Saturday, October 3, 2015

Lage Raho Munnabhai

Feeling somewhat homesick, and a little bit sad at all the ghastly things going on in the world I decided, that for Gandhi Jayanti, Jason and I would watch Lage Raho Munnabhai.

Made in 2006, this movie has not aged well. Vidya Balan has aged exceedingly well- she was still sort of no-voice tiresome in this movie- I suppose she came into her own a bit later. I have never understood the appeal of Sanjay Dutt, and there was a lot of him here, so that was a bit annoying. Arshad Warsi was very much stuck in his role as the loving side-kick. He is really lovely, and I want to see him in things where he gets a bit more to do. We fastforwarded a lot, and watched the laffa champion bit more than once.

J loves all the slapping and punching. It is difficult not to enjoy the goofy sound effects, and thrashing about with him chortling away beside me. The other nice thing about the movie was that it made J reevaluate what was asked of him in terms of dancing skills- he now knows that he knows the roughly three different moves required of any man, to a Hindi song.

But but but- Munna proposes to the Jahnvi from behind bars, so drunk that he cannot get the ring onto her finger- by this time I was yelling at the screen, trying to urge Jahnvi towards better life decisions. Jahnvi- you're young and attractive- not to be ageist, but can't you find yourself a boyfriend who isn't a middle aged man with something of a drinking problem, and very questionable sources of income? Also we came to loathe the Good Morning Mumbai yodeling so much that many curses were muttered, and eventually loudly flung.

I don't think I shall be recommending a re-watching of this movie to anyone.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Gandhi Jayanti

In today's news

1. A 90 year old Dalit man was set on fire for trying to enter a temple. Also in Utter Pradesh. The gift that keeps on giving.

2. People are still yammering on about the Oregon shooter, and prayers, and whether guns were allowed on campus or not - will not one acknowledge that barely a fraction of mass shootings in the US have been carried out by women, and not a single one on school campuses. White men with guns are the problem. Stop the guns. Or just preemptively lock up white men.

3. Meryl Streep is not a feminist- she is a humanist. She is an idiot. And there ends my love for her.

4. Bon Jovi, despite repeated appeals, will go ahead with his show in Tel Aviv. So there go any feelings for him as well.

5. The ILO has been fucking around with me for days, proposing a work contract, and then taking away the work contract. If the International Labour Organization will not treat potential consultants like they have the right to an opinion who will? (No one. Young, brown, third world consultants have no right to expect any better.)

6. #Joaquin is coming for us on the East Coast- or so I am told. But I have seen enough spurious storm warnings in the United States to know that this could also be nothing. It will rain, and Americans will cry about how infrastructure might fail, and will stockpile food as if the world is coming to an end. Everything is always more potentially apocalyptic here. 

7. It is Gandhi Jayanti. And Modi's face is everywhere. It feels like the cruellest irony. This life is not to be borne. Not today.

As you can tell I am angry. I suppose that is not in the spirit of Gandhi Jayanti either.