Battlin' Chick Flicks
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days vs. Dil To Pagal Hai
Hollywood chick flick "comedy" vs. Bollywood musical comedy/drama.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Pro: Kate Hudson: cute as a button & Matthew McConnaughey: winningly handsome
Good comic premise
Polished work from comedic foils and supporting cast
Con: Fails to execute comic premise in a comic way-- you can guess from the title that the gal (Ms. Hudson) has to act annoying and clingy and overbearing and jealous-- and that part just wasn't funny. The movie improves when she drops the act.
Screenplay neglects to give leading man (Matthew McConnaughey) an emotional outcome in the plot of the film the same way the leading lady has one. Without that, why should we care about him?
(I know, it's a chick flick, we're just supposed to care about them ending up together.
Excruciating musical number. (warning: YouTube link)
The whole time I was watching this rom-com I kept thinking, "You know what this needs? A tightly choreographed musical number to a Hindi song." That, and Sharukh Khan.
Ah, and speaking of Sharukh Khan: my local video store had a DVD with him clutching Karisma Kapoor in one arm and Madhuri Dixit in the other, and the Yash Raj film logo on it. What more did I need? (Yash Raj produced the Mohabbatein, which, despite its corny plot, thoroughly enchanted me with its musical numbers and is thus the model against which I must judge all other Bollywood films).
Dil To Pagal Hai (The Heart is Crazy)
Pro: Sharukh Khan!
Pro: Winner Best Art Direction, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film at the Filmfare awards in 1997.
Pro: Lots of musical numbers, including one with kids! in the rain! with Sharukh! (see YouTube link, below)
Pro: Not only does it stick to a romantic love triangle Bollywood plot, it's pretty much sticking to an American Broadway musical format, old school, with moon-June-spoon oh-where-is-my-true-love what-is-this-feeling? school of songs and duets. (Of course, if you're not into that, move this to the con category)
Pro: exotic locale (Baden Baden, Germany) for the title song features what appears to be an American ragtime band, circa 1910, complete with straw hats and a banjo.
Con: Movie follows a troupe of actors/dancers, who, in 1997 Mumbai, still dress in lycra and leg warmers when they rehearse.
Con: Asha Bhosle is the gold standard for playback singing, but in 1997 she was sixty-four years old... and when 30 year old Madhuri Dixit breaks into song: cognitive dissonance.
Con: Akshay Kumar, the "Bruce Lee of Bollywood" is in the film for about five minutes. He's got a comic character, so there's no ass-kicking.
Could be Pro- Could be Con:
--Gives the impression that Indian theatre is a mashup of Michael Flatley's Riverdance, Bob Fosse, and Latin American Telenovelas.
--the wind ruffles the romantic leads hair in every single scene where they are together. Even indoors.
--total pratfalls (all done by Sharukh): 2
--hairstyles and costumes change randomly within musical numbers, and even during the course of a non-musical day the characters appear in about four outfits
The clear winner: DIL TO PAGAL HAI
Here's a clip on YouTube without the spandex and lycra (although search on "Dil To Pagal Hai" and you'll find them all), with adorable moppets, with Sharukh and Madhuri dancing in a downpour (I'm guessing it was fashionable in the 1990s to drench your leading stars as they danced to show off their figures), and then, for no reason, the entire actor/dance company shows up to take over the number: Link
Hollywood chick flick "comedy" vs. Bollywood musical comedy/drama.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Pro: Kate Hudson: cute as a button & Matthew McConnaughey: winningly handsome
Good comic premise
Polished work from comedic foils and supporting cast
Con: Fails to execute comic premise in a comic way-- you can guess from the title that the gal (Ms. Hudson) has to act annoying and clingy and overbearing and jealous-- and that part just wasn't funny. The movie improves when she drops the act.
Screenplay neglects to give leading man (Matthew McConnaughey) an emotional outcome in the plot of the film the same way the leading lady has one. Without that, why should we care about him?
(I know, it's a chick flick, we're just supposed to care about them ending up together.
Excruciating musical number. (warning: YouTube link)
The whole time I was watching this rom-com I kept thinking, "You know what this needs? A tightly choreographed musical number to a Hindi song." That, and Sharukh Khan.
Ah, and speaking of Sharukh Khan: my local video store had a DVD with him clutching Karisma Kapoor in one arm and Madhuri Dixit in the other, and the Yash Raj film logo on it. What more did I need? (Yash Raj produced the Mohabbatein, which, despite its corny plot, thoroughly enchanted me with its musical numbers and is thus the model against which I must judge all other Bollywood films).
Dil To Pagal Hai (The Heart is Crazy)
Pro: Sharukh Khan!
Pro: Winner Best Art Direction, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film at the Filmfare awards in 1997.
Pro: Lots of musical numbers, including one with kids! in the rain! with Sharukh! (see YouTube link, below)
Pro: Not only does it stick to a romantic love triangle Bollywood plot, it's pretty much sticking to an American Broadway musical format, old school, with moon-June-spoon oh-where-is-my-true-love what-is-this-feeling? school of songs and duets. (Of course, if you're not into that, move this to the con category)
Pro: exotic locale (Baden Baden, Germany) for the title song features what appears to be an American ragtime band, circa 1910, complete with straw hats and a banjo.
Con: Movie follows a troupe of actors/dancers, who, in 1997 Mumbai, still dress in lycra and leg warmers when they rehearse.
Con: Asha Bhosle is the gold standard for playback singing, but in 1997 she was sixty-four years old... and when 30 year old Madhuri Dixit breaks into song: cognitive dissonance.
Con: Akshay Kumar, the "Bruce Lee of Bollywood" is in the film for about five minutes. He's got a comic character, so there's no ass-kicking.
Could be Pro- Could be Con:
--Gives the impression that Indian theatre is a mashup of Michael Flatley's Riverdance, Bob Fosse, and Latin American Telenovelas.
--the wind ruffles the romantic leads hair in every single scene where they are together. Even indoors.
--total pratfalls (all done by Sharukh): 2
--hairstyles and costumes change randomly within musical numbers, and even during the course of a non-musical day the characters appear in about four outfits
The clear winner: DIL TO PAGAL HAI
Here's a clip on YouTube without the spandex and lycra (although search on "Dil To Pagal Hai" and you'll find them all), with adorable moppets, with Sharukh and Madhuri dancing in a downpour (I'm guessing it was fashionable in the 1990s to drench your leading stars as they danced to show off their figures), and then, for no reason, the entire actor/dance company shows up to take over the number: Link