Ep 248-Baazi

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Welcome to Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast where this week we’re discussing 1995’s BAAZI.

Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar and starring Aamir Khan and Mamta Kulkarni, Baazi is a tribute to the Hollywood thrillers of the 1980s. We talk about the way Aamir’s character is depicted in this film, which is completely different from most cop characters in Bollywood. The songs by Anu Malik haven’t really survived the decade but are still quite catchy. Listen to the episode to find out why this is Asim’s favorite Aamir film.

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[00:00:15] Hi, this is Asim. This is Sujoy. This is Amritha. And you're listening to Khandaan, a Bollywood

[00:00:20] Podcast about the three main Khans of the Hindi film industry. Aamir, Salman, and Shahrukh.

[00:00:26] Hi, you're listening to Khandaan, a Bollywood Podcast regular feed. Thank you so much for

[00:00:31] your support over the years. We now have a Patreon channel with bonus content and exclusive

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[00:00:41] and better content. Visit us at patreon.com slash Khandaan Podcast.

[00:00:48] Hi, and welcome to a new episode of Khandaan Podcast. My name is Asim Burney, and I'm joined

[00:00:53] with my lovely co-host Amritha and Sujoy. Hey, Amritha, hi Sujoy.

[00:00:57] Who can you do? Who can you do?

[00:01:03] First of all, I get very excited when a movie has that intro. And secondly, I think of you

[00:01:08] when that happened. Because I'm Raza Murad. It's such a powerful start for a movie, right?

[00:01:15] Yeah. This episode, we are talking about Bazi, directed by Ashutosh Goarkar, starring Aamir

[00:01:22] Khan, Amritha's favorite, Mamta Kulkarni, Parish Rawal, Aftar Gil. After a long time, we're doing a movie with

[00:01:31] Aftar Gil. I am so happy that you were able to pronounce Mamta Kulkarni's name because when it

[00:01:38] comes to Atul Kulkarni, you totally missed it all. When we were doing the Rang De Basanti episode,

[00:01:44] but Mamta Kulkarni, you're totally fine. I wonder why, Sujoy. I wonder why. What captivates me so

[00:01:50] much that I'm able to pronounce it? You know that scene in Gangs of Wasapur when Huma Kureishi is

[00:01:55] telling to Nawaz's character, like, Faisal, you're not a little bit of a song. You're watching

[00:02:01] Dharo Meri Mang Dharo. I would like to say, like, when the start credits of this movie happens,

[00:02:08] right, after that cold open in Bazi, they, like, the title rolls in Salim's Bazi, right? And I was like,

[00:02:17] who is this Salim? Is this Salim of Salim Khan? But it's not. And then in, and then the more,

[00:02:25] credits roll. And then the, I think one of the production control guy is the production designer

[00:02:32] of this movie is called Javedaktar. What's happening? Which parallel universe is this movie

[00:02:38] made in? But Javedaktar is the production designer and some other Salim is producing the movie.

[00:02:45] And Ashutosh Gowarikar is, you know, making this Aamir Khan movie. Just generally, this movie had a lot

[00:02:51] of Muslims involved. Like the credits, I was like, it starts with the Noor-e-Haq, 786, Salim's,

[00:02:59] Iftikhar's, you know, all of these names, like what's going on? When did this happen?

[00:03:02] And all the terrorists are Raju Pandits and all of that.

[00:03:06] Yeah, exactly. The Muslims are behind scenes where we're not having it. They make it Raju Pandit this

[00:03:11] time. Yeah. It seems like a bygone era to be honest.

[00:03:16] Yeah, for sure. Here's the plot summary from IMDb. Let's give this another shot because last

[00:03:21] episode, it didn't go well, but chalo. A tough and honest police officer wages a one-man war against

[00:03:27] terrorists and a corrupt politician who have plans to assassinate the chief minister of the state.

[00:03:32] That was good. That was a good, but also I think when we talk about Bazi, we have to say it's like

[00:03:40] part Die Hard, it's part Speed, it's part, you know, like seven other movies in there.

[00:03:48] So yeah, it's a lot. A lot goes on in this movie, right?

[00:03:54] It's very of that era, right? The 90s action hero Hollywood trope.

[00:03:58] Yeah.

[00:03:59] But it does it so well. Like I think if there is a Bollywood movie of that era that was probably

[00:04:06] making it, I think Bazi will be up there in my list. So we had dinner yesterday, me and Sujoy

[00:04:14] with some other friends. Shai, our DJ Shai that makes the theme song of Khanda. Follow him. He

[00:04:22] does amazing mixes. And then our friend Mike McEhill, who I promised, by the way, is coming

[00:04:27] back on the show. It's been a while. So we're going to get him back on. So it was a really good time.

[00:04:31] And Sageetha was there. That was true. But I shocked Sujoy by making a statement, which I'm going to now

[00:04:37] make to you, Amrita. Bazi is one of my favorite Aamir Khan movies. And Bazi is one of the Aamir Khan

[00:04:47] movies I have watched the most, like re-watched the most.

[00:04:50] Yeah, I can see that.

[00:04:53] Aamir Khan's biggest fan, of course.

[00:04:54] Yes. I mean, this is exactly what I would assume of like Aamir Khan also. No, but like,

[00:05:01] I'd forgotten that this movie is such like a, like a diehard homage. And you know, like the,

[00:05:11] it's actually a pretty well-made movie. Like I don't, like, you know, like for what it is,

[00:05:17] it's like a genre movie, right? And for that, it is pretty well made.

[00:05:24] It's really well made. Really. I think those first 20 minutes are one of the most powerful

[00:05:31] ways of setting up a character that I have seen in Hindi movies. Like the way they set up Amr

[00:05:37] Damji as a character with the whole bus sequence, how he's helping the kid with the toy and just the

[00:05:44] comedy with the elements of, you know, like they really established A, he's a badass, but also he's

[00:05:50] very, very smart. Right. And also that the movie itself is going to have an unbelievably slick action.

[00:05:57] Yeah. And it's.

[00:05:59] It also does this very smart thing of

[00:06:06] reinforcing Amr's physicality as like a hidden package.

[00:06:11] Yes.

[00:06:11] Because he is constantly fiended as like.

[00:06:15] Say what you mean. Say what you mean.

[00:06:17] No.

[00:06:18] It is what you want to say.

[00:06:20] You want to say pocket rocket like and you're being very coy.

[00:06:24] Yeah.

[00:06:24] All of a sudden.

[00:06:25] No, what this movie does is like it frames Amr and you see how much smaller he is than like

[00:06:34] all the other police officers, right?

[00:06:36] Like there's one particular scene where he's walking with like, I think maybe it's with that

[00:06:41] avatar girl character and like the other guy and he is noticeably shorter.

[00:06:48] Right.

[00:06:49] And he and then at a certain point, like the commissioner says that the order of chief minister,

[00:06:54] I can't remember one of the characters says he's that guy that nobody would imagine.

[00:07:00] Like that's the guy that does all of this stuff.

[00:07:04] Yeah.

[00:07:04] And even Mamata Kulkarni's character, when she first meets him, she doesn't automatically

[00:07:11] assume that he's the daredevil police officer that she's been sent to interview.

[00:07:16] So you, it really works against his type, you know, like it, it, it works really well.

[00:07:24] It's a very smartly made movie, I think.

[00:07:27] Yeah.

[00:07:28] And like credit where credit is due, uh, NH studios, I think is the one who sort of remastered

[00:07:35] the print and on Amazon prime is just so clean, pristine.

[00:07:39] It's been re like, uh, restored really well.

[00:07:43] Like it's really, really pristine.

[00:07:45] I'm like having watched this movie countless times, this was the first time I've seen it

[00:07:49] in such a good print.

[00:07:50] And I was so happy to see it again.

[00:07:52] When I made this statement to Sujoy, uh, about this is my, one of my favorite, Sujoy shocked

[00:07:58] me by making the following statement.

[00:08:00] Sujoy, what did you tell me?

[00:08:02] This is the first time I'm watching Bazi, by the way.

[00:08:05] I've never seen it.

[00:08:07] Like I've owned, like this movie came out in 1995.

[00:08:10] Somehow it managed to escape me, but also I wasn't really watching a lot of movies back

[00:08:14] then.

[00:08:15] But it had, it had Aamir in drag.

[00:08:18] How did you not watch it?

[00:08:20] No, I watched, I watched the song.

[00:08:22] Like that happened.

[00:08:23] Uh, Ek Se Bar Kar Ek Ke Countdown, Dole Dole was there.

[00:08:28] These songs were really big.

[00:08:29] Yeah.

[00:08:30] This and the Dheere Dheere Aap Mere.

[00:08:32] Both of those songs were big, big hits, but somehow this movie managed to escape my, you

[00:08:38] know, movie watching experience during the nineties.

[00:08:42] And then I never got back to it because it like streaming has only been a part of our lives

[00:08:48] over the last couple of years.

[00:08:49] And I hadn't watched Bazi in so many years.

[00:08:52] Like never.

[00:08:53] Never.

[00:08:54] Yeah.

[00:08:54] Until now.

[00:08:55] That was actually shocking to me.

[00:08:57] That was shocking, right?

[00:08:57] Aamir loving it was not a shock to me, but like the fact that Sujoy hadn't watched it,

[00:09:02] that was shocking.

[00:09:03] So Sujoy, man, first watch.

[00:09:05] Did I overhype it?

[00:09:06] What did you think?

[00:09:07] You may have overhyped it, but still like it delivers on some level.

[00:09:13] I think it's still a very competently well-made action movies.

[00:09:18] Going into it, knowing that this was a nineties movie helps, I think.

[00:09:23] Otherwise, I don't think Gen Z would as much appreciate it as much as us millennials knowing

[00:09:29] what kind of movies were being made, like Ajay Devgan movies.

[00:09:32] Pulor Kate is almost of that same genre.

[00:09:35] He also made a ton of other movies like Jigar and Platform and all of those movies.

[00:09:43] All good ones.

[00:09:44] Yeah, Ajayas and all of that.

[00:09:46] I watched all of those, right?

[00:09:48] But somehow Bazi wasn't there, but I think Bazi is a far more superior movie than all of those.

[00:09:53] The filmmaking craft of Ashutosh Gowarikar, like he gives it all, like the angles, the blocking,

[00:10:03] the cinematography, the action choreography.

[00:10:06] Amir is flipping cakes in this movie that I haven't seen him do ever.

[00:10:12] And I believe him that he can kill Mukesh Rishi.

[00:10:16] Mukesh Rishi.

[00:10:17] Yeah.

[00:10:17] He totally delivers on this movie.

[00:10:20] Yeah, 100% in martial arts training.

[00:10:22] There's no way that he could do what he's doing in this movie without any training.

[00:10:26] Yeah.

[00:10:27] There is that prison scene where Mukesh Rishi finally gets his chance to kill this Amar Damji.

[00:10:34] And then it flips because he then overpowers Mukesh Rishi.

[00:10:38] And there's that scene where he jumps on the side fence.

[00:10:41] He does that Trinity kick, basically, right?

[00:10:43] It's one of my favorite things.

[00:10:45] Yeah.

[00:10:45] It's shot, like, wide.

[00:10:47] Like, you can see it's Amir doing, right?

[00:10:49] Yeah.

[00:10:50] It's nuts.

[00:10:50] The stunts in this movie are crazy.

[00:10:52] And that's what Amrita was saying.

[00:10:54] That's what I love about this movie because they adapt Amir's fighting style to take on Mukesh Rishi, right?

[00:11:00] So he bounces off this jail, like, prison gate.

[00:11:06] And then he goes higher to kick Mukesh Rishi.

[00:11:09] And I think it's such a smart way to do it.

[00:11:12] And it's always stuck in my head.

[00:11:14] And there's another one that he does is when there's a gun thing going on, they're buying a gun and stuff like that.

[00:11:20] He comes in and he's beating up a guy and he lifts a guy up and he puts him against the wall.

[00:11:26] Yeah.

[00:11:27] Which is already great for Amir to do.

[00:11:30] But then he judo flips him.

[00:11:32] But when he lands on the floor, they're in jail.

[00:11:34] So he flips him in jail.

[00:11:35] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:11:35] The same transition.

[00:11:37] And it's such a cool transition, you know?

[00:11:39] Yeah.

[00:11:39] It's like, it's that level of, you know, the helicopter turning and Rani movie, you know, making circles in K3G.

[00:11:47] Same thing.

[00:11:48] Same thing.

[00:11:49] But there's a lot of these visual flourishes.

[00:11:52] There's a moment where the judge is signing the sentence for Mukesh Rishi's character.

[00:11:57] He's signing it with a water pen.

[00:11:59] And he presses the water pen until the nib breaks.

[00:12:03] It's like, there's no point to do that, right?

[00:12:06] There's no point to that.

[00:12:07] Oh, no.

[00:12:08] That is because Mukesh Rishi gets a death sentence.

[00:12:11] Oh, they do that?

[00:12:12] Yeah, yeah.

[00:12:12] So the judges break the nib of the pen when they sign the order for the death sentence.

[00:12:17] I had no clue that was a thing.

[00:12:19] I'd literally never seen that before in a movie.

[00:12:22] So that's why I was like, wow, that's so cool to do that.

[00:12:24] So, yeah.

[00:12:25] But these are little things that they had in this movie.

[00:12:28] I've seen death sentence so many times, but I've never seen it done this way, at least that I could remember.

[00:12:34] But there's a ton of these little things up and down.

[00:12:36] Like, yeah, I want to get into it one by one.

[00:12:40] But I absolutely love this movie.

[00:12:42] I've watched it so many times.

[00:12:43] Watching it again, I was like, just like, in it again fully.

[00:12:45] Like, it's one of the ways that Amir has done.

[00:12:49] But what I wanted to ask you, like, is this based on something?

[00:12:53] Like, you know, this whole gun scam.

[00:12:55] I have a feeling that this was something that was going on maybe in the 90s with the government or something like that.

[00:13:00] It feels very real.

[00:13:02] Oh, you know what?

[00:13:03] The Bofors.

[00:13:04] The Bofors scam.

[00:13:06] That's what it was.

[00:13:07] Because the Bofors were like a gun thing.

[00:13:10] Like, that's the one that got Amitabh Bachchan in trouble, etc.

[00:13:13] And they were like kickbacks, etc.

[00:13:15] So, I think, like, that's the loose inspiration for what this movie is.

[00:13:21] Yeah.

[00:13:21] No, it does feel like that it's based on something.

[00:13:24] And I think also it's a gunstorm.

[00:13:27] Yeah, gunstorm.

[00:13:29] It's just like this movie is of that era, too.

[00:13:33] Because there's this moment where the first shot is like Raza Murad talking to his team of police and politicians.

[00:13:41] And then he says, we don't know who's done this.

[00:13:45] Who's doing this.

[00:13:46] And then suddenly, Paresh Rawal's face appears like that.

[00:13:49] I was like, who?

[00:13:50] Who could have done it?

[00:13:53] Who could have?

[00:13:54] I have to say that that entire sequence was very, like, unintentionally funny.

[00:13:59] Because Raza Murad's character just goes through this entire list of like, this investigation will be headed by these three random citizens.

[00:14:09] And then, like, all of them get murdered.

[00:14:12] And then he's like, well, it's going to be this other person.

[00:14:15] And then that person also gets murdered.

[00:14:17] And you are just like, maybe you should get a clue.

[00:14:22] Even in the flashback when Aamir's parents are, their backstory is being shown.

[00:14:28] His father literally says, police will be filled with love for them.

[00:14:33] And then the next thing, he's just like killed off.

[00:14:38] But I love that.

[00:14:39] I love that era.

[00:14:40] Like, also when he says these three people, right?

[00:14:42] There's like, and they're supposed to be from different regions of India, I think.

[00:14:46] And then there's only the South Indian.

[00:14:49] I mean, he's in the car, like, tongue, tongue, tongue.

[00:14:51] Like, the music starts in the background.

[00:14:53] It's like, how would people know, Asim?

[00:14:55] How would people know that they're from the South, right?

[00:14:59] Yeah.

[00:15:00] And then the third guy is like, why would I be scared of Ghadaars, you know, of traitors?

[00:15:05] Immediately shot in there.

[00:15:07] That's why you have to be scared of traitors.

[00:15:11] Also, like, it formed that era, right?

[00:15:14] When Mukesh Rishi gets, you know, imprisoned, we get to hear something that I haven't heard in two decades or more.

[00:15:22] Like, Parish Rawal says, Tada mein band hai, Tada mein band hai.

[00:15:28] Tada was a thing, right?

[00:15:30] Yeah.

[00:15:31] This was right around the time that Sanjay Dutt got imprisoned.

[00:15:35] Everyone was talking about Tada at the time.

[00:15:38] Yeah.

[00:15:39] I love those.

[00:15:40] And I think that whole Raju Pandit wig thing is very Sanjay Dutt.

[00:15:44] He gets, like, that whole Akhtar Hyderabadi and the Raju Pandit scene.

[00:15:49] The wig is completely, you know, Sanjay Dutt.

[00:15:52] Sanjay Dutt-i khallaik.

[00:15:53] Even the way the hair drops, yeah.

[00:15:56] Let's talk about Ashut Tosh Gowarka as a filmmaker, though.

[00:15:59] Because I feel this has that energy of youth, you know?

[00:16:04] Like, the first movie and he's really, like, fully on board.

[00:16:07] He's really, like, tried to make it the way he wants to make it.

[00:16:10] And I think also his teaming up with Aamir, which then gave us Lagaan, obviously, later on.

[00:16:17] There's something there that works really well where he hasn't been able to really do that with other movies,

[00:16:25] with other actors or with other projects that he's done, except maybe Jodh Akbar.

[00:16:31] But, like, going from Lagaan, like, he's made some really good movies, right?

[00:16:37] Lagaan, Swades, Suwades.

[00:16:41] Jodh Akbar.

[00:16:43] And then, like, what is he?

[00:16:47] What's your Rashi?

[00:16:48] Yeah.

[00:16:49] I actually saw somebody on Twitter being, like, 20 years of what's your Rashi.

[00:16:55] And I was like, what?

[00:16:57] What is wrong with you?

[00:16:58] So, anyway, go ahead.

[00:17:00] Must have been a Priyanka Chopra stan account, right?

[00:17:03] Must have been.

[00:17:04] But what a fall from grace, though, for a filmmaker, no?

[00:17:07] Like, what happened?

[00:17:09] Like, I'm just, like, curious what happened.

[00:17:11] Like, how did he just, like...

[00:17:14] You pick a fight with Sajid Khan and nobody survives, man.

[00:17:18] No, you pick a fight with Sajid Khan and Sajid Khan comes on top.

[00:17:21] That's the crazy part, right?

[00:17:23] Yeah.

[00:17:23] Like, I don't know.

[00:17:24] Looking at what he's been doing...

[00:17:26] The last movie he hit was Panipat.

[00:17:29] He did do Panipat, okay.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:32] And there's a new movie called Shankar, which is still in the making.

[00:17:36] But why is he making historicals only?

[00:17:39] Yeah.

[00:17:40] I think he basically made Lagan and that was, like, a huge hit.

[00:17:44] And then he made Svades and it wasn't as big of a hit as he expected.

[00:17:49] Yeah.

[00:17:49] So, then he made Jodha Akbar and that was a huge hit.

[00:17:52] And he was like, you know what?

[00:17:53] What really works for me is historicals.

[00:17:56] So, I'm just going to make that.

[00:17:58] And now the historicals are just, like, one thing worse than the other.

[00:18:02] And because of the current political climate, you can only show, like, one perspective on history anyway.

[00:18:07] Right.

[00:18:08] So, he can't really...

[00:18:09] And he's, like, I think, like, a very old school liberal.

[00:18:12] You know what I mean?

[00:18:13] Yeah.

[00:18:13] So, he can't...

[00:18:14] His heart is not in it and you can really see that.

[00:18:18] Yeah.

[00:18:18] And that's why he's trying to make, like...

[00:18:20] I think Mohan Jodhara was, like, his version of being like, well, maybe if I go prehistoric, then things will be better.

[00:18:27] They will leave me alone.

[00:18:28] Yeah.

[00:18:29] And it was just disaster after disaster.

[00:18:31] But the thing is also, like, with all of...

[00:18:35] Like, we like these people involved, right?

[00:18:37] We like Hrithik, you know.

[00:18:39] Like, he had Khalee Hamji Jaanse.

[00:18:41] That's the other one he made after...

[00:18:43] You know, Deepika was in this.

[00:18:44] They're also just not good movies.

[00:18:46] Like, it's Mohan Jodhara with the best of my intentions.

[00:18:50] I cannot say that that's a good movie, right?

[00:18:53] Panipat, I think I watched and completely forgot.

[00:18:56] Like, I'm not 100% sure.

[00:18:57] No, I'm not saying that.

[00:18:58] I've heard good things about Panipat.

[00:18:59] I haven't watched it.

[00:19:00] But I've heard, like, vaguely...

[00:19:03] Like, it sounds like a very middling movie.

[00:19:05] Like...

[00:19:05] Yeah.

[00:19:05] So, it's not, like, full-throated appreciation.

[00:19:08] But it's not as bad as, say, Mohan Jodhara.

[00:19:11] But also, like, because other movies at the moment are so shit that even the middling movies become better in a way, right?

[00:19:17] So, if you go revisit them because there's literally nothing else to watch, maybe...

[00:19:20] I remember when Jodh Akbar came out and I thought it was absolutely turgid.

[00:19:24] Like, I didn't think it was, like, an amazing movie.

[00:19:28] But in retrospect, because of, like, how shit things are nowadays...

[00:19:33] Yeah.

[00:19:33] It looks like a classic.

[00:19:35] And everybody's just like, oh my god, what an amazing movie.

[00:19:38] And that was not the consensus when it first came out.

[00:19:41] Yeah.

[00:19:42] And I personally am not a huge fan of Swades either.

[00:19:45] Like, when I watched it, I was like, this is doing nothing for me.

[00:19:48] Yeah, it's boring.

[00:19:49] Yeah, I thought it was kind of boring.

[00:19:50] So, like, I get, like, so many comments.

[00:19:53] When are we doing Swades?

[00:19:54] When are we doing Swades?

[00:19:56] And I'm like, honestly, I just don't want to.

[00:19:58] Like, I don't know.

[00:20:00] Maybe I should revisit because so many people have been saying that, you know, oh, Shah Rukh has great chemistry with Gayatri Joshi.

[00:20:09] And I'm like, I didn't remember that at all.

[00:20:11] Like, I don't...

[00:20:13] Like, there's so many of these sequences that kind of get boosted back on Twitter.

[00:20:18] And I was like, I felt nothing.

[00:20:20] So, Jodha Akbar, I thought, was good compared to Swades, right?

[00:20:24] So, I'm just like...

[00:20:26] Maybe you should shed all that baggage that you're getting from social media and just watch it.

[00:20:31] Like, because the memory that you have of watching Swades as then, you know, as a 20-something asim would be so much different from what you have now.

[00:20:40] Because you have so much more knowledge about where this is coming from, the world that it belongs to and what kind of story it's trying to tell.

[00:20:47] So, maybe re-watching it without that baggage would help you in a way to appreciate what Swades is.

[00:20:56] Yeah, yeah.

[00:20:57] Because it hits for a lot of people.

[00:20:59] And actually, for a lot of times, for me, it's like when somebody really likes something and I don't like it, my brain is like, okay, I have not figured it out.

[00:21:08] And now I need to figure it out.

[00:21:09] So, I'm like, always like, I want to read analysis.

[00:21:12] I want to read theories and stuff like that.

[00:21:14] So, we will be doing Swades.

[00:21:16] But, yeah, I just find it fascinating that a filmmaker like that, especially watching Bazi.

[00:21:22] I was like, this is such a good, well-made movie more than anything, right?

[00:21:25] Yeah.

[00:21:27] Beautifully shot.

[00:21:28] Like, we were talking about the lighting of this movie, right?

[00:21:31] And, Sujoo, you said it's called edge lighting or something like that?

[00:21:34] Yeah.

[00:21:34] That's something like, I think that's a technique that the southern industry really pioneered in, especially PC Sriram and then followed by, you know, Santo Sivan.

[00:21:45] Even if you see Roja, Bombay, Nayakon, Talapati, you see all of those flourishes happening in every, like, Kairos Kuro moment where, you know, Guru Dutt had that in black and white.

[00:21:57] But if you watch, like, color movies now of that era of the 80s and the 90s and then you see that happening even in Ghulam.

[00:22:06] You know, there is a lot of light.

[00:22:09] Even if in the darkest of the scene, the faces are lit in a certain way where you have that really stark contrast to visually just elevate the scene to the next level.

[00:22:19] And that is very much, like, very much visible in Bazi as well.

[00:22:25] Yeah, this movie is a treat to watch.

[00:22:27] Like, every single scene is so well produced in a way.

[00:22:32] Like, the blocking, the angles of how the, even in the scene with Julie that I posted today, like, Julie Braganza is what the drag name of Aamir Khan is apparently now.

[00:22:45] So, in the dressing room with Samantha Fox and Michael Jackson and George Michael as posters where the Jamdadeh and Deshpandeh, you know, come to make that negotiation with the mirrors and stuff.

[00:23:01] The angles are so, so, so cool.

[00:23:04] And Ashutosh Govarikar, you know, does not miss.

[00:23:07] Yeah. And I think that's why this movie is elevated compared to the Jiggers and the Najayas is because it does look so, you know, so well made, looks so beautiful, which I don't think these other movies have.

[00:23:20] Even when you talk about, you know, Ghulam had the same sort of lighting.

[00:23:25] Ghulam came out, like, four years later, you know, so we'd already seen it.

[00:23:29] But this was one of the first one that kind of struck out to me that, oh, this is that kind of.

[00:23:33] And it was like watching it in prime is just, again, like, it's beautiful.

[00:23:37] The way when Mamata Kulkarni and Aamir are having that dry humping songs that they're together and they're like, she's, she's like, I don't know, feeding him the biggest ice cube in the world.

[00:23:51] It's like massive.

[00:23:51] It's like the size of the Kohinoor.

[00:23:53] But the light through that ice cube looks amazing, you know, it's like, it's a beautiful, beautiful shot.

[00:23:59] Yeah.

[00:24:00] What did you think of Mamata Kulkarni?

[00:24:02] It's not bad, man.

[00:24:04] She's really good in this.

[00:24:06] I think, like, compared to the current lot of heroines, I think Mamata did not get what was due for her.

[00:24:12] Like, she was so much sidelined by the Bharo, Maang Meri Bharo song that, I don't know, did Sabse Bada Khilari happen before this or after this?

[00:24:24] But I think she was very much slotted into the sexy siren image that any sort of acting that she did was like a side hustle for her.

[00:24:36] Like, it got, like, slotted into this whole sexy siren thing.

[00:24:40] And I think, like, she's given so much more to do.

[00:24:44] She's not just a damsel in distress here.

[00:24:46] She also gets to fight against Kunika in the end with the fire extinguisher.

[00:24:51] I really enjoyed that.

[00:24:52] So her career was actually actively sabotaged by Rajkumar Santoshi, among others.

[00:25:02] And she was actually one of the first and few women who worked in Bollywood to specifically call out people for trying to, you know, assault her and victimize her, etc.

[00:25:16] And because of that, she basically got blacklisted.

[00:25:21] And that's why her, you know, like, and they basically just wanted her to be the sexy siren, right?

[00:25:28] Yeah.

[00:25:28] And that's how all her movies are about her being sexy.

[00:25:32] That's basically it.

[00:25:35] And it's a shame because, like, she's so charming in this movie.

[00:25:41] She's, her character is a bit annoying.

[00:25:43] But then there's, like, so many characters in this movie who are plain annoying.

[00:25:48] It's the way it's written, right?

[00:25:49] Though it's not, again, it's not the performance.

[00:25:51] It's the way it's written, yeah.

[00:25:53] Exactly.

[00:25:54] So, you know, the, and it's also, it's that,

[00:25:58] when I say annoying, I mean, it's Bollywood cute.

[00:26:02] You know what I mean?

[00:26:03] Like, it's like that child in the beginning, right?

[00:26:06] Yeah.

[00:26:07] And there's, like, I don't think they understand just how annoying that child is.

[00:26:12] There's, like, a couple of characters who are like, oh, like, you know, this child is, like, annoying.

[00:26:16] Like, when it was screaming, I thought it was a baby.

[00:26:19] And then it was, like, a full-on, like, four, five-year-old.

[00:26:23] Yeah.

[00:26:23] And I was like, why is this child making, like, baby noises?

[00:26:28] Then it's, like, got no, like, self-preservation instinct.

[00:26:32] And it's just, like, going up and, like, trying to, like, shoot terrorists with its toy gun.

[00:26:39] Like, that child deserved to die.

[00:26:41] And then it didn't.

[00:26:44] Honestly.

[00:26:45] Like, so there's, like, a whole bunch of characters that are written to be, like, jokey or amusing in a very...

[00:26:54] Bollywood tropes.

[00:26:55] Yeah.

[00:26:56] 1990s Bollywood tropes.

[00:26:58] And the way that Mamta's character is introduced is one of those things.

[00:27:06] You know, she's, like, the cutesy, rich girl who is pretending to have a career.

[00:27:11] Like, that kind of a thing.

[00:27:13] At her uncle's news agency.

[00:27:15] Yeah.

[00:27:15] And I think it's...

[00:27:16] We are supposed to get...

[00:27:18] Like, we had...

[00:27:19] We did watch this.

[00:27:20] Well, not Sujoy, but Asim and I did watch this in the 1990s.

[00:27:24] And I think in the 1990s, what we would have gotten out of a stock character like that or stock characterization like that is very different from what we get today, like, 30 years later.

[00:27:37] So, yeah.

[00:27:38] She's very good.

[00:27:40] And she's very attractive.

[00:27:42] Yeah.

[00:27:42] And it's interesting because also the kind of sexuality.

[00:27:47] Like, all of these songs are quite sexy, just generally.

[00:27:50] Yeah.

[00:27:50] Like, there's a bit of bondage going on.

[00:27:52] There's a little bit of, like, ice.

[00:27:54] Like, he's feeding her grapes, which is, like...

[00:27:56] It's one of those nine and a half weeks sequence where everybody was thinking that it's sexy to feed each other things, which is such a ridiculous thing.

[00:28:06] Like, just give me the spoon.

[00:28:07] I'll eat myself.

[00:28:08] Like, it's fine.

[00:28:09] Don't choke on the grapes.

[00:28:11] Don't choke on the grapes.

[00:28:12] Yeah, it's like a choking hazard, man.

[00:28:13] Grape?

[00:28:13] Like, who's...

[00:28:14] What are you doing?

[00:28:15] Like, don't do that, please.

[00:28:16] I'm glad that part is over.

[00:28:18] But even, like, there's a moment where she ties him up on the tree.

[00:28:23] Like, he's acting like he's hurt.

[00:28:25] And she ties him on the tree.

[00:28:26] And then she goes to him.

[00:28:28] And then she, like, pushes her chest against him, like, twice.

[00:28:32] Then she turns around.

[00:28:34] And, like, she's, like, humping his back.

[00:28:36] I was like, what is going on, man?

[00:28:38] It's like...

[00:28:38] That is called...

[00:28:39] That is called the fine choreography of Rekha Chidney Prakash.

[00:28:45] Chidney Prakash.

[00:28:45] Yeah.

[00:28:45] A hundred percent.

[00:28:46] You know, immediately, like, you know, on the one hand, you have Saroj Khan, who does

[00:28:51] similar things, but there's grace and elegance.

[00:28:54] Yeah.

[00:28:54] And Chidney Prakash is like, I'm going to just, like, you know, rub my butt against your

[00:28:58] groin.

[00:28:59] That's what we're going to do here.

[00:29:01] You know?

[00:29:01] That's just the Bollywood way of avoiding the A certificate.

[00:29:05] Yeah.

[00:29:07] Also, I'd forgotten the sexy song.

[00:29:09] Like, I don't...

[00:29:10] I didn't remember the sexy song.

[00:29:11] Like, the...

[00:29:12] I remember the makeup song, but I didn't remember the sexy song that they have before.

[00:29:17] You know?

[00:29:17] Like, when he runs away from prison for the first time.

[00:29:20] Yeah.

[00:29:21] So, I was just like, holy cow.

[00:29:24] Like, what is happening on screen right now?

[00:29:26] Yeah.

[00:29:27] Yeah.

[00:29:27] You were watching images that will never leave you.

[00:29:33] I'm traumatized.

[00:29:34] I'm traumatized.

[00:29:35] There's that hammock scene in that song where, you know, like...

[00:29:39] Yeah.

[00:29:39] And I'm just like, I need a brain bleach.

[00:29:42] Should I use that?

[00:29:43] You know what I find fascinating about these things, right?

[00:29:46] Like, because obviously you have a choreographer, you have a director, you have a writer, and

[00:29:50] all of these people...

[00:29:52] Men.

[00:29:52] All of these men are coming together to make these images, right?

[00:29:55] In the song.

[00:29:56] And it says something about their kings, right?

[00:30:02] Like, that's what it is, right?

[00:30:04] And I'm like, watching it, and I was like, man, some kings are so different than mine.

[00:30:09] Like, there's such a gap between what I'm into and what these men are into, right?

[00:30:14] Like, even the Kunika Amada Kulkarni fight sequence, they're just whipping each other with

[00:30:19] like electric wires, right?

[00:30:21] And there is like something sexual in there necessarily, right?

[00:30:25] Like, it's...

[00:30:26] But wow.

[00:30:27] It's just like, yeah.

[00:30:29] I'm not that guy.

[00:30:30] Guys, I stand corrected.

[00:30:32] This movie was rated A.

[00:30:34] Oh, was it?

[00:30:35] It's not to be seen under 18 years.

[00:30:37] Yeah, because the songs were like scandalous.

[00:30:40] I remember like the songs were considered sexy for that time.

[00:30:45] So, yeah.

[00:30:46] And they were big.

[00:30:48] I remember those songs being big.

[00:30:49] Although the movie wasn't that big.

[00:30:52] Like, it wasn't like a massive, massive hit at that time.

[00:30:56] And it's funny because I was reading some analysis about the movie and people were like,

[00:31:00] oh, Amir was going through some bad times at that time.

[00:31:04] And I was going through the movies at that time that Amir was in, right?

[00:31:07] And let me just read this out because in that era, we thought this was a bad time.

[00:31:15] So, he had Humain Rahi Piyar Ke just the year before.

[00:31:20] Then he had Andaz Apna Apna.

[00:31:25] Chalo, that didn't work.

[00:31:26] And then immediately the year after, no, the same year, 95, he had Rangeela, Raja Hindustani

[00:31:33] the year after, Akele Hum, Akele Tum, Ishq, and then Ghulam.

[00:31:37] So, I was like, when was the bad time?

[00:31:40] It was literally like smooth sailing for Amir pretty much, right?

[00:31:44] I think maybe it's because Shah Rukh was making Dilwale Duhanya Le Jayenge.

[00:31:49] And Salman was making Hum Aap Ke Hai Korn.

[00:31:52] And Amir really didn't have a movie to challenge those two.

[00:31:58] You know what I mean?

[00:31:59] Yeah.

[00:32:00] Yeah.

[00:32:01] But then also, I was thinking about this.

[00:32:04] And I mean, this is maybe a point we want, Amrita, you and me want to work on that masculinity

[00:32:09] in Hindi cinema thing.

[00:32:10] And Rabazi made me think of this, that there's always this graduation of becoming a man on

[00:32:19] screen when you start taking on action roles, right?

[00:32:22] And this is something that even Ranveer Singh has talked about when he was doing Simba and

[00:32:27] stuff like that, that there's certain actors that do these roles and then they can become

[00:32:34] massive, massive loved actors, right?

[00:32:37] And if you don't do that, you become like a chocolate hero or a chocolate boy.

[00:32:43] Like think of Rishi Kapoor or Shashi Kapoor, right?

[00:32:48] Like both of them, to my understanding, they never broke out as action stars.

[00:32:53] They may have done some action movies here or there, but they never made that step.

[00:32:57] And then they get locked in.

[00:32:58] And in a way, Amr doing this and then doing Sar Feroosh and then doing Ghulam, he always

[00:33:05] had that idea that if I don't make those steps, I won't be able to become the star that I

[00:33:12] want to become, right?

[00:33:13] And Salman also did it, but Salman was a bit too early, right?

[00:33:18] He did Pathar Kipool.

[00:33:19] He was a cop, but it was too quick.

[00:33:22] The transition was too quick from Loverboy to...

[00:33:24] So he had to wait until much, much later on where the muscles came in and stuff like

[00:33:29] that to become that action hero, right?

[00:33:32] Shah Rukh, I would say, really only managed to do it in Pathan in a way, right?

[00:33:37] Like he's done action.

[00:33:38] He's great in it.

[00:33:40] But that level of action is really Pathan in a way.

[00:33:44] You know, you had Baj Shah Rukh.

[00:33:46] Yeah, but for Shah Rukh, it didn't matter because he began with like Bazi Garh and Dal.

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:33:52] And therefore, like, you know, he already had that texture to him.

[00:33:55] Yeah.

[00:33:56] So even if he was doing like all these loverboy roles later on, people were like, no, no, no.

[00:34:03] He's got more to him.

[00:34:04] Like, that's okay.

[00:34:05] Yeah.

[00:34:06] And like, you can get glimpses of that whenever he's being a bit rough with his women,

[00:34:11] even in the rom-com movies, right?

[00:34:13] Yeah.

[00:34:13] Like he's, for some weird reason, very violent with Kajol in every single movie.

[00:34:18] He's just throwing her left and right.

[00:34:20] And we're like, yeah, I see the killer in him.

[00:34:25] Yeah.

[00:34:26] But I think with Amir, it's calculated, right?

[00:34:29] Everything with Amir is calculated.

[00:34:30] And I think it was a conscious move to move away from those kind of movies and then be able to become a bigger star.

[00:34:37] And I think Bazi is one of those important movies for him as an actor, even though maybe it wasn't such a big success.

[00:34:45] But that's what, like, it just carries forward because Bazi in some way or form made Sarfaroosh possible.

[00:34:52] Yes.

[00:34:53] And Sarfaroosh is the movie, the one movie when we talk about or people talk about when it's the Amir cop movie, right?

[00:35:00] Or the Amir action movie, Bazi and Ghulam, not Bazi, Sarfaroosh and Ghulam are the Amir action movies that people always, always talk about.

[00:35:10] And Sarfaroosh is definitely made possible just because Bazi existed before it.

[00:35:15] Yeah.

[00:35:15] It's almost like what I was saying about Mohabbate and K3G.

[00:35:19] It's like the raw version of Sarfaroosh.

[00:35:21] Like they're like, oh, we need to change this and change that.

[00:35:24] And obviously they elevated it and they made it bigger.

[00:35:27] And I have my own problems with Sarfaroosh, which we've already discussed.

[00:35:32] But yeah, Sarfaroosh wouldn't have happened if Bazi was, and because even the styling of Amir, the way they talk about Amir in both movies is very similar, right?

[00:35:42] Yeah.

[00:35:42] He's a very similar kind of cop too.

[00:35:45] Like when Asrani is, it's Asrani, right?

[00:35:48] Yeah.

[00:35:49] He has that moment where he's like trying to chase the rat and Amir is like, no, papad, show him a bread.

[00:35:57] And well, then the rat will come out, then you capture.

[00:36:00] And then that hits an idea in his head.

[00:36:02] Yeah.

[00:36:02] That's exactly what happened in Sarfaroosh too, right?

[00:36:05] Where Sonali Bendre becomes Asrani basically.

[00:36:09] Yeah.

[00:36:09] He's talking and he figures it out.

[00:36:11] And it was like, again, that is such a Amir kind of sequence, right?

[00:36:15] You see him thinking on screen and him thinking is important because that makes him the person that he is.

[00:36:23] And I think Bazi is just great in doing that.

[00:36:27] Having said that, the both are cop movies, but Bazi, if it is a propaganda movie, it does not work as a propaganda movie because this movie is full of incompetent cops.

[00:36:40] Like only Amir is the working cop and the entire police, like as a system is a failure.

[00:36:47] Like nobody in this whole system can, you know, deliver any results other than him.

[00:36:53] I think it's too early to be a propaganda movie.

[00:36:55] Like it's a genre movie where, you know, like even like the thing of Dirty Harry or Cobra, you know, that kind of genre movies.

[00:37:06] There are, like if you look at it now, propaganda as a term exists, but I don't think it necessarily existed back in the day.

[00:37:15] There was just this idea of, you know, this man who's taking on the system and doing things differently.

[00:37:20] And, you know, he doesn't even wear any uniform.

[00:37:23] Yeah.

[00:37:24] They talk about quite a few and his hair isn't cut because he doesn't have a hijab in his street.

[00:37:31] So I guess that way, yeah, I think it's more man against the system or being something different where Amir is doing it with smarts, where Amitabh would be doing it with his punches, you know.

[00:37:42] So I think that's where the different thing is.

[00:37:46] I want to talk about the plagiarism in this movie because I kind of noted all of the scenes that have been lifted or copied.

[00:37:54] Shall we go over them?

[00:37:55] Because I think that's kind of the weakest.

[00:37:57] What's also the downfall of this movie.

[00:38:00] I think everything after the jailbreak is too long.

[00:38:04] It goes on for too long and they add the whole diehard sequence in there for no reason.

[00:38:10] Like it's like an hour long and it just drags the movie making it three hours and something when it wasn't needed.

[00:38:16] And I think that's kind of the weakest part.

[00:38:19] So the bus sequence is stolen from Speed.

[00:38:24] The flashback of Parish Rawa's two thumbs are taken from The Godfather 2.

[00:38:31] Mamta Kulkarni sequence that they also then copy in Meek Hilary 2 and Aari is taken from The Hard Way.

[00:38:42] Then what else is there?

[00:38:44] There's the background music which is basically Beethoven's Furuli.

[00:38:48] Yes!

[00:38:51] And then September becomes Dole Dole Dil Mera Dole.

[00:38:55] And then Mehdi Hassan's Rafta Rafta becomes Dheere Dheere Aap Mere Dil Ke Mehma Ho Gei.

[00:39:02] And then there's also the song that they did, Nazare Mili.

[00:39:06] Yeah, that's come September.

[00:39:08] Right.

[00:39:08] Dole Dole, yeah.

[00:39:10] So it's everywhere, right?

[00:39:12] So there's so much that they're just like copying and doing and hearing this.

[00:39:16] But also like the leg moment of Aamir as Julie Braganza that eventually gave birth to Angelina Jolie's leg moment at the Oscars.

[00:39:25] That's where the inspiration came from.

[00:39:28] Vazi.

[00:39:30] Yeah.

[00:39:31] Yeah.

[00:39:32] Nine and a half weeks and stuff like that that we've already mentioned.

[00:39:36] This movie does have a lot of lot of like rips and plagiarisms and things like that in it too.

[00:39:42] So yeah, I think that's probably...

[00:39:43] I think there is one common thread that runs throughout the movie is that people find it really hard to remember faces.

[00:39:50] Like disguises or, you know, some minor changes in the appearance can make people forget how people look.

[00:39:58] Like Aamir goes through as Akhtar Hyderabadi or whatever with just a mole and a mustache.

[00:40:03] And if Paresh Rawal's one eye is covered, Aamir forgets that he's the killer of his mom.

[00:40:08] Yeah.

[00:40:09] Yeah.

[00:40:09] I really enjoy though, like I love it when movies have their own internal logic.

[00:40:15] So when the guy says, when he's in, he says Akhtar Hyderabadi and he says like, I've seen you somewhere because, you know, he's been on the news or everywhere.

[00:40:27] And he's like, huh, of course, like if you come to Hyderabad, everybody knows me.

[00:40:34] And I'm like, well, okay, that's actually kind of smart.

[00:40:37] That makes sense.

[00:40:38] Yeah, that makes sense.

[00:40:39] And also he hadn't seen him, right?

[00:40:41] Like he, like Rajabandan had never seen Aamir.

[00:40:43] So I think it kind of makes sense.

[00:40:46] But then...

[00:40:47] Then he kind of started drawing over the police photo on the newspaper to see if the mole and the mustache makes any difference.

[00:40:56] That's like that era of filmmaking though, right?

[00:40:59] Like, but the sequence with Julie, Julie Baganza, where Aamir dresses up in drag, that I have like serious questions about, right?

[00:41:09] Because A, Mamta Kulkarni is there, right?