Ep 241- Barzakh Ep 1, Bad Newzz, Film Companion shuts down

[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 Khans of the Hindi film industry, Amir, Salman and Shahrukh. Hi, you're listening to Khandaan- A Bollywood Podcast regular feed.

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[00:00:45] 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 and Sujoy. Hey, everyone. Hello. How's everybody doing? I'm absolutely caught up in the Monday blues.

[00:01:02] We're recording this on a Monday rather than our usual Sundays. We really should avoid Monday recordings though. I think everybody's energy is off. I'm half going crazy. You guys have been busy already. Amrita has had already a full work day. Actually, in India.

[00:01:22] So, it's a bit of a check-up. But also, it's good that we have something to say that we did this on a Monday. At least we caught up with our lovely Khandaan people. At least we accomplished something on a Monday. Yeah. Good to be.

[00:01:41] Did you see that tweet going around that fight on Khatronka Khairadi? Yeah, I saw that. Who is that? Who's that guy? Is that the same guy as how Kuchee slap? I don't know. They all look the same man.

[00:02:00] I just wanted to say that Pakistan makes better Asim's than India does. That's what you're gonna say. It's his name, Asim. Asim Riaz or something like that. Even India has to admit. I mean this Asim gave you Khandan. The other Asim gave you Barzakh, cake and churayas.

[00:02:21] Third, it's giving you nonsense in a terrible English accent. I think Pakistan makes better Asim's than India does. Let's talk about Barzakh a little bit. Okay. I think episode four is dropping tonight if I'm not mistaken. I watched two episodes. I think both of you watched one episode.

[00:02:44] Yeah. We had been really waiting for Asim Abbasi's follow-up after churayas. It took a long time. We were worried that this might never release. And more than that, I think we were also just waiting for Fawad's return on a serialized show. Sanam Said being back.

[00:03:03] So yeah, episode one you guys watched it. Amrita, what were your thoughts on the first episode? So this is very non-linear storytelling. And I have no idea what's happening as of the first episode. I have very little... I understand that there's some sort of supernatural element to it,

[00:03:28] but that is about as far as I understand because our... I guess the audience is following the story from Fawad's lens and Fawad has no idea what's happening. He's like... I don't know if he's supposed to be a hymn book editor,

[00:03:50] but he has zero idea what's up even though it's his dad. And so we have no idea what's up. We can sort of make a few educated guesses, but that's about as far as you can go, especially in the first episode.

[00:04:08] But it is absolutely stunning and I can't wait to find out more. This is a kind of storytelling that takes its own time and then sets out the chess pieces and then you take a little while to catch up to what the narrative is doing.

[00:04:28] And I love it. I like absolutely love it. Rava Yusre, do you have the patience for Barzakh? I have the patience for Barzakh, but I don't think I'm in the right mindset to watch it right now. I think it's a six episode series is what IMDb says.

[00:04:46] So I'll probably wait for all the episodes to drop so that I can... I don't have to deal with cliffhangers and everything. But having watched episode one, it takes a while for me as an audience to get engaged,

[00:05:03] but I'm just gasping at every single frame that is being shot and shown here. The visual splendor of this show is turned up to 11 and to watch beautiful faces for Al-Khan and Sana Sayeed. Grace the Screen is such a delight.

[00:05:22] I'm not again totally in on the story yet and I don't know what the story is, but there's the whole ancestral land, the tree, the painting that transforms and then the dead lover, the recaps, the changing aspect ratios to show the recaps and the flashbacks.

[00:05:45] All of that is on play and I think it would require some sort of right mindset for me to get into it. And I will be back in a few weeks, I guess, once all the episodes drop.

[00:05:58] Right now, I'm just happy that there is new follow up content for us to watch. Yeah. First of all, this show is the most beautiful thing I've seen in a while. And it's funny because I was watching it and it's such an easy go-to,

[00:06:18] but I thought of Sanjay Deela Bansali, to be honest. And how much I don't like that kind of pretty aesthetic and how much I love this pretty aesthetic. There is a difference between the two because Bansali infamously insists

[00:06:37] on every single aspect of the frame to be in his control, so he shoots most of it in a set. Whereas here there's a ton of outdoor location, like proper actual location shooting, so you sense the reality in the beauty.

[00:06:51] So you are not transported out of your own control or out of your visual aesthetic into something that is completely real but also completely gorgeous. And that's actually really interesting to me that he, even from the beginning, like from the very first scene,

[00:07:12] he is talking about the reality of nature and of natural things, but he is also building the story that is about the supernatural or at least like that is what I'm getting from it. So he's talking about this very real world where very real things happen,

[00:07:36] but then he's building the story that belongs in an otherworldly realm. And even in that scene where, I guess his brother comes to yell at him, I'm not exactly sure what their relationship is between the two of them, but I understood that he was some sort of brother.

[00:07:56] And he talks about how people from this realm cannot cross over to that realm or like, so there's definitely like some sort of magical supernatural ghostly stuff happening. But the emphasis is all about being present in this world

[00:08:21] and what it means to be a part of this world and a part of nature. So it's just a very interesting narrative device. But I still also feel there's a lot, like like Sanjali Labanzali to come on that point,

[00:08:35] it is very much in control of how he's blocking the scenes, how the camera is moving. But there's such a simplicity to the beauty where I feel the Sanjali Labanzali aesthetic is just gaudy to me. It feels cheap by being so luscious. Whereas here in the simplicity,

[00:08:53] it looks so beautiful to me. But that's just a personal preference. Every frame is a painting can definitely be said about Barzakh too. Like it is a lot of times said about Sanjali Labanzali but it does really feel false to me

[00:09:07] and artificial beauty where here it feels really like amazing to look at, luscious. Then there is the mystery box element to the show which I'll be honest, I'm the least interested in. Like figuring out this puzzle of who is what, who is what.

[00:09:25] I don't care because I'm not, I think since shows like Game of Thrones or True Detective or all of these shows where you're looking for every possible detail to figure out this puzzle, I think it takes away from the larger beauty and you almost, there's just an inherently,

[00:09:42] you want to figure it out quickly. That's just the way your brain works, right? Like who is that person? Why is she in the car? Why is she not in the car? You know like, did she appear was that a real person? Was that not a real person?

[00:09:54] And for me, it takes away a bit of the pleasure of everything else that the show is kind of giving us. I have watched two episodes and I think within the second episode, a lot of the questions from the first episode already get answered

[00:10:06] and they set up the questions that will probably get answered in the third episode. So I think it goes quite quickly but it's just that internal patience that we need to maybe have as a viewer. Also I saw on Twitter, there's a few Fawad Khan Twitter fan accounts

[00:10:22] that are really analyzing every visual on the wall in the book, in the tattoos, and the, you know, and I read a few of them but I'm like, I get it. Like I get what the, I mean,

[00:10:35] I don't find the symbolism to be that complicated to be honest and there's certain symbols that I don't get because it's just a frame of reference that either the set designer or the director is using and I'm fine with not getting it either.

[00:10:51] You know, so I'm really like enjoying the luscious visuals of it and the performances and kind of also the themes of it because the themes are definitely in line with Asim Abbas his previous work of patriarchy, family, violence against women

[00:11:08] that were present in kick, that were present in charelles. You know, so a lot of those themes are definitely coming back although they've not been fully developed yet. So I'm really fascinated by it and it's just such a beautiful show. Like just Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed,

[00:11:28] like what beautiful people are they? Sanam Saeed, like she is like even more than Fawad I think in the first episode at least. There's an interesting physicality to her which I have never seen in her work before. There's like little things like, you know,

[00:11:49] the very first time you see her she's like picking up this old man from the floor and it clearly requires a certain amount of strength. And then later on when she feels that he is being threatened she physically puts her body in between him and the threat

[00:12:09] or the perceived threat and also like everyone around her seems to be a little bit uneasy about her and who she is which makes me think that she might be a supernatural being herself. Like, you know, like there's something like off about her

[00:12:28] but I, you know, like it's gorgeous. Like I love it. I love it. And it's funny that you mentioned all the Fawad fans who are obsessing over every frame because I think this is perhaps one of the very few they see content pieces that allow the they see

[00:12:53] stands to participate in what has become a modern right of fandom which is you basically break down a piece of content, you know, frame by frame and then you analyze it and you look for like what the deeper meanings are, etc.

[00:13:15] I think that's why like they'll say for example continues to have such a strong fan following because it's one of those very few movies that allowed you to do that where you had like this rich symbolism and you had like deeper meanings and like mystical meaning.

[00:13:33] And Berserk, Asim Abasi is like really leaning into that kind of behavior. He retweets that kind of stuff. He calls them out. He encourages them. He tells them that he really enjoys his work being analyzed in that way.

[00:13:53] He's like a huge cheerleader to that certain section of fans. So I, you know, it's like it's very cute to me to like to see. Like I haven't been following those threads because I feel like they will tell me what to think

[00:14:09] and what to feel if I read them before I see the entire series. So I have just been like sort of like liking them and like saving them or whatever and waiting until all the episodes are out. But like once all the episodes are out,

[00:14:26] going to enjoy going through those threads and just sort of seeing what other people saw in it. I think it's one of those shows that you, I do agree with what Sujoy is saying that I think binging might be better than waiting every week.

[00:14:40] And unless you are one of those fans that wants to analyze every little bit. Also, the release schedule is quite interesting because they are dropping two episodes like every week it feels so they'll be done with it quite quickly.

[00:14:52] But I do think it's one of those shows that you can kind of come back to and then get a lot more out of it by the analysis of people afterwards. So yeah. I mean, I did watch episode two and I'm probably watching episode three tonight

[00:15:06] and it's really good. I think, but yeah, I agree with Sujoy what you're saying. I think if you have a few to bank, I don't think you need to wait for all six episodes because they are an hour long

[00:15:18] and I do not think you can be there for six hours in this world. You know, you need a little bit of break. So I think if you have like two episodes banked I think that's good to kind of get going again. So yeah.

[00:15:28] I'd say two points here. I love the camera work. Obviously the cinematography is gorgeous. As we said, the locations and everything outdoors and indoors. But what was outstanding for me in episode one was the way that they did a Warner

[00:15:49] where they sort of switch back and forth from the real to the not so real world. So somebody is interacting with the painter lady and then the camera pans and moves back and there's like people who are clearly not of this world

[00:16:06] with that heavy stone, you know, tied to their backs and they're supposedly the dead ancestors of that land. Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, I think we're done with Barzakh for this episode. I think it's what we've seen one episode. You guys have seen one episode.

[00:16:22] I think we definitely want to come back to it when we've done all six episodes. But I think we're all intrigued with it, you know, because we're very happy that something quite different, quite out of the box and very, very pretty is available

[00:16:34] to watch on YouTube for free. That's the other thing. It's not behind like a paywall or like some app that we need to download and stuff like that. So that's kind of cool. Suja, you saw a movie this episode this week. What did you watch?

[00:16:49] So I watched Bad News from Dharma directed by our favorite Anand Tiwari who played Ajit in Detective Gyeong-Kye Stokshi. So he's our director now. I think it's his first movie. It has Tripti Dimri and Vicky Koshil and Ami Virg.

[00:17:10] And I haven't watched the spiritual prequel to this movie. That was good news with what's it called? Just those words alone. You're already giving this movie way too much respect, man. Yeah, I mean, I haven't watched this, like, you know, this sperm universe as you would call it

[00:17:32] because that's what it is. SPU. Oh, dear. Yeah, there's a lot of pregnancy going on in this movie universe. But yeah, for what it is, it was a fun time to be had at the cinema really. I went with really super low expectations

[00:17:52] and I went with, you know, beautiful people dancing. And I got that. Obviously it's trying to deal with a lot of issues and trying to sort of hit the same beats as Rocky or Rani in some ways, but it deals with more comedy than Rocky Rani.

[00:18:12] Like, it really leans into the comedy of it. Like, what's his face? Vicky Kaushal's name is Aakhil Chatta Saptavadda. You know, and every time he introduces the background score just pumps into that, you know, Aakhil Chatta Saptavadda. And he is kind of that Rocky Randawa character

[00:18:35] and it's, he's fine really. I really enjoyed him in this. Thripsi Dhimre is looking super hot to be honest. Yeah, and they completely exploited that. Like, she's being hired for something and she is presented in the right way. I think they did justice to her screen presence

[00:18:58] and Amivarik is fine. Yeah. And I don't know, this one more thing that I want to address is that this is a Dharma movie and it constantly, you know, goes meta. You cannot go through five minutes without referencing other Dharma or Yashra's properties.

[00:19:16] So there's like constant, you know, throwbacks to Dil to Pagal or like kuch kuch hota hai and all of that. And sure, we live in a world where, you know, those are like easy nostalgia throwbacks that sort of engage audiences

[00:19:34] and we sort of, we see telecom movies do that a lot as well. You know, there's Chiranjeevi references or, you know, whatever, Telugu mega star and all of those things. But I don't know if we are,

[00:19:50] we live in a world where movies like this can at all be made without those references. So I guess like in five years would we have any sort of original references from movies? And that makes me sad. Like we just watched Deadpool, right?

[00:20:11] And it's so much full of meta references that movie cannot exist in its without referencing other properties. It kind of feels like that in a way. And I don't know if that is a good thing to have or a bad thing. It's a bad thing.

[00:20:29] Yeah, it's not a good thing. I agree. I agree. It's bad. Like remember when Shahid Kapoor did a movie called what was that Dil Bhole Haripar or something and he actually leans into becoming Raj from DDLJ and all of that thing.

[00:20:47] It just feels like that movie is an inferior product just by included that scene. Like it's saying that we are making, you know, doing a nod but it's by the same Yash Raj people. Why not make something original? I guess movie references we also get all like,

[00:21:10] oh they did a Raj reference. We should be happy about it. And yeah, I don't know. It's funny because like in the trailer all we saw were like Vicky Koshel references. Yeah, that's there as well. Yeah, and the number one question I had was

[00:21:29] has Vicky built up a corpus of work where he can like refer back to it in that way because like 90s dice can, you know. Yes, yes. So there is obviously a reference to Katrina Kaif and you know personal Jangga, that's fine.

[00:21:48] But then there's a reference to Manmerzia in that right and truly how many people watch Manmerzia to get their reference, you know? Like no shade, but the fact is, yeah. They're not part of the collective experience. I haven't seen Manmerzia either, you know, like it's not like

[00:22:04] Hamdil-Leh Chukesanam or something like that. I did want to ask, you know, we were, I went to watch Twisters with my daughter and I was looking, I always look at ratings and things like that. This movie has a rating of 12A and I was like, wait a minute,

[00:22:18] should I take her to this? But like I know our conversations about the song and the themes and I'm very liberal. I'm very okay with a lot of themes. But I was like, this probably shouldn't have a 12A right? Or am I mistaken?

[00:22:32] I mean there's talk about, you know, extra marital sex. There's Suha Graat scenes. There's two really hot songs with Dhritidimri almost, you know, very translucent dresses. I don't know if that qualifies for an A12A rating or PG-13 rating.

[00:22:52] I don't know what's the reason behind that 12A rating. Is it because it deals with the, with, you know, biological terms that are supposedly to be discussed with somebody not somebody in their pretense but with a guardian present? Probably that's why. I don't know.

[00:23:13] It's interesting like I think, you know, like because you mentioned Rocky and Rani, which also is very sensual and a lot of sequences, right? But the way the camera is gazing at the things that are happening is very objective in a way, you know.

[00:23:27] When you're discussing about tripti, I'm not sure if that is something that I would want to watch with my daughter, you know what I mean? So it is interesting how, although we can all admit that she's very pretty, right? And presented in a beautiful manner.

[00:23:42] It doesn't mean that it's the same gaze that the camera has on a person, right? So it's... I'm still tripping and I don't even know if this is true. But before the movie came out, people were comparing the songs in this film to Rocky and Rani and saying,

[00:24:01] oh, like Karan Johar should teach his directors how to shoot sensual scenes in a more tasteful manner. And then it turned out that Karan Johar directed those songs. And I'm like, you know... Yeah, like I wouldn't take your daughter to see that movie simply because, like,

[00:24:25] I don't think kids should go see sex comedies. And I say that as somebody who was sort of like a free-range child and grew up watching pretty much anything I wanted without any supervision whatsoever. But having gone through that experience,

[00:24:42] I'm 100% sure that kids shouldn't be watching sex comedies. I wouldn't necessarily say this is a sex comedy because it's not musty or grand musty, but it obviously deals with... It doesn't necessarily have double entendres on the drop of a hat.

[00:25:00] It's not that kind of a tacky sex comedy. It does have sex at the center of it. That's where the whole story spirals from. But yeah, that's my take on it. So it's a comedy about sex rather than a sex comedy? Yeah, who would say that?

[00:25:18] No, I decided not to go at the end of the day. I think also my thing was, you know, there's not that many bodywood releases, you know? So I was like, I want to take her to something, but we decided to go to Twister instead

[00:25:31] and I was so happy because we came out and it was like... She was like, you know, Papa, look at that. It's like a woman, it's a girl. She's a scientist and she saves everybody. That's like a cool message, you know?

[00:25:45] Like from bloody twisters to get, you know? Like what message would I have come out of coming out of bad music? So sometimes parenting choices are literally luck. Making such a monumental choice with Twister and it paying off, you know?

[00:26:10] So yeah, Twister recommend to go with your daughter. Bad news not as much. But I think bad news will be coming out on Prime or Hotstar, I think if I'm not mistaken. So we'll probably catch it then, you know? Yeah.

[00:26:23] But yeah, just generally there's not a lot of... There's not a lot of releases at the moment. Before the recording, we were thinking, you know, what should we talk about? What should we actually do in the next few weeks? And we don't know. We don't know.

[00:26:37] There's nothing really interesting. And I've also gotten a lot of feedback from our Patreon, signed up to Patreon for $1. People just don't like us to talk about nonsense new movies. They just rather have us talk about older movies that were actually quite good or terrible,

[00:26:52] like both of them, you know? So it's one or the other. So let's see. There were a few more news stories that came out. I think let's talk about the big one. And we hinted toward this a few weeks ago,

[00:27:07] but then it stops to Joy because I was like, you know, let's not talk about it now until the news has been officially announced. But film companion is shutting down or has shut down technically. And I wanted to just kind of give a few...

[00:27:21] Talk a few minutes about that because I think for all of us, film companion was kind of a very important outlet. And I think for Khanna and we were also like, you know, it's like these guys are actually doing it

[00:27:36] and they're making money out of what we want to do. So it was always kind of looking towards it. But clearly they weren't doing that much money either since they had to shut it down. So yeah, I just wanted to... I think we shouldn't rejoice in that fact.

[00:27:54] I'm not rejoicing at shutting down. I'm just laughing in the tragedy that you cannot make money by talking smartly about movies in any way, shape or form. And we talk about this a lot. We have millions of listeners in India, only a handful sign up to Patreon for $1,

[00:28:14] like a handful, like Ginti ke, you know? And they love our show. I'm 100% sure they love our show. And I'm also thankful for the people that sign up. Economically, it's very tight for everybody. So I understand everybody cannot contribute in the same way.

[00:28:31] But the fact of the matter is that churning out content, watching movies, editing, making these things, we're not even doing that much video. Like these guys were also organizing shoots and this and that and like, you know, roundtables.

[00:28:44] Like flying everybody down, all of that costs so much money. And it's not viable, right? Unless the only thing seems to be viable is shut, you know, just repurposing PR headlines, talking about gossips that is nonsense or talking about box office numbers.

[00:29:02] You know, that seems to be the only thing people are interviewed, interested or white people talking about Bollywood things. Like those are the four things that seems to really interest people. But people that I mean, I feel we talk sometimes smartly about movies.

[00:29:17] There just seems to be no avenue to make that a business. And that is kind of sad. But yeah, Amrita, what are your thoughts on film companion chatting now? First of all, like I really hope that all of those people, those very, very talented people find other places

[00:29:34] for their bylines because I would hate it if those voices disappeared from like, you know, film review forever. Secondly, and I just want to like also just give a shout out to Su Chen and Su Charita, both of whom have been here on the show.

[00:29:54] Su Chen actually came back a couple of times and he's been a very good friend of the podcast. And I just want to give a little shout out to all of them. I am also completely disgusted by the number of people who are actually are rejoicing

[00:30:16] in the end of film companion. These are people who have like a one line agenda and that is nepotism. And then they're just like, oh, like Anupama Chopra, you know, it's like a big NEPO supporter. And therefore, you know, like she now she's shutting it down

[00:30:37] like good for her, good for all of us, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, she has another job. Like she's going to be the head of the Hollywood Reporter India. It's not like she's disappearing from the world of Bollywood reporting, you know.

[00:30:51] So I don't really understand the pettiness that we have seen except that this is very symptomatic of the times that we live in and it's very sad. But yeah, like for companion, I think... Who cares for facts, Amrita, these days? You know.

[00:31:10] I think like film companion really made films accessible to a larger section of the population than ever before and in a way that was enjoyable from their interviews to their reviews to the essays, their recaps, all of those things. And they were really good at also pushing narratives

[00:31:38] about movies and shows that the average Hindi film fan wouldn't have access to. Like the whole push for Malayalam cinema, for example, that would not have happened really in the way that it did if it was not for film companion.

[00:32:00] The way that Telugu cinema has its moment in the sun right now, that would not have unfolded the way it has if it was not for film companion. Because the value in talking about cinema that is not about gossip and it is not about,

[00:32:19] you know, who wore what where when blah blah. The value in that is that you are creating an audience where none previously existed and you are pushing the agenda of cinema whether you like their perspective on it or not.

[00:32:41] Can I also add, I think it also was a safe space for actors. You know, and I think that's also, I mean, they're rich, they're famous, all of that, I get it. But they were at ease with Anupama Chopra

[00:32:55] that they would not get cornered in some hit line, by line. And it still generated a lot of conversation, but they were safe, you know, Deepika Katrina opened up, Katrina opened up so many times more with Anupama Chopra than she ever did in any reviews, right? Interviews.

[00:33:10] Shadow felt so close with her because they had such a long relationship with them. And I thought that was just, you got to see something about the stars and they were opening up a little bit more, which I honestly had no other place

[00:33:23] where that would really happen, you know? And I think even if you can get good interviews, I feel they can also be very bro-ish, you know? And I think film companion had none of that. And what you were saying about South Indian cinema,

[00:33:38] I also think, especially with Soochin, Soochin streaming with Soochin, they also almost validated streaming shows to a certain degree. But it was just all about, oh, they're making money anyway. We can't track the numbers. We don't know what's a success or not.

[00:33:54] But because he was talking about the art of writing these shows and how they get commissions on the showrunners, it elevated then this from content to actually things that are, that is art. And I think those were the two things that for me were really, really important. Sujoy.

[00:34:11] I would say two things, right? I think during the lockdown, especially, that's when obviously a lot of the content or online content consumption like skyrocketed for most of us. And probably that's all, like, I mean, Alan Pirmachopra has spoken about this.

[00:34:28] She wasn't as a consumer of South Indian cinema before the lockdown happened compared to post that. You know, a lot of the movies started showing up on streaming because then the accessibility also sort of opened up, right? A lot of us were watching a lot more Tamil,

[00:34:47] Telugu and Malayalam movies then. And because she was consuming so much more of that world, she got to talk about it. And through that, a lot more of us became aware of content like that. I mean, sure we were watching some, you know, Rajnikant movies

[00:35:06] or movies that were made by Maniratnam or Shankar before that. But, you know, the whole world of Fahat Fasul, to me at least, opened up the whole world of other Telugu movies opened up for me. And a film companion definitely played a pivotal part in that.

[00:35:25] And like, I think I've seen another interview of Anupama Chopra yesterday on the Humans of Bombay podcast. And she was talking about that film companion. I think they are not shutting down FC Studios, which is producing one of the... Masters, I think it's called Masters, right?

[00:35:47] Yeah, the Raja Moli documentary that's dropping on Netflix. So that sort of content wing is still going to be operating even though she's moved to Hollywood Studios, Hollywood Reporter. So it'd be interesting how film companion, the YouTube channel

[00:36:01] and its other sister channels like FC South and FC Local, how do they live on and what happens to the archive media that's already available. One thing that I'd be quite sad to see is that the film companion did this whole series on cinematographers,

[00:36:22] so they did with Anil Mehta and I think with Sudip Chatterjee as well. So I would have definitely loved to see one of the Vinod Chopra's old collaborators, Vinod Pradhan on that series. I don't know if film companion would go ahead and do another episode

[00:36:39] of Through the Lens that they did with these two cinematographers. I think they're done. There's not going to be any new content anymore. I know that from a direct source. It's done. There's no new content coming anymore. Well, at least we got to see those two.

[00:36:57] Obviously there's plenty of roundtables, plenty of film discussions that we've had over the years and I'm very, very thankful for that. We got a message from one of our listener, Beans on Patreon that I wanted to read out. After this, I'll probably ask you for your favorite

[00:37:14] standout moments from film companion just as a preparation. But Beans says, I'm really sad about film companion shutting down. I trusted their reviews, didn't always agree, but that's also fun. I like their interviews. They revisit old movies, different reviewers and a special feature on certain subject areas,

[00:37:33] for example, where Karan Jor discussed golden era movies. Their videos were professional and well made, interviews insightful and the lovely Katrina Vicky interview tapes. The thing was so cute. I'm going to skip this part because it's a bit private. I watched films.

[00:37:50] I probably wouldn't have been drawn to otherwise. I missed their review on the Friday that films come out and this most importantly, I like their liberal leaning, calling out films for anti-Muslim tropes and jingoism. I can't see any obvious contenders to plug the gap

[00:38:05] in terms of the breadth of output. And I think that really summarized a lot of my feelings too. I think they weren't caught up with a lot of the hype and the conversations that were going on online that can be very, very toxic.

[00:38:19] I don't always agree with their takes. I didn't always agree with their reviews, but it was still something that I kind of looked forward to and after I'd watched the movie, I would definitely go back and it would be one of the maybe one or two only channels

[00:38:33] I would really look at. And I think after this, there's really not much I watch anymore in terms of reviews from anybody else. I mean, I watched Bharadwaj Angan's interviews. I rarely watched his reviews and otherwise it's basically sucharita. That's it honestly.

[00:38:51] But yeah, any stand out moments for you guys that you thought, you know, those were good interviews and like I know a few like I feel the Shah Rukh Khan in Portugal when he was shooting for Jabhaj Al-Masajal. That was really, really cool. I liked that.

[00:39:08] I liked when Anupama Chopra was with Priyanka Chopra in New York. I really liked those interviews and weirdly enough, I really enjoyed the Rohit Shetty interviews. One with Ajit Devgan and then even recently he did one for his cop show, police squad or whatever it's called

[00:39:26] and Shilpa Shetty was doing the walk, the Rohit Shetty walk and I thought that was really cool. And beside all the round tables and stuff like that that's quite normal. Those were big things but for me those were really this like top of my head.

[00:39:41] Those are the kind of stand out moments for me. For me, the Dil Dharak Nedo interview stands out for me because everybody is having fun and like Priyanka and Ranveer are totally in on mocking how Anil Kapoor exists and we are all in Anil Kapoor's universe.

[00:40:01] That's a fun interview. Every time Anupama Chopra interviewed Diljit Dossan that has been such fun because he's such an earnest, good guy and he is so humble. I really enjoy his interviews. I think the one interview where Deepika was there and can't remember the actress

[00:40:25] and then the guy from Arjun Reddy was also there you know the actress round table. I remember that causing a lot of... That was the first one, that was the first actor round table I think. Yeah, I remember that but I think yeah

[00:40:39] I've already mentioned this, the Anil Mehta through the lens cinematography video I love that to this. Amrita? I have a fondness for her. You know the episode that she did with Vidyut Jamal after Vidyut Jamal had gone to like all around town saying that she hated him

[00:41:02] and she wouldn't give him the time of day because he wasn't a nepo and she only did like nepo stuff and then he spent the entire interview just seething at her while she was trying to ask him questions. I don't think I've laughed as much

[00:41:21] at an interview like ever in my life. Amrita you're that Mary Kondo gift I like mess. That's what you are, I like mess. It's true like yeah Sujoy is there with his like very earnest I like the cinematography interviews I'm just the only things that I can remember

[00:41:46] all the messy ones like when she had that big pan in their meet up and like everybody was there and then Alia just passed out and was just like nepo this, nepo that, nepo that and then because just like I am having an out of body moment

[00:42:05] Sujoy I have to say like I think somebody has deleted that gift from the internet because I've been looking for Alia with flaring nostrils saying nepo, nepo, nepo for so many days I think somebody's taken it off and I think you need to remake it

[00:42:23] because that is give worthy because the nostrils like it's so she's so stressed out she might like fly from stage like a Dumbo situation going on so yeah if we're talking about messy moments when Sujoy started talking to us

[00:42:44] and was like oh yes, yes I have like a shitty heap one and then I started talking to us and was like well if we are being too obsessed I like the Salman Khan interviews they're also awesome because he does not give a shit at all

[00:42:59] and like Anupama Chopra is telling she had a front row interview with him and he was like yeah Hindi maker and he touched her feet and it was the most he was the most hilarious thing ever I'm curious why nobody has mentioned Sandeep Anga

[00:43:17] that wasn't a fun interview like the mess happened after the interview when he got in his feelings and he was just like I wasn't adored enough when I went out that was more of a colonoscopy than anything this is a hard to... you have to go through it

[00:43:35] there's a lot of shit involved and it's painful and you don't want to talk about it too much but yeah it happened that kind of thing the more I think about it the more I'm like taken aback by that man's narcissism because like Anupama loves and adores Shahrukh

[00:43:55] but she will be like I didn't like this movie that Shahrukh made and if you think like Anupama would say that about a man she adores and wrote a book about do you think you get a special pass? like who are you? yeah these are the ones

[00:44:20] I really enjoyed listening to her do interviews with women do you remember the one with the playback singers? the playback singers but also Kangana do you remember one of the early... and Kangana has been like absolutely nasty and wild to her in the last few years

[00:44:42] but she was the one who gave Kangana the first real platform to express herself as an artist and she was like... also one of those interviews with Irfan Irfan Khan I really forgot about that that that ever happened but that was one of those tape cast things

[00:45:01] I think like Vicky and Katrina also had so yeah she's been there a few times and yeah I mean she's just a nasty person she's just gonna do nasty things right not Anupama, Kangana yeah of course Kangana but yeah I also interviewed Anupama

[00:45:19] back in the day for Mami and it didn't go well at all I think it was a bit of a a new interview or new podcast it's there why I I think our agendas were not like I was fan-going way too much

[00:45:35] and she wanted to have a serious conversation and I think the tone of the both things just didn't match together that well but I have listened to that audio by the way and it was perfectly fine I think you always read in too much into it

[00:45:49] like Radhika Apte was totally falling apart hated me but you watched the interview and like both of them are really charming yeah I fanboy Anupama Chopra so hard like I think she's so great so maybe I was projecting a bit too much

[00:46:05] but yeah I did have a chance to interview her back in the day so I was quite happy with that I think that was a year when or the time when Prem Ratan Dhanpayo came out because I remember you asking what after Mami cleans your palette with Anupama

[00:46:21] like oh Prem Ratan Dhanpayo is just around the corner so she's watching that I think that encapsulates Anupama Chopra like anybody like the best way you know she'll do Mami, she'll push all of this independent cinema different voices and then she'll like cleanse her palette

[00:46:37] with Prem Ratan Dhanpayo but yeah I think thank you for a decade of entertainment film Kapani and I don't think there's going to be anybody else except you except Desh Khandan which you can support by signing up to Patreon which is another way to do it

[00:46:53] I got another message that I wanted to read out actually I want to read out too if that's okay with you guys one is about Maya Mimsab which we reviewed last time sorry let me just go back here because everything is freaking out today

[00:47:09] I'll be interested to see how Hollywood reporter India now moves on with or what Anupama Chopra does it with Hollywood reporter they should take my knack for naming things and call it Bollywood reporter I've told you this guy already right so this is a message from Maria about

[00:47:29] Maya Mimsab which we reviewed last week I'm so glad you did this movie I've been waiting for a place to complain about it having never seen any of the more explicit cuts but knowing about them through IMDB trivia I was bummed pun intended that all streaming versions

[00:47:49] I could find through legitimate means are the chased version that's on Netflix I actually think the descent of Maya makes from blushing bride to blushing adulterer to enthusiastic sexual being gives her character some kind of arc which is totally missing in this cut or maybe I also

[00:48:07] turned this movie into an open world game because it's so boring and I love that job I wonder why chile's I wonder why Rachel he didn't at least release a version that kept some of the intensity of the sexy scenes without showing you anything

[00:48:21] explicit on the other hand it get I guess it would be pretty awkward if you are a red chile's editor to spend a week editing your boss's butt out of a 30 year old movie there was actually somebody else who wrote in yeah so now who wrote in

[00:48:39] no was it there's somebody who wrote in that they definitely remembered Shah Rukh's butt and the train sequence that you were mentioning that's in Patreon I think that was yeah that's what I'm thinking it was in Patreon but yeah I'm trying so there's definitely another cut

[00:48:57] that you have seen and you didn't dream of and Shah Rukh's butt but it's definitely not the one on Netflix right yes so yeah that was one from my Ameem Saab and there was one more that I want to read sorry this is from Irfan and Irfan

[00:49:17] is a long time listener and a big fan of Haan Dan hi Sujoy Amritan Sujoy hope you are all doing well enjoying life I recently had an injury to which I had been home so like any person my whole day goes with watching random interviews of celebs

[00:49:33] watching and binge watching shows I was not able to ask any questions for the last Q&A but I had a few Irfan I hope you feel better from your injury first of all I hope it was nothing bad his question is

[00:49:45] what is a Bollywood song you know all the lyrics to or can sing it if your life depended on it I think this is a Sujoy question second question currently Bollywood doesn't have a villain like Amrish Puri, Amjad Khan or Prakash Raj who do you think could take

[00:50:01] the throne or could play an amazing villain personally I want to see Sunil Shetty or Amitabh take that role lastly I would like to see you all review Kartus, Madame X or Pyaar Hogya or The Killer with Imran Hashmi okay let's go over these two few

[00:50:23] what is a Bollywood song that you can sing start to finish Sujoy do you know any there are so many I don't know if I can completely say that with zero fail I'll be able to but once the music starts it's probably going to come flying into me

[00:50:43] like you know I saw a girl and she came in black and I'll be able to sing them even the Anumalik rap part you know I met you, you met me I met the world and it went on all of that for some reason

[00:51:01] because everybody used to sing it back in the day Hama Hama name it and even like Mukalla Mukabula P.K. Mishra's funny Jurassic Park lyrics I'll be able to sing them all Amitabh a lot of 90s stuff yeah Amitabh any songs that you would remember

[00:51:19] I mean mine are like very old songs you know like there's songs from guide for example or like you know like yeah like it's it tends to be like Raj Kapoor songs or things like Talat Mahmood songs you know like because these were the songs that

[00:51:39] I went to sleep listening to like my parents or like instead of lullabies I used to just put on like cassettes from Talat Mahmood and Datha Mangeshka or the Mangeshka sisters actually and then you know like I just went to sleep

[00:51:53] listening to them so that's what I remember some things right when you reach a certain age and your brain stops memorizing songs after that point I think it's 29 or 20 years something like that there's a specific age and you believe that the music

[00:52:07] just before that era is the best music and you cannot even your brain can't even comprehend new music after that there's like some scientific truth to that so I think a lot of my songs that I can sing start to finish is like the Salman SP Bala songs

[00:52:21] you know like I know them so I will tell you yeah yeah of course with the workout routine and the dance moves that one but yeah all the SP Bala songs I know pretty much and the things that I would not even remember like

[00:52:37] we've had this on the show that we've watched a movie the song starts playing and I know all of the lyrics and I didn't even remember it right like love and stuff like that I know all of those songs 100% like realizing oh this song is from this movie

[00:52:53] because we know the song but we didn't know the movie it happened just recently with the Raveena Salman film that we were watching Pathar Kapoor and then you had like that Kaby Lincoln wrote to he did like we absolutely did not remember that song was in that movie

[00:53:11] and then like we suddenly saw it and we were just like oh yeah we know the lyrics to all of this yeah and there's also a certain era of that same era I would say of Pakistani pop songs that I know start to finish

[00:53:25] and I don't even remember the bands that sang the songs I just know the songs this one Doctor or Billa Purani Meri Kar Hai do you know that song? start to finish know the whole thing I don't know why check it out it is a really

[00:53:47] I'll add it to the show notes this is a good song and there's like a really whiny song two whiny songs that I know actually know a lot of whiny songs maybe I was going through something at that time but there's like a pop song

[00:53:59] Pakistani pop song and it's called Dekte Legayi Meri Dil and it's like at that era of Pakistani songs were so cheap because it was literally some young guy like with a VHS camera going to some you know abandoned place and then dancing and there were

[00:54:15] they would have like three background dances with a bandana on their head and like black shirts doing like terrible you know moves and I'll try to find that and vital signs like etabar I know etabar from vital signs back to front

[00:54:31] again clearly I was going through some things and I don't remember what I was going through but I know a lot of those songs too so those are my kind of like pre-junoon just before the junoon got big after vital signs after vital signs broke up

[00:54:47] that's my era of Pakistani songs and yeah a lot of the S.P.Bala what do you think of the villain question that he asked any villains that you think any actor that could take on Amrish Puri

[00:55:03] I think one of the things Irfan I don't think they make those kind of movies unfortunately that's the problem so there is no Qadar Khan basically they don't need that kind of villain necessarily right but that level of bombast just wouldn't work in a modern day film

[00:55:21] like what we have today is like stuff like Gans of Wasipur that sort of like realistic but niche kind of villain sort of thing like Raghav Juyal in Kill did like an amazing job as a villain he was like really really good

[00:55:41] but he wasn't menacing in the way that say Anamrish Puri or in the movie Nawazuddin has tried that like in movies like kick and stuff like that where he's gone very big and I don't think it's worked every time unfortunately you know

[00:55:57] also like Amrish Puri had a physicality to him not just the Qadar Khan dialogue but the eyes the bald head and the voice yeah that all those three factors existing in one actor I don't think even Sunil Shetty has that

[00:56:15] like once he starts speaking I'll just start laughing I was thinking about that too because we've seen him do the villain be it Dhadakhan or be it Mahuna and it's never really worked for me to be honest like he doesn't have that villainy quality for me

[00:56:31] it was funny I was thinking about this question while I was watching the fourth chapter of the roundup yesterday I had to quit because the subtitles were so bad I couldn't figure out what they were trying to say but that movie does something

[00:56:45] you know when they go to Korea then they go to Hong Kong and the last one I think they're in the Philippines right I was thinking if they're doing all Asia they could come to India too right imagine if that movie is then set in

[00:56:59] India who would be then the villain and I was thinking Sunil Shetty maybe but imagine if it was Salman Khan I was about to say Akshay yeah but dude you know non-least punches and Salman's punches man it would be so good man it would be so good

[00:57:23] but I don't think Salman would agree to playing a villain yeah he wouldn't but it would be a good fight though it would be really good fight she's never done that right like Salman's never played the villain no he hasn't I don't think I mean Ter-in-ahm I guess

[00:57:41] I can find out the villain there but I was also just watching the roundup and Don Lee and his punches I was like sorry Amrita I'm going a bit actiony but like he has this combo where he punches and then he punches in the hip

[00:57:57] really hard and they just fly away because they've been punched in there and I was like who punches the hip man this is insane such a cool move man Salman should do this this is the kind of action we need it's so simple

[00:58:11] but we just don't have it we just have that acrobatics Tiger Shroff or now we have a bit of that John Wick kind of thing that Kill is trying to do just like power house punches man that's what we need but also like with

[00:58:27] the roundup movies I just want to add one thing they never do the speed ramping thing that Rohit Shetty movies have done like post 300 and the Zack Snyder camera moves zoom in zoom out slow motion then fast action and all of that because that

[00:58:41] really cheapens the quality of the action for me and like with the Prabhu Deva movies and with a lot of the Telugu action movies that's been kind of the cheap trick that they do to cover for the you know the deficiency in the quality

[00:58:57] of the action you know the choreography and the execution of the actors who are not necessarily action stars but they have to play the one guy who can kick ass and that's been the case with all the past Salman Khan action and the roundup movies

[00:59:11] don't do that or none of the Korean action movies do that the camera work is like you can see the action in real time punch and the camera moves with the action and you can see it's so clear and that's what makes the difference you know

[00:59:25] that's what happened in Kill that's what happens in John Brick you know that's why we love these action movies because it used to be that way like if you go to Virgatti for example that was that kind of action you know that was that kind of action

[00:59:39] like it feels real there's no wire work anything why can't just Rohit Shetty do this right he has the money he has the skill yeah and he could do it giving him the title of the action director of Bollywood it feels so wrong yeah but

[00:59:55] Rohit Shetty if you are somehow listening to this like prove us wrong you know prove us wrong make a kick ass action movie without speed ramping or without jeeps flying and without wire work you know like that kind of thing like we put your team do wire work

[01:00:09] I don't care but make it look like people are not floating but wire work works for accentuating the action not to be all of the action right yeah punch somebody he flies against the wall that's not it you punch somebody and you pull his leg with the wire

[01:00:27] that makes that accentuates it you know yeah but yeah sorry sorry Amit I just went full action for a moment there you want to talk about like Jagale or like Lata Mangesh balance things out oh wow one day I will talk to you

[01:00:43] about Chupke Chupke and the films of Rishikesh Mukherjee yeah yeah speaking of which we did a good job at the Bollywood draft too if you haven't checked that out Manisha invited us and it might be one of the last times he invites us

[01:00:59] I mean yeah like if you invite us on and it's like an Amitabh Bachchan episode we are gonna bring it sorry but we absolutely are well I hope we brought it on this episode and we'll be bringing it in for the next episode tune in we don't know

[01:01:17] what we're going to be doing we might do an older movie or something like that I don't think anything interesting is coming out drop us an email drop a suggestion on what we can cover on new podcasting at gmail.com I'm not sure if it's gonna be directly

[01:01:29] Irfan suggestions that he suggested but Irfan is a good listener so we might come back on a few of those but otherwise sign up to Patreon Amitabh where can people find you online you can find me on twitter at Amrita IQ Sujoy

[01:01:45] you can find me on twitter instagram and tiktok at 93k you can also follow handan podcast on all our socials at handan podcast check out our new reels and shorts on youtube and instagram and you can also DM us with your suggestions

[01:01:59] not just on email but you can dms on all our socials at handan podcast yeah if you can do subscribe on youtube I think that would really be helpful for us because we are trying to create more content there and we dropped an amazing essay

[01:02:13] Amrita De La Mar Amitabh and there's a few others that we're all working on so that's going to be the place where we're going to be doing more of these videos and we'd love to have your support there so yeah that's it for this episode

[01:02:25] thank you for listening