K. Close III

Heh. I wish you would show the non-believers some better films.

You know what? I like Swades. Its one of my favorites, it has great music, beautiful scenery and a fun story. It also gives a outsider view (albeit a fairly warped view) of India and has some good moral messages.

I’m sorry I’m not showing your favorite movies, but I’m picking the movies I know people will enjoy and I enjoy watching.

Heck, on non-bollywood nights, I’ve been known to show Young Einstein and Bad Taste. Both horrible movies in their own right.

If you want to school me on good movies (a subjective term, at best), host a movie night and I’ll come watch some.

Sorry to sound so off, but you’ve never had a positive thing to say about my choices in Bollywood cinema. These are the movies I’ve seen, these are the movies I enjoy. I took a class on middle eastern, arab, and indian cinema, and these were the films we watched.

Whoa, touchy touchy. But you’re wrong, I’m not going by my personal favorites. (I wouldn’t expect most people to like my favorites.) Swades was just plain unpopular, and Taxi 9211 is about on par with something like Young Einstein in terms of being representative of good Hindi cinema.

I just would hate to see people turned off thinking that what you’re showing them is the best India has to offer, that’s all.

oh but p.s. you’re spot on about the Swades soundtrack. it’s fantastic.

Well, according to IMDB, Swades has an 8.4 out of 10 rating and the first 5-10 comments/reviews of it are all glowing, and written by people in or from india (at least by their admition).

But if I’m so wrong, go ahead and list films that are “good” regardless of personal opinions.

well, thank you.

I suggested Rang de Basanti to you months ago, while it was still in theaters.

I have it at home… just haven’t had a chance to watch it lately.

Good. Additionally, if you liked Swades and haven’t seen Lagaan, I highly recommend it.

BTW, since for whatever reason you seem totally untrusting of my assertions about Hindi films, here you go:
http://www.littleindia.com/february2005/PlotthatFlopped.htm
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2004/dec/22box.htm

Swades was a box office flop. Wanted to present some evidence earlier, but I was running late for work. 🙂

I just would hate to see people turned off thinking that what you’re showing them is the best India has to offer, that’s all.

If it’s any consolation to you, I at least, never expected anything more from his choice of movies besides fun entertainment, since that seemed to be the purpose of Bollywood night, and all he ever billed it as. :p

I’m looking forward to this one, since I missed out on the last few. I’m not going for a critcial film review, but to enjoy time with friends.

Whether your aim is to be entertained or not, it’s still important to understand that it’s not representative of the best of the genre.

If my first Bollywood movie ever had been something like Swades, I’d potentially be a very different person today.

Well the funny thing is, you’re talking subjective judgments here on “best of the genre”, especially considering that everyone is different with different likes and dislikes. Since I’m going to hang out at a party event with friends, I don’t care if there is a film or not, since that’s determined by the host of the event, not me.

I understand that critcically, a film may not live up to certain expectations of subject matter, plot, screenwriting, cinemetography, or credit font choice. However, that in no way determines how someone will enjoy or not enjoy the actual experience of watching the film. Nor does one film dictate to a discerning person the full extent of a genre. That would be like expecting every milkshake to be vanilla because it was the first you ever tried. I’m fairly certain, that no one who will be attending this shindig is of that simple mindedness.

If he had come out and said “I am showing a list of the best Bollywood has to offer”, then I would see room to argue over film choice. However, since this is first and formost a social gathering by invitation and then a vehicle for him to share what he considered an enjoyable flim with others in a fun setting; at the very least it frankly seems rude (well intentioned or not) to point out the critical failings of his choice of film when the film and its critical qualites are not the point here. The gathering of friends is the point of this event.

Once again, I’m not going by my personal preferences, here. The film was simply a box office flop. And whatever the intentions of showing the film are, it’s still showing a film, so it’d be pretty silly not to assume that someone might watch it.

I don’t know what else to say to you, because your apparent feeling on the subject (at least enough to say as much as you’ve said) is really bizarre to me. As surprised as I was at ‘s angry response, it’s at least understandable considering maybe I insulted his feeling of expertise in the subject. But why on earth do you care?

I reiterate: I sure wish ‘d show the non-believers some better films. What does it matter to anyone except me?

I’m sure most people can’t understand what it’s like to have one’s life so consumed by a particular obscure genre of film that you think constantly about how to introduce it to the uninitiated. I think about it nearly every day — what movies would I show people, in what order? What on earth does it matter to you that I feel this way? I’m just some faceless person on the internet who loves Indian films, who wishes more others would feel the same way. (The only way for that to happen is for people to see the good ones!)

In my defence, I’ve already shown this group Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Main Hoon Na, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Taxi No. 9211 and they’ve all been extremely successful and people keep coming back for more.

I’d hardly say that the critic’s opinions of Swades is going to change the opinion most of the people attending have already formuated.

I mean criminy, I’m not showing them Mother India or Swati.

Once again, I’m not going by my personal preferences, here. The film was simply a box office flop. And whatever the intentions of showing the film are, it’s still showing a film, so it’d be pretty silly not to assume that someone might watch it.

Never said it was your personal preferences you were going by, nor did I say no one would watch it. But I think its equally “silly” to assume that a film is only shown for the sake of the film. Context is just as much a part of viewing a film as the movie reel. Where and in what setting you see a film does impact how you view that film.

I don’t know what else to say to you, because your apparent feeling on the subject (at least enough to say as much as you’ve said) is really bizarre to me….But why on earth do you care?

I care because he’s a friend and inviting us to come enjoy a film he liked in a setting of his choosing. This is a party. Not a film critique, not a Cannes festival, not an art house. The point is not to watch this and extol the virtues apparant or missing in this film. Its a party to spend time with friends. The film just happens to be one part of the entertainment for the night. I don’t think the “angry” response from peloquin has anything to do with his film choice either. I think you’re missing the point that this showing is to just have fun in a shared experience, not kick off the Indian Film Festival.

I reiterate: I sure wish [info]peloquin3’d show the non-believers some better films. What does it matter to anyone except me?… I’m just some faceless person on the internet who loves Indian films, who wishes more others would feel the same way. (The only way for that to happen is for people to see the good ones!)

“Non-believers”?? And pray tell where does the Church of Indian Cinema meet regularly that I might gain a better enlightenment? :p First off, what do you know about the personal tastes in film of the attendees of this event? Can you catalog for me the flims and from what countries they have seen? No, you can’t because you are by your own admission “some faceless person on the internet who loves Indian films” and that is completely fine! No one argued that you don’t love the films or questioned your expertise on the matter. But to rain on the parade, simply because of the entertainment choice isn’t very nice.

Perhaps its the fact that you keep missing the point that this event is more about the social gathering than whether or not the film in question got 3 out of 6 coconuts on some movie review page or made a poor return at the box office. No one cares how this film did. If you are running a buisness in Indian films, and someone comes to you asking what to show, then I could see your comments on film choice being warranted. But when someone is talking about showing a movie at a party simply because they “liked it” and you come telling him his choice of movie is poor, basically saying he has poor taste and what he enjoys is not enjoyable, when you don’t even know the person is just plain rude by all measure of etiquette whether online or not.

In addition, this zealous desire to proselytize us into the laity of Indian Film watching is unnecessary. We get it. You like Indian film and that’s all well and good. You know what, I’m sure a lot of us are enjoying the films we’re watching and we might even enjoy a bit of Indian film too and maybe we enjoyed them without ever looking at a critic’s review. Does that invalidate our enjoyment? Does that make it wrong to enjoy them?

But for some reason your treating us as the equivelant of unwashed heathen “uninitiated” in the matter without even knowing anything about the group of friends here tends to set me off. Different people are allowed to like different things. Enjoyment is subjective. While you may enjoy the films for their attention to particulars you find important, some may just enjoy it for some other obscure reason. That doesn’t invalidate the enjoyment.

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I’m glad you showed some more popular stuff. 🙂

Wow, you sure seem to care a lot about what I said!

Quite. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have posted anything.

Personally I think everyone who comes has a really good time – I mean hell, we’d probably not show up if we didn’t like it.

Or am I wrong to say that?

I think its a fair assumption.