Ishaqzaade - or the most screwed up relationship you are going to see in a Bollywood movie

[dangermousie]

spunspider recommended me this year's Ishaqzaade by telling me that if I love dysfunction, I will love this movie.

Comments

[anonymous]

Fall in love in a brothel?!? Whoa! Now I really want to watch it and I haven't watched any Bollywood films for a while.

[dangermousie]

Enjoy :)

[lydzi]

I'm loving the title track <3

[dangermousie]

All the songs in this are gorgeous

[spunspider]

BEAMS. i told you so!! it's pretty polarising in that people either love it as per you and i, or deem zoya as lacking in self-respect for forgiving him and think the entire thing is fucked up. you're right, it really doesn't feel bollywood, barring maybe gauhar khan's dance sequences, which i dug. the whole thing was so tight and on point. i would've liked falling in love in a brothel to have lasted beyond a song, and for her to have taken slightly longer to forgive him bc that's good stuff, but on the whole i can't fault much at all.

[dangermousie]

If she was an upper middle class woman in e.g. Denmark then sure, her forgiving him would have been unrealistic. But she is a woman in a deeply violent, sectarian, patriarchal society and a product of the same - sure, a good husband prospect does not do what Parma did, but a "normal" woman won't attempt murder repeatedly either. They are both shaped by their fucked up environment. Their normal is not my normal. Btw, the whole thing about Zoya's self respect - her whole sense of self came from being a member of her family, not healthy to start with. And, sadly, she is not evaluating a guy from te same baseline you or I would - in her world, the men of her family - her father and brothers - plan to kill her without a second thought because she supposedly disgrace them - Parma's behavior in act 1 pales in comparison to that.

Basically, I don't have to condone his actions in the first half to ship them - they love each other and their behavior makes sense to me and ehhh - I am a sucker for dysfunction.

[spunspider]

no arguments from me. a lot of consumers of fiction are prone to judging characters from outside of the parameters of their narrative's universe. ishaqzaade's logic is sound mostly by way of its universe being so compact and condensed - we know parma's a different man and that in defying his family he committed familial suicide in the same way she did by marrying him/a hindu, and we know he loves her, and it's on her terms and damnit it's dysfunctional shipping paradise. honestly i find arjun unattractive but he's so charismatic, and i like parineeti's acting style a lot more than her cousin's, even though i like priyanka a lot. it's the first bollywood movie i've loved since, like, love aaj kal a couple of years ago, and even that wasn't love like this and i am really happy you agree!

[anonymous]

Dangermousie, you are a bad, bad woman. Do you know how long it has been since I've watched an Indian movie? Then you put up this movie, "Ishaqzaade," and suddenly I feel - just from the description - the same butterflies I feel when I know a kdrama is going to be goooooooooood. I need another foreign language entertainment obsession like I need a hole in the head! My hard drive can barely handle the kdramas, now you may have kicked off a Bollywood obsession?! Actually, the blame doesn't start with you: it starts with "Faith." My beloved Faith; it led me to your site and its many temptations! Speaking of, you know how I know I love "Faith" too much? While watching Parma stare so hungrily at Zoya, I kept thinking "That's the look on daejang's face when ES says 'daejang' or undoes her hair." (I've got it bad.) Anywho, I had to stop Ishaqzaade right after the abandoned railway car sequence. I just had to: my mouth was agape and I kept muttering to myself, "No, Parma, no!" I was in shock; I'm still in shock. That was not a

[anonymous]

Okay, so I watched it all the way through, forsaking all homework and... WTH! I mean, it was good and I love it and I'm going to keep it forever and ever but... WTH!

Seriously though, that chemistry was off the chain! Is this typical of Bollywood films now or something? 'Cause then they've grown up since last I saw them. :)

[dangermousie]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[winegums]

whoa, WHOA, wait a second, WAS THAT AN ACTUAL KISS I SAW IN THERE?! as in, lip contact?! I feel like I need to report a unicorn sighting or something, that shit is so rare in Bollywood. This looks like it needs watching, I was all 'meh' at first but since you rec it I'll give it a chance.

Shallow note: I do appreciate that her eyebrows retain some shape and fullness, too many Bollywood heroine eyebrows are overplucked within an inch of their lives (and it's not even a nicely done, Tom-Hiddleston-in-Thor kind of look, just....overplucked) and it's a look that bugs me. Also, nice to see another 20something hero even if he's yet another nepotism baby - sometimes looking at 40 and 50something actors romancing actresses in their 20s (early 30s, at the outside) gets really tiring, especially as they get older and start to overdo the fillers and weaves.

god I really have my bitch on today.

[dangermousie]

There are kisses and make out scenes in this! I haven;t watched much Bollywood in the last few years so not sure how common it is