tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post3702074782983100806..comments2023-11-10T08:26:51.182-06:00Comments on Beth Loves Bollywood: Satyam Shivam SundaramBeth Loves Bollywoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-26990526612818274722011-11-16T10:15:06.984-06:002011-11-16T10:15:06.984-06:00for all you great puritans of the good world, here...for all you great puritans of the good world, here comes an eduacating review by sir philip lutgendorf:-<br /><br />Ironically, Raj Kapoor’s extended meditation on the contingency of beauty and desire was much criticized for its “vulgarity” and “exploitation” of women’s bodies. It unfolds, in fact, like an Indian folktale costumed by Fredericks of Hollywood. Set in the imaginary Madhya Desa beloved of Bollywood, where feathered tribals gyrate erotically to celebrate the opening of a dam that will bring them prosperity and progress, it displays bevies of village belles who are low on both modesty and blouse-pieces, and a tragic heroine who cannot afford even the latter. The aptly-named Rupa (“lovely form or appearance,” played by Zeenat Aman) has a beautiful body and voice, but half her face is disfigured by scars from a childhood cooking accident, and she is scorned by the villagers as “unlucky” and unmarriageable. Enter Rajiv, a handsome, nattily-dressed engineer from the city (Shashi Kapoor), who “hates ugliness” but falls in love with Rupa by hearing her singing, and then by seeing only the half of her face that she unveils. Reasoning that the relationship can have no future, Rupa permits herself the fantasied satisfaction of being wooed by Rajiv, but is horrified when he asks her father for her hand. The ceremony transpires with Rajiv still ignorant of Rupa’s scars, until the inevitable wedding-night unveiling.<br /><br />It is here that a folktale logic takes over, since Rajiv doesn’t merely reject his disfigured bride, but accuses her, over the denials of the whole wedding party, of being an evil substitute for the “beautiful” woman he wooed. Fleeing his bedroom, he rushes to the waterfall where he and Rupa used to meet. In time, Rupa herself, unable to surrender either of their fantasies, repairs there with her former half-veiling to begin a passionate “adulterous” affair with the very husband who despises and rejects her by day. Though the situation is dreamlike, the emotional power of Aman’s sorrowful heroine—forced to split herself into two in order to preserve a man’s illusions—is very real, and infects even a torrid lovemaking scene. Predictably, Rajiv’s bride, though ostensibly trapped in an “uncomsummated” marriage, is found to be pregnant—the kind of conundrum that, in a folktale, calls for a deus ex machina. Kapoor obliges by making the heavens literally open in a flood of near-Biblical proportions, underscoring the film’s underlying association of women with nature and men with civilization and artifice—a theme that, like the Shakuntala motif of the unrecognized and rejected woodland bride, resonates through a number of Kapoor films. Though the director’s climactic vision strains the limits of his special effects budget, everyone who isn’t drowned ends up, in a ruined Krishna temple, mud-spattered but clear-sighted—able to face “truth” and recognize true beauty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-37674675840841837332010-08-11T18:18:45.289-05:002010-08-11T18:18:45.289-05:00anon - That is a major problem, definitely, especi...anon - That is a major problem, definitely, especially because it is such a major factor (if not the major factor) in the action. But hear hear for Shashi! :)<br /><br />Desultoryeij - Thanks! I did :) But I think I've lost most of them in various hard drive woes over the years :(Beth Loves Bollywoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05540154833326987567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-87516258143410307962010-08-10T09:46:53.852-05:002010-08-10T09:46:53.852-05:00Very amusing review and beautiful screencaps to go...Very amusing review and beautiful screencaps to go along with them, Beth! Did you take them, yourself?Desultoryreijhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12724725035638886344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-46010393106439092252010-08-08T11:40:09.572-05:002010-08-08T11:40:09.572-05:00hi beth,
i hrd bout this film since child hood bou...hi beth,<br />i hrd bout this film since child hood bout how zeenat had little to wear.my problem is with the storyline RAJKapoor doesnt explain why rajeev is averse to ugliness;or why nobody in the village tells him bout rupas reality;the story should have been tighter;the Chemistry b/w the lead pair is lacking.sadly it didnt do any thing for me.....<br />but love shashi in any form;))))Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-18106066941928446952008-04-25T11:47:00.000-05:002008-04-25T11:47:00.000-05:00This movie is at the top of my Netflix queue. I've...This movie is at the top of my Netflix queue. I've chosen it as my Shashi 101, and couldn't help peeking at your screenshots. I can't wait!Anarchivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06599522097057431891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-87329571688987008622007-09-19T15:41:00.000-05:002007-09-19T15:41:00.000-05:00wow! they're like on a different planet or somethi...wow! they're like on a different planet or something. That's awesome. Gotta see this.alienvoordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15185665427021380867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-55659587235041811802007-09-12T20:07:00.000-05:002007-09-12T20:07:00.000-05:00Huzzah! I'm so pleased; I just found your blog and...Huzzah! I'm so pleased; I just found your blog and Filmi Geek. Happy days! Shashi AND Shah Rukh? Very happy days. And I laughed at this review, truly wunderbar.a ppcc representativehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03533616493105736109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-53067953132478911632007-09-07T05:14:00.000-05:002007-09-07T05:14:00.000-05:00For me the best thing about SSS was its music - I ...For me the best thing about SSS was its music - I loved the songs and (for the most part) the way they were used in the movie. I guess what RK was trying to do was interesting (especially with some of the really striking visuals, and the spiritual and societal themes explored in the film), but I just felt it lacked coherence or cohesion or something... <BR/>And Shashi's redemption scene at the end was a bit WTH? It didn't ring true for me at all, in the context of the character and the storyline. I would definitely have ended the film differently (in my script, Rupa would've left him). But all said and done, I think SSS is an interesting watch, at least for its 'different-ness' from its contemporaries.Daddy's Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14679564351145843434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-48901250972185839002007-09-06T16:26:00.000-05:002007-09-06T16:26:00.000-05:00re: That picture. Sashi looks like he got a dose o...re: That picture. Sashi looks like he got a dose of Dracula.Keithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17887643336475509672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-72118078447535240172007-09-04T09:52:00.000-05:002007-09-04T09:52:00.000-05:00Oh lord, Beth, I don't know when I've laughed so m...Oh lord, Beth, I don't know when I've laughed so much! I'm with Ggop, Kapoor's later movies, starting with the ones he filmed in color, began to slip and slide down and down the scale until it began to feel positively soft porn-y. But that particular sequence... the trippy one hahahah .... i think you can find its genesis in an older movie he made. It was either Aag or Aah or Aan - i can never apply the right name to the right movie out of those three but there's a dream sequence with apsaras (hindu version of houris that Zeenat is portraying) that's all hellfire and damnation and positively surrealist. <BR/><BR/>*small voice* But I still love Shashi Kapoor * end small voice*ARhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08047416080298593284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-55444084590479738172007-09-03T12:15:00.000-05:002007-09-03T12:15:00.000-05:00That's Raj Kapoor for you - he made his heroines l...That's Raj Kapoor for you - he made his heroines look slutty and proclaimed they look "innocent". He did the same in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. The whole industry went gaga over him but I never cared much for most of his later work. Then again I didn't care for The GodFather or Pulp Fiction either :-)<BR/><BR/>His movies did have offbeat themes but boy aren't many of them a drag to watch?<BR/><BR/>Just a bit of movie trivia - when Zeenat signed on for SSS, it was the beginning of a rift with Dev Anand who gave her a big launch in Hare Rama Hare Krishna..ggophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13152025930955161430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15977843.post-82609603772961433522007-09-03T01:48:00.000-05:002007-09-03T01:48:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Subhadeephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03529585566120732648noreply@blogger.com