Give thanks for the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s the reason why America gets Break Ke Baad (“After the Break”) two days before the rest of the world. The romantic comedy stars Deepika Padukone and Imran Khan as a pair of childhood sweethearts struggling to make their relationship work as adults.
The wonderful drama Guzaarish continues through the holiday weekend at the Pipers Alley 4, Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30, having earned $488,121 in its opening weekend in U.S. theaters. The Golf Glen 5 is also carrying over Golmaal 3, which has earned $1,132,192 in the U.S. so far.
Other Indian movies playing in the Chicago area over the Thanksgiving holiday include Chekavar (Malayalam), Karma: Do You Believe (Telugu), Orange (Telugu) and Tere Ishq Nachaya (Punjabi) at the Golf Glen 5. Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove is carrying Orange and Enthiran (Tamil and Telugu versions).
Other Indian movies playing in the area this weekend include Mynaa (Tamil), Va Quarter Cutting (Tamil), Anwar (Malayalam), Kathi (Telugu) and Yemaindia Eevela (Telugu) at the Golf Glen 5. Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove has Enthiran (Tamil) and its Telugu-dubbed version, Robo.
Two new Hindi movies and another older release debut in the Chicago area on Friday, November 5, 2010. The flashy romantic comedy Action Replayy (the extra “y” distinguishes it from “Action Replay,” the Gujarati play on which it’s based) stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar as a couple living in an unhappy arranged marriage until their adult son travels back to the 1970s to make them fall in love.
This Diwali weekend’s other major release reunites most of the cast of Golmaal Returns for Golmaal 3, a sequel about a bickering family. I named Golmaal Returns my Worst Bollywood Film of 2008, and it remains one of the most annoying movies I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, I have low expectations for Golmaal 3.
Golmaal 3 opens in the Chicago area at the same theaters carrying Action Replayy: Pipers Alley 4, Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30. Its runtime is listed as 2 hr. 35 min.
On Friday, the Golf Glen 5 also debuts Bombay Summer, an independent Hindi movie that’s been on the festival circuit for a while.
No new Hindi movies open in the Chicago area this weekend, but an independent American feature about South Asian couples hits screens on Friday, October 29, 2010. Walkaway is a drama about four male friends in New York struggling to balance the needs of their romantic partners with the wishes of their parents back in India.
There are still plenty of Bollywood movies commanding screenspace in Chicago area theaters this weekend. Jhootha Hi Sahi gets a second week at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30. Of last weekend’s other new releases, both the Hindi and Telugu versions of Rakht Charitra get another week at the Golf Glen 5, while Hisss does not.
Older releases still in theaters include Aakrosh at the South Barrington 30, Anjaana Anjaani at both South Barrington and the Cantera 30, and Enthiran (aka Robot) at South Barrington, Cantera, Golf Glen, and Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove.
Other Indian movies showing in the area include Bava (Telugu), Brindaavanam (Telugu) and Pranchiyettan and the Saint (Malayalam) at the Golf Glen 5. Sathyam Cinemas is also showing Brindaavanam.
This weekend presents a feast for Bollywood fans, with three new movies opening in the Chicago area. The movie getting the widest release is the romantic comedy Jhootha Hi Sahi, which stars John Abraham as a man who talks a woman out of committing suicide after she mistakenly dials his phone number.
Both of this weekend’s other new Hindi releases are scheduled to open in the Chicago area only at the Golf Glen 5. First is part one of director Ram Gopal Varma’s two-part biography of the life of Paritala Ravindra: Rakht Charitra. The Golf Glen 5 will carry both the Hindi and Telugu versions of Rakht Charitra.
I’m surprised and disappointed that this weekend’s other new Hindi film, Hisss, wasn’t released in any local theaters besides the Golf Glen 5. The horror movie — which stars Mallika Sherawat as a nagi, a fantastical human-snake deity — is written and directed by David Lynch’s daughter, Jennifer Lynch, who directed the oddly compelling Boxing Helena in 1993.
If you need to catch up on some older releases, Aakrosh gets a second week at the South Barrington 30. Anjaana Anjaani — which has earned $827,303 in the U.S. so far — carries over at the South Barrington 30, Cantera 30 and AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago. And Enthiran carries on in its various forms at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30, Cantera 30 and Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove.
Other Indian movies playing in the Chicago area this weekend include the Telugu movies Brindaavanam and Khaleja at the Golf Glen 5 and Sathyam Cinemas.
Two new Hindi movies hit Chicago area screens on Friday, October 15, 2010. Aakrosh stars Ajay Devgan and Akshaye Khanna as detectives investigating the disappearance of three college students in a small town troubled by caste politics. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min.
Knock Out, starring Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan Khan, purports to be a real-time thriller that takes place in just two hours, yet the movie has a runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min. It also bears a strong resemblance to the Hollywood thriller Phone Booth, itself inspired by the movie Liberty Stands Still.
Sci-fi epic Enthiran also enters its third week in theaters. The Golf Glen 5 continues to program the Tamil and Telugu versions, while the South Barrington 30 carries the Hindi version, Robot. The Cantera 30 will carry Enthiran starting on Friday.
Other Indian movies showing around Chicagoland include Brindaavanam (Telugu), Khaleja (Telugu) and Shikkar (Malayalam) at the Golf Glen 5. Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove is also carrying Brindaavanam.
One new Bollywood movie opens in the Chicago area the weekend beginning October 8, 2010, though it’s technically not a true Bollywood movie. It’s a Wonderful Afterlife is a British film by Gurinder Chadha, the director of Bend It Like Beckham. The comedy about a mother in a London suburb who’s dead-set on finding a groom for her daughter features some Hindi and Punjabi dialog. It also stars Indian-American actor Sendhil Ramamurthy, best known for playing Mohinder on the TV series Heroes.
Hindi romantic comedy Anjaana Anjaani carries over for a second week in theaters after earning $517,608 in the U.S. during its opening weekend. It continues its run at the AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago, Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30.
Also getting a second week in theaters is sci-fi epic Enthiran, in all its various iterations. The Golf Glen 5 has all three versions: Enthiran (Tamil), Robot (Hindi) and Robo (Telugu). The South Barrington 30 carries over Robot, while Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove carries over Enthiran.
Action comedy Dabanng continues for a fifth week at the Cantera 30.
The only other Indian movie showing in the area this weekend is the Telugu film Khaleja, showing at the Golf Glen 5 and at Sathyam Cinemas.
Tonight — Wednesday, October 6 — presents an opportunity to see some of Bollywood’s stars in a more serious light. The docudrama 1 a Minute addresses the shocking fact that, around the world, a woman dies of breast cancer every 69 seconds. In the movie, stars from Hollywood and Bollywood recount their own experiences with cancer. The cast list includes Bollywood legend Mumtaz, Kites star Barbara Mori, Indian politician Priya Dutt, as well as the film’s writer and producer, Indian-American actress Namrata Singh Gujral.
1 a Minute debuts in theaters across the U. S. tonight, followed by a live discussion by cast members. Check the film’s official website for theater locations near you.
This review covers the version of Enthiran dubbed into Hindi and retitled Robot (not that the original language matters to me, since I have to read the English subtitles, anyway).
The release of Enthiran, the most expensive Indian movie ever made, comes at an interesting point in India’s relationship with the Western world. Just a week ago, organizers of the Commonwealth Games — which are being held in New Delhi this year — responded to complaints from international athletes about the filthy, unsafe conditions of their accommodations by saying that perhaps the athletes’ standards were too high. And now, Enthiran proves to be more culturally charged than one would expect from an action comedy about a robot.
At its core, Enthiran is a shallow and conventional sci-fi story. A professor, Vaseegaran (Rajinikanth) creates a humanoid robot that he hopes to sell to the army. When the robot, Chitti (also played by Rajinikanth), proves too dangerous, Vasee programs the robot with human emotions.
Chitti falls for Vasee’s girlfriend, Sana (Aishwarya Rai), damaging his relationship with his creator. Chitti seeks guidance from Vasee’s mentor, Bora (Danny Denzongpa), who reprograms Chitti for evil.
Overall, the movie is just average. Rai overacts her role, though her performances in the dance numbers are up to her usual high standards. The soundtrack is surprisingly corny and unpolished, given that Oscar-winner A. R. Rahman composed the music. Most of the special effects look cheap, especially the cartoonish depiction of a fetus when Chitti performs a “high-def” ultrasound. Also, there are talking mosquitoes and robot lions.
The majority of the film’s large budget went into the final action sequence, and it shows. It’s an impressive battle, clearly inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster Transformers in terms of scale and destruction. Sure, it’s kind of silly, but it’s an incredibly fun sequence that’s worth experiencing on the big screen.
But Enthiran contains some cultural views on race and gender that are out of step with most of the Western world. American audiences will appreciate the campy value of the story and final action sequence, but will likely be turned off by values that seem racist and sexist.
Enthiran fetishizes violence against women. Sana is threatened with rape on three occasions, and one instance is particularly graphic (especially in a movie which only allows its lead couple to kiss on the cheek). Sana is trapped in a train car with a group of armed men seeking revenge against her and Chitti, pinned to the floor of the car by her arms and legs. As the lead goon leans over her, a dozen men behind him aim their cell phone cameras to capture Sana’s violation. A shot of Sana cowering in fear before Chitti inevitably rescues her would have sufficed without making the potential rape seem titillating.
Even more shocking is a sequence in which Chitti saves a teenage girl from a burning building. The girl, who’s taking a bath, protests being rescued naked, but Chitti deems saving her life more important than her potential embarrassment. When Chitti deposits the girl safely in front of her mother, there is an audible gasp from the throng of onlookers and reporters. The girl’s mother looks at her daughter with disgust, and Vasee, covering the girl with his jacket, berates Chitti for bringing the girl out in such an immodest state. The girl then runs in front of a truck, killing herself.
The scene is disgusting because the human characters react as though, under the circumstances, the girl’s suicide is expected — that she should have been left to die, rather than rescued naked. It reminded me of the deplorable actions of Saudi Arabian religious police in 2002, when they refused to let girls flee a burning school because they weren’t dressed appropriately, resulting in fifteen deaths. Valuing a girl’s perceived dignity as more important that her life is an unacceptable attitude in 2010.
Enthiran is also problematic in the way it equates dark skin with a propensity for evil. When Bora reprograms Chitti, he gives the robot a new external appearance, including dark-colored skin. The skin darkening is an unnecessary symbol of transformation, since Chitti’s also given a distinctive pompadour wig. Also, all three of the characters who threaten to rape Sana during the movie have notably darker complexions than the film’s heroes.
Given how goofy and fun Enthiran is as times, it has the potential to become a cult hit in the United States. But I’m not sure that American audiences will be able to overlook the outmoded ideas toward race and gender. I wish the film’s creator, Shankar, would’ve considered how these issues would be perceived internationally, especially since neither the nude girl’s rescue or evil Chitti’s dark skin are critical plot elements.
But the bigger deal is the opening of Enthiran, the most expensive Indian movie ever made. Its budget of just over $35 million doesn’t seem large by Hollywood standards, but it’s a huge amount for an Indian movie. The movie, which features a soundtrack by Oscar-winner A. R. Rahman, stars Rajnikanth as a cyborg, with Aishwarya Rai as his heroine. A Slate article described the Superstar: “If a tiger had sex with a tornado and then their tiger-nado baby got married to an earthquake, their offspring would be Rajinikanth.”
To reach the widest audience possible, the Tamil-language movie is being dubbed in Hindi (this version is titled “Robot”) and Telugu (“Robo”). The Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 will show the Tamil and Telugu versions of Enthiran beginning on Thursday, September 30, with the Hindi version opening on Friday. Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove also begins its run of the original Tamil version on Thursday night. The South Barrington 30 will carry the Hindi version, “Robot,” beginning Friday. The movie has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min.
Dabanng carries over for a fourth week at the South Barrington 30 and Cantera Stadium 30.
This weekend also marks the inaugural Chicago South Asian Film Festival, which starts on Friday. The festival lineup includes the terrific Bengali/English movie The Japanese Wife, with screenings being held at the Chicago Cultural Center and at Columbia College. I’m planning on attending the screening of Raspberry Magic on Saturday.
If you’re in the mood for a stage show, the Auditorium Theatre presents The Merchants of Bollywood on Friday and Saturday night. The Australian musical features songs like “Shava Shava” from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and “It’s The Time To Disco” from Kal Ho Naa Ho.
” from Kal Ho Naa Ho.