Majo No Jouken. Bollywood. Kittens. And Kissing pic. Yes, this is utterly random.
Today is clearly a spam day.
A few points about Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and trailers in front of it.
Kabul Express looks excellent. It actually looks like the kind of movie that could play in art houses around here. I do like the fact that John Abraham (whatever one thinks of his acting talent. I am on the YAY side myself) picks interesting projects. Munnabhai looks good but I am sick of the trailer as I've seen it a gazillion times.
Dhoom 2 looks very slick. I wasn't interested in that one at all (and grinning Uday with his hideous muscles almost put me off my food again), but it does look slick and fun: Abhishek looks all cool as usual (I like Abhi's mix of brainless, not too hot on acting action flicks and art-housy, challenging stuff like Yuva or like Guru is promising to be. He is sort of like Saif Ali Khan in his mix of pure masala and thoughtful). But the reason I now want to see it? HRITHIK. Oh boy, does he look hot or what? And when he and Aishwarya are on screen together, I think things spontaneously combust from too much hotness in one room.
Saved the best for last Don. It looks complicated and slick and dark and with a look to die for and SRK being sex on legs. Can't wait.
I think KANK is, like a lot of Karan's work, an elaboration, a discussion of his previous movies. Kal Ho Na No was in a way a dialogue with KKHH: here the story is told through the lense of this story's Tina (in this case SRK's Aman) and the 'Tina came between true destined love of Rahul and Anjali' is in a way turned on its head. After all, there would have been no Rahul/Anjali OTP if Tina didn't die and Rahul would have been happy with her. In a way, KHNH shows the appeal of Rahul/Tina.
Well, KANK in a way is a debate with the message of not KKHH as well: KKHH's famous tag line is 'Pyaar dosti hai' ('love is friendship') and KANK shows that while friendship is crucial in a relationship (Dev and Maya click as friends and companions for months before SRK takes off his wet shirt in that hotel room *ROWR*), you need more. Love might be friendship. but friendship isn't necessarily always love. Rishi and Maya are daily proof.
But also, I think KANK is a dialogue with KHNH. In that movie, Saif's character is best friends with Preity. And he wants to marry her despite her not being in love with him (despite her being in love with another man!) He tells her he knows of that but he believes he has enough love for both of them and that in time she will love him back. In KHNH he turns out to be right, of course. But that is a filmi convention (delightful that it is) and of course one gets a frisson of possibilities, romantic tension yet to bloom between Preity and Saif throughout before SRK enters on the scene. But what KANK does is show the other side of the coin, a more likely side actually. What happens if you marry someone you are good friends with, hoping love will come and it doesn't. Rishi and Maya are much better friends than a couple. Leaving aside their sexual issues (Heeee. Cure for frigidity? Wet naked SRK in bed with you, it seems), their personalities are just not compatible. Rishi is a darling but he likes to party, to be loud, to be hyper. Maya is internal and just...no, they aren't suited.
I also think that there is another reason Maya's inability to have kids actually works out in the story. Dev is not really good with kids (though the scene with his son where he 'orders' him to play the violin is beyond adorable). And so this will work out for them.
I have no words for how much I love the proposal scene at the end. It's low-key, it's realistic, and it's wholly relatable and believable. These two people, so ill at ease in their skins, are comfortable when together. After all, in a small but vital difference, Rhea runs ahead, not waiting for Dev (near the beginning of the movie) while whenever they walk, Maya measures her pace to his. She finds his jokes funny (though they are much less bitter with her there). They just work.
It's interesting because there are a lot of Bolly movies I go crazy over when I see them first but then when I think about them or time passes, I cool down considerably. But KANK is just the opposite. It's making me think, and the more I think about it the more I like it. I also really really need to see it again, this time without any preconcieved notions of what it is or isn't (e.g. I knew Dev was supposed to be no sweetheart but it was still a shock). I think I will love it even more.
And a final note: seeing Abhi and Big B dance together always makes my day.
Yeah, I also finished Majo No Jouken. And it almost finished me. It's a miracle I am still alive.
My God. I am SO SO SO SO RELIEVED about the ending. Yay!
My favorite scenes were when Hikaru and Michi met in the art gallery and he told her he will stop loving her too, and find someone else and love her and make her happy. And walked away and Michi started bleeding. It's almost as if she couldn't exist without him.
And then Hikaru's mom freeing him to go be with Michi. And I love when she wakes up and sees him there.
But my favorite has to be when she runs away because she doesn't want the baby aborted (and while I understand her emotionally, I want to smack her: your other choice is to die!!! And no guarantee the baby will survive either) and he finds her and they are both crying and he holds her and then he takes her to the library where they first made love and they just sit on the floow, cuddling, and he takes her ring and switches it from the right hand to the left and does it with his own, and that's the quickest and saddest and wonderfulest marriage ceremony quickie.
And he is crying and she tells him to do her a favor and stop calling her Sensei and he hugs her tightly and calls her 'Michi' and she is smiling and then we get the angstoriffic moment when she goes limp and he is just screaming her name.
And then he almost does the 'turn off her machine' (because the docs say she won't wake up) and 'kill self' thing but is stopped by Michi's letter.
Why the hell am I recounting all of the plot, anyway?
But yes, I love the ending where she wakes up and touches his face and he opens his eyes and sees it and then they both go back to sleep. EEEEE!
Also, Takizawa Hideaki dressed all in black? Is UNREAL.
And for everyone who doesn't care for either Bollywood or doramas, I bring KITTENS. Because who doesn't like KITTENS?
And what the hell, since this entry is all over the place, I'll end with a Nathan/Haley kiss from One Tree Hill, as they are the one thing that make me watch that deliciously cheesy show:
A few points about Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and trailers in front of it.
Kabul Express looks excellent. It actually looks like the kind of movie that could play in art houses around here. I do like the fact that John Abraham (whatever one thinks of his acting talent. I am on the YAY side myself) picks interesting projects. Munnabhai looks good but I am sick of the trailer as I've seen it a gazillion times.
Dhoom 2 looks very slick. I wasn't interested in that one at all (and grinning Uday with his hideous muscles almost put me off my food again), but it does look slick and fun: Abhishek looks all cool as usual (I like Abhi's mix of brainless, not too hot on acting action flicks and art-housy, challenging stuff like Yuva or like Guru is promising to be. He is sort of like Saif Ali Khan in his mix of pure masala and thoughtful). But the reason I now want to see it? HRITHIK. Oh boy, does he look hot or what? And when he and Aishwarya are on screen together, I think things spontaneously combust from too much hotness in one room.
Saved the best for last Don. It looks complicated and slick and dark and with a look to die for and SRK being sex on legs. Can't wait.
I think KANK is, like a lot of Karan's work, an elaboration, a discussion of his previous movies. Kal Ho Na No was in a way a dialogue with KKHH: here the story is told through the lense of this story's Tina (in this case SRK's Aman) and the 'Tina came between true destined love of Rahul and Anjali' is in a way turned on its head. After all, there would have been no Rahul/Anjali OTP if Tina didn't die and Rahul would have been happy with her. In a way, KHNH shows the appeal of Rahul/Tina.
Well, KANK in a way is a debate with the message of not KKHH as well: KKHH's famous tag line is 'Pyaar dosti hai' ('love is friendship') and KANK shows that while friendship is crucial in a relationship (Dev and Maya click as friends and companions for months before SRK takes off his wet shirt in that hotel room *ROWR*), you need more. Love might be friendship. but friendship isn't necessarily always love. Rishi and Maya are daily proof.
But also, I think KANK is a dialogue with KHNH. In that movie, Saif's character is best friends with Preity. And he wants to marry her despite her not being in love with him (despite her being in love with another man!) He tells her he knows of that but he believes he has enough love for both of them and that in time she will love him back. In KHNH he turns out to be right, of course. But that is a filmi convention (delightful that it is) and of course one gets a frisson of possibilities, romantic tension yet to bloom between Preity and Saif throughout before SRK enters on the scene. But what KANK does is show the other side of the coin, a more likely side actually. What happens if you marry someone you are good friends with, hoping love will come and it doesn't. Rishi and Maya are much better friends than a couple. Leaving aside their sexual issues (Heeee. Cure for frigidity? Wet naked SRK in bed with you, it seems), their personalities are just not compatible. Rishi is a darling but he likes to party, to be loud, to be hyper. Maya is internal and just...no, they aren't suited.
I also think that there is another reason Maya's inability to have kids actually works out in the story. Dev is not really good with kids (though the scene with his son where he 'orders' him to play the violin is beyond adorable). And so this will work out for them.
I have no words for how much I love the proposal scene at the end. It's low-key, it's realistic, and it's wholly relatable and believable. These two people, so ill at ease in their skins, are comfortable when together. After all, in a small but vital difference, Rhea runs ahead, not waiting for Dev (near the beginning of the movie) while whenever they walk, Maya measures her pace to his. She finds his jokes funny (though they are much less bitter with her there). They just work.
It's interesting because there are a lot of Bolly movies I go crazy over when I see them first but then when I think about them or time passes, I cool down considerably. But KANK is just the opposite. It's making me think, and the more I think about it the more I like it. I also really really need to see it again, this time without any preconcieved notions of what it is or isn't (e.g. I knew Dev was supposed to be no sweetheart but it was still a shock). I think I will love it even more.
And a final note: seeing Abhi and Big B dance together always makes my day.
Yeah, I also finished Majo No Jouken. And it almost finished me. It's a miracle I am still alive.
My God. I am SO SO SO SO RELIEVED about the ending. Yay!
My favorite scenes were when Hikaru and Michi met in the art gallery and he told her he will stop loving her too, and find someone else and love her and make her happy. And walked away and Michi started bleeding. It's almost as if she couldn't exist without him.
And then Hikaru's mom freeing him to go be with Michi. And I love when she wakes up and sees him there.
But my favorite has to be when she runs away because she doesn't want the baby aborted (and while I understand her emotionally, I want to smack her: your other choice is to die!!! And no guarantee the baby will survive either) and he finds her and they are both crying and he holds her and then he takes her to the library where they first made love and they just sit on the floow, cuddling, and he takes her ring and switches it from the right hand to the left and does it with his own, and that's the quickest and saddest and wonderfulest marriage ceremony quickie.
And he is crying and she tells him to do her a favor and stop calling her Sensei and he hugs her tightly and calls her 'Michi' and she is smiling and then we get the angstoriffic moment when she goes limp and he is just screaming her name.
And then he almost does the 'turn off her machine' (because the docs say she won't wake up) and 'kill self' thing but is stopped by Michi's letter.
Why the hell am I recounting all of the plot, anyway?
But yes, I love the ending where she wakes up and touches his face and he opens his eyes and sees it and then they both go back to sleep. EEEEE!
Also, Takizawa Hideaki dressed all in black? Is UNREAL.
And for everyone who doesn't care for either Bollywood or doramas, I bring KITTENS. Because who doesn't like KITTENS?
And what the hell, since this entry is all over the place, I'll end with a Nathan/Haley kiss from One Tree Hill, as they are the one thing that make me watch that deliciously cheesy show: