Being a bloke - it shouldn’t come as any surprise that I have some mainstream “bloke-ish” tendencies. For those of you not familiar with the term: “bloke” is a peculiarly British colloquialism for “man” - or “male” - often used in a very informal, stereotypical (straight) context. Think “crude”, “crass” and perhaps “uncouth” and you’ll know what I mean.
One particular manifestation of this characteristic is a fan-like fascination and affinity to celebrity “chicks”. (I’m assuming that the latter term has crossed over into non-western vocabularies more so than “bloke” so I probably don’t need to explain that.) So - apologies in advance for the lack of sophistication in this posting but I have to admit that there are two particular celebrity “femmes” that I bloke-ishly covet. And those are BBC London news presenter Nina Hossein - and Indian Cinema (aka “Bollywood”) megastar Aishwarya Rai. (Once rumoured to be the next “Bond girl”.)
You might’ve gleaned this dimension of character from prior postings - e.g. explaining the mathematical magic of the “normal curve” with Aishwarya’s help - as well as a montage of Aishwarya with my beloved Route 79 bus - or a photo montage, along with an animated audience with Dilbert - and even chronicling the day I met Aishwayra herself (well - squinted at her from a distance anyway.) And - as for Nina: my own tribute to her presenting the local BBC London news at the end of every day.
Well - today I can report that I have been excited by seeing Aishwarya Rai beaming a gorgeous smile on my very own London bus!
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And this is all down to the fact that “Ash” (as Aishwarya Rai is lovingly known) is starring in a film called Bride and Prejudice - opening in London this Friday - Bride & Pred is an “English dialogue” comedy film directed by Gurinder Chadha - the director of the legendary Bend It Like Beckham - and based somewhat on Jane Austen’s most famous and most popular novel from 1813; Pride and Prejudice.
In an interview, Chadha was quoted as saying:
I’m not sure whether I’m really looking forward to watching the film - as I can imagine it being completely different to Bend It - but I know I will just have to watch it - if only because of Ash - and not least because of a massive sense of pride seeing her smiling face on double-decker buses all over 21st Century London! How times have changed since my Mum and Dad first arrived here from India in the late 1960s!
OK, OK - that’s enough bloke-ishness for now. But do look out for Aishwarya in Bride & Prejudice!
To view a very brief (Windows Media) trailer - click here. (Be patient - for broadband viewing only!)
Posted by jag at October 05, 2004 10:02 PMWell if all ‘blokes’ were as polite and genuinely enthusiastic about their obsessions, the world would be a much better place. I have an ‘inner bloke’ too and life is a little easier if you humour him now and again
Posted by: David on October 6, 2004 08:35 AMHi Jag: We have the same posters on the sides of most First Bristol buses as well. I am on my way to get my buspass today. These Bristol buses are ridiculously expensive otherwise (My landlord who has lived in London confirms this). So I too am gonna be a regular British Bus rider.
“Route 54 from Knowle Red Lion to Clifton Queensroad!”
Apart from that, I can now finally see your videos without worrying about bandwidth!
I have to watch my inner Bloke cause he is a randy bastard that dwells in the botttom chakras and can be quite off putting to women , they want to slap him in the face and that just stokes the coals. So in order to keep things productive I run him up the chain of command to unite with some creative element and the balance is hopefully struck.
Posted by: Fritz on October 6, 2004 03:18 PM(homer voice)
mmmm! Ash!
mmmm! Nina!
(/homer voice)
All we need now is to get them involved in some kind of celebrity pillow fighting competition!
Posted by: James on October 6, 2004 07:34 PMDavid, Fritz: “inner bloke” - I like that term.
James: I’m desperately trying to restrain my inner bloke in responding to your comment! :-) Homer is a good bloke though.
Anand: Yes - I have been told that buses outside London are very expensive. This is because Londoners heavily subsidise London buses - to the tune of over 1 billion dollars every year! (See http://www.route79.com/journal/archives/000189.html)
Route 54 has a certain ring to it me thinks …
Good to hear that Ash is smiling where you are too!
Posted by: Jag on October 7, 2004 10:26 AMHave you ever seen Midlands Today weather presenter Shefali Oza [http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/midlandstoday/shefali.shtml ] ? She appears to have a similar following among local viewers. News of bad weather never seemed quite so bad coming from Shefali…
Been to see Aishwarya Rai in wax at Madame Tussauds yet? ;-)
Posted by: Stu on October 7, 2004 02:32 PMI’m seeing the film on the 18th October - looking forward to comparing notes.
Posted by: Annie Mole on October 7, 2004 05:58 PMStu: I have to admit that I’ve never heard about Shefali Oza until now. But I can imagine what her weather reports are like! :-) Since my parents live in the Midlands - I will now have to enquire about Shefali! The weird thing is: I know someone by that name (Shefali) here in London. Very weird.
Annie: hope you enjoy the show. I haven’t decided yet when we are going to see Bride & Pred - but I sure will do at some point. But be sure to post a review of the show if you can!
Posted by: Jag on October 7, 2004 10:58 PMStu: I heard about Ash at Madame Tussauds on the radio - but I haven’t been to see her yet. In fact - I’ve NEVER been to Madame Tussauds at all before. Can you believe that? But I sure do have a good excuse to do so now.
Posted by: Jag on October 7, 2004 11:04 PMReally looking forward to seeing the film here too - and very proud that our very own (rather gorgeous) Martin Henderson is starring as the male lead Will Darcy.
I caught any interview with him about the movie a couple of days ago and he said when he first laid eyes on Aishwarya he was so stunned he couldn’t speak - I can see why - she is ab-so-lute-ly beautiful!
Posted by: Fi on October 8, 2004 04:14 AMHello Fi - yes Martin Henderson is from down your way isn’t he. And re: Aishwarya - there is definitely something enchanting about her. I think it’s her eyes.
Posted by: Jag on October 8, 2004 09:43 AMI saw Bride and Prejudice last night. My ultra-short review is “the Darcy was very poor - if they wanted a classic ‘handsome’ American they should have got Michael Vartan”. I don’t think you should spend the entire film wishing the Bingley-equivilent would come back on-screen.
The songs/dances are variable: ‘balle balle’ is excellent but the English langauge ones are not lyrically impressive (“she’s going to be wed / she isn’t going to be dead”). OTOH, the change in music to signify London caused everyone I was with to burst out laughing.
Posted by: Mags on October 12, 2004 05:08 PMHi Mags - thanks for your mini-review. The “balle balle” song is getting a lot of airtime on Club Asia radio recently - but I have also heard what you have reported: that the English language songs are a bit crude. I’ll have to look out for the “London” significance though - sounds like a real laugh! :-)
Jane Austen’s stories are timeless - and can tolerate a variety of interpretation I’m sure - but the screenplay has to be spot on to be memorable. Darcy has to be a “rock” in screenplay of this tale - and I am not surprised that the character is weak in this interpretation …
Posted by: Jag on October 12, 2004 09:57 PMHi
did you get to see her at the Sangeet Awards that happened at Albert Hall on the 1st of October. She looks quite stunning there.
Check out Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke sanam, and Taal - where she looks great and does a somewhat decent job on screen:)
How’s life been with u?
Bride and Prejudice has got panned here - how are the reviews there?
Hi Harini - I didn’t get to see the Albert Hall show - so I pity myself for that. Devdas is one of my most prized DVDs in my collection - and I agree with you - those films show her at her very best in terms of screen performance.
Life has been fine - very busy with work lately - which reminds me: I happened to bump into a freelance journalist recently (did some work for ITV news several years ago) and has worked in India before too. He seems to have a good network of contacts - and he loves Delhi too. I mentioned Cogito to him - and asked him to look you guys up if he finds himself in India again.
Regarding Bride & Prejudice - I have been so busy lately I haven’t had the time to analyse the reviews in the media - but anecdotal evidence from my Indian/Asian friends is NOT good. I think I’m going to have to view it with a very open mind - and not take it too seriously at all!
Posted by: Jag on October 15, 2004 10:15 AM