Saturday, July 9, 2016

Non-Bhai fan on Bhai and his fans.

Infy multiplex ditched Hollywood fans this weekend and I had to watch Sultan today. Still trying to remember the last Salman movie I watched in a movie hall. No luck till now. I remember I gave up on him when he started THE masala movie trend in Bollywood with Dabbang. Everyone else followed the suit and screwed up our moviegoing experience. That's a whole different topic for discussion anyway.


So what is it that appeals to Bhai fans so much? The plain story, okayish music, the timely punchlines, the familiarity with the characters?


It all seems like a PR stunt to me. He always plays these characters such as Sultan and Bajrangi, who are the opposite of what he is in real life. For all these years the only thing he is trying to do is image makeover, be it with his movies or his brand Being Human.


So why does he still have such a huge fan base? I understand the UP bhaiyyas and Bihari babus fangirling over Bhai. Because they ARE the target audience. Why on earth would he play an illiterate villager in every fucking movie otherwise! It is to connect with the mass audience. But what I don't understand is the behavior of educated and mature audience. There may be a difference of opinion here. People look at cinema in different ways. For me cinema or storytelling is an art. For others it may be just a source of entertainment. (That's why we have movies like Houseful!)


Coming back to Sultan, it has a mediocre storyline with a love story, a tragedy and then a happily-ever-after. No chemistry between so called hero & heroine. And off course, Bhai can't act or dance!


But I'm sure it'll be a huge hit and the producers will earn Crores of Rupees inspite of putting such a little effort.


After abusing girlfriends, killing innocents (animals as well as humans), misogynist comments and taking his father's help to get away with it, he is still a star in India and the joke is on all of us!

Friday, June 24, 2016

Confessions of a Game of thrones fan.

Confessions of a Game of thrones fan.

2016. The year when Game of thrones, the TV show drifted from the books and started to appear like a spin-off.

While we are nine episodes deep into Season 6, I want tackle a question every honest Game of thrones fan in the world must be having right now.

What happened to the good old Game of thrones?

We watched Season 1 and we were awestruck. We watched Season 2 and we were even more drawn to the epic fantasy. Season 3, we cried our eyes out at the Red Wedding. Most of us have watched them back to back I assume.

Then came season 4, with sudden change in behavior of many characters like Cersie (smiling a lot!) in Purple Wedding. ( I had to check if GRR Martin approved of it or not. And I was surprised to see his name in the credits as Executive Producer.)

So if we divide the show in two parts - Before Red Wedding and After Red Wedding, we all will choose the former.

The creators have raised the bar for themselves over the years & that's why they fail to fulfill the unrealistic expectations of the fans. I wish these guys don't ruin it like George Lucas did by releasing Star Wars episodes 1, 2, 3. (He made up for it with Star Wars episode 7 - The force awakens, but just saying.)

I am fed up with these media posts that I see everyday - If Game of thrones had bollywood actors, which character from Game of thrones are you and blah blah blah. From flipkart to snapdeal and from AIB to TVF, even scoopwhoop, storypick and Vagabomb, nobody fails to cash on the cult that is Game of thrones.

My friends who discarded the show after watching the first episode, saying it's too depressing, are the ones posting social media statuses (or is it stati?) about the show now. The conclusion being everybody watches Game of thrones now. I even received one WhatsApp forward with a picture of a panipuri thela, named Game of thrones panipuri.(Seriously?)

My take on character development and abandoned storylines :

Gendry was last seen in season 3 and whatever the fuck happened to him, we have no idea.

Hound came into picture out of nowhere. One speech from Ian McShane and he's a changed man. (Really?)

The brotherhood disappeared in season 3 and reappeared only to join forces with Hound, the changed man.

Bran kept chasing the three eyed raven all this time and he got Hodor killed.

Danny is her usual self, giving too many TED talks and showing off her dragons and friendzoning Jorah Mormont.

Arya finally realized she was wasting her time while trying to become no one. The change of mind may have occurred after she saw her father portrayed as a pervert in that play she watched. (This was the 'it' moment for me when she takes out needle from under the rocks. Many faced god can suck it.)

Sansa was a side character till now. But just like in real life, one becomes a different person after going through tough times. She has evolved and we root for her.

Nothing can beat Tyrion and he will continue to be just as awesome as he is, let's hope.

Nobody gives a damn about Cersie anymore, except Jamie off course. She even takes insults from old hags like Olenna Tyrell. (Episode 10 is yet to air.)

Melisandre lost her confidence this season. After the shocker about her age in episode 1, the only important thing she did was bringing Jon back. We hate her anyway. (She burnt Shireen alive!)

They brought Jon back, thank god.

Ramsay was beating Joffrey in terms of evilness. After feeding his hounds with ex girlfriend, stepmother and new born half brother, he became what he deserved to become - dog meat.

While there are many fan theories going around on social media, the one thing I don't want to happen is Sansa being pregnant. There must be a way to abort a baby in Westeros, there has to be.

Episode 9 was spectacular, in terms of the battle scenes and VFX dragons. Don't even remember what happened in episode 9 of last two seasons. (because it was nothing like Bailor, Blackwater or Red Wedding.) And I didn't cry when Rickon was arrowed.

So whatever happens in episode 10, they'll keep us hanging for a good ten months and we'll forgive them for not living up to the expectations, because we are going to watch Season 7 no matter what.