Remakes - it's a man's world after all....

This blog post has been pending for some time. I've had the idea before but never came around to finish writing it.

Some of my Hmong friends have asked me why do Bollywood remake Hollywood movies and change the main character, which is a female, and let it be a male in Bollywood films?

Good question.
I honestly do not know but the way it seems, the women are mostly in movies for glamour or as a love interest, but with a smaller role than the male. There are have been times when the female have equal roles with the males but most of the time it's very rare to find a female-centric film.

For some reason, I feel that it's this way ONLY in Indian cinema. Seriously. And I'm not talking about "artsy" films either, movies that deal with female suffering.

There are lots of female-centered films in Hollywood (13 Going on 30, Salt, Devil Wears Prada), as well as in Hong Kong (Goddess of Mercy, So Close, Sophie's Revenge) and Korea (Too Beautiful to Lie, 200 Pounds of Beauty, S Diary).

I am happy when I see an Indian film that has a strong female role but most of the time, her screen presense is shared with the male. I ain't trying to discriminate here but I would like to see more female-centered roles in India! 
Why? I love Indian cinema. I fell in love with it when I was a child. Maybe as I have gotten older, I seem to criticize more?

Okay, lemme get to my main purpose of this blog post.

Some of my Hmong friends have pointed out to me when Bollywood remake a Hollywood film, Bollywood seem to take the female Hollywood lead and replace it with a male.

Examples....
I have to...to prove a point :D
Some slight spoilers ahead!!


Barsaat (2005)
Bobby Deol, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Arav is an ambitious young Indian whose dream is to design cars. He travels to the United States seeking greener pastures, where he meets the beautiful Anna. Anna instantly goes head over heels for Arav, but Arav remains focused on his career. Over time, he mellows and the two fall in love. Mr. Virwani hires Arav as a Car Designer and soon Arav raises the profile of his organization as well as his very own. Now it is time for Anna and Arav to get married, it is then Arav receives word from Punjab, India, that his father is seriously ill. So he departs for India where he is received by his parents, his brother, Dr. Pranav and his wife; and their son, Chintu. He is also received by Kajal Kapoor - his wife who he married three years earlier. After seeing his wife be begins to recollect old stories about his past with her. Will Arav reunite with Kajal or will he stick to Anna?


Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Melanie Carmichael, an up and rising fashion designer in New York, has gotten almost everything she wished for since she was little. She has a great career and the JFK-like husband of New York City. But when he proposes to her, she doesn't forget about her family back down South. More importantly, her husband back there, who refuses to divorce her ever since she sent divorce papers seven years ago. To set matters straight, she decides to go to the south quick and make him sign the papers. When things don't turn out the way she planned them, she realizes that what she had before in the south was far more perfect than the life she had in New York City.

My Thoughts
Barsaat is a bad remake of Sweet Home Alabama. When my Hmong friends ask me about this movie, they call it the Indian Sweet  Home Alabama with the guy in the lead.
Barsaat kept the concept of the lead who lived a double live and no one knew that the person's hometown is a smaller city/village and does have a spouse. Once figured out what wants in life, re-thinking about old life and maybe go back to it, not everything was what it was meant to be.
It's just Barsaat switched the main role which was Reese Witherspoon, a female, and gave it to a male, Bobby Deol.
I love Bips, yes, I do, she looks stunning, is hot, but her role was so limited. I like Bobby and am in the minority. He just didn't have the acting chops to pull it off. Priyanka did good job but she also was limited.  I just didn't see why the film couldn't be focus on a female juggling two guys? Is it because it's more appropriate for a guy to do that?? Priyanka juggled two guys in Dostana but then again, Dostana didn't even focus on her. It was focus on two guys who had to pretend to be gay in order to be her roommate so the storyline shifted to be a male-centric movie.
Even the song, "Nakhre" is a copy of 50 Cent's "In The Club."
When I first saw Sweet Home Alabama a long time ago, I always wanted Bollywood remake because the ending is so Bollywood :D



Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (2002)
Uday Chopra, Sanjana, Bipasha Basu
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Sanjay and Anjali are childhood chums. When Sanjay's roommate Ria questions him whether he has fallen for Anjali he vehemently denies . But the truth that he indeed loves her hits him like a ton of bricks when Sanjana calls him to tell that she is getting married to Rohit. Sanjay wants to win Anjali's heart at any cost and sets off on his "noble" cause of stopping the marriage.


My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
Julia Roberts, Dermont Mulroney, Cameron Diaz
Synopsis taken from IMDB
A woman who, by a promise made years earlier, is supposed to marry her best friend in three weeks, even though she doesn't want to. When she finds out that he's marrying someone else, she becomes jealous and tries to break off the wedding.

My Thoughts
Not a bad remake at all. It had that Yash Raj magic, thankfully. Yes, it had Uday Chopra but come on, the guy isn't THAT bad. It was a breath of fresh air to have "newcomers" in the film. The music is nice. The Hindi title is almost an exact literal translation of My Best Friend's Wedding, just leaving the "best" out.

The main storyline is lifted from My Best Friend's Wedding with two childhood friends - boy and girl - who grow up as adults. One ends up being surprise because of a wedding invite, only to try to sabatoge the wedding and bring a friend to the wedding to be their significant other.
Julia Roberts, a female, had the lead role and had a gay guy friend pretending to be her lover. Uday Chopra, a male, had the lead role but didn't have a gay friend but just a girl friend pretending to be his lover going to his childhood's wedding to separate them.
Both endings are different. Bollywood's is more filmi but I do think Hollywood's is more realistic.



Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega (2000)
Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherji
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Raj (Salman Khan) is a singer trying to make his way in the cruel big city of Mumbai. He rescues a girl who has fallen in front of a train, and stays with her when she is rushed to a hospital. Pooja Oberoi (Rani Mukerji), the daughter of a wealthy family, survives but falls into a coma. Her family rushes to the hospital and finding Raj there, assumes that he is Pooja's husband, Romi, with whom she had eloped and whom they had never met. Pooja, who is comatose, cannot correct them; Raj, who could prefers not to. As the family gets to know the pretend Romi, Pooja's best friend, Jahnvi (Preity Zinta) soon starts spending a lot of time with him. He falls in love with Jahnvi, who is regarded as a second daughter by Pooja's family. How can he, or can he flirt with his assumed wife's best friend? Then Pooja revives from her coma and complicates matters by falling for Raj. Who does Raj choose - Jahnvi or Pooja?


While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Lucy's life consists of constant lonliness that is until she saves Peter's life. Now she is a part of his family, and with a strong heart and fate on her side, others begin to realize what a terrific person she is, especially Jack, Peter's brother. An extraordinarily true-to-life sequence of events begin to take place as Lucy and Jack become closer and learn more about each other and themselves than one would ever expect from such coincidental, yet believable events.

My Thoughts
Definitely enjoyed Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega. The magic of Sallu-Preity-Rani. I love that trio. The music is great.
Even though Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega took the main plot of While You Were Sleeping. It was the screen presense of the lead stars that made me love the film.
Sandra Bullock is one of the best at doing romantic comedy roles. Sandra, a female, had the lead role and juggling between two guys, two brothers actually. Sallu, a male, had the lead role and juggled with Preity and Rani, two "sisters."  Both leads had a sense of belonging when they pretended to be someone they were not. The ending of Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega is just more filmi, lots of comedic timing from silly Sallu.


12B (2001)
Tamil - Shaam, Jyotika, Simran
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Unemployed Shakthi Singh lives a poor lifestyle along with his widowed and ailing mother and a sister. His mother falls ill and gets admitted in hospital. While on his way to an interview with HSBC, Shakthi sees a beautiful girl, gets distracted and misses his bus - route No.12B. As a result he misses the interview, and ends up getting employed as a Garage Mechanic with Madan, his friend. He does meet with the same girl, gets to know her name is Jyotika, who lives a wealthy lifestyle with her mother, Sulo, while her dad is away on business. Both continue meeting not aware that her marriage has been arranged with Pratap. This story also depicts the possibility of Shakthi catching the 12B on time, attending the interview and getting hired, pursuing Jyotika in vain, and ending up in the arms of his co-worker, Priya. Both possibilities end up with Shakthi getting involved in a vehicle accident - and no guarantees that he will survive or wed Jyotika.



Sliding Doors (1998)
Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch
Synopsis taken from IMDB
Paltrow plays Helen, a twenty-something PR executive living with her writer-boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) in London. One day, she goes into work to find out that she's been fired. Distressed, she goes to catch a Tube train back home and it's at this point that the film takes an unusual twist. First, we see Helen board the train and then a second Helen misses it. The film then continues telling Helen's story from both angles which run simultaneously, showing how much can change after such a simple difference.

My Thoughts
Sliding Doors is one of my favorite Hollywood movie. What I love about it is how different it filmed at that time. Even though Gwyneth Paltrow is not one of my favorite actresses, she definitely is a really good actress. I love how the film showed what would've happened if you take that path.
When I was watching 12B, I didn't even think about it being a remake because I didn't know...but as soon as Shaam missed the bus and then I saw two different paths, I knew it was Sliding Doors. It almost is an exact frame-by-frame remake.
Of course, giving a female, Gwyneth's lead role, to a male, Shaam..and changing up the story just a bit, but a lot of the events that happened were similar like missing public transportation,  car accidents, juggling two different people.
I'm a little biase when I think Sliding Doors is much better. You cannot just duplicate that! Not only that, 12B was more about Shaam chasing Jyothika more than anything. It got a bit annoying. The editing wasn't done very well in 12B, I got confused a lot who was who, the guy who missed the train, or the guy who didn't....

There are definitely more remakes out there but now, I am going to note when a Hollywood movie's lead is a female and it gets replaced by a male in Indian cinema. I have yet seen a Telugu remake of Hollywood with the female lead that has been replaced by a male.

East meets East - not the film, but Desi meets Asian

For the past few months, I thought about working on this post but never gotten around to it. The inspiration behind it is actually just amazement from my part to see Desi and Asians collaborate together whether it's through music or in films.

On top of that, with East meets East. I'm already that.
I'm a Hmong Chick who Loves Indian Cinema.
:)

I got this title from a Juggy D & Jin collaboration.
Unable to find the promotional flyer from 2005, I decided to just make that banner by downloading the fonts. But all credit goes to Juggy D & Jin.

The font gives it away with the two different types of "East"

Desi meets Asian



Juggy D is a well-known British Bhangra singer/rapper who is a part of the 2Point9 Records & Rishi Rich family (Jay Sean, Veronica, Mumzy).
Official website



Jin is a well-known Chinese-American rapper who won the BET show, 106 & Park, who eventually signed up with Ruff Ryders later. He also had a small role in the movie, 2 Fast 2 Furious, as Jimmy.
Official website


Pic taken from East meets East blog

Put them together, you get....
"Come Closer (Kohl Aaja)"



But you should know that the original Desi meets Asian were definitely Harold & Kumar :)

What I loved about the Harold & Kumar movies is that the two main leads are Desi and Asian. How many times have you heard about a movie with a Desi or Asian guy in the lead?? With big roles? Not just some sidekick.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

There is going to be a third part of the trilogy - A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. Set to release in 2010!

Okay, okay...why this post? More info please?

Most film industries feature their own "kind" in their movies. For example, the majority cast of a Hong Kong/Chinese movie would have Chinese stars. Or the majority cast of a Indian movie would have Indian stars.

So when a white person is in an Indian film, it is noticed because that person stand out, making it "exotic" looks.

I do not see that many Asians in Desi films. Nor do I see many Desi in Asian films. So I noted some down from what I could recall.

The lovely Thai actress/singer, Tata Young in Dhoom. Well, actually, technically, she wasn't in the film at all. She just sang the English version of "Dhoom Machale."

I was only able to find this still off the net...so watch the video below, couldn't find my Dhoom dvd at the moment.



Then there is the Thai-Danish actress/singer, Lena Christensen in Bombay to Bangkok alongside Shreyas Talpade! She was the main heroine and not a background person or in a supporting cast. So what if the film is filmed mostly in Thailand!




Not to forget the Hong Kong film, The Myth, which has the sexy siren, Mallika Sherawat, starring with the famous Jackie Chan. 

Watch a scene from the film



Aa Dekhen Zara. Some of the filming was done in Thailand. Watch here (embed disable). Bipasha and Neil groove to "Gazab."



Warner Brothers helped Chandni Chowk to China get an International release. Even though the film may not be the best, what I liked about the movie is that, filmed in China, Akki & Deepika wear Chinese outfits, action scenes with one of Deepika kicking ass (embed disable)



Watch the music video below




Even though in the film, Krrish, there were no Asian person or anyone wearing Asian clothes, the fight choreographer, Ching Siu-Tung, who is well-known for House of Flying Daggers and Hero helped with the action fight scenes in Krrish in Singapore.

Correction- thanks Liz! Xia Bin had a significant role in the film  



Just watch below



Well, this is all Hindi films but I actually found that one in a Telugu film that has a dance that Kamalinee wore Asian in the film, Gamyam.



Her character says it's a Chinese dance but it looks Thai to me :)



I know there's probably a lot more but these are the ones that came to my mind.

I haven't seen many Desi in Asian films or Asians wearing Desi outfits in the films. However, I spotted a few and decided to cap them since it would be hard for me to find pics online.

House of Fury is one of my all-time favorite Hong Kong films. It's just a fun film with lots of eye candy - Stephen Fung, Daniel Wu, Gillian Chung, Charlene Choi.

There's one scene from the film that has Gillian wearing Desi for a school play.

Then the villian comes and messes with Gillian and she kick ass :)

Just found out about Gillian wearing a Desi outfit too :)
She's so gorgeous,one of my fave HK actress



Well-known director/producer Johnnie Toh's film, Running on Karma



had two Desi guys fighting with each other and speaking in Hindi too! I picked up the Hindi part even without the subs :)

Perhaps Love is China's first musical in 30 - 40 years!

And guess what? Farah Khan was asked to choreograph the dances.
I spy Farah Khan in the behind-the-scenes :)

(Read this article from Time) There are a few Desi dancers in the background too.

 

Watch the above in action.
Tidbit - a lot of Hong Kong stars are singers too. The three leads sing their own parts in the musical. So what you are watching is actually Takeshi and Zhou singing their parts :)



But I do want to say I would love to have a dance-off with Allu Arjun vs Rain.
That would be awesome to see!!

For those who don't know who Rain is, he is one Korea's most beloved actor, singer, and dancer. His stage name is Bi (real name Jung Ji Hoon) but many people have called him Rain, which Bi is the Korean word for Rain. He has even made his Hollywood debut in the movie, Speed Racer and has the lead role in Ninja Assassin.

To me, Allu Arjun is the best dancer cause he brings sexy back and even makes a slow song sexy (and I'm a huge fangirl). Rain is considered Korea's best dancer and a damn good singer and actor too.

I found this awesome Fanmade video of Rain's dancing!



Then came across this Fanmade video of Hrithik Roshan vs Rain danceoff. Interesting :)



I just thought all of this was interesting and wanted to share.
Sorry if I bored anyone!

Look, I'm famous, well, not really...but so are a few other bloggers :)

Webneetech has featured some of us bloggers.

I'm one of them.

My interview/article



But do *not* forget to read other bloggers that have been mentioned either!

They are modest and haven't blogged bout it but I am here to do that for them, check out their interview and blogs :)

Ajnabi
Paisa Vasool -- Or Not
Interview/Article



Darshit
Movies Music and Me
Interview/Article



Sujoy
One Knight Stands
Interview/Article

Jay Sean - I had a weird dream of him

It's very rare that I have a dream of a celebrity.

Not even of my hotties, John Abraham or Allu Arjun.

Most of the time, I have dreamless nights.

The only dream that I could ever recall me having of any celebrity is of Saif Ali Khan. Back when Xanga was big, I blogged about it, but not in much detail. Sadly, I didn't save that post. I'm not a huge fan of his, but do think he's a good actor. But in the dream, he wanted me to like him. Till this day, I still don't see him in that way. Yes, he's attracted but just don't do it for me.



Just last night, I had a dream of Jay Sean. I've always loved Jay Sean. I fell in love with him ever since I've seen the "Stolen" music video. Plus my fave gal, Bipasha Basu, was in the video, which made me notice him more. Not only is he hot, but this guy can sing.



Thankfully for one of my friends, I was able to go to Jay Sean's concert and meet him back in 2005. I have kept the picture of him and me up and blew it to a 8x10. Not only that, I had 5, yes 5 pictures of him, and he signed EVERY one of them. Lots of love. (more info posted here)



It was because of him that I joined Twitter. He was definitely one of my all-time favorite hotties.

Jay has becoming really big within the past several months in the USA. His song, "Down" hit #1 on the Billboard charts! All my friends who knew how much I love Jay Sean contacted me to tell me they heard him on the radio, saying this is the same Jay Sean that I told them about.



As happy as I was for him, for some reason, I started not to love him as much as I used to.

I don't know why but I think success has gone to his head.

Well, why I do fault him? Do I really blame him?
Nope. He has worked hard for his accomplishments and success.



Sometimes the selfish girl inside of me wants him to remain "underrated" so I could love him more, so I could tell others how great he is. He has moved on in the USA. I really am happy for him.

The reason behind my selfishness is that I want to make it easier to meet him again. But now, he's very successful and it would definitely be harder to meet him again. Unless I have huge connections, and I don't.

So because of this reason, my love for Jay has been dying down. It's quite sad though. I've always wanted my American friends to see how great he was. Now, they have a little taste of Jay Sean, and I feel like this?



Last night, I did have a dream about him. It was short but sweet. You know how weird dreams can get.

Jay was in town. For some reason, I was doing some kind of interview with him, I think. We went to sit down. We were at a restaurant or something, and a presentation came on. He was concentrating on the presentation, instead of me. Then all of a sudden, he tells me that he is hungry and started to blurt out a list of what he wants to eat.

I write that list down and go to the kitchen. The cook was lazy and didn't want to fix it. The dishes were not clean. I started to clean up and started to prep some food. I have no idea what I was doing since he wanted a lot of Indian food. The only Indian food I could remember was biryani. Later, the cook felt sorry for me and was telling me that I must be a loyal fan of Jay to do all this for him since he's so stuck up now.

Next thing you know, Jay is outside of the kitchen and realizes my devotion to him and ask me to go to him. He kisses me really quick on the forehead and lips. He tells me that he has to go but will keep in touch.

That was it.

What a weird dream.



I interpret that dream to still be a Jay Sean fan regardless of how he's doing because I was one from the beginning.

I really should. I do that for a lot of Bollywood stars, particularly Salman Khan.

I shall be faithful, Jay Sean. I shall.