Julie (1975)

Directed by: K.S. Sethumadhavan

Starring: Laxmi, Vikram, Om Prakash, Nadira, Utpal Dutt, Rita Bhaduri, Sridevi

Released: 1975

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

I came across this film while looking for something with Sridevi, and had it not been for her name, I probably wouldn´t bother to watch this, definitely not any time soon. But I was in „Sridevi-mood“ and finally hit the play button of my „Julie“ file. I didn´t get much of a Sridevi, whom I could not find for about thirty minutes (only then I realized she was just 13 and looking VERY different then how we are used to see her in the movies like Chandni or Mr. India), but I did get a touching, though not brilliant story about an ordinary girl with completely ordinary life.

There is truly nothing outstanding about Julie, a girl from slightly dysfunctional family, where mother is partly English and father completely Indian. She is quiet, reserved, with no big dreams or prospects. All she wants is to live peacefully, but that is not always easy, because her parents, even though they share a mutual affection, are two very different people, both with major flaws. Father is a good-natured guy who doesn´t like conflicts and drinks a lot, despite everyone begging him to stop. Mother, the more dominant in the family, takes great pride in her English roots and is always ready to claim the cheese bought in a local shop is actually imported from Europe, just to impress her similarly wanna-be-ish guests. The family is complete with Julie´s two younger siblings, brohter and sister. Julie´s ordinary life consists mostly of briging her father lunch in a bucket pail, riding on a top tube of her friend´s bike and slapping a local merchant who just won´t understand she is not interested in paying the bill with her beauty. For beautiful she is.

Meet Julie

Her drunk father

Her wanna-be mother

Her completely forgettable brother

And..... Sridevi!

The main twist creeps into the film together with a sudden return of Shashi, Julie´s best friend brother. The two fall in love (surprise surprise) but don´t tell anyone, especially not their mothers. Because just as Julie´s mother is Anglo-obssessed Christian who sees Indians as dirt, Shashi´s mother is a nearly fanatical Hindu who can barely stand the sight of Christian Julie. After some romancing (and some drinking) the two succumb to the physical passion in the middle of a song, after which Julie gets introduced to a popular Bollywood rule that first sex = pregnancy. And very conveniently Shashi leaves without even saying goodbye just before she can tell him. And so Julie has to share the secret with her mother, who doesn´t hesitate and immediatelly sends her daughter to a distant relative, where she can give birth to the child and the family prestige will not be harmed in the eyes of a local community........

The awkward moment when you realize your daughter is a total disgrace.

Just as I said – there is nothing outstanding about Julie the character or her family. I think the story, that definitely has moving moments, is so appealing because ti is so ordinary, that it could happen anywhere and at any time – in fact, I´m sure thousands and thousands of families (and not just in India) had to face such situation. Julie the film doe not bring a new thrilling concept, but it sensitively portrais the difficulties that go hand in hand with unwanted pregnancies of unwed girls. At the same time Julie´s pregnancy and motherhood are not the only issue in the film. The relationship of her parents plays a great part too and is brilliantly illustrated with short episodes like for example the buying of a car or the father getting drunk and embarrasing his wife during a Christmas party. The two mothers, who are so concerned about their families´ well-being and honour, are ironically the two who cause the most of the problems and both come off as over-posessive and selfish. And both excell in emotional blackmailing. The film ends on a happy note (of course and thank God!).

A valuable lesson in emotional blackmailing.

Laxmi as Julie is wonderful. I read she acted in pracitcally all language-versions of the film, but I have not seen those and I cannot compare, so even if she was better in Telugu, it doesn´t really concern me, because she was really good in Hindi. She is wonderfully desi beautiful with large almond eyes and she emotes well through them. Nadira as her mother is like a thunderous storm. She sweeps away everything that comes into her way and in a way is more interesting and charismatic then Julie herself, evne though her character is rather un-likeable most of the time. „Julie“ is a female oriented film through and through, and except for the drunk father and fleetingly appearing Shashi there are no male characters worth mentioning. As I have said at the very beginning, I initially wanted to watch this film for Sridevi, but she (and her „brother“) has no real role and pretty much is simply there to create an illusion of a family. She has about five lines, all meaningless and dubbed by somebody else´s voice. So do not make the same mistake I did and do not expect Sridevi. Expect Laxmi, lots of tears and a bucket pail.

Lagaan

Directed by: Ashutosh Gowariker

Starring: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, Paul Blackthorne

Released: 2001

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

The complete title of this film is „Lagaan – Once upon a time in India“, so let us begin on the same note. Once upon a time, more accurately in the 19^th century, it was the British Queen Victoria, who reigned supremely over the vast country named as India. And in her name the British ruled the land, that was so different from their own. One of the officers in charge of Champaner is Captain Andrew Russel. Sleazy, spoilt, rich, spending his time with hunting and thoroughly enjoying his stay in India, as it gives him a nerly complete freedom to ridicule and insult everybody. From the first moment you know he is the BAD guy in this. Once he decides he wants a local raja to eat a piece of meat, and when the latter refuses because of his religion, our dear captain decides he is insulted and in return he wants the area under his rule to pay the double ammount of lagaan (a tax given by the villagers mostly in grain). Naturally the villages are not as half as excited about the idea as captain Russel, especially since draughts has been troubling them lately.

One of the villagers, Bhuvan, is especially annoyed (which is somehow strange because while you can see others working, he himself spends his time spoiling the hunt of captain Russel) and he decides people should go to raja and discuss the matter. But raja is just right now watching a cricket match and so the villagers have to wait a while. Cricket to them seems rather silly, and after Bhuvan mocks the game, the English are deeply offended and captain Russel, never short of insulting an humiliating ideas, offers Bhuvan a deal: the lagaan will be completely forgiven for three years if the villagers can beat the English in cricket. But if they loose, they will have to pay the thrice ammount of the tax. After hearing out his companions´ advice (NO, BHUVAN! NO!) Bhuvan accepts the challenge.

"I challenge you. And I don´t  like your haircut."

"Mera haircut perfect hai, kaminey!"

After he manages to win over some of the villagers with a happy, optimistic song, and chooses his team, the training can start. And the instructor is none other then Elizabeth, captain Russel´s sister, who proves that nto all English are cold-hearted dogs. Elizabeth, appaled by her brother´s injustice, does her best to explain the rules and ways of cricket, and is so excited about her goal, that she managed to learn perfect Hindi in like two days. Being brought up by stuck-up and arrogant English society, she finds the un-washed and illiterate Bhuvan immenselly lovable and so she falls in love with him. That causes distress to Gauri – a simple girl who too loves Bhuvan. But as of now Bhuvan is only interested in the game. After he manages to convince the whole village (destroying the caste system in the process!) and much training (which involves lots of running, sweating and singing) the date is set for the game and the English and Indian cricket team face each other.....

Dream team. Chewbacca third from the left.

When I started the film I was trembling with excitement. Aamir Khan is known for his great script sense, and after all the hype sorrounding the film is HUGE. I was expecting something AMAZING. I was expecting something BIG. I was expecting something GRAND. I got a cricket match. Maybe it would all work better for me if my expectations were lower and the match itself at least 30 minutes shorter. The only thing I really carried away from watching this was a new knowledge of what is a cricket (next to completely unknown in my soccer and hockey country). Because in the end I did not really feel any message about fighting the British or anything. The movie was more like a celebration of favourite Indian sport. And that, for me as a foreign viewer, is not good enough.

The film is very well made technically. The visuals are beautiful, the direction fine, the performances are good. Aamir Khan´s strengh has never been in facial expressions, but in his very clever dialogue delivery, and he uses that in this one too. Sadly Aamir, though signed as one of the best actors in my book, is slowly beggining to bore me. There is no realy difference in the way he plays the characters. I assume that him being a very „thinking“ actor is to be blamed. Don´t think, Aamir! Give us some spontainety, some madness! Of the supporting characters the most notable is Paul Blackthorne with great Hindi and terrible accents, wonderfully hateable and fit for his character. The two females – Rachel Shelley and Gracie Singh, have nothing much to do except for being in love with Bhuvan. One is a silent, romantic type, another a very earthy, straight-forward girl. Both are good in their roles, but do not leave much impact. After all, Lagaan is not even remotely a love story.

English anger

The real deal here is cricket. It couldn´t get any more cricket-ish than this! The match, which takes no less then half of the film (!) has everything a good match should have – cheating, fighting, abusing, chanting, injuries, and loads and loads of adrenalin. But it still remains..... a cricket match. Once you´ve seen it, there is no point of coming back (not that one doubts what the result is going to be from the beggining). Brilliantly shot. But with no repeat value.

The music of Lagaan deserves a mention for sure. Composed by the bow-worthy A.R.Rahman, all the tracks are beautifully melodious and hummable. Some are even addictive. „Chale Chalo“ has been drumming in my ears for days! Similarly „Mitwa“ and „Ghanan Ghanan“. The most beautifully picturized (if we forget the glistening male bodies in Chale Chalo for a moment, ladies) is „Radha Kaise Na Jale“. Pity Gracie Singh pretty much disappeared since Lagaan, becausei in this song she proves to be a very graceful, pleasant to look at dancer.

The song „O Rey Chhori“ made me perfectly see why song and dance work in Indian films, and why they do not really work in western ones. It was all so beautifully romantic when Bhuvan and Gauri share the intimate moments together, but as soon as „I am in love, yes, I´m in love“ comes out of Elizabeth´s throat I had a feeling I´m watching a Disney (plus I can guarantee you the nightgowns back then did not lack sleeves but cleavage!).

This works.

And this doesn´t.

 A film I seriously wanted to love, but only ended up thinking it´s good. And that, my dears, is not good enough.

Stylish Blogger Award

I cannot tell how surprised and excited I was when Lime(tte) passed this award to me among several other blogs. I have only been blogging here for a month or so, which makes it even more special! What else can I say then thank you?

There is a duty though, coming hand in hadn with this award. To cite Lime(tte): The receiver must name 7 facts about him-/herself, and then pass it of to seven bloggers, that he/she admires... As a fairly new person to the whole blogger community, I could not find 7 blogs, but hopefully those I chose will be smashing enough!

The 7 facts about me:

1.)  I am the founder of the only Bollywood discussion forum in the Czech republic. It is called "Bollywood - a somehow different world". Sadly, there are not many people interested or even remotely familiar with Indian cinema, but thankfully those blessed few have found or are finding their way to my forum. I only hope more and more people will be hooked, like it happened in Germany!

The current banner of my forum. I change the banner every month.

2.) I am a history buff. My favourite era has to be the 19th and early 20th century of Imperial Russia, especially the tragic family of the last Tsar Nicholas II. There is everything in their story from unending love and devotion, self-sacrifice, incurable illness, raging hate, shameless plotting...... It is simply a story no writer could ever make up! One part of my fandom for this family comes also from their photos - there are thousands and thousands pictures of those beautiful, serene people and one almost feels like travelling through time looking into those faces, that have been lost in the storms of time.... And guess what - I learned to colour those black and white images in Photoshop, as you can see below!

The last Imperial family of Russia in 1904.

3.) The best book I have ever read has to be "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. tolkien, closely followed by his "Silmarillion" and others of his works. I also love the whole "Chronicles of Narnia". Then there are historical novels by amazing czech lady Ludmila Vankova, with whom I even corresponded for some time. See, I wanted (and still have hopes) to become a writer myself, and she inspired and encouraged me greatly. The problem with my writing is that I have many ideas, but once I start I find it difficult to finish, because in the middle it seems to me all I have written so far is trash.....

4.) I used to hate several people in Bollywood. First I was not crazy about Rani Mukherjee. Simply from the reason she looked somehow mean in the images I saw and her eyes seemed weird. Today she is among my absolute favourites and the longer I watch her the more beautiful she seems to me. She is such a wonderful, energetic woman with great acting skills and killer charisma, no wonder she won me over! Another one I couldn´t stand at first was Salman Khan. I still don´t consider him a great actor, but he actually started to amuse and entertain me. Dabangg sealed my affection for him. And lastly - I used to hate Kajol. Not her fault at all. Just when I fell in love with Madhuri Dixit and started discovering Bollywood, I had a nasty interaction with some fanatical Kajol worshippers, and they REALLY spoiled her for me when they started attacking the ones I loved. As a person, who cannot shut up about her loved ones either, I wouldn´t mind them going on about her - cause well, I understand! But badmouthing other star just so your favourite might look better after that is unforgivable! My Kajol dislike is finally gone now, but it took about eight months. Glad it´s over.

Rani ........ re-coloured by me! :)

5.) Two years ago I became a PROUD aunt to my little nephew Petr. He is the first child of my elder brother and I love him dearly. Since he was a baby, he would want to watch Bollywood songs with me, as he like the colours and all that. His favourite one is Dola Re Dola (the kid has a taste!!!) Once he surprised me. When he heard the song playing, he started to make adorable though bit uncertain swirls with one of his hands behind his neck!

6.) I enjoy almost all kinds of music, but mostly I groove to bollywood songs - and to some good rock! In my humble, but firm oppinion, the best male voice that I have ever heard belonged to the late Freddie Mercury. He is somebody whom I love no matter what. And his music is pure genious. Just listen to this - it is so beautiful, so sad and yet so regal, if you understand what I mean!

7.) There are three countries that I love and would love to see, feel and live - simply get to know them well one day!!! First one is England. I fell in love with it when I traveled there with my school for several days. We lived in Oxford and made daily trips to places like Warwick, Avebury, Strattford upon Avon etc. How can I describe the peace that filed my sould roaming around that beautiful countryside? And also in London I felt a great sense of belonging, in spite of being a stranger. Second country that fascinates me immenselly is Russia - mainly for it´s grand history. Because whatever happens in Russia, be it in your oppinion good or bad, it has always been on a great scale! I would so love to set my foot to Petersburg, see with my own eyes the former Tsarskoye Selo, visit the beautiful Livadia....... And the third country is of course India! In my mind a country so different, so colourful and so unendingly providing one with new discoveries and new adventures. I wonder if I will ever be so lucky to go there. But I would really love to!


But enough about me already! Here are the blogs I love/like/admire and which I believe deserve the award!

In no particular order:
Bollywood Passion
Get on the carousel
Irish beauty
The Bolly ´Hood
Tollywood is my Bollywood

There are not seven blogs because of the reasons I have already mentioned, and also because some I would have given the award to have already been meantioned by Lime(tte).