects and dilited into 3 hours+ movies. Not good.

Alia’s acting. Never thought I would ever think that way but here I am. She was so bad in Kalank. And Kalank was Dharma’s mediocre attempt to be SLB. So if she was bad in the « gandhi copy » (@dietsabya fan here) I am worried for her to be cast in a SLB movie.

Then I see this pic and I hope to be wrong about this. Maybe SLB is in a mood for a new « Black » or another « Guzaarish ». Maybe this time he got a great story. Maybe Alia will be directed better and will overcome her Kalank perf?

Little Things season 2 trailer is out !!

Even though I did not watch season 1 I am looking forward to it since Netflix does a really great job with romcoms. “Love per square feet” was all things Vicky ;) ...

After “Lust Stories” and “Sacred Games”, Netflix has launched promotions for its third project with Radhika Apte. Which, as someone who loves Radhika, I should logically love. 

But tbh I am worried. 

See I like Radhika Apte, a lot. She has a unique but unmistakable beauty which is a refreshing change in the industry. She dances like a dream (watch Lai Bhaari if you don’t believe it) and acts really well. Furthermore, she makes interesting career choices who have paid off so far. 

But then Netflix happened. 

In Lust stories she played an offbeat teacher who has an affair with one of her students and goes a bit crazy following the deed. I felt she did okay but when put against powerful performances by Manisha Koirala, Kiara Advani and - my favorite- Bhumi Pednekar, her performance felt a bit superficial. 

The real bummer though was her performance in Sacred Games. It was bad and there is no excuse for it. Sure she had the weakest and most annoying and useless character on the show. I guess it did not help but her portrayal was awful. I cannot pinpoint it but, as a career woman myself who has worked and has friends working in male-dominated environments, her interpretation is dramatically off the mark. The main conflict of her character was how trapped that woman was in a men’s world: that suffocation, the insidious power dynamics are nowhere to be found in her portrayal. It is a double bummer as has ventured into that territory with Padman but the depth she displayed then was nowhere to be found in Sacred Games.

Back to Ghoul though, it looks like an interesting project although scary as hell so I might skip it tbh. But I guess with this one we’ll get to know whether Netflix was ever a good idea for Radhika Apte. 

--

"A Gentleman" is a Raj&DK movie starring Siddharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez.  It was hailed as a big blockbuster yet it miserably flopped at the box-office. I was super intrigued to watch it in order to maybe understand what made it a miss for audiences. 

On paper, the movie had everything; bankable cast, great production value, great soundtrack ("Bandook Meri Laila" is still playing on my phone), and a lot of stunts. Yet, having watched it I now absolutely understand why it flopped: underneath the polish “A Gentleman" is an incredibly dull movie. 

Indeed the movie cruelly lacks dynamism in its storytelling. There are loads of stunts, sure, but there is no "action". There is no sense of huge danger or emergency. As a spectator I was comfortably dozing off in my seat while I should have been totally on edge of it, thinking "what next?". 

Unfortunately, the movie never quite succeeds in building up the action and I found the narrative style is trying too hard to be "American". Whether it is for the action, the romance or the comedy moments it all felt like a bad mashup of American action comedies where Raj&DK’s distinctive style is nowhere to be found.   Adding up to that feeling are the poor dialogues we are served which, sound like a literal translation of generic Hollywood dialogues. The poor dialogues really harm the movie plot and the characters: all of them end up looking like some sort of unappealing caricature seen in a Hollywood movie. And as gorgeous and generally likable are Sid and Jackie onscreen, they are not enough to make us forget how bad the movie is. 

You might have understood by now I did not like "A Gentleman" at all, mostly because it tried too hard to be something it was not: an American movie rather than an Indian one. and I really hope we’ll get to watch Sid and Jackie in a movie that will do justice to their organic chemistry.

--

Dilbar has taken social media and dance contests by storm! I have to admit I was quite annoyed to see yet another Bollywood song remake release, which might explain why I was against the song in the first place. But I now find myself playing Dilbar practically every morning when I’m taking my shower and getting ready for work. The song has really grown on me and I love the Middle Eastern vibe to it - very reminiscent of Dil Cheez Tujhe, Mashallah and Afghan Jalebi. However the two elements that really do it for me are: 1) the fact that the song is fully sung by a female voice and 2) Nora Fatehi’s authentic belly dancing moves. Gone are the days where Katrina would shake her hips and people would revel over her “belly dancing skills). Nora Fatehi absolutely nails it.

One thing led to another and I ended up stalking her on all various kinds of social media platforms (separate post to follow).

Will definitely keep a lookout for her next pieces of work. In the meantime, I hope she lets that fringe grow...

Mrs Firangi

After getting all nerdy yesterday, for the third episode of this sacred week, I am introducing you my faves in the series. 

1. Sartaj 

This is such a filthy world we are plunged in and Sartaj is the only pure and untainted character of the story - at least in the beginning.  Saif Ali Khan's clever interpretation makes me suffer for Sartaj every time the world he lives in breaks him a bit more

2. The Psycho Firang aka "Ronaldo"

From his first apparition in Episode 1 "Ronaldo" creeped the hell out of me. In case you wonder why "Ronaldo" it's because (1) he does not have a designated name so far and it is frustrating me to no end (2) therefore I took the liberty to name him myself and he makes me think of Christiano Ronaldo: they share the same amount of botoxed stillness in their faces. I like Ronaldo a lot because not only is he one of our resident bad guys but he is the "cool kid" of the bad guys: looking smart, mastering fancy and inventive killing techniques, not talking or swearing much...  It is a smart move on his part considering he has some serious competition in Parulkar, Bunty or the politician dude (forgot about his name) for "Who's the worst" title

3. Kanta Bai

Because that foul mouth of hers speak the truth and a wise one at that. I swear if we had more of hers advising presidents or mafia lords the world might not be so bad

4. Bada Badriya

He is hot and I am a vain woman, that's all I have to say.

5. Cuckoo

I would probably not love Cuckoo as much if played by a different actor. Kubbra Sait is a revelation and she took the character up to an iconic level.

-- 

For the second installment of "The Sacred Week" series, I wanted to look at Netflix's "Sacred Games" from a more industry-focused perspective. Do not get me wrong here, I am by no means an industry professional or pretending to be one. Furthermore, I am still watching the show so some of my interpretations might be off-track (apologies if that is the case). 

Disclaimer set aside the show definitely gave me thoughts because of how unique / groundbreaking of a product it is in its larger - read industry - context. I say groundbreaking because of its format. Sure, web series have gained tremendous momentum as of late. Youtube has been the privileged platform so far for such a format and commercial successes like "Roommates", "The Trip", or Bang Baaja Baarat"  have deepened interest for the format. Bigger brands like YRF (through it subsidiary Y films) or Mahesh Bhatt have embraced the opportunity. Web series have been interesting because they cater to a different type of audience than the TV series. They seem to be geared towards a young, urban, digitalized audience who is familiar with global content. In that respect, "The Sacred Games" is not a complete novelty. However, its distribution pattern is different because of the platform it is on. Youtube is a free community while Netflix is a paid streaming service/production house. I am not familiar with Netflix's revenue model but paid streaming makes it strikingly different from Youtube content. For example, most Youtube web series seems to rely on 2 revenue streams : (i) revenue generated by traffic (youtube ads) or (b) revenue generated by product placement. Often the whole project is sponsored by a brand who benefits in return from generous and clever advertising. "The Sacred Games" breaks away from the "Youtube" revenue model that largely had been most of web series were about. The show being such a success definitely will be instrumental in convincing of the commercial interest to be exploring the web series format on dedicated platforms. 

I especially feel that independent/indie and regional production houses will benefit the most from that success. Indeed what is really interesting about "The Sacred Games" is how non-mainstream it was marketed. Of course, it remains an A-List project but from the production (Kashyap's Phantom) to the directors (Motwane and Kashyap) to the cast, none of the big names are associated with the classic mass-orient entertainment Bollywood cashes on. Even Saif Ali Khan, who has consistently taken up - and shined - in "indie" content. Again good web series have all been utterly entertaining: be it urban romcoms, erotic thrillers, or straight-up comedies they all have exhibited willingness to entertain their viewer above all goal (revenue model oblige).

 "The Sacred Games" is different: it is clearly not geared towards "mass entertainment" as usually understood in Hindi cinema. It has a much more elitist view of "entertainment". A case in point is, for example, the coherence of languages spoken by characters (Marathi characters speak Marathi when with family/fellow Marathis) and the equal importance of these dialogues in the viewer's understanding of what is going on. This happens rarely in classic mass entertainment because it simply excludes a lot of viewers from understanding what is going on. Therefore it is easier to either keep in one language with "regionalization" of vocabulary when needed or small dialogues that are not paramount or subtitles. The choice not to subtitle these parts in Hindi (at least not in my region) anchor the creative decision to favor storytelling more than the easy comprehension of the story by the largest audience. If my subtitling example is off-track, the tone, the nude scenes all indicate to the larger desire to appeal to an international audience (as in exposed to international cinema). Please bear in mind I am not saying one approach is right or the other wrong: both are valid and only indicate how a content is marketed. 

To end it here, I like the series and like what it brings to the table both in terms of content or format. But what truly makes me excited is how Netflix or Amazon Prime can open up borders and be amazing opportunities for regional industries to find an interesting format as well as a commercially viable platform to showcase their talent and their diversity at the global level.

--