#but there are so many films within Bollywood that are so much more than that

[dollopheadsandclotpoles]

I saw one of my friends repost your aro-ace comment on Instagram about how we, as a society, put emphasis on family and relationships ahead of friendships… (it was about a reddit thread) and it kind of makes me wonder why we, as a society, put so much emphasis on relationships? I feel like the need to find, have, and keep a partner is so strong in our society that it seems to me that it certainly contributes heavily to the rampant issues of misogyny in our culture. Incel culture, for instance, is centered around the idea of being able to have a partner - just look at their name, involuntary celibate.

I’m no student of psychology, so I don’t really know what I’m talking about and I’m speaking out of my ass. But your text post really got me thinking about that - I just wanted to know your thoughts? Do you think we, as a society, value friendship enough?

I cannot believe that post broke containment!

You're absolutely right about it contributing to misogyny, and that's an excellent point about incel culture. There's also this whole spinster vs bachelor idea that has been discussed for ages - how single women are considered 'sad' if they are unmarried but single men are sometimes considered to be 'too wild to be tamed or tied down' if they are unmarried. And even that is only not sad if they are sleeping around a lot - which then also contributes to incel culture. That is a super interesting avenue of thought - thanks for bringing it up!

I have been thinking on your question for a while, and while I'm absolutely no expert either, I do have some thoughts.

I think within societies, friendship is valuable when you're young.

Now, before I explain this, I'd like to preface by saying that I am generalising here and will use examples of Western (and Indian) media to explain my point but different countries/cultures do have different views on friendships, families, romantic relationships, etc. so there is always a cultural nuance to these things that I won't be getting into in my response.

Getting back to the point at hand, I think friendships are important for the young. I remember a quote by the creators of the TV show Friends about how they wanted to write a show about 'the time in your life when friendships are your family.' There is the implication that friendships are your family when you're 'too old' to be close to your parents but 'too young' to have a family of your own. Aka your early twenties. I believe this is a mentality that is perpetuated by many other movies and shows, but must also clearly be reflecting the way a lot of relationships work in Western countries because these movies and shows are made to be relatable to the general masses.

Media about friendships revolve around how valuable and important friendships are (Friends, Will & Grace, Sex and the City, etc.) but they all end the same way - with everyone pairing up and starting families to denote a “happy ending” and 'moving on' to adulthood. If there is anyone not paired up at the end, the audience consensus is generally that it's really sad that they didn't find anyone, even if they end up with professional success or are otherwise happy.

In Indian media, romance is important but equal to family (parents specifically). In Indian culture, many times family (parents) is more important than romance. Friendships, however, always seem to be second tier. Even Bollywood movies about friendships (Dil Chahta Hai, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai etc.) are all still primarily about finding the great romantic love of your life. And many of the main conflicts of Bollywood films are about the family and romantic partners clashing - friendships aren't even generally considered important enough to be a factor that provides conflict, many times because it doesn't affect your future at all.

While there is a difference between relationship hierarchies in Indian and American media (and cultures), it seems like the one thing they agree on is that friendships are not as important as romance.

But we've all met those people who are reluctant to get into romantic relationships because they don’t want to ruin friendships, so there is a pervading idea that friendships are important! Sometimes more than romance! But it's an idea that people out grow in their mid-twenties, and eventually the implication is that once you get a 'lifelong' partner - who is always a romantic partner - they take precedence and the friendships become second tier. This change seems to happen with age and is not considered sad because everyone follows the same life trajectory! Right?

But for everyone who doesn't want to or can't have a future that revolves around a romantic partner, there’s also a big question mark when you try to imagine the future. Because suddenly friendships aren't the most important thing anymore.

So in a general sense, I do think people value friendships... at a certain age. But I think it is considered to be a temporary phase. The question I want to ask is why? Why can't we put more emphasis on building communities instead of just structuring futures around a romantic partner? Why can't the communities involve relationships that aren't just romantic and/or familial? Sure it works for some people, but it also doesn't work for a lot of other people.

And it's not just about aspecs either. It's also about people who've been in abusive relationships, people who's spouses leave them after marriage, people who simply just don't want a traditional family set-up (see Shonda Rhimes, for example), etc. We need alternative options! That doesn't necessarily mean friendships are the solution, but I think they could be one of the solutions. Why can't a Friends-esque situation be the future - with someone living in the same building with several of their best friends, all of them helping each other out? Why can't someone just decide they want to live with their parents with both parties taking care of each other? Why isn't just having kids without having a romantic partner seen as something normal? Why can't we return to community based systems where the whole 'village' helps each other out with all the activities needed to keep life going smoothly?

#i hope I answered the question you asked #I feel like it devolved more into 'what is the future for those who don't buy society's idea of what the ideal future looks like' #anyway thanks for sharing your thoughts and for asking the question - this was so interesting to think about #aroace tag #aro stuff #ace stuff #friendship #anonymous #ask

[mirambles]

Teri Meri Kahaniyaan: Ek Sau Teeswan (Review)

Ek Sau Teeswan is the last story in the 3 film anthology Teri Meri Kahaniyaan.

Let me be honest upfront, if not for this film being Wahaj Ali’s debut film, I would not have headed to the theatres in the first week of its release to watch it on the big screen. Before I dive into the details of the third story, a quick word on the first two stories in this anthology.

The first film Jin Mahal is a horror comedy with an underlying commentary on class and social strata that exists within all countries. The entire homeless family from the grandmom, to the parents and kids are wonderful to watch! They play their parts so well, especially Gul E Rana who plays the blind grandmom is an utter riot. Much much fun.

Skip the second story Pasoori (I couldn’t cause I watched it in the theatre) - it’s such a bad copy of a Bollywood film. The leads are not only terrible dancers, but they are also bad actors. I have seen both in different PTV dramas and was disappointed how bad Ramsha was here. I had no expectations from Shereyar (Osama of Zindagi Gulzar Hai) and I have no clue how he is getting any main lead roles. Can’t emote to save his life. Where is the fast forward button when you need it!

Now the winner of this film - the third story Ek Sau Teeswan (123rd). I’m not wrong to say that it is the biggest reason for the success of this film. Mehwish Hayat as Sadaf and Wahaj Ali as Asad star in this short tale of strangers on a train.

Two people meet on a train journey - a game of flirtations ensues , and co-passengers on the train join the audience to play the ‘will they , won’t they’ game.

The movie is Sadaf’s story, of her loyalty to her marriage despite the betrayal from her husband. Asad is clearly smitten by Sadaf’s beauty and makes no qualms about it. But he is carrying his own baggage of his marriage falling apart. In the next 30 mins through their conversations, we learn everything we have to about Sadaf and nothing about Asad. This is where the biggest flaw of the story is - it could have been more balanced giving us the male and female perspective on marriage.

But like I said, this story is about Sadaf, about a woman’s perspective. No woman today is going to like the narrative that Sadaf is working with when it comes to her marriage. I definitely didn’t, because adultery is an absolute deal breaker for me. It’s no go, cannot be forgiven. There is even a hint of abuse at the hands of the husband and that’s worse. So I couldn’t root for Sadaf for the choices she makes or sympathise with her. Mehwish though, reminded me so much of Chitragandha Singh and she is really delightful to watch. I get the writer was probably trying to say loyalty trumps love for women, but the way it was shown from Sadaf’s story was not palatable.

Now let’s go to the main reason I went for the movie - to watch Wahaj essay Asad for a total screen time of less than 30mins of this 40mins film. Like I said earlier we get to know very little about Asad. Asad tries to initiate the conversation but the rest of the journey is only about him reacting to Sadaf’s views and opinions. Through her story it is implied that he reassess his marriage and his feelings. I would love to dissect that last line he delivers and his expressions, but that would be a major spoiler for those who haven’t watched the movie.

Wahaj as Asad is charming as hell the moment he enters the screen, he is made for the big screen because you can’t take your eyes off him. Minimal dialogues , maximum expressions. How powerful are his eyes, mesmerising and captivating. They are speaking all the time - the infatuation, the realisation, the disappointment, the love, the apology. Wahaj needs no words, no dialogues. It’s like the writer and director narrated the character to him - said you don’t have many dialogues, now show me what you can do! Wahaj aced the assignment.

I need to see Wahaj in a full fledged slow burn, angsty , healthy romance. I have said so many times, he is born to romance on screen. He is not perfect as an all round actor, but he has perfected the romance genre, the look of love, the heart melting confessions, even if it’s only one line in this entire film. He woos you, he charms you, the moment he looks at you. I wish Pakistani drama and film industry does justice to his talents - he needs more powerful scripts and strong characters to show the world what he is truly capable of.

Mehwish Hayat is an accomplished name in the industry, while Wahaj is making his debut in this film - but he matches her effortlessly in terms of acting and screen presence! It’s not my favourite pairing of his, but he can create chemistry with anyone!

In summary, Ek Sau Teeswan is Sadaf’s story, any other actor playing Asad could have been a side character; but Wahaj as Asad tiptoes gently in the story and ends up stealing the limelight with that last line delivery and look! A star in the making - choose the right scripts Wahaj and we are seated to watch you soar!

Verdict : Teri Meri Kahaniyaan is not a blow your mind, must watch film. It’s good in parts and has many flaws. If you are a Wahaj Ali fan like me , definitely go watch him on the big screen if the film is running in a theatre near you. If not, wait for it to release on OTT and do watch him essay the gentle, soft spoken, charming Asad. Until you wait, listen to this wonderful track in Shuja Haider’s voice - a song about unsaid, unspoken, unexpressed, unrequited love.

#Teri Meri Kahaniyaan #wahaj ali #mehwish hayat #Pakistani movie #pakistani drama #tere bin

[bronzeagepizzeria]

Get To Know Me

Thank you for the tag, @demdifferentstories-29 !

What is your name? Niyati

For how long have you had this account? since 2018, i think? only started using it during the pandemic though

Favourite food? i have a massive sweet tooth, so anything sweet, really. also pizza

Favourite drink? i don't drink anything interesting xD just water and even then a bitch is severely dehydrated

Do you have any siblings? yes, one older sister

Do you have pets? yessss i've got three cats!!

How old are you? 19

How many languages do you know? i'd say i'm most comfortable in english, but i can speak hindi fluently as well. i understand tamil entirely and sort of understand marathi + a few words of kannada bc i lived in bangalore for 13 years

What's your all-time favourite movie/tv show? fav movie has got to be the godfather part ii. i've watched it a million times. fav show will forever be game of thrones, no matter how badly it crashed and burned. i really imprinted on that shit lol

What are you enjoying to do in your free time? read fic hahaha. or watch movies. recently i haven't managed to watch anything except reels on instagram though, send help

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? mostly an introvert, but i think i'm just bad at small talk. i don't have issues with public speaking or anything, and i can talk about stuff i'm interested in for hours and hours to virtual strangers xD

Your favourite music genres? i don't listen to a lot of english music tbh! i'd say pop? mostly i just listen to film soundtracks and bollywood songs

Your dream place to visit? i used to be fuckin OBSESSED with australia as a child so i hope to still go there? but i'd like to visit all over, really. i haven't travelled much. definitely wanna experience living in the US/UK for a while. i plan to do my post-grad abroad

Something you wish you were better at? not procrastinating. it's a serious problem

How long do you take to respond to texts? immediately lol. sometimes i respond to ao3 comments within minutes, which must freak people out

Do you have any tattoos? If not, would like to? nope. look in theory it's a cool idea but i'm famously indecisive and if i can't even settle on a pfp for more than a month i just know i'm gonna pick a tattoo and end up fucking hating it

What's your sexuality? straight

Do you like reading? If yes what's your favourite book? i don't read much anymore, unfortunately. but i want to get back into it

Have you ever been in love before? ehhh no. i usually just trick myself into liking someone i suspect likes me lol

What's your relationship status? single

Have you ever been heartbroken? nah

Best memory you could think of? this question is super hard for me lol. recently my roommate and i did an hp rewatch and she asked me what memory i would rely on for my patronus and...i literally do not know. like i've had a decently happy life, but nothing stands out, you know? there isn't any one instance i can think of like that

Worst memory you can think of? same thing again. my 2023 has been so fucking bad it's not even sad to me anymore i just find it genuinely funny. but it hasn't been all bad either? i really don't know if i've just repressed my emotions for this year or if i'm over it already lol. maybe it'll come back to bite me in the arse later

Do you have any fears? moths and butterflies (i don't discriminate) i also don't like small birds/plants that are beginning to dry up/balloons losing air. i was a weird kid

Are you a morning or a night person? oh, night definitely. i spent the entirety of last year getting like 2hrs of sleep a night and napping during class

How many pictures do you have on your phone? 5001 + my icloud has not been backed up in 462 days

Who was your favourite childhood crush? first guy i ever liked was shahid kapoor. first guy i actively fantasized about etc has got to be chris evans. the captain america movies were my personality for a long time in middle school lmao

Are you a romantic? hmm i don't think so. i have pretty old-fashioned tastes when it comes to love and romance i guess, but i think i'm more of a cynic

What’s your dream date? showing my s/o movies/shows that i love. honestly that's my love language

What are your hobbies? i draw a little, watch movies, read fic. i used to play professional-level badminton but that hasn't been fun for me in a long time :(

Tagging: if you read all the way and you feel like it, go ahead!

#tag game

[indiejones]

OF 1963: THE YEAR THAT CHANGED MEENA KUMARI FOREVER! ... OF 'OPERATION MEENA KUMARI' IE THE 'OPERATION CHINESE WHISPERS' !

Pradeep Kumari once, in fact many a times, described Meena Kumari as "the nicest person he'd ever met" & "a veritable angel on earth". Even going on to add, "I don't think there is any person on earth who couldn't fall in love with Meena Kumari".

The media narrative around Meena Kumari was always very sober & dignified & respectful. Till 1962.

You see Meena Kumari was always a very big star, from 1952 (& 'Baiju Bawra') yet not in a league of her own, but in the very top rung with 2-3 other actresses.

But her cinematic career took on a whole different trajectory in 1961, when the film 'Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan' released, & "The Bollywood Goddess" was born!

In many expert & mass assessments till today, one of the greatest performances by a female on celluloid, in history ever!

This was followed by 1962, with 3 more legendary performances in 'Main Chup Rahungi', 'Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam' & 'Aarti', & March 1963's 'Dil Ek Mandir', & within a gap of exactly 2 yrs & 5 Films, 4 of which are in The Forever All-Time Top 50 of Indian Cinema, Meena Kumari had gone from sure-shot No. 3 Of All Time, to, the most likely 'FOREVER NO. 1 ACTRESS OF INDIAN CINEMA", infact challenging the WORLD NO. 1 tag too!

Such was her craze & hold on public imagination then, that Filmfare did something they've never ever done for anyone else till today ever! - They nominated her in all the nomination slots for 'Best Actress" that year, as a mark of salutation, & as a statement indicating the "Crowning of Bollywood's First Queen nee First Female Megastar"!

Wonderful. But scary.

The reason this was or atleast should've been very scary & a warning sign for Meena Kumari, is that 'Bollywood Estt' or 'Deep state Bollywood', & the faction or rival groups that control it, akin to the criminal underworld, if we know anything till today, doesn't give free lunches, & extracts much more than it gives! .. If they were heaping away so much free historic praise upon her, were impossibly unlikely to try leave anyone even with the potential to overrule their dictat or narrative hold over the masses, & were sure to quietly bts extract more than their pound of flesh too!

AND A RANSOM WAS SOON PLACED ON HER REPUTATION, WITHIN THE FRATERNITY, WITH REGULAR REWARDS FOR THOSE THAT SUCCEEDED!

And that's when, mysteriously enuf by 1964, Dharmendra entered her film life, & via it, her life in general! Film magazines all of a sudden sprang to life, & news of "the crazy uncontrollable affair btwn Meen & Dharam" made it to all film headlines, to be continued in same vein for good more yrs thereafter. Stuff like "Dharmendra arrived at a airport one night all drunk, & upon being stopped, shouted, "Oh but I must get back to Bombay, I must. Meena is waiting for me!" were actually splashed all over the next morning's papers. Even further, of things like how Meena got so agitated in a outdoor shoot seeing her Dharmendra not sitting with her on way to the location, & having gone by another entourage car, stopped her car, & went to the middle of the road, sat on the road & started loudly repeating "Where is my Dharam! Oh where is my Dharam!", were being read by the Indian masses & classes on a daily basis now on. Going a step further, they even created fist fights & slapping incidents btwn the 2, & how she'd be regularly restraining her lover from brawling in drunken fights over her, were now the new norm. They then, took it to a tangential emotional plane, by renaming her "The Tragedy Queen", even in real life, equating her performances with some necessary strain in her own life. People began regularly being witness to Dharam entering Meena's room everytime, & leaving w/o fail in a sobbing state, & when asked about this reaction, saying things like "I just cant help it!". They even went after her husband,labeling her a wife-hater, & of how he egoistically once refused to hold Meena's purse, got publicly enraged at being called Meena Kumari's husband, etc etc. And how his secretary'd manhandle Meena & refuse her freedom. All false!

IT WAS THIS RELENTLESS MEDIA WAR DIRECTED AT THE COUPLE, WITH NOT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE TO SHOW FOR EVEN ONCE, THAT TOOK IT'S TOLL ON KAMAL OVER COUPLE OF YRS, FORCING HIM TO DECIDE TO LEAVE MEENA'S LIMELIGHT, TILL THIS OUTSIDE MADNESS CONTINUED.

Anyone with half a assessment, can see how Kamal's entire professional life,revolved around & was devoted to making her wife the best!

This was the final straw! & Meena took to drinking to numb herself to the world, determined to not lose & to continue working at her best. Do you know, 'deep state' even took away her most personal possessions, in return for her continuing career!?

Sadly,she didn't have the arms or tactfulness of Rajesh, to carry on next 18 yrs, nonetheless managing good 6-7 yrs within this 'golden solitary confinement Bolly jail' at the top!

(Watch Polanski's 'The Tenant'(76), for better feel on how this troll/suicide army works!)

Of the supreme sacrifices, India's legends made, to leave us awe-inspiring cultural history & worldly life lessons too.

[bollywood143114]

Why did Rekha's husband commit suicide? The actress did not come to see the last time, Rekha was mentioned in the suicide note!

Rekha and Mukesh Aggarwal: Bollywood industry's evergreen actress Rekha is always in discussion about her personal life. It would not be wrong to say about Rekha that she has seen more turmoil in her personal life than on the film screen. This is why his personal life has been so painful. Rekha fell in love many times in her life, but each time her love remained unfulfilled. Rekha married the famous Delhi businessman Mukesh Aggarwal in 1990, but Mukesh committed suicide a few days after the wedding. During this time, the relationship between Rekha and Mukesh deteriorated so much that Rekha did not even attend her husband's funeral. In such a situation, everyone wants to know what happened between Rekha and Mukesh that Rekha did not even see Mukesh's face for the last time? The love story of Rekha and Mukesh Aggarwal Bollywood industry veteran actress Rekha's career was sky high in the 90s and during this time she took a new turn in her life by marrying the famous businessman Mukesh Aggarwal from Delhi. Both knew each other before marriage. Actually the two meet during a party and soon their conversation turns to love. Meanwhile, Mukesh Aggarwal proposed to Rekha on 4 March 1990. Rekha also says yes for marriage. Both then performed seven circumambulations of the Mukteshwar Devalaya temple in Juhu. Rekha-Mukesh's marriage broke up within 6 months A few days after the wedding, Rekha and Mukesh started quarreling. Matters got so bad that Mukesh started living in depression due to business losses. In such a situation, the distance between the two began to grow. While Mukesh was pushing Rekha to quit films, her business wasn't doing too well either. Due to changes in circumstances as well as thoughts, the wedding car did not go on track and after a few months the relationship strained and the two separated. After 6 months of marriage, Rekha and Mukesh Aggarwal decided to divorce. Meanwhile, on September 26, when Rekha went to America to perform in a stage show, Mukesh Agarwal, who was present in Delhi, committed suicide here. According to media reports, on October 2, 1990, Mukesh Aggarwal's body was found hanging from Rekha's dupatta in his farmhouse. At this time, Mukesh Agarwal also wrote a suicide note. In this suicide note, he did not name anyone responsible for his death. Rekha was evicted from the property by Mukesh During this time, Mukesh Aggarwal not only threw Rekha out of his life, but also evicted her from his property. This time Mukesh Aggarwal said about Rekha that she is an independent woman. He can pay his own expenses. They don't need my money. Rekha did not attend Mukesh's funeral While on the one hand Mukesh Agarwal did not blame anyone behind the decision to commit suicide. So when he committed suicide in the 90s, in this Rekha picture Sheshnag was supposed to be released. People were so angry about Mukesh Aggarwal's suicide that they blackened the posters of the film and even started calling Rekha her husband's killer. This time Rekha was so devastated by the insult that she did not even attend her husband's funeral. DISCLAIMER Thanks For Visit Our Site www.bollywoodofindia.com . We’ve taken all measures to insure that the information handed in this composition and on our social media platform is believable, vindicated and sourced from other Big media Houses. For any feedback or complaint, reach out to us at [email protected] Read the full article

[getmemymicroscope]

It's not exactly "mind-blowing" cinema, in terms of execution; in fact, it suffers a bit from what seems like 'low-quality' filming (see the many random shots of the Taj Mahal) and absence of a necessary budget, maybe even. However, what it does do relatively well is take a very common Bollywood topic (corruption within the government, and the upper class) and give yet another sound board for such nonsense. Yes, it goes to an extreme with the whole Taj Mahal thing - they admit as much in the climax of the movie - but sometimes you need to be loud, be extra, be a sensation, for people to listen. And, in this case, that is exactly what they realized: they'd need to go over-the-top to be heard. And that is what our characters did. Because, to make a social message, you need society to be listening.

Of course, as movie viewers, you know there's something underlying this whole thing - and when, out of the blue, Vishwajeet Pradhan shows up randomly, you realize what it is. And, slowly, things do unfold and the whole thing is laid bare - and as a viewer, you only wonder if they didn't just take a bit too long with it (since we all knew this whole thing was some sort of gimmick or another). Like, I'm the last person to complain about holding the suspense till the end, but ... it just feels maybe the movie could have been shortened a bit.

But of course, that's hard when there's so much corruption to tackle: not only the rich builder and his cronies, but also the head politicians who are only worried about losing seats during the next election, and also the politicians of the opposing parties who only care about procuring more seats at the next election (honestly, essentially every fucking politician in the entire world is a fucking disgrace to humanity, and probably doesn't deserve anything at all), and the pseudo-humanitarian who only cares about her 15 seconds of fame - honestly, I'm more impressed that our main characters didn't absolutely lose their minds at this nonsense much earlier than their final appeal to the masses.

The movie tries to send a message about the absolute shit treatment of farmers across the country by the "development-hungry" politicians/rich-folk, who don't seem to give a damn about what it's doing to the people, or the country, or the food - and you just wonder if there maybe isn't a bit too much comedy (see: the court scene). Not that I'm complaining - I laughed, and if it had been too serious, that would've been very painful in the opposite direction - but it is hard to toe that fine line when you're trying to send a message in a movie.

#movies #gmmm does bollywood #movieblr #gmmm does movies

[insomnia-productions]

If you watch any movie on Netflix, ever, please, please, watch this. 

((I know I’m late but))

Super Deluxe relates 4 converging stories:

1. Three teenage boys get involved with gangs while trying to rapidly collect money to replace a broken TV

2. A family struggles between faith and medicine as their son is dying

3. A couple rush to dispose of a dead body, in the middle of a marital dispute

4. A transgender woman returns to her family after 7 years to meet her son

The movie is comedy gold when it chooses to be, but it is also intense, honest, and at times extremely raw, tackling dark and often taboo themes head-on. Certain scenes left me uncomfortable and scared in a way I haven't felt while watching a movie in years. 

This movie explores so many themes that are deeply relevant to India today - and to the broader world, as well. It puts these dark subjects on display, without hiding, and yet the movie’s message is ultimately an uplifting one, not allowing itself to wallow in existential misery (which, in my opinion, is the easy way out). 

Watch this movie. If for no other reason - try to understand how incredible it is to see a movie come out of India that sincerely and unflinchingly tackles the struggle of being a trans woman in my country, and has an uplifting message too. 

And, I can guarantee you, if you watch this movie, this kid will steal your heart:

watch it for him

#super deluxe #tamilcinema #please support these movies #indian cinema #everyone thinks of my country's cinema as flashy Bollywood song and dance flicks with no substance #but there are so many films within Bollywood that are so much more than that #and outside of Bollywood theres a whole world of unseen genius #Tamil movies need more appreciation so please watch this one

[yourwannabekpopidol]

Project 15

Apprenticeship Program Name: Radio Campbuzz Project Name: RJ for Rangdhonu and script writer for shows Program Date: Fall 2017 – Fall 2018 Program Description: I joined this program when Kashfia Ma’am was the advisor for the program. She assigned me to a RJ position for a weekly show called, “Rangdhonu”. And I had to write the script for the show as well. What I had to do was be a host for the show and the show is about pop culture and entertainment. So we had to talk about any new update on Hollywood and Bollywood. Program Justification: What the show provided was to let the students know about any pop culture and to let them enjoy some entertainment before going back to class. There were other shows but this show made me realize how fun it is to be a RJ. Due to this show, I was even awarded the best RJ in Radio Campbuzz of Spring 2018. Program Name: Rangdhonu. Program Time: Every Wednesday from 12 pm to 1 pm.

Picture 1: This is me before the show of Rangdhonu at the station.

Picture 2: This is the poster that declared that Nabeela apu and I were the host of the show, Rangdhonu, on social media.

Picture 3: This was the award and the certificate of me winning the best RJ.

Script for the 5th Rangdhonu show: Written by: Wangkhem Thonglen

Link 1

Sonam Kapoor ties the knot! Celebrity marriages are always the talk of the town, especially when it is the much-awaited wedding of one of Bollywood's most beloved stars, Sonam Kapoor. In an event of grand celebrations, Sonam Kapoor has finally tied the knot last Tuesday, May 8, with her long-time boyfriend Anand Ahuja. For those who don't know, Anand Ahuja is a businessman who has founded his own fashion brand named Bhane. His Delhi-based business has made him quite successful despite his young age, and fans know him well for always being addressed fondly in Sonam's online posts. The couple is active on social media, and has never failed to win hearts through their messages of adoration and love. Radio Cambuzz wishes the couple a happy conjugal life!

SaRa May 12 marked the grand opening of SaRa's first showroom in Mirpur. The fashion house made a huge statement with endorsements from stars like Sara Zaker, Oyshee, Shahtaj, Pritom, Xefer, Azim, Doyel and many others. They were present during the opening, along with the owner S.M Khaled.

RABINDRA FESTIVALS AROUND THE COUNTRY The celebration of 157th birth anniversary of Tagore in Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka. Artistes performed in a programme by Jayita Rabindra Sangeet Shomillon Porishod in Mymensingh. Artistes did a cultural show in Rabindra Mela, Channel i premises, Dhaka. Artistes from Bangladesh and India performed in Rabindra Festival in Shelaidah Kuthibari, Kushtia. Also Sirajganj.

30 years of BAMBA - More than just bands After a break of almost four years, Bangladesh Musical Bands Association, better known as BAMBA, recently arranged a mega concert, 'BAMBA Live Chapter 1', in Dhaka. The turnout was huge, with the spacious hall room of the International Convention Centre, Bashundhara, filled to the brim with fans eager to get a glimpse of their favorite bands and listen to their all-time hits. 11 of the 27 bands under the umbrella of BAMBA, including Warfaze, Miles, Shunno, Aurthohin, Nemesis, Vikings, Feedback, Dalchhut, Maq O' Dhaka, Pentagon and Arbovirus performed at the concert. Star Showbiz recently invited BAMBA to participate at a roundtable discussion at The Daily Star Centre. Hamin Ahmed, President of BAMBA; Sheikh Monirul Alam Tipu, General Secretary; Fuad Naser Babu, Vice President; Maqsoodul Haque (Mac), Executive Committee Member; Mohammad Ali Shumon, Treasurer; and Doza Alan, CEO, SkyTracker Limited, took part in the roundtable discussion. It was facilitated by Star Showbiz Editor Rafi Hossain. The discussion focused on BAMBA's current activities and the way forward in the face of the challenges confronting our music industry.

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Zoe Saldana on the Hollywood Walk of Fame After smashing success as the alien warrior Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy films and more recently, Avengers: Infinity War, Zoe Saldana is on a path to eternal stardom, literally. She joins the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and her co-actor Chris Pratt, by receiving her very own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Zoe Saldana took to Instagram to express her gratitude, saying she is blessed and honored to be a part of the history of Hollywood. “May this open more doors for Latinx and all other under-represented community!” she further stated. Zoe Saldana has also appeared in James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar and the recent Star Trek trilogy. Being a constant presence in blockbuster sci-fi and fantasy films, Zoe Saldana is expected to become a top name in this specific genre quite soon. 2018 71st Cannes Film Festival From Tuesday May 8th til Saturday May 19th. Australian actress Cate Blanchett has been named as the President of the Jury. Asghar Farhadi's psychological thriller Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Ricardo Darín, opened the festival and competes in the Main Competition section The Han Solo spinoff Solo: A Star Wars Story touched down Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, bringing its cast and a full-sized Chewbacca to the French Riviera extravaganza. Director Ron Howard, wearing a hat that read “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” introduced his cast before the film’s international premiere at Cannes. Sonam Kapoor wows at the red carpet of Cannes Film Festival 2018. Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan once again stole the show as she walked the prestigious red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, this time in a stunning ultra-violet, blue and red gown that reflected the metamorphosis of a butterfly. History was made at this year's 71st  Cannes Film Festival on Saturday as 82 women, representing the limited number of women filmmakers selected over its more than seven-decade history, made a symbolic walk up the red carpet. The stars, filmmakers and other professionals ascended the steps of the Palais des Festivals at the Cannes Film Festival, protesting for the solidarity of the women in the industry who are struggling for a voice, equal pay, as well as a safer work place. The five female members of this year's Cannes jury-- Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart, Ava DuVernay, Lea Seydoux and Burundian singer Khadja Nin, along with Jane Fonda, Salma Hayek and Marion Cotillard were among the group of women.

Link 3 Mim Mantasha Superstar in the making Winning the country's biggest pageant is not an ordinary feat. Mim Mantasha has won not just a crown, but also the hearts of millions. Awaiting a new journey, the Lux Channel i Superstar 2018 winner shares her story with The Daily Star. A final year student of Fine Arts at Jahangirnagar University, Mim has always been a creative and curious soul. She was an avid follower of the contest for a long time. This year, she finally took the decision to compete. Taking part in the competition was certainly not a cakewalk. “We went through vigorous training sessions. We did yoga in the mornings,” explains Mim.  Before the task rounds, the contestants went through fifteen days of training for ramp walk, acting, dancing, and many other skills. The photo shoots, acting, and improvisation rounds were Mim's favourite tasks in the competition. “I was nervous but in a scene, I got to convince people through my acting that my child was lost. I enjoyed it,” Mim smiles, adding that the competition was an overall memorable experience. Although she is highly enthusiastic about working in the media, she wants to take more preparations before doing so. She is now Lux Bangladesh's brand ambassador and has also won the opportunity to work on television and feature film projects of Impress Telefilm. Before hitting the silver screen, Mim wants to explore the world of television. Being a painter at heart, Mim also wants to continue painting and have her own exhibition in the future. Further to this, she intends to work for children who need special care. “I am in a fortunate position and it is our duty to take care of those in need.” says Mim. With great intentions, we hope Mim Mantasha excels at every step of her future endevours.

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Avengers Infinity War Review The plot itself is pretty simple. There are six stones that possess mystic powers and he/she who possesses all the stones is by default the most powerful being in the universe. Our Marvel superheroes must forget their own conflicts and join forces against Thanos to restore the fate of the universe and its inhabitants. Of course, watch the movie to know how things pan out. Avengers: Infinity War is the movie of movies, and let me tell you why. Most, if not all, the characters of the MCU are present in this film and bring their own flavour into the mix. Thor is mourning the loss of his home and hammer, Stark feels he needs to take a break from saving the world, Captain America is still out to bring justice the right way, and Hulk has no control over himself. I don't know what formula the Russo brothers have applied in their direction but I watched in awe how all the characters blended to deliver multiple storylines within a movie. Yes, I have also compared this movie to a mega three-hour episode of your daily soap opera. Avengers: Infinity War is the comprehensive Marvel movie; it is the beginning of an end. It lifts you, it hits you, and leaves you with a cliffhanger extraordinaire. See it to believe it and it'll still be unbelievable. By next weekend, Infinity War will top $1.78 billion and could sit around $1.8 billion, ensuring Marvel's year-to-date tally exceeds $3.1 billion by next Sunday.

Deadpool 2 Marketing Right off the bat, you see how Deadpool has scratched out the 20th Century Fox logo and put “TBD,” which is a sly allusion to the ongoing Disney/Fox (and Comcast?) merger drama. The content of the letter is exactly what you might expect from the Merc with a Mouth. Pop culture references, silly puns, bad language, and Ryan Reynolds bashing. Then, at the bottom, instead of the #ThanosDemandsYourSilence, we get #WadeWilsonDemandsYourSisterSorryStupidAutoCorrectSilence. See, you guys, it’s funny! And not at all trying too hard. Kidding aside, the marketing for “Deadpool 2” has been pretty top notch, but perhaps not as great as the first film. Recently, the film premiered a music video for the soundtrack featuring Celine Dion singing an over-the-top ballad while a high-heel-wearing Deadpool does an interpretive dance around the diva. It’s ridiculous and fun. And also, the most recent trailer seems to have struck a chord with fans, who are coming down off their ‘Infinity War’ high.

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Top 10 Hollywood Box Office Weekend 1. Avengers: Infinity War - $62,078,047 (Total Grossing – $548,090,150) 2. Life of the Party - $17,886,075 (New) 3. Breaking In - $17,630,285 (New) 4. Overboard - $9,864,415 5. A Quiet Place - $6,455,396 (Total Grossing - $169,608,030) 6. I Feel Pretty - $3,805,437 7. Rampage - $3,462,442 (Total Grossing - $89,827,105) 8. Tully - $2,248,945 9. Black Panther -  $2,077,207 (Total Grossing - $696,331,818) 10. RBG - $1,188,186

Billboard’s top 10 Hits 1. This Is America – Childish Gambino (New) 2. Nice For What – Drake (Last Week: 1) 3. God’s Plan – Drake 4. Psycho – Post Malone Featuring Ty Dolla $ign (Last Week: 2) 5. Meant To Be – Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line 6. The Middle – Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey 7. Look Alive – BlocBoy JB Featuring Drake 8. Never Be The Same – Camila Cabello 9. Perfect – Ed Sheeran (Last Week: 12) 10. No Tears Left To Cry – Ariana Grande Learning and reflections: This program made me realize the inner potential I had to be so extrovert and be a good host. I learned what to do or say after getting stuck during a live session. I have improved my speaking skills and the flow of a RJ host on how to talk and say because they have a different tone when it comes to a live session. I have taken all these skills from this program and I even got selected and did a short commercial video for Spice FM Radio. I also learned how to write a script for a radio show.

[brindaneer]

“Brinda: I love Superhero films. Marvel, DC and of course, our very own Krrish!

Neer: umm…I really can’t watch anything from the entire genre except Krrish!”

This is an appropriate example of a typical conversation regarding ‘superhero’ ventures between us. Shocked? What?! We already told you that our opinions varied at times! Oh! Ok! Shocked about the fact that Neer does not like the Marvel and DC universe? Well, yeah! Neer can be a bit ‘weird’ about certain things 😝! Don’t worry! Brinda loves them all❤️... However, what really matters is that both of us absolutely adore our first Indian superhero, Krrish; the reason for that is not Hrithik Roshan alone although he obviously is the primary source of our attraction.

MR. Rakesh Roshan! What a man! The sheer courage that must have been required to even dream of making a film about an Indian Superhero, all those years ago, is rare to find; it makes us salute the possessor, Mr. Rakesh Roshan again and again. At some point, fed up with relentless struggle, many among us have probably thought of giving up on our dreams. Let us take a lesson from this man and aspire for great things without worrying about the results. Only then can we achieve that which is largely perceived to be unattainable.

Technically superb with high quality VFX and cinematographically fabulous, Krrish possessed all ingredients that are usually required to make a commercially successful superhero venture. Yet, in a hypothetical SWOT analysis of the film, its numero uno strength would definitely have to be the script. We realize this must remind you of the blog on Koi Mil Gaya but please excuse us for sounding repetitive. It is not our fault that Mr. Rakesh Roshan places utmost importance on the script of a film. No, we are not saying it is his either. In fact, it is quite the reverse. Mr. Roshan’s astuteness in coming up with a crisp script with the help of a very talented team of writers is undoubtedly his best quality and that, in turn, enhances his abilities as a director, thereby making the end product not only saleable but also worthy of critical acclaim. Therefore, not surprisingly, Krrish had a sound and very believable storyline, which ultimately is the most essential element of any film. So, lets just delve into it right away!

Krrish is all about Krishna, Rohit’s son, who has inherited special powers from his father, the very ones that Jaadoo had gifted lovingly to Rohit years back in ‘Koi Mil Gaya’. Unfortunately, Rohit and Nisha are no longer alive, having died a few years after we had last seen them (😭😭). Scared of exposing her super heroic grandson to the world, Sonia Mehra leaves Kasauli and retires to an obscure but beautiful little place somewhere in the Himalayan countryside. Krishna’s face is an exact replica of Rohit’s but otherwise he is quite different from what his father used to be at this age. Krishna has superpowers that allow him to leap across mountains, fall into a gorge from the top of a high peak and yet escape unhurt, climb mountains faster than any other living being, and run faster than a horse! He is also a lonely young boy, desperate for companionship and exposure to the vast exciting world he has been kept away from. Despite harbouring a grievance towards his ‘Daadi’ for this confinement, Krishna loves her too much to be really offended. Her world revolves around him and he is very aware of it. Yet, he cannot let go of his boredom in the sleepy little hamlet he has been forced to dwell in! What a tragic irony! The very powers that had once enabled Rohit to be largely accepted within the so-called mainstream society have now chained his son, keeping him forcibly hidden from the rest of the world.

However, destiny obviously has other plans, and Krishna meets Priya (Priyanka Chopra) who is visiting India with her friend Honey from Singapore and are in his neighbourhood with an adventure group. For him, it is love at first sight. For Priya, he is initially a mystery and eventually a friend. The parallel between Krishna and Priya’s story and that of Rohit and Nisha is worth mentioning in this context. Nisha had also considered Rohit just a friend for a long time until she fell in love with him.

Despite his grandmother’s restrictions, Krishna’s powers are revealed (somewhat deliberately by the man himself) in front of Priya and Honey, who are naturally awestruck. The scenes where they and their companions mistake the superhuman Krishna as supernatural and are convinced that he is the ghost of Ramcharan provide some very effective comedy to keep the audience engaged.

After spending some lovely moments together, and getting acquainted with Krishna’s grandmother, Priya leaves, much to Krishna’s disappointment. Having grown up far from the madding crowd, away from the complexities of urbanism, Krishna is still innocent to a degree that is rare to find in the contemporary world. Priya is aware of his feelings but she does not reciprocate them despite genuinely liking him. However, that does not deter her from luring him to Singapore with false proclamations of love just so that Honey and she may save their jobs by showing off his unique skills in a television show. Quite a diabolical plan! Naturally, we were developing acrimonious feelings for Priya at this point when we first watched the film, and we are sure, so were you! However, keeping aside our concern for the ever-lovable Krishna for a while, how refreshing was it to see a flawed heroine for a change? We are definitely not suggesting that this was the first portrayal of such a female in Hindi cinema, but Bollywood had most diligently followed the tradition of glorifying female lead characters up to a very long time, and it was not completely out of fashion in the late 2000s. In fact, it is still frequently observed in television shows that are highly influenced by obsolete Bollywood themes. How many heroines can you name off the top of your head who were selfish and unsympathetic in mainstream commercial films during that decade? Yes, definitely more than what used to be in the 60s, 70s and 80s, but still not too many. Just close your eyes for a moment and think of the number of films where the ‘hero’ has faked love for the heroine due to selfish reasons (to win a bet with friends, to satisfy his own ego, for the sake of his job, etc). If you can think of such films far more easily than the ones where heroines have made similar mistakes, we have made our point. Please do not get us wrong; we are definitely not advocating such behaviour. However, our society has normalized the concept of a ‘virtuous’ female to such a massive extent that sometimes people forget we are human beings, made of the same flesh and blood as men, and capable of making similar mistakes and sins. We do not intend this blog to be a discourse on feminism by any means; yet somehow this discussion seems very relevant here.

Moving on, Krishna is elated to find that his feelings are reciprocated and wants to go to Singapore at the earliest to get permission from Priya’s mom for their marriage. However, his daadi has severe objections in this regard. The scene where Krishna lashes out in anger and accuses her of selfishly wanting to keep him to herself is one of the best enacted scenes of the movie. But more on that later. Heartbroken by her grandson’s accusations, Sonia Mehra finally reveals the reason for her apparently irrational fear, and in the process, we get to see our very own Rohit once again, although in flashback.

After Jadoo had given Rohit his powers back, he became widely known in the scientific community due to his research works, eventually attracting the attention of internationally renowned scientist, Dr. Siddhanth Arya (Naseeruddin Shah). Dr. Arya wanted to collaborate with Rohit and build a computer that could predict the future, thereby saving the world from catastrophes. To that end, Rohit moved temporarily to Singapore and worked day and night in Dr. Arya’s research laboratory. Nisha, who was pregnant at the time, was being taken care of by Rohit’s mother. The day Nisha was hospitalized for delivering the baby, Sonia Mehra called Rohit who anxiously told her that he was coming back because his powers had been used for wrong purposes. The next day, she received news of his death in a lab accident. Nisha could not bear this shock and passed away a few days later, leaving little Krishna as Sonia’s only reason for existence.

Convinced that Rohit’s death was not a mere accident, Sonia decided to keep her gifted grandchild away from prying eyes so that the same people did not try and use his powers for evil as well.

This revelation naturally mellows the agitated Krishna down and he feels guilty for having hurled harsh allegations at the person who is actually his protector and saviour; more so because she not only agrees to let him travel to Singapore but also ushers the best possible blessing upon him by giving him Rohit’s coat. On his part, Krishna promises that he is going to keep his powers hidden from all. However, that’s easier said than done, as he soon finds out. Although he manages to ruin Priya and Honey’s attempts to showcase his skills for a show, it becomes impossible for him to keep quiet when a circus tent catches fire in front of his eyes and children are trapped inside. As he dons a common mask and wears his father’s coat inside out as a cape, Krishna becomes Krrish, a superhero who does not think twice before jumping into fire to save the entrapped. The name is a shortened version of his real one and he uses it as a pseudonym so that he may keep his promise to his grandmother. However, when has truth remained hidden? As they say in Bollywood, ‘sach ko to ek na ek din saamne aana hee hoga’! Priya, who has now actually fallen for Krishna (who wouldn’t?) comes face to face with him as he emerges out of the burning tent, carrying a child in his arms. Since he is all masked up, and the surrounding is filled with smoke, she only sees his intense greenish grey eyes, and quite logically draws the conclusion that he is none other than her very own Krishna. Smart girl! Who else has those gorgeous pair of eyes in the world? Nevertheless, Krishna’s promise to his grandmother is worth more to him than admitting the truth to Priya, and he ruins all her attempts to make him confess including getting deliberately beaten up by goons to prove that he is not the superhero she thinks him to be. He also gives his identity willingly to Christian, a young man in need of money for his wheelchair-bound little sister; a pair he had already helped before by collecting money through a stunt show on the streets (a particularly touching scene).

Just when everything seems rosy in Krishna and Priya’s life, he gets to know about Priya’s lie after a chance conversation with her supposedly sick mother on phone. Priya had hitherto avoided their meeting on the pretext of her mother being sick but the latter herself exposes that lie unknowingly and Krishna is stunned by the disclosure. Hurt and angry with Priya’s betrayal, Krishna decides to leave Singapore immediately. Meanwhile, Priya comes across a clip in her own video recording of that night at the circus and realizes that her initial intuition about Krishna being Krrish was right all along. Elated, she tells the truth to Honey and also confesses her true love for him, all the while unaware that her past lies are about to haunt her soon. She also gives the tape to Honey to show it to their boss, this time not for the sake of their jobs but also for Krishna’s fame. When she comes to meet Krishna and reveals what she has discovered and then done, he lashes out at her in probably one of the best scenes of the film. His every word is justified, and she is repentant. However, Priya crosses the line when she rebukes his grandmother and throws the same allegations at her that Krishna himself had once. Furious, Krishna reveals the reason behind Sonia’s overprotectiveness to her and starts for the airport, leaving an utterly ashamed and heart broken Priya behind.

We are now in the last leg of the film. Reenter Dr. Arya, who is definitely not what he seemed like! He too is wearing a mask like Krishna, the only difference being in their intentions. Krishna has put the mask on to save the innocent while Dr. Arya wants to destroy them. He is a power-crazed egomaniac who has already rebuilt that computer from Rohit’s lab notes so that he can effectively play the role of God. And surprise surprise! To fulfill his purpose, he has kept Rohit alive. Well, barely alive at least! What actually happened all those years back was that Rohit had successfully built the computer that could foresee the future. During his time in the laboratory, he had formed a deep camaraderie with Dr. Arya’s head of security and after Rohit had finished building the computer, his friend wanted him to foresee the gender of his unborn child through it. The computer correctly predicted Krishna’s birth but it also foresaw Rohit’s death on the very day his son was born. After further exploration, Rohit realized that Dr. Arya was going to kill him so that no one else knew how to operate that computer. Shocked and distraught, he understood that he had been used. That was when he had received the call from his mother and informed her about his decision of coming back. Before leaving Singapore forever, Rohit decided to ruin Dr. Arya’s evil plans by destroying the computer he had toiled over for months., and he was partly successful. Although he managed to destroy the computer, Dr. Arya caught him before he could leave. But for the Chief Security Officer, Rohit would surely have been killed. That honest man who had genuinely become fond of Rohit saved him by reminding Dr. Arya about the password to the computer- Rohit’s handprint and retina. Dr. Arya who had already hatched the plan of rebuilding the computer kept the latter’s heart beating. But just that. This story is narrated in the present times by Dr. Arya’s Chief Security Officer to Priya who brings him to the airport and stops Krishna from leaving. Meanwhile Dr. Arya has already seen his own future in the computer. Any guesses? He has seen his death at the hands of a masked man! Of course, the man is none other than Krishna or Krrish himself. Eager to destroy every threat to his existence, Dr. Arya promptly kills Christian, the guy who had taken up Krrish’s identity at Krishna’s behest. However, when has anyone ever escaped destiny? Even Dr. Arya doesn’t! Krishna in complete superhero mode leaps across tall buildings and finally defeats his nemesis (The insanely dedicated Hrithik Roshan who performed every stunt by himself escaped a near fatal experience when a cable snapped during a stunt! As fans we are both amazed and concerned about this man’s immense humility and absolute submission to his craft. We just hope and pray that he takes care of his health since it is more important than anything else). Before dying, Dr Arya asks why Krrish wants his death. In a terrific cinematic moment, Krishna takes off his mask and reveals his face. The shock and realization on Dr. Arya’s face is evident as he breathes his last. Finally, everything turns out fine as Krishna comes home to his daadi with not just Priya but Rohit (who has now recovered sufficiently and is back to his old self) too. The film ends on a positive note with Jaadoo’s spacecraft peeping through the clouds once again as Rohit plays that same old tune which had beckoned the former and his companions to earth in the first place.

Now that we have recounted the story, a few much needed words about the actors- Rekha ji was once again at her best in the film, effortlessly slipping into the role of Krishna’s grandmother. Hrithik and her chemistry was as fabulous here as it was in ‘Koi Mil Gaya’. Priyanka was her charming self as usual. Undoubtedly, she is one of the most natural actors in Bollywood, and this film was no exception. The easy, playful chemistry that Hrithik and she shared was one of the major highlights of ‘Krrish’. What do we say about Naseeruddin Shah? Well, probably it is better to say nothing because it might be redundant. Finally, praising Hrithik Roshan is also becoming repetitive in these blogs. So, we have decided to stop it henceforth! Just kidding! At least in this life, it is utterly impossible! Brilliant in every frame, Hrithik aced the role of a superhero like only he could, his body language being as flawless as his expressions; actions as perfect as emotions. The moment when Krishna met Rohit was a proof of this man’s immense versatility and talent. Who would think that someone that perfect as Rohit could also be equally superlative as a superhero or vice versa? The scenes where Krishna lost his temper with his daadi and Priya were also among the best moments in the film. Hrithik is always so natural at portraying rage, but he never goes overboard with it. But then, isn’t that true for every emotion in the book?

Krrish 3, the third project in the franchise continued Krrish’s saga and Rohit’s story with a vitality that characterized both its predecessors. The film featured Hrithik in a full-fledged double role and pitched him against Vivek Oberoi as Kaal who was a far tougher villain to destroy than Dr. Arya. Kaal was the quintessential supervillain, at times even more ‘powerful’ than the hero himself but ultimately destined to lose as good always triumphed over evil. In fact, this is the message that pervaded throughout all the three films- ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, ‘Krrish’ and ‘Krrish 3’. It was only natural that Hrithik’s terrific performance simultaneously as Rohit and Krrish grabbed a lot of eyeballs and went a long way in making the film a massive box-office success. It broke major box-office records and set new ones. However, Vivek Oberoi also deserves special mention in this context. His portrayal of Kaal with an optimal mix of cunning, intelligence, and cruelty earned major brownie points from the audience and definitely contributed to the mammoth success of the film. We finally lost Rohit forever in Krrish 3 and as tragic as the moment was, Hrithik’s performance was so good that we still watch it frequently despite the pain involved. Then again, Hrithik usually has that kind of impact on the audience every time he performs. Krrish was able to destroy Kaal at the end, thereby proving yet again that no matter how challenging times were, with goodness in heart and genuineness in intentions, any evil could be defeated. The assertion ‘Hum sab mein Krrish hai’ has never seemed more important than the present times. Let us all truly believe in it. We can and we will defeat this virus by our individual as well as collective efforts. So please #MaskUpIndia and #GetVaccinated. How uncanny that the plot of Krrish 3 actually revolved around a virus and vaccines! Just like Rohit and Krrish were able to defeat that virus, let us have faith in our real-life superheroes too.

P.S: At the end, Krishna and Priya had a son who also seemed to have inherited his dad’s superheroic powers. So, is there any chance of daddy Krrish in the fourth venture? Fingers crossed for that 😊😊

[thekarmancollection]

Welcome!

Kartik Singh and Aman Tripathi.

When I first watched the trailer for Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan, I was immensely excited. It was going to be the first mainstream same sex love story to be depicted on the big screen after all. Who wouldn’t be excited for it? What I didn’t count on was to be moved by their story so much.

Living in Canada, I have been exposed to LGBTQ+ stories for so many years. Whether it was in literature, TV shows, films, cartoons, anime - I have seen them all. But it has always been in the Western context. It always happened to people who were drastically different to me in so many ways. I may empathize with them, but I was never able to connect with them.

Until Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan that is.

Kartik and Aman are two gay men, while I’m a bisexual woman. Yet, I identify more with them because of some fundamental things like being able to understand their language. Being able to know the heavy pressure that comes with not wanting to be a huge disappointment to the family. Of knowing that even though you may not be in constant connection with your chacha/chachi, massar/massi, pua/puphar, mama/mami - on some level, knowing that they’re gossiping about you as if you’re a bad seed, it hurts.

Then there are other elements that make them so familiar. Like the gaaliyan that get thrown around each other (saale), the sarcastic comments (hum kuthe hai kya?), or the pop cultural references (ban paye ga tu Roadies?). There have been so many heterosexual movies that replicated iconic Bollywood moments, like DDLJ’s train scene, as a way of propping up their own romantic couples. I always understood what they were trying to but it still never made me care. They’re the main leads, a man and a woman, of course they will get their happy ending. But to see Kartik and Aman in that same context, it hit me so hard. The only different thing about Kartik and Aman is that they’re both men. Other than that, their love is just the same and just as valid as all the heterosexual pairings the audience has been made to see thus far.

If the film wasn’t enough, the songs captured my whole heart. Ooh La La is the crack song that lifts up my head any time of the day. Pyaar Tenu Karda Hai Gabru makes me want to dance no matter where I am, and I’m super insecure about my dancing. Mere Liye Tum Kaafi Ho makes me want to stare out the window, and wonder where my future partner is so that I can tell them the same one day. Aisi Taisi reminds me of how hypocritical society is and it’s best to just do what you want to, while Kya Karte The Sajna makes me want to wear a bi cape and shout things at people from the rooftop. And finally Raakh owns my soul. If I were to ever name a song that describes me than it will hands down be this one. Death and the LGBTQ+ community share a very long history. Yet, this history never got in the way of keeping hope alive for a better tomorrow. Yesterday may have been bad, but we can’t let it cloud the future. After all, zidd jad mein hai kya karenge.

Seeing Kartik and Aman’s story made me realize just how ignorant I have been of the LGBTQ+ lives, and issues within my own desi community. Because I had felt so culturally removed from seeing all the predominantly non-Brown stories, for some reason I had gotten it in my head that we don’t exist. Our stories don’t exist. As such, I did a huge disservice to my own self, because I am one. I am that face that we don’t get to see on the screens. I have that story that doesn’t get told often. I am that person who others may connect to.

I had accepted my bisexuality a long time ago, but have only recently chosen to connect with others in an active manner. Especially with those who are from the desi community. I’m not here to do anything radical, or be the answer to a lot of questions, or even be a leading voice in a particular cause. There’s still so much that I have to learn myself after all.

What I will be doing is what I do best: write stories. I’m still learning how to craft original stories, and characters, so I will stick to writing pieces on Kartik and Aman for now. It’ll help me greatly to learn how to write out different voices, our cultural context etc. Apart from that, I’ll occasionally write some meta pieces about the movie as well. There’s simply so much going on both on the surface, as well as subtext, and I would like to write out my two cents on it.

Lastly, this blog is an absolute safe space for everyone, regardless of who they are. Like I had mentioned, I am not an expert on everything that pertains to sexuality, so I will always refrain from making generalized comments as I know they’re not applicable to everyone. If I ever make a mistake, do me a kind favor, and politely point out my mistake. Don’t immediately jump down my throat and demonize me for not knowing everything under the sun.

Let’s engage in healthy conversations where we all help educate one another. Let’s pick each other up when we make mistakes, comfort one another for our losses, and celebrate our successes.

Without any further ado, welcome to thekarmancollection. 💜

#shubh mangal zyada saavdhan #smzs #karman #kartik x aman

[dweemeister]

2020 Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (final round)

(Yet again, tumblr has not fixed bullet indentations. So this post doesn’t look as clean on your dashboards.)

TAGGING (among others): @addaellis, @cokwong, @emilylime5, @halfwaythruthedark, @idontknowmuchaboutmovies, @introspectivemeltdown, @maximiliani, @memetoilet, @monkeysmadeofcheese, @myluckyerror, @plus-low-overthrow, @shootingstarvenator, @themusicmoviesportsguy, @theybecomestories, @umgeschrieben, @underblackwings, @voicetalentbrendan​, @thewolfofelectricavenue, and @yellanimal.

I would also like to tag some followers/previous participants as well who I also would welcome to participate in this final round: @birdsongvelvet​, @bitch-genius​, @dog-of-ulthar​, @loveless422​, @lvl9gay​, @mehetibel​, @phendranaedge​, @poncho-honcho​, @sayaf​, @shadesofhappy​, @thethirdman8​, @uncoolforelimb​, and @wehadfacesthen​. Regardless of whether you were tagged or not, all of my followers can participate if they wish.

Happy Holidays to all! After a fascinating preliminary round, now begins the final round to 2020's Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song (MOABOS). This is the eighth time it has been contested and the seventh year it has been open to involvement from family, friends, and tumblr followers. I begin every new year not knowing whether I will be able to share with all of you these songs and the movies they come from around November/December. So on the day that MOABOS becomes viable (usually around mid-year), it's a long stretch of anticipation to this point.

For those who have never participated in this before, my classic movie blog traditionally ends the year by honoring some of the best achievements from movies that I saw for the first time this calendar year (the "Movie Odyssey"; rewatches do not count) with an Oscar-like ceremony. I choose all the nominees and winners from each category, save one: Best Original Song. It is the only category I can think of that does not require you to watch several movies in their entirety. I know some of you wonder why I bother with this quixotic social experiment. But I have always considered it a sort of cinematic-musical thank-you for your moral support in various ways - in the hopes of introducing to all of you films and music you may not have otherwise encountered or sought. A small slice of the 2020 Movie Odyssey, so to speak.

This final will be contested by sixteen songs. As I've mentioned before, for the first time ever, there are no MOABOS entries originating from this year that made the competition - a MOABOS first. I have seen one 2020 film since the prelim (Wolfwalkers... at a drive-in mind you), but this entire final is one of yesteryear. Even without any 1930s songs, this year's final is probably the oldest on average. There are some very recognizable songs that made it straight to the final, bypassing the preliminary; those songs are contained within. Among them, a city anthem and a song that should be a city's anthem. Elsewhere, this is the first final to ever feature two classic Bollywood songs - but no classic Bollywood song has ever cracked the top ten. Elvis has three songs in this final, a MOABOS joint record along with Prince and the Bee Gees (both in 2016). But also appearing in multiple entries are Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. With five non-English-language songs in the final, this year’s final ties 2017 with the largest contingent of finalists not in the English language.

INSTRUCTIONS Please rank (#1-16) your choices in order. The top ten songs will receive nominations. The tabulation method used in the preliminary round is being used for the final only as the second tiebreaker (the tabulation method that will be used principally for the final - aka "single transferable vote" - is described in the “read more” at the bottom). There is no minimum or maximum amount of songs you can rank, but because of the nature of single transferable vote, it is highly recommended to rank as many songs as possible, rather than only one or two. Those who rank fewer songs run a greater risk of their ballots being discarded in the later rounds of tabulation. Again, this is all described in the “read more”.

Please consider to the best of your ability: how musically interesting the song is (incl. and not limited to musical phrasing and orchestration); its lyrics; context within the film (contextual blurbs provided for every entry for those who haven't seen the films); choreography/dance direction (if applicable); and the song's cultural impact/life outside the film (if applicable, and, in my opinion, least important factor). Imperfections in audio and video quality may not be used against any song. I encourage you to send in comments and reactions with your rankings - it makes the process more enjoyable for you and myself!

The deadline for submission is Thursday, December 31 at 8 PM Pacific Time. That is 6 PM Hawaii/Aleutian Time / 10 PM Central / 11 PM Eastern. That deadline is also Friday, January 1 at 2 AM GMT / 3 AM CET / 4 AM EET. This deadline has been pushed back two consecutive times due to a sizable non-response rate - but I very much do not want to do so again.

I have compiled most of this final round's songs into this YouTube playlist. Please note that neither of Kaagaz Ke Phool’s two songs are contained in the playlist. You will need to access them using their respective links.

Enjoy the music! Feel free to listen as many times as you need, and I hope you discover music and movies you may have never otherwise heard of that you find fascinating. The following is formatted... ("Song title", composer and lyricist, film title):

2020 MOVIE ODYSSEY AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG – FINAL ROUND

“Angela”, music and lyrics by José Feliciano and Janna Merlyn Feliciano, Aaron Loves Angela (1975)

Performed by José Feliciano

(English-language version) / (Spanish single version)

Played over the opening credits to this teenage drama that is partly a blaxploitation film, partly an interracial coming-of-age romance. The movie wasn't a hit, but the Spanish-language version of this song was received well in Latin America.

“Blue Shadows on the Trail”, music and lyrics by Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange, Melody Time (1948)

Performed by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers

This is the introductory song to the final segment of Melody Time. That segment is dedicated to the legend of Pecos Bill, and this atmospheric song leads into the telling of that story.

“Can’t Help Falling in Love”, music and lyrics by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss, Blue Hawaii (1961)

Performed by Elvis Presley

(film version) / (single version)

Chadwick "Chad" Gates (Elvis) has just returned to his home state of Hawai'i after a stint in the Army. Not wanting to work on his father's pineapple plantation (seriously), he rekindles his relationship with his girlfriend, Maile (Joan Blackman). This song is sung as an accompaniment to a music box he gives to Maile's grandmother (Flora Kaai Hayes, a former Hawaiian Territorial Representative to the U.S. House). This song is among Elvis' best-known and most widely-covered.

“Dekhi Zamaane Ki Yaari / Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari”, music by S.D. Burman, lyrics by Kaifi Azmi, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Performed by Mohammad Rafi (dubbing Guru Dutt)

Lyrics in Hindi - roughly, "I Have Seen How Deeply Friendship Lies / I Have Seen People Abandon Me One by One"

Part 1 (3:44-8:27) / Part 2 (2:16:29-2:20:42)

Make sure to turn on the video’s English captions

In this romantic tragedy, Suresh Sinha (Dutt) is a washed-up director looking back on his life. In the first part, the song leads into the rest of the film - which is almost entirely a flashback. In brief, Suresh is unhappily married to a woman whose in-laws look down on him because, to them, working in films is contemptible to their social class. Suresh meets a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), on accident and she is soon cast as the lead for his next film. They fall in love, but it is never consummated for various reasons. Eventually, his career crashes after a box office bomb and her career is ascendant. Leading into the second part of the song, Suresh is penniless and working as an extra at the movie studio. Shanti recognizes him, wants to help, but he refuses to revive his career on the back of her success. Kaagaz Ke Phool has elements of autobiography, and Suresh's fate has parallels with what happened to Dutt after this film was released.

“(Do You Know What It Means to Miss) New Orleans”, music by Louis Alter, lyrics by Edgar De Lange, New Orleans (1947)

Initially performed by Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong and his band; reprised by various

(initial film performance) / (Louis Armstrong single version)

Endie (Holiday in her only appearance in a feature film) is a maid to the affluent Smith family, whose matriarch looks down on jazz as a disreputable genre of music. In secret, Endie frequents a gambling and jazz establishment in the historic Storyville district of New Orleans and performs here with Louis Armstrong (playing himself) and others when she gets the chance. The matriarch's daughter (Dorothy Patrick), an classical operatic soprano, is transfixed by this new music she has never heard before.

“ Exsultate Justi”, music and lyrics by John Williams, Empire of the Sun (1987)

Performed by orchestra and chorus under the direction of Williams

Lyrics in Latin

In this historical epic, affluent British school boy Jamie Graham (a young Christian Bale) is living with his parents in Shanghai when the Japanese invade. Jamie is separated from his parents and placed in an internment camp. Soon before the end of WWII, the prisoners are moved elsewhere, but Jamie hides and stays put. This song plays as Jamie bikes around the empty camp and continues to play as he encounters liberating U.S. troops. Jamie is dirty and malnourished when found; one can argue that this song is used ironically. It plays once more over the end credits. "Exsultate Justi" is a variation on a theme John Williams develops over the course of the film and harkens back to Jamie's past, attending Anglican services with parents.

“Farewell to Storyville",  music by Louis Alter, lyrics by Edgar De Lange, New Orleans (1947)

Performed by Louis Armstrong and his band, Billie Holiday, and company

In New Orleans, the Storyville district was a den of drinking, gambling, jazz, and prostitution. The district was the home to a heavily black populace. The U.S. military, about to establish a Naval base nearby, forces the city to close the district for good. This song is a swinging dirge to a center of jazz - a musical genre looked down upon by many of the city's upper-class whites due to its ties (real and imagined) to crime.

“Happy Endings", music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, New York, New York (1977)

Performed by Liza Minnelli and company (that's Jack Haley - who played the Tin Man and was, at the time, Minnelli's father-in-law - roughly seven minutes in)

(use in film) / (soundtrack version)

It is highly recommended one sees how this song is used in the film. Bear with me: this song is part of a movie within a movie. Within that movie within a movie, there is another movie. "Happy Endings" is the title end song to a film called Happy Endings within New York, New York. Singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) has made it big as a recording artist and caps off her hit film, Happy Endings, with this song. We see Francine's ex, played by Robert De Niro, in the audience as the film ends. "Happy Endings" is a homage/deconstruction to midcentury Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) musicals. It serves the film as "The Broadway Melody" does to Singin' in the Rain (1952) or the 17-minute ballet does to conclude An American in Paris (1951).

“Here They Come (From All Over the World)", music and lyrics by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

Performed by Jan and Dean

The link above provides the entire film. You only need to watch from 0:00-4:11. If you like music from this era or want to hear more, this film is highly, highly recommended.

This is the opening credits song to a concert film recorded over two days in Santa Monica, California on October 28 and 29, 1964. The Teenage Awards Music International (T.A.M.I. - yes, I know it's an awkward name) Show included many of the most popular musical stars of that time - almost all of them name-dropped in this song. Jan and Dean, a surf music duo, served as hosts (and performed during) the show. You folks are lucky that this is the only original song from this film!

“Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do?", music and lyrics by Yôjirô Noda, Weathering with You (2019, Japan)

Performed by RADWIMPS

Lyrics in Japanese (translation)

Weathering with You is a romantic fantasy anime about a high school boy who runs away from his rural home to Tokyo, where he meets a girl who can manipulate the weather. It has been inexplicably raining for weeks without interruption in Tokyo, so they form a business to help clear the inclement weather for special events. The melody of this song is heard throughout the film's score. It does not appear with lyrics until late in the film. The song is played under the boy's seemingly impossible attempt to save her from an unwilling human sacrifice.

There is so much plot in this damn film (it's all Makoto Shinkai's fault) - I can't explain the context of the song or this movie in a reasonable amount of space.

“Moonlight Swim”, music by Ben Weisman, lyrics by Sylvia Dee, Blue Hawaii (1961)

Performed by Elvis Presley

In a musical packed end-to-end with songs, Chadwick "Chad" Gates (Elvis) has taken a job with a tour guide agency. On his first day, he drives his first clients - a school teacher (who not so secretly is attracted to Chad) and four teenagers (one of whom becomes smitten) - to their destination.

“Personality”, music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke, Road to Utopia (1946)

Performed by Dorothy Lamour

(in-film performance) / (live radio performance)

In the fourth film of the Road to... comedy series, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby's characters have just overpowered two Alaskan thugs with a history of murderous violence. As they enter a saloon dressed up as those two thugs, all of the patrons - in a town that only knows the thugs by reputation - shut up in terror. They are treated to a performance by Sal (Lamour), who is trying to find a map of a gold mine that the real outlaws supposedly have. A visual narrator (Robert Benchley) interrupts the scene before the song briefly.

“Please Don’t Stop Loving Me”, music and lyrics by Joy Byers, Frankie and Johnny (1966)

Performed by Elvis Presley

(in-film performance) / (single version)

Johnny (Elvis) and girlfriend Frankie (Donna Douglas) work on a Mississippi River riverboat as performers. Johnny is addicted to gambling and believes that another woman is spurring on his recent run of good luck. During a fit of jealousy-as-acting, Frankie accidentally shoots Johnny during a bit of musical theater (someone switched out the blanks for real bullets). This song occurs after Johnny has recovered from the accident.

“Theme from New York, New York”, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, New York, New York (1977)

Performed by Liza Minnelli

(in-film performance) / (Frank Sinatra single)

For most of the film, saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) is trying to compose a song but cannot figure out the lyrics (this plays out as a subplot). His eventual girlfriend/later ex, Francine Evans (Minnelli) provides said lyrics. Some time well after they have broken up, he finds her singing this song - which he previously brought to the top of the jazz charts - in the nightclub where they first met. This film flopped (musical movies were out of fashion by the mid-'70s, and a musical didn't seem "on brand" for director Martin Scorsese). But the Frank Sinatra single popularized this song, and it has been used in many venues of popular culture.

“Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam”, music and lyrics by S.D. Burman, Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, India)

Performed by Geeta Dutt (dubbing Waheeda Rehman)

Lyrics in Hindi - roughly, "Time Has Inflicted Such Sweet Cruelty On Us"

Song begins at 1:03:31 and ends at 1:07:51

Make sure to turn on the video’s English captions

In this romantic tragedy told in flashback, Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt) is a director looking back on his life. Suresh is unhappily married to a woman whose in-laws look down on him because, to them, working in films is contemptible to their social class. Suresh meets a woman, Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), on accident and she is soon cast as the lead for his next film. They fall in love, but it is never consummated for various reasons. This song is the most explicit statement of that love in this film. How much of the scene's set-up is observable by the characters is up to the viewer's interpretation.

“You Make Me Feel So Young”, music by Josef Myrow, lyrics by Mack Gordon, Three Little Girls in Blue (1946)

Performed by Del Porter (dubbing Charles Smith) and Carol Stewart (dubbing Vera-Ellen)

(use in film) / (Frank Sinatra cover)

In this rarely-seen musical (*insert plea to Disney to restore the massive 20th Century Fox catalogue they now own and are almost certainly neglecting*), three chicken farmer sisters decide to travel to Atlantic City in hopes of marrying a rich husband when they learn their aunt's inheritance is not nearly as much as they want. There, youngest sister Myra (Vera-Ellen) - despite the sisters' original intentions of marrying men of wealth - becomes involved with a waiter named Mike (Charles Smith). They go on a date, and they sing this song. A somewhat overly-literal fantastical dancing sequence ensues, complete with Vera-Ellen's dancing skills. This song was popularized by Frank Sinatra years later and has long enjoyed status as a big band/jazz standard.

Contact me however you wish if you have questions or comments regarding MOABOS' processes or something specific about a song or a few. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are having difficulty accessing one of the songs (especially if it is region-locked) or if there is an error in the playlist.

Once more, I thank you all for your support for the Movie Odyssey, the blog, and for me personally - no matter how long I’ve known you or in what capacity. There are no hard feelings if you cannot get to this, although I will be checking in as the deadlines get close. Please wear a mask. Practice social distancing. We'll see each other again on the other side of this pandemic.

TABULATION The winner is determined by a process distinct from the preliminary round. For the final, the winner is chosen by the process known as single transferable vote (the Academy Awards uses this method to choose a Best Picture winner, visually represented here - you should really watch this video if the below doesn’t make sense… which it probably won’t):

All #1 picks from all voters are tabulated. A song needs more than half of all aggregate votes to win (50% of all votes plus one… i.e. if there are thirty respondents, sixteen #1 votes are needed to win on the first count).

If there is no winner after the first count (as is most likely), the song(s) with the fewest #1 votes or points is/are eliminated. Placement will be determined by the tiebreakers described below. Then, we look at the ballots of those who voted for the most recently-eliminated song(s). Their votes then go to the highest-remaining and non-eliminated song on their ballot.

The process described in step #2 repeats until one song has secured 50% plus one of all votes. We keep eliminating nominees and transfer votes to the highest-ranked, non-eliminated song on each ballot. NOTE: It is possible after several rounds of counting that respondents who did not entirely fill in their ballots will have wasted their votes at the end of the process. For example, if a person voted the second-to-last place song as their #1, ranked no other songs, and the count has exceeded two rounds, their ballot is discarded (lowering the vote threshold needed to win), and they have no say in which song ultimately is the winner.

A song wins when it reaches more than fifty percent of all #1 and re-distributed votes.

Tiebreakers: 1) first song to receive 50% plus one of all #1 and transferred votes; 2) total points earned (this was the first tiebreaker in the preliminary round); 3) total #1 votes; 4) average placement on my ballot and my sister’s ballot; 5) tie declared

Previous years’ results for reference: 2013 final 2014 final (input from family and friends began this year) 2015 final 2016 prelim / final 2017 prelim / final 2018 prelim / final 2019 prelim / final

#2020 Movie Odyssey Awards

[mumbai-local]

The Mirror Shaped Hole in Our Hearts

So this is it, this is where we get off.

There would be no Mumbai Mirror in our palms on weekday mornings, and even though we’d get it on Sundays and it would have a ‘strong digital presence’, we know they’re just ways to say ‘shop’s shutting, go home.’ For something that we spent no more than ten minutes on every day, it’s going to be a tough loss to digest. If you too have a hole in your heart, let me measure it for you.

At arguably one of the peaks of its 15-year life cycle, Mirror, the ‘compact’ daily from the Times Group, would break stories from IPL 2009 in South Africa that would read like nothing filed on the sports pages of The Times of India (TOI). Mirror held this cut-throat exclusivity as a filter for its news every day, across beats, to build a distinct voice for itself. The parent company, Bennett, Coleman and Co. (BCCL), would routinely fly separate correspondents to the same events, whether at Jamaica or Dunedin, and it was also common for the competing correspondents being friends and even sharing hotel rooms while despatching reports. The cumulative impact of TOI and Mumbai Mirror (MM), bundled together for distribution, years after Mirror’s 2005 launch, was a telling blow on competitors, most remarkably Mumbai’s oldest tabloid, Mid-Day.

At arguably another peak, MM had an extensive, snappily designed 16-page edition dedicated to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, put to bed hours after the main edition, which in itself would be of 56 to 64 pages. All this free-flowing newsprint, a continuously expanding market and most importantly, reams of full-page adverts, seems to be an obscene tale from another era.

To think that Mirror, from those highs, faced such a nosedive is ironically like one of the Bombay stories it loved telling. We know the arc well - the rise, the reign, the plot to bring it down, the fall and the end. It’s almost as if the ghosts of all those exclusive stories - of fallen industrialists, flopped film stars and failed society doyens - that Mirror unabashedly broke day on day, plotted this. BCCL attributes this closure to ‘the pandemic, lockdown and unprecedented economic crisis’ but we as Mirror faithfuls, take this as with a sack of salt. 

This seems more of a jettison, and while not much is public as the BCCL empire isn’t a listed company, it’s safe to say the Jains wanted bleeding pets off their green books. There were reports of BCCL facing a consolidated net loss of Rs 451.63 crore in FY 19-20, a bungee jump from the net profits of Rs 484.27 crore in just the previous year.

Net-net, it’s this: Even before the ‘C word’ took the world economy down in 2020, the ‘bad news’ vibe was strong, and it must not have taken Mirror employees, adept at joining the dots while reporting on Bollywood’s love affairs, much time to update their LinkedIn profiles.

Hence, it’s intriguing that the official statement by The Times of India Group on this would mention a thing such as ‘the economy now officially in recession’. I’m no pink paper reader but to think that a behemoth such as the Times, running entities such as Medianet and Brand Equity Treaties and verticals such as Times Internet (which has brands such as Cricbuzz, Gaana and MX Player in its portfolio), is hurting from an ‘import duty adding to newsprint costs’... seems a wee… bit dodgy, much like Mirror’s famed ‘tailpiece’ blind items - you could only speculate the truth. But hey, what I’m sure of is this - that one primetime anchor going by the initials 'RSS’ on the Group’s alleged ‘news’ channel Times NOW, has not even mentioned the word ‘recession’ in a very long time, let alone cover it. 

So to find out why the most profitable media house in the country with annual revenues of $1.5 billion and an average of over 30 per cent returns on investment in previous years did not want to ride out Mirror’s losses, you’d probably require a seasoned Mirror reporter, ideally from its film or crime beats.

But if you have been a reader of The Illustrated Weekly of India, Indrajal Comics or Times Crest, you are again disappointed, not surprised, that the owners have once again pulled the plug, but this time it’s on Bombay’s boldest voice. And no Saamna, you can’t come close.

In just April last year, MM was the only single edition newspaper to be among the top five newspapers in India, quite a feat given its perennial label of being a sibling to the older TOI beast. This younger one, and every younger sibling from Prince Harry to Hardik Pandya will agree, remained feisty, unabashedly self aware and delightfully anti-establishment through its lifetime, owing to the mother who raised it, the venerable Meenal Baghel.

Some credit this to ‘the nature of the beast’ that tabloid culture is - a naked, annoying, indelible aspect of big city life. But we - and by we, I mean those who got to work with Meenal - know that as the handler of this beast, she fed it meatloaf with one hand and held a whip in the other. That’s how the beast grew stronger every day and mauled the mighty.

The beast emboldened us to ask uncomfortable questions of our society and culture, and not in a Republic-reporter-chasing-Rhea’s-car manner, but in a civil, restrained one where Oxford commas and em dashes had pride of place.  

It made photojournalist Sebastian D’Souza jump out his seat next to mine on the night of November 26, 2008, and dart out with his camera when we heard gunshots within metres of us, only to return with this photo.   

It made us have the bravado to pick up the phone and call anyone in the country for an exclusive quote. “I’m XYZ from the Mumbai Mirror,” we’d say, not from The Times of India. 

Mirror broke stories that stirred us in those ten minutes or less. Stories of blacklisted contractors winning road repair contracts using their wives’ names, of unscrupulous builders who’d unflinchingly steal lifetimes’ savings of retired peons, of principals who’d be sacked for exposing sexual harassment scandals, of everything adulterated - milk, water, air.  

Trigger warnings be damned - don’t like, don’t read if you can dare. While TOI and other dailies touched upon the city’s underbelly, Mirror thrived in it. It kept on showing us what’s under that flyover while we glided to work over it - the blood, gore and heartbreak. Wait, it literally did a story this year on cancer patients living under a flyover (and they promptly got help). Of course, there was gloss and fun and those ridiculous non-news about Kareena Kapoor juggling ‘work with motherhood’, but those were just the mixers to the other potent stuff. 

You know what the real loss for Mumbai is, right? That most of these stories just won’t be reported in print. And no corrupt contractor or conniving criminal may lose sleep over a Sunday paper or a publication with ‘strong digital presence’ exposing them.

The other ‘happy to see Mirror go’ could be Bollywood’s A, B and no-listers, who, once upon a time, would get palpitations if they’d see incoming calls from a certain Vickey Lalwani. “Dibakar, give me a story! Give me a sensational story! Mumbai Mirror has circulation of 750,000. Make it exclusive, okay?” 

But I doubt they’d be too happy too - after all, if Mirror’s calling you, you’re hot currency.  

(That said, there is a negligible number of people who are elated to see Mirror go, and they’re fans of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It so happened that on the morning of the launch of the much anticipated last book of the iconic series, Mirror carried a spoiler on its front page. ‘First things first, Harry Lives.’ Ouch. Younger siblings, after all, can also be incredibly cheeky and embarrassing at times. But we cannot do without them.)

In July 2019, I had asked Meenal, the finest editor I will ever work under, about just how she found the energy to run a tabloid compact like this every single day for so many years. “As long as the good days outnumber the bad, I keep going,” she’d replied. It was a fair way to convey how she and her team (me gratefully being a small part of it from 2005 to 2011) worked. We went out to battle every day and slept well every night, and the lakhs of readers, in return, gave us a high. 

Now, when the dreaded ‘last edition’ is probably being wrapped around a vada-pav somewhere in Mumbai, all of us - Meenal, us former colleagues, the readers, the haters, the Mahinder Watsa fan club, everyone - will have our heads held up for knowing that the Mumbai Mirror era indeed had way more good days… well, even bloody good days, than the bad ones.

At least we won’t be shaking our heads and eye-rolling while looking at the front page of that old flagship broadsheet daily.

#mumbai #mirror #media #india #newspapers #tabloid

[recurring-polynya]

Bollywood Review Time!

Today, I am going to talk about Om Shanty Om, a very good movie that was Not For Me.

Let me back up. People recommend stuff to me a lot and I try to watch it and talk about it, and I always feel bad when I don’t like it. This one was recommended to me by my friend @serene-faerie​ I want to make it very clear that you, reader, may like this film very much! It was a strange perfect storm of Things I Don’t Care For, and I actually rather enjoyed the experience of picking apart what I didn’t like about from what I did, because honestly, I am always interested in the ways stories are told and what stories say about themselves.

Cut for spoilers and also length

First off the bat-- this is not a film for the Bollywood beginner. It’s sort of a meta-narrative, with a ton of cameos from famous stars and jokes about Bollywood tropes and directors and such. There’s a ten-minute dance number in the middle that’s just famous people showing up to get down and everybody cheers every time someone new rolls in. I have only actually seen a handful of Bollywood films, mostly made after this one (it was made in 2007), and I could tell that there were a ton of gags and references that flew over my head. I got the sense, both from watching it, and from reading reviews, that this was all very well done and funny, I just didn’t have the proper frame of reference to appreciate it.

The main character, Om, is played by Shah Rukh Khan, an incredibly famous Bollywood star whom I had never heard of before watching this film. In the beginning, Om is a somewhat-bumbling movie extra, dreaming of stardom, flipping his hair, and falling in love with a beautiful starlet on a billboard. I… was not taken in by his charms. I feel like I really missed out by not knowing who Shah Rukh Khan was ahead of time. That was sort of an interesting thought to me-- that a famous actor brings the good will of all his previous roles to a movie with him, and that it was very interesting to me to watch a film stripped of that context. I was literally shocked when halfway through the film, he rips off his shirt and had killer abs, I was absolutely not expecting it.

The deal of the movie is that, through a series of coincidences, Om meets Shanti, the actress of his dreams (from the billboard). She is played by Deepika Padukone, who I fell for immediately. She is gorgeous and had a ton of charisma. This movie seems like it’s going to be a love story, but it really isn’t. Shanti is charmed by Om’s sweetness, but she’s already in a doomed secret marriage with a scumbag director, Mukesh, who ends up murdering her when she wants him to publicly acknowledge her, which is kinda time sensitive, because she is pregnant. Mukesh had planned to have her star in a lavish movie spectacle called Om Shanti Om, but when she forces his hand, he burns the set down with her locked inside. Om witnesses all this; he tries to save her and dies in the process.

Om happens to die in the same hospital where a famous director’s child is being born, and he is reincarnated as the baby, and grows up to have the life he always wanted-- that of a Bollywood superstar. His name is still Om, but his nickname is O.K., so I am going to call him that to distinguish between 1977 Om and 2007 Om. He meets Mukesh again who is now a super-successful Hollywood producer. O.K. gets all the memories of his past life back, and decides to Get Revenge by proposing to do a remake of Om Shanti Om. He finds a wanna-be actress, Sandy, who looks exactly like Shanti, and has her haunt the set in order to make Mukesh think he is going crazy (and maybe also confess? It’s not a terribly clear-cut plan). You might think that Sandy is the reincarnation of Shanti, but Shanti’s ghost shows up in the grand finale of the film, so I guess she wasn’t?? You also might expect O.K. and Sandy to have some romantic feelings, but they really don’t, and in fact, O.K. is actually pretty mean to Sandy, even though she is extremely sweet and I don’t see how anyone could possibly be mean to her.

The movie is lush. The costumes are elaborate, the sets are lavish, the dance numbers are many and long. There is not a single scene without an off-screen fan to dramatically tousle the actors’ hair. I actually rather liked the last act of the movie where they were gaslighting Mukesh and it was over-the-top, scenery-chewing, Hamlet--play-with-in-a-play madness. A chandelier falls on someone. A lot of the end doesn’t even make a lot of sense or exist in any sort of linear time, cutting between the film-within-a-film and dance numbers and what’s “really happening” and I really had no problem with any of this. I actually really liked the amount of meta that was happening and the breakdown of boundaries, and I found the end to be reasonably satisfying.

So what didn’t I like about it?

The entire film relies on you being charmed by Om and I did not care for him. We all have this set of trope personality types that we enjoy and fall for, and “young person who dreams of making it big on the stage/screen” is a huge swipe left for me. Give me a stolid second-in-command who has been stationed at an ice wall for 30 years to protect his homeland. A incredibly tired dude muttering “fuck” as he wades into a swamp to fight a bog zombie, because who else is gonna? My dude turn-ons include duty and self-sacrifice and really good posture. I couldn’t watch Naruto because everyone spouted off about “their dreams” too much, and I thought Om should have cut his losses and gotten a real job. I am who I am.

There’s a weird fine line between “meta,” that is, stories about storytelling and presentation and media, and movies about being in love with making movies. I like the former a lot and I do not care for the latter one bit. I did stage crew for a high school production of 42nd Street and I have a very distinct memory of thinking “this is a play about putting on a play. Why on earth would anyone who is not an actor want to watch this?” I also hate books where the main character is a writer (yes, Stephen King, this is a call-out). I also hate biopics about musicians and actors. I honestly do not care about the craft, and the “magic of cinema” has never been a thing I have found remotely compelling. 

What I love about reincarnation storylines is the period where the characters recognize the feelings and memories that are tied to their previous lives-- where they see someone and can feel their old emotions for this person, but without knowing why. This is where I live. I eat this with a spoon. I want this to prolong the emotional burn, because the characters don't know what are their own feelings and what comes from their past lives, and that there are conflicts that must be resolved for both lifetimes. Alternatively, you can also use a reincarnation storyline to skip the emotional burn entirely, by just having the character “get all their memories back in one fell swoop.” This is… the opposite of what I want. This is what Om Shanty Om does. I felt deeply cheated.

Relatedly, the entire theme of the movie was "When you want something badly, the whole universe conspires to give to you", a sentiment I wholeheartedly disagree with. I love stories about the conflict between agency and destiny, I think this is a really meaty subject, but once again, the movie used it as an excuse to let the characters sit back and do nothing and have a solution to their problems drop into their laps. I am sure you could make an argument for the charm of this viewpoint, but it is not for me.

I like dance numbers all right, but they are not why I watch Bollywood films. This movie is over two hours long and a lot of it was dance numbers. I was very tired of dance numbers by the end. That being said, the titular song was a bop and I had it stuck in my head for days. “Disco of Distress” was my second favorite.

I do not really feel a lot of nostalgia for the late 1970s, which is when the first half of the film takes place. If noisy patterns and kitsch and big winks and goofy hair is your period aesthetic, you will enjoy this part a lot!

Here’s what I did like!

Sunglasses. There were so many good sunnies in this film. So many. A parade of excellent shades.

Deepika Padukone. She is so adorable, for one, and she charmed me in every way that Shah Rukh Khan did not. I loved her both as the melancholy starlet Shanti and the doofy, gum-chewing Sandy, and also the Angry Revenge Ghost at the end. I would say this movie is 75% Om and 25% Shanti, and I would have liked it a lot better if it were the other way around. Sandy had basically no agency whatsoever; the second half of the plot was basically about O.K. getting revenge on Mukush... mostly for himself? I liked that the first half of the movie didn’t make Shanti fall in love with the puppy-like Om just because he was devoted to her, but it would have been a nice reversal if the jaded O.K. had softened toward Sandy more in the second act, and that there had been a bit of a love story to temper the revenge plot.

The idea of the plot. The plot described in words is very cool to me, and there was a period of about 3 minutes in the film when O.K. recognizes Om’s mother when I got real excited about where this was going, and then I realized it wasn’t going where I wanted and was sad again. I think I might have liked it better if the movie started out with O.K. and revealed Om’s story slowly, through flashback, but nothing about this movie catered to my narrative aesthetic, so I eventually gave up with ways of trying to fix it.

Anyway, as I said, I can definitely see how someone could love this movie! If you are a big Bollywood buff and you love dance numbers and silliness and Shah Rukh Khan, I would recommend it in a second! It was strangely almost tailor-made to hit some of my pet peeves, and I was mad because I wanted to like it more than I did.

That’s my review! @serene-faerie​ I hope you still love me even though I didn’t like your movie. I am always trying to expand my movie knowledge and I learned a lot watching this one, and I don’t regret watching it, even though it wasn’t my fave.

#bollywood #om shanti om #reincarnation stories

[moulinrougefanfanfans]

Moulin Rouge for VOGUE!

(These are the HQ Photo Versions!)

Moulin Rouge!’s Broadway cast, photographed at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. Sittings Editors: Hamish Bowles, Alexandra Cronan. Produced by 360pm. Set Design: CJ Dockery at Mary Howard Studio; Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber; Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh

Photographed by Baz Luhrmann, Vogue, July 2019

July 2019 Vogue (Online)

BAZ LUHRMANN WAS BORN to reinvent the movie musical for a new generation—which is exactly what he did in 2001 with Moulin Rouge!, his deliriously romantic mash-up, set in 1890s Paris, of La Bohème, La Traviata, and the Orpheus myth, with a soundtrack that exploded with modern-day pop songs, lavish Technicolor sets and costumes (by his wife, Catherine Martin), and a hyperkinetic cinematic style that drew on MGM musicals, MTV videos, and Bollywood spectaculars. The motto of this blatantly artificial world, served with a knowing wink (which nevertheless swept us up in its very real, very breathless emotions), could be borrowed from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “Enough! Or too much.”

In his own way, the brilliant theater director Alex Timbers—whose work includes Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Here Lies Love, and, most recently, Beetlejuice—was born to reinvent Moulin Rouge! for the stage, as another generation of New York audiences will discover when his electrifying, eye-popping, and blissfully over-the-top adaptation of Luhrmann’s masterpiece opens on Broadway, after a smash run in Boston, this month.

“I’ve spent my life taking classics and interpreting them in radical ways,” Luhrmann says, “so how could I not applaud someone taking a work of mine and interpreting it in a radical way? You have to interpret things for the time and place you’re in. In the end, it’s still a tragic opera, but Alex applies himself to it in such a dexterous way that there’s irony and fun and music and emotion.”

Luhrmann grew up in Herons Creek, a tiny, remote Australian town with a total of seven houses in it, where, he says, “if you didn’t have a good imagination and an ability to create worlds in your mind, you were lost.” Fortunately his family, which ran a gas station and a pig farm, also ran the local movie theater and had a black-and-white TV set (which showed exactly one channel), and Luhrmann devoured a steady diet of old movies, including musicals, with which he fell in love. His mother was a ballroom-dance instructor who started giving him lessons early, and his father insisted that Luhrmann and his siblings study painting and music. Before long he was staging little shows, performing magic tricks, making films with his father’s 8-millimeter camera, and acting in school plays.

Apparently it was the ideal upbringing to produce an artist of dazzling originality, one with a singular, idiosyncratic vision and an expansive playing field: film, theater, opera, commercials, music videos, pop songs. After the success of his first two films, Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet—both of which had healthy doses of movie-musical DNA encoded into their cinematic language—Luhrmann wanted to take on the genre itself. He and his co-writer, Craig Pearce, set their film in Belle Epoque Paris, in and around the legendary Moulin Rouge nightclub, telling a tragic love story straight out of verismo opera with the Orpheus legend—a young poet and musician travels to the underworld in search of his dead love, Eurydice, and is reunited with her only to lose her again, emerging forever changed—as its mythical underpinning.

But Luhrmann also had what he calls a “preposterous conceit” that allowed his Orpheus—a Bohemian poet named Christian, played by Ewan McGregor—to metaphorically enchant the very rocks and stones to follow him because of his voice: “When our poet opens his mouth, ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ comes out of it,” he says. “Whether you like The Sound of Music or not, it’s a giant hit that’s got artistic cred—so it’s a funny, concise way of saying ‘The guy has magic.’” Preposterous or not, the conceit turned the love story between McGregor’s Christian and Nicole Kidman’s doomed Satine, a nightclub star and courtesan, into a pop fantasia, giving the music its audience had grown up with—from “Your Song” to “Lady Marmalade”—an operatic grandeur.

Luhrmann had long wanted to bring Moulin Rouge! to the stage but felt that he wasn’t the right person for the job—he worried that he was too close to the material and might be overprotective of it. Enter Alex Timbers, 40, a downtown wunderkind who has brought the cheeky, postmodern spirit of his theater company Les Freres Corbusier to Broadway and shares with Luhrmann a restlessly playful and inventive mise-en-scène. “When I saw Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, I could tell that his aesthetic and the way he told a story—very high-energy, very theatrical, ironic but also moving—had a certain kinship with mine,” Luhrmann says. “And after I met him, I knew that he would have his own interpretation but also understand the language of the film.”

The biggest challenge Timbers and his team faced was how to bring the film’s hypercinematic exuberance alive on a stage. “We had to create a visceral and kinetic excitement using an entirely theatrical vocabulary,” Timbers says. “We don’t have any of those virtuosic techniques like close-ups and Steadicam and music video–style editing, but you want the show to be able to leap over the footlights—emotionally, but also as a spectacle. So we use a lot of techniques to do that.”

Do they ever. From the moment you enter the theater, it’s clear that Timbers has realized his mandate to make the show—which he’s been working on for the past six years—“360.” It’s as if you’ve walked into the Moulin Rouge itself, courtesy of the gorgeously overwhelming set (by Derek McLane) that greets you: There are hearts within hearts, chandeliers, the stage flanked by a windmill on one side and an elephant on the other. Then out come the corset-clad boys and girls of the night (who come in all colors, shapes, and sizes) and the fashionable members of the Parisian demimonde in Catherine Zuber’s fabulous costumes. The next thing you know, “Four Bad Ass Chicks from the Moulin Rouge,” as the script identifies them—propelled onstage by Sonya Tayeh’s wildly exuberant choreography—are belting “Hey sista, go sista, soul sista, flow sista,” and we’re off to the races. “I wanted to build this exotic, intoxicating world that felt beautiful and dangerous and gritty and sexy,” Timbers says. “It felt really important for the sets and the costumes to use period elements, and for us to be ruthless about that, but to put them in a form that feels contemporary and surprising.”

The seven-time Tony-winning costume designer Zuber (The King and I, My Fair Lady) has done that and then some, tipping her hat to Catherine Martin’s designs for the film without imitating them. She’s even managed to design Belle Epoque finery that allows the dancers the freedom of movement to execute Tayeh’s propulsive choreography. Zuber is also a master of using costumes to reveal character and situation, as with the ornate gown she designed for Satine after she becomes the Duke’s courtesan and enters his glittering world. Inspired by designs from John Galliano’s 2006 couture collection, it features a bodice that looks like a cage and three rows of lacing down the back. “It’s almost like she’s a prisoner,” Zuber says.

Playing Satine this time around is Karen Olivo (West Side Story, Hamilton), who brings very different qualities to the role than Kidman, both physical (Olivo is a woman of color) and temperamental (desperate, determined, and down-to-earth, as opposed to ethereal). Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, Catch Me if You Can), meanwhile, sings like a dream and brings the requisite dewy idealism to the naive Christian, but with a hint of something edgier.

The story is very much the same as the film’s: Satine is the star attraction at the Moulin Rouge, owned by the rapacious Harold Zidler (Danny Burstein), who is in financial hot water and in danger of losing the club. Christian and Satine meet and fall head over heels, but she has been promised by Zidler to the villainous Duke (Tam Mutu), who can give her the bejeweled life she’s always dreamed of, forcing her to choose between that and true love. Meanwhile, Christian and his pals Santiago and Toulouse-Lautrec (Ricky Rojas and Sahr Ngaujah) are writing a show, bankrolled by the Duke, that is meant to save the Moulin Rouge from going under. Then, of course, Satine has this persistent cough and . . . well, you know.

The big difference in terms of the storytelling is that book writer John Logan (Red) has fleshed out and deepened the characters and the relationships between them. “We looked at the major characters, asked what their backstories were, and tried to figure out how grounded they could possibly be in psychological realism and yet still be heightened in that way that musical theater demands,” Logan says. “How did Satine get to be this sparkling diamond—and what’s the price she’s paid along the way?”

But the boldest change—and in many ways the heart of the show—is in the new songs, which give Moulin Rouge! fresh emotional resonance (and whip the crowd into a frenzy). Along with the familiar Bowie, Madonna, and Elton John tunes, expect to hear from the likes of Outkast, Sia, Beyoncé, Fun, Adele, and Lorde, to name but a few (there are more than 70 songs in the show). To curate Moulin Rouge!’s dizzying playlist, Timbers, Logan, and music director/genius Justin Levine holed up in a Times Square hotel room with a digital keyboard, dredged up their musical memories, and took note of what worked. Their taste is impeccable, whether using a song for its sheer exuberance, as with a rousing version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” or to reveal a character’s inner desires, as Satine does with Katy Perry’s “Firework.”

Logan has been blown away to see how powerfully audiences have connected with the show—and the songs. “I went to a wedding recently, and when the dancing started, I heard half our score being played, which was wild,” he says. “And when you see audience members respond to the songs—‘They’re using thatsong? Oh, my God! No way!’—you can feel how excited they are. It’s an experience I’ve never had before. It’s magic.”

#moulin rouge #aaron tveit #karen olivo #danny burstein #vogue #Baz Lurhmann #moulin rouge broadway #moulin rouge musical #vogue magazine #articles #features #ricky rojas #tam mutu #sahr ngaujah #robyn hurder #jacqueline b arnold #jeigh madjus #holly james

[honeylatt-blog]

Colorism in Media

Light Skin Privilege

There is often a social phenomenon called the Light skin privilege that dominates south Asian countries like Indian and Myanmar and other parts of the world much more subtle. Light skin privilege is discrimination based on skin color, also known as colorism or shadeism, is a form of prejudice or discrimination, usually from members of the same race or culture but also within wider society, against dark skin individuals. Growing up in Yangon, Myanmar, in a country where dark skin people are somewhat of a minority, beauty standards are skewed.

My relatives would always give me Fair & Lovely whitening products to maintain and lighten my skin. My siblings and I were always told to not play outside in the sun because it would darken the skin. Always referred to as “Nyo-Chaw” in Burmese which translates to us “dark pretty girl”, the second-best compliment you can receive, only bested by “a thar phyu tel”, which translates to “fair-skinned”.

History of Colorism

So, what exactly caused colorism? According to Decode, this social issue dates back to slavery, when the white slave owners would rape their slaves and father mixed-raced children slaves who had much lighter complexions. These mixed-raced slaves would be then “given domestic work as opposed to the physical labor of darker slaves, this landing higher on the skin tone hierarchy because of their proximity to whiteness (MTV Impact).”

Fair to Glow

The idea that fairness is equated to beauty in these cultures has allowed for racism, specifically, anti-blackness to continue. This causes multi-billion billionaire companies like Unilever to promote skin whitening products such as Fair & Lovely in several countries such as India and Nigeria. This type of business exploits the insecurities of people of color and fuels more colorism in society. The normalization and persisting ignorance of colorism in society is a representation of the historical legacy surrounding racial prejudices American society has yet to relinquish.

Recently the Unilever company’s brand Fair and Lovely has decided to change their name to Glow and Lovely to soothe some of the backlashes they have been receiving from communities all over the world due to implications that their brand is promoting a standard of beauty that is discriminatory towards dark skin individuals.

Their ads always claim that using their skin lightening creams and other products will lighten their complexion to three or four times their original shade. All their ads and products have these skin shade measuring spectrum labels that insinuate that the fairest shade of them is the most desirable trait to aspire towards.

This type of skin lightening promotion discriminates against beauty standards in places that they were heavily marketing in and is dehumanizing the people with dark skin. These ads have blatantly displayed having dark skin as ugly and told that it could be fixed by using the Fair & Lovely products.

These ad campaigns portray various scenarios where the dark girl tries the skin whitening cream and gets the job interview, they were dreaming of, because she was fairer, or she found her a love interest or even looked beautiful after being portrayed lighter in these commercials. This type of commercials and marketing campaigns may be frowned upon in the West, however, are very common in places like India and Nigeria, and Fair & Lovely is amongst the highly influential trendsetters in this beauty industry.

Now with the rise in the fight for Black Lives Matter, incited by the death of George Floyd’s death by police brutality, there have been louder wake-up calls and many people speaking out against racism and colorism. Over recent years, many movements such as unfair and lovely or Instagram accounts have received a lot of attention and following for promoting dark skin representations and raising awareness.

The government of India got involved and initiated a ban of all whitening products in 2014 or any product or ads that reinforce “discrimination or negative social stereotyping based on the skin color”. This made Unilever want to avoid legal repercussions and encouraged their branding and campaigns to use terms like “radiance” and “glow” in place of “fair”. Some reasoned that remaining the brand to Glow & Lovely doesn’t eliminate the colorism but perpetuates and feeds on colorism. They make billions off of colorism.

Colorism in the Entertainment Industry

When we look at Bollywood, the film industry of India, we see a huge lack of diversity in terms of the range of skin tones. Though India’s population consists of a diverse range of skin color, we only see the lighter and fairer skin tones represented in the media. And the darker skin representation is almost nonexistent. Someone like Min

Even though I’ve only mentioned blatant colorism in the Far East, colorism is unfortunately still very prevalent and deeply rooted in the Western communities as well. Hollywood itself. Over ninety percent of Indians are tan; however, none of the main protagonists of any Bollywood films we see are ever tan. Darker Hollywood actresses of Indian Descent such as Mindy Kaling would never have made it in the film and entertainment industry of India. Simply because she is much darker than what Indian’s standards deem beautiful.

Conclusion

Media has a big influence on colorism. It influences and manipulates what the beauty standards should be in people's minds. There are a lot of things that we as people, regardless of our skin color, should do to combat colorism. Using social media and your social platforms like YouTube, we can share content that spreads awareness of these issues that can be generated into bigger movements as we move forward.

This means doing the work of educating yourself through social media about the issues and working towards unlearning some of the biases that you might have learned through life and the media. It takes a lot to change the way we view things, and it is difficult to admit our privileges. However, we must do so, to initiate positive change in our society so that each one of us, regardless of the skin color we are born in, can feel beautiful and accepted as they deserve to be.

Thank you for your time.

Honey Tin Latt is currently enrolled in the University of Tampa for her MBA. She is currently working part-time at Enterprise Solutions at her school. She used to work as a peer tutor, Resident Assistant, and Vaughn Information Desk assistant which led her to gain skills in customer service and leadership. You can reach her at [email protected].

Works Cited

Singh, Simrin. “A Letter to Indians Everywhere: Put Away the Fair and Lovely.” Medium, Medium, 2 Apr. 2020, medium.com/@simrinsingh/a-letter-to-indians-everywhere-put-away-the-fair-and-lovely-2bc0bd98464b.

Tai, Crystal. “The Backlash against Asia's Addiction to Whiter Skin Has Begun.” South China Morning Post, 3 Feb. 2019, www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2184747/asias-addiction-whiter-skin-runs-deep-backlash-has-begun.

[watchfreemovies2020-blog]

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 WatchFree is one in every of my favourite film streaming web sites like YesMovies to look at complete films and TV series on-line unfastened with out downloading and signup.

 It gives you a list of famous films, most recent films, HD films, and Topmost a hundred movies. If you are the individual who loves to look at pinnacle rated films, then WatchFree is a super preference for you.

This site is working pleasant for a long term, so that you can rely on it for looking films and TV series without cost whenever, anywhere. Avoid clicking at the green shade register button for a better streaming experience. It is here to misguide you.

 10. Bmovies

Image result for Bmovies

 Bmovies offers a considerable & well-categorized pool of movies and TV series which you access without sign up. You can effortlessly discover what you want using exceptional options like Genre, Country, Top IMDB, and A – Z listing. Every group has hundreds of movies. No remember which kind of film you like to observe, you may find it there.

The format is much like 123movies and Solarmovie, however in phrases of streaming and surfing enjoy, it is better. It allows you to look at TV collection of the US, Korea, China, and Taiwan.

 You will word a few disturbing commercials and popups right here like different loose film streaming web sites.

 It helps you to know the desired information approximately a movie with moving to every other internet site like film Trailer, IMDB score, video first-rate, style, director and movie plot, and many others.

 How Does Yesmovies Work?

What Yesmovies do is combine those popular films across the web, that allows you to supply them the capability to host any content material from these prison streaming websites consisting of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more. And on account that Yesmovies is thought for having a huge area of movies without cost, it doesn’t need to host its content material.

 Is it Safe to Use Yesmovies?

Technically speaking, it isn't always! Yesmovies is not secure because of the reality in view that Yesmovies is known to be an illegal and pirated internet site, you can get unknown malware or maybe viruses. There might be the danger that you can accidentally click on a selected link whilst the usage of this web site, that may cause malware to go into your PC. You can also take to some web sites that aren't secure.

 Additionally is that Yesmovies can damage your cell tool or your PC. There is a risk that you may come upon that your device is running slowly or maybe overheating while the use of the Yesmovies web site. The purpose is that this web page makes use of greater GPUs so one can move and get the videos you need to observe. And worst of all, your computer or cell tool processor can get damaged after a protracted duration of use Yesmovies.

 Is Putlockers  Legal?

Frankly speaking; indeed, Putlockers is not a legal website. In fact, the MPAA or the Association of America Motion Picture says that those websites are considered a well-known site because of copies of pirated movies supplied. And with that, they indexed Yesmovies as the maximum famous global illegal web site.

 It has recorded that Yesmovies has over ninety eight million users each month, which could be very excessive, which has certain as an illegal site. The MPAA additionally stated that Yesmovies evolved in Vietnam.

 Can you avoid commercials and pa-united stateson Yesmovies?

No, it’s a difficult ask to keep away from such advertisements and pop-united stateson those web sites as they provide unfastened pirated films and tv collection. Although you could strive it through using advert-blocker, this seems to be the handiest choice to avoid such advertisements and pop-ups.