#queen of Bollywood

[mami-sorry-mami]

Kajol appreciation post

These pics were admittedly stolen from various platforms and people...if its yours please let me know

[universalitgirlsblog2]

👑🩰MOVIE THERAPY👑🩰

-In this post, I want to mention the lessons I learnt from two beautiful movies - Queen and English Vinglish. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND these movies!!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET WATCHING THESE MOVIES !!! Both the movies start with women who are timid , stuck in their past , trying to please others , lack self love , dependent on others but in the end they become independent, confident and develop self love. Isn't that wonderful ?

Let's start from Queen movie starring Kangana Ranaut, Rajkumar Rao and Lisa Haydon. It's about a girl named Rani who was dumped by her fiance and she decides to go on honeymoon, all by herself

1) IF THEY LEAVE YOU , IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD

Rani's fiance dumped her just before the wedding, ofc she was heartbroken and locked herself in room . After that she decided to go to honeymoon, all by herself! She went to the same place where she was supposed to go after her marriage - Amsterdam , Paris . I know it hurts , when a close one , whether it's your fiance , boyfriend, girlfriend , best friend etc leaves your side with or without any reason. As once a wise women said , you lose people who aren't meant for the best version of you . Even if they leave, you have to enjoy your own company and continue with your own life . Vijay aka Rani's fiance cancelling the wedding was a blessing in disguise . Also if they left without any reason or if they were just embarrassed by you , they didn't deserve you at all .

2) YOU ARE COMPLETE ON YOUR OWN

Yes , here is a spoiler from the movie , Rani doesn't end up with any new guy or gets married to her ex-fiance. Infact , she becomes independent and free. You are whole on your own. You are complete on your own , you don't need anyone to complete you , you need someone to accept you . You are a queen or king and will always remain one ! You can be happy on your own. You don't need anyone or their approval.

3) HAVE FUN WITH FRIENDS , DON'T JUDGE EACH OTHER

Rani met VijayLaxmi , Olexander or ( Sikander🐵) , Taka and Tim . Their friendship was perfect example of "opposites attract " . However , despite the differences, she never judged them because she knew they were good human beings , deep inside .

4) A MAKE-OVER IS NEVER A BAD IDEA !

A makeover can make you feel confident in yourself. The way you present and take care of yourself also shows how much you love and respect yourself. So wear a pretty pink dress and straight your hair or maybe curl them , whatever you like ! Also REMEMBER YOU ARE DOING IT FOR YOUUU!!!!!!!🧁💖

5) STEP OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Why?? You don't grow in your comfort zone. Rani stepped out of her native country and tralleveled all alone to a country where she was supposed to go with her ex fiance. Remember Great things never come from comfort zone.

6) FREE YOURSELF

Be independent. Love yourself. Respect yourself. There is a scene in the movie where Rani rejects her fiance when he comes back while they play a beautiful and meaningful song in background . That scene represents Rani's walk of liberation. Rani finally became independent, learnt to love herself and be her own person !!

7)" THANK YOU " - RANI, QUEEN 2013

Rani thanks her fiance when he comes back to her. No, she doesn't take him back . She finally realized that if he didn't cancel the marriage, she would have never become her highest self which was confident , full of self love and independent. It was truly a blessing in disguise. Say thank you to all those hurtful past experiences, those experiences made you wiser. Say thank you to all the people who left you at your worst because they made you realize that you only need one person and that's YOU !

Lessons learnt from English vinglish , starring Sridevi . It's about a woman named Shashi who didn't receive any respect from her family peers for not knowing English. She was also timid and often mistreated by her daughter and not appreciated enough by her own husband.

1) STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Shashi went to New York inorder to attend her sister's wedding but she couldn't speak or understand English. She went to a country where she didn't know how to communicate with anyone. You must get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

2) TURN YOUR WEAKNESS INTO STRENGTH

Shashi was mocked by her own family for not knowing English. She took English classes and learnt English. She was committed and determined to learn English so she succeeded . She gave a meaningful speech in English too which shocked her daughter and her husband whereas some people were proud of her - her little son , her other cousin Radha , her English teacher and class peers. Later , her family also felt bad for mistreating like and they developed respect for her . Also please respect your parents , don't humiliate them for not knowing something or anything. The scene where Shashi cried because her daughter disrespected her were so painful to watch .

3) DON'T ALLOW OTHERS TO DEGRADE YOUR JOB OR HOBBY

Shashi was never appreciated for her being good at making sweets and her buisness was going pretty well but she never got the appreciation she deserved and was degraded by her own husband for being called " entrepreneur ". If you like something and if it is beneficial to you too , then don't care what others are saying , even if it's someone from your family.

4) IT IS NEVER LATE TO START OR LEARN SOMETHING NEW

Shashi learnt English when she was in her ripe age , age is just a number when it comes to learning. You are never too old to learn , Instead of crying over the time lost and undermining oneself, it’s better to value-add by learning something new-something that you had always wanted to do but couldn’t because of time, money or other constraints.

5) DO NOT GIVE UP

Shashi faced alot of troubles when she was learning English , however she did not give up. Was it worth it ? YES! Finish what you have started.

5) SELF-LOVE

Shashi summarized it in few words which hit hard so I will just end this post with her quote

" When you don't like yourself, you tend to dislike everything associated with you . New things seem to be more attractive , but once you start loving yourself , the same old life begins to feel new and good "

-Shashi , English Vinglish , 2012

[theinfinitedivides]

'alamzeb, mallika's youngest daughter. your next target.' — ep 3 - scarred for life | heeramandi, 2024, dir. sanjay leela bhansali.

[nidhi-writes]

The Tawaifs - QUEENS

— them being the Queens of Lahore | heeramandi, 2024, dir. sanjay leela bhansali.

[slippyteas]

𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘯, 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴

[anushkashettyfanclub]

Apsara 😍✨️ Anushka Shetty in and as Arundhati 👑

[sweet-child-of-night]

female rage depicted by bollywood

anushka sharma, NH-10 // aishwarya rai, devdas // sadhana // tripti dimri, bulbul // rekha, silsila // deepika padukone, bajirao mastani // kajol, gupt //alia bhatt, darlings //vidya balan, kahani

[tooquirkytolose]

Hate hate hate that movie trope where a woman's husband has an affair so they get a divorce/separate and the woman decides to live her best life and be her best self and she DOES and then the stupid husband comes crawling back like actually I am attracted to the new vivacious you now and also that other woman dumped me and then she TAKES HIM BACK????

Violence, rage even

[maibearcore]

*cough**cough*Villianelle*cough*Han Jihyuk*cough*Mizu*cough*Kim Jiyong*cough*Amrit**even more coughing**

They're my precious 💁‍♀️💖🎀

[jack-ackles]

PRIYANKA CHOPRA

for jio mami festival talk show 🥵🥵🥵

[forever70s]

Zeenat Aman on the September 1970 cover of Femina magazine

[theinfinitedivides]

'are you planning on stirring up a storm in Shahi Mahal?' — ep 3 - scarred for life | heeramandi, 2024, dir. sanjay leela bhansali.

[my-chiliarch]

Sooo, I started watching Porus (TV), an Indian series that aired in 2017/2018, available for free on YouTube. It's a story created from the Indian perspective, where Porus is the protagonist and Alexander the Great the main villain. Despite that, the series shows the Macedonian side as well, and it's not simply "one side is all good, the other all bad".

The show is 299 episodes (I know, I know!), and the version with English subtitles has the episodes put in videos 11 hours long. You can watch it here.

I only watched a few episodes at the moment I'm writing this post, and for now both Porus and Alexander's mothers are pregnant, so the main characters haven't appeared yet. It's… well, pretty entertaining to me, but also very much a soap opera most of the times LOL Basically, if you want something historically accurate, that's NOT the series I'd recommend. However, if you are curious about something from the Indian side where Alexander is the villain, or you're just easily entertained when it comes to ancient history, Alexander the Great and Porus, then I'd give it a chance! The few fight scenes I saw were ridiculous, but they used a lot of money for the setting.

Regarding possible Alexander/Hephaestion moments: I saw one clip out of context that was very shippy (not explicitly gay, but definitely homoerotic on purpose). That said, if Wikipedia is correct, apparently the second guy was not Hephaestion, but an original character like him that takes his place, because Hephaestion doesn't exist. I think the reason may be related to some spoilers I read… Without revealing too much, it looks like I'm not really going to like the developments there. BUT I also don't trust Wikipedia, so I'll have to see it by myself! Edit: never mind, I misunderstood that part. Hephaestion definitely exists as Hephaestion:

Another note: the few scenes I saw from the Macedonian side looked influenced by Oliver Stone's movie. That's not necessarily a bad thing to me, especially if we get homoerotic Alexander/totally-not-Hephaestion, but I admit that when I saw Philip and Olympias, I was hoping to see a different characterization for a change. I'm still at the start though, so we'll see!

[pariaritzia]

Queerness in Indian Media

↳Film: MAJA MA (2022, Hindi) dir. ANAND TIWARI

Maja Ma follows Pallavi Patel (Madhuri Dixit), a closeted lesbian who gave up her beloved, Kanchan (Simone Singh), decades ago and has since become a devoted mother, housewife, and adored member of her community. While making preparations for her son's (Ritwik Bhowmik) wedding, however, Pallavi is outed to the entire town--and subsequently must deal with the consequences to herself, her former beloved, and her family.

Madhuri Dixit discusses her role in this movie, how movies like this are more possible now because of OTT streaming, and the "unexpected reactions" to the story here.

Madhuri Dixit discusses this movie coming from "a place of love", wanting the LGBTQ community to "feel seen", and "accepting people for who they are" here.

The actress Madhuri Dixit has been in multiple gay and gay-coded media, both as a supportive character and as the gay character herself. She has also been supportive in real life of the LGBTQ community.

[anushkashettyfanclub]

Menacing look of Lady Superstar Anushka Shetty in GHAATI 🔥

[aurum-rays]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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