Sunday, September 17, 2006

Minsara Kanavu (1997)

Ok, correct me if I'm wrong but I think this was repackaged the same year as Sapnay...

This movie is too cute! Naturally, it reminded me of The Sound of Music because I can't think of any other film where a would-be nun falls in love. At the same time, it has the Cyrano de Bergerac/ Roxanne/ Shakespearean element of an ineptly lovesick fellow taking on a go-between to woo the fair maiden who of course falls for the frontman.

The fun part: The go-between is Prabhu Deva--who I'm beginning to like quite a lot--and the fair maiden is Kajol as a wannabe nun. The lovesick fellow is Arvind Swamy who really isn't very attractive in my opinion thus, I'm still trying to figure out why he keeps popping up as a romantic lead...

Highlights:

  1. Kajol looks really pretty.
  2. Prabhu dancing to Informer--yes, this one--while styling hair. Heck, Prabhu dancing to anything is interesting. He's 100% entertainer, 10% actor.
  3. The music! The music in this one is really different. It's really varied and reminds me a little bit more of Broadway than India. More minor keys, less ragas is my guess. (It's been a long time since I took music theory.)
  4. Prabhu pours one out for the homies when he realizes he's in love with his pal's love interest. rofl!
  5. The BEST TRAIN CHASE SCENE EVER!!! While we all know that chasing a major mode of transportation, preferably a train, is a must for any successful romance, this one takes the cake. Yes, Prabhu chases Kajol's train. Yes, he catches the train and shouts at her through the window. No, their conversation does not end in time. Yes, he grabs onto the train and rides--from the outside--while continuing the argument at hand. No, I don't think that was supposed to be funny. Yes, I laughed VERY hard out loud until--well, until something bad happened. (Ok, why am I lying? I was still laughing...)
Naturally, the film has its slow spots but the silliness generally compensates for them so it's worth the watch.

6 comments:

Beth Loves Bollywood said...

So much of moustaches, yo!

Ah, Snow. I lived in Canada for two years and every time my new-found friends started to get uppity about how crappy US pop culture is, I would remind them of Snow.

Anonymous said...

Came to your site through Beth's. Really enjoyed reading your views on Bollywood...alas, I was a Hritik fangirl too, once....BUT, during one of my fangirly rewatches of one of his songs, my EVIL husband pointed out that his flaring nostrils made him look like a horse - and I have never been able to look at him the same way since...and unfortunately, can only notice too many nostril-flares in his movies (especially K3G - everytime he got emotional!).

As far as Minsara Kanavu - Actually this one is the original - Sapnay was the repackage.

The music was a HUGE hit back in the day, if I remember right - especially the ooh-la-la-la song. I believe Revathi dubbed Kajol's dialogues for her in Tamil (Kajol spoke for herself in Sapnay).

Arving Swamy: well, he was an anomaly at the time he appeared - ordinary guy, with an engineering degree - I think he was spotted by Maniratnam - his fan following was mostly urban south-indian women, who liked his ordinariness :-) I rather like him myself, though I don't think he's a great actor or anything. See him in Roja - his appeal is clearer there.

Bitterlemons from Bollywhat

Al Nims Media said...

The songs rock...so evergreen....Where is Mr. Arvind Swamy these days?

Susania said...

wow! I've never even heard of this one - thanks for another Kajol recommendation.

t-HYPE said...

LOL Bitterlemons, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!

I'm sure my rabid Hrithik fanaticism has scared off my potential husband already...

Aparna said...

To correct jsut one misunderstanding, there was no 'repackage' of any film- the film wasa bilingual, made in both Tamil and Hindi at the same time. The Hindi version was the dubbed one I think, because the lip movements didn't match, and it was called 'Sapnay'.