Filmi Geek

Filmi Geek metapost

What's going on?  No reviews in more than a week! 

It's tragic, but sometimes I can't quite make the time to watch Hindi movies.  I posted my last review about eight days ago but it's been more than two weeks since I've watched a film.

Monday is a holiday here in the US, so I've got a long weekend and that usually means I'll get to watch some movies.  I already have plans for two.  So with any luck, next week the reviews will start coming again (there's always a delay of a couple of days between watching and having a review is ready for posting). 

I don't always like to say what's coming because plans change, but I'm expecting the next handful of reviews to include Satyam shivam sundaram, Teesri manzil, and Munnabhai MBBS.  We shall see.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, please check out Sounds Like Power, my blog about Shabana Azmi.  There's a lot of fun stuff going on over there.  Also have a look at an interesting recent addition to my links sidebar: MemsaabStory has very thoughtful comments on some unusual films.

Filmi Geek metapost: where can I find these movies?

I am often asked, in email and occasionally in comments, where to get a hold of the movies that I review here on Filmi Geek.  I have been meaning to do a post setting forth some of the legitimate sources I use and know about.  I live in the United States - those of you in other parts of the world may not be able to get DVDs as inexpensively as I can.  I am afraid that I don't know as much about the DVD sources that people outside of the United States prefer; perhaps some of you will contribute that information in the comments. (Those of you in India can probably just go read something else!)

The good news is that DVDs of Indian movies are these days readily available, with English subtitles, from a variety of sources, either for rental or for sale.  Nearly all of the movies that I have reviewed on this blog are available in subtitled DVDs from internet sources.  The even better news is that DVDs of Indian movies - even legitimate, non-pirated DVDs - are very inexpensive.  The slightly less good news is that even many legitimate DVDs are of mediocre quality; poor transfer, poor digitization, occasional skipped subtitles or unsubtitled songs. 

Now on to some sources.

Your local masala shop.  If you live in a major metropolitan area with any sizable South Asian population, chances are there is an Indian specialty grocer you can visit.  I have three within walking distance of my home, not to mention dozens of others elsewhere throughout the city.  Most of these shops carry DVDs for rental or for sale - usually mainstream and/or popular films.  Quality can vary - rental DVDs can be abused in circulation, and some shops might have lower-quality pirates - but you'll usually do fine. 

On-line retailers.  My personal favorite, and the source of more than three-quarters of my collection, is the on-line retailer Nehaflix.  Their prices and selection are very good, especially if you are an oldies fan like me.  Toss in frequent sales and free-shipping deals along with an incredibly fast turnaround - orders are often shipped the same day - and it's easy to see why I tend to turn to Nehaflix first.  All their DVDs are legitimate originals and the quality is as good as can be hoped.  Another on-line retailer I have used is Eros - they are slower and not quite as reliable as Nehaflix, but they also have interesting sales, sometimes offering clearance DVDs for as little as 99 cents.  I have heard good things about India Weekly, but I've not placed an order from them myself.  Although some titles can be found on Amazon, I wouldn't bother ordering from them - all the Indian films in their catalog are actually sold through retail partners like Nehaflix, and you'll do better to eliminate the middleman. 

On-line rental sites.  The internet rental giant Netflix, which rents DVDs by mail, has a decent, and growing, selection of Hindi DVDs.  There's also an all-Indian site, iTalkies, that works the same way as Netflix.  iTalkies has a magnificent selection, and appears to be a good source for hard-to-find films that exist in DVD but are out of print; but I have not used it myself.

Libraries. If you live in a big city or a university town, your library may have a selection of Indian films.  I've not used this resource myself but I know people who have had great success with it.  Also I've been told that some libraries are receptive to purchase suggestions from library users. 

Apart from those means for obtaining DVDs, there are a few other sources from which I regularly watch Indian movies. 

The theater.  If you live in a major metropolitan area with a sizable South Asian population, there may be a theater around that shows Indian films, if not continuously, than at least from time to time. Theatrical releases can be spotty in the US, limited to major releases from the big banner studios.  One way to find out is to go to your local Indian grocer and ask.  Another way, when you know that there is a major new release, is to search the internet for local showtimes for that film.  If you can find out who is the local promoter of South Asian entertainment events, they may have a website announcing upcoming releases - like Aap ka manoranjan here in Boston.

Cable television.  My cable network, Comcast, has two channels that show Indian films.  AZN, which is part of our digital cable package, has a limited selection of South Asian films, many of which are not very good, that occasionally come into the rotation.  ZeeTV, a premium channel, has a more diverse selection and shows about two movies a week.  Other cable suppliers or satellite networks may have other channels that carry Indian films. 

Jaman.  Finally, the Jaman website (for which I am a writer and moderator) has a very good and growing selection of Indian films available for download.  Jaman is a particularly good source of excellent art films - they have a great collection of titles from the NFDC, the Indian government agency that funds many art films - and the video quality is very good. 

I hope that's enough to get you started - again, I apologize for the U.S. focus, and I hope folks in other countries will chime in and help out.

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste dosto!

I'm interrupting the reviews with a metapost today because I have two announcements I want to make.

First, I am both excited and sheepish to report that I've founded a new blog which will be a place for me to channel the shameless gushing and worship of Shabana Azmi that occasionally pops up here.  As far as I know there is no blog or fan site dedicated to her and I figured if anyone was going to start one, it ought to be me.  Reviews of her films, of course, will still live here, but now I have a place to put other thoughts, links, news items, pictures, and the like that's just about her.  If you're curious please come check out Sounds Like Power.  I look forward to seeing you there. 

Second, I'd like to include another gentle plug for Jaman, the excellent on-line service that offers downloads of movies from all over the world, including an excellent - and growing - South Asian collection.  Jaman has recently added about 20 titles from the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) that include some of the finest art films India has ever produced - films by the likes of Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, and others. 

Jaman will give you three free movie rentals just for signing up.  In addition, if you follow this link, you can get five more free tickets, even if you are already a member.  So please consider giving Jaman a look. 

Okay, now back to the reviews for a while.  Up next:  Raj Kapoor's outstanding Shree 420, one of the finest films I've ever seen.  I've been stalling on the review because it was that good - I'd like to watch it again before I try to write about it! 

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste filmi dosto.

It's been eight weeks or so since my last metapost.  That time has seen the addition of more than a dozen reviews to the site, bringing the total number of films reviewed here to a staggering 105 (plus one play).

That represents pretty much every Indian (or Indian-themed) film I have seen in the past two years, and means I've watched, on average, one a week for two years.  Obsession is a great thing.  I am watching more now than I was in the beginning.  In the first 20 weeks of 2007, I watched and reviewed 36 films, for a pace of just under two a week.  I have to have something new to keep you all coming back!  This past weekend, a three-day weekend here in the US, I saw three more Hindi films, including the brand-new Cheeni kum currently showing in theaters, so you can expect a review of that and other new posts this week.

In the meantime you can visit the discussion boards at BollyWHAT? or at Jaman to talk about what's new and old in Hindi films.  Jaman, where I'm a reviewer and moderator, has a good collection of Hindi films available for free download. 

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste sab ko!

It has been a fun and busy couple of months since my last metapost.  I've reviewed 16 more movies since then (wow!) which means that review #100 is just around the corner.  In my last metapost I thanked you for 10,000 page views - I will reach a total of 20,000 today or tomorrow.  I was delighted to see yesterday that one of my reviews was linked on a Wikipedia page - my thanks to the reader who did that.  But mostly I thank all of you for reading and offering your comments and perspectives.

I would also like to make a small plug for a website I've gotten involved with.  Jaman is a place to download, watch, and discuss movies from all over the world.  I hope you will consider checking out Jaman's offerings and fledgling communities.  You can find me starting discussions in Jaman's South Asia section.  There is also a lot of interesting work by independent filmmakers from other parts of Asia, Latin America, and more.

I can't make any predictions about what will pop up here on Filmi Geek in the next couple of months - I have tons of films waiting to be watched and I'm sure more will insert themselves into the queue.  In the near future I expect to watch some more Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor classics, some more of the fun 60s and 70s fare I enjoy so much, mix in a few modern films, and of course you can count on more of the magnificent Shabana Azmi turning up sooner or later.  There are some things in life that are simply immutable!

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste filmi dosto! 

It's been a good couple of months here at Filmi Geek since my last metapost.  Krrish marks the 76th movie (plus one play) reviewed on the site.  (I know 75 would have been a better, rounder milestone to announce but I wasn't paying attention and I missed it.)  I've also passed 10,000 page views and I'm averaging more than 100 page views a day.  That's not bad for a blog launched four months ago, and I am very grateful to you, the folks around the world who read what I have to say about Hindi movies. 

But I'd like to hear from you more.  Please don't hesitate to leave comments - let me know if you agree, or disagree, or see something in a film that I didn't mention, or can provide some context or insight, or even just that you were here. 

I love receiving recommendations from my readers as well, even if it will be a while until I get to them - I already have a mighty stack of DVDs, each awaiting its turn in the player!   I also know that my archive skews toward oldies - my taste in Western films was always that way as well - and I'm open to suggestions of recent films, so that I can present a more rounded selection. 

I also appreciate being linked at other websites - please let me know if you've done that, so I can check out your site and return the favor.

Finally, since a couple of you have asked for a way to contact me in email, I have added that information to my about page, and also here - you may email me at:   filmigeek@comcast.net

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste filmi dosto!  I've been on a re-watching kick lately, so no new reviews just yet, but I have gone back and revised some more reviews of the films I've re-watched.  There's a list to the left that will always show you five reviews that I've recently tinkered with. 

I also wanted to let you know that since Google bought YouTube they have been cracking down on copyrighted content over there.  I can't really complain about this, given what I do for a living, but it does break some of the links in my reviews that I put there so you can watch the songs I'm talking about.  I apologize for that. 

I'm having some guests over this weekend to watch Jewel Thief and also perhaps Lage raho Munnabhai if they have the stamina for two movies.  Even with that  going on I am hoping to find time to watch something new and give you a new review.  Stay tuned.

Filmi Geek metapost

Filmi Geek is now completely up-to-date; there is now a post for every Indian movie I have seen.  Since on average I only watch 3-4 new (to me) Hindi films in a month, there will be more time between posts from now on. 

But I'm still here, improving things behind the scenes.  I have expanded and revised some existing posts, and will continue to do so as I re-watch films I saw a relatively long time ago.  For example, I recently expanded my Fire review, which I never felt did justice to my deep, irrational love for that film.  And this week I watched Nishant again, with a much different perspective from the first time I saw it well over a year ago, so I completely overhauled its post as well.  I've also been adding new YouTube video links to some of my existing posts.  So there's stuff going on, even if it doesn't appear as new posts on the main page. 

I invite you all to suggest features you would like to see added to Filmi Geek, such as additional categories or different kinds of posts.  I am considering doing some posts about filmi music, separate from posts about the corresponding films; I welcome your thoughts on what else I can add to make Filmi Geek more useful and more fun. 

Finally, I'm getting over a hundred hits a day now and so I want to thank everyone who stops by for reading.  I hope you enjoy your stay and I am grateful for your visits and your comments.  Filmi Geek is a labor of love for me, an archive for me to remember what I've seen and how I felt about it, but if others can enjoy it too so much the better.  Thank you! 

<---- Shabana Azmi reading Filmi Geek.  Okay, probably not.  But a girl can dream, can't she? 

Filmi Geek is a Typepad Featured Blog

I'd like to thank my bloghost, Typepad, for giving me the honor of being today's Featured Blog.  I've discovered many interesting blogs perusing Typepad's "Featured" collection, and it's great to be included among them. 

What a couple of days!  Today, I am a Featured Blog; yesterday, I met Shabana Azmi. वाह!

Navigating Filmi Geek

Welcome to Filmi Geek, where the Geek of All Trades takes on Hindi films.  There are a number of different ways you can navigate Filmi Geek.  This post is your guide. 

First, there is an Alphabetical Index of all films featured on Filmi Geek.  Here you can find the films listed alphabetically by the English transliteration of their titles. 

Next, there is an Actor/Actress index, where the films are sorted by the names of their stars.  A film with more than one star will be listed under all stars' names. 

Finally, there are the Filmi Geek categories, which you can select over on the top right-hand side of the page.  Many films will fall into more than one of these categories.  There is a category for each decade from the 1950s to today, as well as some thematic categories.  Here's a brief explanation of each of the thematic categories:

Art films.  This category contains the art-house films, sometimes called "parallel cinema."  These films tend toward heavier and more politically-charged subject matter than mainstream Hindi films.  They often lack the song-and-dance element that characterizes Bollywood films, and so may be more palatable to western filmgoers, or those new to Indian cinema who don't quite know what to make of the tropes of mainstream Indian film.  India truly excels in the art-house, claiming such luminaries as Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, and Aparna Sen.

Commercial hits in India.  This category includes films that were super-hits or better in India  at the time of their release (according to the Box Office India website).  Although I love Hindi films, I am not Indian.  So films that struck a particular chord with their home audience are of special interest to me as pop culture bellwethers, windows providing at least a little insight into Indian society. 

 

Films in English.  This self-explanatory category is home to the films for which most GOAT readers will not require subtitles.  It includes a couple of films that are not Indian, as well as some films made by Indians but aimed predominantly at western audiences, and films about the Indian diaspora that are in English because that is the language its characters would speak in real life. 

GOAT's favorites.  This category includes the films that I love the most.  They are not necessarily the best films, and not necessarily films I would recommend without reservation, but they are the ones I come back to again and again, the ones that are closest to my heart.  It is not a top-ten or a top-twenty list; it's a collection without limit, so if it is a film I adore, it will not be excluded.

Good films (but not favorites).  This category contains the films that I really enjoyed, but that for whatever reason I don't count among my favorites.  Maybe they have a weakness in pacing or plotting, a couple of lackluster songs, or an actor I don't love - or maybe they just didn't grab me the right way for no particular reason.  They are still very good films, better than a mere timepass, and can be considered recommended. 

Good introductions.  If you are new to Indian movies, some aspects of them can be puzzling; mainstream Hindi films in particular can be a bit of an acquired taste for westerners.  This category tells you which films I think would be a good place to start exploring.  This category is limited to more mainstream Bollywood fare - art films are generally more accessible to a western viewer, and so particular introductory recommendations are less necessary. 

Great naach-gaana.  "Naach-gaana" means song and dance - Bollywood is all about its song and dance, and this category identifies the films I find outstanding in that area, even if they are lacking in other areas.  These are the films that frequently find their way into my DVD player for repeat viewing of the song sequences, and whose soundtracks are in regular rotation on my iPod.

Masala films.  Some Bollywood films try to be all things to all viewers - romance, intrigue, action, drama - a little of everything.  This time-honored popular genre is known as masala, which means "mix."  These films tend toward the long side, with sweeping or rambling plots, and can be hugely entertaining once your are prepared for the masala experience.  This category identifies the masala films in the Filmi Geek archive.

Regional films.  "Regional" film is a term sometimes used to describe Indian films that are not in Hindi.  The Hindi film industry - "Bollywood" - is perhaps the best known in the west, but other parts of India produce hundreds of films a year as well, in such languages as Bengali (from the eastern state of Bengal, where Calcutta is), Telugu (the south-central Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, whose capital is Hyderabad), and Tamil (from the southern state of Tamil Nadu).  As of Filmi Geek's launch, I haven't seen very many of these regional films, but there are many wonderful films coming from all over India, and so this category may grow some day.

Shabana's films.  Although her films can readily be found in the Actor/Actress index, I could not resist creating a special category for my favorite Hindi film star, Shabana Azmi.  Shabana ji is the one that started it all for me, and I've seen more of her films than anyone else's.  She is a beautiful woman with a first-class mind, a gifted actor, and a tireless and principled crusader for the ideals she believes in.  She is simply awesome, and she's very, very close to my heart - so she gets her own category (and even her own blog).

Timepass.  "Timepass" is the filmi term for a movie that was entertaining enough while it was happening, but isn't particularly memorable after the fact.  These are the films that may have a couple of redeeming features, but that may not be worth chasing down unless they feature an actor or actress that you particularly like.