TPP: Ajith in Rowdy Don.

Actually it's Jana, but I have only the dubbed Telugu version :(

Ajith's intro is my favorite part. I especially love when he emerges from the water. I think for all of his movies, he's contractually obligated to do at least one scene where he's shirtless and/or immersed in water ;)

TPP: Ajith and waists, pt.4.

From Rettai Jadai Vayasu:

Saravana(2006)

Tamil remake of Telugu Bhadra. It's the only Simbu movie I don't own(although, I like to pretend that I never purchased Kovil). I've held off on buying it for the longest time because 1) I can't stand Vivek and 2) I don't like Simbu and Jyothika as an on-screen pair. I like them separately, but not together. In spite of that, however, I still sorta want to see this because of a rumor I read a while back on a now-forgotten forum. Allegedly, Simbu "sexually tortured" Jyothika during the filming of Manmathan and because of that, she didn't want to work with him again. She agreed to do Saravana only as a favor to the director. (For whatever reason(s), I can believe that.) I'm always intrigued whenever I hear or read about actors not getting along on-set, especially if I've watched the movie and didn't sense any animosity or discomfort between them.

I did a quick scan of some YouTube clips and from what I could see, although Simbu and Jyothika appeared in scenes together, there seemed to be--for lack of a better term--a professional distance between them. Even when they touched, I got a "Just doing our jobs" vibe. Perhaps I'm reading too much into the situation, but that's how it appeared to me. **shrug** Maybe one day I'll have to watch the uploaded parts to get a better assessment.

SFR: Sana Khan

In the "Theepori Parakum" song in E. I didn't know she was in the movie until after I read this Indiaglitz article. If my eyes don't deceive me, she's the one in the red top and jean skirt, with two-tone hair. I will have to watch my copy at home to get a clearer view.

Dev D(2009)

Kalki Koechlin's mouth is the only reason I want to see this flick. Seriously. If she possessed your average, everyday-looking mouth, I wouldn't care. But because I am so easily fascinated by the weirdest things, I want to check out Dev D just to look at and obsess over her lips and plain-but-in-an-interesting-way face. I don't care how well she acts. I don't care if her voice is dubbed or if she speaks heavily accented Hindi. I don't really care about the other two actors, although Abhay Deol isn't bad-looking. IIRC, he's kinda flabby, but that's okay. Who knows? I may end up liking it in spite of my initial "Eh, whatever"-ness.

It's currently available from Induna, but not Nehaflix. Why is that? Am I going to have to start patronizing Induna for Hindi movies? Hmmm...that's not a bad idea, actually. I just have to buy enough films to justify the shipping and handling charges. I should make a list and order them all at once.

Naan Adimai Illai(1986)

Sridevi's last south film. I think it's a remake of Pyaar Jhukta Nahin since it was released the following year. It's the typical "poor boy/rich girl fall in love and marry in spite of her parents disapproval" blah blah blah. It drags in places, the mandatory fight sequences could've/should've been left out, and the father's actions were too over-the-top and unrealistic for even this type of flick. Still, it's so appealingly, unapologetically melodramatic that I can't help but love it. And Sridevi looks oh-so very alluring, especially in the begining when she's laughing and drinking her spiked drink before attempting to drive home while under the influence. (Predictably, Rajini shows up to rescue her from the would-be rapists who drugged her and takes her back to his place for the night.)

The songs are really good. All three versions of "Oru Jeevan Thaan" are on YouTube, as well as "Devi Devi" and "Vaa Vaa". "Ponaa Pohuthu" is the only one that isn't available. I had ripped and uploaded it over a year ago, but took it down after I kept getting copyright violation emails.

A few caps, just 'cause:

Yuvaraju(2000)

I've thought about buying this for the longest time. It's only $5.99. It has Mahesh. It has Simran. But it also has a kid, and I don't like kids. Also, it sounds verrry long and boring. And the other heroine, Sakshi Sivanand, does nothing for me. The YouTube vids I glanced at didn't sway me to buy it. While I think Mahesh and Simran make a cute couple, I believe I will give this one a pass for now.

I wish Mahesh would come out with a new movie already, even though his next sounds like it might be the Tollywood version of Collateral(remade in Hindi as The Killer).

ETA 01/22/10: I ordered it. I hope I don't hate myself. Sakshi looks annoying, but hopefully the presence of Mahesh and Simran will make up for that.

ETA 01/27/10: I had it playing in the background last night while I was doing other things, and my first impression is that while it's very looonnnnggg(or at least feels that way), it's not bad. The kid didn't get on my nerves like I thought he would, and Sakshi wasn't that annoying(facially, she reminds me of Reema Sen), although I would've preferred it if Simran had been the main heroine instead of her. Mahesh was his usual goofy-looking-but-still-cute and charming self. My $5.99 + s&h wasn't wasted. That's good. Now, I'm considering Vamsi(and watch, it'll get marked down to $5.99 if/when I buy it for $7.99).

ETA 02/08/10: I just remembered exactly why I felt compelled to order the DVD. Next time I watch it, I'll have to remind myself to keep an eye out for that particular scene.

Aadmi Aur Insaan(1969)

I saw this in Nehaflix's "Back in stock" section and was immediately tempted to order it solely because I find Saira Banu so fascinatingly odd-looking. Dark hair suits her, and red is definitely her color, as seen from 1:40 - 2:55 of "O Neele Parbaton Ki". In the green outfit, she reminds me of Hema Malini for some strange reason. I think it's the bangs and the eyeliner.

I'm not a fan of either Dharmendra or Mumtaz, but I'm willing to give both of them a pass because A) I found Dharmendra hot in that "older gentleman" way in Johnny Gadar(which reminds me, I need to fish it out from wherever and try to watch it again) and B) Mumtaz looks totally smokin' in the "Zindagi Ittefaq Hai" song. (Isn't that also the title of a movie?)

I skimmed the plot summary and it sounds like the usual melodrama. I might like it. And it might just collect dust on my shelf. The thing about impulse buys is that I rarely watch them more than once. If only I had been conceived during the late eighties or early nineties. I probably wouldn't know anything about buying DVDs because I would simply download movies from torrent sites. (I'm generalizing, I know, but...work with me.)

Love Aaj Kal(2009)

I have no idea what this movie is about, nor do I really want to know. I just want to find out if Deepika Padukone is really as boring as I suspect she is. I liked her in Aishwarya, and I still think of her as "a cute alien", but for the most part, whenever her name pops into my mind, the words "boring as fuck" follow. I thought that if I watched one of her Hindi movies, I might change my mind and pay more attention to her. I figured Love Aaj Kal would be the least painful choice since, even though I'm not a Saif fan, I find him more tolerable than either SRK or Ranbir. (And that's solely because of Kareena. I think they make a good pair.)

But do I want to spend $13.99? **ponders** Hmmm...kind of. It's been a while since my last impulse buy. However, I should try to watch it online first, because the urge to see it could vanish shortly after I hit the "confirm order" button. Or I could lose interest, as I'm doing right now as I type this. **sigh** I'm so fickle. I really do "change like the wind", as a college acquaintance once said about me.

Hawas(2004)

"Delightfully sleazy" is how I summed up this movie after I watched it the first time. It used to be one of my fave "so-bad-it's-good" flicks, but then it fell by the wayside and I forgot about it until a few days ago, when I rewatched it. I had been reading a UAE culture guide and remembered that this was filmed in Dubai, so I gave it another look-see, for old time's sake. I think I've become more jaded than usual, because I found it somewhat less entertaining than before. Tarun Arora wasn't quite as visually appealing; the unintentional hilarity wasn't quite as amusing; the songs didn't sound quite as catchy("Alla Miya" is still my jam, though). On the plus side, I found Shawar Ali a lot more attractive than I did initially. He looked so good, I almost wished he were my husband.

Back in the day, I preferred Hawas to Murder. Now, I think I somewhat agree with the reviewer who said that Murder was the better Hindi version of Unfaithful(which was alright, but overall, I felt it was just a Lifetime movie with sex and nudity).

Kanthaswamy(2009), part trois.

The previous two posts are here and here.

I watched about 80% of this movie over the weekend. As a whole, I didn't like it, but there were some bits and pieces--nearly all of them involving Shriya--that I liked. I wish I could remove those scenes and use them to create a shorter, offbeat, more enjoyable flick.

All I want for Christmas is for the Ayngaran version to be completely Vadivelu-free. That won't happen, of course, but still, if only his scenes had been left on the cutting room floor. The separate comedy track really needs to die a swift death.

Shriya was the best thing about Kanthaswamy. I'm biased, naturally, because I like her and think she's hot. Her face and body looked good. I loved her short, flippy hairdo; it suited her character, as did the deeper-sounding dubbed voice. It took a while to get used to, though.

I'm torn between kind of liking Vikram in that rooster getup and thinking he looked like a character from a MAD TV skit. I can handle a bat, a spider, and a angry green giant as superheroes, but a rooster? Hmmmm...I don't know.

"Meow, Meow" and "Excuse Me, Mr. Kanthaswamy" were my favorite tracks. "Allegra, Allegra" was okay, but it reminded me of that annoying "Whenever, Whatever" song by Shakira.

I will try to rewatch it and, if I feel like it, include additional thoughts. In the meantime, I plan to cap the scenes I liked best and post them either later tonight or sometime...whenever.

ETA: Here they are. In the interest of saving time, as well as my index finger, I refrained from making as many caps as I would've liked. I should just create a mini-movie of my favorite scenes, but I'm too lazy. Anyway...click the "read more" link(down, at the left) to see the caps.

TPP: Divya alias Ramya

Old pics. She was either endorsing a jewelry brand or inaugurating a store. I forget. Anyway, I think she looks good.

TPP: Shriya Saran

There was supposedly a kissing scene in Thoranai with Vishal and Shriya, but I think I read somewhere that it wasn't in the movie.

Not my caps. I swiped them from bollywoodupdates.com.






In these pics, she's promoting Vaseline Healthy White body lotion. I'm posting them only because I think she looks spectacular.