I love Ajay Devgn. Unabashedly love him. In Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, I am totally Team Ajay. One of my Desi friends expressed amazement that I like Ajay and was looking forward to Shivaay, "What? He's so ugly!" She's still my friend even though I now wonder both about her eyesight and her mental acuity. He has superb screen presence and can actually act, but he just has an unmistakable swagger as an action star. The Shivaay trailer just blew me away. We'venever seen this level of stunt work and action cinematography in Indian cinema. I had heard mixed things about Shivaay once it came out, but there was no way I was going to miss this film on the big screen. Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/11/04/shivaay-awesome-action-in-this-attempted-mashup-of-taken-and-bajrangi-bhaijaan/

Margaret of Don"t Call It Bollywood raved to me before she posted her review that I had to watch Manam [Us], especially when I told her the other movie I was taking on my flights was Aligarh. I'm so glad I did. It was so wonderful! The perfect cozy family film " like drinking a big mug of hot chocolate. I didn"t realize until I looked up the movie when I got home from my trip that the actors in this film are all in the same family. And the family company, Anapurma Studios, produced the film. This was the final film of ANR, who died of colon cancer during post-production. His son Nagarjuna wanted to work together on one last film, and it's a worthy tribute to his father. Nagarjuna's son Chaitanya is one of the leads, and there's a cameo with his other son Akhil == and a special appearance by Amitabh Bachchan! Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/26/manam-a-comfort-movie-as-delicious-as-a-mug-of-hot-chocolate/

I knew Aligarh had played the festival circuit, premiering last February at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea to a standing ovation. It finally recently played in Chicago at the South Asian Film Festival but by then it was streaming on Eros Now. I took advantage of ErosNow's new offline feature, and downloaded Aligarh to play on a flight this past weekend. I have always loved Manoj Bajpayee in just about any movie he's been in. He's typically the villain, as he was in Tevar. This role was something completely different. I did not know that he was playing a real person until I looked up the film after I got home. He is Professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, a slightly eccentric, quiet professor of Marathi, head of the modern languages department at the University in Aligarh. Read the rest of the review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/25/aligarh-manoj-bajpayee-is-superb-in-this-landmark-drama/

The soundtrack of Mirzya is simply amazing. Shankar, Ehsaan, and Loy have written some of my all-time favorite soundtracks, but Mirzya seems like it is a whole other level. This soundtrack is A. R. Rahman level fusion of folk sounds and electronic dance beats. I downloaded the whole thing " I don"t often buy a whole soundtrack " and I'vebeen listening to all 15 tracks constantly. I had heard very mixed things about Mirzya the film, but I wanted to see it just to see the song sequences. They were amazing. The film itself was not always stellar, but it was worth it just for the glorious music. I saw the very last showing of Mirzya at my local theater, all by myself. This movie sure came and went lightning fast. I enjoyed myself, and I will be buying the DVD when it comes out just to rewatch the song sequences. Full review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/15/mirzya-im-in-love-with-the-soundtrack-but-there-wasnt-sizzling-chemistry-in-this-love-story/

Laurie Kahn (A Midwife's Tale, Tupperware) captures the wonderful world and community of Romance novels in the documentary Love Between The Covers, now streaming on Netflix in America. I love romance books. I pretty much exclusively read romance, and I try to attend the RT convention each year (sponsored by Romantic Times Book Review magazine.) Kahn captures a lot of what I love about the community surrounding romance. There's a special relationship that exists between the authors and their readers. The pay it forward feeling among fellow authors also seems to be truly unique, and she shows an aspiring novelist being mentored by an experienced author. Read the rest here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/21/love-between-the-covers-a-great-documentary-about-the-wonderful-world-of-romance-novels/

I attended an academic conference on Popular Culture last weekend as a friend was giving a talk on SRK and Fan. One paper presented was on the Indian Superhero and Mr. India, which until last night I had never seen. Tanushree Ghosh of University of Nebraska focused on the reverse of gender stereotypes in the 1987 cult classic Mr. India. Anil Kapoor is Arun Verma and his hat and beat up coat obviously are an allusion to Raj Kapoor's tramp character from Shree 420. Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/17/mr-india-moviemavengal-khush-hua/

ABCD, the Malayalam film, is not Any Body Can Dance (the Prabhudeva film), but American-Born Confused Desi. The comedy was released in 2013, early in Dulquer Salmaan's career (after Ustad Hotel in 2012), and is obviously a showcase for him. The interesting thing is that he plays a spoiled brat jerk who really doesn"t reform by the end of this comedy. Read the rest here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/09/25/abcd-the-dulquer-movie-not-the-prabhudeva-one/

ometimes even I am too tired to watch a movie with subtitles. I picked Aloha on demand because it wasn"t too long, basically. Wow, what a mess of a movie. I knew it had gotten lots of bad press because of the whitewashing casting of Emma Stone in a character that is supposed to be a quarter Hawaiian and part Chinese , Captain Allison Ng. Cameron Crowe has made some really fantastic films, but lately he seems to have lost his way. My issues with the film are beyond the whitewashing, but why Cameron Crowe didn"t just make Emma Stone's step-father Hawaiian or something, I don"t know. She's supposed to be a believer in Hawaiian legends and superstitions in the plot. I guess he based the character on a real red-headed Hawaiian woman, but he should have seen the controversy coming. Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/15/aloha-kind-of-a-mess/

In the thriller Oppam [Together] Mohanlal plays a blind man suspected of murder. Mohanlal was predictably fantastic and subtle in the ways he portrays his blindness. Because it's Mohanlal, with his innate intelligence, we can totally believe that the blindness of his character has led to super senses of smell and hearing. He's not quite Daredevil level superhero, but he does have a couple of dramatic fight scenes. He's proficient in martial arts despite his blindness. (Of course he is.) I still need to see Drishyam (the DVD is in my pile!), so this is my first Mohanlal thriller. Without him, this film just would feel formulaic. Mohanlal brings just that extra special something to every film. Read the rest here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/10/07/oppam-mohanlals-masterful-performance-as-a-blind-man-accused-of-murder-elevates-this-thriller/

The 2006 Telugu Rom Com Bommarillu starts with a father helping a toddler walk on the beach and the voiceover says " "Shouldn"t a father let go his son's hand after 24 years" Siddharth looked SO young in this film! Oh, my goodness, he barely had a little peach fuzz little goatee. 2006 was the same year as Rang De Basanti. Prakash Raj is the father, and I'm enjoying so much seeing Prakash Raj in these father roles in Southern movies " rather than the villain heavy he plays so well in Hindi films. He's a loving " but very controlling father. He gives all the luxuries to his kids, but picks out everything, down to the clothes he buys for them. Siddhu (Siddharth) is smothered. Prakash arranges a marriage for Siddhu with a girl who only parrots what her father told him. Read the rest of my review: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/09/25/bommarillu-genelia-dsouza-is-delightful-in-this-sweet-telugu-romance/