Ep 239- The Ambani Wedding and Maharaja Review

[00:00:00] Hi, this is Asim. This is Sujoy. This is Amrita. And you're listening to Khandaan, a Bollywood podcast about the three main Khaans of the Hindi film industry, Amir, Salman and Shahrukh. Hi, you're listening to Khandaan, a Bollywood podcast regular feed. Thank you so much for

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[00:00:48] Hi and welcome to a new episode of Khandaan Podcast. My name is Asim Burney and I'm joined with my lovely co Sujoy and Amrita. Hey Sujoy, hey Amrita. Hello everybody. Hello. Why does it feel like we haven't recorded in a while? It feels like I haven't seen your

[00:01:04] topras in so long. Time flies. I think a lot has been going on. Like I think this Ambani wedding has warped our sense of time and space. It's like that interstellar thing

[00:01:21] where they fold the paper and then they put the whole thing. It's like, where are we even? You know? Yeah. I think that's exactly how the Kardashians feel right now as well.

[00:01:31] Let's get into it. Let's talk about, I think this episode is just going to be a few random topics but the main topic is obviously the Ambani wedding because apparently I'm a specialist of this. Tell us Asim, how does it feel to be on the BBC?

[00:01:49] So, I mean, we've been on the BBC in one way, shape or form all three of us I think. But it's BBC radio. But BBC TV is like a whole different ball game which I did not

[00:02:05] expect actually. Let me say what happened basically. Our friend, good friend, lovely friend Haroon Rashid, he randomly ropes me into things for the BBC. I think he loves our show. He loves us but I think also BBC loves a lot of free labour so it's both of these

[00:02:22] things. So, he was like, you know, he sent me a voice text. He was like, Asim, a producer is going to contact you to talk about something. Yeah, I've given the number and I was like, yeah, thanks, fine, no problem. I start talking to the producer and they're

[00:02:38] like, yeah, this and that. We want to talk about the Ambani wedding. These are the points we're going to hit. I was like, okay, this is not my specialty but sure why not? And I

[00:02:45] was like, okay, so is this going to be on audio? Is this when am I, you know, when are we recording? And she said, no, no, this is video and it's for the world news. So obviously, you know, being a commitment kind of guy, a Karli commitment, some

[00:02:59] are going to back off. But you guys know, I'm not very like, I'm very camera conscious. This is not my medium. And like, this is the reason why we haven't done enough

[00:03:09] video content as we do, as other people do. But yeah, my debut was on the BBC then. So I was like, let's roll with it. And then funny enough to today, no, like a few

[00:03:20] hours later, I also got a message from some, some channel in New Zealand, who was like, Hey, we also want to do an interview with you about the Ammanis. Okay, great. So I then ended up doing an interview with the New Zealand channel too,

[00:03:36] which I'm trying to get the clip and if I do, I'll post it too. But yeah, it's, I mean, the whole thing is available on Patreon if people haven't seen it. Well, I think Asim was a natural and I never doubted him for a second. And it

[00:03:51] was also one of the funniest things to witness firsthand because the from the moment he found out that he was going to be on TV, Asim was freaking out. And I was at work and I was trying to get like something done and then Asim was

[00:04:07] just like, can I talk to you? Can I talk to you? Can I talk to you? He was like, what do I say? What do I say? What do I say? That's the other thing I have to give credit to Amrita because everybody

[00:04:18] that thought I sounded smart or nice or love. Oh, he's such a romantic. That was all Amrita's words. I didn't have nothing to do with it. I was like, this is going really, this is going to go really well.

[00:04:34] I didn't doubt you for a second by the way, because I know that you're really good when you're like put on the spot. Yeah, you're like really good. Like you were able to like really come up with stuff. So I wasn't afraid of that.

[00:04:46] I was just afraid that like Gio is one of our major markets and I was like, the Ambani's are going to like kick us out if we actually say like what we actually

[00:04:56] feel. Yeah, yeah. I think for me it was like in my mind was like, you know, they're honestly they're not even here for me. They're not even here for my hot takes. They really just want to hear about the Ambani's. So let's just keep

[00:05:09] it on that, you know? And I am just generally a very romantic person kind of like like, you know, I try to be nice, you know, like so, it was so wholesome to see you end the interview on that note.

[00:05:20] Like that came out of Leffy like, I say we know he's such a lovely person, but we also get the, you know, behind the scenes gossip and chatter. But this was the BBC. You did not rant at all. And it was so on point.

[00:05:34] One thing from the next and like I see the rise of the insufferable influencer era of Asim now. The message discipline is what like really stood out to me because I could see you like sliding towards it. Like when you were talking about capitalism and stuff

[00:05:55] like you had to see you were just being pulled towards it. And then you just like came right back. Yeah, yeah. And I think a lot of people in India also appreciated that because you there's always a certain agenda. I do feel this about that.

[00:06:15] Like, and we're going to get into the ambani wedding. There is a lot of this idea why are brown people so rich? You know, like this is this. I feel there's a narrative like why are brown people so rich?

[00:06:26] And and I made this point actually on the New Zealand one thing, you know, like we've all joined into this capitalist game now, you know, and some are better than us, you know, and you can't be sad about it

[00:06:39] because brown people are winning, you know, like we've locked into this system that hurts everybody. But you know, it's just brown people are winning on this front. So it is what it is, you know, like I don't feel like oh now we need

[00:06:53] to talk about wealth disparity when 30% of children in the UK are in child poverty, you know, like let's let's talk about it all the time then, you know, like we didn't talk about it when bloody Royals were getting married

[00:07:05] or you know, the funeral was happening. Yeah, anyway, just wanted to kind of head that land. Now I'm at home again. It's absolutely true like America still has the most number of billionaires and you know, there's like people in America who are now going to go

[00:07:23] to jail because they're homeless, you know, like these are like things like income inequality is it's widespread and it's a global phenomenon and it's because of the same bloody people, you know, it's not it's not like we have discovered it. It was like a special thing that happens.

[00:07:42] So yeah, I don't and you know, and I'm going to say this without caping for a billionaire because that's gross like that's never going to happen. Like do I think this is rubbish and like a completely trashy tacky waste of time and money? Yes, I do actually

[00:08:01] can I say I had a post note do not say the word tacky do not say the word tacky. It was so tacky. Oh my God, let's get it. Let's unleash. Let's talk about the wedding now.

[00:08:17] I think let's wait. I have a headline to read which was I think on the Guardian, the Ambani wedding after months of celebrations, though the Winzers of India finally set to marry. No, my favorite was like the I think the first line from that article

[00:08:35] which was like there are people now in India who can't remember her time when the Ambani's wedding getting married. Because it's true right? This movie I'm saying this wedding has been going on for freaking ever like I think now they're in the after party

[00:08:59] phase of I think it all like Nama has sort of fused into the pre wedding parties and all of that. It's it feels like a haze like Nita, but Nita Bhavi is the party organizer of the century man.

[00:09:18] Let's talk about her. Let's start with her because this entire thing is very clearly her baby like she like she through this to celebrate herself. Let's not get it twisted like the bride and groom were very much like also man.

[00:09:36] How is this any different from any Desi wedding? It's literally always about the mother-in-law. But like she like those this is amazing. I mean, this is amazing shot of like Modi came to like, I don't know like congratulate

[00:09:55] a couple or something and this is I think last night and Mukesh Ambani standing like one mile away just sort of like step putting in there all on this of the same stage and Mukesh Ambani is somewhere in the back and Modi and like the bride and

[00:10:11] groom are like having their little sweet nothings and like you know, they're just being like oh, and Nita Bhavi standing by herself. And like it's like the spotlight is on her and she's I don't know what what is happening with

[00:10:26] her like she's having like she is feeling the feelings all by and all the cameras on her on her and it's very clear that you know, it doesn't matter like even if the Prime Minister is there or if like the bride and groom by getting congratulate

[00:10:44] in none of that is the point. The point is that she has arrived at a culmination of whatever her plans were and she was just like yes, I am the composer that has seen my composition come to life.

[00:10:59] So for Amrita like how must Tina Moonim or Tina Ambani must be feeling right now? You know, why why that question? Sorry because I don't know much though. Why are you asking that? Anil Ambani is younger brother Mukesh Ambani married Tina

[00:11:15] Mooni. The other way around Mukesh Ambani is younger brother Anil Ambani. Mukesh is younger brother Anil Ambani married Tina Moonim and obviously. And that was a scandal by the way when it happened because Tina Moonim was very much

[00:11:32] you know, she was a wild child like she dated Sanjay Dadh. She was in a live-in relationship with Rajesh Khanna who was still married to Dibbha Kapadia and they would like Rajesh Khanna and Tina Moonim were like that cringe

[00:11:46] couple, you know like they would give these interviews on Stardust and stuff saying that we shared a toothbrush and then it is just like literally weird and and then like Tina like went away for a while and then she came back.

[00:12:04] She and Anil took up and Dibbha Ambani and his wife were just like Cook Laban Ambani both of them were just like wait we can't have this woman. She's a harlot like we can't do this and Anil Ambani like fought his

[00:12:20] parents and Neeta Bhabhi at the time was like you know, she was the it was an arranged marriage. She and like Mukesh Ambani had like an arranged marriage. She was like from a very conservative background as well and you know,

[00:12:33] she was like the proper Bahu of all kinds and she was always seen as sort of like the dowdy daughter-in-law the one that was like the good daughter-in-law whereas like Tina Moonim was like very fashionable and she was like

[00:12:47] a Bollywood star and like she knew all the people and she's Alia and the other one is like the no, that's not what makes sense. I was trying to connect with Rocky and Rani but I failed miserably. Yeah, but and also like she had a weight problem, you

[00:13:06] know, so neither Ambani you know, you can see that she has ozambic face right now. So back then she was like she was chubby and she was dowdy and she was married to the less exciting brother and then time you might pass

[00:13:23] away. Yeah, and then like you know, there would be Ambani Game of Thrones happened and after that like you know, like once Mukesh became you know, once and for all of the winner so to speak. There was a change in

[00:13:41] Neeta Bahabi's demeanor and she very much like you know, went for the crown of being like the one that has all the Bollywood friends, the one that dresses extravagantly throws amazing parties, all that kind of stuff. Because I think when Anil and Mukesh inherited

[00:14:01] you know, they sort of went their own ways in a way. It was all still part of Reliance Industries but Anil Ambani because of his you know, sort of friendship with Bollywood went like made big cinemas and all the big enterprises

[00:14:18] B.I.G. the brand they he made his way into Bollywood and also I think he bought AdLabs but lost a lot of money on that and then obviously Mukesh did the right thing and went with the traditional business

[00:14:31] of you know, steel and all the other Reliance Industries the traditional business that they own and that's obviously to you know, the market by storm and petroleum and all of that and then because Big lost a lot of money then Geo came into the picture and now pretty

[00:14:52] much everything is Mukesh and Anil has nothing. That's why I asked that question like when something like this is a 6000 crore wedding happens what must be the money in feel like right now. So what are the main hot takes of the wedding that's happening? I honestly I couldn't.

[00:15:08] Madhuri Dixit dancing to Choli Kpiche that's the hot take man. That's the moment. What are we where are they dancing because it feels so congestion like I like I watch all of these videos and they look like chickens in a chicken coop like what's going

[00:15:22] on. It is just coming back. It's India. It's too many people and too many guests. It feels like a local train or something like that and like feels like it's like literally every person song is being played and then they'll do their move and then somebody

[00:15:36] else will come in and then they'll do their move and people are very happy. So that was the that was the bar at right like all the dance flips that you sing is from the bar out and I think

[00:15:48] they had like a designated area where they had like a DJ and run be the pool and we sing was having a totally normal. Just a Tuesday for and we and yeah, I think like that's why it seems so congested because everybody was basically making their way to

[00:16:08] that particular point and there's basically like a bit and everybody was like dancing and then they would leave basically because it was just and my favorite thing is like oh my God. There's so many things that came out of that particular

[00:16:23] area because one there was Priyanka dancing to things like look amazing. She looks amazing amazing like main character energy always like unless I see her the more I like her that's the thing with Priyanka always always always like I was like a such

[00:16:42] a cheerleader haven't seen it in two years. I was like, yeah, go Priyanka and it's even better when you don't hear her you know like interviews amazing I just concentrate on that face on that dancing amazing love it

[00:16:56] and then in the background there is Nick Jonas who is clearly hating every single moment of it and just wants to leave and he. So that was really funny then in the same area like where like it's joy was saying Maagri was dancing so she did

[00:17:17] Choli ke piche kya hai and then my favorite video of that is actually shot by her husband who dances like a white man can I say something I noticed with myself it clicked in my head I hadn't noticed this before.

[00:17:35] I love Maadri clips until the husband comes in and I scroll away it's just automatic he comes on and I'm done. So maybe that's why the clip was good because he was shooting so he couldn't come in the camera.

[00:17:48] It was really funny because like he so he he has a YouTube channel by the way. Yeah, you know, yeah, so and it's so boring. Yeah, it's incredibly boring. It actually hurts Maadri because Maadri becomes boring on it.

[00:18:06] It's like but it's also like stuff that I feel talks to a very specific demographic of people who are really invested in Brown respectability. So it's like stuff like hey like what's it like being going to like college in the United States and like you know

[00:18:26] like things like that is very like look at us we're so related we cook and I'm just like I don't I don't really want to watch Maadri cook like that's not like I want to see her cook. I want to make like maji like that's not anyway.

[00:18:45] So there was a video that Dr. Nene shot and it was just like really cute because you could see like all the people that were like around her including Barun Dhawan who clearly was also over it somehow like she was there and seen him.

[00:19:02] Yeah, but he was like very quiet. Arjun Kapoor and Danveer are like clearly like still besties and like you know hanging out all the time. I had no idea that all the Kapoor's were like that close to the Ambani is like Janvi and Arjun Kapoor were both like

[00:19:22] in the like bright spades and bright rooms like I don't know that I was like yeah that was like interesting information. Then people got really mad at Ranveer. I don't I don't understand why it's still and what is he mad about? What is he mad about?

[00:19:41] They are mad that he was having a good time instead of like chip going to Deepika's side. They were just like your wife is pregnant. Why don't you go spend time with her and I'm like they live in the same house like presumably they're like together

[00:19:58] all the time when they're not at a party like they let her sit down. Let her sit down. She's pregnant. You know, I think they wanted him to go sit down next to her which he did later on.

[00:20:09] It is just that you know he went out and he like danced on the bar and then he like it's it's just like you know when we go to a desi wedding we find all the desi uncles and aunties complaining about every single little tidbit detail.

[00:20:24] It's like everybody on Twitter has become that uncle and auntie who is going to pick and choose what they are going to outrage about right and it's because this is the Ambani wedding and it's been shot by many many smartphones uploaded many many in many many accounts

[00:20:41] and we are getting every single angle of it. We everybody is getting an access to that you know it's and then Ranbir sings fans were having like a totally normal thing where so it started with them saying like look at the Ranbir and Alia they're so lovely together

[00:21:01] and of course like all the other fandoms were like no they are rubbish ours are better and then it's sort of like devolved into somebody saying that oh like Ranbir is like the is the most handsome clean shaven man then they were like

[00:21:18] he's the most clean shaven handsome man in this generation like eventually it was like he's the most like you know amazing man that was born after 1980 and is taller than 59 and lives in Bombay and you know was born under a full moon and is married

[00:21:45] when whose name starts with a and ends with a like it was just like getting like super high specific and I was just like given a rest like at a certain point to stake your else and go then let's see Salman and Shahrukh of course were

[00:22:02] like dancing together so everybody was just like yeah and then Salman's fans again had a very normal one and started Photoshopping can I as a Salman fan can I say that is the most disgusting thing I ever see is forcing this idea of him

[00:22:23] and I shawaria ending together I think it's really like you know like wish this idea that this was some tragic love story that they didn't end up together is one of the most sickening things that I can you know like he's done a lot

[00:22:39] of horrible shit right and this is like up there and like just kind of whitewashing it just makes me physically sick when I see those edits. I just wanted to kind of add that because I think this is really

[00:22:53] I think all of the conversation about about ashwarya is disgusting. Yeah, all of it. I hate it. I hate it all. I hate the I hate the criticism on her clothes. I hate the analysis even when people are coming to her aid.

[00:23:09] I hate it because it's like oh she's in an abusive relationship or oh she feels bad so she's hiding her face behind hair like I hate it all I hate it all and I see so many takes of it. I don't know what's going

[00:23:26] on in our family. I don't know what's going on with her health but I don't understand what the fandom wants from her and I don't understand how the fandom doesn't see what kind of pressure that this puts on her. I don't think they're helping anybody with any of

[00:23:42] these hot takes they have on her. I hate it. I hate it's like it's really weird to me the way they talk about her and Abhishek in particular look there's some things that we can all see because like it is very apparent which is that the Bachans are

[00:23:56] clearly as far as her. Yeah, it's weird. It's weird. I don't know what it is. It's weird whatever rule they have a place of shooting with one family and shooting her alone. Is it literally because they feel she's a

[00:24:09] bigger star? Is it some sort of Loreal tie up? We don't know. I think it's weird. That's what we can say right? But like the people will talk with like absolute certainty that you know they're divorced they're separated they're like this that that and I'm

[00:24:26] like I don't know and neither do you because like none of us are in that inner circle and then people will come online and be like I know for sure because I know somebody who is and I'm like it's always like I know somebody who knows somebody you

[00:24:41] know like come on like it's 2024 you ought to know better than that. So there's a whole thing with Aishwarya then my favorite bit of the whole thing was and I think what really made it for me was the expression on

[00:25:01] her face but there is this point where Priyanka is dancing in the barat and Nick Jonas is sort of like next to her and then Ananya Pandey sort of squiddles her way through the crowd comes up behind Nick and then just like elbows him aside.

[00:25:24] She wants to dance with Priyanka and she literally like shams him aside and she's got like this this expression on her face like chalhat. She treats Nick Jonas like a random Gora at the wedding which I can appreciate because Nick Jonas does look

[00:25:43] like a random Gora at the wedding. I appreciate that I appreciate that. Like a lot of people was like oh my God so rude Ananya and I was like you know what go go go go. That was amazing. I am an Ananya fan now.

[00:26:02] What I discovered is the short form of Ananya Pandey is ACP Ananya Chanki Pandey. It's amazing assistant commissioner of police. So any hot takes you had anything that you stood out to me was so happy to see John Cena at the wedding.

[00:26:25] You saw him did you see him? Well I put on my special glasses and saw him dancing. I couldn't see him. Okay so so you are telling me like what is the connection between him and Shah Rukh Khan like what is he talking about?

[00:26:39] Like he likes a lot of Indian fans and on his Instagram he's always talking about Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan the Shah Rukh Khan he is genuinely a fan. Am I frozen? You froze for a second again. Yeah. Okay.

[00:26:52] So he's genuinely a Shah Rukh fan on his Instagram. He's constantly talking about it and then obviously he is more hyped about meeting Shah Rukh Khan at the wedding than the wedding itself which he's paid for to make an appearance but it was genuinely like

[00:27:06] I met Shah Rukh Khan and he was having his fan moment and everybody went bonkers like oh John Cena should play the villain in the next spy universe movie and everybody was like no Shah Rukh should go and make an appearance as a villain in Peacemaker or something.

[00:27:20] It was. That was just shreemee man that was only her twisted brain that had that idea. It's a good idea though like I would watch that. But also the Kardashians were there and everyone was just like Rocky Saunders. Yeah. Legit similarity I could feel like yeah.

[00:27:42] Somebody would look better you know somebody put on a video of Rocky Saunders actually dancing in a barat and there was like oh Chloe learned the dance moves and I was like doing double takes like really is that Chloe or Rocky?

[00:27:55] The funniest thing was like for the wedding Kim was wearing like a Nathani like a nose for people who don't know like a Nathani is like a like a nose ring with like a chain that goes to your either your hair or

[00:28:10] your earrings and I remember seeing like the first photo and I was just like why does it look like that because it literally looked like you know those traffic bullets like they have those chains that you

[00:28:26] know like on them it was like that it was like huge and I was like why would somebody do that and then like Kim posted a video without moving a single muscle in her face of course and she was like talking about like it

[00:28:40] was some like you know Western designer who apparently made it especially just for this occasion and I was like yeah that makes a lot of sense because I can't imagine like anyone who actually grew up wearing those things or like knows what they look like would

[00:28:57] you know design something that looks that hideous. There was a post by Viral Bhayani about Kim he's written Kim Kardashian is the woman of the moment of all women Kim Kardashian is the way she is carrying Indian attire is just surreal and I was like dude it's

[00:29:14] just boobs that's it. That's it like you're not going to tell me that all of these other huts giant like Kim Kardashian that's just the also like that particular thing like you know like the like you know like like Asim was texting me I was like

[00:29:33] I see like you know the Kardashians brought the boob show and I was like yeah but also that made me really appreciate the plastic surgeons who work on Bollywood you know stars because like it looked so ridiculous like what she was wearing.

[00:29:53] It's clear that certain proportions in certain bodies are made for certain clothing and yeah, conventions fashion conventions and when you transport it it doesn't work in an Indian convention because you want to focus on different things and it looks weird it doesn't look

[00:30:11] necessarily nice those proportions like look at Janvi for example also somebody who's done a lot of cosmetic surgery but very much in line with our idea of what is pretty what is beautiful right and it doesn't look odd and she can carry pretty much everything I'm just saying

[00:30:26] Janvi is better than Kim Kardashian. But also like Janvi had like an amazing Ambani wedding like she looked she looked fire in literally everything that she was wearing. She looked gorgeous everything was like very traditional and beautiful and I loved it like I thought she was

[00:30:46] she was gorgeous. Suja any other take you had I think we have covered it all Shah Rukh was perchewing everybody and that was a big thing too I saw you know like that was another thing because he you know he he did like peri pona to everyone

[00:31:03] especially Amitabh and Jaya both of them and then literally the very next day Amitabh was on the Twitter streets trying to undermine Shah Rukh and being just like very interesting blah blah blah because Kalki is like now made

[00:31:20] like I don't know more money than what I know something yeah in some kind of way and Amitabh was just like oh so interesting haha and literally everybody was like big like Shah Rukh be your pet way and this is how you behave

[00:31:39] so yeah I was also I must also slander our ex Prime Minister Boris Johnson who made an appearance at the wedding looking like a homeless person. These do not include me in the R here technically because I have the passport but but any like opportunity I get to

[00:32:00] slander him. I would be like disgusting disgusting man horrible like you walk into a big giant hall a very expensive hall looking like that what sort of yeah yeah yeah I mean then you also have Tony Blair who's like you know yeah literally did a

[00:32:22] genocide you know like I was hanging out with Shah Rukh by the way like there's a photo of him hanging out with Shah Rukh and I think Barun Dhawan or somebody random like that you know like it was like one of those things

[00:32:33] but he was like very excited to meet Shah Rukh you could see like his face and he was just like oh my God Shah Rukh I get it. I mean we're all excited. We're all excited to meet Shah Rukh you know like I think

[00:32:44] we should end the Shadi discussion with the boat trip video going back to our initial talk about how tacky this whole thing was oh my God. Explain the board video because I don't know I didn't I

[00:33:01] hadn't seen it you sent it to me and I it was really badly shot too. She's like in a plastic swan and she's like being floated around it's nothing from Bahubali you know is that she's more like Raman and Thagas Ramayana.

[00:33:18] And then they play the Madhuri song from Arzu to it's the Ajan sajan teri. It's giving like VHS wedding of the 80s you know. Oh my God. I wonder who came up with that idea one also thing about you know people on the Internet being uncles

[00:33:37] and aunties and things like that also like the also so much fat shaming of the groom that's going on online too which I also find horrible like I don't like you know this clearly something medical going on right like if you're the richest

[00:33:51] man in the world you can have any trainer you can have any food yeah you know weight loss is a complicated thing it's not about you know like cardio Karni a chargante like I've been seeing these horrible takes

[00:34:02] like like somebody brought like oh now it makes sense why John Cena was there because they were lifting him on the shoulders like a lot of these things which are are funny I get it they're funny you're trying to be funny but also

[00:34:15] just like they're also horrible you know both of these things can't be true. Yeah, I think I had like he I think in one of the pre wedding speeches in one of the ceremonies I don't know how

[00:34:27] long this has been going but he did speak like you know growing up wasn't easy like he's had a series of medical problems throughout his childhood and obviously you said it's such a complicated thing and to comment on that without having the slightest inkling of what's going on.

[00:34:43] I think even if they have an inkling they're still going to comment on it because yeah you would think that you know like there's so much ideas about all these uncles and aunties are so toxic but you yourself are now those

[00:34:55] uncle and aunties when it comes to celebrity things you have no filter you don't think at all like these uncles and aunties don't think whoever these uncle and aunties are and come on man like just you know if you can be aware of

[00:35:07] so many things in the world like filter your hot takes to not everything needs to go out to go viral I just it just something that I find quite disgusting to be honest and yeah just wanted to kind of add that and also it's

[00:35:20] it's also the wedding is tacky it is like a waste of money and you know they should spend their money better I get all of that too but yeah you know little control like a little bit it's funny though that some

[00:35:34] of the apologists and some people who are defending it are saying like oh wedding is the wedding industry is real and weddings like this give employment opportunities. Yeah, that's capitalism right that's just like you know Hogyak I would love to hear anybody else's hot takes

[00:35:54] send us at you podcasting at gmail.com if anything we missed anything this and it's still not done it might be still that's a lot of things that are happening when hot take that I did like is that it's still not so numbs wedding

[00:36:08] you know so no no no no no no no no no no no no no no I want to see Salman and Shahrukh drunk together. Salman looked great in that black whatever he was wearing the grid but looking forward to the next movie when that comes out.

[00:36:20] Let's move on to some other things that have been going on. Okay, we just want to talk about one movie that we watched that dropped two days ago. I'm with you didn't get a chance to watch this right now.

[00:36:32] So I know I have like a bit of a understanding of what the movie is about and I was just like I can't do that to myself right now like it's like I can't do it right. So the movie is Maharaja it dropped this is not the

[00:36:47] Junaid Khan one because I was even getting confused because you had Maharaja and you had Maharaja dropping at the same day like a couple of weeks and this is a movie by I'll try to pronounce the name if I can.

[00:37:01] Nathan Swaminathan right okay and it's the new video video sit up at the movie and it also starts under a kashup as a villain. Let's keep it spoiler free so joy like major spoiler maybe but yeah. It's what did you think of Maharaja?

[00:37:21] I well it was I had not watched any trailers this movie came to the cinemas it was playing at my local cinema world and I did not go during then because I think we all had a time crunch like everybody was busy and just couldn't make it

[00:37:36] and I was very very much looking forward to watching it because so we just say the movie and I have enjoyed its work but I did not know what was it all about so I like I went in with zero expectations or zero knowledge about

[00:37:50] what it was going to be and I was disgusted I was annoyed I was angry and also wowed by the storytelling of it. I felt all emotions all at once like I also felt a bit manipulated by the way this story unfolds. Yeah.

[00:38:10] But I don't know if I can highly recommend it to anyone because it deals with certain subject matters that at this point in time where we are seeing so much death all around us it's hard for me to digest all of it and stay positive

[00:38:28] while that's the struggle every day that we are facing right now to stay positive and stay sane I suppose and this movie really pushes it like yeah it really pushes it so if you're not I would say if you're not in the strongest frame

[00:38:44] of mind I would not recommend you to watch it because it really tackles with a lot of violence violence against women violence against children and it treats it does the violence very callously like very carelessly like it

[00:38:57] it's like almost an aside you know and that like when I stopped watching this movie you know you have the rating from Netflix did you like this movie or not and I was like I don't know like it took like I was like what do I press here

[00:39:10] you know yeah it's very very dark this movie but it also has this and I think a lot of the south movies have this idea of you know oh I'm a fat guy but I'm actually a badass you know and it's like having those two things together

[00:39:26] yeah and I mean it again like the moment the movie started I was going to text you Suja because I knew where this was going because when you show a father and daughter relationship in that manner with the song in the background and you know

[00:39:44] what age this daughter is you know what's going to happen to the daughter yeah and I was like this is not good this is I'm not in the mood for this yeah actually went to Wikipedia to read what was going to happen and when

[00:39:58] it was going to happen because you know me man I'm these these things get a lot to me right yeah these are my triggers so I ended up even forwarding a few sequences in the movies because I didn't want to watch them I didn't I knew what they

[00:40:12] were getting to but then the movie is so in love with how it twists the narrative make it a puzzle and it gets more focused on how to twist the puzzle then what kind of it gets grinded between those pieces yeah and I think that is

[00:40:31] doesn't sit well with me. It's not sympathetic or empathetic at all. It's not interested in it even like actually is happening and it made me actually think of the movie that I really liked Irrata that we watched last year I think

[00:40:48] which deals with very similar themes like it was the first thought I had yeah but that leaves you with a sucker punch and like a pit in your stomach of what of the reveal that happened at the end where here you're like just kind of like

[00:41:05] confused like wait like also that happened and how did they get here and then because you're kind of figuring all of that part out you forget about this central strategy to it yeah and that kind of didn't work for me. Amrit what

[00:41:21] did you hear about this movie and what were kind of the hot like the takes that were floating around. Well it was I know what the central issue is like what is the central topic of this film which do we want to say what it is.

[00:41:38] I think we can say it yeah. So I knew that it dealt with like child sexual abuse and I knew that it was going to be a father daughter story so I actually like when you said you were gonna go

[00:41:49] watch it I was just like oh should I tell us like this is not gonna be his kind of movie. But yeah anyway so I know that there was like this movie just dropped with like very little fanfare and it basically the

[00:42:08] first 48 hours all the tweets that I saw were just like my god this is like amazing everybody go watch it it's great and then people whose opinions I really respect a lot of watching it and they were just like this needs to come with

[00:42:29] trigger warnings or with like at least some sort of acknowledgement of the kinds of you know the kinds of stories is trying to say and also like I guess like a lot of people heard really good word of mouth on those first couple

[00:42:45] of days and so families were going to watch this and they were taking their little kids to watch this film and obviously it was just like incredibly traumatizing for children and for families like I can't imagine like if I had a child

[00:43:00] and I took them to blind to see this movie and then I saw stuff like that how I would respond and I'm not even a parent. So I immediately knew that this was not going to be a

[00:43:14] movie that I would watch for a while at least because I just can't with children being hurt right now like I just I just cannot. So this is not going to be a movie that I watched for a while I don't think.

[00:43:29] Yeah, no I get that I get that completely and I also get that it is a good movie like I think it's it's there's a certain type of film viewer that can be okay with a lot of violence for I mean we literally just got killed.

[00:43:51] Yeah, it's different though. Yeah, yeah, I think there's like a certain kind of viewer who doesn't empathize with the characters when they when they watch it. Yeah and that must be a wonderful luxury because I wish I could do that.

[00:44:06] Yeah, yeah and I think kill is it is an exploitative kind of be great action movie where this does is trying to say something it is trying to say something about violence and things like that but I think it just get it does get

[00:44:20] I think we are discrediting what kill is trying to say I would just say kill is like on the second rewatch of kill I get a lot more about the world and what it's trying to say rather than just the action set pieces

[00:44:32] which are brilliantly done but behind the scenes it's also trying to set up a world which is so deprived and what propels everybody into action and what it's trying to say it gets more meaning with repeated watches I think kill

[00:44:47] deserves a lot more than what is just on screen. I agree because like what really what I remember is not really the action pieces because I'm not like a like I do enjoy action movies but I'm not like an action

[00:45:02] like you guys like you guys like really know your action movies right so for me like what really remained with me after I watched kill and this is a good time for me to say this because I didn't watch it when we were discussing I watched

[00:45:17] it after you guys discussed it but what really remains with me are the little throw away scenes that you had with the side characters where you know there's a scene for example where the father played by Ashish Vidyate is

[00:45:35] saying we should get off this train because we're losing too many people and the you know the villain played by Raghav Juhar he says yeah but like if we get off this train what are we going to tell their families because

[00:45:53] those families are depending upon these men to bring back you know some kind of cash or goods they won't be able to survive so this is their insurance policy like we need to do this also just the power dynamic because if they get off

[00:46:12] the train and the taco gets on the train the taco is a big bad guy yeah yeah so as long as they stay on the train they are the ones who are in the power seat and that

[00:46:24] is so fascinating you know like the fact that on the train the bandits are the bad guys but the moment they get off the train and they go into the you know quote unquote real world then it's completely flipped yeah and that also reinforces

[00:46:42] what the bad guy says to Amrit at the end where he says that you know like I killed four of your people you killed 40 you're not a protector you're a destroyer like you know like that like says like those are like 40 families you know

[00:47:01] or like when you see like the big guy like the henchman who's like who's like Terminator you know he just keeps coming back and like he's just beating up on him but then like you see that what happens like when his dad is killed yeah he's

[00:47:15] just like why did you kill my dad and then like and that's when like out of small like you know like kills kills him and goes like why did you kill my son and you're like this guy like literally didn't process that he was like killing somebody

[00:47:29] else's son yeah but like can clearly only process the fact that you know what happens to me is real but what happens to somebody else like that is not yeah and that is so indicative of a certain kind or a certain part of society

[00:47:47] that we live in irrespective of whether it's in India or whether it's in Europe or whether it's in the United States you'll find these people everywhere in all walks of life who whose idea of like what is real and important is that

[00:48:03] it happens to them yeah and not what happens to you know like other people I like to add one another layer regarding Siddhi the henchman the big bad boss in you know in this and clearly like in my head the background story of the Siddhi

[00:48:19] guy is you know he was born to be an athlete he was going to be the son of his village and then the system failed him he became bouncing tumor basically the decoy you know he probably was a state champion in wrestling or something

[00:48:33] and then became part because there's nothing else for him to do that this is his only way to earn his bread and butter you know it yeah that those those people says the dialogue where like she's with the artist like oh this boy you know like he he

[00:48:52] our sorry a school my sorry said huh like sub cut satya nash that they are and then he is like like we're bandits what do you think like I was so it's a it's a it's yeah I really I really like that character a lot funny

[00:49:14] but yeah going back to my Raja yeah you don't feel that it has the same kind of everything no the hero and the villain are treated like superhuman like the battle of the dad boards is happening at the same

[00:49:29] time like that there is like the tonal shift of this movie goes from comedy to hero worship you know Saudi masala movie where beheading is happening and all of that and then coming back to the grave reality of oh

[00:49:43] there is a central tragedy at point but then there is a comedy uncle as well in in a bit where the guy at the police station you know extends his ass to be beaten by the police yeah it's all over the place like and you are supposed to

[00:49:58] then find or in the the the puzzles and making all the pieces fit into place like sure that is satisfying to see how the story unfolds but then you take a you know a step back and look at the larger picture and I'm like yeah

[00:50:15] this was really annoying this was very like derived and you know like it was it lacks nothing of the empathy that that stories should have even they're trying to tell a tragic tale. It also doesn't make sense like they saw like which is

[00:50:36] it to put he has like super strength and I was like me Oh was he maybe like a gangster or something and now he became a barber. No, he's just like he's a regular dad. Barber is a regular dad and it has no consequences like I

[00:50:49] don't understand why they make this whole thing about him tearing up the building and stuff like that he never uses that strength and when he's fighting somebody else he's as strong as he is so why built that whole idea up.

[00:51:01] I didn't understand it like okay if you're a father that is going through humiliation and beatings to extract you know some sort of justice that I get but why does he then also have super strength like it would make more sense if

[00:51:17] you get embarrassed hurt beaten and you barely make it through the end line and then you see you know what was the point of it all in a way but here it's just like okay I'm also super strong and I'm cutting off people

[00:51:31] chopping off people's head but I'm also like a helpless father and they are those of a lot of these things that like I'm saying it gets enamored with the plot mechanics more than like you know what what's actually doing to these

[00:51:43] characters and that I think is kind of the callousness in the film. What did you think about Anuraka ship? I think he's great like he's reveling in this villain role I don't know why he is but he is but yeah I think he's good.

[00:52:00] I think he's good the hair pieces weird very odd both of them are wearing hair pieces and they're very badly done. Yeah but yeah so that was our thoughts on Maharaja drop us an email at you podcasting at gmail.com if you disagree with

[00:52:15] us if you think this is a masterpiece that we missed out on there were a few interviews and news that came out that we want to go over quickly Akshay Kumar did a very long interview for Sarphera of all movies with

[00:52:27] Bharadwaj Rangan's episode channel Galata plus I think it's called right. I watched the whole thing. I'm assuming you guys didn't watch the whole thing. No because Asim is Akshay's number one fan as we all know it is true though right like I've been quite positive in

[00:52:47] general about Akshay I feel and I do have a I do like Akshay still with all of his things you know I do kind of like watch his movies and I do like his approach and it's funny because it's like in a one and a half hour interview

[00:53:05] and I was like he has so many smart things to say about cinema. He has so many kind thing to say about other people about discipline which I really like you know having a very kind of he leads a very disciplined life and a very

[00:53:21] health conscious focused life and he was very like you know be true to yourself like these are a lot of things that I very much agree with like how work ethic needs to be you know focus on your work even if you fail keep added believe

[00:53:34] that what you're doing is good and have faith with your God Allah he mentioned Allah specifically all of that you know which I thought was kind of cool. I'm just like watching it and I'm like why do I not

[00:53:47] see this in the movies you make then that I don't understand if you have all of these approach because what I like about Akshay which nobody does is he does for movies a year and I think that is the big thing like I think this is something

[00:54:02] Varun should be doing. I think this is something you know or Salman should be doing Shahrukh should be doing give us more movies a year and he's like you know if one doesn't work it doesn't matter another might work.

[00:54:13] I just need to keep working because this is what I do I work and I like that work ethic you starts early works eight hours a day and that's it and he addressed a lot of these things you know like oh why don't you give you know

[00:54:26] more time to move your project and I like that and he had this analogy where he's like he was asking about that he's have you bought this shirt or have you gone to a tailor to make it. Patty's like what do you mean gone to a tailor?

[00:54:41] Some people go to a tailor. It's just like a disconnect in the realities between both of them or he was like yeah if I go to a tailor he says I need four meters of cloth for a shirt.

[00:54:52] If I give him 20 meters that doesn't make sense that doesn't make economic sense that doesn't make you know so I can be flexible but a movie needs 30 days or 50 days or 60 days and he's like yeah but it may have to take me

[00:55:05] I gave 90 days and it didn't help at all if there's enough actors that space out one project every two years and then when that movie doesn't work they get into a depression. So there's no guarantee that even if you work for a project

[00:55:19] for two years that is going to be a hit and I was totally on board with all of that but I don't know what the movie is he's picking I still like there's been a while that I don't haven't been excited for any Akshay movie.

[00:55:31] Maybe the last one was brothers I guess that's the last one that I kind of was like yeah this is this could be fun. But in the end what do you mean I watched it was horrible. So I don't know what what's happening what's going

[00:55:43] wrong in the mix but I thought it was a good interview but I don't think either of you could watch like a an hour and a half of talking you know that's the feature film length. No thank you. Yeah I watched the Anupama Chopra interview which was

[00:55:57] similar length that was okay. Which one was that I think it was on the Trident Refuse channel so it was like an exit interview basically but Anupama Chopra was talking about her time as a film journalist and how wild the 90s were and the trends of

[00:56:14] the trade back then and how big Stardust was and Stardust would write anything and everything without any repercussions and the film stars would actually be scared as shit you know that there was shit in their pants what they knew gossip they are going to write about

[00:56:31] and then how it has now devolved into video form basically. Hmm. Right. I watched an interview with this guy called Vishal Punjabi who owns the wedding filmer and that's the company that has filmed Anushka and Virat's wedding Deepika and Renvi's

[00:56:50] wedding like all of that and it was really interesting because I didn't realize that so he I guess like grew up in Ghana and he's like one of those like you know the most African rich people and he was studying in I guess

[00:57:07] in like the UK or something and he wrote he was just interested in film and he wanted to work in Bollywood so he wrote a letter to Shah Rukh and was just like hey I'm sorry text savvy I can build your website whatever

[00:57:21] can I come work for you and Shah Rukh said yeah okay and he ended up like working. What's Shah Rukh see? That's it. And then he was just in like he was just in in Bombay for like

[00:57:37] a long time like working for Red Chili's and then he got deported because he overstayed on his work visa and then when he came back he will he owned the wedding filmer and then you know like that was his company.

[00:57:55] But it was so interesting because there was like a lot of things that he was talking about that he wasn't like he wasn't it was just sort of like like information that came out contextually rather than him like actually talking about

[00:58:10] specific things and to me those are always like the more interesting things when people are talking about because it's stuff that they don't even understand the value of when they're like talking about it like he spoke very

[00:58:27] he spoke about like being with like a quote like he called a fancy woman and he was just like oh you know she was like you know I was in love with her and like I thought it was going

[00:58:37] to be forever and then she basically dumped him and he got deported because she was just like I'm not coming to Ghana like what's in Ghana. And then he sort of like slipped up at the end and it

[00:58:48] turned out that you know the woman that he was talking about was Zoya Akhtar and one of the piece of information was that he and Zoya wrote a script and Shahrukh agreed to work in it Shahrukh in Priyanka agree to work in it

[00:59:01] and then he got deported and that movie never got. Yeah yeah yeah and he had like so many and apparently like one of the reasons why he got deported according to him is because he was working for Shahrukh and there

[00:59:16] were like a lot of people even back then who had it out for Shahrukh because he was Muslim and because you know he was successful and they were trying to fuck with him like you know in however make however like whatever ways

[00:59:31] that they could find and also it sort of like gives you a look into the networking that Shahrukh has which is I think very different from either of the other cons because he talks about like how like Shahrukh knew the defense minister at the time and like you

[00:59:49] know was like a good friend of his etc. and it's just really interesting to me the way that Shahrukh plays like 3D chess. Yeah so it was like a very interesting interview. Which channel is it on? It was on YouTube.

[01:00:06] She said Amrita Center links you have it but yeah I wanted to watch that because I saw clips of it but I didn't know the name of the person so I was like oh I need to get it to it but like Akhtar took

[01:00:16] all my time so yeah. Oh also we had one more thing hot take Amrita you said you mentioned about the bad news trailer right? Yeah look bad news is not the movie that is going like I'm not going to be watching bad news.

[01:00:36] I don't know maybe I will watch it but it's not a movie that is like it's going to change cinema as we know it. I am watching every Tripti Di Amiri movie I'm writing it now I'm going to watch all of it like every movie she does

[01:00:50] I'm going to watch it. I've been on board from you know Leila Majnu like this is not new this is not Barbie number two thing. So that is basically the thing right like there's like weird the way people talk about Tripti in particular is so weird

[01:01:04] to me because for all this time we've heard about like oh why don't outsiders get chances? Why don't outsiders you know do more projects blah blah it's a conspiracy and then Tripti gets a gig she gets a gig that is you know it's a very mainstream sexy girl.

[01:01:27] In the Dharma movie. Sex comedy yeah sex comedy made by like Dharma and it's just people are just like oh like she's cheapened herself like why is she doing this like she wants to be a mainstream heroine that's why she's doing it like what part

[01:01:45] of it do you not understand like this is what Bollywood looks like I particularly love the fact that you know there's this this song came out called Janam and of course all the prudes on Twitter was just like oh my god this is like

[01:01:59] fine and I'm just like no actually it is not it actually it's actually not and people were just like they whoever directed this should take lessons from from Karen Johar and how to make you know like sexy look pure and not vulgar and

[01:02:17] then it turned out like Karen directed that song. Did have that vibe of that Polish 50 shades of gray thing that was going on in the COVID period that you were watching Amrita you know I don't know what that movie

[01:02:33] was called but there was like yeah that's the vibe who was getting giving to me yeah people just get very uncomfortable why with these kind of sensual songs I feel I don't know why you're watching this with your dad and your

[01:02:49] your knees like I don't like children why like why is this a thing what's in your phone like a normal person yeah in the bathroom in the dark like the phone that's how you watch it. So how did you watch it? Yeah the first song was a clue.

[01:03:07] That's right. Yeah. I had Vicky as a dance number that's kind of cool yeah Vicky yeah Vicky I love that song I love the way that Vicky is not so smooth. Yeah like I like I like I like the Katrina vacation of Vicky.

[01:03:25] He needed it the boy needed it like upgrade the man you know. It's really cool. I also by the way coming back to the Ambani wedding there was also seen where he was dancing and Katrina was in the background and the song came out and she goes genuinely

[01:03:38] happy my husband has a song that everybody dances to she was like yeah this happens this happens to me all the time but this is now happening to Vicky you know so good it's good it's good. Anything else that's it?

[01:03:53] Yeah cool that's a wrap for this episode so Joy working people find you online. You can find me on tiktok instagram and twitter at 93 K and you can follow hand on podcast on all our socials at hand on podcast.

[01:04:05] I'm Rita you can find me on Twitter at Amrita IQ. I'm Alasen Bernie on Twitter drop us an email at you put a skin and you podcasting at gmail.com sign up to our patreon a lot of cool things are happening there

[01:04:20] and it's a good way to support our work. You can support from $1 and yeah we'd appreciate it and yeah thank you for listening and next episode we'll be talking about my.