Latest news with #GonewiththeWind
Time of India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Anupam Kher says Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' would not work for today's audience: 'Now it's like, fall in love today, and have s*x the next day...'
Veteran actor Anupam Kher is gearing up for the release of his upcoming movie 'Metro... In Dino' alongside Neena Gupta. In a recent interview, Anupam shared his thoughts on the changing portrayal of love in cinema. The actor feels that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol 's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge may not be accepted if it were originally released today. Anupam Kher about how the portrayal of love has changed in movies During a conversation with India Today, Anupam reflected on how the portrayal of love in films has changed over time, noting that cinema mirrors societal shifts — from the songs and language to how love is expressed. He added that earlier films carried a certain kashish (appeal) and emotional longing that is often missing today. 'In those times, we never used to speak directly. Falling in love took time. Even going to bed with someone wasn't immediate — first love, then marriage, then sex . Now it's like, fall in love today, and have sex the next day. There's nothing wrong with it, I'm not judging. But that's how it's shown now,' he stated. Anupam Kher Finds Monsoon Peace With Kishore's Tunes Anupam Kher says Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge will not work for today's audience He wishes to watch a movie that has a certain appeal to it. He feels Sanjay Leela Bhansali 's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was such a beautiful romantic film as it had all of these elements in it. He is unable to recall any good romantic films released in recent times, as he feels all of them have a sort of restlessness. But Anupam also admitted that society has changed a lot and that old-school love stories may not work for today's audience. Anupam cited Shah Rukh and Kajol's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge as an example and stated that it would not work for today's audience the way it did in the past. 'Today, it works because of its nostalgic value. But if it were made for the first time now, it wouldn't have had the same impact. Just like Gone with the Wind — if it were made today, it wouldn't resonate the same way. Times have changed, life has changed. Back then, in the late '90s and earlier, we had stories of couples eloping. But DDLJ was the first time when the hero said, 'I will convince your father. Only then will we marry.' That was new. The father tells his son, 'You failed in London? Good. We've all failed in India too.' These were fresh, grounded characters,' he revealed. About Metro... In Dino Metro... In Dino, starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Sara Ali Khan, will hit theatres on July 4.
India Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- India Today
Exclusive: Anupam Kher says Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge wouldn't work if released in 2025
Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher is gearing up for the release of 'Metro ...In Dino', which stars Neena Gupta opposite the actor. Now, in an exclusive chat with India Today, the actor opened up about how love and its portrayal in films have evolved or perhaps, corrupted over time. He also opened up about how Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge wouldn't work if released in 2025. advertisementIn a exclusive conversation, Kher said, 'Whatever happens in the world around us reflects in our movies — whether it's in the songs, the language, or the way we communicate love. Earlier, there was a certain kashish (appeal), a longing in romance.'Recalling the old days of cinema, he added, 'In those times, we never used to speak directly. Falling in love took time. Even going to bed with someone wasn't immediate—first love, then marriage, then sex. Now it's like, fall in love today, and have sex the next day. There's nothing wrong with it, I'm not judging. But that's how it's shown now.' Kher expressed his yearning for romantic films, 'I'm longing to see a love story where there's a certain amount of kashish. That's why I felt Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was such a beautiful romantic film — Sanjay Leela Bhansali captured that essence so well. It had all of that.."advertisementHe continued with a rhetorical pause, asking, 'But now, there's a certain ghabrahat (restlessness). Where is the beauty of a romantic film anymore? Tell me — what was the last truly romantic film you saw? Exactly. asked why love stories were easier to tell in the past, he responded, 'Samaaj badal gaya hai (society has changed). Films reflect society. If you make an old-school love story now, maybe only a few people will go watch it.'When asked if 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge' released for the first time in 2025, would it have worked Anupam said, " No, I don't think it would. Today, it works because of its nostalgic value. But if it were made for the first time now, it wouldn't have had the same impact. Just like Gone with the Wind — if it were made today, it wouldn't resonate the same way. Times have changed, life has changed. Back then, in the late '90s and earlier, we had stories of couples eloping. But DDLJ was the first time when the hero said, 'I will convince your father. Only then will we marry.' That was new. The father tells his son, 'You failed in London? Good. We've all failed in India too.' These were fresh, grounded characters. Now, things are different."And yet, he believes love as an emotion has endured — it's just the expressions that have shifted. 'Love, at its core, may remain the same — but the way we express, portray, and understand it changes with every generation.' You May Also Like
Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Readers Reveal Most Overrated Classic Books
When I turned twenty, I set a personal reading goal to read 100 classics by the time I turned thirty. I admit, I still have twelve books to go within nine I like to think that I am relatively well-versed in classic literature. So when Reddit user villagewitch3000 asked, "What's the worst 'classic' you've ever read?" I immediately had to see if everyone agreed with me about The Scarlet Letter being one of the most tedious slogs known to classic literature. (The consensus is IS!) Even though I wholeheartedly disagree with some of these reviews, I thought they were too interesting not to share. So without further ado... "Wuthering Heights. Jesus. Heathcliff, mate, just leave her alone. " "Pride and Prejudice. Long-winded drivel, neither funny nor romantic, and without even the redeeming quality of a worthwhile message." "The Scarlet Letter. I hate how Hawthorne spoon-feeds his readers symbolism. We get it. The scarlet letter is a symbol for shame." "Gone with the Wind. Scarlett O'Hara acts ridiculous and insufferable throughout the entire novel. She doesn't care who she has to hurt, just as long as she gets her way." "To Kill a Mockingbird. I thought it was so boring and I was really disappointed. I picked it up expecting that the racism aspect of the story would have a bigger role, but instead I had to read through pages and pages of this little girl's boring life." "The Great Gatsby. I can't stand Fitzgerald's writing style." "Rebecca. It's like, bitch, I do not care about your problems. The only person in this entire mansion that I can relate to is the maid that I'm supposed to hate." "This will probably get some Catcher in the Rye. I honestly could not connect with Holden Caulfield and found him to be somewhat of a whiny, self-indulgent ne'er-do-well." "Crime and Punishment. I just wanted to punch the main character in the face over and over again. And it honestly had zero to do with the fact that he was a murderer. I just hated his personality." "Lolita, hands down. Gross, perverted, and I dreaded picking it back up every time I did. " "Frankenstein. I think my problem was that I was expecting the book to be really different from what it was." "The Alchemist. Ugh. What utter tripe. If this book changed your life, then you must have had a truly horrific life up to that point." "Les Misérables. Not only is it very long, it has seemingly interminable stretches of boredom." "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It might've been funny or clever when I was 14 and loved Monty Python and thought absurdist British humour was the height of it was awful as an adult." "Anything Tolkien. Reading the man's writing is like trying to ingest a pack of broken light bulbs." "Heart of Darkness is so incredibly boring. I had to read it for three separate classes, and I really tried to like it each time, but I can't stand that book. " "Don Don Quixote." "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Talking about the mechanics of the boat is not fun." "Ulysses. That was work." "Atlas Shrugged. 🙄😴😴😴😴😴" "Moby Dick is one of the most inconsistent books I've ever read. It starts out as a first-person narrative by Ishmael, occasionally interrupted by lengthy speeches and occasional chapters on the anatomy of the sperm whale, and by the end, it shifts to the third person. Then there is maybe a paragraph tacked onto the very end when Melville realizes this was Ishmael's story, so he kinda reverts back to the first person to explain how he could have survived to tell the tale." "The Picture of Dorian Gray. Udder nonsense dressed in off-putting, overly flowery dribble." "Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck just REALLY likes describing scenery, and sometimes I'm just not down to read through ten pages about hills. " "The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. The great depression... pretty much sums how I felt reading it." "One Hundred Years of Solitude. I recall reading it, and I ended up saying, 'That was it? What was all the fuss about?'" "Pretty much anything by Charles Dickens. He came from a time when authors were paid by installment, and it shows." "Brave New World. Didn't find it compelling at all. 1984 on the other hand scared the shit out of me." "The Turn of the Screw. It is supposed to be ambiguous, but I really only see the governess as a loon. " "The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer seems to think the only things that are funny are farts." "I read Slaughterhouse-Five and I don't remember a damn thing about it. " "I hated The Giver. The ending was just deus ex machina wish fulfillment. " "Walden was my 'I can't stand this' book. It almost destroyed my love of reading." "I get why Uncle Tom's Cabin is important, but hoooo boy, that book is a hot mess. Most of the classics I've slogged through are at least objectively well written, but not this one. " "Vanity Fair. I've read it about four times, and I still can't keep up with who is who and what the main character's motive is." "The Yellow Wallpaper. Yeah, I get it. Patriarchy bad. " "The Count of Monte Cristo. It builds up to this lacklustre ending that could've happened chapters ago. I felt I would have been better off watching a Hollywood adaptation loosely based on the original novel." "The Bell Jar. Took it from my university read it." "Toni Morrison's Beloved. Starts off boring, progresses slowly, and tries to be meaningful in places, but it just felt contrived. Then out of nowhere, a supernatural ending that would be more at home in a Sci-fi original movie." Since The Great Gatsby is my favourite book of all time, I am personally offended by those who tell me that Fitzgerald is nothing special. I want to scream, "You try writing such colourful and poetic prose!" So please don't let me down in the comments. Instead, in the comments, tell me the classic literature titles that you could barely get through, and which of the above titles are WRONG to be listed as a "bad classic." And make sure you follow BuzzFeed Canada on TikTok and Instagram for more!
Style Blueprint
10-06-2025
- General
- Style Blueprint
Blame Reese Witherspoon? How Boy Names Go Girl (and Never Come Back)
Share with your friends! Pinterest LinkedIn Email Flipboard Reddit I've always been fascinated by names. Maybe it's because my name is one that has been passed down for hundreds of years on my mom's side of my family, and I love that. It connects me to the past in a tangible and emotional way. While thinking through the history of names, I've often wondered what happened to names more prevalent for men in my parents' generation that have all but disappeared, at least for men. Frances, Meredith, Stacey, and Ashley were all once exclusively male names! These names, which most of us now associate with our girlfriends, sisters, and daughters, once belonged solely to the boys' club. It's not just a random coincidence, either — it's part of a documented cultural pattern that's been happening for centuries. Here's the kicker: This gender shift almost always goes in one direction. A traditionally male name starts appearing on birth certificates for baby girls, thus beginning a slow migration. This name eventually becomes so 'feminized' that parents stop using it for boys altogether. Sociologists call this 'gender contamination' (harsh term, I know), suggesting that once a name gets feminine associations, parents of boys dismiss it. Beverly, Evelyn, Kelly, Leslie, Lindsay, Shannon, Whitney … all originally boy names! Take Ashley — a common female name for the past few decades. This name started as an Old English surname meaning 'ash tree clearing' and stayed firmly in the men's department until the 1960s. Remember Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind? It's classic male Ashley. Fast-forward to the 1980s, and Ashley was topping the charts for girls while virtually disappearing for boys. And Frances — originally from Latin for 'Frenchman' (ironic, right?). The feminine spelling gradually overtook the masculine, with boys more likely to go by Frank these days. Meredith meant 'great lord' in Welsh, while Stacey comes from Greek roots meaning 'resurrection.' The list goes on: Beverly, Evelyn, Kelly, Leslie, Lindsay, Shannon, Whitney — all originally boy names! This trend really took off in the 20th century as traditional gender roles started shifting. What's telling to me is how rarely names move in the opposite direction. In fact, I can't find one name that has gone from primarily being a 'female' name to a 'male' name. When's the last time you met a baby boy named Elizabeth or Charlotte? This one-way street reflects something deeper about how we value gender in our society — once something becomes associated with femininity, it often loses status in the eyes of many. Many may eye-roll at this: 'There goes another woman talking about how society is set up to diminish women. Blah, blah, blah.' But it's hard to argue this societal take on names. The name Reese is shifting in real time … Pin My middle daughter is named Reese. It's a family surname, and like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I love connecting family names to past generations. I did not realize how trendy this name was becoming when we named her in 2001. But, when considering the name, I definitely had the thought, Reese Witherspoon has this name, and she's female. We aren't the first to do this.' But now I see the name Reese is predominantly given to girls. The overall name migration I'm talking about is happening here in real time. Reese was originally a Welsh surname (from 'Rhys' meaning 'enthusiasm'). It was given almost exclusively to boys until the 1990s. And yes, that famous 'Reese' seems to be the catalyst that changed everything. As Reese Witherspoon's star rose in Hollywood, so did the name's popularity for baby girls. The statistics tell the story dramatically: In 2000, about 650 baby boys in America were named Reese while fewer than 100 baby girls received the name. By 2010, the tables had turned, with approximately 850 girls to 550 boys. Fast-forward to 2023, and the ratio stands at nearly 5:1 in favor of girls (about 1,400 girls to 300 boys annually). In 2023, 'Reese' was the 168th most popular name for girls but had fallen to 811th for boys. And, this shift has happened over just two decades compared to the centuries-long migrations of names like Frances. The traditional Welsh spelling 'Rhys,' meanwhile, remains predominantly male, showing how even spelling variants can resist the feminization tide. Next time you're debating baby names (or just playing the name game over brunch with friends), remember that today's firmly feminine name might have been yesterday's decidedly masculine moniker. And who knows what changes the future might bring? ********** Enjoy a fun 'me moment' in your inbox each day – sign up for StyleBlueprint emails! About the Author Liza Graves As CEO of StyleBlueprint, Liza also regularly writes for SB. Most of her writing is now found in the recipe archives as cooking is her stress relief!
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Burning of Nottoway Plantation
Firefighters from Baton Rouge battle a blaze as flames burst from the roof of the Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, La., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Credit - Michael Johnson—The Advocate/AP Years ago, I was having a long lunch with a group of graduate school classmates at one of the most legendary restaurants in New Orleans' French Quarter. Memorabilia hung on the walls nearby and inside rooms. While I enjoyed my gumbo, I noticed my friends kept looking over my shoulder. The paintings, old menus, and other objects told the story of a mythical south where happily enslaved people worked at the beck and call of the kindly landed class. I had seen these images my whole life, so I was desensitized to them. But my friends who were from other countries like Canada and South Korea lost their appetites. Louisiana, like much of the rest of the South, is dotted with former plantations. But on May 15, 2025, the largest surviving plantation mansion of them all burned to the ground, reportedly due to an electrical fire. All that's left is a portion of the façade. All else is ashes. Nottoway, like many plantations, took on a second life as a location for weddings and portrait taking. As of this writing, the website labels Nottoway as a 'resort' with amenities such as a gym, pool, and tennis courts. The history tab of Nottoway's website provides a detailed listing of the diameters of certain oak trees—but nothing about the history of the plantation, how it was built, or what went on there. Many people, myself included, see the Nottoway Plantation as little more than a former slave labor camp. A place where crimes against humanity went unpunished and many affiliated with those crimes were treated as noble heroes. John C. Calhoun, Vice President under Andrew Jackson, often argued that slavery was good for America because it created prosperity for those who were meant to rule. Slavery was lucrative for people like Calhoun. By 1863, many of the wealthiest Americans were from the so-called 'planter class' i.e. plantation owners. Calhoun also had the audacity to say that slavery was good for the enslaved because it provided them with food and shelter, which they weren't able to provide for themselves. Movies like Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind brought this propaganda into the 20th century by showing plantations as sites of human flourishing where the best people lived the good life and the enslaved were beloved members of the family. In the later film, Scarlett O'Hara had pretty dresses, more suitors than she could handle, and an enslaved caretaker who gave her motherly advice. But these depictions, as we know, were fantasies. No classic Hollywood film tells the story of plantation life from the point of view of the enslaved—that would have dispelled the myth entirely. Such films did not show how enslaved families felt being forced to increase the wealth of others and as their family members were sold off to other slave labor camps. There is no question, the enslaved workers at the Nottoway Plantation during the antebellum era were human chattel. They were unpaid and unable to leave. They had no property rights, no rights to their own children, and no rights to their own bodies. Nor could they appeal to the legal system for justice even if they or a loved one had been assaulted, raped, or killed. The question at hand: how do we treat the physical locations of such heinous histories? In Amsterdam, a short walk from the Rijksmuseum and a park full of blossoming tulips, sits the Anne Frank House. Anne Frank, of course, was the young woman who hid with her family from Nazi's in the attic of this home. Eventually, she was captured and murdered. And there are the two 'Doors of No Return' along the western coast of Africa. These memorials in Senegal and Benin mark the locations where Africans were shipped away from their homelands into chattel slavery. In 2023, I visited the Doorway of No Return at the House of Slaves on Gorée Island in Senegal, where expert tour guides gave detailed lectures about the deprivation experienced by humans held in the building. (Some people were kept in the space under the stairwells, an area no larger than a doghouse.) With this context, it was impossible not to be moved at the end of the tour where the guide cleared the way for me to stand at the threshold of the doorway. There were no tennis courts or facials offered at the House of Slaves. Between 2017 and 2022, I visited Amsterdam three times on research trips. I tried to go to the Anne Frank House repeatedly, but each time I arrived, the line of people queued up to bear witness to what happened there was down the block and around the corner. By all accounts, seeing the interior of the home is a moving experience. Herein lies the problem with America's attitudes towards its former slave labor camps: they are divisive because they ignore their own histories. While there are some plantations that attempt to provide context for their past (the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana is an excellent example), there are far too many former plantations where the guides offer revisionist histories designed to make visitors feel unbothered by what happened there. This is especially damaging when many visitors believe they are taking an educational tour. Most people would not want to take glamour shots at the site of a human catastrophe. Most people would be appalled if someone threw a party in the place where their great great grandmother was imprisoned and abused. Any attempt to turn the World Trade Center site into a vacation resort would likely be met with widespread resistance from Americans. This is because the past must be contended with. Reconciliation cannot come before recognition and mourning. If Nottoway Plantation had been serving the community it was based in, I'd be the first one devastated by its loss. But as it stands, my face is completely dry. Contact us at letters@
