They’re modest, rather lovely pop songs that in their quiet way seem to acknowledge his underdog status. Tracks from Tomlinson’s solo record have been playing inside the studio. Liam’s all about getting the crowd going, doing a bit of dancing…” Liam always had a good stage presence, same as Harry, they’ve both got that ownership. But Zayn has a fantastic voice and for him it was always about owning that. In the first year we were both the least confident. There are times I’ve thought: ‘I’d have a bit of that.’ Zayn, back in the day. Happy-go-lucky Irish, no sense of arrogance. “The others have always been… Like Niall, for example. As Tomlinson acknowledges, in One Direction he was seen by some as “forgettable, to a certain degree”. Why they gather themselves to “go again”. I’ve often wondered why the fringe members of boy bands do this to themselves. But there’s so much hurry-up-and-wait in this job. “I know, I know,” he says of the smoking. Slender, tracksuited, a little wan under his manicured facial hair, Tomlinson sits on a garden bench outside the photographer’s studio and works methodically through an entire pack of cigarettes. It is in roughly this position I find the 25-year-old, one afternoon earlier this summer. Here was a combatant you might expect to find curled up in a fox hole on the battlefield, pale and chain-smoking and wondering how much he really wanted in on such an unequal fight. And ranked last in any serious analysis, the most fitfully appreciated member of One Direction, was Louis Tomlinson. Liam Payne and Niall Horan – always second-tier members – were given middling chances. Big-lunged Zayn Malik was already out of the band by that time and had used his head start to good effect, preparing a solo album that went to No 1. Harry Styles – charming, a grinner – was best placed to succeed on his own. By the time One Direction announced they were to go on indefinite hiatus in 2015, many of us were familiar enough with the conventions of boy-band bloodsport to start picking favourites for the coming melee. Robbie Williams looked supreme in the Take That scrimmage, at least until Gary Barlow circled back, gathered up the other three, and made the fight a more compelling four-on-one. Justin Timberlake, after NSync, enjoyed the unsporting edge of natural talent and crushed his former colleagues. C oming out of a dissolving boy band must be a bit like being an entrant in one of those dystopian jungle fights – a Hunger Games-style event in which bandmates are scattered across an unknown terrain and challenged to slog their lonely route back to fame.
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Now, the way it goes about its business is too simplified. Bajrangi Bhaijaan sticks to the narrative and says what it wants to say through the narrative. Fortunately, it is not shoved down your throat like a sermon. The message of love between the two nations is a valuable one and a very important one too. It does take some amount of bravado to show a person kissing a Pakistan flag and cheering for the Pakistan cricket team. Milliblog - "Atif, Zubin and Mohit prop this bhai." Also, the India-Pakistan angle is interesting and it makes me look forward to the film a little, despite the extra Salmania it is likely to be surrounded with this time around. It does help that, director, Kabir Khan's Kabul Express still has more positive memories than the negative ones from his Ek Tha Tiger. Oh and what I expect from the film after watching the trailer? Nothing more or less than what I expect from A Salman Khan film. I think I will watch Bajrangi Bhaijaan and review it because it is work and with work – the brain weighs in a little heavier than the heart. I say I will most likely watch the film not because of the number of arguments for vs. In my mind, a film is more than the stars' film – like I said earlier, it is a sum product of lots of work put in by hundreds of people over months, if not years. And yes, if I do watch the film (which most likely I will), I will remain as unbiased as I always am. No, I am not using this as an excuse to get out of watching a Salman Khan film. Protest against all that's wrong with the system – the star system in the film industry, a system that allows him to be out on bail, a system that has taken so many years to come out with a verdict in the first place. The gut says here is your chance to protest in your own little way. The million dollar question: Had it been an actor whose work I enjoyed (it's no secret that I am hardly a Salman-fan), would I have “boycotted” the film, so to speak? Say, Amitabh Bachchan or Anurag Kashyap and I am sure many more – aren't their images slightly tainted too? At this rate maybe, I'd be boycotting more films than I saw. If I am to believe the court's verdict, shouldn't I also believe the people associated with him who say that he is one of the best human beings they have met? Yes, yes – tells a lot about my trust in our judiciary system, but let's not digress here. There is a lot of hardwork put in by hundreds of other people. Salman Khan is not the only person associated with the film. What does it have to do with the public/private life of the people associated with it? I have never in the last 8+ years let any gossip/real news get in the way of me and my films. The for and against arguments make it a “brain vs. When an actor/prominent crew member's demeanour comes in the public eye, can I as a reviewer decide to not watch his film? I wondered the same when Shiney Ahuja's Ghost released around a year after the case against him allegedly raping a domestic helper. But fortunately or unfortunately, the world doesn't go around based on my olfactory system. The whole matter has smelt fishy since the beginning. Of course he appealed and is out on bail. The lead actor, a popular star, has been “ found guilty of culpable homicide”. |
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