CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Hey YOU! This blog has posts written by many people...

Wanna write for this blog? Click Here

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

WTF is this?

**Please view the following trailer before reading this post**


Lo and behold… Here comes an exciting movie where a small town girl hits it big when a fashion guru thinks she has that exotic look. Girl innocently agrees to wear skimpy clothes and model around. Girl then falls in love with a guy who does not wish to take her for granted. Wow! Originality at its best… NOT!

Shubhra pointed me to the following trailer last night. All I have to say is: WTF is this about? Americanizing Shelley? What’s next? Indianizing Jennifer into Janaki? (Shubhra’s words.. not mine). Or Indian Born Ignorant Desi comes to a foreign country looking for opportunity, gets dissaPOOPointed? WTF?

Now, we have just HAD it with stereotypes। Upon watching the trailer, you will notice a few things। First the accent। FAKE! And not to mention annoying। Then come the stereotypes of the parents. Super traditional mummyjee and pappajee worrying about the aging of their daughter's youth. Moving on, there’s stereotypes about Indians living in America (ahem... what BCD again?). This is all just from the trailer people. Pukable!

  • Seems like Punjab is now located on top of the Himalayas.


  • "I'll go play with the goats." Who says that? Not to mention the pink fluorescent turban... I mean, that has not existed since Amitabh Bachan's comeback in Namak Halaal, which was not that fluorescent.
  • Oh, and note to everyone: girls do wear skirts in India. Just ask the sabzi wali (k! may be not her..) that comes by our house everyday to sell vegetables
  • . And what is so acceptable about Shelley when she is 'americanized'. Is this the trendy new word for assimilation?

    All in all, if a movie is made (comedy, drama, thriller, whatever) in a direction where progress in society is a possibility, then we can welcome it with open arms. Fortunately, such movies have been made mind you. But we see movies such as this, that embrace typical stereotypes, and that makes us wonder, how far are we from a world where every race is defined entirely based on a particular trait:
    Girls dress only traditionally in India and they need to be married before a certain age.
    All homes in India have goats. We milk them and we play with them.
    All Indians conform to corporate world by joining Information Technology..., or else they are doctors.

    By looking at the trailer we obviously can't make out if shelley will turn back to Shalini. We are hoping (crossing our fingers and toes) that Shelley/Shalini will actually have the brains to realize that hollywoodizing yourself might not make the world into perfection. So there you have it, another attempt of throwing shit on the ceiling and seeing what sticks.
    What the trailer did to our moods:



    9 comments:

    I am the Walrus said...

    The moods shown in the pics are very genuine!

    Anonymous said...

    this trailer makes me warm

    Pri said...

    Ugh i hate these B grade Indian English movies. Do watch 'The Namesake', very well made. One of the rare movies where i didnt cringe when Indian people spoke English.

    Unknown said...

    lol...love the pictures, u guyz!

    Shweta said...

    I agree...well put!

    Anonymous said...

    oh please, where's your sense of humor? it's a comedy for crying out loud...broad comedies are ALWAYS an exaggeration (white chicks, madea)...however, most people in other communities have enough self esteem and a sense of humor to be able to laugh at themselves, once in a while, without getting in an agonising body twist over a 'goat" joke...gimme a break!btw,i was at the DC press screening of the film and it is HILARIOUS! i'd say its worth you watching only to show you what shelly really does in the end with respect to her culture and americanism.

    Anonymous said...

    Gobi!!!

    sprakash said...

    @Katherina Ratnoff Funny it is, if you haven't seen a gazillion of these already, and that might very well be the case because those gazillion others possibly did not have the kind of publicity that this does, moreover, the acting is lame, not as good as it could have been. All I'm saying is it's time to get over the 'oh we are indians we cannot possibly wear mini skirts' it's nowhere close to the truth and certainly a weak attempt at humor. Besides, we did say that we will not judge the end of the movie, because we have not seen it, you have and you thought it was funny, that's great, seems like you enjoyed it but it would be tragic if you came out thinking that's what indian people are like.

    Anonymous said...

    Dear durkhaima,

    Could you please erase the post under my name (Katharine R.) since I haven't posted it. I happened to have worked for the producer for a few months, but would never have written this. This movie is not my kind of comedy, and I am furious someone used my name to post here. I do not wish to have my name associated with the movie. Thank you very much and sorry for the non-sense.