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Indroducing: Shahrukh Khan

Claire — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:25:11 +0000

Imagine Leonardo DiCaprio, never fallen from the wave of his Titanic popularity and still a popular darling to end all popular darlings. Then imagine Tom Cruise, on steroids which double his charisma and acting ability. Now combine those two, and you’ll come pretty close to Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh Khan isn’t just a legend in India – he’s practically an institution. I have it on good authority that there are people in India who literally worship him as if he were a god. A one-man phenomenon, there was a point in time when to co-star opposite Shahrukh meant that you had made it. Better known as SRK or sometimes just “The King”/”King Khan”, he’s won literally dozens of popular and critical acting awards over the course of a long and successful film career which began in 1992 with Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, which as far as I know was a not particularly spectacular film but which gave him his start (he’d previously appeared in a few television series). After Raju he starred in a film every year, but it wasn’t until 1995 with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (read the C&I review of it here) that his career really took off. The longest-running film in Bollywood history, Dilwale Dulhani Le Jayenge, otherwise known as DDLJ or The Brave Heart will Take the Bride, was a smash hit to end all smash hits and became an instant legend and Bollywood classic(it is still one of the most famous Bolly films ever made). Shahrukh’s co-star in the film, Kajol, also became a superstar largely due to her performance in the film, and Kajol and Shahrukh remain one of Bollywood’s favorite onscreen pairings, having appeared together in three other highly successful films. Since DDLJ, Shahrukh has starred in a host of both popular and not-so-popular films, but his star has never faltered and by and large the movies he chooses tend to be hits, and as one of Bolly’s most sought-after stars he has worked with some of the best directors and producers, to the extent that a list of Bollywood’s “best” and/or most famous films reads at least partially like a Shahrukh filmography (see Veer-Zaara, Devdas, etc.). An extremely hard-working actor, he’s appeared in at least one film every single year since 1992, and his popularity has never really faltered since DDLJ, making him one of the few bona-fide film stars in the world today. He has since branched into film production and television producing. IMDB puts it as “There is not a dot in Bollywood that does not carry Shahrukh Khan’s name”. He was named one of Time Magazine’s 20 Asian Heroes under 40 in 2004. In 2008, Newsweek named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world

Despite all this fame and power , Shahrukh has not become an egotistical maniac ala Tom Cruise. Amazingly, he married very early in his career and has remained a faithful husband to his wife, carrying the mantle of King of Romance and yet sometimes refusing to kiss his co-stars for the sake of his wife. Highly charming, he comes across as confident and yet not drunk on success, and while I don’t expect much from him, any superstar who can stay married and refrain from jumping on couches has my vote. Endlessly versatile and talented, Shahrukh sometimes seem as if he wasn’t just born for the screen – he seems to own it.

IMDB profile

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Introduction to Bollywood

Claire — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:47:28 +0000

Like your romance repressed and sizzling? You’re in the wrong place. Head over to my period drama post and make yourself right at home. Like your romance nuanced and well-developed? Go check out my Asian drama posts. If, on the other hand, you prefer your romance epic and fiery, Bollywood is right up your alley(I love all three genres but require very different moods to watch them).

Why You Should Watch Bollywood Cinema:

Sweeping sets, exquisite cinematography, general hilarity, stunning locations, epic love stories, amazing acting

Why You Might Not Like It:

Too much singing, bipolar plots, over-the-top acting, 3-hour-lengths

Want kisses/love scenes in the rain? Spiderman ain’t got nothing on Bollywood, friends. Want ridiculously romantic scenes set in beautiful locations ala the 2005 Pride and Prejudice walk across the moor (okay, so it was a field. you get my point) in the end? Bollywood’s got it.

Bollywood is like Titanic – gorgeous and epic and generally high-concept, with sweeping swets, iconic music and beautiful leads who often have intense chemistry. It can also, in its turn, be heartbreakingly tragic, brilliant, gritty societal commentary, and the fluffiest of fluffy romantic comedies. In general, however, the Bollywood trademark is the tragicomic high-budget romance.

Films to start with:

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – click on the title for my review, but suffice to say that DDLJ is not just one of the best Bollywood movies I’ve ever seen, but in the top 50 movies I’ve ever seen. A smash hit to end all smash hits in India, it had the longest-running theater run(something ridiculous like 10 years I believe) of any Indian film ever. In many ways it’s the Indian Titanic, only much, much funnier and somewhat less cliched. It’s also one of the films most often recommended to Bollywood newbies, and one of their most famous films in general.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham – Bollywood’s most expensive film ever as of 2001 and the first to open at #3 at the British box office, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is an excellent blend of family saga and intimate romance, and stars three generations of Bollywood’s best and/or most famous actors. Not quite a tragedy and not quite a comedy, it’s just a good, entertaining film. (and yes, um, if the actors look similar to the ones in DDLJ, it’s because they are the same)

Veer-Zaara – If you don’t want to start with the romantic comedy of DDLJ or the tragicomic romance/family tale of KKKG, then this bittersweet epic might be right up your alley. I have no hesitation in calling Veer-Zaara brilliant – if anyone should ever challenge the idea that Bollywood films can be high cinema, Veer-Zaara is the answer to that. With a star-studded cast including Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, and Rani Mukerjee(the latter of whom at least gave the performance of her career), this high budget, visually stunning epic has shades of both The English Patient and Pride and Prejudice, and is compelling from start to finish.

Actors/Actresses:

5 actors to know: Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Saif ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor

5 actresses to know: Kajol, Rani Mukerjee, Preity Zinta, Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai

Terminology:

jodi- chemistry or pairing, basically refers to an onscreen couple

masala -a type of film/cinema which mixes different

Finally, see this much more extensive Introduction to Bollywood for more in-depth information

Bollywood Review: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Claire — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:40:04 +0000

Re-posting this review from an older blog.

Rating:4/5 stars

Who knew that Bollywood(Indian) romance could be so good? Winner of 11 film awards and a classic of Bollywood, I had never heard of this film(translated, The Brave Heart will Take the Bride) and stumbled across it by accident on Netflix, getting it on a whim. What a joyous discovery. While prevented from overlong song sequences and a more than a small dose of sheer goofiness from being another Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice, this is an intensely romantic, delightful, and well-made concoction, starring in what was to become their most famous role a couple who are apparently famous in Bollywood film, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol, known informally as Srk-Kajol. The two have almost painfully intense chemistry at times, and this, along with Shahrukh’s character, the bafflingly annoying and yet intensely charismatic Raj, lights up the film. The first half is taken up by their initial meeting, which leads Simran, Kajol’s character, to instantly hate him, and by a series of circumstances that throws them together. What I particularly liked about this film is it’s so wildly unpredictable, not merely for the colorful Indian melodrama and singing/dancing scenes the characters were likely to spring into at any moment but also because rather than taking the traditional route of romantic comedies the producers instead trace a delicately nuanced, hilarious, and often painfully realistic path for the passion that springs up between the two, and for the fact that it is not during those initial scenes of being thrown together(so requisite for any romance) that they really fall in love but later on, when they part. An odd mix of wit, comedy, melodrama, and genuine feeling in the first half, I was already in love with it, but the turn to utterly convincing passion in the second, as the lovers struggle with her family and tradition, completely took my breath away. I give only one example – Raj finally comes to find Simran at her family’s home, and finds her in a field of golden wheat outside her family’s home, where she has been drawn by the haunting music of his banjo, which she thinks is yet another dream. The moment when she sees him and runs to him is one of the single most classic scenes I have ever seen onscreen. (Note-this is not how it ends. It’s not even close to the end) And not only women will enjoy this romance – Raj, as a womanizing, shameless, overconfident, ever-witty and tricky(even, and most especially, to Simran) wealthy Indian expatriate, is someone that every man can identify with and in fact envy(as I learned to my cost while watching it). The two main flaws this movie does possess – which keep it from being a true romantic classic – is, as I said before, over-the-top music sequences and its healthy splurge of goofiness. But with the longest-running initial release in Indian history, this movie had to have something good. And indeed it does. It glows.

Films Seen

Claire — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:05:18 +0000

Bollywood:

Chalte Chalte – even Shahrukh’s excellent acting couldn’t save this film from extreme mediocrity and lack of plot/romantic tension

Devdas – an overlong film choking on its own emo. I know it’s considered a classic, and it had a few brilliant scenes. But the connection between the two main leads which should have grounded both the film as a whole and the tragedy in particular was never fully developed, and where the romantic heart of a Bollywood film is off, the entire film is off

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge-the best example of Bollywood entertainment I’ve encountered. Sweeping, funny, gorgeous, and one of the most iconic love stories I’ve ever seen

Dhoom 2 – a highly enjoyable, delightful romp

Dostana- the three leads have plenty of chemistry but the ending renders the entire premise pointless, and the two men turn into bastards in the second half. I hated it.

Fanaa- brilliant but bipolar, thus embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of Bollywood cinema

Kal Ho Naa Ho- For the first half, Kal Ho Naa Ho is to some extent what I thought it would be- one of those delightful witty opposites-attracting romcoms – but it takes an abrupt genre turn in the second half, enough to make it very uneven and evil bipolar. It approached brilliance but couldn’t quite reach it

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

Kismat Konnection – a mildly entertaining, mediocre romantic comedy

Kites

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai-Kajol is luminous as always but the pace/development of the romance was off, and I thought the ending fell rather flat.

Kuch Na Kaho- pretty adorable, especially in the father-son relationship

Parineeta – after an oddly racy opening scene, it becomes a beautifully shot film about two best friends in love with each other. Female lead Vidya Balan was warm and luminous in her first film role ever, but the hero of this film was a thoroughly self-obsessed bastard for much of it thus making the film less than emotionally satisfying. Stand-out scene was a tender but unusually graphic (for a Bolly film) sex scene. Great music.

Jodhaa Ahkbar – great promise, but overlong and boring

Veer-Zaara-a brilliant, visually stunning epic with amazing performances all around(particularly Rani Mukerjee as a passionately idealistic lawyer). Possibly the best Bollywood movie I’ve seen thus far, even including Dilwale

French films:

Amelie-delightfully quirky, brilliant, colorful film that encapsulates most of the best things about French cinema

A Very Long Engagement – It is, ironically, too long of a film and tries to incorporate too many themes in its 2 hours, but the cinematography is out of this world and it has one of the most brilliant ending scenes I’ve ever seen

I’ve Loved You So Long – brilliant. just brilliant

Asian:

200 Pounds Beauty -2.5/5

A Millionaire’s First Love-4.5/5

Daddy Long Legs – 3/5

Hana Yori Dango- 4/5

Linger-2/5

Mother

My Girlfriend is a Secret Agent-2/5

My Sassy Girl-3/5 Secret-5/5

The Art of Seduction -2.5/5

Virgin Snow-4/5 – stunning cinematography and lovely indie feel but the plot’s rather thin. The main actress oddly reminded me the whole time of Summer Glau – spitting image, I swear