National Blog Posting Month - Nov 22
no-prompt Filler Day
The graphics are all at the ORIGINAL POST, as prompted by amedia, but since I'm co-opting this for a lands of magic, the rules technically want reasons why I chose each casting. Not sure I'll be able to hit the word count on some of these because it's like.. 'JUST BECAUSE [shrug]' or 'well, see [insert film title here]'. But since I've got far more castings than the minimum, I wager it'll work out in the end.
DG - Alia Bhatt
First person I thought of, cast-wise, was Alia as DG. 110% it was actually the scene on the bicycles from Dear Zindagi that said DG & Ahamo. Mostly just her whole character in that movie screams what I imagine DG's general malaise was supposed to be with life in Kansas. Anyway..
young DG - Seeza Saroj Mehta
Seeing this girl, two seconds in, at Jawan.. she was young DG. Just unimpressed by SRK and showing him up in EVERY scene they're in together. I can't wait to see this kid in more things.
Wyatt Cain - Ajay Devgn
I love Ajay. A lot. And he plays a lot of characters who are very Wyatt Cain, lately. Quiet; searching for his kid; and will EFF YOU UP with minimal effort and made weapons. It was a scene with some mountain climbing axes that originally had him cast as Cain, but I just could not get the screencaps to work.
Glitch (aka Ambrose) - Ranveer Singh
Talk about the most adorkable human... this casting choice is 110% based off of Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls. He was so purely amazed and terrified and just running with it and if that isn't some Glitch-level chaos, I don't know what is.
Raw - Sonu Sood
I just want to sit with this man and just.. sit. He's one of the kindest humans I've ever 'met' and the character he plays in Happy New Year is very Raw-like. He's also got a face you could tell anything to and even if you're wrong, he'd find a way to make you feel better about yourself.
Tutor (aka Toto) - Abhishek Bachchan
I won't lie.. I needed to put him somewhere and nothing was clicking. But watching him just go ALL IN for Happy New Year.. I figured Tutor is as good as anything? Also just imagining the outtakes of him straight-face delivering anything and everyone else cracking up.. I wager it tracks.
Mystic Man - Jackie Shroff
Again, Happy New Year is going to play a large part in a lot of these castings, because it's my favorite movie and there was just A LOT going on with a lot of characters, to draw from. In this case.. most of it was the simple fact that there is a scene with Jackie behind bars. I haven't actually seen a lot of his work, so we're running pretty much on this one role.
Adora Cain - Rani Mukerji
I love Rani. And because of that, there was a 50/50 that Ahamo and Cain would be swapped, simply because I knew I could find more photos of Rani and SRK.. but my original plan worked out. If you've read any of Tin Girl (aka that one where Adora was a Tin Man back in the day).. AND/OR seen Mardaani... Well, let's just say that there is a LOT of (my) Adora in Shivani...
Jeb Cain - Ranbir Kapoor
I meant no offense dropping Ranbir here.. mostly because I've only seen him in one thing. BUT.. in that one thing - Brahmastra - well.. he struck me as someone who could go toe to toe with Ajay in the brooding. Also, y'know.. he has all that chemistry with his wife, which makes Jeb/DG all the more easy to shove into that plot. JEBGERBREAD WILL HAVE SOME CLOSURE IN THIS VERSION, OMG. I mean.....
Zero - Hrithik Roshan
I won't lie.. he was gonna be my Glitch. BUT... after rewatching Raw - it was Tiger 3 prep - I was reminded that he can be a great bad guy. (also see Dhoom 2). As mentioned in the other post: ZERO WILL HAVE A DANCE NUMBER. Because this man does not move like a normal human. Bless him. Yeah, yeah.. the age difference will be off between Zero and Cain, but I don't really care. we'll write something in, in post. Az will have done some magic to de-age him. Whatever. It'll work.
Azkadelia - Deepika Padukone
I mean.. I don't even have words here. Just.. Deepika. Pathaan showed off ALL her Az vibes and she's just gorgeous and I love Deepika as much as I love Rani and if you thought Kathleen pulled out the crazy witch possession... Just trust me. It works.
young Azkadelia - Ishita Dutta
This was another case where I considered swapping out Cain and Ahamo and Mom and Adora.. because this young lady did some epic stuff in both Drishyams. And that is entirely why she is my young Az. ♥
Queen - Kajol
The only reason she won the coin toss for Mom vs Adora was because there's a scene of her walking on a desolate beach in the first Indian film I ever saw. Two beaches, actually... but the one in question was very reminiscent of Mom being trapped in her little desk globe-thingy. In this case, however, Mom will be A LOT MORE PROACTIVE in trying to fight for young Az. Because that's a plot point in TM that always bugged the ever-lovin' snot out of me. I love you Anna, but WTF.
Ahamo - Shah Rukh Khan
As mentioned above, the bicycle-scene-as-balloon-equivalent was literally the first thing that popped into my head when amedia asked the original question. Now.... there was no casting where this wouldn't be weird, especially with as many movies that SRK & Deepika have been the 'couple' in.. but Deepika & Alia actually match the rough age gap of Az & DG and SRK has chemistry with a rock, so.. just accept it. Specifically, in the case of when we see Ahamo, I'm picturing one of his many Jawan disguises, as he's been living in hiding for a while. But any bearded-SRK is a good SRK. Even if he doesn't like the beard. WOOF.
Hank - Boman Irani
I adore Boman Irani. OMG. I needed him to be anywhere and I imagine if Hank had a little more time, we'd learn he's really a fun dad. And there's just something about Boman that screams "fun dad" to me.
Emily - Kirron Kher
If it's an Indian film and Kirron isn't playing the mom, is it really an Indian movie? She's hilarious in Om Shanti Om and what I imagine Emily would be like on any given day (again, giving the Kansas-side of the plot a lot more attention). DG may get her family back in the end, but the fact that we never hear a peep again about the two 'people' who raised and protected her? REWRITES!!!
Father Vue - Amitabh Bachchan
I mean.. I know your first though was 'Isn't he more of a Mystic Man type?' and you'd be right.. as I did waffle a bit. BUT.. if you're gonna get advice from the wisest man in Oz, wouldn't you believe Every. Single. Word. that comes out of Big B's mouth? Jackie tells you to go find a stoned Big B.. you "Hrrmmm". Big B tells you to go find a stoned Jackie, you go. [shrug]
Gulch - Vishal Dadlani
I was gonna use Abishek here, honestly. But I was having so much trouble trying to cast Tutor that I ended up swapping him out, and then realized that for such a quick 'cameo'.. might as well go with Mister Farah Khan Cameo (because of course she's going to direct this chaos and choreograph the hell out of it). I imagine he'd use his Indian Idol face (I don't actually know what the show is.. but I know he's effectively the Simon Cowell-equivalent) and do it well. Not sure if he'd order the slice of apple and chunk of cheddar, though.
Lonot - Sathyaraj
I didn't intend to choose the only bald man to play the only bald man.. but it worked out because I've seen him play a few bad guys; and he's just got the air of Lonot. If you've seen Chennai Express.. that's pretty much how I imagine Lonot coming across in this version.
Vy-Sor - Riteish Deshmukh
I've only seen Riteish in like.. two things? But he's adorable and I follow him on Instagram and I just imagine he's the best right-hand man ever. I really do need to see more of his stuff, but that's neither here nor there. LOL
Raynz - Tiger Shroff
I thought about making Tiger Zero, because of Raw. Like.. no spoilers: He's CRAZY INTENSE. But since I've only seen him in that one movie, best to just leave him here in the CRAZY INTENSE spot. I imagine the beatdown he'll get from Sonu will look amazing on camera. LOL (also I just realized that I forgot to consider Kalm and Lylo, who would also be involved in his plot.. ah well.)
Airofday - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Shoving Ashi in here is such the lazy way out.. but what can you do? She's gonna nail that cameo 12 ways from Sunday, either way.
DeMilo - Johnny Lever
This is the one where I just raise my hands in the air and shake my head and mumble incoherently, because I have no words to explain that this makes all the sense in the world and just go watch Dilwale if you don't believe me. The scene with the Varuns and the story about the neighbor lady. Or the scene with Kajol beating him in the middle of the road with a bat. Or him drunkenly harassing Boman. Or at the church, with the counting. It just works.
Carter & Evie - Salman Khan & Anushka Sharma
I needed to put Anushka somewhere (as mentioned in the previous post) because I love her, too. And she's best when she's just monologuing at someone. But there's really no place for that.. aside from the Hilltop. And since we're rewriting a chunk of the movie, why not give her something more to do than be the target of a smart-ass comment from Carter? So we combine Evie with the nameless waitress; and have her married to Carter, and they can argue with each other at the diner. As for Salman.. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is a joy of a film and that's how I want to see Carter, versus some jerk boss in the kitchen.
Ralph & Lorainne - Sanjay Dutt & Juhi Chawla
This is another case of I needed two more people and I couldn't think of anyone else, so I took the next person who popped on screen while I was screencapping for the previous post. And since it was Jawan, Sanjay it was. And one of the Google results was a photo of him with Juhi, I was like.. WINNER. I've seen her in a few things (usually with SRK) but she will have a better part that what we got for Lorainne (aka mean old woman GrrArgh).
Anyway.. so there's my casting reasons, for what they're worth.
[ plenty of days still open HERE (LJ) / HERE (DW) ]
(copy/pasted to DW, the old way)
The graphics are all at the ORIGINAL POST, as prompted by amedia, but since I'm co-opting this for a lands of magic, the rules technically want reasons why I chose each casting. Not sure I'll be able to hit the word count on some of these because it's like.. 'JUST BECAUSE [shrug]' or 'well, see [insert film title here]'. But since I've got far more castings than the minimum, I wager it'll work out in the end.
DG - Alia Bhatt
First person I thought of, cast-wise, was Alia as DG. 110% it was actually the scene on the bicycles from Dear Zindagi that said DG & Ahamo. Mostly just her whole character in that movie screams what I imagine DG's general malaise was supposed to be with life in Kansas. Anyway..
young DG - Seeza Saroj Mehta
Seeing this girl, two seconds in, at Jawan.. she was young DG. Just unimpressed by SRK and showing him up in EVERY scene they're in together. I can't wait to see this kid in more things.
Wyatt Cain - Ajay Devgn
I love Ajay. A lot. And he plays a lot of characters who are very Wyatt Cain, lately. Quiet; searching for his kid; and will EFF YOU UP with minimal effort and made weapons. It was a scene with some mountain climbing axes that originally had him cast as Cain, but I just could not get the screencaps to work.
Glitch (aka Ambrose) - Ranveer Singh
Talk about the most adorkable human... this casting choice is 110% based off of Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls. He was so purely amazed and terrified and just running with it and if that isn't some Glitch-level chaos, I don't know what is.
Raw - Sonu Sood
I just want to sit with this man and just.. sit. He's one of the kindest humans I've ever 'met' and the character he plays in Happy New Year is very Raw-like. He's also got a face you could tell anything to and even if you're wrong, he'd find a way to make you feel better about yourself.
Tutor (aka Toto) - Abhishek Bachchan
I won't lie.. I needed to put him somewhere and nothing was clicking. But watching him just go ALL IN for Happy New Year.. I figured Tutor is as good as anything? Also just imagining the outtakes of him straight-face delivering anything and everyone else cracking up.. I wager it tracks.
Mystic Man - Jackie Shroff
Again, Happy New Year is going to play a large part in a lot of these castings, because it's my favorite movie and there was just A LOT going on with a lot of characters, to draw from. In this case.. most of it was the simple fact that there is a scene with Jackie behind bars. I haven't actually seen a lot of his work, so we're running pretty much on this one role.
Adora Cain - Rani Mukerji
I love Rani. And because of that, there was a 50/50 that Ahamo and Cain would be swapped, simply because I knew I could find more photos of Rani and SRK.. but my original plan worked out. If you've read any of Tin Girl (aka that one where Adora was a Tin Man back in the day).. AND/OR seen Mardaani... Well, let's just say that there is a LOT of (my) Adora in Shivani...
Jeb Cain - Ranbir Kapoor
I meant no offense dropping Ranbir here.. mostly because I've only seen him in one thing. BUT.. in that one thing - Brahmastra - well.. he struck me as someone who could go toe to toe with Ajay in the brooding. Also, y'know.. he has all that chemistry with his wife, which makes Jeb/DG all the more easy to shove into that plot. JEBGERBREAD WILL HAVE SOME CLOSURE IN THIS VERSION, OMG. I mean.....
Zero - Hrithik Roshan
I won't lie.. he was gonna be my Glitch. BUT... after rewatching Raw - it was Tiger 3 prep - I was reminded that he can be a great bad guy. (also see Dhoom 2). As mentioned in the other post: ZERO WILL HAVE A DANCE NUMBER. Because this man does not move like a normal human. Bless him. Yeah, yeah.. the age difference will be off between Zero and Cain, but I don't really care. we'll write something in, in post. Az will have done some magic to de-age him. Whatever. It'll work.
Azkadelia - Deepika Padukone
I mean.. I don't even have words here. Just.. Deepika. Pathaan showed off ALL her Az vibes and she's just gorgeous and I love Deepika as much as I love Rani and if you thought Kathleen pulled out the crazy witch possession... Just trust me. It works.
young Azkadelia - Ishita Dutta
This was another case where I considered swapping out Cain and Ahamo and Mom and Adora.. because this young lady did some epic stuff in both Drishyams. And that is entirely why she is my young Az. ♥
Queen - Kajol
The only reason she won the coin toss for Mom vs Adora was because there's a scene of her walking on a desolate beach in the first Indian film I ever saw. Two beaches, actually... but the one in question was very reminiscent of Mom being trapped in her little desk globe-thingy. In this case, however, Mom will be A LOT MORE PROACTIVE in trying to fight for young Az. Because that's a plot point in TM that always bugged the ever-lovin' snot out of me. I love you Anna, but WTF.
Ahamo - Shah Rukh Khan
As mentioned above, the bicycle-scene-as-balloon-equivalent was literally the first thing that popped into my head when amedia asked the original question. Now.... there was no casting where this wouldn't be weird, especially with as many movies that SRK & Deepika have been the 'couple' in.. but Deepika & Alia actually match the rough age gap of Az & DG and SRK has chemistry with a rock, so.. just accept it. Specifically, in the case of when we see Ahamo, I'm picturing one of his many Jawan disguises, as he's been living in hiding for a while. But any bearded-SRK is a good SRK. Even if he doesn't like the beard. WOOF.
Hank - Boman Irani
I adore Boman Irani. OMG. I needed him to be anywhere and I imagine if Hank had a little more time, we'd learn he's really a fun dad. And there's just something about Boman that screams "fun dad" to me.
Emily - Kirron Kher
If it's an Indian film and Kirron isn't playing the mom, is it really an Indian movie? She's hilarious in Om Shanti Om and what I imagine Emily would be like on any given day (again, giving the Kansas-side of the plot a lot more attention). DG may get her family back in the end, but the fact that we never hear a peep again about the two 'people' who raised and protected her? REWRITES!!!
Father Vue - Amitabh Bachchan
I mean.. I know your first though was 'Isn't he more of a Mystic Man type?' and you'd be right.. as I did waffle a bit. BUT.. if you're gonna get advice from the wisest man in Oz, wouldn't you believe Every. Single. Word. that comes out of Big B's mouth? Jackie tells you to go find a stoned Big B.. you "Hrrmmm". Big B tells you to go find a stoned Jackie, you go. [shrug]
Gulch - Vishal Dadlani
I was gonna use Abishek here, honestly. But I was having so much trouble trying to cast Tutor that I ended up swapping him out, and then realized that for such a quick 'cameo'.. might as well go with Mister Farah Khan Cameo (because of course she's going to direct this chaos and choreograph the hell out of it). I imagine he'd use his Indian Idol face (I don't actually know what the show is.. but I know he's effectively the Simon Cowell-equivalent) and do it well. Not sure if he'd order the slice of apple and chunk of cheddar, though.
Lonot - Sathyaraj
I didn't intend to choose the only bald man to play the only bald man.. but it worked out because I've seen him play a few bad guys; and he's just got the air of Lonot. If you've seen Chennai Express.. that's pretty much how I imagine Lonot coming across in this version.
Vy-Sor - Riteish Deshmukh
I've only seen Riteish in like.. two things? But he's adorable and I follow him on Instagram and I just imagine he's the best right-hand man ever. I really do need to see more of his stuff, but that's neither here nor there. LOL
Raynz - Tiger Shroff
I thought about making Tiger Zero, because of Raw. Like.. no spoilers: He's CRAZY INTENSE. But since I've only seen him in that one movie, best to just leave him here in the CRAZY INTENSE spot. I imagine the beatdown he'll get from Sonu will look amazing on camera. LOL (also I just realized that I forgot to consider Kalm and Lylo, who would also be involved in his plot.. ah well.)
Airofday - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Shoving Ashi in here is such the lazy way out.. but what can you do? She's gonna nail that cameo 12 ways from Sunday, either way.
DeMilo - Johnny Lever
This is the one where I just raise my hands in the air and shake my head and mumble incoherently, because I have no words to explain that this makes all the sense in the world and just go watch Dilwale if you don't believe me. The scene with the Varuns and the story about the neighbor lady. Or the scene with Kajol beating him in the middle of the road with a bat. Or him drunkenly harassing Boman. Or at the church, with the counting. It just works.
Carter & Evie - Salman Khan & Anushka Sharma
I needed to put Anushka somewhere (as mentioned in the previous post) because I love her, too. And she's best when she's just monologuing at someone. But there's really no place for that.. aside from the Hilltop. And since we're rewriting a chunk of the movie, why not give her something more to do than be the target of a smart-ass comment from Carter? So we combine Evie with the nameless waitress; and have her married to Carter, and they can argue with each other at the diner. As for Salman.. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is a joy of a film and that's how I want to see Carter, versus some jerk boss in the kitchen.
Ralph & Lorainne - Sanjay Dutt & Juhi Chawla
This is another case of I needed two more people and I couldn't think of anyone else, so I took the next person who popped on screen while I was screencapping for the previous post. And since it was Jawan, Sanjay it was. And one of the Google results was a photo of him with Juhi, I was like.. WINNER. I've seen her in a few things (usually with SRK) but she will have a better part that what we got for Lorainne (aka mean old woman GrrArgh).
Anyway.. so there's my casting reasons, for what they're worth.
[ plenty of days still open HERE (LJ) / HERE (DW) ]
(copy/pasted to DW, the old way)