Salaam-e-Ishq
I met with sassiefin today and she made us some Indian food and we watched together Salaam-e-Ishq which we both liked very much. Since she is a slash fan, I also introduced her to a few of the more slashy and/or cracktastic MVs by Tackey & Tsubasa and Kanjani8 *g*.
Even though Salaam-e-Ishq is rather long at 201 minutes, the time passed surprisingly quickly. The film has intertwined stories reminiscent of Love Actually, but gives them a completely Indian flavour. It's not surprising, since the film is directed by Nikhil Advani, who also directed Kal Ho Naa Ho.
John Abraham and Vidya Balan are a happy couple whose life is destroyed when Vidya's character is in an accident and loses her memory. Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla are a married couple whose life has set in it's path, and Anil's character has a 40th birthday crisis (just be honest and call it a 50th birthday crisis :D...).
Akshay Khanna's character gets cold feet just before his marriage to Ayesha Takia's character. Govinda is a taxi driver who has been driving of a gori memsahib for many years, but when she arrives, she is in search of her Indian boyfriend who left her in order to marry an Indian woman. Priyanka Chopra's item girl with aspirations and Salman Khan as her mock fiance are one of the funniest things ever.
I think this is the second film within a very close time where Salman pokes fun at his own star image. It happened in Jaan-e-Mann and again here, with all the playacting and the shirtless scenes, etc. Priyanka was hilarious as the bitchy actress who wanted to boost her career and get the main role in a Karan Johan movie :D. I also loved all the inside jokes to various Hindi films in this segment! "Wake up, and smell the coffee, Karan!", indeed :D.
This was actually my first ever Govinda film. I reallly enjoyed his and Shannon Esrechowitz's romance. In the beginning, neither speaks more than a few phrases of the other's language, but by the end the language of love has crossed the language barrier. So sweet!!!
Akshay was also pretty hilarious as a bachelor trying to escape his marriage. Some of his schemes were extremely funny - especially when they didn't quite turn out as planned. But he realized what he missed only when he succeeded in losing it.
The Anil and Juhi segment is probably the closest to Love Actually, since Anil's character has a midlife crisis and starts looking for excitement from elsewhere. Still, it's JUHI! Who looks as gorgeous as ever! Still, the scene at the disco where he had shaved his moustache and beard and was wearing jeans and trying to act young was another one that made us laugh out loud.
BTW, Anil is one of the few people that I prefer with a moustache or a beard/moustache combo. He looks very nice and dignified with those, but NOT GOOD without them :P.
The John/Vidya story is quite sad at times, but also is the driving force behind the film and the story that binds all the other stories together. They are so sweet together in the beginning, but when tragedy strikes, John's character is determined to stick with her.
You can get hints of the struggles they have already faced, when he tries to make her memory come back, but nothing seems to help. In the end, he says that he doesn't care if she'll remember, they'll just create new memories together. Aww!
None of the songs were that memorable, but the Salman/Priyanka proposal song was certainly very fun :).
The only completely forgettable bit of the film is Sohail Khan and Isha Koppikar as a married couple who seem to have all the possible bad luck before their they can consummate their marriage. That story could have very well have been cut from this film :/.
Even though Salaam-e-Ishq is rather long at 201 minutes, the time passed surprisingly quickly. The film has intertwined stories reminiscent of Love Actually, but gives them a completely Indian flavour. It's not surprising, since the film is directed by Nikhil Advani, who also directed Kal Ho Naa Ho.
John Abraham and Vidya Balan are a happy couple whose life is destroyed when Vidya's character is in an accident and loses her memory. Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla are a married couple whose life has set in it's path, and Anil's character has a 40th birthday crisis (just be honest and call it a 50th birthday crisis :D...).
Akshay Khanna's character gets cold feet just before his marriage to Ayesha Takia's character. Govinda is a taxi driver who has been driving of a gori memsahib for many years, but when she arrives, she is in search of her Indian boyfriend who left her in order to marry an Indian woman. Priyanka Chopra's item girl with aspirations and Salman Khan as her mock fiance are one of the funniest things ever.
I think this is the second film within a very close time where Salman pokes fun at his own star image. It happened in Jaan-e-Mann and again here, with all the playacting and the shirtless scenes, etc. Priyanka was hilarious as the bitchy actress who wanted to boost her career and get the main role in a Karan Johan movie :D. I also loved all the inside jokes to various Hindi films in this segment! "Wake up, and smell the coffee, Karan!", indeed :D.
This was actually my first ever Govinda film. I reallly enjoyed his and Shannon Esrechowitz's romance. In the beginning, neither speaks more than a few phrases of the other's language, but by the end the language of love has crossed the language barrier. So sweet!!!
Akshay was also pretty hilarious as a bachelor trying to escape his marriage. Some of his schemes were extremely funny - especially when they didn't quite turn out as planned. But he realized what he missed only when he succeeded in losing it.
The Anil and Juhi segment is probably the closest to Love Actually, since Anil's character has a midlife crisis and starts looking for excitement from elsewhere. Still, it's JUHI! Who looks as gorgeous as ever! Still, the scene at the disco where he had shaved his moustache and beard and was wearing jeans and trying to act young was another one that made us laugh out loud.
BTW, Anil is one of the few people that I prefer with a moustache or a beard/moustache combo. He looks very nice and dignified with those, but NOT GOOD without them :P.
The John/Vidya story is quite sad at times, but also is the driving force behind the film and the story that binds all the other stories together. They are so sweet together in the beginning, but when tragedy strikes, John's character is determined to stick with her.
You can get hints of the struggles they have already faced, when he tries to make her memory come back, but nothing seems to help. In the end, he says that he doesn't care if she'll remember, they'll just create new memories together. Aww!
None of the songs were that memorable, but the Salman/Priyanka proposal song was certainly very fun :).
The only completely forgettable bit of the film is Sohail Khan and Isha Koppikar as a married couple who seem to have all the possible bad luck before their they can consummate their marriage. That story could have very well have been cut from this film :/.