English Babu Desi Mem: SRK’s Triple-Role Disaster | Khandaan Podcast

[00:00:15] Hi, this is Asim. This is Sujoy. This is Amritha. And you're listening to Khandaan- A Bollywood Podcast Podcast about the three main Khans of the Hindi film industry. Aamir, Salman, and Shahrukh. Hi, you're listening to Khandaan, a Bollywood Podcast regular feed. Thank you so much for your support over the years. We now have a Patreon channel with bonus content and exclusive merch for those of you who would like to support us. Every dollar goes towards creating more

[00:00:41] and better content. Visit us at patreon.com slash Khandaan Podcast. Hi, and welcome to a new episode of Khandaan Podcast. My name is Asim Burney and I'm joined with my lovely co-host Amrita and Sujoy. Hey, Amrita, hi Sujoy. Hey everybody. Sujoy is not good. Sujoy is like... Sujoy, I've never seen this man tremble in fear before like yesterday.

[00:01:10] You know when you have... You had like a month to prepare for homework and you don't do the homework and then you turn up to class and you're like... Why is that? Why is that? What movie are we talking about Sujoy? We are talking about the long-awaited English Babu Desi meme. The only movie... Long-awaited. By the way, this is for most people, this is an audio podcast. For the people that... This is a video podcast. See the khunnas on Amritha's face.

[00:01:40] The anger. I'm telling you. I'll come for Sujoy. By the way, the video is only available on Patreon. So to see all the khunnas, you have to subscribe. Pay us payse. Yeah. Yeah. So why did you pick this movie, Sujoy? Sujoy has released our enemies on us. That is what he has done. I mean, we love Shah Rukh, right? And then we had to...

[00:02:09] Don't be a liar, Sujoy. This had nothing to do with Shah Rukh. How much is he talking about? He's talking about this movie like I made himself. Amritha suddenly turning into Dilip Kumar in his late era when she's doing these long angry speeches. Hey, brother. Hey, brother. I don't have time to do anything. I barely have time to sleep.

[00:02:39] And then I had to waste my hours on this. Three hours. Yeah, three hours. You feel those three hours. You feel those three hours. Well, to be fair, it was two hours because I watched this at 1.5. I did too. This one, I just couldn't. There were moments where I was like, let's just get on. Because also, there's tons of just flashbacks of things that have already happened and we've already seen. And it's like, why am I watching this again? But anyway.

[00:03:09] Wait, wait. Wait, go back. It's too much. I can't handle it. Sujoy, you were talking. Sorry. Tell me, Sujoy. Tell me. No, we had to come to English Babu Desi Mem at some point, right? We are scraping the barrel at this moment for Shah Rukh movies. I don't know when will it be king. I don't know when will it be. So, yeah. English Babu Desi Mem, it is for this time. Like, I didn't choose Guddu or Zamana Diwana or King Uncle. You know, we haven't watched Swadees yet.

[00:03:39] Like, we haven't done like actual movies that people talk about, people search for on social media. Like, things with SEO. So, that's the thing. Like, we haven't discussed. This movie has four words in its title. How much more SEO friendly it can be. The SEO is these Indian dudes that want to get a Gori Bibi and they're like typing. This is the SEO we'll be getting here, you know? Yeah.

[00:04:09] We'll get Shadi.com people here on this episode. You know those guys that are doing cartwheels and then give the flower? Those are the people we're going to be getting. I'm a bad boy. 50-50. But that's what Shah Rukh is also doing in this movie. 50-50. Yeah, this is the only movie with Shah Rukh as a triple role, I guess.

[00:04:38] That's the plus point that we'll go with. Amrita, do you want to give us a small recap of what this movie is about? Not really, but like, okay. It's, you know? Okay, like, it's basically a remake of this 1960s movie with Clark Gable and Sophia Loren.

[00:05:00] And it is about a man who discovers that the brother that he thought had died had actually survived this accident that ostensibly killed him. And went on to marry and have a child. And this child is now being raised by this cabaret dancer. And he decides to just, like, go and, like, get this kid and bring it back to London where he's from.

[00:05:29] But then it turns out, like, that child is in this codependent relationship with this cabaret dancer who is also his aunt. But it's very interesting to me that this is the movie that they decided to remake because it makes no sense why, like, you know how we say that there's no media literacy these days? I feel like there's never been any media literacy.

[00:05:59] And this movie is proof of that. Yeah, so the movie you're talking about is called It Started in Naples, which came out in 1960. This came out 36 years later. And you're right. Like, there's no rhyme or reason. Like, I really want to be in the room who pitched this to Shah Rukh and to Sonali. And they thought, yes, this is the next movie we should do. Like, I don't understand how all of that process basically happened.

[00:06:26] I mean, the 90s were a wild era for people to be doing movies. Like, they would say yes. And, you know, even with scripts or the non-existent scripts, they're making a famous movie from Hollywood. And they would say yes, because this movie came after DDLJ. You would think that Shah Rukh had agency in choosing movies that he did. But he kept on doing, like, a lot of shitty movies after DDLJ, you know.

[00:06:55] I mean, Mannat wouldn't purchase itself, you know. Yeah, exactly. But this movie only had the Nalka of Mannat. What did it pay? Like, it didn't make no money. Like, what is it? Like, what did it? Kunda or Nalka. That's what it was. You can't preempt that, right? Even the London they are showing. India. Oh, we'll come to that. We'll come to that because it is hilarious.

[00:07:22] But, like, I just want to mention for, like, the people that don't know the original film, which is it started in Naples. So it doesn't even make sense on a casting basis because that movie was Clark Gable at the end of his career. So he was, like, an older man who was, like, playing this very jaded American. And Sophia Loren is playing, like, you know, in my memory, she belonged to some, like, sort of fishing village.

[00:07:51] But I think the pieces of that movie was that all of Naples is basically a fishing village. And, you know, they're all, like, low-class Italians. And I also, like, it feels so weird to say this now because Italians are so much an accepted part of the white community. But this movie was made less than 100 years ago.

[00:08:14] And it is so full of, like, a classist, racist tone towards who's an Italian. You know, the men are buffoons. The women are oversexed. Everybody's filthy and dirty and sort of uncivilized. And they're definitely not white. And then Clark Gable is, like, the American who's just, like, ooh, like, you know, I'm quite something.

[00:08:41] Did you see the footage of that American naval ship that's landed in Pattaya at the moment? Yes. That's what this movie was for Italians back in the day. Like, I was getting exactly those same vibes, you know. Like, the women are put forward as, like, sexual objects to use for the Americans. And the men are worthless and useless. And, you know, that's kind of the price Italy had to pay, you know, back after the Second World War.

[00:09:11] And, you know, like, this is what Thailand and all of these countries have to pay. And then you have that same thing that is being peddled in, like, but it's being packaged in a very different way in this film. Because in this film, you say, you know, they're saying that Shahrukh's family in this film has been settled in London for five generations. Which makes them, like, incredible British collaborators, right? Yeah.

[00:09:39] They sold out their people, basically. They were collecting lagaan. It's very much that. Everyone's collecting lagaan. And there is so much internal hate against Indians. Like, they are Indians, but because they are Mayur and Mayur family businesswale. But they hate Indians so much. It's the Preeti Patel line of Desi, you know. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Except for the eldest son who is...

[00:10:10] Harry. Freakily, like, freakishly in love with India. Like, okay. This is, like, probably... Like, I yo-yo back and forth between whether this is the worst intro that Shahrukh has ever had or the most legendary intro that Shahrukh has ever had. Because I... Sujoy, can you describe the intro, please? I have completely no memory of that. I'm sorry. There are stock images.

[00:10:38] You don't know the movie, then you forget the movie. You saw it. I'm just kidding. So, basically, only Amrita has this fresh in her mind. The one person that didn't want to watch this movie. So... I remember. I remember. It's basically Shahrukh's entry. He's, like, one of the rejects from Dumb Marodam. That's what he is. Right?

[00:11:07] And, yeah, he... I was wondering, like, is he, like, trying to be, like, one of those beetle-era Desis that I've discovered. India. And, like, oh, my God. All the women are so beautiful, you know? And the whole setup takes very, very long. Like, there's songs. Really bad songs. And there's flashbacks. And, like, he falls in love. And then he burns himself. Like, there's a lot of... Like, the airplane crashes. No! Wait, wait, wait.

[00:11:37] You're getting way ahead of yourself. Because it starts with him... Like, so there's a voiceover, right? Like, this is one of those movies that starts with, like, yay, Bulan, blah, blah, blah. Like, you know, that Urdu Shairi. So it starts with that. And then the voiceover continues to, like, describe the setup. And there's, like, a voiceover through a lot of this film, actually. But basically, the setup is that we are being introduced to this guy called Hari. Or Harry, whatever you want to call him.

[00:12:06] But he is in the outskirts of London. Where there is a mini India. And I think it's supposed to be Southall. I think, like, that's her inference. But this is some weird place where everybody is high on bhang and playing holi. And, like, Shah Rukh is, like, sexually harassing all the white people that he finds. Right? And he's, like, putting, like, holi... Like, you know what this is? This is the...

[00:12:36] This is what, like, the far light uses as, like, anti-Indian hate material. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They haven't assimilated. It's that... You know, you saw that footage of that crane. And when the guy is flying up and down. Like, this happened this week. That was... That is English. Wow, this is him. Shah Rukh could be on that crane going up and down. Like, what he's doing. So, then... But for some reason...

[00:13:06] So, he does this. And he gets arrested. And they bring him back home. And then his dad, who's also being played by Shah Rukh. Shah Rukh has, like, all these wigs in the beginning of this movie. Yeah, all Kadir Khan stock. You know, like, Kadir Khan ka maal hai. Like, laga do, laga do. Like, I think, like, his... Like, his hurry wig is basically a mop. Like, somebody, like, took a decapitated mop and, like, put it on his head.

[00:13:35] Anyway, so, his dad tries to get him married off to some rando lady with braces. Who is wearing a white dress, even though they're having a Hiddu wedding. I'm like, I don't understand. And he finds her so repulsive. He runs away and tries to take a propeller plane to India. And crashes in the ocean. Where he is rescued by a fisherwoman.

[00:14:06] Played by Rajeshwari, right? Like, that's Rajeshwari, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he's like, ooh, like, I like Rajeshwari. I'm gonna get married to her and never tell her that I'm actually a billionaire son. And they get married and they have a child. But also, they play Diwali so hard that they burn down their house. Burn down the building. And again, like, I've said this so many times.

[00:14:34] Like, this is an era of Shah Rukh where he puts in unnecessary danger to his body. And this has such dangerous firework. Fire stunts on Shah Rukh, on the lady that is getting married. Everything is burning. And I was like, for this movie? You have put your life in danger for English? Babu Desi, ma'am? What is happening? Like, I do not understand. Yeah. And some of the most legendary death scene.

[00:15:01] What happens since it happened? There is this... Like, he's in the hospital and his baby is getting delivered and his wife is dying. And the doctor is telling some other rando dude, he better get treated or else he's going to die. What? Shouldn't you be telling him? And then he is, like, dancing around his wife. And he's trying to, like, hold his son.

[00:15:29] But the nurse is just like, get the hell away from that baby. And, like, pushes him away. And then he's, like, dancing around his wife who's like... I'm dying. This dance is not helping, Shah Rukh. And that's just, like, the initial 15 minutes of this movie. Which does feel like it's three hours, though. It is 15 minutes, but it feels like three hours.

[00:15:59] Like, when is this going to end? So then, yeah. And then, like, the wife has this psychotic younger sister who is, like... Like, he is my child. And all the adults are like, haa, okay. Like, let her take care of it then. Because nobody wants to raise this baby. So they give this, like, 10-year-old this baby. And they're just like, yep, that's good. Like, you know, this 10-year-old baby.

[00:16:28] By the way, you have not... About the insanity of this little girl. There's also a very unnecessary breastfeeding sequence in this. Where a 10-year-old girl is fake breastfeeding this baby. I completely forgot that. And then she also changes his nappy by cutting her school uniform. And then it's... Yeah. And she cuts the uniform, pulls out the nappy.

[00:16:57] And the nappy is nowhere, like, big enough to cover this baby. So, like, the prop department was not there. Like, they let the girl just do whatever she wanted. It's insane. And this girl is surrounded by people in the village, right? There's, like, the Saeed Jafri and this one. And this one. Nobody cares. Tooth to the limit. Like, you take care of him. There is a scene where she's getting... About to be arrested from the hospital. And she runs with the baby. And she's, like, literally outside the hospital window.

[00:17:27] Jumping from roof to roof with the baby. Endangering everybody. And it's just so irresponsible. And by the way, Saeed Jafri is called Madadgar in this. Like, they couldn't even be bothered to come up with, like, a name for him. They were just, like, this guy is going to be helpful to the plot. So, we're just going to call him helpful. Oh, God. But, yeah. So, talking about, like, Saeed Jafri being helpful, right? So, this is...

[00:17:56] So, his idea of being helpful. So, now, this is now, like, present day, I guess. The yada, yada, yada. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And Bijuria has grown up to become a cabaret dancer to support, like, this child. Not just any cabaret dancer, though. She is Sonali Bendre. Please. With some respect. Anyway. So...

[00:18:26] They also make it clear that she's only a dancer. She's not a prostitute. They make this... Yes. They explain this at least 50 times in the movie. Yes. So, I feel we should say this. Even... Yeah. Even the child has to, like, spell it out. Like, do you think my aunt is a Vesha? She's not. She's my mother. Like, you know, this is important information. It's very important. Anyway. So, Sonali Bendre has now become a bar dancer.

[00:18:53] And she and this child are just, like, creepily connected. Like, I have been honestly... Very codependent. I've never seen a mother-daughter... Like, a mother-son relationship this creepy. And, like... That includes psycho. You know? Like... I... Genuinely... This is, like, a whole other level. But anyway... Then... Madadgar, which is Sayyid Jafri, sees some, like, magazine that has, like, Shah Rukh...

[00:19:22] Shah Rukh's face on it. And he realizes that Hari, who died, had a twin brother, younger brother, something. And that's, again, Shah Rukh. And that Shah Rukh is now a very rich man. And they're like, oh... So then Bijuria is, like, you know, like, living on, like, two rupees per day or something. But there's this millionaire who can basically support them.

[00:19:49] So let's go contact this guy and get him to India. And this is news to that guy, I guess. And I think Madadgar employs some sort of a weird trick by sending him a sermon to appear in court for some crime that Hari did. And, like, he has to come to India to attend that. And then finally, he, you know, discovers everything else.

[00:20:18] So Vikram has come to India. Yeah. Vikram has come to India. No, we were talking basically about this was Sonali's big break, right? In a way, to a certain degree. And we were also talking about why would people pitch this story and they would accept it. I think Sonali was like, this is my only chance to star with Shah Rukh. So I'm going to take it. You know, so I think that's probably what was happening.

[00:20:44] I think there's like a lot of revisionist history when it comes to Sonali because I know Sonali was a heartthrob, right? And she made little Sujoy's heart go pitter-pat every time she came on screen. I think before this happened, she became famous as the Humma Humma girl. That was like the breakthrough for her. And then she also did like Tukkar. No, Sarfrosh came after this.

[00:21:15] She did Tukkar, which had the Aakho Me Base Hotum song with Sunil Shetty. And then Naraz, which was with Atul Agnihotri and Mithun. And I think these are the big roles. And then Sarfrosh came after this. Tarazu, Bhai and all of that. So yeah, the 90s were kind of cruel on her career, I would say. But she still managed to break through as the...

[00:21:43] I mean, saying that the 90s were cruel on her career suggests that the 2000s weren't. And honestly, she never had a career. I don't know what people are talking about. Because everyone is just like, oh, you know, she was like... No, I was there. Don't gaslight me. I remember that there was no career to speak of. She was just like a really... She was pretty. And a lot of men really liked her. She was like...

[00:22:10] I remember there was this whole thing about her being a pin-up girl for the army. And the army really loved Sonali or something. But I don't remember anything like... Oh, she's like an A-list actor or anything like that. I think the barometer for success as an actress, as a mainstream Hindi actress back in the day before social media and everything... Was A, how many cover pages on film magazines you end up with.

[00:22:38] B, Agarwati and like firecrackers packets feature your face. Or the pin-up girl. You know, you get all these roadside stalls who sell like posters for you to put up on your room. Sonali Bhandri was one of those alongside Bruce Lee and Rambo. So, you know, so... That I believe. That I can believe. So, for a teen who grew up in the 90s... Yeah.

[00:23:08] So, Nali Bhandri is up there. Yeah, it's such a weird one because you've mentioned this a few times. And she never left any impression on me. She has like a very sterile kind of sensuality. Like it's all very like, you know, it doesn't like... Yeah, what? Do you feel sterile while I was watching Johan Dilka? Yeah, like... Like, it's just a pretty girl. Like, there's so many for me. Like, it's hair and legs. I have all the feelings.

[00:23:37] I have all the feelings on behalf of us. Yeah, yeah. And you know me, Amrita. I am very much like if a girl is pretty, I will like give... You know, this was never like a thing. Like in my full hormonal stages, she just never left an impact on me in any way, shape or form. And for me, she's like... Like, that's how I... In the 80s, that's how I kind of slot Sonali Bhandri in. You know, like...

[00:24:05] Like, I've never had a movie or a performance of her that I was like, wow. Not even a song. Not even a song that I would say, wow. You know, how amazing she's being in that song. Take offense. Like, which songs? Like, honestly, I don't know. Like, Aakho Me Base Ho Tum. Like, Zakham Had Datha, Ham Yaha Tum Yaha. This has Bharatpur Lut Gaya. I freaking love that song. Why?

[00:24:36] And It's Diwane Larke Ko from Sarfaroosh and Johal Dilka. That's fine. And Humma Humma. Humma Humma, yes. Humma Humma, I only much later realized that it's her. I just think Humma Humma was its own thing. You know? And I was like, oh, it's actually Sonali Bhandri. I didn't figure that out. Plus, the other guy is so animated, you kind of forget that there's like a tall girl in front. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:06] Let's talk about Shah Rukh though. Amrita Ha... He's so... Sorry, go ahead. I was gonna say like, you probably have the deepest love for Shah Rukh. You know? Like... Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah. He is so bad in this. I can't even... No. Like, I don't even...

[00:25:34] Like, I don't even understand what he was trying to do with his performance. Like, I think he... Like, if I want to be like generous towards Shah Rukh, I would say that he knew that he was in a ridiculous film and therefore he was trying to match it. But honestly, I feel like... You know what this movie reminds me of? It is one of those films that was left incomplete or they ran out of money.

[00:26:02] Like, have you ever heard Akshay Kumar talk about like, Meri Bibi Ka Jawab Nehi? Or Nehi, Nehi. No, like, Meri Bibi Ka Jawab Nehi. Where they had just enough money to, like, shoot the first half of the film. Yeah. And then at the end of it, they just have a screen that says, Aur Phir Unhone Badla Diya. Yeah. So, basically, they had the money to do the setup but they didn't have the money to do anything else.

[00:26:30] A lot of times in movies when you have a lot of voiceover and you have a lot of flashback and then a very abrupt ending, those are signs that they ran out of money. I think this movie has all three of those. Plus, they have three times that they have a flashback but then they also choose to put some Albanian techno music on top of the flashbacks. And I'm like, what's even going on here? You know? So, this is directed by Praveen Nischal,

[00:27:01] bhai of Naveen Nischal and maker of... He's produced some really terrible movies. He's been associated with RGV Ki Aag. Yeah. His IMDb page is a mine of all the bad decisions a film producer can make, right? So, I give him that. Because this is the same Shah Rukh who did a similar romancing hero in DDLJ just a few years back.

[00:27:27] And to put that same actor in a romancing role and he's making all the wrong choices in the acting. So, he's just like comedy Shah Rukh is never good. And he's like hyper comedy Shah Rukh. He's trying to do Aamir Khan in comedy in this and it's exhausting. Clearly, if the original is with Clark Gable, right? Like there's a certain kind of debonair charm to Clark Gable.

[00:27:56] Oh, there's a bit of a bite to him, I guess. But there's this debonair charm. Here he's playing like a version of Ram Jaane, I feel like. He's like being Ram Jaane with Tsunadi Mildred. Probably it's the same set as well. Same suits. But also, I don't think this movie was made after DDLJ. I feel like it was probably made much before. It was released after DDLJ to like, you know, capitalize on Shah Rukh's fame.

[00:28:24] But it's just so bad. Even more so, this might have been a movie they shot and they weren't going to release it. And then DDLJ came out as like, chance maar de te. Like release it anyway. That's also what might have happened. Hence the many flashbacks, narrations and abrupt ending to this movie. One of the most epic things about this movie though is what Kiran Kumar as the main villain, his name is Bhima Khalasi.

[00:28:53] I just love a good villain name. It's very easy to please me in a movie that is not pleasing me. But it's also really funny to think in retrospect that Kiran Kumar was essentially a contemporary of Shah Rukh's. In like, you know, in the 90s. Like, wow. Yeah. That's like an ode to Shah Rukh's longevity as an actor, isn't it?

[00:29:23] And plus he's also playing that classical villain where he really wants to have this woman, but he also wants her to marry him. Just the sexual gratification is not enough. He wants the sat pere with it, which is wholesome when you think about it. Until the climax where he's like, there's no other way. And then he like sexually assaults him. Yeah, yeah.

[00:29:52] I need subjugation, but with commitment. Which I guess is a lot of Indian men, I would say. Like a freak in the sheets, but also dal in the kitchen, you know? Like both. Two types of tadka, basically. Oh, dear. It's just, just like all kinds of like weirdness.

[00:30:22] And then like Shah Rukh's also not much better. Like he's like assaulting her all the time. He's calling her a prostitute. He's like telling like the kid, like, you know, he's like saying all of this in front of the kid. Like that's like the weirdest part of this whole thing. Yeah. It's almost like happy new year vibes. Like Shah Rukh was doing Deepika and happy new year too, you know, that's what like the same energy he was bringing. Except worse, you know?

[00:30:48] And there's like this one part where she's like, if I need to become a prostitute to like help raise this kid, then I will do that also. And then he's like, oh, like I could already have you as a prostitute. And then I'm just like, I don't understand what the hell is happening here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The internal logic of this film makes no logic at all. Yeah. I think the big selling point of this movie,

[00:31:18] and I only understood this when I watched the trailer for the original, the Clark Gaber version, the kid is supposed to be so cute that he endears you, the audience, and it endears in Amr Shah Rukh. Like that's the linchpin, right? But they picked the worst kid. Sunny Singh. But to be fair, that kid, Sunny Singh, he was one of the famous TV kids at the time.

[00:31:47] He was in Deek Bhai Deek. So like, yeah. I had no clue that he had ever acted before. What's funny though, that he's called Nandu in this movie or Nandalal. And then in the Italian movie, the kid is called Nando. I freaking love that. They did some mental gymnastics to name this kid in this movie. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, so the kid,

[00:32:17] he's like, he's very attached to Sonali at the start of it. But then he completely forgets about her very quickly because he gets some toys and suits, right? To the point that he's very dismissive of her, right? And then she does the whole switcheroo where I'm going to sleep for money with men. And then he, I don't like, yeah, it's like you said, there is no internal logic to this movie. Like I'm trying to explain what happens point by point,

[00:32:47] but I don't think I understood it until you give me the summary of this movie. I'm like, but also Shah Rukh in this film keeps calling him Master Mayur. And I am just like, that's a very creepy way of addressing anybody, much less your own nephew. Like, why wouldn't you just call your nephew by his name? Like he has a name. Why Mayur? You can just call them Nando's. Like their last name is Mayur. That's why. Then Mayur and sons.

[00:33:17] I keep on explaining this. So when the movie begins with the, you know, and they have like that over, like voice over, there is a, like a stencil version of Mayur and Mayur that floats across the sea. And then you see London through like Mayur and Mayur. Like it is design, you know, it is art. Art. Right, right, right. Yeah. The Albanian techno music must have kind of like

[00:33:46] wiped this out from me. Um, but yeah. And, and I think like Shahruv tries to say Mayur and Mayur in a English accent at one point. And he says something like Meyer, Meyer. Yeah. Yeah. He does put on an accent at the start and then he just kind of lets it go. Yeah. I think the beginning is when he was trying and he thought that this movie wouldn't be a piece of shit. And then by the end he was just like, yeah, no, we all know what this is.

[00:34:15] It's very Chaudhrian sons. Mehta textiles. Sujoy, the songs for you left you a big impression for you. So you want to talk a bit about the songs here? I think I got introduced to the songs through like Philips Top 10 and BPLOA back in the day in the 90s. You know, they made the charts then and they still have like a soft corner in my heart.

[00:34:45] Especially Diwana, Main Diwana and Bharatpur Lutga. Asim can't hold back his laughter and I'm trying to be quite emotional about the nostalgia that this soundtrack has but Asim just can't. I have a joke but I don't I want to say it because it's too X-rated but when you said soft corner I was going to say something but okay. Fill up the blanks.

[00:35:15] It's probably the opposite of what they were hoping they could achieve with Bharatpur Lutga. I mean Purnima was such a firecracker of a playback singer and we used to have so many Purnima songs in the 90s she kind of lost her way through the 2000s I suppose but yeah this is one of those like she's got such a sharp vocal and then there is the version

[00:35:46] of that here sung as a as a Mujra number by Asha Bosle which comes out of nowhere. Yeah go on go on Asim how do you feel about the Pakistani representation representation the Pakistani representation like Dilusd Fateh Yeah where it took like a song and then shat

[00:36:15] all over it. like like there was a Wembley Diljeet concert right like so Diljeet was singing so at the moment might be the height of Pakistani representation and this might be the opposite angle here when the worst could happen but I wanted to get back to Bharatpur Lodiya for a second

[00:36:39] because again it's one of those long tradition of songs that the lyrics are basically I was a very young girl I got assaulted but I'm okay about it because I'm singing a song oh this reminds me of like all the twitter children that discovered that Chaneke Khetme song that Madhuri sings in this thing Anjaam yeah and all of them are like but this song it's about sexual assault

[00:37:09] celebrating it and I'm like welcome to folklore India welcome to your culture yeah yeah and all the men should be having a good time while I'm singing this song which is horrible terrible you know yeah yeah also when I was listening to this song and watching this song

[00:37:38] because I knew this was a very uh formative song for Sujoy right he talked he talked so much about it so I wanted to like give it like objective views and eyes about what it is that appealed to Sujoy's soft corner you know so when we do make reels out of this section of the of the of the episode please do not put my face off I denounce this

[00:38:08] you made us watch this piece of shit you're going to be on every single reel we're going to put your face as the cover for every reel as well name and shame this boy but it also has that like it made me think that like Chikni Chamele has killed this type of song because it is it was the best of the best like I don't think they make can make another song like

[00:38:38] this anymore because Chikni Chamele has been made um I would say Chikni Chamele is the epitome though I would say like Sheila Ki Jawani is probably yeah probably it's much better than Chikni Chamele yeah but I think no yeah but Sheila is classy yaar she won't let you touch you man like this is different I know you want it but you're not gonna have it Sujoy it's different Sheila is classy

[00:39:05] this is yeah this is massy you know this is like Chane Ge Khet Me like there's a different vibe to this kind of song and I was thinking have there been other songs like this after Chikni Chamele and I'm sure there have been but I don't think they've been there's that one from Shamshera that I really like um the Kale Naina Kale Naino Ko like that one that Mani Kapoor did

[00:39:29] but yeah you're right like it's not anywhere near Chikni Chamele in terms of um pop culture heft and I'm also thinking about it because somebody had posted oh this was the original Chikni Chamele because somebody and everybody was like look how they copied it I was like this looks trash this is horrible this is like comparing this to Chikni Chamele is an insult it doesn't make any sense to me

[00:39:56] but also it's not copied it's the same music composers like Ajay Atul like to recycle their Marathi tunes into Hindi because nobody's watching it like 100 times better not even like 10 times better it's a hundred there's not even a comparison so don't even go there you know like Chikni Chamele is amazing and it's not even the best Katrina song out there you know like but yeah uh it's this vibe I guess lovely right I'm lovely like the Deepika song from happy

[00:40:24] I mean there are but like does lovely have the cultural impact that Chikni Chamele has you know I mean if you are talking about cultural impact then Choli Ke Peechhe was no no he's saying like after Chikni Chamele after yeah fair um Queen Katrina man okay but also we don't make movies like all the movies that have item songs these days are all very like Bhojpuri like you know inspired like Bharatpur Lut Gaya I guess um

[00:40:54] and it's just like I don't know but who is even making or dancing after Katrina like don't have Tamanna Tamanna is dancing oh yeah that um the song yeah yeah there was another one where it was again about you know like there's been songs and the the otherwise Gafur Gafur from Battle of Bollywood yeah that's what I'm saying Tamanna

[00:41:23] Tamanna is doing that you know like yeah it's pinnacle pinnacle yeah um and you were saying the other song was which one uh Abhi Abhi Sola Baraski is that the one you were talking about no no it's your with the strings and everything is that the the romantic song the romantic song yeah Kumar Shanu and Al Kaya it's not bad that's not a bad song I kind of enjoyed that yeah but

[00:41:52] it's like talking about scraping the bottom of the barrel you know uh Amrita anything that stood out for you that you liked about this like anything like well it eventually ended that was nice I think like for me because I've been a Sonali fan uh it wasn't take away the Bollywood take away the Bollywood now

[00:42:22] Bollywood I'm a Bollywood fan like after like after like weeks and weeks of us bitching about this it's like tell me soft corner yeah I mean it did not it wasn't as painful as you guys because yeah I would watch it yeah yeah no this was really painful like it stretched my love for you

[00:42:54] it took a lot out of me like I don't think I'm the same man like yeah yeah and Shahrukh made this movie not me please yeah and then Shahrukh decided to buy this movie like yeah and then still put it on Netflix like it makes no sense to me like I don't know I think he edited something there's like a cut like certain sequences he's edited out of the red chili sprint I was reading this somewhere

[00:43:23] maybe in the the dark corners of I'm not sure because and this is the best he could do yeah this is literally the best he could do yeah it's it's it's a really mess of a movie I think it might be if it's not one of the worst it's like it's really up there with Guddu and Zamana Diwana yeah right like these are the like what are the worst Shahrukhs did you guys watch this movie when it came out in the 90s I did

[00:43:53] I did I didn't I even had the cassette I remember having the cassette I had the cassette I had the cassette I never watched this movie I also didn't like the cassette I didn't even like the songs of it like I remember not liking it any aspect of it yeah same like I remember like being like very underwhelmed by yeah and yeah and I also think at that time like I wasn't like Shahrukh was I was warming up to him still

[00:44:21] like to a certain degree you know like like with Salman I was like immediately like who is this man you know but like Shahrukh there were moments when I was like he kya kar rai bham da you know like it took me a while to kind of figure him out and this is also devoid of all the things we like about Shahrukh right or at least I like about Shahrukh and none of this is in this movie and he doesn't seem to be having fun with it he doesn't seem to be enjoying the process himself like he

[00:44:51] there was this a very there was a very angry Shahrukh at the start right like he really was like I'm gonna try to prove myself and I'm an outsider clearly like he had this this fire in him and I think this one maybe was too much of a paycheck this was just too much like you know there's nothing in him like because he was he was an outsider he was a hard worker but he was also like a theater guy like he was into the art of performance and things like that something that we've talked about

[00:45:20] in so many of his movies and I don't know which pitch he was going for which you know in the beginning like you know that entire performance as Hari was like very much this is a farce you know like in and it was very much like on the stage sort of a performance right and I don't think he was old enough to learn how to pitch that yeah so it was just all over the place and I don't think the director did him any favors either because it should have been the director's job to say that hey

[00:45:49] you're kind of crap on this like you know like sort of wind it up a little bit but no I think also Shah Rukh because he was he has this he had this fireman personality at the start it took him a while to connect and trust directors you know and I think he was almost like like whatever even if there was a director trying to tell him something he would try to do more because he didn't trust he just relied on himself

[00:46:19] right and I think that mellowed down a little bit when he found his crew with you know Karan and Adi and Farah and all of these other people that like kind of gave him a safe space but I think the the fire was burning maybe just too strong at the start and this kind of movie is just a mess because of that Jesus so I'm looking at the bottom of the barrel for Shah Rukh so on IMDB whatever is ranked or rated lower than

[00:46:49] 4.5 so English Babu Desi has a 4.6 Trimurti has 4.9 so Oh Darling Yehe India is 4 Guddu is 4.1 Zamanah Diwana 4.7 but the worst of them that I found out at 3.2 is a movie directed by Mahmud which also stars Salman Khan it's called Dushman Dunia Ki I think they are doing a cameo role I think

[00:47:20] Mahmud's son is probably the main actor Manzoor Ali but they have cameos in this and they are on the poster looking like something out of Nukkar or you know it's terrible Oh my god this poster it has Jitendra in it yeah I'm surprised that Ham Tumare Hai Sanam is not on the list of like the worst Shaluk movies Ham Tumare Ham Tumare Hai Sanam is let me see what's the rating

[00:47:49] of that 5.4 wow not that yeah Wan Tuka 4 is 5.5 Gajigamini is 4.4 I mean these are not proper roles also like these are like you know cameos and stuff like that and I also I disagree that Oh Darling Ye Hai India is worse than this movie like I I disagree with that like it's not a good movie by any you know shape or form but it has some elements in it but yeah

[00:48:20] we'll get to that movie too one day you know and then we can discuss it Sujoy any final words on English Babu Desi don't watch this movie or don't try to peer pressure your friends into watching this movie or else you shall be publicly shamed on a platform and those videos will be uploaded for posterity yeah it's gonna be you know like when it's Planet of the Ames they're gonna have a

[00:48:50] happy meal and your videos talking about English Babu Desi that's all their culture will be based on oh dear good luck good luck archaeologists of the future and my soft corner yeah this could have

[00:49:20] been avoided is all I'm saying did this make you fall out of love with either Sujoy or Shah Rukh no but I'm like hanging on by a thread that's just like a general life philosophy at the moment for all of us yeah this was a bad movie this was a bad experience shame to Shah Rukh shame to Sujoy shame to the Nish Choles

[00:49:49] and shame to Netflix like this is really bad but I hope some people enjoyed it I know some people were really looking forward to us discussing this movie so I hope we delivered to a certain degree if your thought was like the Khandan should suffer yeah we suffered through this thank you yeah the things we do and also I think this proves that the hosts of this

[00:50:19] podcast should not pick any movies for a couple of weeks so I think let's go back to our Patreon and ask them what they want to discuss I think they have better choices so a poll will be going up are we really trusting democracy in 2026 I'm thinking they will choose Guddu or Zaman Adiwana next too many ideas by reading that worst of list great Amrita where can people find you online

[00:50:49] I am back on Twitter for my sins so you can find me at Amrita IQ on X but honestly the best place to listen to me is the Kandan Patreon which you can find at patreon.com slash Kandan podcast and I do these five minute catch up videos where I'm just talking about the current state of I don't know Bollywood

[00:51:18] and cinema in general and there's going to be another one coming up later this week or something but yeah so Joy I'm mostly on Instagram at 93k and you can find Kandan podcast all the video content from our podcast on YouTube at youtube.com slash Kandan podcast and exclusive content early access all the you know great gossip and great masala of Kandan podcast is

[00:51:47] exclusively available for our Patreon members as Amrita said on patreon.com slash Kandan podcast you can find me at in Bharatpur mostly which is Lutga yeah no drop us an email at upodcasting at gmail.com and thank you for listening and we'll be back to the video stay good how do good all good it them good

[00:52:17] girl I'm a kid I'm good I'm I'm