Just in time for Halloween...

Watched Paheli last night. LOVED it!

I'm wondering what's gonna happen to that baby though. [It ain't right y'all.]
Maybe she'll grow up and marry Krrish...

Maddonna Adopts African Toddler - updated

God help us every one...

Sadly, the kid she adopted isn't even an orphan. Yup. Your family has to be piss poor to hand you over to THE Material Girl aka "Even though I'll be a senior citizen in 7 years, I still like to parade around in leotards like it's 1989" Lady. The only plausible explanation would be, "We deeply worried that you would starve to death so we handed you over to an alternate universe where at least you would be fed." I hope the kid doesn't snap on any of them when he gets older.

I also hope Madonna keeps her promise to bring him by the village every so often so he can visit his family...

The Times (UK) and The Washington Post bring up pertinent issues...

*Update* Twice the Rice stole the words right out my mouth! Read the post here.

King Khan & Prince

Somebody tell me why Shahrukh is looking like

"Prince, are you my daddy?" in this photo...

[Thanks Filmiholic for the connection!]

I now have three delinquent reviews Yuva, Yaadein & Amar Akbar Anthony. The last two really deserve photos. Hopefully my router will arrive today as the images are still trapped on my laptop...

On Theological Fantasy

"Facing the Giants" is in many ways a theological fantasy: God answers prayers.

?!?!?!?!????
Woah there cowboy! That's the WTH statement of the week right there! Why I oughtta...
[Pray that Christians make better films so that people will stop trash talking.] Geez! Jump off the, "since I'm part of the powerful, highly-educated media, I'm fully qualified to make theological conclusions about those foolish Middle American Bible believers in flyover country" bandwagon already!

I'm not sure why I'm surprised that comment went unchecked but I am. The journalist very blatantly assigned his personal values to the piece by including that sentence and everybody at the Washington Post let it slide. It's no different than Rimi Sen's "Rohit Shetty is amazing as a director. He can make even a black African look pretty" statement that went completely unchecked by everyone at glamsham.com. In either case, I guess the entire editorial staff was too blinded by their own values system to notice that either of those statements were a far cry from objective.

This is a statement that makes sense:

A review in the industry trade paper Variety scolded, "by preaching to the converted so heavy-handedly, the filmmakers fumble an opportunity to reach beyond their target demo of devout churchgoers."

Agreed. I haven't even seen the movie and I don't doubt that. I'll probably catch in on dvd. At the same time, I don't think the folks at Sherwood Baptist Church much intended to make a film for everyone. They wanted to make a film for themselves and those like themselves, in which case they succeeded. It's no Blair Witch but $2.7 million dollars after two weeks from a movie that only cost $100,000 is nothing to sneeze at.

Biblical Bollywood

I discovered a couple of interesting tidbits about the movie One Night With the King, a film based on the Biblical account of Esther and King Ahasuerus that premieres next Friday (Oct. 13). Despite being made by the same production company who did The Omega Code, the film appears to have potential. [Stop laughing.] Not big-time, I-love-this-film-more-than- anything-I've-seen-all-year potential, but something more like, at-least-the-production-value-was-pretty-good potential and OMG!-the-costumes-are-fabulous potential.

Believe it friends. Reasons why this film will be good even if it's bad:

• The costumes were designed by Neeta Lulla best known for her work on Devdas, alternate title, The Most Ornate Film of All Time.
• Most of the film was shot in palaces in Jodhpur, India.
• Aradhana Seth, production designer for Deepa Metha's elements trilogy, lends her skills to the production team.
• Most importantly, supermodel Aditya Bal is rumored to be in the film. (Have you seen him?)

Admission #1: I'm not going to lie. I don't have high hopes for writing of the film. The Christian industry isn't exactly known for writing prowess. At the same time, anyone who reads this blog knows I'm a sucker for eye candy. In fact, if they had the wherewithal to throw in a dance number, I'd add One Night With the King to my favorite movies list, no questions asked. Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised by the quality of writing.

Admission #2: I'm a little disappointed that the casting directors chose lead actors who look so, well...European. I guess there weren't enough Middle Eastish looking folks who applied? In fact, I'd go so far as to say Ms. Tiffany Dupont looks American--like an American girl playing dress up in some really exotic clothing. As for the king--played by Mr. Luke Goss is best known for his time in the British boy band pop duo, Bros--he looks quite stately--like a member of King Arthur's Court. [Oh! Wrong continent!]

[Notes: Click the photos above to enlarge. The production notes from which I gleaned these gems are here. Official website here.]

Brangelina in Bollywood!

Okay, not exactly. They're working on a film project in Pune not terribly far from Mumbai. You have to love how so much info is swirling around:

The production unit, besides booking two posh hotels for the stars, their family and crew members, have also taken a couple of private bungalows on rent. One of the bungalows on Baner Road, on the outskirts of the city, also has a helipad.

Man, I'm disappointed they didn't give out the room number or anything since you know, rediff.com seems to have the scoop on everthing else. You can read the article here.

[Sorry. The photo isn't particularly relevant but it made me laugh.]

Respecting other's wishes

My roommate emails several friends a "Haiku of the Day" from a book she picked up at B&N. I will now share with you the haiku for Wednesday, October 6. Please clear your minds from all distractions at this time.

After the atheist's sneeze
I bite
my tongue.

-- Alexis Rotella

Thank you.

Beyond the Next Mountain (1987)

I forgot to add this movie to my Indian film list. Whether or not it qualifies is up for debate but it deserves a mention if only for the fact that I'm not aware of any too many other films that mention the Indian state of Manipur. [I mean, Manipur is so far off the map it's like in China or something...] On second thought, I suppose it qualifies as Saeed Jaffrey (English Babu Desi Mem) was kind enough to lend himself to the production. Furthermore, the dvd cover says 'melodrama' like nobody's business.

This family-friendly production was brought to us by the same director who made The Hiding Place (1975) and China Cry: A True Story (1990). [If you don't recognize those titles, they're both Christian films that came out when people were making movies because of the story behind it, not the special effects or ability to supplement an enlarging--Left Behind--book empire. These were the glory days when entire films were shot in foreign locales yet all the characters spoke English. (Hey, subtitles cost more in the olden days!)]

Basically, the movie is about Rochunga Pudaite a Hmar from Manipur, who at the behest of his father, leaves the hill country to get an education and learn enough Greek and Hebrew to translate the Bible for the Hmar people. What makes the story interesting is that Rochunga's father was one of the area's first converts to Christianity back in 1910, before which the Hmar people were headhunters--and darned good ones. The Welsh missionary who brought the Gospel to the the Hmar had violated a British Raj directive by entering the hills in the first place. Soon after, he was sent back to England by the missionary board who had commissioned him because he had "gone native." Meanwhile, Rochunga's father was (literally) whipped at the request of missionary board authorities for continuing to teach the scriptures while no longer under the "authority" of a British pastorate.

I like this film despite the fact that it has Wisconsin's share of cheese. I mean, there's an entire segment early on where Rochunga as a kid has to go through the jungle by himself to get to school. It provides a rudimentary introduction to jungle creatures of India in case you missed Jungle Book. It's cute in a campy sort of way...

At any rate, the best part of the movie is when Rochunga goes to England and looks up Watkin Roberts, the Welsh missionary. By this time, he's like 200 years old--well, the actor looked like he was waiting until the film was over to kick the bucket--and he's all torn up about the whole situation in India. Rochunga asks Watkin to come back to Manipur but the old man tells him there's no way he could make it up the hills because of his health. Then Rochunga tells him something to the effect, "If you returned, you would not have to walk because all the men of the village would carry you on their shoulders because of their honor for you." It's a very sweet moment. In response, old man looks like he's going to cry (and/or die) and restates his love for the hill country.

Now, if you choose to watch this film, you have been henceforth forwarned about the pidgin English the hillfolks are speaking. However, I think if you pick up the dvd (as opposed to the video I saw) you can watch the whole thing in Hindi with the bad English in subtitles which would be a little more like usual.

Grrrrrr.

Not only did the cd player I keep at work "burn out" on Friday morning, leaving me in a mausoleum* of silence, but that very night my wireless router experienced the same fate, failing to even blink incompetently. This after two weeks of suffering with steadily weakend signals! Boo.

That being the case, my medium long, moderately interesting review of Yuva will have to wait.

[*Did you know the plural of mausoleum is mosolea? Who comes up with this stuff?!]