Round-up for July 2011

Monthly Prakash Raj Movie Total (July, 2011): 10
Overall Prakash Raj Movie Total (as of July 31, 2011): 109
Iruvar, Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap, Mahantudu, Alli Thanda Vaanam, Ko, Poi, Nagamandala, Illalu Priyuralu, Singam, Josh

In July, I watched a LOT of films, but then August was crazy with the non-Prakash Raj-film parts of m life, so I'm finally catching up. There were a few common themes in the August films:
1) characters putting the movies on the ladies,
2) characters (good and evil) crying.
Since I just learned how to make clips in VLC media player, I went a little clip happy (although I still haven't figured out how to include the subtitles in some of the clips.) Enjoy the many embedded videos! 

Nag Panchami Film Fessstival Final Round Up

As promised here's the round-up of posts and reviews for the 2011 Nag Panchami Film Fessssstival.

There were many more post than had I imagined when we started talking about this in the spring--thanks to everyone for participating. I was hoping to crank out a few more posts myself (between wrapping things up at my job, going on a trip, and having family in town, August was crazy!), but I have lots of idea for next year, and I have my fingers crossed that each of the Indian film industries will crank out five more snake films in the coming year. Please let me know if I've missed anything!

(All the links can also be found on delicious: http://www.delicious.com/dustdevil.liz.)

Cinema Chaat:

• Filmi Snake Spotter’s Field Guide (guest post by snake expert Jenni)
• An Open Letter on the Subject of Filmi Snake Identification and Research (Jenni)
• Naag Panchami Fesssstival Continuing Professional Development Snake Quiz (Jenni)
• Punnami Naagu (1980)
• Tum Mere Ho (1990)
• Sheshnaag
• Sweta Naagu
• Naag Panchami (1972)
• Doodh Ka Karz (post from April 2011)

Beth Loves Bollywood

• Anaganaga O Dheerudu (Once Upon a Warrior)
• a blasssst from my filmi passsst
• Naagbharna: too much zzzzz and not enough sssss!
• Naag Lok

BollyWHAT posts

• Snake Movies: The Thread
• Snake Dances: The Thread (did somebody say Snake Dance?) -highly recommended!
• Dil Bert's review of the Telugu film Naga Devatha
• Dil Bert's review of Sheshnaag
• Dil Bert's post on Prem Shakti.
• New Laura's post on Milap
• Jenni and others at BollyWHAT review Doodh Ka Karz

more!!

• Shahrukh Is Love: Snakes snakes snakes!
• Totally Filmi: Nag Panchami Film Fesssstival: Sarpakkadu
• Tollywood is My Bollywood: Punnami Naagu (1980) Dir. Rajasekhar
• Dolce and Namak Talk Indian Movies: Mumaith Khan in Punnami Nagu - See, but Don't Watch!

Other fun snake posts....

• At the Edge's 2010 post on the final number of Nag Pooja.-highly recommended
• An Undead Snake Goddess and a Blind Swordman: Once Upon A Warrior | Tor.com
• Top Ten snake films - Top 10 Videos - Entertainment - The Times of India
• filmigirl's 2010 review of Mallika Sherawat in Hisss

My Year of Prakash Raj

• A review of the Telugu film "Devi", featuring snake spaceships, creepy demon kids and snow snakes.
• Hindi Snakes in Black and White
• Bangla Snake Fight! 
• A Tiny Snake steals the show in Anandabhadram
• Nagamandala
• Neeya- the Tamil remake of Nagin
• Kick-off post for Nag Panchami, includes a video of Naag Panchami Aayi from the Kannada film Maha Shakti Maya
• Nag Panchami Planning Post

See you next year!

Chiru and Prakash's Secrets to Film Acting

Happy Birthday to Chiranjeevi and welcome to my entry in Cinema Chaat's Mega Birthday Celebration!

Prakash Raj and Chiranjeevi have appeared in 8 films together:  Hitler (1997),  Choodalani Vundi (1998), Sneham Kosam (1999), Mruga Raju (2001),  Indra (2002),  Tagore (2003), Andarivaadu (2005), and Stalin (2006). I've watched them all, and am pleased to present "A Visual Guide to 10 Secrets to Successful Film Acting, Featuring Megastar Chiranjeevi and Gesturing Star Prakash Raj."

Devi (Nag Panchami Film Fessstival)

My final entry in the film festival is the Telugu film Devi (1999, directed by ), which I watched in the Hindi dub as Goddess. I first watched this about a year ago, and again for the fesssstival, and I actually liked it a bit better the second time.

From the back cover of the dvd:

Spectacular special effects and sumptuous musical numbers will take your breath away in this Bollywood fantasy-thriller! A rich and handsome man falls in love with a charming, beautiful woman... but he doesn't realize that she is the snake goddess Devi in disguise. Devi must battle to protect her lover from the vicious, evil snake deity Dantra in this classic Hindu story brought to vibrant life. In Hindi with English subtitles

Hmm, I'm not entirely sure about the "classic Hindu story" part, but this story did align nicely with some other mythological films, in that the divine characters were there to help and protect the faithful human characters.