So, this is a weird film! He doesn't get the girl! It's sort of like My Best Friend's Wedding in a way -- where Julia Roberts was the big star and didn't get the guy.

Sweet ending with Juhi, though.

And I loved the little sister. And Naseeruddin Shah so young as the priest!!

This is the movie I chose to watch for my birthday, and wow, am I glad I did. The story is classic tale of a young starlet pulled from the chorus to become a star, and she leaves her childhood friend who secretly loves her behind. Aamir Khan is always excellent, but his acting in Rangeela as the tough boy next door is a completely other level above. Hustler orphan Sunil has to be one of his top performances ever.

What really blew me away about Rangeela though is the music and choreography. The score was A. R. Rahman's first Hindi film, and it is beyond amazing. The choreography is really different than probably any other Bollywood film I've seen -- very much modern dance.

Everyone was great. I was really impressed with Jackie Schroff as the aging Bollywood superstar, and Urmila Matondkar was a revelation. I have never seen her before, and her transformation from girl next door to glam heroine star was something else.

Running out of superlatives, but have to mention that the added bonus of the film is that Aamir has an entire wardrobe of different colored see through mesh shirts keeping his hairy chest always on display.

I knew zero about the Sri Lankan civil war. John Abraham sure picks very interesting producing projects. The opening war scenes were very powerful, and John Abraham acts very well in this movie.

Unfortunately, the supporting actors were not all as good, and their sometimes wooden acting took me out of the film at times.

The scenario of the film was very complex and difficult for me to understand occasionally, but the spy part was an effective thriller.

I like Chris Pine, and I like Kenneth Brannagh. Somehow this movie did not completely gel. It's pretty good, but with these people involved I would have expected a lot more.

Fun uncredited cameo by Mikhail Barishnikov as a Russian politician.

Engaging family drama about the wealthy Mehra family who all go on a Mediterranean cruise for the parent couple's 30th anniversary. The cruise setting is perfect for a film -- exotic locations, and forced togetherness of family and friends. Having been on more than one of these multi-generational cruise trips, the closeness of everyone can lead to great times -- and lots of family tension, too.

The pacing is a little slow at times, but I really liked the all the characters -- even those that you'd think you'd hate, all became endearing in their own way. Kudos to all the actors for doing such a fantastic job, especially Priyanka Chopra and Anil Kapoor. The problems of the family are uniquely Indian in several ways, on top of the pressures of being a wealthy high society family. The older daughter of the family has created her own successful business, but is overlooked by her parents as the heir to the family business in favor of her hapless younger brother. Women's equality is a thread that runs through several of the stories -- examining her relationship with her domineering husband that she wants to divorce, and her mother's putting up with years of infidelity of her husband and his constant criticism of her weight. The scene where the mother in despair stuffs her face with chocolate cake is not one I will forget soon.

The songs are also delightful. Zoya always directs interesting films, and I love when they include her brother Farhan!

Insane reincarnation revenge flick. Needed more Kajol, as her blossoming chemistry with Shahrukh is amazing. The special effects and fight sequences are gloriously crazy, making for a very fun almost three hour masala action picture.

I watched Ishq which was so interesting on so many levels! First off, Ajay playing the dreamy eyed softie (like an early Salman Khan), and Aamir the tough lower class guy! The music was particularly good, and Ajay was playing the kind of part I have never seen him do. It was kind of crazy, but I loved it all. Including loving how absolutely evil and conniving the fathers were. The plot twists upon plot twists!! OMG, and how Ajay when he discovers the truth at the end wants to take his own life by smashing the glass everywhere with his wrists! You can only find this level of angst and melodrama in Bollywood. I ate it all up with a spoon.

The chemistry with Kajol and Ajay was off the charts. I do love Aamir and Juhi as a pairing, too.

I thought the main attraction for me would be the acting of Kangana, and I did enjoy her, but Madhavan just made me totally fall in love with him. The pacing was a little slow occasionally, but I am in deep, deep love with Madhavan. I don't remember him that much from Guru or 3 Idiots, but in this movie. Wow. He is like a quiet gentle giant.

Late in the film, there is this scene when he tells Tanu about how he fell in love with her, and he's crying, and I'm tearing up and it's just ..... And then a later scene where she asks him if he truly loves her, if he would just hold her face so she knows it's true, and he reverently cups her cheek with one hand. Swoon!

I also loved Jimmy Shergill as a mean tough gunda when I mostly think of him from Mohabbatein.

Tanu in the first movie seemed self-centered and selfish, and you think she's grown up a bit by the wedding at the end of the film. But then in the sequel, you see she is still just as selfish, but he's not been the best either in the four years that have passed between films. The opening scene is them arguing in a counselor's office, and where they take it next I won't spoiler because it was just so out there that it had me laughing out loud. There are many very funny moments in the sequel -- there's one line that I made the biggest sound in the theater -- Someone is commenting that the way Tanu is being "unfaithful" by hanging around with her old boy friends she is going in the path of Salman Khan.

So from the trailer I could not tell if Kangana was in disguise as the athlete short haired duplicate, or it really was a doppelganger. It's a doppelganger. And kudos to her for making them so completely different. The short haired Kusum is so strong willed and great, and frankly Madhuvan doesn't deserve her and stalks her in a creepy way that his friend tells him is creepy! It's all very convoluted, as only Bollywood can be, and there are some nice moments and some very funny set ups. But a friend at the same showing and I discussed how to make a sequel they had to create all this conflict for Tanu and Manu -- but they went SO FAR that they had a lot of trouble reeling it back in to a satisfying ending. I enjoyed a lot of the journey, but the resolution could have happened in a number of other ways that she and I discussed that I would have been a lot happier with. There is a character left heartbroken at the end, and we both wished there would have been something better of a resolution for that character, as there were options available with the other characters in the film.

The moral of the story is I guess supposed to be that you work through your problems, and that every marriage has its annoyances and arguments. Okay, that's valid to a point, but late in the movie, at Tanu's lowest pitiable point, she approaches Manu and he says something SO AWFUL to her, that I had a hard time getting emotionally to the ending presented to me.

If you haven't seen the first movie, most of the jokes won't be quite as delicious, and there are some very funny bits, but I left the theater without that warm glow I wanted and had from the first film.

The only redeeming part of this movie for me is the super sultry almost tango number Shahrukh Khan does to the song Saturday Dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0DEgYbo98

That's it. The rest is a mishmash choppy mess, and I really didn't like the milquetoast baker hero paired with Aish (who plays SRK's twin sister.)