India Masala
Bollywood and culture in an emerging India
More than ‘just good friends’ in Bollywood
“We are just good friends” has to be the most overused phrase in Bollywood (or even Hollywood) for that matter.
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A couple of years ago, each time rumour mills started working non-stop about a “friendship” between celebrities, the two concerned parties were sure to come up with a statement about how they were just good friends.
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Of course, there are a lot of Bollywood stars who are genuinely good friends, but cast your mind back to Aishwarya-Abhishek or Lara-Dino and you will see a lot of “we are good friends” statements before the relationship was “outed”.
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I do see some change in this attitude though, and Preity Zinta is a good example.
Videsh: Stark and unsettling
Watching Deepa Mehta’s “Videsh” is not a very pleasant feeling. Watching a woman getting bruised and beaten up never is.
The film is a stark, often unsettling tale that tears into a phenomenon of our times — the NRI marriage. And director Mehta does not shy away from the tough realities this film is about.
Rani and Preity — Bollywood queens no more?
One of my favourite scenes is from the film “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna”. Actresses Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee are walking towards the hero, Shah Rukh Khan, in a crowded New York street.
One of them is oblivious to his presence and the other is fully aware of it. There is a smile on each woman’s face, but the emotions are different.
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The Wall
