I'll be on vacation all next week and I'm not sure whether I'll have a chance to get online or not. If not, I'll talk to you all later!

I have thought and thought and thought about how the Harry Potter movies could be improved. And really, my only big gripe (other than the way they pick and choose what to include from the books seemingly at random and then add their own nonsense in place of what really happens otherwise) is the casting of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

Seriously. I read these books as an adult, so I was too old to have a crush on Harry or Ron or (I guess some people find him attractive) Malfoy. But Sirius Black? Oh baby.

So I was excited when Prisoner of Azkaban was being made into a movie. Finally, some guys I could find attractive without feeling slightly inappropriate. But did the powers that be give me men I could swoon over?



No.



They did not.

Let me be clear here: I understand that Sirius spent twelve years in Azkaban. He's not supposed to be "pretty" any more. Fine. Understandable. But he's still supposed to look like someone who was handsome once. Gary Oldman? He's not ugly, but he was never the guy all the girls at Hogwarts were daydreaming about.

And yes, Lupin is a werewolf and looks tired and ragged. But he's...he's cool. Tonks -- pink-haired, punky Tonks -- falls in love with him. He's not some middle-aged sweaty man with bad hair and stupid cardigans.

So. Here are my current submissions for Who Should (if the world was fair) Be Playing My Favorite Characters.

Sirius Black:



Gorgeous? Check. Full of pent-up anger at being imprisoned wrongfully for twelve years and then forced to sit quietly at home while everyone else gets to do useful business for the Order? Check (for details see any episode of Robin Hood). In the appropriate age group? Check. I rest my case.

Remus Lupin:



I know, I know, he's already in one of the Harry Potter movies, but that is irrelevant for my purposes. He looks the part, he's the right age...and he's sadly underused as Barty Crouch Junior. valancy_s suggested Lee Pace last time I brought this up, and he would most definitely fit the bill, but I'm sticking with the British Actors Only requirement they use when casting the movies.

Maybe I won't convince any of you, but while I was reading Prisoner of Azkaban this morning I tried hearing Lupin's lines with David Tennant's Doctor Who voice, and it works for me. Maybe a bit more manic than I usually picture Lupin, but certainly preferable to David Thewlis. :-P

So. Anyone agree? Disagree? Have suggestions of your own? Do you actually like the actors they chose? (Is that even possible???)

3 days until vacation 3 days until vacation 3 DAYS UNTIL VACATION!!!

Not that I'm keeping track or anything...

My car, formerly named George, will from now on be known as Beowulf.

Actually this change should have been made a few years ago, but I am slow and it took me this long to make the connection.

You see, one fine day I was driving and minding my own business, as you do, when a man in a Daewoo decided to pull out in front of me. George/Beowulf suffered a crunched fender and a broken headlight. The Daewoo was pretty much destroyed. The Daewoo driver, clearly suffering under some sort of delusion, had vanity plates. And those vanity plates read, "GRENDEL".

Yes, my friends. My car slew Grendel.

Now I'm wondering if I should be on the lookout for his mother...

wistfulmaidhas been talking about wedding stuff lately, and this morning I followed one of her links to Once Wed, which is like...it's like wedding crack. Seriously, I've been planning my wedding since I was 11* and my aunt gave me her Modern Bride magazines after her wedding. If I ever get married I'll have to have about fifteen weddings just to use all the ideas I have. So clicking on that link was not a good idea on a Monday morning when I need to be superproductive this week so that I don't come back to a mountain of books after vacation.





Another bad idea was doing all 3 workouts on my Bollywood workout DVD yesterday. I usually do the warm up, one workout segment, and the cool down. For some reason I thought I'd do all of them. And then, because I don't hate my legs enough, apparently, I decided to do yoga too.

OW. If my legs ever stop hurting I'll throw a party.

I had such an unproductive weekend. I didn't do anything for the 4th of July except go to dinner at my parents' house. Other than that I just laid around reading Harry Potter and wishing the neighbors would find somewhere farther away to set off all their fireworks. I'm not a big 4th of July person.

In conclusion, I would just like to say one thing:

OW.

*Speaking of being 11, anyone else remember this song? I remember singing it over and over again with my friends at recess in 6th grade. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8jhh_mr-big-to-be-with-you_music

I've spent the past two days battling headaches and nausea and fatigue and I wanted so badly to call in sick, but I have too much to get done before I go on vacation in two weeks so I forced myself to come to work and I was cranky and miserable and then a spider built a web on the chocolate cake I'd been trying to make last all week.

But now it's Friday and pay day and I feel a lot better so I can stop worrying that I have some terrible and rare disease.

My brother and I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night as part of our "get ready to see Half-Blood Prince" routine. (There's no point in re-reading the books to get ready for the movie, since it will only remind me of all the ways they've messed up the story.) It's so funny to watch Goblet of Fire now since every time I see Cedric I think "Edward!" and when I see Barty Crouch junior I think "Doctor!" Steve had never seen it before so he was full of righteous indignation about everything that got changed. And neither of us can figure out why, in the Quidditch matches in earlier movies and then in the Dragon Task in GoF, they pay no attention to things like boundaries or rules about, you know, not killing your dragon.

On less irritating subjects, here's your song for Bollywood Friday, "Mere Mehbooba" from Pardes. I don't know why Shah Rukh Khan is dressed like that. It's best not to ask questions and just enjoy the song. :-D

I didn't think I was going to read very much this month since last month's books were all a little disappointing. Obviously I was wrong.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I didn't like this much. Frankie is a sophomore at an elite boarding school. Over the summer she went from awkward-looking to hot, so it takes her all of a week to get the guy she wants to notice her. Only he's a member of some secret boy's club on campus, and Frankie gets mad that he won't tell her about it. Having read all that from the cover flap I was expecting something to happen like Frankie starting her own secret society and finding someone better to be in love with, but what actually happens is disappointing and annoying. The author uses a condescending, omniscient tone throughout which is also annoying. The boys Frankie thinks are so cool -- her boyfriend and his friends -- are not actually cool at all, and I thought there was going to be a message in there somewhere, a lesson learned, that would make the whole thing worthwhile, but in the end Frankie still thinks these losers are the greatest thing since sliced bread. She's just sad that she ruined her chance to be their friend.

The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson
You might not believe me, given the number of books I'm about to list for you, but after finishing Frankie I didn't read anything for about a week. Nothing I thought about reading sounded good. But then Heidi mentioned Eva Ibbotson's new book (well, I say new, but it's actually just a new edition of an older book) and I ran out and bought a copy. It was typical Ibbotson -- jaded hero with a snobby fiance who meets the beautiful heroine and falls in love but is too much of a gentleman to just say, "Look, crazy, I don't want to marry you so go away!" -- but it was exactly what I wanted.

The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery
I needed to read this for a book club anyway, but I didn't think of that until I was about halfway through. I just picked it up to re-read because I was in the mood for it. Still amazing the third time through!

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
I'm not sure what to say about this one, since Agatha Christie is one of those authors you can't criticize. There's nothing wrong with the book itself, the plot is tight and definitely keeps you on your toes trying to figure out who the killer could be. I think I was just disappointed because I wanted at least one of them to survive.

Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon
Parts of this book were very helpful, but a lot of it wasn't. I liked the parts about how to eat "mindfully" rather than "mindlessly", and on making exercise something you do because you enjoy it rather than something you do as punishment or as a clinical, "I must burn x amount of calories today" regimen. What I didn't like was the author's attitude towards weight loss, which came down basically to this: If you're overweight you should just resign yourself to being that way and focus on health. Anyone who says they've lost weight and kept it off is just a fluke or a freak of nature, because body size is determined by genetics and nothing else. The problem with that attitude is that it completely leaves out the whole concept of "choice". Maybe my body is just genetically predisposed to be larger than the average supermodel, but what I eat and how much I exercise are choices I make. If I had more discipline I could probably stick to a strict 1000 calorie-a-day diet and run for an hour or two every morning, and I might succeed in whittling myself down to a size 2, but who wants to live like that? So I can make the choice to eat a more satisfactory amount of food, to exercise moderately, and to be happy with the body that I end up with, even if no one will ever want to put me on the cover of a magazine. Or I can just give up entirely, gorge myself on junk food and be a couch potato, and end up on one of those shows about people who weigh 800 pounds. It's up to me, not just to my genes.

I don't mean this as a criticism of the way of life Linda Bacon recommends; I do think it's important to pursue health over a certain number on the scale or on the tag of your jeans, and I did find a lot of her suggestions on eating and exercise extrememly helpful. I just think she focuses too much on the genetic side of the equation and leaves out the possibility that as humans we can make choices that change our bodies' natural inclinations.

Time's Fool
Had We Never Loved
Ask Me No Questions
A Shadow's Bliss
Never Doubt I Love
The Mandarin of Mayfair by Patricia Veryan
I prefer the Jewelled Men series to the Golden Chronicles for the simple reason that I read them first. Minor characters from the Golden Chronicles play bigger roles in this series, where the danger threatening our heroes is not capture by English soldiers looking for Jacobites but a group of aristocrats attempting to overthrow King George and turn England into their own little country to rule. Completely unscrupulous, the League of Jewelled Men scheme and plot to ruin great families so as to acquire their estates, steal cargo from ships and then wreck those same ships so it looks like the cargo was lost at sea, and, as each successive hero learns of their scheme and fights against it, to chastise the men who dare to stand against them. Of course each man finds true love along the way (it wouldn't be Veryan without a big helping of romance), and two of the love stories are woven throughout all six books -- Jamie Morris, who falls for Katrina Falcon at first sight in Time's Fool, and August Falcon, who meets Gwendolyn Rossiter in the first book but doesn't acknowledge his feelings for her until The Mandarin of Mayfair. Never Doubt I Love is my favorite, but they're all very good.

The Riddle of the Shipwrecked Spinster by Patricia Veryan
Another of her Georgian novels, and though it was written quite a few years after the Jewelled Men series ended it picks up less than a month after The Mandarin of Mayfair ended. The hero this time is Piers Cranford, twin brother to the hero of Never Doubt I Love, and his struggle is not against an evil League but against a nameless schemer trying to force him into financial ruin so that he'll decide to sell the family estate. His great-uncle could help him, but won't unless Piers agrees to court the woman formerly betrothed to his cousin Gervaise. A bit fluffier than some of her earlier books, as are all of the Riddle series, but still an enjoyable (and quick!) read.

I watched Chatrapathi last night and wanted to watch some of the songs on YouTube this morning. I found videos of everything except the song I really wanted. I searched under the title. I searched under chatrapathi songs. I almost gave up. Then I looked up Aarti Agarwal songs and found the song I wanted -- with the title "Aarthi Agarwal hot telugu south sexy exposing romance navel".

Really? You couldn't just upload it and call it "Summamasuriya from Chatrapathi" or something? Why this obsession with giving perfectly innocent videos scandalous-sounding titles?

I'd post it, but it's not even a good video. The picture is about 5 seconds ahead of the sound, and it's all blurry.

Add this to the list of movies I'm looking forward to:



Ek Niranjan starring my husband Prabhas and Kangna Ranaut (hopefully in a less...erm...depressing role than she usually plays).

I have no idea what it's about, but it has Prabhas and that's good enough for me! Now to get my hands on a copy of Billa in the meantime...

For a while it looked like Abhishek Bachchan would never amount to much as an actor. His first movie, Refugee, was excellent, but then somehow he stumbled into a series of flops the likes of which many careers never recover from. Then, just when most people were ready to write him off as just another son of a star (in his case, son of two stars) who hadn't inherited acting talent to go with his famous last name, he figured it out. So much so that in 2005 he won 3 awards -- 2 Filmfare and 1 IIFA -- for his performance in Yuva.

It wasn't just the acting thing he finally got right. Almost overnight he went from baby-faced goofball to hot. Really hot. Really really really hot. From awkward and gooberish in front of the camera to confident. He still can't dance, but now instead of trying so hard that it's painful to watch he's learned to just acknowledge that he looks silly and go with it.

Let's see, what else might you want to know...He married Aishwarya Rai a couple of years ago, so now my sister and I always talk about him in mournful tones and often wonder aloud, "Why did he have to marry her???"

Oh, and in case you can't tell, I'm mad about him.

Where To Find Him

Refugee
Abhishek and Kareena Kapoor both debuted in this movie, and though it didn't spell instant success for Abhi it definitely made an impression. Abhishek's character's name is Refugee, and he's made a career out of helping Muslim families cross the border into Pakistan. On one such trip he escorts Kareena's family, and the two share an almost instant attraction. One thing leads to another, and soon Refugee is making frequent trips across the border just to see Nazneen. Her parents, and an Indian policeman who thinks Refugee is a terrorist, complicate matters.

Bunty aur Babli
"Bunty" is Rakesh, a small-town boy who dreams of something more than just an everyday, 9-5 job working for the railroad like his dad. "Babli" is Vimmi, a small-town girl with dreams of MTV and the word of fashion. One night they both run away from home with big plans for success and glory, only to find themselves sitting in a cafe moping. A plot to get revenge on the man who bested Rakesh leads to Bunty and Babli joining forces to con their way across the country to Bombay. Along the way they fall in love, of course, and pick up a follower in the form of a drunken renegade cop (played by Abhishek's father Amitabh, which leads to many inside jokes between the two).

Bluffmaster
Roy is a con-man with a pretty good life. He's made a good living, he's about to marry the girl of his dreams...then at their engagement party she finds out what he really does for a job, and breaks up with him. Roy is heartbroken. He mopes around the restaurant where she works trying to convince her to take him back, but to no avail. Then he finds out that he has a brain tumor and only has a few months left to live. He devotes his remaining time to helping a new friend, Dittu, con the man who conned his father, egotistical hotelier Chandru.

It sounds depressing but actually this is a very light-hearted comedy (yes, even with the whole brain tumor thing. It makes sense when you watch it). And Abhishek sings one of the songs on the soundtrack...

You might also enjoy:

Kuch Naa Kaho
Run
Dhoom
Dhoom 2
Yuva
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

So finally, after much searching and watching many many videos (the things I do for you people!) I found a Mahesh Babu song that doesn't involve girls in skimpy outfits writhing around in the background.

Actually it wasn't that hard, I just had to stop watching songs from the same movie and hoping the skanky girls would go away.

This song -- "Devuda" from Pokiri -- pretty much sums up why I love Mahesh Babu. He's adorable, yes, and tall, but it's his expressions and the way he moves that really won me over. The boy can dance!

Just when I was lamenting the lack of Bollywood movies to look forward to, I find out about Dil Bole Hadippa, starring Rani Mukherjee and Shahid Kapoor! Doesn't this trailer look fun? If it comes to the theater in Kansas City some of us (this means you, ransomedsea, windandtherain and eattheolives) are going to have to go see it!

Rani is one of Bollywood's most popular actresses, best known for her husky voice and expressive eyes, not to mention incredible beauty. She's my favorite, or as close as I come to having a favorite (I'm terrible at narrowing these things down!), and has the dubious distinction of being the only Bollywood actress my brother admits to liking. Rani grew up in a film family -- her father is a director and she's Kajol's cousin -- but has admitted in interviews to not having wanted to become an actress until her parents pushed her into it. For which we can only be thankful!


Where To Find Her

Mujhse Dosti Karoge!
One of the few Bollywood movies my brother has watched (he calls it "Mushrooms and Pierogies"). Rani plays Pooja, a pretty and studious girl with two best friends: Tina, a glamorous bombshell type who loves dancing and fashion, and Raj, who moved to London when the three were very young and who has been writing to Tina ever since. One problem: Tina found his e-mails boring compared to her other hobbies, and Pooja's been writing to him instead, but signing Tina's name. Everything's fine until Raj's parents decide they should all come back to India for a visit...

Saathiya
A remake of the Tamil movie Alaipayuthe, Saathiya starts out as a typical Bollywood love story and then turns into a story about life after marriage. Rani is at her best as Suhani, a medical student, who meets Aditya at a friend's wedding. They fall in love, but a meeting between their parents goes badly and the two sneak off and marry in secret, planning to tell their families when the time is right. Of course the cat is let out of the bag early, and Suhani and Aditya move out in disgrace, which isn't the greatest start to a marriage. Vivek Oberoi isn't that great, but I love watching Rani in this, and there are cameos by Shah Rukh Khan and Tabu to look for, and excellent songs by A.R. Rahman.

Chalte Chalte
Another "after marriage" story, though a little less soap-opera-like in it's approach. The first half, again, is pure Bollywood romance -- poor boy Raj and rich girl Priya meet, squabble, and finally realize that they like each other, just in time for Priya to head home to Greece where she's going to marry a childhood friend. Raj follows her there and convinces her to marry him, but once they get home financial problems and meddling relatives and friends create a rift between the once blissfully happy pair.

Hum Tum
I firmly believe this should be part of everyone's introduction to Bollywood, because if you don't find something to like about it there's probably something wrong with you. ;-) Rani and Saif Ali Khan make an adorable couple (he and Abhishek Bachchan are probably her best co-stars), and as the story unfolds -- it takes them ten years to fall in love with each other as they meet and lose track of each other and meet again several times -- you can't help hoping that Karan will get his act together and admit his feelings to Rhea. If you already like American romantic comedies you'll probably love Hum Tum.


You might also enjoy:

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Baabul
Mangal Pandey: The Rising
Ghulam
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke
Nayak: The Real Hero
Chori Chori
Bunty aur Babli
Paheli
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

<-- with real-life husband Ajay Devgan

Aishwarya Rai has been called The Most Beautiful Woman in the World but if you ask me, that title should go to Kajol. Even in her most unpolished, unibrowed days in the 90s she was stunning, but sometimes now I watch Fanaa or U Me aur Hum and can hardly breathe because she's so amazing-looking.

She's also an amazing actress, with an expressive face that tells you everything her character is feeling. Kajol herself has said that she doesn't feel she's a very good actress because she can't play characters she doesn't agree with or identify with, but her fans know better! Whether the movie is a comedy or a tearjerker drama, Kajol is always a treat to watch.

Where To Find Her

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Kajol is probably best known for her pairing with Shah Rukh Khan, and this movie is a big part of that. As Raj, a London-born Indian boy who only wants to have fun, and Simran, also born in London but to a father who eats, sleeps, and dreams Punjabi and whose biggest fear is that his daughters will be "westernized", the two meet on a Eurail train and get off to a rocky start. It's only after they're stranded overnight together that Raj and Simran realize they're in love...only Simran's dad is planning to marry her off to his best friend's son as soon as she gets home.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Kajol and Shah Rukh are together again! Rahul Raichand is the adopted son of a millionaire businessman, but though the formerly barren couple had another son several years after adopting Rahul, he was never made to feel less than loved. Until he meets Anjali Sharma, a fun-loving girl from Chandni Chowk, and has to choose between the woman he loves and the father he idolizes.

Fanaa
If someone had set out to write a Bollywood movie just for me, I don't think they could have come closer than Fanaa. Take Aamir Khan and Kajol, add a plot about a blind girl who falls in love with a tour guide who turns out to be a terrorist, and add a blizzard and a he-knows-it's-her-but-she-doesn't-know-it's-him reunion after several years and an amazing soundtrack, make it so beautiful to look at that it's like visual candy, and Emily is a happy camper. I know there are people who don't like this, and who complain to no end about various aspects of the plot. I've been deliberately turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to all of them since the day I fell in love with Fanaa, and I'll cheerfully continue to do so. Fanaa is fantastic.

Minsara Kanavu/Sapnay
Kajol's lone foray into the world of Tamil cinema was also dubbed into Hindi for her usual audience, so depending on where you look you might find this under either title. Kajol plays a girl who wants to be a nun and has no interest in marriage, but she's being pursued by a stick-in-the-mud suitor (Arvind Swamy, who, I'm sorry, looks like a wombat) and confused by her feelings for a wacky young singer (Prabhu Deva, the man the non-Indian world knows best as Benny Lava thanks to Buffalax's videos on YouTube).


Pre-and-post-Fanaa Kajol's been taking a break from movies, but you can find her making cameo appearances in:

Duplicate -- as a girl at the train station;
Kal Ho Naa Ho -- as a dancer in the song Maahi Ve;
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna -- as a dancer in the song Rock 'n' Roll Soniye;
Om Shanti Om -- as a party guest during the song Deewangi Deewangi;
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi -- as a dancer in the song Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte.

You might also enjoy:
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Baazigar
Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha
U Me Aur Hum
Gupt
Karan Arjun
Hamesha

I noticed when I was looking up movies on IMDB that there are still quite a lot of Kajol's movies I haven't seen. I need to go rearrange my Netflix queue so I can fix that!

Parts of it were very very good, and parts of it were rather horrible. I would talk about it but I'd probably just start crying again, and since I'm at work that wouldn't be a good thing. I'm just trying to put it behind me and move on, since there's nothing I can do anyway.

The very very good part was going to see Shakespeare in the Park with ransomedsea, eattheolives and my sister. And other people whose names I can't remember at the moment (if you're one of them, I'm sorry). The drive there was uneventful; I don't know why I'm always convinced that I'm going to die before I drive anywhere farther than across town but once I'm on the road and can see that the highway is not actually fraught with peril I'm okay. Carrie and I put on our usual road trip soundtrack of songs from Bunty aur Babli and sang along loudly the whole way there and I didn't get lost which was in itself an accomplishment. We'd planned to do some window shopping on the plaza before heading to the park, but by the time we found a parking spot it was later than we'd thought, so we stopped for drinks in a coffee shop and then trudged up the hill to the park and found the others.

The play was The Merry Wives of Windsor, which none of us had seen or even heard of before, and it was hilarious. Very bawdy, but hilarious nonetheless.

Then on the way home there was a spider in the car and after running across the windshield it disappeared for a while and I had horrible visions of dying a painful spider-bite-related death until it showed up again on Carrie's side of the car and she smashed it.

And now it's Monday and I'm just glad I survived the weekend and I have to bake a cheesecake tonight for my mom's birthday tomorrow.

Tune in later for another Stars of Bollywood installment!

I haven't seen this movie yet but I've been listening to the song nonstop for the past month. I seem to post a lot of songs featuring Surya. I don't know why that is exactly. He must just make a higher proportion of movie with songs I like than anyone else.

I want to show you some songs from Mahesh Babu or Prabhas movies, but the songs I like best alwys seem to have rather raunchy videos. I'll keep looking.

I thought I'd better hurry up and make Aamir the next focus of my Bollywood series, lest I face the wrath of The Bollywood Fan. :-D



Aamir Khan was my first Bollywood crush, and I'm still more than a little fangirly over him. I know most people fall into either the Shah Rukh Camp or the Aamir Camp, but I'd never be able to choose one even if you put me in a room with their movies and told me not to come out until I'd decided. I'd just be stuck there forever watching Bollywood movies.

That sounds fun, actually. Anyone want to try it? ;-)

In contrast to some Bollywood actors, Aamir seems to choose roles and movies that are a little more unconventional. He's done his share of masala and romance, but these days you're just as likely to find him playing a terrorist, a teacher, or an action hero as you are to find him playing the loverboy.

His eyes are his best feature. That intense gaze has inspired many a sigh from my direction, and if you check out the thread dedicated to him on BollyWhat you'll see that I'm not alone. :-)

Where to find him:

Lagaan

A costume drama, Bollywood style. The supercilious English soldier in charge of a nearby military base gives a challenge to the villagers: beat the soldiers in a game of cricket and live tax-free for three years, or lose and pay triple the tax this year. Despite opposition from the village leaders, Aamir's character Bhuvan collects a team and, with the help of an English lady, learns to play the game. This was my first Bollywood movie, and still a favorite.

Dil Chahta Hai

If Lagaan was the gateway drug, Dil Chahta Hai was the one that got me hooked. Akash, Sameer, and Siddharth, close friends during college, find themselves estranged after a fight between Akash and Sid. Gradually the story unfolds in flashbacks and we see what led up to the fight and what's happened since. I wish I could describe it better -- I have no talent for this kind of thing -- but if there was one Bollywood movie I could make all of you watch, this would be it. In fact I need to watch it again soon, because I'm going through withdrawal.

Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke

Aww, cutey-pie Aamir in his chocolate hero days! He's adorable here as a young businessman trying to care for his orphaned niece and nephews and run his brother's shirtmaking factory while dodging the amorous attentions of a persistent friend from his college days. Juhi Chawla is at her adorable best as a Tamil girl who runs away from an arranged marriage and winds up as Aamir's housekeeper. If you've ever seen the movie House Boat with Sophia Lauren and Cary Grant you might recognize some of the plot, but Cary Grant's got nothing on Aamir Khan!

Ishq

I only chose to review this over some of the movies below because I want to be able to warn you: Ishq is by no means, no stretch of the imagination, in no way a good movie. It's horrible, cheesy, and stupid. But it is So. Much. Fun. If you don't fall over laughing at least once, you might need to check for a pulse. Aamir plays a poor mechanic, friend to rich boy Ajay Devgan, who falls for rich girl Juhi Chawla. Juhi also has a poor friend, played by Kajol, who Ajay falls in love with. Unfortunately the rich kids' fathers have decided their children should marry each other, and they'll go to any lengths to ensure it happens. If you have a low tolerance for cheesy stupidity, Ishq is probably not for you, but I prefer it to the more popular Andaz Apna Apna, another very silly comedy.

Other movies you might enjoy:

Sarfarosh
Ghajini
Ghulam
Akele Hum Akele Tum
Rangeela
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
Rang De Basanti
Andaz Apna Apna

I promised valancy_s months ago that I would do a Bollywood beginner's guide and what with one thing and another...okay, I don't actually have any excuse except laziness...I never got around to it.

This is my attempt, then, to introduce you to the big names of Bollywood (and some lesser-known personal favorites). I don't know how many posts I'll end up doing, but hopefully you'll find something of interest in them.

I could have saved the best for last, but why wait? Let's jump right in with the biggest and best, Mr. Shah Rukh Khan.



You can't be a Bollywood fan for long without hearing the name repeated in tones varying from worshipful to scornful. Love him or hate him, the Baadshah (emperor) of Bollywood can't be ignored.

I happen to love him. He doesn't have conventional "movie star" looks -- instead he has a big nose, weak chin, floppy hair. But what he does have, in quantities no single human should have been given, is charm. On screen or off, Shah Rukh knows what his fans want and he gives it to them in spades. He's cheeky. Just a little bit naughty at times. Adorable. And somehow, with age, he's only become more attractive than ever.

Where to Find Him

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi -- his latest movie; and one of my favorites. Gentle, nerdy Surinder Sahni finds himself married to the girl of his dreams, only she's not interested. He creates flashy "Raj Kapoor" in an effort to get close to her, and then finds himself caught in a deception that might cost him everything.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

The classic "Karan Johar Movie". Rahul and Anjali are best friends, but when pretty new girl Tina joins their college, Rahul only has eyes for Tina. Flash forward eight years and Rahul is now a widower with a young daughter. Tina has left a series of letters for "little Anjali" to read, asking her to reunite her father with "big Anjali" because she's always felt guilty for coming between them.

Darr and/or Baazigar

Either of these films is a must-see, if not both. Shah Rukh was brave enough to play a villain in both movies, when most would-be stars would only play hero roles. In Darr he's a stalker, obsessed with the adorable Juhi Chawla despite her complete ignorance of his existence and also despite her engagement to buffoonish Sunil. Baazigar is a more straight-up Bollywood revenge saga, with Shah Rukh romancing sisters in an attempt to get close to the man whose deceptions killed his father and left his mother in a catatonic state.

Duplicate and/or Baadshah

In Duplicate Shah Rukh again plays a double role, this time that of mild-mannered and goofy chef Bablu and unabashedly evil criminal Manu. Over the top, goofy fun, the highlight of the movie is when the two characters switch roles and Shah Rukh has to play Bablu-imitating-Manu and Manu-imitating-Bablu. He essentially creates four characters for the movie.

Baadshah is also over-the-top goofy fun, with Shah Rukh playing a would-be private investigator who finds himself in over his head when he is mistaken for a federal agent. The songs in this are some of my favorites. Twinkle Khanna as his love interest acts about as well as a block of wood, but you won't be watching for her anyway. :-D

Veer-Zaara

In the mood to swoon? As Indian Air Force pilot Veer Pratap-Singh, this is one of Shah Rukh's most romantic roles. The story is told in flashbacks from a Pakistani jail cell, where a young female lawyer is determined to get justice for an Indian prisoner who hasn't spoken in the 22 years he's been imprisoned. Gradually she wins his trust and he tells her the story of his life and why he agreed to go to prison rather than sully the name of his Pakistani love, Zaara Hayat Khan.

The only flaw in this movie is that Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice is still lovely but sounds very much like that of a woman in her 70s, is used for the heroine. Preity Zinta looks silly mouthing words being sung by an elderly lady.

Swades

Even non-SRK fans found something to like in this movie, which was Ashutosh Gowariker's follow-up to Lagaan. Shah Rukh plays a NASA scientist living in America who goes back to India to bring his elderly ayah (nanny) home with him. Instead he learns to appreciate her way of life and the heritage he'd nearly forgotten.

Other movies you might enjoy:

Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham
Kal Ho Naa Ho
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Main Hoon Na
Om Shanti Om
Chak De! India
Don
One 2 Ka 4
Paheli
Dil Se

I didn't forget this on Friday, per se, I just got distracted thinking about Grease 2 and never got around to choosing a Bollywood song.



I love Surya and will always be grateful that he married one of my favorite actresses so that I can just think they're a cute couple and don't have to resent her for stealing him from me. Some people *cough*Abhishek*cough* should have kept that in mind before marrying annoying people.

Um. Anyway, that isn't really important since I'm going to marry Prabhas. I just felt like saying it.

Isn't Asin gorgeous? I've been watching some of her pre-Ghajini movies lately and I love her.

When it comes to cake I like to keep things plain and simple. No (or at least very little) frosting for me, thanks (unless it's that coconut-pecan stuff from a German chocolate cake), and I'll never understand the appeal of those odd creations that guy on Ace of Cakes makes. If I'm going to eat cake I want to eat cake, not something that looks like my dog or car or house or something.

This, then, for me, is (non-chocolate) cake perfection: citrusy, moist, and so easy to make you could do it in your sleep. I love dense pound-cake type cakes since you don't have to worry about keeping them light or airy. Just mix it all together and let it bake into a dense, orange-scented loaf.

The recipe can be found here.

Be warned: I made this for the girls in my Bible study a few weeks ago and have since been told that it's the best thing ever and even that someone had dreamed about it. It's that good.

I wanted to make it again this week but I forgot to buy half the ingredients I needed so I'm going to substitute this:



It won't be as good, but if I serve it with the blood orange gelato I found in HyVee's natural foods section, hopefully no one will complain.

(Disclaimer: I spent the weekend reading Nigella Lawson cookbooks, so forgive me if I sound pretentiously foodie-ish. :-D)