#SLB's Original Characters

[project-perfiful]

Epic doodle dump bc I always forget to post on here ;v;

This is mostly OC/sona ship stuff lol.

Explanation for everything, if you care :3

First comic is Ibex (dragon) and Shepard (bird), the quote is from a Game Grumps episode.

The dancy dance drawing is Ibex and Pen (my sona) doing a lil dance, they have a parent-child relationship <3.

The next two are Stellar (left) and Scythe (right). They're the lesbians ever and I don't draw them enough.

The last two are Pen and Glitch, the lovers ever 💚💜💚💜. YES I SHIP MY SONA WITH MY OC I LOVE GLITCH, XE IS PERFECTION

[ghosta-r]

Starlight Brigade: the Series

Season 2, Episode 5: The Defectors

(1/6)

i kid you not when I say this episode has rattled around in my brain like a marble for the better part of two years. so excited to finally get it out!!!

[theincorrigiblemagpie]

Kasautii Zindagii Kay (2018) E01- Yo Momma So Bengali

25-9-2018

Long time no liveblog-first-few-episodes-of-a-new-show-before-giving-up-in-disgust, no?

It’s a big one this time, folks. I am here to watch the first episode of the KZK reboot with you all!

For those who have not spent a dissipated life watching Hindi TV and/or lack context: KZK was one of Balaji's 3 original 'K-soaps', that aired between 2001 and 2008 on Star Plus. It was the story of star-crossed lovers Prerna and Anurag (who was very unnecessarily Bengali). They had 30 million impediments to their relationship and literally never got together. No jokes. Spoiler alert but they tragically died at the end of those 8 years. One main impediment was the other dude in Prerna's life, Mr Bajaj (first name: Rishabh but always 'Mr Bajaj' to the world), whom she was married to for the most part. Another major impediment was the vampiest vamp that ever vamped-- Komolika. Between the 3 main protagonists, other partners of the 2 men, and from sundry side characters, we had eleventy five children who complicated matters further through several classic 'time leaps.' The only ones I cared about were Prem and Mukti but they also had a tragic end.

The first rule of fight club, even before you begin watching this reboot, is: NEVER ship anybody. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Anyhoo, it’s time to begin.

Lots of establishing shots of Howrah Bridge, Hooghly river, Victoria Memorial and sundry Kolkata monuments so that everyone knows we’re in Kolkata.

Extreme family-function-after-a-long-time feelz as we're introduced to a dizzying cast of people (the Basu and Sharma clans) who are all...praying. Separately in their own homes, I mean. The Sharmas are a modest 'middle-class' family while the Basus are mansion-owning-wealthy. I sat and screencapped all of them for you.

Meet the Sharma parents and siblings.

Now, meet the Basu parents and siblings.

And finally, Anurag and Prerna.

Please note how the Basus get a little Durga next to their names and the Sharmas get a little Ganesh. This attention to detail is what I expect from the production house that will at some point vanish several characters with no explanation.

On a side note, I am generally pleased with Erica Fernandes as Prerna. And think Parth Samthaan as Anurag is fitting in that I always thought Cezanne Khan was also terribly lame and not hero material at all. 

It's been 23 minutes and we're still in the exposition stage. We have learned through tedious and boring conversations that Anurag is a little goody-two-shoes who is obsessively punctual and determined to carve a name for himself independent of his father's publishing empire.

He is also the college heartthrob (obv everyone goes to the same college) but he does not talk to any women (except Prerna) leading to speculation about whether he's gay. And he only talks to Prerna about the weather despite having known her for 10 years on account of their dads being friends/employer-employee/both.

Prerna shows dangerous Manic Pixie Dream Girl signs and her explanation for all nosey questions about why she doesn't try to hook Anurag is "I'm romantic and he's practical-- we're incompatible."

If I had a rupee for every romance I've read/watched where the heroine disses the hero for his lack of romantic spirit and then discovers that he is secretly not as unfeeling as she'd thought, I'd freelance without worry forever.

The writers couldn't wait for Durga Puja because it's already Durga Puja in this show's timeline. I must warn you, it's likely to be Durga Puja up until November, when it will suddenly be Diwali. 

Prerna's mom puts up a gift item stall at the big Basu puja pandal every year while her dad oversees a lot of the general admin. Mohini Basu, who is a Calcutta socialite, pretends not to recognise Prerna because she's too much of a peasant, apparently. I’m censoring several uncharitable and gross comments about the background socialites who cannot act to save their lives, and esp the girl who was supposedly Miss Calcutta the previous year.

My mom, watching over my shoulder, asked why random people were doing Durga's aarti (including Prerna and Anurag) instead of just the priests. If any of you also have this confusion, it's so that this can be a source of foreshadowing, premonition, drama and whatnot. In that vein, Anurag and Prerna accidentally ended up doing the aarti together for a bit, which only married couples do on TV.

Mohini is absolutely a let-them-eat-cake bitch but Moloy makes WhatsApp jokes about matrimony and his wife constantly so I'm feeling far more sympathetic toward her than I should.

I’m wondering how much longer they'll keep up the red and white sarees worn the SLB-Devdas way, the dhunuchi naach, and the Hindi-fied Bengali to establish Bengali-ness. Can't wait for them to forget and only revive on special occasions.

Prerna's feather-brained friend forces her to ask Anurag if he's into boys or girls which she haltingly does. Boring Anurag proves to have a strange sense of humour wherein he tells her he likes boys and pretends as though a friend is his boyfriend. LGBTQ ally Prerna says 'that's great, so glad it's legal now' and also apologizes for asking such a personal question. Ngl, Prerna has exhibited the MOST sense on this show so far (despite her occasional lapses into MPDG territory). I refer to a scene where several girls were peeking through the shutters into a locker room to ogle Anurag in a football jersey messily drinking Gatorade (yes, we had a brief Kukkad Kamaal Da moment). Prerna rolled her eyes, said "this is so embarrassing" and walked away.

Anyway, the final bit is where Prerna's brother Mahesh (who has been living under a rock all his life in Kolkata, I believe), asks the priest who the buff dude with curly hair being killed by Durga is. Priest immediately extemporizes a flowery essay on Mahishasur and Durga for our benefit. This is cut with scenes of the silhouette of a drunk man in shiny red shoes exiting a big car and smashing a bottle of whiskey and setting it on fire. He is presumably the Mahishasur to Prerna's Durga. We've also had plenty of anvil-sized hints comparing Prerna to Durga but they were tedious and I won't go into them. (But with those shoes, he could also be the Wicked Witch of the East. Idk.)

I'm hoping this one is Bajaj and he'll appear on the scene soon enough (and not be rapey, please god) so that this story can move faster.

Ok so that alcohol-fire was in an alley on the outside of this very pandal and the whole place is on fire now. In tonight's episode, Prerna and her friend will get caught in this fire and Anurag will play a Rohit Shetty hero.

I’m starting a red-dupatta count for all the separate moments a red dupatta flutters across the scene and over one or both leads, because that is an original Kasauti Thing.

In today’s episode, it happened 3 times.

[eovinmygod]

Decoding Allauddin Khilji's character in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Padmavati' Ranveer Singh       

Yogesh Pawar

While the film is titled Padmavati, there is more curiosity about this character played by Ranveer Singh    

Ranveer Singh is playing the baddie in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati, and when his battle-scarred fierce look for Allauddin Khilji (called Khalji by some historians) was released on October 3, it created a social media storm. Apart from creating a Twitter tsunami of sorts, it has also brought the focus sharply back on the second and most powerful warmonger Sultan of the Khilji dynasty who ruled over the Delhi Sultanate which included a large swathe of the Indian subcontinent from 1296 to 1316.

Sach ka saamna

“Though I’m not privy to his filmmaking process, given SLB’s obsession with mixing mythology, legend and history with the grandiose (as we saw with Bajirao Mastani) it can be safely assumed that his latest too will be a lavish spectacle. I only wish filmmakers invested as much, if not more, in researching history than recreating the historical attire, jewellery or hairstyles of that era,” rues Kolkata-based socio-cultural historian Dr Meghana Kashyap.

Details that matter

She reveals that Allauddin was a treacherous and ruthless warmonger, who killed his own paternal uncle (who had raised him like a son after his father Shihabuddin Masood’s death) and dynasty-founder father-in-law Jalaluddin Khilji to become sultan of Delhi as is evidenced in the research by eminent late historian and Khilji dynasty expert K S Lal in his books, History of the Khaljis and Twilight of the Sultanate.

Dr Kashyap says, “He took on the Mongols and chased them right past current Afghanistan into Central Asia. His subjugation of Hindu kingdoms in Gujarat (plundered in 1299 and annexed in 1304 and one of the holiest Hindu shrines of Somnath was ransacked and desecrated), Ranthambore (1301), Chittor (1303), Malwa (1305), Siwana (1308), and Jalore (1311) need to be and I’m sure will be highlighted given that they blend in well with narrative, which sets him up as villain. Given the current socio-political mood in the country I will not be surprised to see it find many takers.”

Tell the truth!

Her views find an echo with historian and Head of Department of History at Birla College Professor Shailesh Shrivastav, who wonders if SLB’s latest will repeat the historical inaccuracies of his Peshwa period drama two years ago. “Bhansali created not only a meeting, but also a dance-off between the Peshwa’s wife Kashibai and his lover Mastani when they had not even met each other ever according to historical records of that time,” he laughs and adds, “I know the filmmakers will point out to the chartbuster of a song that became and Bajirao Mastani’s box office success of making Rs 355 crore plus to scotch out any room for that debate, but it feels terrible that the world’s largest film industry is incapable of making a truly well-researched historical. We can only envy Hollywood for its historicals and can only gape in horror if SLB decides to play to the gallery.”

Ratan and Padmavati

While an eye on collections pushes filmmakers into a hagiographic dazzle trap, the way passions run high with communities and sects over every little real or imagined slight is another problem admits Srivastava.

“There is no historical record to establish Padmavati (or Padmini as she’s also called in some folk traditions). The radiant beauty, who is kept captive by her own father Gandharv Sen who wants her to marry a man of his choice. She releases her talking parrot Hiraman, who carries her litany of woes to Chittor in current Rajasthan. So moved is the ruler Rawal Ratan Singh that he sets forth on a journey guided by the same parrot to the island nation in the South to marry her,” he points out and explains, “Mind you this entire tale is based on an epic poem written by Awadhi poet Malik Mohammed Jayasi in 1540 almost 250 years after Rawal Ratan Singh’s demise.”

Fictional story?

None of the contemporary historians from Alauddin Khilji’s time even make a passing reference to the queen of Chittor while mentioning the conquest of the fort. From the early 16th century, there was a mushrooming of adaptations in various languages which added and removed elements based on their regional audiences. Over a dozen such adaptations appeared in Persian and Urdu till 19th century based on Jayasi’s work points out Dr Kashyap who underlines, “It was Rajput balladeer’s Hemratan’s 1589 composition Gora Badal Padmini Chaupai which has gained maximum popularity given the oral tradition.”

Love and war

According to her, the intense hatred for the Muslim invader made these versions dwell far lesser on the love, courtship and marriage of Rawal Ratan Singh and Padmavati and more on the honour with which they fought and died fighting against Allauddin Khilji. “British Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod of the British East India Company who heard the tale from musician-balladeers mentioned the legend in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. From there it did not take long to travel to the then capital of British India, Calcutta, spawning a series of Bengali versions. It is interesting to see how by then it had become story of a pious, chaste Hindu beauty who thwarts the unwelcome lustful advances of a Muslim invader by immolating herself.”

He wasn’t all bad

Both Kashyap and Srivastav warn against using modern yardsticks of political correctness to look at Khilji. “It is impossible to condone or justify what Khilji did. But we need to remember that those were warlike times and this was not seen as abnormal and wrong,” says Shrivastav. “While he may have been merciless with anyone challenging his suzerainty, he was also an equally able administrator and took care of his subjects well. His price control policy, under which food grains, clothing, medicines, cattle, horses, etc were sold at fixed prices, preferably low, at various markets in Delhi, made him popular with both civilians and soldiers.”

His two marriages

Alauddin entered a consanguineous marriage with Jalaluddin’s elder daughter Mallika-e-Jahan who, the ancient historian Haji-ud-Dabir calls temperamental and vain as she tried to dominate Alauddin leading to friction. To make matters worse, he decided to take on a second wife Mahru, the daughter of his brother-in-law.

Khilji’s bachabazi

Well-known author, columnist and expert of religion culture and sexuality Devdutt Pattanaik has alluded in the past to Allauddin’s fascination for bachabazi (the taking on of young boys as sex slaves, a practice still found common in Pakistan and Afghanistan). A very young Malik Kafur (who was originally Hindu or Ethiopian) was captured from the port city of Khambhat by Allauddin’s general Nusrat Khan, during the 1299 invasion of Gujarat and gifted to the Sultan. “So mesmerised was Allauddin by the boy’s beauty that he kept him for himself till his death. Given his closeness to the Sultan, he rose in the ranks to become a leading warrior who Allauddin came to depend heavily on, even letting him lead several expeditions in the South to advance his kingdom in peninsular India,” says Shrivastav.

Rise of the male lover

By 1314, Alauddin became very distrustful of everyone around except his family and slaves. Several experienced administrators were sacked, the office of wazir (prime minister) was discontinued, and even had minister Sharaf Qa’ini executed on advice from Malik Kafur, who considered these officers as his rivals and a threat. In a year when the sultan turned critical, Malik Kafur was given all executive powers and made the Naib of the sultanate. The deep emotional bond between the duo did not go unnoticed. Chronicler of those times, Ziauddin Barani (1285–1357) states: “In those four or five years when the Sultan was losing his memory and senses, he had fallen deeply and madly in love with the Malik Naib. He had entrusted the responsibility of the government and the control of the servants to this useless, ungrateful, ingratiate, sodomite.”

What’s normal?

This aspect of Allauddin Khilji’s life and how it will be depicted has generated a lot of buzz in the LGBTQIA community who hope SLB will not shy from showing the truth. Equal rights activist Harish Iyer who works for the rights of the LGBT community, women, children and animals says he found the bigotry, exclusion and homophobia of the language used to attack SLB abominable. “Why should Khilji’s bisexuality or his relationship with his male lover Malik Kafur be linked to his ruthlessness? What is with these labels of alleged ‘sexual deviance?’ Anyways ‘normal’ is also a stereotype. So, can we stop using that word to describe heterosexual people, given how it implies people of other sexualities are abnormal?”

[the-fanaddict]

Exactly!! Oh god the masakali remake makes my ears bleed. I’m totally writing an essay here but I’m passionate about Hindi music and music in general. 

It’s amazing that SLB dabbles in many different things in the filmaking process such as music, writing, directing, etc. so you know that the film is going to come out exactly how he wants it, and since he did the music, he knows how the music should relate to characters and plot and the setting.

Tbh I don’t mind the protagonist goes to a club song as much, only if it’s used correctly. Sometimes it provides a small narrative break/audience breather before/after something big happens. (Example: in Dhoom 2, Dil Laga Na was quite literally right before the climax) but tbh that formula only really works in Action movies

The thing that irks me about this remake plague is the absolute saturation of EDM, to the point where every remade song (and sometimes original songs too) sound the exact same to one another, probably thanks to Tanisk Bagchi. The Dilbar remake and Saki Saki are practically the same song musically and it doesn’t help that they’re both sung by Neha Kakkar. 

And it’s not like every remade song is bad, there are examples of great remakes that pay proper respect to the original such as Bachna Ae Haseeno, Yeh Mera Dil, Dhanno from Housefull, remade Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan songs (tbh those are more remasters than remakes), and even a few of the Judwaa 2 songs (at least for me)

But I feel these songs work for the following reasons

-They musically and lyrically keep a balance between old and new. The new stuff doesn’t completely replace the old, but it’s not a complete copy of the original either. The Bachna Ae Hasseeno remake still has that iconic trumpet beginning and keeps a similar beat to the original. The instrumentation is more of a remaster rather than a modern remake. It adds a couple of new verses, but they fit the feel of the song (unlike most remade songs today that throw in a rap verse with no rhyme or reason). The horrid Masakali remake ditches all of the gorgeous A.R Rahman instrumentation/beats and most of the lyrics of the original and replaces it with generic ass EDM with a generic ass beat

-They came out during a time when remakes weren’t as prevalent. Classic case of taking a somewhat novel idea and running it into the damn ground. Same case with current Disney remakes. Sometimes it’s okay to indulge in a little nostalgia. 

-They’re not remakes of songs that came out after 2000. Why remake Masakali?? It came out in 2008, stop making us feel old!! The only people you’re somewhat appealing are literal kids who are at most 13 and didn’t hear the original. Why remake Raabta? The original came out like, 3 years before. Because the movie has the same title as a song??? You didn’t see Dil Dhadakne Do remaking the song of the same name from ZMND. 

And don’t get me started on songs that are just remakes of Punjabi songs that came out literally the year before. Like, just use the original if you want it so bad in the film. This 2.0 bullshit reeks of unoriginality. Literally every song from Street Dancer was a remake (Bezubaan i’m willing to forgive a little because it’s technically part of the ABCD trilogy so remaking its core song makes sense).  Minimal effort was put into making its album. 

-The singers are actually, you know, good. Neha Kakkar, Tony Kakkar, Badshah, Tanishk Bachgi, and Yo Yo Honey Singh please for god sake shut the fuck up and stop killing Bollywood music. 

Anyways I went on a long ass tangent and I’m very excited to hear something that’s not EDM or Neha Kakkar

honestly the thing I’m most excited about Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s new movie is the music

not to downplay everything else because the movie looks really really good

but please I need an actually good, poetic, ORIGINAL album to cleanse the godawful state of the Hindi music industry plagued by remakes and awful lyrics

[shashankjaswalatmovies-blog]

Padmaavat Movie Review

Before reading the review there are few things i want to mention

I hardly watch bollywood movies and i especially don’t watch them in theaters (unless someone is paying for tickets) 

This was the first time i was watching a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film in theater

Don’t be a grammer Nazi kyuki humko achaa angreji nahi aata hai

& This is the first time i’m writing a film review 

Now

I’ve seen some of SLB sir’s movies before and i find them just ok, some of his movies are great though like Black and Devdas & also his movies have great production design, good music & cinematography but one thing i couldn’t bear in his movies are those hyper passionate cringy, cheezy lovers dialogues like

“Dushman se pyar nibhana har kisi ke bas ki baat nahi hai”

“Pyar ka karobaar toh bahut baar kiya hai ... magar pyar sirf ek baar”

“Ek baat hoti thi tab tum bahut yaad aati thi ... (kab) ... jab jab main saans leta tha tab tab”

They might be appealing to some people but they are a turn off for me.

Also i find SLB sir’s movies kind of unnecessarily lengthy with long song sequences & long slow motion shots

So for me a good SLB movie should have less cringy dialogue and it shouldn’t feel lengthy and here are the things that i found good and bad about Padmaavat

+VEs

1. Performances - Mashahallah!

SLB movies mostly have amazing performances and this one was no different. Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji stole the show, this must’ve been quite challenging role for him and he was amazing, in fact one of the best thing about the movie. Shahid as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Deepika as Padmaavati were good but, i hope they won’t get lost in others limelight, Jim Sarbh as Malik Kafur (good supporting actor) and one actor  (couldn’t find his real name) who played Guru Raghav Chetan were really good.

2. Dialogues - Kaafi Less Cringy

This doesn’t mean that there weren’t any cheesy dialogues but as compared to the quotes i shared above i felt this time the tone was turned down a notch instead some dialogues were even meaningful and added some weight to the situations

3. Not that Lengthy

Except for the song ‘Ghoomar’ and the starting credits i hardly felt any scene unnecessarily lengthy, maybe it was my curiosity to find something questionable (hope you guys are aware of the news) i don’t know but i was really invested into the movie. Although there are some issues with the story telling which i’ve discussed later below

4. Last Action Sequence - 

There a finale fight sequence in the end (not huge), about which i won’t reveal much, was really well shot and probably one of the best fight scene i’ve seen in a bollywood movie in a long time

-VEs

1. Storytelling - Haryana Roadways

Movie starts with no intro and directly into scenes after scenes. Characters are given hardly anytime & Padmaatvati and Ratan Singh’s love story is given quite less time instead the run time is more focused on Khilji’s character. Movie is Padmaavat and in the second and third act for sometime we hardly see much of Deepika. Also the tone of movie is little uneven, in second and third act songs just come unnecessarily and comic scenes comes all of a sudden

2. CGI & 3D work - Ouch!

Maybe it was because i watched it in IMAX 3D but i noticed a lot of poor CGI and 3D work. In some scenes it felt like there’s a just pixelated picture in background and there was this one scene in the very end where 3D just failed. I know they announced the IMAX 3D and 3D release very few weeks before the release also with all the fuzz going around but why release in 3D at all a 2D release would’ve been fine.

Also i don’t know why for some reason every female character’s face in movie got a CGI fix which really looked noticable and felt like a snapchat face filter 

3. Maybe a Lost Potential 

I’ve heard some of the snippets of the original Padmaavati story and there were some really interesting bits in it. They could have added so much interesting stuff from it in movie but movie mostly focused on rivalry between Ratan Singh & Alauddin Khilji but its still redeeming cause SLB sir and his crew were attacked by sena people during the making so maybe to not draw too much attention they must’ve taken this decision who knows

CONCLUSION

Well if you are a 

Ranveer Fan - You’re Going to Love It

Deepika, Shahid Fan - You’re Going To Like It

Bhansali Fan - Maybe Not

For those who are not anyone’s fan, It’s somewhere between an OK and a Good movie. Its an improvement from some perspective but not a big improvement and not a loss of hope for quality Indian Cinema

In the end how should i put this..... 

Well i actually used one of my expiring voucher to book ticket and i had option to either book for “The Darkest Hour” or “Padmaavat” and after watching there was this teeny little part of me that was saying i should’ve used it to watch “The Darkest Hour” 😜

[slbtumblng]

Had a sudden reunion with a pair of familiar green faces.

Cordelia and Mrs. Pepperleaf.

[slbtumblng]

Vesper ''Vampi''

You may don't know this flappingmouse, neithers he does about you.

Long ago, before little Honey Bees, fat cheeked goth chicks, japan monsters or stuff, all started with a blue flappin' rat

Now the Manbat Returns

Remember painting him greyish long ago and taller, but felt like a Bugs Bunny knock-off. (Wasn't worse when i make him went through a Sonic oc phase)

Despite being nicknamed Vampi, he pefer fruit juice.

[slbtumblng]

Powerplay-Twins powers Re-Activate

[slbtumblng]

Denki Musha

[slbtumblng]

Sandra, Mistress of the Universe ☯︎

[slbtumblng]

Tama was a spoiled lost and adopted kitten that fought a Demon Rat that invaded his home. Got badly injured with his tail split in half.

Th Pain and hate turned Tama into a cunning Nekomata, but never forgot his owner kindness.

Now He's a night vigilante that leads an army of cats

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Nekomata (猫又 ねこまた) a two-tailed or forked tailed monstrous breed variety of bakeneko. Despite not all bakenekos are mean towards their masters, Nekomata use to look upon humans with contempt. Their powers include summoning fireballs, necromancy and shapeshifting and able to act and talk like humans.

[slbtumblng]

Oyotsu-sama

Rokurokubi (ろくろ首, 轆轤首)

By day, look like normal women. By night, however, their necks ''sleepwalk'' and stretch to incredible lengths and roam around freely. They use to scare people mischievously. Seems is a curse that only affects women by their sins.

[slbtumblng]

Your quest awaits, but pick your party members wisely.