#Karan Johar films

[pariaritzia]

Ranveer Singh and Tota Roy Choudhury performing kathak, an Indian classical dance form typically performed by women, in ROCKY AUR RANI KII PREM KAHAANI (2023)

[angelstills]

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Never Say Goodbye, 2006)

[theinfinitedivides]

दर्शन. — lit. glimpse, appearance, usually in reference to an auspicious sight. ( crossposted on ao3. one-shot. alt text available in image id. )

[masalafilmsrevival]

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

[aurum-rays]

Meeta is the only reason why I go back to watching Hasee Toh Phasee, even though it has some problematic elements. Meeta and the music of the film, to be precise, but more particularly Zehnaseeb and Ishq Bulava, but that's another post.

Meeta, played by Parineeti Chopra, is shown as an intelligent girl right from childhood, along with Nikhil, played by Siddharth Malhotra. When the film opens with both our protagonists’ childhood counterparts, it's very interesting to see a young Meeta closing the door while a young Nikhil tries to open a closed door. While he does this to watch his favorite film, Agneepath, 14 years later Nikhil breaks out of his room by unscrewing the room’s windows to attend a wedding where he meets Meeta hanging by a barbed wire fence, trying to run away.

After their brief conversation, we understand that both of them have similar ideas and are alike, which we already established from the opening scene. As they say their goodbyes, Meeta asks Nikhil, whom she just met, to come to Goa with her. He doesn't, unfortunately. (He later in the film realizes how big of a mistake it was.) But this post is not about the “swooning” chemistry Nikhil and Meeta had. This post is only about Meeta as a character and how much we need more of her in the movies.

First, let me put aside a few things by saying that I absolutely despised the bade pappa who loves slapping Meeta, and the rest of her family who are at any given time passing sexist comments on the sisters. They always want their girls to wear “dhang k kapde.” Meeta’s dad is the only one who has encouraged her smarts since childhood, and I am glad that he finally takes her side during the climax. I also hated that Meeta takes all the pills at the airport (which she later pukes), which made her look like she has forgotten her goal, her lab, her colleagues, working on the project, everything basically everything she went through, all the family trauma, and the reason she came home for. It just felt extremely out of character for her. Yes, she's in love with a guy who is going to get married to her sister. I get it! But that one scene just felt… I mean… She did her PhD on her own, started her lab, her thesis and her project all without any support from family and her forgetting all of that instantly just felt out of place. But then again, “the things love makes you do,” I guess.

Now that all that's out of the way, here's why I loved watching Meeta.

Meeta is a scientist. She casually starts explaining physics concepts during conversations (the hiccup scene). She comes from a science background and all her bits and her dialogues are just straight-up facts. She's extremely intelligent and a little bit quirky and does weird stuff sometimes, although most of it is due to her medicines. But I don't blame her for it. If I had a family who constantly called me crazy, disowned me, abused me, and behaved like I didn't exist, I would be popping some pills too. The scene with her singing “Ek garam chai ki pyali ho” or even the confusion that ensues with the twin relatives at the bazaar is a laugh riot.

Meeta deserved better treatment from everyone in her family. But just Meeta as a character deserved better.

I cannot remember any other female character in Indian cinema that was showcased as a highly intellectual, nerdy protagonist. Even though Hasee Toh Phasee isn't a Meeta-centric movie (it should've been) and doesn't talk sensitively about Meeta’s conditions (most of her behavior from the meds is shown comedically), this was the only film where I was rooting for the female lead and wanted to put up Meeta’s poster in my room. I mean, where in movies do we have a female scientist protagonist, and that to a rom-com?

Even after being raised in an extremely orthodox family, she dares to dream, and with her dad’s support, she fulfills her dreams and makes a crazy invention. She knows what she wants, and she goes to extremes to fulfill her goals. The only unfortunate part of her life is her unsupportive, misogynist family who will spend money on lavish weddings but won't fund their daughter's educational needs. This is why Meeta runs away with the money.

As a physics nerd, I would've loved to see more about Meeta’s life in China, her friends, her colleagues, and her work, Or just her growing years as a science enthusiast that made her a scientist. Because Meeta, for me, felt like “finally a nerdy female character who is not shown as one of the bros or an introverted thick-rimmed glass-wearing geek or even a stereotypical tomboy.” Meeta, in my books, will always remain a superhero scientist, creator of the perpetual motion machine polymer ball whose story still needs to be told.

Meeta is not a manic pixie dream girl who's here to save the male protagonist from his depressed life and show him the “world through a different lens,” nor is she a damsel in distress who needs saving. She's here for herself. She comes home from China for her lab, her project, and her passion. Meeta is an extremely intelligent, career-driven woman who also knows that “Do half mein ek full se zyada milta hai”! 😉

[mirambles]

Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani - An honest review

I watched Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahaani because everyone I know on social media and few close folks in my real life said it was very entertaining - funny, progressive, feminist , and it showed gender equality.

So I was taken aback, because the general sentiment for KJo movies should be ‘It’s so shit, but I love it’ - that is a sentiment I can live with because we all have our guilty pleasures.

KJo has his audience who love the shit he pulls off every time he ‘directs’ a film with toxic masculinity, regressive female leads , justifying infidelity (always the answer to unhappy marriages) , glorifying Indian culture, where he adds 30 mins of melodrama and lectures to make the characters redeem themselves. Kjo’s movies are as lame as they can be, but people love them. I get it - ‘this shit is so bad, it’s so good’ category of films. Guilty pleasures are exactly this!

So sell me his new offering in exactly this manner - but all reviews and social media comments were glowing words of praise of how he has addressed today’s issues and it’s a progressive film. Are people suffering from amnesia or have they not watched better Bollywood films? Because I have a whole list of films you should watch that actually deal with ‘progressive’ mindsets - way before Kjo’s time!

Rani is a feminist. A FL as feisty news anchor who gives a 5 min lecture on men’s gaze, objectification of women and rape culture, but does an absolute U-turn 5 mins later by objectifying a handsome man in front of her. This is gender equality. Tit for Tat.

Wearing open back blouses to work is sign of new age feminism (Will I get trolled for sounding old school - has KJo ever stepped inside a corporate workspace - who dresses like Rani does?) What’s next? Women CEOs wearing bikinis? And why not get all men to dress like Rocky Randhawa - that would be peak gender equality in dress code at workplace.

Infidelity is the answer to all unhappy marriages. Remember KANK? Yes, let’s repeat that here, but let’s twist it into unrequited love between the senior citizens. Then add memory loss and illness excuse to get the 80yr old grandpa smooch his 75yr old ex-lover in front of his wife and entire family. The issue is not old age love, age is never a restriction to fall in love, the issue here is infidelity. But if this isn’t cringe enough, let’s completely destroy the most beautiful romantic number in Bollywood by playing it in the background to immortalise infidelity and later lust under the garb of love.

Let’s get back to our feminism torch bearer Rani, who has now jumped from knowing the guy for two meetings to lusting over him. She is honest with herself (not with Rocky mind you, because at no point have they had any conversation about themselves) that she is in it purely for the physical attraction, it’s just a fling for her. She is an elitist , feminist, Colombian grad, Bengali Girl (who has a terrible Bengali accent) and the crude, can’t speak English well, Gucci/Fendi wearing, Ferrari driving, protein shake drinking, loud Punjabi boy doesn’t match up to her standards. Kjo’s new level of feminism - make women pull the exact shit on men that men have put women through for decades. Tit for Tat! Gender Equality.

Btw at this point I still don’t know why Rocky loves Rani - love at first sight is always about the looks and physical attraction, so convince me why he loves her - because isn’t he this walking-talking green flag just by being understanding of his grandpa’s feelings and calling out Rani checking him out. A walking green flag who gets his grandpa’s ex-lover and his grandpa together to help his grandpa get better - because love is the cure for all illnesses. All doctors and medical researchers have been wasting their time on getting degrees and super specialisations - please enter Kjo’s school of love.

So now Rani realises she is in love - when and why and what changed her feelings from lust to love - I do not know. She drives on a 4-lane highway in the opposite direction - woman should have died there for her reckless driving, but she lives to propose to Rocky on a f&*king Highway! Bollywood I love you for pulling off this shit.

This is supposed to be the pivotal point in their relationship where she professes her love to him, going down on one knee (because hey you see role reversal - she is the feminist, the alpha female) and telling Rocky everything that HE IS NOT , listing her resume and her exes’. Therefore implying he doesn’t deserve her, but she is taking the high road and still falling for him. All the reasons she lists that she loves about him are actually about his physical aspects = Lust. She doesn’t list one meaningful quality that she actually ‘loves’ about him.

It is at this point that I gave up on the film, because after this RRKPK became a collation of scenes dedicated to social media trending topics:

1. Women burdened with household work

2. Women not liberated enough to pursue their dreams

3. Women being fat shamed

4. Cancel culture

5. Men being shamed for pursuing classical dancing (KJo research FFS - 50% of India’s top kathak dancers are males right from 1940s! )

Each topic got 1-2 scenes, tweets converted to preachy dialogues uttered by our ‘feminist’ queen and zero closures or character growth.

The only thing that works in this movie - is Ranveer , not his character, but him! He is effortless in this role, his comic timing is superb, needs some work on emotions.

Alia is a shadow of her awesome self on screen post her marriage to Ranbir. It hurts to say this, cause I have loved her in all her movies except SOTY.

Can people age gracefully, I couldn’t bear to look at Shabana Azmi and Jaya B - former was gorgeous as hell in her younger days, now is swollen with all the Botox fillers! Jaya has forgotten to act completely. Dharmendra should not even be acting anymore.

What was the point of rest of the cast? Only Alia’s dad was a decent act.

The one thing I absolutely love in KJo movies is the music and songs! These were crap too. What Jhumka? Because ruining all the songs from ‘The Golden’ decade of Bollywood was not enough, so they made a terrible mashup of Badtameez Dil & Jhumka Gira Re and killed both the songs in one go! Takes some skill doing this - well done!

Why this long rant if I disliked the movie so much, that too KJo movies? I wouldn’t have written one, if the reviews and comments were honest about the movie being average, typical entertainment; but the moment people praised it to nth level of being socially relevant with feminist heroine and gender equality - they deserved to be called out for their shallow thought process thinking that KJo actually cares about any of this stuff.

Worst people think this is ‘quintessential’ Bollywood. Please watch better films - like Amitabh’s roaring 70s, the romance films of 90s, the fun comedies, the glorious slice of life films from Hrishida, the Yash Chopra multistarrers - that’s quintessential, genuine, charm of Bollywood.

Lastly before I wrap this up - RRKPK when literally translated is Love Story of Rocky and Rani. I spent 2.5 hours on this shit show and I still don’t know the answer to why and how they fell in love! They didn’t have one decent conversation about themselves! The latter half is about them wooing their families. The film should have been aptly titled ‘Randhawa and Chatterjee Ki Prem Kahaani’ - It’s all about loving your family - K3G Part 2!

[binnte-dil]

The women in the anthology film Lust Stories (2018)

[nnmarudkar]

Why I don’t like Ranveer Singh

This is the most impulsive blog that I am writing of my entire writing journey. 😂

A teaser dropped in of Karan Johar's 'Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani'. And I liked the teaser. So when discussing with a Friend I highlighted that I do not like Alia and Ranveer but I liked the teaser due to the Karan Johar touch. And then we almost fought over why I do not like Ranveer because I was not given a good typing time in the so-called ‘debate’😁. My argument is a deal.

Why I don’t like him.

Ranveer Singh as an actor is too loud who overpowers the character.

In the times of multiple entertainment formats (Movie, web series etc) Ranveer Singh is the same everywhere. You watch Simmba, Bajirao Mastani and Ramleela or Padmavat, nothing changes apart from looks. 

He may play versatile roles but that ‘Ranveer’ energy never offloads.

He is neither the boy next door nor a goor or bad cop personality. Then what is his own?

So Ranveer Singh is a good actor. No doubt. But as a fan you fall for the personality of an actor equally. It is an era of social media. Actors want to be seen on screen and at events, airports, reality shows, weddings and funerals as well. I mean why do you think Ranveer wears flashy clothes and roams around with huge speakers at airports. To be seen. Isn't it? I do not want to see a weird man like this. I am from an era of SRK, Akshay, Ajay, Amir, Salman, Jackie and even Govinda for that matter. I accepted yellow and red pants and even ripped jeans with bare chest Salman. Our generation has accepted it all. But Salman never roamed around in public with a t-shirt off or Govinda in Yellow pants I suppose. Of course we did not have instagram then. But humans remain humans. You absorb the advisable and avoid the ignorable. 😁 Ranveer did exactly the opposite. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I some how do not fit into that transition unless its only limited to screens. These actors are still on camera but then there is a big space in between the paparazzi cams and film cameras. Ranveer just mixes it all.

Jokes apart. An actor is an actor on screen but an individual outside. Shouldn't there be a difference when you see this man in both the places? "His 'traits' are such" as my friend points. But then do you mean he is acting on the outside too? Or is he not able to get into the character because of how he is on the outside? I am really confused. Where does he take real efforts? On or off screen? So much coincidence in every role and script that his traits are so magnetic for all the makers to want him to be him everywhere? Isn't he bored of jumping and bouncing everywhere? He was hopping as Kapil Dev also. Seriously? Thank God he did not play Dhoni. 😓Didn’t we see Sushant Singh Rajput as Dhoni and Sushant both?

I remember Sushant in Shudh Desi Romance, I remember Shahid in Kabir Singh as well as Jab we met, I even remember Sonakshi in Holiday and Tapasee in Thappad as well as Naam Shabana. Do you remember Ranveer in Ladies Vs Ricky Behl? If No, I will tell you why. Because he has overdone Band Baaja Baraat all the time. Once he realized it works he decided to eat, drink and sleep on it. He enjoys the fun those young fans have when they see this over enthusiastic man. He enjoys the following for his madness.

But when the same actor sheds tears on screen it does not reach the heart because you saw him last jumping when he promoted the film repeatedly. That emotion does not register. Because the man is very shallow. He does not show different shades of human personality. I suppose he doesn’t want to. I distinctly remember Ranveer in Ladies Vs Ricky Behl, Lootera, Dil Dhadakne Do, Gully Boy and 83. Movies where we could forget him as Ranveer and only watch Kabir, Murad or Ricky. In Fact he has done really amazing as all of them. As an actor he himself does not want to showcase various strokes as an artist. He can carry some roles naturally with ease like ‘Kabir’ in Dil Dhadakne Do. I loved him in that film. But you see him purely acting there because you have seen that of him very less. I am sure people will say 'film hai acting nahi karega toh kya karega'. But when that acting shows on the face of an actor in 2015 who debuted in 2010, you know it's a long way to go. Pagalpanti wala formula hit hai.

When I compared him to Govinda. My friend just rubbished the comparison saying ‘how can they be the same. Are Shahid and Ranveer the same?’ Now, let's answer that argument. Shahid comes from a horribly dysfunctional family background. Yet you see a calm and composed man when you see Shahid in real life. Nobody knows what happens in their personal lives. But when you see the man, you identify with his ‘traits'. Imagine Shahid hopping around and smiling unnecessarily to hide the misery. How do we judge this man called Ranveer? Shouldn't you be able to point out a difference between Simmba and Ranveer?😁 He is a next level mad man. Even the bad man is good in real life. 😂

People like me are in the minority. But we enjoyed all types of actors. When we saw the same people outside the films they were different people. So we knew Jackie Shroff as a good actor and Jackie Shroff as a rugged man with filthy Hindi. It never bothered me because when I heard him speaking Hindi in movies he was the most ideal man anybody could wish for. As a fan I see a lot of them everywhere today. So I can expect a lot from them on screen too. Govinda gets an upperhand there because apart from films I only saw him in awards or some red carpet. But today the way actors are 'available' for paps I will judge you over every small act. 😜

For example ‘83’. Great job here but when promoting Ranveer failed to imbibe even 20% of Kapil Dev’s calmness. Too loud. So what you see is Ranveer Singh again. I believe if the actor is playing a role he/she should be able to carry it for some time to make people believe in your work. You are not the same in office as home and vice a versa. Some dignity is required. Just because you belong to the entertainment industry you do not get the liberty to act like a retard everywhere and yet be loved for ‘he is so energetic’ nuisance. Otherwise you may swim in insanity. I am very sure it’s just pretending. He is not the way he shows us to be. Even Deepika tried this madness but then immediately bounced back. You cannot keep on pretending. This man is a constant nautanki. ��

You can’t blame Ranveer completely. Because we have not seen the real Peshwa Bajirao we believed Ranveer did a fine job. After all it was Sanjay Leela Bhansali who made us believe. Ranveer was not even close to a Marathi common man yet people went gaga over him. Personally I feel he sounded just like Ram from Ramleela. Let's not go to the dance for even a second. But Rohit Shetty just proved me right because he could not remove a Singh out of Ranveer to play a Bhalerao. Do not worry, I googled Simmba. ☺️

You are not just a fan of one movie but collectively an actor's work and how he behaves in reality. Ranveer Singh confuses me. And confusion cannot entertain. Hence he fails to be liked by me. 🙂

Now we plan Alia Bhatt war! ⚠️

[zionistsinfilm]

When you buy or stream Koffee with Karan, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..., Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Student of the Year, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Yodha, Mr. & Mrs. Mahi, you're giving money to zionists. Karan Johar welcomed Netanyahu.

[kashmirichaiwithmehr]

The Romantics episode 3 out of context:

[anotherfanaccount]

This song is so sad and so beautiful. Makes me like Dev and Maya for a brief moment. You can feel their pain, their loneliness, their need for each other so well here.

Songs in Indian films are so so important and I want the filmmakers to get back to making good music regardless the movie. Please give us glorious albums we can possess as treasures.

[angelstills]

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Never Say Goodbye, 2006)

[theinfinitedivides]

girlies how we feeling about the Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani teaser

[masalafilmsrevival]

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006)

[musiquesduciel]

Just finished watching Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and although I know the movie is based in New York, Sweetu has such strong british-indian energy.

[loverofallthingssmart]

i am not immune to a bumbling idiot who looks good in everything he wears