#bollywood movies 2019

[spookypeacephantom]

[bell-of-indecision]

✨I ranked all the indian stuff I watched in 2023✨

For context, this July I finally gave in to my decade-old urge and dove head first into indian culture. It's been nothing short of phenomenal. The more people I meet, the more foods I try, the more music I listen to, the more Hindi I learn, the more I fall in love with India.

Although I became more of a TV serial person, eventually, I gave in to the movies as well.

So here's everything I watched, ranked from worst to best.

(I'm sorry in advance)

10. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

This movie is useless, I'm so sorry. Somehow, it fooled me into thinking Naina was the main character, then the whole thing became about Bunny and I was so confused, who was I supposed to care about anyway? Can't complain though, Naina is a boring and uncharismatic cliché, I couldn't care less about her, had she disappeared midway into the story, I would've been thankful. Avi, Bunny, and Aditi, on the other hand, are loveable characters that deserved to be in a better movie — especially Aditi, I liked her so much. Too bad the movie seems to be about absolutely nothing. There was a message, I think, but it felt so shallow it didn't even matter to me, there was no actual relevance, no lesson, no impact, nothing. Maybe I'm stupid, but this movie is a drag. And the soundtrack SUCKS, Ilahi is the only good song in it.

2.8/10

9. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2

The very first Bollywood movie I've ever watched. I wanted to like it so bad, it makes me sad that I didn't. Is it a comedy? A horror story? A dramatic murder mystery? Somehow, it's all of these and none at the same time, it can't decide on a tone to save its life, not even the humor can decide on what exactly it wants to be (most of it is just bad). The main couple has negative chemistry, their romance is so bland it's almost funny. Ruhan carries the whole movie on his back and is the only character with enough charisma to make me care, I honestly love this guy. His scene where he pretends to be possessed is incredible, and Tabu as Anjulika was great too. The plot twist was really nice, possibly the only good thing about the whole story, but then the movie ends so abruptly and on such a heavy note that it almost made me sick when the upbeat theme song started playing immediately after. This movie could not read the room, everything about it throws me off.

4/10

8. Jab We Met

Aditya is a dream, Geet is kind of a nightmare. I have nothing against characters that are lively, optimistic, and cheery, but they have to be bearable, she was just way too much for me. I loved Aditya's character development, it was fun and endearing to watch. The movie itself is not bad, just overrated. Nagada Nagada slaps though.

6/10

7. War

I wanted to love this movie just as much as it wanted to have a good twist. We both failed. Underestimating the audience's intelligence is one thing, but toying with us and making us feel like fools for the sake of a “big reveal” is something else. And no, it wasn't worth it. It wanted to be surprising, but it was just frustrating, shocking for all the wrong reasons. The action was fire though, no complaints there, and I loved the relationship dynamic between Kabir and Khalid, I would watch 11 seasons of those two going on missions with their team and fighting together, their chemistry is so good, I enjoyed every second of their scenes.

6.4/10

6. Arjun: The Warrior Prince

As a Mahabharat fan, I had hopes, but that's on me. Loved the way the story was presented to the audience, simple but brilliant. Shaheer Sheikh's Brihannala altered my brain chemistry, and I was elated to see her again. The animation was gorgeous, that goes without saying. I just hated how it ended right before the war, right where Arjun has some of his best moments, and hated even more how they practically erased Krishna from the story. At least they made him dark skinned this time.

6.7/10

5. My Name is Khan

Had this been based on a true story, I would've been the biggest fan of this movie to ever exist, I am a sucker for movies based on real life stories. Still, despite the disappointment of finding out this whole thing — as good as it was — was fictional, I see it as a touching, lovely, honest, and relevant story that kept me interested and broadened my horizons. Say whatever you want about allistic actors playing autistic characters, Shah Rukh Khan sold the heck out of this character and I bought it like the big neurodivergent fool that I am. I see a neurodivergent character onscreen, I am immediately on-board and loving them despite all their scripted flaws because “they're just like me fr”. "Marry me", indeed.

7/10

4. Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

Is it innovative and groundbreaking? No, but it is so much fun. It's deep and honest enough, charismatic and funny enough, it's just good entertainment with a good message. I expected nothing to be honest, either way, the story just kept getting better? The dynamics kept getting deeper and more complex? Wait a minute, this was actually good! I went in for the soundtrack — I'm obssessed with Dhindhora Baje Re — but I stayed for everything else. I laughed out loud many times, I shed some tears, I rooted, man, this movie made me feel actual things! What a lovely surprise.

7.9/10

3. The Railway Men

I went into it with such high hopes. Some of them were met, but part of me was left unsatisfied. As I said before, real stories are my favorite, but the way this show was presented feels too much like fiction. Good fiction, but still. And I know it’s not fiction. I am aware that many creative liberties were taken, and I'm not against them, at all, but the thing is: I could see them, I knew they were there. When I watched HBO’s Chernobyl, I was fully convinced that everything that was presented in the show was reality, exactly how it had happened, and I doubted nothing. I was shocked when they revealed that Ulana Khomyuk was a character created to represent many scientists that were involved in the incident. I had eaten her up, and I still can't believe she wasn't a real person. The Railway Men feels like the opposite of this, most of it feels like a creative liberty, very little reads as a real event, a real interaction, or a real person. I doubted a lot of what I saw, and had to do some research to fully understand what exactly had been real. But like I said, it was still good. I found myself caring deeply for each and every character, no matter how minor, I deeply empathized with their pain, rooted for them, cried with them, cried for them. It's heartbreaking, gut wrenching, revolting, yet it still manages to be inspiring. Why I never learned about Bhopal before watching this show is beyond me, but at any rate, I will be recommending this show to everyone I know.

8.1/10

2. Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva 

I will defend this movie's honor, I don't even care. I loved it so much that I made my mom watch it with me the next day, and she loved it. The dialogue is cringy, yes, unbearably so, some lines make my skin crawl. But COME ON, the plot is great, the concept is creative, the visual effects are wonderful, the soundtrack is divine —Mohan is dreamy— hear me out, I was hooked, on board, immersed, you name it. This movie made me feel so excited, I felt like a 7-year-old watching a super hero movie and wanting to have cool powers just like those, I honestly can't remember the last time a movie made me feel this energetic. Do I understand why Shiva and Isha were so deeply in love despite having met each other a week ago? No, but I was still rooting for them. Do I understand why sometimes people yell out the Astra’s powers in order to activate them like the Power Rangers? No, neither do I vibe with it, but do you think it mattered? The next moments were so freaking cool that I completely forgot what I wanted to complain about. (Oh, and Saurav Gurjar was in it! I gasped so loud when I saw him on screen, and playing a villain no less!) I was genuinely sad when it ended, I would've watched three more hours of that, despite the terribly written lines. I will fight for this movie and forgive every bad line of dialogue if it kills me.

8.7/10

1. Mahabharat (2013)

In case you haven't noticed, I am absolutely obssessed with Mahabharat. Initially, I’d decided to face the 267 episodes of this show because watching stuff in your target language is a good way to learn (also, that Krishna guy was very easy on the eyes, looking at him a bit more surely wouldn't hurt). It took me a few episodes to really get into the story, but once I did, oh boy, I was so hooked on the plot I even forgot about the language (although I did learn some words from it). The thing about this show, other than the freaking superb plot and phenomenal cast, are the characters. They all made me feel something. And that's the thing with characters, I believe, they don't necessarily have to be good or bad, morally speaking, they have to be well-written and entertaining, they have to make you feel things, positive or negative. Shakuni, a villain, was freaking great because of how good he was at being bad. And the good guys, like the Pandavas, weren't just good, that'd be boring, they were also charismatic, unique, funny, inspiring, and sometimes morally grey, which made them even more interesting, even more human. Watching them get in conflict with their morals when things got dark was insane. Even when they messed up —I'm looking at you Dharmraj— I still wanted to see them win. They felt like family, I watched them grow, I felt so close to them that their struggles and victories felt like my own. “My boys”, I call them. Mahabharat is my Roman Empire, man, I could talk about this show for HOURS. Anyway, this became my favorite show of all time and I'm so glad I didn't let the number of episodes scare me away. (And yes, I am still very much in love with Saurabh Raaj’s Krishna, he is probably one of my favorite characters ever, my heart raced when I first saw him and it still does to this day, BYE)

9/10

Oh, this ended up being a Top 10. Nice.

I both thank you and applaud you for reaching the end of this ramble that is ultimately just a result of my obsession with making lists and ranking literally everything. And also my admiration for indian culture.

I would've included Porus and Chandragupta Maurya but I'm not yet finished watching them, but I thought I should say: I am liking them a lot.

What do you people think I should watch next year? Recommendations are welcome!

✨🇮🇳 ✨

[filmyfact]

War 2: Release date, cast, plot and everything we know

Tiger Shroff vs. Hrithik Roshan Currently starring Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR, YRF's Spy Universe War Franchise sequel is slated for release in 2025. The highly anticipated sequel to the 2019 action-thriller flick War, starring Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan, is already generating headlines. Here, we'll give you all the information you need to know about War 2, like the release date, cast, and more, directed by the legendary Siddharth Anand.

[hsmagazine254]

Mega Cinemas Kisumu Cinema Guide: 5th-11th April 2024 - Monkey Man

MEGA CINEMAS KISUMU Nakumatt Mega City, KISUMU KENYA   MOVIE OF THE WEEK Monkey Man Monkey Man- A young man ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he’s beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, he discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma…

[doloresclaiborne]

I've started a new fanfic series after watching the movie War with Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. I decided to give Khalid the happy ending he deserves. I'm obsessed with this movie. I need someone to look at me the same way Khalid looks at Kabir...

[lastofthe20thcenturygirls]

ykw i was gonna say something but now i won't nope wtv live your life idc won't bother you as long as i can help it

[nicolos]

considering the position in which war (2019) places kabir and khalid both, there's something very interesting in the construction of two opposing loyalties which cannot be synthesised - especially taking into consideration the sheer dramatic gayness involved

spoilers for the film below

from pretty much the start of the film, war establishes love for family and love for country as oppositional motivations. this is true for khalid and naina especially, but also kabir and, where applicable, saurabh.

khalid's entire backstory, including his very important disability, is based in the imagined idea that treason is in the blood - as well as his insistence that it isn't. khalid's father's betrayal was met with a betrayal within the family, which he also voices pretty directly: his mother sacrificed her husband for her country.

khalid says a number of times that he's his mother's blood, but objectively he's both: he runs after saurabh and doesn't return because his motivation is not just country, though it is obviously a big part of it - it's family. it's giving his mother justice and vindication, though both khalid and the film frame that vindication as based in being related to somebody who is loyal rather than, you know, having her husband or son be alive and well

naina, in contrast, isn't here for loyalty or glory. she's here because she wants her daughter to have a good life, which is what kabir is offering her. she's the one that makes the statement here: somebody who belongs to nobody can't be trusted. if kabir wants to be a martyr, he has no ties holding him in place, but it is ironically these ties that kill both naina and khalid, and a strange parallel opposite that keeps him alive.

naina's position is fascinating mainly because her presence in the operation is just for what it gives her. the film doesn't really shy away from making broad statements about why people defect or commit treason - saurabh says clearly enough that his own betrayal is monetary, and khalid also implies that they are lacking for money at home. when kabir offers naina money and the possibility to live with ruhi, what he's offering is objectively not that different from what saurabh, rizwan, feroze or anybody else are gaining from what they do, which is - money. security. whatever.

in contrast, there is not a lot to be gained in serving one's country. the film proves this time and again: naina and khalid both die rather senselessly - even if they achieve their goals after the fact i.e. giving ruhi a ""more comfortable"" life / making the rahman family recognised for the right thing - as does every "honest soldier" in the film, barring kabir. this is a pretty common line through action or spy or soldier films, the message that serving your country is an end unto itself, and that it gives you nothing but martyrdom: this is a recruitment tactic for honour seekers. this is nothing new

but in context of the dynamic war creates between kabir and khalid, this becomes something interesting. proposing to read that as the primary relationship of the film - with added context of kabir's previous primary relationship being with "his partner", who was killed by khalid's father. kabir states himself that his only relationship is to his country; nonetheless, his motivations through the film are deeply personal, from his initial rejection of khalid because of who his father was, to his obsession with ilyasi, even to the way he kills saurabh ("you don't deserve that face"). the film tries to make a case for his being motivated by naina's death, but the fact is that his treatment of naina doesn't really offer any reason to believe he was motivated by anything but her death being because he wasn't quick enough to figure it out

in establishing kabir as a man that cares only for his nation and his team, the film makes it more plausible for him to be experiencing a partnership with khalid (or his late partner) than it does with naina, putting him in a fundamentally isolationist position.

but naina's death creates another point of contrast for him. she says pretty clearly: she has children and he does not. reading kabir as a gay man, the position she occupies is one that he can never hold himself, because the loyalties of family are impossible for him in the very country he serves. it's exactly what he says at the end: he cannot achieve within the system what he achieves outside of it, because the system has no space for him to form these loyalties outside of the bounds of service

that's part of the flawed logic of war propaganda: the message has to be that there is nothing before the nation, but the very concept of nation, safety and security are deeply tied to personal notions of kinship and oneness. we're here to defend our good people, our families. a soldier with no family to defend cannot be an effective propaganda machine, which is why ruhi is essential to introduce as soon as we switch from 'khalid's' pov to kabir's. but even ruhi is a secondary motivation at best, all but forgotten in the scenes she isn't in - in the rest, his motivation is: his team ("my team is my family. im responsible for their safety").

whatever loyalties he does have are also tested early on, with him being asked to work with the son of the man who killed his partner (even if he later proves himself trustworthy), and again repeatedly as he becomes suspicious that somebody in his organisation is responsible for the death of his team . in a film and an envt where their very presence at his side is a threat to them - and their well-beings, barring khalid, are linked to a number of others' - kabir is constantly in a position of having to defend their lives against their loyalty or see them lose it because they hold the exact ideals he does. he cannot put their lives or well-being before the requirements of the mission or the system, because the system metonymically substitutes itself for its members: betraying the mission for the sake of the people carrying it out is betraying the people carrying it out.

kabir's success at the end is in fact hinged on his relation with his team - if not the homoerotic dynamic developed with khalid early on. his trust for khalid is because of their parallel dedication to the country, which in khalid's sake is split, but not without being in the same direction as kabir's. reading "faith for the country" as just "faith to the fellow soldier" and extending that to "faith to this guy specifically" (because, let's face it: kabir doesn't trust any of his superiors, or really anybody outside his direct teammates for the majority of the film), which is a fairly obvious and direct parallel to the emotional resonance of a relationship to make, kabir first comes to trust khalid because he sees the same dedication in khalid that he experiences himself. its practically gaydar

it is this exact thing that later saves his life, too. it's not really about observational abilities, the discovery of a very personal (and very immediately relevant to kabir!) backstory that led to an invisible disability. they might as well be having sex on screen. kabir recognises the consequences of treason (the prioritising of worldly goods, as linked to betrayals for the well-being of family) in khalid and remembers them: seeing their absence is what tips him off to khalid's replacement and saves his life in the end

pls do note that i don't like the metaphor of propagandistic love for nation as homosexuality - what i'm trying to emphasise is not that these things are the same or that the film is in any way really drawing a parallel. what i am discussing here is the nature of acceptable and unacceptable motivation and storytelling in a film that depends greatly on well-utilised tropes and concepts in order to pursue the story it's telling. i am just looking at the parallels and what story they tell when examined in context of that allegory, and particularly what it means from the perspective of the position that a system like this places its participants, even its most loyal ones, in

this becomes relevant in the end, too, with saurabh, when he graduates from pawn to whatever piece he wants to be. his goals are stated directly, though vague, and he makes an oblique reference to religion but it doesn't seem to hold much even within the film - though frankly it IS dangerous (and would be irresponsible if it weren't so fucking obvious). regardless, what he values primarily seems to be his own life and [monetary] well-being, and while he recognises the value of family, falsely IDing kabir's relationship with naina and ruhi that way, he doesn't seem to recognise the value of loyalty (or its allegorical significance)

this is why it actually blew me out of the water when he attempted to stab kabir in the eye, a fantastic callback to kabir shooting khalid's father in the eyes, which saurabh probably knows fuck all about too. the whole fight taking place in a church - the film is really one about personal betrayal lol, the judas parallels are ...unexpected but strong - the stabbing through the palms, the caving in of the support structures and the roof, are all great metaphors in that direction. and kabir's parting shot!!! "you're unworthy of this face. i won't let you die with it" girl?

by the end of the film at least, kabir is perfectly aware that he cannot operate within this system. i think it's why it's relevant to show aditi at her wedding, and the little joke about her eloping with kabir. he can't accept what any of them have, and it is because he can't accept this that he can never continue within the system. kabir's actions may have been justified from his [and the viewer's] end, but they are based on the sole justification of his word and happenstance proof - and, considering the actual positions of the people who he killed, become dangerously unreliable if there were to be any degree of higher level intervention. everyone he killed could be - and were - considered important cogs of the defensive or military infrastructure, and it is only kabir's highly concentrated loyalty only to the fellow that recognises them otherwise. this is because he's the main lead, yeah, and not without help, but imagine selling that story to anybody else?

to emphasise: nobody at any point in this film is surprised at the sheer number of betrayals that happen in this film. not once! because betrayal [for whichever reason] is at the core of the understanding of loyalty in this film. yeah, why wouldn't all these people turn against each other? the only one who is questioned for his motivations repeatedly is kabir - and the moment saurabh draws the line from him to naina and ruhi, that questioning also is at an end.

i think this is why kabir allows the reality to be sublimated into a story of khalid being martyred in the pursuit of his loyalty, a story which is as much about family - as seen by the emphasis on nafisa in that scene - as it is about anything else, and which allows the entire incident to be wrapped up with a neat little propagandistic bow, a story that's easy to sell, of a boy who was punished by his father's choices and makes the opposite ones for his mother [and mother india]

tl;dr war accidentally or on purpose or both becomes a story that has fuck all to do with the country - outside of the obvious propaganda elements - and everything to do with the juxtaposition of family, i.e. motivations that the system can accept, and the un-directed loyalty that cannot and does not accept any form of betrayal as anything but personal, because it cannot be redirected anywhere but at the fellow-soldier, homoerotically or otherwise, which can never be accepted by the system because it is too undiluted by acceptable irregularities such as betrayal

war actually does something very interesting in placing family and nation as counterpoints. hold on. gathering thoughts

[jgroffdaily]

‘A Nice Indian Boy’ will be released theatrically early next year, and then will be available on streaming (no further details available yet)

Jonathan Groff singing Bollywood tunes is the centerpiece of “A Nice Indian Boy,” a groundbreaking gay rom-com that’s heating up the BFI London Film Festival.

Director Roshan Sethi and stars Groff (“Mindhunter,” “Glee,” “Doctor Who”) and Karan Soni (the “Deadpool” franchise) are challenging Hollywood norms with their cross-cultural love story, which debuted at SXSW. It aims to bring a fresh perspective to both LGBTQ+ and South Asian representation on screen.

The genesis of the project traces back to 2019, when Levantine Films optioned Madhuri Shekar’s play of the same name and Eric Randall adapted it as a screenplay. Sethi came aboard in 2021 after the producers saw his previous film “7 Days.” He then approached his real-life partner Soni to co-star. Groff signed on after watching “7 Days.”

“I do think what’s interesting about the current era of ‘diversity films’ is that they tend to be very homogeneous. They’re all Asian or they’re all Indian, or they’re all black or they’re all white, in the exact opposite case, and the reality of our world is that we’re all mixed up with each other in tangled, messy ways. And this movie very much reflects that, because you have a meeting of cultures,” Sethi says.

For Groff, who plays a white character adopted by Indian parents, the role required immersing himself in a culture he was largely unfamiliar with. “I had never seen a Bollywood movie. I didn’t know anything about this culture in general,” Groff says. His preparation included watching the Bollywood classic “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (DDLJ) to nail a pivotal musical moment in the film.

This scene, featuring Groff’s character singing the evergreen “Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jana Sanam” from “DDLJ,” is a highlight of the film. “I didn’t know that he was going to do, like, a falsetto, la, la, la, la, la – that trilling thing,” Sethi says. “Everyone was turned on,” Soni adds.

Despite the cultural specificity, Groff found the family dynamics surprisingly relatable. “I, immediately from the first take of the first scene, couldn’t believe how familiar it all felt,” he says. “Even though there was a stark difference in culture, it was so heartwarming to see that families are families, no matter what culture you’re in.”

The production faced significant challenges, primarily due to a compressed timeline. Sethi reveals they had just four weeks of pre-production and a 21-day shoot with six-day weeks. “We were just like this tiny indie movie that was crammed in between these other much larger, broader circumstances,” he says, referring to Soni’s commitment to “Deadpool” and the then-looming SAG-AFTRA strike.

Financing the film also proved difficult. “We barely got this movie made. We barely found the money. We struggled for years,” Sethi says. He notes that Groff’s involvement was crucial in securing funding. “None of the Indian actors are deemed meaningful enough to obtain financing,” Sethi explains, calling Hollywood “one of the most racist industries in America.”

For Sethi, who still practices medicine, the film represents a personal milestone. “I was closeted six years ago, and now I got to make this movie, which is highly personal,” he says. “I could never have imagined when I was like, walking around the hospital as a straight doctor, watching [HBO’s] ‘Looking,’ that I was going to like be out, much less like be making this movie.”

“A Nice Indian Boy” is set for a theatrical release in the first quarter of next year, with streaming plans to follow. The filmmakers are optimistic about its commercial prospects, citing positive responses from diverse test audiences. “When we were testing the movie among audiences, the highest scoring audience was always white women,” Sethi notes.

The team hopes the film will resonate beyond niche audiences. “Part of the other issue with the so-called diverse film and representation movements is that they’ve made those movies feel like they are for niche audiences,” Sethi says. “The truth is diversity should be an opening up of storytelling where you’re finding more and more interesting and more new stories to tell people, but just vitalize art. They don’t splinter it, they don’t make it more niche. They vitalize it.”

As they prepare for the film’s wider release, the cast is moving on to new projects. Soni is set to star in the thriller “Fade to Black,” while Sethi is working on a new romantic comedy script where he’s “going back to straight people.” Groff, fresh off his Tony win for “Merrily We Roll Along” on Broadway, is returning to the Great White Way with “Just In Time,” a new musical about the life and times of singer Bobby Darin.

[best-movie-ever-tournament]

Om Shanti Om:

Incredible movie about a failed Bollywood actor in the 70's who falls in love with a popular actress, they both get killed and he's reincarnated as the son of a superstar and get his revenge. It's an hommage to Bollywood movies from the 70's, and it also marks the end of 2000 area Bollywood. It also as the best Bollywood song ever https://youtu.be/2drIKUOCZxU

A real love letter to Bollywood. My favorite number is when a bunch of Bollywood stars make cameo appearances. It’s like a Bollywood Royal Rumble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLG6OqOcn8

Steven:

Will forever love how one of the songs in here made it to the top rankings of the most beloved songs in the series and that song was essentially "Fuck You and Your Entire Family, Shitlips (Electroswing ver.)"

Other Friends, Disobedient, system/BOOt.PearlFinal (3).Info, Drift Away, all great.

[liaazhang]

april • she/her • intp • 16 • indian • bi • multifandom mess • bollywood enthusiast •

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

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i don't do chain asks anymore, so please don't send them <3

currently watching: gossip girl ; how i met your mother

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artists I love

taylor swift • olivia rodrigo • sabrina carpenter • conan gray • halsey • gracie abrams • maisie peters • renee rapp • chappell roan and most importantly - random bollywood songs

movies

pride and prejudice (2005) • mean girls (2004) • the star wars films • legally blonde • little women (2019) • into the spiderverse and across the spiderverse • the school for good and evil • bollywood films like yeh jawani hain deewani, jab we met, dil dhadakne do, 3 idiots, zindagi na milegi dobara etc etc

tv shows

friends • brooklyn nine nine • modern family • how i met your mother • the good place • parks and recreation • gilmore girls • loki • ms marvel • wandavision • a series of unfortunate events • never have I ever • julie and the phantoms • 911

books

keeper of the lost cities • the pandava quintet • riordanverse • grishaverse • the land of stories • hunger games trilogy • a good girl's guide to murder • the seven husbands of evelyn hugo • the inheritance games • the lunar chronicles • lockwood and co • daisy jones and the six • pride and prejudice • emma • the naturals • five survive • the reappearance of rachel price • the one of us is lying trilogy • the school for good and evil • I hope this doesn't find you • and too many more to count <3

• I may listen to and like taylor swift's music but i most definitely do not support the problematic things she has done, nor do i support her silence about the ongoing Palestinian genocide

• dividers by @cafekitsune !!

• you're welcome to send asks and interact :D DMs are always open as well!!

• feel free to tag me in any post you think id like! (bonus points if its related to cats)

• I tend to swear sometimes

• DNI : basic dni criteria - creeps, racist, homophobes, transphobes, zionists, jkr supporters etc

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• english isn't my first language so please excuse me if I make any grammatical errors!!

moodboard by @skeelly <33

[papercupids]

people we meet on vacation - jeong yunho

pairing -> jeong yunho x gender neutral!reader. (they/them used)

summary -> after bumping into what you call, the love of your life at a vaction once, you found that there was no way to find out more about him. 4 years later, when you've lost all hope, you finally find him and he's your boyfriend's bestfriend.

genre -> slice of life kinda (?), strangers to lovers.

warnings -> a bunch of curses, a tattoo, mingi is a real dick (sorry, had to be <3), it goes back and forth between the past and present a lot but its all labelled that's all though.

word count -> 4255 words.

a/n -> this fic isn't in anyway related or inspired by the book of the same name by emily henry, it's just that the title of the book went along with the fic's themes so i rolled with it :) a tiny, tiny part of it has been inspired by the first half of the bollywood movie, tamasha. and and, lastly, all the translations were taken from google translate so if you find any mistakes you know who to blame. ok bye, enjoy.

PRESENT, SEOUL, 2023.

“Are you ready, babe?”

Mingi calls out from the living room, tying up the laces to his boots. You took one last glance at yourself in the mirror and then called out in agreement. 

“Let’s go,”

when you're in the car with him, you look out of the window, watching the daylight completely drown out slowly. and then you look at your boyfriend, who is focused on driving. you're both going to his friend's birthday dinner and since it’s only been about 2 months of you both dating, it is one of the first time you're meeting his friends, having heard a lot of great things about them already.

he notices you looking at him and gives you a smile before giving his full attention to the road again.

mingi isn’t a bad person, you know that. but for some reason, there has been no one who'd been able to catch your attention fully or make you stay for even a month. the 2 month mark with mingi was a huge thing for you.

But then you visibly wince when you remind yourself about the texts. 

Never could you ever imagine that your tendency to never commit to anyone would bite you back in this form. 

When you finally feel secure enough with someone, you find out that they’ve been cheating on you. 

Mingi wasn’t a bad person, you convince yourself. It was just your karma.

when you reach the parking lot of the restaurant, mingi tells you to wait, he unbuckles his seatbelt and then gets out of his seat and slams the door shut and runs to get yours.

when you give him your hand, he kisses it gently, whispering a little into your ear.

"my angel looks so pretty tonight,"

and he holds out his arm for you to clasp yours into.

"ever the gentleman," you kiss his cheek.

as you enter through the glass doors of the hotel, you spot a lot of people, a bunch of foreigners going about, someone trying to check in, and people like yourself, here just for dinner.

"excuse me, what way is the banquet?" mingi asks on the front desk.

"oh, are you mr. kim's guests?"

"yes, yes,"

"straight from here, last room on the right,"

"okay, thank you," 

"___, can you go ahead? i need to take this call, i'll be there in 5,"

"let me wait for you?"

"oh, just introduce yourself, i really gotta take this,"

you were a little irritated (understatement) but decided to go ahead anyway, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?

and as you step inside the white tiled room with a huge chandelier in the middle, and golden lit lights, you think you might be dreaming.

no, not because of the ambience. but because of the person sitting there, looking up at you, as surprised as you were.

PAST, CURÇAO ISLANDS, SUMMER, 2019. 

"who? what? why?"

"well, i don't know, i didn’t he would show up here when i told him we were coming here,"

"oh god," 

to say you were exhausted would be an understatement. your friend, jae-i and her "situationship" with the university playboy, kim sungwon was famous and you hoped that you could try to get her away from him during this vacation but turns out, old habits die hard. she claims she only told him that she was going for a vacation and apparently, he was here and "begging for forgiveness," because he deeply thought about how wrong his actions were.

"you know what, do whatever you want to, because to hell with our vacation, and don't you dare come to me when he breaks your heart again,"

you slam the door and get out. you weren’t that harsh and you did feel like you went overboard but she needed it. you would come back later anyway.

The bar was a couple blocks away from the cottage that you’d rented and it was right on the beach, a bunch of wooden chairs and tables and people enjoying their exotic coloured drinks, each one of them speaking in different languages. 

Speaking of languages, you weren’t quite sure of dutch. You knew the typical “hallo (hello),” and “ik ben nieuw hier (i’m new here),” but the basics was where it ended. 

“Um, hi,” 

“waar kan ik je mee helpen (how can i help you)?”

“English?”

He made a disappointed face. “No english, de werknemer die Engels kent, heeft pauze (the employee who knows English is on break),”

With a mental facepalm, you realize you’d even left your phone and wallet back where jae-i was, and you had no intention of facing her, especially if there was a possibility that the asshole would be there, and there was no point in trying to order without money anyway. 

“Nevermind, Bedankt (thank you),” he snickers at your accent but nods anyway. 

“Oh no, no, let me get that for you,” a tall man, absolutely gorgeous, with the looks of someone who could easily pass off as a well known celebrity appears beside you. 

“What do you want?”

“Its fine, i was just leaving,”

“Relax, i’m not a creep, just trying to help, you can pay me back later,”

“Oh, well, okay,”

A few minutes later, you and the handsome stranger were both seated on the wooden stools, he was taking in the sun without a lot of struggle since he brought sunglasses, meanwhile you, well, let’s just say it was a bad day for you. 

a little away from the arrangement of chairs there was a live band, some music playing as a couple danced, and then later the others joined as the tune got more upbeat.

As you sipped on the oddly coloured drink you’d seen a lot of people drinking, he turns to you, “so what’s your story?”

“Ah, well, i came here with my friend thinking it would be a little time before she could be away from her shitty ex, but guess what? He’s here,”

“Interesting story, i mean, sucks for you, but, it’s a nice plot,”

“Is that so? What’s yours?”

“Not much of a story, my one of my friends is getting married in september and the other is going to take over as ceo of his father’s company after this summer so we all decided on this trip as something of a milestone,”

“It would get harder to meet after this so,”

“Oh got it, got it,”

"wait, we never exchanged names,"

“I’m yunho,”

“I’m ____,”

he gets up, "in my opinion, You know, what you should do? Enjoy your trip, not everybody has a chance to take a trip like this and you really can’t let your friend ruin it for you,”

You think it up. “Ofcourse,”

He asks for your hand as he puts down his own glass. 

You’re almost about to slip your hands into his but then you hesitate, “but wait, don’t you have your own group of friends to worry about?”

“I think seven adult men can enjoy life without me. Besides, it’s not everyday I bump into someone like you or presented with an opportunity like this one.” he winks. 

Far away, the sun shows signs of weakening and giving into the sea, the music that’s steadily shifting to more mellow tunes and the noise of the sea gulls. 

Yunho takes your hand and guides you to the open space, a couple of people are dancing but the attention from the crowd focuses on you both as you laugh at yunho’s actions. He attempts to spin you and the crowd cheers at that, the beats become more and more danceable. 

His hands are on your waist, and his eyes, those eyes. They stare right into yours as you dance. Even though you shrug it off with your laughs, you can feel the spark. And then he’s close, way too close to be with a stranger that you just met, and instead of facing him, you just lean your head onto his chest and close your eyes. 

“Kiss already,” someone from the band shouts. 

And then you look up at him, “what do we do?”

“Only if you want to,”

His words repeat in front of you again, “...it’s not everyday i bump into someone like you or presented an opportunity like this one,”

You close your eyes and reach up to him, it honestly catches yunho by surprise but it’s over almost as suddenly as it is initiated. A peck. But it was more romantic than any kiss he’s shared with anyone. 

PRESENT, SEOUL, SUMMER, 2023.

"hey, you came with mingi right? oh my god, you’re gorgeous, how did he even score you? i'm wooyoung, by the way,"

"i'm _____," you blush, this man certainly knew how to make a fist impression.

"Where's mingi? is it his manners to leave his date alone?" 

to which you let out a chuckle, "he got a really important call, he'll be here in a bit though,"

"let me keep you company then, and fulfill mingi's duty of introducing you to the others."

a few people are gathered on the far end of the table opposite from you and a few are sitting on the table already engrossed in a conversation except one of them who looks at you, eyes fixated.

“That is our friend yunho, san and his mate, milo.”

Yunho. Him. fate. There were so many things going in your mind right now, all of the memories, him paying for your drink, spending the entire day with him, forgetting that a thing like a mobile even existed, it was so funny that you both met again. There were almost zero chances, after you came back from your trip, you searched every nook and cranny of social media from whatever information you had of him, scanned every public setting, just in hopes that somehow, just somehow you bump into him again. And unfortunately, this is how you meet. 

“Hey,” he extends his hand. Does he remember all of that? Given it was not more than even a day spent together, but it impacted you, did it impact him?

There was like an unspoken agreement to not mention that you’d met before, because you’d not seen a lot of his friends on the trip neither had they seen you nor had yunho ever seen jae-i, all because of that stupid agreement. 

You try searching for recognition in his eyes, but mingi comes before you can try communicating with him even a little. 

“Mingi! Dude, why’d you leave your date alone? Thank god i was around to help,”

Mingi looks at you, “so you’ve already met them, i see,” and takes your hand into his, and never have you ever wanted to pull your hand back from someone this badly, because you look at the subtle way yunho’s eyes flit to the clasped hands and he backs away. 

-

“Hongjoong,” 

The said person is too deep in conversation with someone yunho has never seen but has deduced that they’re most probably business partners. 

He calls out to his friend again. And hongjoong looks at him, he mutters a “please,” and then steps away.

He’s careful not to be in the earshot of the group that wooyoung, mingi, you and san have created, they’re very curious to know you, someone mingi had been talking about for months, labelling his new date as his best ever. 

“Oh, mingi’s here,” hongjoong notices as he steps to the side yunho is, “wait, yunho, i’ve seen-”

“Shhh, shut up, shut up, this is exactly why i brought you here, keep your mouth shut, mingi’s date, the one he’s been bragging about, is the person i fell in love with in the summer of 2019,” he releases his hand that he had been holding over hongjoong’s mouth. 

he touches his elbow slightly, to remind his friend.

And the older guy doesn’t say anything. 

“It’s just you who knows, so please, don’t tell anybody, and don’t let anybody know that you know them,”

“It’s just unbelievable,”

And hongjoong watches as they both look at you, he looks at the way yunho watches you. “I remember you being all miserable because you couldn’t find them,”

“Yes, it’s unbelievable but also unfortunate, i’d rather have they not met me at all than this,”

Hongjoong wishes he could have done something, but he doesn’t even know what to do. He wishes he could have taken his friend’s pain because it’s so cruel but he tries to cheer the other up instead, leads him to the dinner table and carefully diverts the conversation to anything but you and mingi. 

PAST, SUMMER, 2019.

"and i'm supposed to believe that?"

"i swear, i've never done it,"

"you've never ever fallen in love?" the stranger you met at the beach is clearly in disbelief over the fact that you've never been in love. it's after dinner that you're again here at the beach, walking on the shoreline.

"i don't think it's consciously my choice, it's just something that happens, i become obsessed with a person, i think that its love but then it wears down as fast as it comes."

"uh huh, okay, so you won't fall in love with me?"

you look up at him, his face lit up by the different shades of colours, the streetlight on your left, the headlights of the cars speeding past, and the lightings that are decorated on stalls at some stalls. he looks absolutely gorgeous but more than that, there's something in his eyes, that makes you feel like you actually could. you could actually dream about a forever, and this time maybe even fulfill it. was that possible? 

but the realization that you're probably never going to meet again sets in and he looks away too, thinking the same thing maybe.

"nevermind, i'm sorry,"

"wait, yunho,"

he'a already a few steps ahead of you when you stop him, he looks back at you with a questioning look as you point to at something.

"a tattoo?"

you nod.

"you want to get a tattoo with me?"

"there should be at least a little something that i can recognise you by if we ever cross paths again,"

he looks at you in awe as you walk over there, determined to get a tattoo, with or without him. 

as he follows you, he knows something very clearly, he'll do whatever you want. even if he doesn't know you, he knows that he's had a feeling of love. not entirely falling but a fleeting kind of. He doesn’t pay much attention and without giving it much thought, follows you. 

"hey, yunho,"

he turns back, spotting hongjoong at a little distance from where he was standing, his friend walks closer to him and he has a bag full of beer bottles, clearly leaving to refill the party with their friends.

"we've been looking all over for you, buddy,"

"uh, i've.. found a friend," 

"where?" he points to the tattoo shop where you're talking to the guy, and swiping through designs.

"that's great, dude, about time you find someone,"

“Yeah, and i hope y’all don’t mind it,”

He tsks in reply, “they’re all shitfaced, they probably won’t last for more than an hour or so, and that’s when i can finally drink,” he points to the beer bottles. 

"hey," you call out from your place, and interested to know the stranger standing beside your new friend, you walk up to them.

"you're?" 

"i'm hongjoong,"

“Nice to meet you, hongjoong,” you give him a smile.

"you're getting a tattoo?" he asks.

"if yunho agrees," 

"yunho, hmmm, you should go ahead, do it," 

"oh, wait, hongjoong is a great artist, he can draw something for us," yunho suggests. 

"well, if you want me to,"

and about an hour later, there’s half a butterfly on the area above the elbow on your right arm and the same location on his left arm.

"well, that was painful," you say, gripping your covered arm.

"you think?"

"but well, now i have something to remember you by so i'm not complaining," he adds.

which makes the both of you go silent again.

you want to ask him his number, but something stops you. Looking back you’re not so sure of what held you back but you wished, wished so bad that you’d taken some number, some contact anything. Heck, even an email address would have sufficed. 

But thinking that you can probably search him up on instagram or snapchat or something, you don’t bother about it.

"let's meet here tomorrow? you're here right?" 

you ask him, curious to know if he's into hanging out for another day.

"ofcourse, i'm craving some pancakes for breakfast,"

"we got it! let's have pancakes tomorrow,"

PRESENT. SEOUL. 2023

"hey, i'm hongjoong,"

"oh, hongjoong,"

the man visibly pales over your mention of his name but you can't resist it, all of it is coming back to you in such a full swing and you can't even do anything about it, you should have just stayed home.

and then the tattoo, your bare arm left it being exposed, nobody would know its meaning but it just felt like an open wound right now and you wish you had some extra sleeves so you could just cover them up.

yunho is ignoring you, and as you are, too. but it keeps on poking you with a stick, the memory of all of it, and you shake your head, it was just a day, you cannot let it have so much effect over you. and it just killed you that you couldn't just drop mingi's hand and tell him that this was the man, this was the guy you had fallen in love with, for the first time and intensely and in the period of not even a day.

throughout the dinner, his friends keep trying to make you comfortable and so does mingi but every time he talks to you and you're forced to look away from yunho, it practically rips your heart apart and then the thought of going home and then again being apart from him. it just seemed like a nightmare.

hongjoong looked awkward as he tried his best to not let anything slip out of his mouth, he looked like a bad liar. and as you sit there on the dining table you realize that the guy who was getting married after the summer was hongjoong, and it was almost his 4 year anniversary soon. and the guy who was taking over a company was the obnoxious but sweet, wooyoung.

But yunho seemed different with them. When he was with you, that day, it felt like he would just about do anything without any remorse at all. And today, the tie around his neck felt too tight. 

"excuse me, i need to go to the washroom," you needed some air.

"should i come?" mingi offers.

"i'll come too, i need to get some air, i'll help you find the way?"

the dining table doesn’t notice the way the air shifts around you both and mingi nods and carries on with his previous conversation with san but you walk up to the door with yunho walking behind you and keep walking until you've reached the far end of the corridor, where he pulls your hand to stop and then looks around and opens a door.

"that's a janitor's closet-"

"shhh," he quiets you down, there’s nobody who would hear you, but its just that he wants to look at you, quietly. think about that day again and again.

you look into his eyes again, the door has slits so the lobby lights spill into the room and parts of his are visible, including his eyes. the eyes you fell in love with, is that even possible, to fall in love with someone's eyes, or to fall in love with someone you just met for a day?

"why did you leave suddenly?"

"i-" 

he places a finger on your lips, leaning towards you in the small, dark room filled with brooms and the smell of room freshners. 

and his voice comes out as a whisper.

"i searched the entire island, all hotels, all the resorts, the airbnbs. there was not a single corner i hadn’t looked for you that day, where were you?"

"i had to leave, jae-i's family found out that she'd been with that jerk and they called us home immediately, and i tried finding you but i had to leave on the first flight that morning and i'm just so, so, so, sorry,"

he puts away his finger and sighs, "it's fine,"

"fate is such a bitch though,"

"you think?" you snicker. 

"what do we do now?" he asks. a deafening silence follows. 

"i'm going to leave,"

"again?" 

you don't pay much attention to his comment.

"i'm going to get out of mingi's life because i obviously can't live with him knowing that i'm in love with one of his friends,"

"and what about us?"

you place a hand on his chest.

"there was no us, yunho, how can you even be with me like this? all we'll end up being is each other's worst secrets, i don't think i'd want that, i don’t think you would want that either."

he nods.

"you fell in love with me?"

"yes,"

his tears glisten with the light.

"i fell in love with you too, and that morning i was going to properly introduce myself, take you out on a proper date, tell you that my drunk self was just beyond crazy for the shit he'd pulled the day before. but i guess fate had other plans,"

A FEW WEEKS LATER, PRESENT, 2023.

a few weeks later, when he gets a text from mingi in the groupchat, yunho feels a stake through his heart even though it was his friend who just got dumped.

he's brushing his teeth, while he goes through the texts for the entire day. mingi writes, it's been days but i've been kinda busy so i just thought i'd let you all know.

and then a notification for a private group chat, something the others had a knack for doing when they wanted to spill some gossip on the recent event in the main group chat, this particular one was revived from last year's surprise party for mingi's birthday. so the gossip was about mingi.

it was san, "you know he deserved it, milo told me he saw him with some other girl in a hotel one day,"

Hongjoong : “really? He’s such a fool for doing that to y/n, they definitely deserve better,” 

Now, that felt like a very personal jab. 

The others express their opinion too, with wooyoung saying he kinda predicted it with the way mingi left you alone that day at hongjoong’s party and yeosang and some others concluding with “what can we do? It’s his life, hopefully, y/n is not hurt a lot,”

he facepalmed. why? why were the fates so fucked? was it possible any of his friends would have your number? would it be weird if he asked for the number of one of friends' ex lovers? god, the amount of bad luck he always seemed to have was astronomical. 

Hongjoong called him right after the texts ended. 

“You, my friend, have the worst luck in the entire world,”

“Shut up, don’t rub it in,”

he lays down on his bed, tired from the day. It was only 7 pm but he felt like it would be better if he just slept. 

“We should have lunch tomorrow, by the way, my treat,”

“We’re not having a pity party for me, joong.”

Just then the doorbell rings. “Wait, hold on, i have a visitor,”

 He puts the phone on the shoe rack and walks over to open the door. when he opens, he sees the white bag before he can figure out its you. because you've shielded your face with it.

“Oh shit, shit, shit,”

when you move it out and finally take a look at yunho's face, he takes a minute to register it's you.

and he grabs you into a hug as soon as he realizes. guess his luck isn’t that bad even.

Hongjoong, still on the call and listening over, is concerned for yunho. “Hello? Yunho? Who is that? Yunho??? Answer me? Is someone stabbing you?”

after he realizes he's almost blocking your windpipe and realizes it's rude to just cry in the looby of your apartment complex, he invites you in and properly takes a minute for his emotions to settle down.

Meanwhile, hongjoong has ended the call and resorted to calling again, so yunho can pay attention to his phone. 

“Hello?”

“Oh my god, you’re alive,”

“I’m alright.”

And you walk over, looking at the caller ID, decide to introduce yourself, “hey, hongjoong, remember me? You drew my tattoo for me?”

“Yunho, what the fuck, man?”

“Don’t blame him, he didn’t know i was coming. And i stole his address from mingi, at least he was of some use,”

“Woah,” the older man is clearly surprised but then cuts the call after telling you both to not lose this chance and that he will talk to yunho tomorrow.

“So,” yunho says, you’re both in the kitchen, your white bag placed on the counter. “What is this?”

“We never got to have those pancakes,”

[bwaldorf]

ramasha do you have any bollywood movie recs?? 🎤

omgggg em im so honored you thought of me!! 🫶🏼🩷

tbh i've sorta been on a journey of watching more bollywood (and south asian cinema in general), since there was a huge chunk of my life where i just never really kept up with releases and was sorta discouraged from watching it so my taste isn't the Most diverse (in terms of genres and years) but i'm working on it 😭 that said, here's my attempt at giving you a lot of different options, so hopefully there's something here that strikes your fancy hehe :3

lots will be under the cut bc im a huge YAPPER.... sorry. also, some of these haven't really aged that well and are sometimes more of just a nostalgic fav and/or ones i think are iconic so... take some of these recs with a grain of salt

some of my bigger personal faves:

om shanti om (2007) — it may hit more if you have a bit more exposure to bollywood cinema and its industry bc it references it a lot, but i still think it's an enjoyable movie regardless! (yes i am biased bc this is one of my fav bollywood movies ever + a huge nostalgic fav. plus SRK and deepika padukone.. can't go wrong there!)

haider (2014) — this movie is SOOOO good! i highly rec it 💞 it's an adaptation of hamlet, set within the backdrop of the 1995 kashmir conflicts. this is actually a part of trilogy of shakespeare adaptations by the director: the other two are maqbool (2003) which is macbeth and omkara (2006) which is othello

main hoon na (2004) — another SRK nostalgic fav

ghajini (2008) — it rips off christopher nolan's memento but i think it adds a lot of its own stuff too and i have a soft spot for it 😭

andhadhun (2018)

kahaani (2012)

tumbbad (2018)

amar singh chamkila (2024)

3 idiots (2009) — the most likely one that non regular bollywood watchers will know and deservedly so imo

gully boy (2019)

hum saath saath hain (1999) — okay not objectively the best movie.. but its a hugely nostalgic and comfort movie for me and i think its great if you wanna watch something that's heartfelt and doesn't have a ton of high stakes conflict

maine pyar kiya (1989) — same as above ☝🏼 i watched this one a lot as a kid

jab we met (2007)

devdas (2002) — worth it for at least the beautiful cinematography, costumes, and gorgeous talented cast

fanaa (2006) — plot is kinda messy at times but it was a real angst machine for me as a kid 😭

photograph (2019)

sir (2018)

bulbbul (2020) — tw for a rape scene though. sorry for the spoiler but it was genuinely really harrowing for me to watch so i think its important to mention

misc other movies i've seen:

qala (2022)

dil bole hadippa! (2009) — admittedly, i haven't rewatched this one in a long time so i can't totally say it holds up. it's a rip-off of she's the man, but … better….. TO ME. yes im speaking from nostalgia bc this is the one i saw first

badhaai do (2022) — this is technically a 'sequel' to the similarly titled movie badhaai ho (2018) but they're actually total standalones

gangubai kathiawadi (2022) — i have such mixed feelings about this one but it's a movie that really stuck with me ever since i watched it soooo yeah

raees (2017) — SRK looks unbelievably fine in that movie. need i say more?

koi mil gaya (2003) — it's a mix of both ET and close encounters of the third kind... but in my very biased, nostalgic opinion: better 🫣 there's also a few sequels, but i only really remember seeing krrish (2006)

josh (2000) — another entry to the SRK looks super gorgeous in this movie 😭 this is basically a desi west side story

go goa gone (2013) — not the best to me, but its a bollywood zombie movie! which was a very new concept to me in that industry so ofc i had to throw it in there

chennai express (2013)

mohabbatein (2000)

dilwale dulhania le jayenge (1995) — had to include this for SRK reasons and also bc it's a massively impactful movie in the industry so i'd be remiss not to

andaz apna apna (1994)

ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga (2019)

jaane tu.. ya jaane na (2008)

aaja nachle (2007)

munna bhai mbbs (2003)

gangs of wasseypur - part 1 (2012) — i've only seen the first one in this series but if you want a somewhat slower, meditative, gangster movie this one def fits the bill

what's your raashee? (2009) — can't remember how well this ages (i think it was pretty mid?) but the concept is fun! priyanka chopra plays 12 girls: each personifying a different zodiac sign as the main guy tries to find his soulmate 😭

taare zameen par (2007) — you'll also see this listed as 'like stars on earth' sometimes

amar akbar anthony (1977)

don (2006) — villainous SRK? sign me up! he actually has multiple movies where he's this sorta antihero/"antivillain" type character. and even a few where he's a straight-up villain. i've been trying to get through all of those bc i just love his range

anjaam (1993) — an example of the aforementioned thing ☝🏼 SRK plays a genuinely terrible guy here, and i love how it actually challenges a lot of the tropes that bollywood tends to use in its romances and shows how creepy and stalkerish they actually are (despite it being typically framed in the narrative otherwise)

partner (2007) — i recently found out it was basically ripping will smith's hitch 😭 i haven't seen that one so i can't say which is better, but if you enjoyed that one, you'll probably be into this one too. it's very unserious and not the Best. but i watched it a lot as a kid

aaja nachle (2007)

roadside romeo (2008) — okay this is a very unserious, low budget animated movie rec. it's soooo so silly and dumb but if you're in the market for smth like that, this is an amusing one for that

welcome (2007) — i gotta rewatch this one bc i don't remember a lot but it seems like a lot of tomfoolery and shenanigans

my name is khan (2010) — another one i gotta rewatch for its politics but i figured i'd throw it in regardless

black (2005)

kal ho naa ho (2003)

kuch kuch hota hai (1998)

sholay (1975)

hungama (2003)

some from my watchlist that i haven't seen yet:

(as if this list needed to be any longer.... but anyways! including these bc i think they seem promising/interesting and i think they introduce More variety of genres/time periods than the ones before)

ijaazat (1987)

thappad (2020)

udaan (2010)

merry christmas (2024)

chhoti si baat (1976)

hindi medium (2017)

the lunchbox (2013) — heard LOTS of good things about this one!

lipstick under my burkha (2017)

neerja (2016)

queen (2014)

rajnigandha (1974)

kaagaz ke phool (1959)

anand (1971)

paheli (2005) — it's a mainstream bollywood remake of duvidha (1973)

baadshah (1999)

monica, o my darling (2022)

madhumati (1958)

raaz (2002)

satya (1998)

highway (2014)

oh darling! yeh hai india! (1995)

pyaasa (1957)

sardar udham (2021)

awaara (1951)

shree 420 (1957)

kaminey (2009)

mahal (1949)

chandigarh kare aashiqui (2021)

bunty aur babli (2005)

talvar (2015)

duplicate (1998)

lootera (2013)

mughal-e-azam (1960)

baazigar (1993)

trapped (2017)

fire (1996) — a hugely significant movie in explicitly showing a wlw relationship in bollywood. i believe it was the first in that regard?

stree (2018)

piku (2015)

english vinglish (2012)

umrao jaan (2006) — there's also an earlier version of this movie with the same title that came out in 1981! i haven't seen either yet so i can't say which is better

jodhaa akbar (2008)

darr (1993) — big movie for villain SRK enthusiasts if that interests you too like it does me 🤭

zindagi na milegi dobara (2011)

dil dhadakne do (2015)

dear zindagi (2016)

special 26 (2013)

badla (2019)

mardaani (2014)

raman raghav 2.0 (2016)

peepli live (2010)

drishyam (2015)

[hsmagazine254]

MEGA CINEMAS KISUMU CINEMA GUIDE: 7th-13th July 2023- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

MEGA CINEMAS KISUMU Nakumatt Mega City, KISUMU KENYA   MOVIE OF THE WEEK Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny- Daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi who works for…

[uwmspeccoll]

More Fairy Tales

This week I bring you The Girl Who Cried Flowers, and Other Tales, by the prolific American writer Jane Yolen (b.1939), illustrated by David Palladini (1946-2019), and published in New York by Thomas Y. Crowell in 1974. The book contains five original fairy tales with accompanying illustrations that range from one to two pages and are in both black and white and color. Tales such as these among her more than 300 titles has led Newsweek to dub Yolen “The Hans Christian Andersen of America.”

Yolen claims that it was this book, published nine years after her first book, that established her reputation in the field of children’s literature. The title story, The Girl Who Cried Flowers, has seen several iterations, including being separately published in Cricket magazine in 1990, published as an audiotape that Yolen narrated for Weston Woods Studios in their Readings to Remember series, and produced as an animated movie by Auryn Studios, with a script by Yolen, and directed by Bollywood director Umesh Shukla.

Yolen, who had originally worked as an editor, considered herself to be a poet and a journalist/nonfiction writer. Fate took her in a different direction, however, and to her surprise she became a children’s book writer who focused mostly on fantasy and science fiction. Her numerous awards andhonors include a Caldecott Medal, a Caldecott Honor, two Nebula awards, the Jewish Book Award, and six honorary doctorates.

Palladini, an Italian-born American illustrator, was best known for his Aquarian Tarot deck, which was published by Morgan Press in 1970 and reworked as the New Palladini Tarot in 1997 by U.S. Game Systems. Palladini’s style is reminiscent of the Art Nouveau illustrations of Alphonse Mucha and Aubrey Beardsley, a beautiful accompaniment to Jane Yolen’s stories.

View more posts from our Historical Curriculum Collection of children’s books.

View more Women’s History Month posts.

-- Elizabeth V., Special Collections Undergraduate Writing Intern

[deadoveater]

Have you watched mirzapur?

It's such a cesspool of misogyny and glorifying male violence.

Tired of indian audience glorifying it

I havent watched a bollywood movie thats come out after 2019 with exception of drishyam 2 (and I watched that one only cause my coworkers dragged me to which has the similar violent scenes against his wife and daughter that they had in the first one... it was so triggering and uncomfortable) for the same reason. so I agree.

[object-obsession]

| Combined post #4 | Decent horror movies featuring sentient objects as killers

Inanimate Object Characters List | Entry: 43

Finally we arrive at the movies that I've seen. Starting with those that I thought were decent enough to have been made into movies, but if someone would shittalk the shit out of them, I wouldn't be surprised.

Down/The Shaft (2001)

This is the American remake of De Lift (English ver. "The Lift") from 1983 made by the same Dutch director, Dick Maas.

I'm not sure if it's only the middle elevator being bloodthirsty and it takes partially control of the neighbouring elevators at some moments - or that all of them are killers. I personally like the first idea better, though, so that's what I'll stick to.

It's way less realisic than the original and lacks its charm, which is why I think the movie alright, but not worthy of its own post.

Down/The Shaft simply doesn't beat the original masterpiece.

Character: homicidal elevator(s?)

Movie: Down/The Shaft (2001)

2. Rubber (2010)

This movie is weird af, but at least the creators acknowledge it and I respect that. It's about a car tire making people's head explode. And then he falls in love with a woman. The ending is mind boggling, too, but I won't spoil it. Oh and also, a group of people watch it like a movie from afar with binoculars. Yeah, it's as absurd as it sounds, but if you're crazy like me, it may be worth a watch.

Character: Robert

Movie: Rubber (2010)

3. Killer Sofa

I don't know if I would put this one on third or fourth place, but since the list is already in the correct order of time w.r.t. release dates, I'm keeping it that way. So here we have a murderous "sofa", which is, for the record, a recliner and not a sofa. Moreover, actually it's a human possessing a recliner and the body is literally still stuck within its cushions, but it counts nonetheless.

This is the second time a human became a chair. Wow.

Character: Frederico Olsen [chair form]

Movie: Killer Sofa (2019)

4. Slaxx (2020)

Lastly, we have this movie that would have been the result of Hollywood and Bollywood having a (low-budget) baby. Mostly, there is one thing that I really did like about this movie why it made it to this list and not the previous one, which is [SPOILER ALERT] the way in which Keerat became the pair of pants. It's absolutely brilliant, because she literally BECAME the pants by falling into the blades of the cotton field equipment. It obviously doesn't make sense if you'd apply real logic, but for fictional logic, IT KINDA DOES.

Character: Keerat

Movie: Slaxx (2020)

--

PS: this post excludes the tag "things", "frederico olsen" and "keerat", because there were other - more relevant - tags I had to include.