Bollywood's milestones in 2008

[ilovetv]

Dostana, the movie that pretended to like gay people
Karan Johar almost took mainstream Hindi cinema out of the closet, except he realised it was far too risky. Darn. So while his heroes acted effeminate, they were always clearly homophobic men in self-mocking vein. With every gay character in the film depicted as a flaming queen, the joke was on them. And while nobody expected a Brokeback Mountain, or some searing social commentary, it would have been nice to have just ONE gay character who didn't behave like a freak.
This is a mainstream film marketed to everyone in the country, and it's as irresponsible as making a film about terrorism and making every Islamic character a villain. Tsk.

[ilovetv]

Ram Gopal Varma at the Taj
Take me to the Taj, CM,' said a banner, 'I can make a better film.' Ram Gopal Varma showed up alongside actor Ritesh Deshmukh as his dad Vilasrao showed up at the remains of the Taj Mahal hotel, and the media was quick to vilify the scowling director -- who, in effect, cost the CM his job.
There's a time and a place for everything, Ramu saar, and this terror-tourism routine (where the CM actually asked 'what's the big deal?') was stretching it even further than Aag.

[ilovetv]

The Ghajini cut
Head to theatres to watch Shah Rukh Khan's massively hyped Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and all you'll see is Aamir Khan. Khan has always come up with unique, inevitably trendsetting 'looks' for his characters, and in a marketing masterstroke -- albeit of questionable aggression -- he entered into deals with several nationwide theatre chains, making sure all their ushers and ticket-sellers sported the Ghajini cut.



A buzzcut with a line running through it is all very well now, but hopefully Khan's benevolent enough to hand out baseball caps gratis if his film turns out to be a dud.