Thursday, May 27, 2010

Gotta Dance! More Musicals Please. And Not Just From Bollywood.

I've been a teensy bit Hrithik Roshan obsessed since seeing Kites. I didn't think much of the movie itself (my review) but its shorter, speedier fraternal twin Kites: The Remix opens this weekend so Roshan is still swiveling around in my brain. The Movie Report has a "decade of dance" with the Bollywood god in celebration. Great clips chosen though this only makes me question the wisdom of giving the man only one dance number in Kites* And near the beginning of the film, too. That's called shooting yourself in the foot. Shooting yourself in the fleet of foot.



"Dhoom Again" from Dhoom: 2 (2006).

I've been trying to get some exercize in (fail!) but now I need to know if there are any Bollywood workout tapes. Ha ha. So western of me to ask. But those bodies! Y'all gave me some great tips on Bollywood films to check out a few months ago and I'm going to try to do a short Bollywood series at the end of the summer.

Seeing all those clips in a row at The Movie Report once again makes me long for Hollywood to get back into the musical genre with some real annual commitment. I know Nine was a major flop (with that budget. yikes) but there are so many valuable properties they could do. Get to it already, businees executives! Remember how much Hairspray and Dreamgirls and Chicago made? I'll help you: Lots! Remember how much Sweeney Todd and Rent made? I'll help you: not as much but not too shabby considering their respective limitations.

I feel like there's nothing in the pipeline... We never hear any progress on Wicked. I wake up each morning hoping to read that Hugh Jackman or Anne Hathaway are about to start laying down tracks for some new project.

Glee
is fun but it's not enough. I need big screen song and dance. Who is with me?

*Apparently Hrithik's dance number in Kites: The Remix has been left on the cutting room floor. Yet more proof that Brett Ratner is a stupid stupid man.
*

25 comments:

David Coley said...

One of the biggest things that irritates me about Glee is that lots of people assume that it is representative of musical theatre. It's not theatre. It's not a musical. I don't know what it is besides mediocre and dull. As someone who makes their living in the theatre, I believe we can aspire to so much more than what that show offers. If show choir is all that students expect out of arts in the schools, then why have theatre programs? It's a cheap way out, and the show just promotes a half-hearted attempt at pseudo-creativity. Rant over.

Anonymous said...

Yes! Yes! A beautiful good old musical with Hugh Jackman -- it has been too long since Oz and the Oscars. I've read that he has a couple in the works and I hope he gets into them really really soon... He is the best out there, and Anne Hathaway is a good partner for him, they were great at the Oscars..

Anonymous said...

Aishwarya Rai is not in that "Dhoom Again" video!

Anonymous said...

I would love screen adaptations of 'Caroline, or Change' and 'Spring Awakening', I also think Oscar would really go for them too. Just the thought of these as movies is making me all itchy!

Runs Like A Gay said...

Wasn't there a rumour last year that the 1990 Tony Award winner, City of Angels, was in pre-production for a big screen adaptation?

I'm sure the blend of Hollywood hijinks and Noir detective thriller would be very cinematic, although it may be too close to Nine's roots to be greenlit now.

Shame.

Jake D said...

In the Heights has a 2011 release date on IMDb.

I'd love a new West Side Story based on the Broadway revival too. The original is great but a redo would be appropriate- and maybe we could get some real Puerto Ricans in there.

Gautam Anand said...

Watch Jab We Met from Bollywood.. rom-com-musical which I guess u will thoroughly enjoy ..One of the best Bollywood movie of the last Decade !!

joy said...

I really want Anne Hathaway (Alt. Lea Michele) and Amanda Seyfried (Alt. Kristen Bell) to team up in the movie version of “Wicked”.

Franco Marciano said...

@Nathaniel R, just saw "Wicked" last night in SF and thought the same thing: When?

Musical adaptations for the screen these days is sort of hit or miss with me. Sometimes they're too direct from stage to screen in their format(The Producers), or don't use the medium of film to take it to another level (The Phantom of the Opera, Nine, Rent).

That said some of my favorite film musicals include "Cabaret", "Moulin Rouge", and "The Sound of Music". Also an honorable mention for "Dancer in the Dark".

Volvagia said...

Glee's just a fun trifle. It's not Mad Men or Arrested Development or anything and you'd have to be dumb to assume it was even managing to approach a "reflection of musical theatre." But the problem is this: even the musical songs they use are narrowly focused to very modern stuff and they also have't yet picked an appropriate rock song to reflect the emotion of glee. No Gilbert and Sullivan? No Brecht? (Brecht may be bitter, but they should know the music in his shows.) No Beach Boys? No Vampire Weekend? No Modest Mouse? (The Doors and Aerosmith are great, but they don't make gleeful rock music.)

NATHANIEL R said...

anon -- oops. did i copy the wrong one? maybe this one cuts off early.

jimmy said...

three movies that must be made & could be GREAT: "Jersey Boys" possibly directed Martin Scorcese? unknown cast. "Wicked" - I don't care who's in the movie - just make it. maybe Lea Michele. Also - "Sunset Blvd" - maybe with Liza. She is in top form in SATC2....take advantage of it while she's thin & sober.

Michael Dequina said...

Thanks for linking me... yeah, you posted the wrong one. The one linked on my article is the right file with both halves of the number. In the film, the Hrithik-only version is the opening credits and then Ash + Hrithik is the end credits.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Damn Yankees supposed to be happening? Maybe they'll make an inspired choice like one Miss Christina Applegate for Lola and not someone like...ahem....Beyonce. UGH!

David Coley said...

Volvagia: I would agree, but I teach Introduction to Theatre at a large university, and I'm always dismayed about how often the students bring the discussions around to Glee. I agree it's a dumb association to equate Glee with musical theatre, but it's an association far too many people are making.

Janice said...

Re: Glee, I don't watch it, so maybe I can't address the issue, but most people (or rather, most Americans) don't go to musical theater (don't go to the theater, period) so I can understand the association. (Although it's dismaying to hear it come from students of the theater, David.)

A lot of the discussion here has been about "stage musicals interpreted for the movies" but some of the best musicals of the last decade have been conceived directly for film, I'm thinking of #1 & 2 on Nat's "best of the aughts list" of course, Moulin Rouge and Dancer in the Dark. I'd love to see more musicals conceived specifically for the movies. Stage musicals can be hit or miss for the screen, and because they were conceived specifically for the possibilities and limitations of the stage, the interpretation often loses something. I want to see more musicals for the cinema, conceived for what that medium can do.

And yes, I want to see Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathway in musicals - more than one please, and pronto. (I still think Baz missed out on an opportunity by making "australia" a musical. If you're going to commit, go all the way with the absurdity and at least make it joyful. As tragic as MR was, it was also insanely joyful.)

CanadianKen said...

I was a major Bollywood fan for a decade or so (mid-90's to mid-00's).Now Indian film-makers are tending to move away from the chock-full of musical numbers format - and too much of the the music they do provide is either techno-funk or Diane Warren/Celine Dion-ish crap). That said, I'll never lose my affaction for the stars, east-meets-west songs and films that first captivated me. Akshaye Khanna's one of my favorites. He's in DIL CHAHTA HAI, which many of your readers have recommended to you. TAAL's a big splashy musical epic from 1999 with Akshaye,Aishwarya Rai and one of A.R.Rahman's greatest scores. Rahman also provided the fantastic music for DIL SE (with Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala). It's the film I always mention first when a neophyte asks me for a Bollywood referral. PARDES from 1997 also has tons to offer including a wonderfully panoramic "I Love India" production number and the film debut of Mahima Chaudhary. If Aishwarya's the most beautiful, Mahima's at very least the prettiest of all Bollywood stars. RULES (PYAAR KA SUPERHIT FORMULA) is a real charmer about a regular gal's infatuation with a hunky supermodel, played by the fantastically charismatic Milind Soman. DIL TO PAGAL HAI's a "Mickey and Judy putting on a show" musical - Indian style. With Shah Rukh, Madhuri Dixit and the arresting and marvelously-monickered Karisma Kapoor. One reader recommended Rani Mukherjee to you - she's definitely a beguiler, perhaps best in YUVA, though it's not one of her bigger roles. Someone else steered you in the direction of Saif Ali Khan, specifically in OMKARA. I'd second that suggestion. The film's a gritty take on "Othello" and Saif Ali Khan, who first achieved fame in romantic comedies, makes a chilling Iago.

Soubhik said...

I'm also hoping to catch the Brett Ratner version of Kites...also I have a small proposition for you.

We at IIFA are running a contest for bloggers, and the winner gets to attend the IIFA awards ceremony in Colombo on our tab, and also gets to LIVE BLOG from the ceremony. I think you should definitely try your hand at the IIFA Blogger Contest. for details check http://iifablog.com/iifa-insider-blogging-contest/ or visit our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/IIFAawards

NATHANIEL R said...

Soubhik -- thanks for the info. that's a cool contest but it's for Indian citizens.

still, i wish more movie awards circuses would make room for bloggers like that.

CanadianKen -- thanks for all the seconds. I'm putting the top recommendations on my dvd queue and i'm hoping to a brief series of posts in august.

James T said...

That was just great and for what it's worth, it would win at Eurovision. It's just so energetic and joyful. Love it!

Dylan W. said...

Why doesn't Hugh Jackman just do a movie version of "The Boy From Oz" already? Time's running out on that one.

And "Glee" is awesome. Stop hating.

sp said...

I'm in full agreement that Anne Hathaway & Hugh Jackman need to do several musicals together ( and other genre of films) - asap . Their chemistry is too explosive not to be explored ! It would be a sin if it is not utilized. Their chemistry is on that rare level of an Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck , Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert, or Cybill Shepherd & Bruce Willis. One of the reasons most U.S. contemporary films fail miserably because of the lack of chemistry among the co-stars ( and the bad writing) .

spk said...

I'm in full agreement that Anne Hathaway & Hugh Jackman need to do several musicals together ( and other genre of films) - asap . Their chemistry is too explosive not to be explored ! It would be a sin if it is not utilized. Their chemistry is on that rare level of an Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck , Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert, or Cybill Shepherd & Bruce Willis. One of the reasons most U.S. contemporary films fail miserably because of the lack of chemistry among the co-stars ( and the bad writing) .

Nikhil said...

Lagaan, Devdas, Dil Chahta Hai, Taal, 3 Idiots, Omkara, Asoka, Jodhaa Akbar, Jab We Met, Dilwale Dhulaniya Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Pardes, Kabhi Khushi Khabhi Gham, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Om Shanti Om

That's a good assortment of some true Bollywood movies.. Try to catch some! (I'm sure you've seen Lagaan)

Dance Shoes said...

It would be amazing if another musical film was release! They are the ultimate feel good films and just make you want to dance around the room, why has a film version of Wicked not been made?? Perhaps they worry some of the magic will be lost in film??