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Top articles
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Answer to the quiz...
This hasn’t got much to do with Indian culture, but… I don’t know whether many of you were really interested about the “little quiz” which I had posted at the beginning of May. Well, anyway here’s the answer; the text in Gujarati was from the Pater Noster...
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Aamir Khan, mister perfectionist
Let's start by saying I don’t like Aamir Khan. I don’t like him because he’s bossy, because he’s arrogant, because he’s superior. Somehow I never feel at ease with him. He makes me tense; he obliges me to rise to his level, whereas I prefer actors who...
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What I like about Bollywood (Dil se)
Bollywood started for me with a selection of films shown on the French TV two years ago, and I was at first simply curious to discover a new sort of movies. One of them was Mani Ratman’s Dil se , with Manisha Koirala that literally blows up on the screen....
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Suniel Shetty, the hard business of acting
Suniel Shetty will remain for me the rescuer of certain boring films such as Umrao Jaan and Main hoon na. Thanks to him, I have found an interest in those poor productions. Watching him cast his back eye and his disdainful sneer has more than often thrilled...
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Your best bollywood film (Monsoon wedding?)
I'm a recent Bollywood fan, and I know next to nothing about oldies! I'm sure there are treasures there, but for me they're still to be unearthed... Please if some of you have suggestions, don't hesitate! So... Best Bolly film? Why not Monsoon Wedding?...
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Saif Ali Khan: the Indian mafioso
I have always liked Saif Ali Khan, ever since Kal ho Na ho, in which I first saw him squint and sidle towards the camera, like an Indian Mafioso, with his Italian airs, his raspy voice. He was a welcome difference from the Salmans, the Shahruhks, and...
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Ajay Devgan, Bollywood's dark prince
With his title “The dark prince” I am not so much referring to Ajay’s skin colour, even though there are only few among the best-known Bollywood stars that do have a dark skin, but more to his character, what I can guess of it. I’ve always felt in him...
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Amitabh's power
Hmm… Difficult ! The very fact of writing about « Big A » is daunting. Not only is the actor so impressive, but the person seems to demand respect, and of course the sheer length and scope of his career as a professional is amazing. I’ve seen films with...
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Salman Khan, the Playboy of the Eastern world
Facts we should remember about Salman before we start criticising him: - Let’s face, if Sallu didn’t exist, Bollywood would be incomplete. - You can’t love Bollywood and not give at least some credit to Salman. - He can’t be that badmash, he actually...
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Should Hrithik Roshan rule?
Have you visited this website ? It’s got this quote : « for most people money becomes the end in itself. People want money for the sake of having money. For me it’s a means to an end. I want to work hard and make a lot of money.” What do you think? Materialistic?...
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"Hating" K3G
I had a good laugh yesterday reading in BollyWhat? about all those BW fans giving their reasons why they « hated » Kabhi khushi khabi gham, that 1999 Karan Johar family saga which, it says, “is all about loving your parents”. Here’s the link for those...
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Bollywood Actresses
I’m very enthusiastic about Bollywood actresses, but perhaps not for the reason you imagine. Of course today’s actresses are beautiful, charming, sexy, clever, the whole works. They’re real artists, and they’re real businesswomen! On their (not so frail)...
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The painter of signs
R.K. Narayan’s “The painter of signs” is a real pleasure to read. Set in the imaginary Southern Indian town of Malgudi, this novella captures the mind by its evocative aloofness, its lighter-than life clarity. It is the story of Raman, a sign-painter,...
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Bollywood actors (of today)
After actresses, actors. It seems to me more difficult to speak about Bollywood actors – the men - in general than actresses, perhaps because I see more individualism and differences there. Not that actresses are all from the same mould, but being women,...
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Guru
Everybody is talking about it… Or rather, was talking about it, and well, I’ve seen that movie too! It’s a good movie. In fact, very good in a non-Bollywood sense, because it’s good in terms of Western criteria: the subject, the rhythm, the acting, the...
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Bollywood delight
It’s been some time I’ve wanted to speak about the delight to be found in Bollywood cinema. I have already spoken about its optimism, its positive attitude towards life and humanity, but this time I want to focus more especially about this dimension of...
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Is renunciation wisdom? (Swami 2007)
Swami (2007) is choreographer Ganesh Acharya’s first try at directing a film, and in spite of some clumsiness, it’s full of good surprises. It is inspired by a desire to uphold the values of honesty, faithfulness and humanity which the director obviously...
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Dulhan ek raat ki: is tragedy more beautiful than comedy?
What do you prefer? A happy ending where the two lovers unite after having defeated the villains or convinced their parents? Or the sad one where love cannot exist because the tragic and beautiful story doesn’t permit it? DDLJ or Devdas? KKHH or Fanaa?...
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Aakrosh, cry of the wounded
Aakrosh (1980) by Govind Nihalani (whose first film it was, and who had won acclaim as Shyam Benegal’s photographer) is a sparsely told parable about the foundation of justice: should men follow the law at the expense of truth, or should they seek truth...
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Rab ne bana di jodi: for couples in crisis?
I wasn’t sure I would have the patience to sit for 2 hours and a half and watch a “Bollywood” movie once again…But somehow the old passion revived, and the magic was still there: Rab ne bana di jadoo! Let’s say, to start with, that what caught me by the...
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The sari shop
The little world of The sari shop (2003) feels very familiar; Rupa Bajwa clearly belongs to it, not only because she’s from Amritsar, where the scene takes place exclusively, but also because she’s on the side of the crowds of people who mill around its...
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If music be the food of love... Shabab
This 1954 film by M. Sadiq has qualities I wasn’t expecting. With movies that no one is reviewing or speaking about, you are faced with the unnerving problem of wondering whether you aren’t giving value to a work of art out of an idiosyncratic feeling...
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Memories of our trip to India
Here are a few flashes from the activity which marked thereturn of our trip to India and JNU in February/march: First a feedback of our (too short) stay at JNU: Here's the link: http://jnujaipur.ac.in/NewsUpdate_File/JNU%20LIVE%20Newsletter,%20Dec.2013-Mar.2014_NewsLetter-May-2014.pdf...
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Pushkar et retour
Bonjour à tous, Voilà, nous sommes revenus! Ci-dessous quelques dernières impressions avant la reprise. Merci pour les commentaires, et merci à ceux qui nous ont aidés pour faire que ce voyage soit possible! La dernière étape du voyage a donc été la petite...
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Jalsaghar, the music-room of a monomaniac
This 1958 film, Satyajit Ray’s fourth, might seem to us, 50 years away from it, a strange and slow vestige of a time when the cinema was sadly deprived of the wizardry we now love so much in it. The narration seems clumsy; the lighting is handicapped...