Additional info about The Madhuri week

I am happy to say that quite a lot of people have agreed to join in our special week dedicated to Madhuri Dixit, but together with their help came also questions. So here comes just a short, additional info.

1. What should I do? - Do you have a blog? Tumblr? Livespace? Anything of the sort? Then simply publish an article (or articles) related to Madhuri Dixit during the next week from Monday to Sunday. Do not forget to mention why you publish it AKA inform your readers about the The Magic of Madhuri week, so maybe they too can add their two cents. On Sunday I shall make one article in which I shall publish links to your work, so if you want to be featured send me a link! And YES, it can be an older article that you have already published, just add to it the information about the special week.

2. What should I write about? - That is entirely up to you! It can be  summary of your thougts on Madhuri, list of your favourite dances, review of one of her films, something funny, a drawing if you´re skilled enough...... anything at all. And you are more then welcome to write more then one article.

3. I don´t have a blog, but I want to write something. - Let me know, I´ll send you my e-mail and I shall publish your stuff on my own blog under your name.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in the comments!

Get ready for The Magic of Madhuri week!

We all love her, don´t we? In one way or the other. She may not be your absolute favourite, but you still find her a pleasure to watch. And if you don´t, well, then live and let live. Because next week we are going to celebrate Madhuri Dixit, the eternal Chandramukhi whose one look can send every heart go dhak dhak and when she reveals that it is nothing else but her yearning dil that hides under her choli you will completely loose your count of ek do teen and your only desire will be to maar daala (and now I hope my weak knowledge of Hindi did not betray me too much).

Why? Because on 15th May Madhuri-ji will celebrate her 44th birthday, which gives us a perfect excuse to go gaga about her yet again...

I have requested the very much awesome Vishal K Bharadwaj ( http://allvishal.com/ ) if he could be kind enough to provide this project with a logo, like he did last year while celebrating Sridevi ( http://allvishal.com/journal/sridevipalooza ), and it seems it just might work out, so that would only add the project the desired level! If he won´t find a time, well, I shall try to create something of my own, but you cannot expect anything fabulous. :P

Please, do join in The Magic of Madhuri week! All you would have to do is to publish at least one article related to Madhuri (the more the better of course!). If you don´t have a blog or tumblr and you STILL WANT to submit something, just let me know and I shall put up your post on my blog under your name. At the end of the week I shall feature all your article/s on my blog, providing the links to them, so none should remain unnoticed (but you have to let me know about your article if you want the feature :P ). If you decide to publish something, please do mention it is for The Magic of Madhuri week - and preferably also ad the logo, that shall be provided soon. We are starting next Monday!

Please, do join in our celebration of Madhuri Dixit.

Sherni

Directed by: Harmesh Malhotra

Starring: Sridevi, Shatrughan Sinha, Pran, Kader Khan

Released: 1988

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

If you ever wondered what would it look like when a Bollywood star actress turns into female Rambo, this is a film that will give you an answer. Sridevi, for many the ultimate Yash Chopra´s „ideal woman in white“, obviously thought a change is needed and after being promised some black leather clothes and butt-kicking, she decided to give her dates to Sherni. Well, the result was not worth it. Sridevi plays a village girl Durga (quite an appropriate name considering what is inevitable), who, like all the Bollywood village girls at the beginning of the movie, is more into playing with kids half her age then anything else. She is also known for her explosive temperament and will beat the heck out of everyone who dares to create any injustice. Needless to say it doesn´t make her exactly popular among men. She lives with her mother and two younger siblings, and they wait for their father to return from prison, into which he was sent after false accusations from the villanious Thakur Dharampal Singh. Why or what the accusations were....... is obviously not important because it´s never mentioned or explained. Just the whole plot stands on it. I guess the filmmakers could not find any good excuse, so audience – just deal with it.

"But at least it allows me to have the coolest hairstyle."

But those terrible six months in jail have really angered the old man, and so he flees and with other guys grabs some guns, forms a bandit group and goes hide into the mountains, from where he leads a war against the Thakur. Durga refuses to go with him and to support her family she starts dancing on the streets. But what would one thought – people consider her a prostitute!! How unexpected and shocking. But fortunately a knight on a white horse saves her from all the insults! Or more like a dashing secret police officer coming in a red bus. OK, so it is ridiculously (compared to Sridevi) old and fat Raj (Shatrughan Sinha), who immediately takes an opportunity and acts like a long lost son to one of village women (fortunatelly she dies before she finds out she was deceived). He came to see how police operates in the area, and he is not amused. Police is one hand with the evil Thakur.

Now who wouldn´t fall in love at first sight, right?

....and who doesn´t fantasize of romancing this, hmm?

Meanwhile Durga falls in love with Raj (I guess script demanded it) and is having romantic thoughts while dancing and imagining him like a dummy (duh.... now that is something new and in a way also disturbing). While doing that she is spotted by Thakur´s evil brother Teja, who lusts after her, and after having her thrown into jail, having her released, getting her to his house and unsuccessful try to rape her, he and all the other evil guys chase her to her home, and before she can alarm her family they come and shoot everyone except her (why do villains do such silly mistakes?). So she shoots several of them in return and runs into the mountains to her father and his gang. And here comes the moment we all have been waiting for – Durga sheds off her saree and slips into tight black leather pants. Whoo hoo!! And not her father, but she becomes the menace to the evil guys.

Before....

After...

A story, that just might have had some potential to be interesting or moving, is unforgivably killed thanks to plotholes and laughable handling of the characters. Not to mention other little things like Pran´s silly hairstyle, already mentioned old and fat Sinha, and of course Durga going berserk dressed like for a Harley ride. For a simple village girl she handles guns way too professionally and needs no training at all. Her falling in love with Sinha is good for nothing, their complete lack of chemistry and non-sensial pairing doesn´t bring any romantic touch to the film anyway. In fact the whole character of Raj is needless and those few of his important scenes could have been done differently, making Sherni a film completely without a hero. Sridevi acts well, though not her best, but all her efforts lead nowhere, because I just could not take her seriously in that outfit and all. Nobody else is really worth a mention.

Srambo

She dances well and in the first part looks good, but music fails her (like many other things in this), except for the last song, during which you can finally stop laughing for a while and admire Sridevi´s dancing (but I was still asking myself how in the world could Teja have not recognized her).

I would call this an unsucessful attempt at heroine-oriented movie, that turned out unintentionally hilarious in the end. 

So you didn´t like my movie?