AnA 354: Panchayat Season 3, Hit Man, Eric

While discussing Hit Man:

Abbas: I was never bored for a second.

Rajyasree : This was fun especially compared to another Glen Powell movie I saw.

Abbas: Which one?

Rajyasree: It had Sydney Sweeney in it.

Abbas: Anyone But You.

Rajyasree: Yeah, you feel like shooting him and Sydney and then yourself also.

This and a whole lot of awful and awesome as Rajyasree Sen and Abbas Momin discuss the TVF show Panchayat Season 3 , the mini series Eric and the film Hit Man .

This episode is outside the paywall. Watch it, enjoy it, and subscribe to Newslaundry, so you can tune in every week.

Have something to say? Write to us at newslaundry.com/podcast-letters .

. Watch it here.

. Timecodes

00:00 - Introductions

01:45 - Announcement

03:20 - Panchayat Season 3

13:25 - Letters

16:05 - Hit Man

28:48 - Letters

31:18 - Eric

45:56 - Letters

References

Subscribe to Newslaundry

NL Store

Panchayat Season 3

Hit Man

Texas Monthly Hit Man Article

Eric

Jim Henson documentary

Man in Full

The Regime

The Normal Heart

. ANA Audio

Sting: [00:00:00] This is a News Laundry Podcast, and you're listening to Awful and Awesome.

Rajyasree Sen: Hello, hello. This is the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Episode 354. This is Rajeshree Singh.

Abbas Momin: And I'm Abbas Momin.

Rajyasree Sen: We are recording in a studio without air conditioning because this is a rough and ready production. And it is 44 degrees out there, people. And it's 32 degrees where Abbas is.

Abbas Momin: That's true.

Yeah. With some clouds thrown in for good measure.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. So we wanted to just set the context so that you realize that this is a work of passion and stress. But, uh, we have some interesting stuff this time. So there is Hitman, which is a new film by Richard Linklater. Then there's Eric, the new show with the new series with [00:01:00] Benedict Cumberbatch.

And we also, so that it's not just Netflix centric, we also have Panchayat Season 3. So, uh, Abbas has watched all of it, beginning to end, actually.

Abbas Momin: No, no, I gave up on Panchayat after two episodes.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah, so that was the same. Should we start with Panchayat? Should we start with something you like?

Abbas Momin: I thought when you said this is a passion project, I thought you would say, speaking of passion, let's start with it,

Rajyasree Sen: man.

Speaking of, I'm assuming Panchayat is also a passion project for them because they're carrying on making season after season. So, on that note, we are going to, oh, there's one announcement to be made that we have new prints of Kashmir Ki Kahani by Sumit Kumar. I edited that. I would like you to know. Oh, nice.

My name was very kindly inserted in by Chitranshu. But, uh, for the [00:02:00] unacquainted, it's a collection of rare stories on Kashmir's history. And, uh, it's really well done. It's beautiful, uh, illustrations also and the way the story was moving. The story was worked on by, uh, Sumit and Abhinandan. And, uh, it's a great way of coming up to speed on the history of Kashmir.

And I recommend giving it to youngsters, especially teenagers about the age of 12, 13. And because it's an interesting and easy way to inform them about it. Very important parts of our history in this country. So you can order your copy at newslaundry. com slash store. This is what it looks like. It's a hardcover and the comic is just fabulous.

I feel like I'm doing that. Someone else does it. Ye hai aapka. Like that. Ye hai ek [00:03:00] king. King bol rahi hai. Like that. But it's a very, very nice book. And even the other comics that are there, uh, So, but definitely, uh, pick this up because it's a great collector's edition. So we'll do panchayat and it, since it's the shortest thing we have to comment on.

So this is, uh, Season three of Panchayat, it's a TBF series, the viral fever, right? That's what it is. Yes. Yes. And, uh, it starred Jitendra Kumar as the protagonist. He's the,

Abbas Momin: he's the, not Sarpanch, what is it called? The village collector, right?

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. And Neena Gupta is the, uh, this thing.

Abbas Momin: Mukhiya's

Rajyasree Sen: wife and then Raghubir Yadav is her husband, who basically is a main person.

She's been voted into this position so that because something happened. So I [00:04:00] never watched season two. I have to say I did really like season one though. I had really enjoyed season one. And this is set in a small village in it's a fictional village in. Uttar Pradesh. And this guy has studied, uh, he wants to do, uh, Jitendra Kumar wants to, the character he plays, he wants to take his cat and do an MBA and all that.

That is his aim. But before that he has got this job and At least in that first season, he was quite passionate about this job that he had got. And he also falls in love with Raghubir Yadav and Neena Gupta's daughter.

Abbas Momin: Pradhan's daughter. Yeah.

Rajyasree Sen: Rinky. And you see all sorts of people. You see the MLA who this village falls under, then you see the MLA secretary, and it's very slice of life that what I gathered, which I've forgotten [00:05:00] because I saw season one much before, is that each episode pretty much also talks about one separate incident, like there'll be a sweet.

Incident and then you meet the characters and all and it either get so someone how the Pradhan Mantri that Uh, Yojna, which gives houses to people. Yes, how you can get that assigned to yourself So they show it's not like he's playing this black and white good boy character because He gives an under pressure to let's assign a house to someone, let's do and the kind of things that people do to get, uh, get their way in, in villages and in India.

Abbas Momin: Yeah, in rural India.

Rajyasree Sen: But I just found it like you knew that it's going to be incident after incident one. And I didn't find any of it that interesting.

Abbas Momin: So the, uh, one of the major threads that they follow is from the end of [00:06:00] season two. Okay. The, the character played by Faisal Malik Prahlad. So he's, he's grieving because his son has passed away.

Okay. His son is supposed to be a soldier.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah.

Abbas Momin: Now that Yeah, because you didn't see season two actually. That literally was like the last 15 minutes of the last episode of season two. Okay. It just came out of nowhere that Prahlad's son has died. He's a soldier. We didn't really spend any time with that.

character. We're just supposed to feel sad for him. And then I felt that was such a manipulative move for, for this show. So by broad, uh, sort of feelings about it, it's season one. I think was nice. It was pleasant. Yeah. It was also funny. Now I don't know it was because, because it came at the height of lockdown that we all sort of took to it, that we will yearning for something that's like nice and simple to watch.

Then season two, they tried to build up upon it. And this ending was so manipulative that I was very put off by it. So I was like, okay, season three, I hope they go back [00:07:00] to the roots, but they do something really weird where in the first episode, this, uh, Jeetu Bhaiya is not there at all. Like, I think he's there in the beginning.

And then he's not there at all and they try to, they have this Prahlad ka grieving storyline going on. And I just thought all of it, like, where is the comedy? It was supposed to be a comedy show. Where has that gone? And the simplicity of it is also, Not there anymore. So it just seems like it's, uh, the villain from the, from the second season that, uh, Jiska meme bahut viral hua tha wo, Binod, dekh rahe ho, Binod, that, that, that villain, he's also there scheming in the background.

So they've literally just tried to be like, let's elongate the things that work for it. Yeah, so it felt

Rajyasree Sen: very like, Like every story has been pulled to, stretched absolutely. Also I feel that when Panchayat came out, at that point there was also a whole spurt of all these shows set in [00:08:00] rural India. So that charm of seeing, oh, the MLA behaves like this and it's such an oddity and eccentricity and all that charm has gone.

You're like, okay, we know people behave like this. It's like, we don't have to keep laughing at the same joke because it stopped being funny now. So I think that's the other thing that it's no longer new. Like they've taken a theme and setting and rung it dry pretty much. Okay.

Abbas Momin: True. Yeah. I think that the whole concept of city boy falling in love with rural life, they closed that loop in season one.

Now they can't keep doing that again and again and again.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah.

Abbas Momin: There's only so many times he can be like, like, I'm like, dude, they also show that he's

Rajyasree Sen: flat and all in Bombay or wherever he is. He's not in Bombay. I don't know where he is. It's just fancy like he's from a very well off family. I just found that thing that he's willing to give [00:09:00] all that up for, see the first one he didn't know what he was getting into.

Abbas Momin: But

Rajyasree Sen: over here, you're like, it's, I don't know, nothing was really one making too much. sense, it did not seem very logical. Let's put it that way. The, uh, the decisions that people are shown taking in this. And, uh, and another thing I have to say, Nina Gupta has really come into her own again, after many years, right?

Abbas Momin: Yes.

Rajyasree Sen: She's also started looking more and more beautiful. And and contemporary and it's like Xena Taman now. They've all started looking really good again and she's not really passing off very well as a village pancha, whatever, sarpancha's wife as opposed to that first season. So, it was all a little, I just found it one, I didn't find any of the characters seeming as interesting.

The story also did not seem [00:10:00] particularly, this house one, that you know how that woman gets a house assigned to herself. Like, everything I felt could have been concised into a half an hour episode. As opposed to

Abbas Momin: three. This time, even the episodes are long.

Rajyasree Sen: It's long. That's the other thing. So I, maybe my patience levels are less now, but I think they've, uh, like they've done this to death now.

And there should not be a season four.

Abbas Momin: So actually just to add to this, there's also another TVF show called good luck, which is on. Yeah.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. Which I've been hearing. Is it good?

Abbas Momin: It's good. So that, uh, that showed premiered its fourth season, I think a couple of days ago. And clearly that's the more that's the superior show because it's about this small town, uh, middle class family that's also, I think, set in a small town in UP, but that show is We're funnier.

I think it has better actors also. And it actually, uh, takes a few risks. [00:11:00] Like in the, in the first episode, I saw for good luck season four, it has to do with the whole bulldozer justice that he gets this notice that house is going to be raised down. And then the, the, The, the father actually fights against it.

Hmm. So I thought that compared to Pania, where they rarely, if ever, talk about like the societal inequalities or, uh, yeah. Any tensions. Like, I get that you're suppo you are making a feel good show. Mm. But it just seems like everybody gets along with everyone in this, in, in pan, and there's just bad guys and good guys.

Yeah. There's no in between, there's, there's no gray area in between. Yeah. Yeah. So I think good luck is a, is a better show. Uh, so maybe give that a chance as compared to panchayat season three, but yeah, season one of panchayat, I think is good. It's enjoyable. I liked it. Season two and three. So I gave up after two episodes.

I watched three.

Rajyasree Sen: I was more dedicated than you. I'm also a bigger loser clearly, but I would like that

Abbas Momin: guy though, the guy Jeetu bhaiya, because he plays the same thing in everything.

Rajyasree Sen: I think he's now, and there are lots of, this also I [00:12:00] found very weird, but these are all panchayat episodes. People, they have to write news reports.

So you have to come up with an article that he's been paid more than anyone else in panchayat, but he's the bloody protagonist. Now you're supposed to like, like you can't do Nina should get paid more because she's older. It's not based on age. So. This is also a very weird thing, but he plays the same character everywhere, right?

Abbas Momin: Yes. In uh, quota,

Rajyasree Sen: factory quota,

Abbas Momin: quota factory. Then, uh, there's one, a couple of these TVF shows. He is the breakout TVF star, uh, among, I think he, he was in pictures also, if I'm not wrong. He is

Rajyasree Sen: very good though pictures in this role.

Abbas Momin: He's, he is watchable. Yeah, he's, he is good. So they

Rajyasree Sen: all act well, I have to say that everything is fine, but it's like.

Like, what is new?

Abbas Momin: Yes, exactly. He was also in that film, the Ayushman film, Shubh Mangal Zyada Sabdhan.

Rajyasree Sen: Was he there also?

Abbas Momin: I've forgotten. Yes, yes, he was.

Rajyasree Sen: [00:13:00] Oh, I've forgotten only now. But we would, uh, say if you have nothing to do, and you've watched season 1 and season 2, then watch it.

Abbas Momin: No, I'd say if you have nothing to do, do nothing.

Do nothing, really.

Rajyasree Sen: It was also, they are very long episodes. I don't mind when something is a 30 minute episode. I'm like, okay, I can watch four episodes, but this was not. There's a 47, 48 minutes, but I will read, uh, An email which I have something to see about. RB has said, I really enjoy the banter between Abhinandan and Rajshri during the podcast, but this week's review in inverted commas for Manjumar Boys only showcased Rajshri's classist mentality.

Yes, the men were obnoxious, but if Ms. Rajashree had been able to look beyond that, she would have seen that even a group of ordinary, flawed human beings can achieve something extraordinary in the face of adversity. Ignoring the film's superior camera work, set design, [00:14:00] background score, acting, and instead, choosing to talk only about how loud they were only goes to show her disdain for the working class.

It seems like she feels only sophisticated people are allowed to take vacations. Okay, I'll be now. One is working class people can also be well mannered. You don't have to get drunk. You don't have to lecture women. You don't have to be boisterous. That is not being working class is not an excuse for it.

And just so you know, lots of sophisticated people also display the same behavior. That doesn't mean that I would like them. I think when people go out in public places. And especially on holiday, as a woman who travels alone, sometimes who travels with other women. It is the most scary thing to see a group of drunk men looking at you and ogling you or passing a comment or just picking up a fight when you are in the vicinity, because it is [00:15:00] very difficult to Just feel safe.

And I said the camera work and all is super, but I felt no sympathy for the characters. Now, what can I do? Everyone doesn't have to have the same view. That's my piece. True. I'm sorry. I can say a joke now if you want to lighten the moment. I can't think of one right now, but when it comes to me. Do you disagree with what I'm saying?

Why I said it? Yeah,

Abbas Momin: I do. I do. I, I. I, although, even though I liked multiple boys on the whole as a film, no, I was saying that I like it when listeners in their email express their anger in such a way because he's put review in inverted commas. The

Rajyasree Sen: review is also in inverted commas. Sophisticated it also.

Review is also. You should have put my name also in inverted commas. Rajshree has said this. Don't be so angry, RB. It's not nice. And you must enjoy your banter, na? Banter hi [00:16:00] hai. Even if it's not review, it is banter. For

Abbas Momin: sure. That is true, yes.

Rajyasree Sen: And, on that note, we are going to discuss something that we both liked, I'm assuming?

Hitman? Are we talking about Hitman? Yeah. Did you like? I have

Abbas Momin: opinions. You have opinions? Opinions?

Rajyasree Sen: I have opinion, I have opinion in quotes,

Abbas Momin: yes. Are we, are we talking spoilers? Spoilers?

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah, okay. So everyone who is listening and who doesn't like spoilers, you'll get upset and all that. Please go watch Hitman first, then you log on again.

The film, it's just a two hour film or something, right? It wasn't a long film. Yeah,

Abbas Momin: an hour and 55 minutes. Yeah, so watch

Rajyasree Sen: it and come back to this because now we are going to give spoilers.

Abbas Momin: So I'll broadly tell you my non spoiler, uh, uh, view of it. By and large, I enjoyed the film. So who's in it?

Rajyasree Sen: Let's say all that Richard Linklater has directed it.

He's also co originate with Glenn Power, who is the new flavor of the [00:17:00] season. A lot of people find him very hot. I don't find him very hot.

Abbas Momin: What? I find him hot. And I'm like, I'm straight.

Rajyasree Sen: There's something, you know, there's something very chikna about him, isn't he? He looks like he's unpolished, clean or something.

No, so I, I don't think he's particularly, like he's not ugly at all, but he's not my type of looks, but he's a big, women really like him. And, uh, he has co written, so I found that fascinating that he's co written the screenplay. Also, this film is based on, and I read the article, we'll have the link to the article below.

It's based on an article which came out in the Texas Monthly Magazine, written by Skip Hollinsworth. It's about a real life person who was doing basically, who was a hit man and you

Abbas Momin: missed, you missed an opportunity to say, [00:18:00] we will send you the link later.

Rajyasree Sen: We'll send you the

Abbas Momin: link. Get it.

Rajyasree Sen: So it is, uh, based on this. Skip Hollinsworth used to write on crime basically, but he does these like profiles and all. And because when you're watching the film, it seems a little ludicrous that this can't be. It is. But it is the true, like it's not the entire thing is in his life. But there was a man who was doing these, uh, this job and then it's taken it forward from there.

And, uh, it also stars, uh, Adria Arjuna. I don't know whether I'm pronouncing her name correctly or not. She plays his love interest in the film. And, uh, the story is that this set in New Orleans and there's a man who is, uh, teacher, this Gary Johnson. He's a professor of psychology and philosophy at the New Orleans University, University of [00:19:00] New Orleans.

But he also works undercover with the New Orleans police department.

Abbas Momin: Yeah.

Rajyasree Sen: To undercover, uh, to, uh, uncover, uh, People who are doing who want to take out hits on.

Abbas Momin: Yeah, essentially people who give supari to take someone down. He plays the quote unquote hit man who will do the job for them.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah,

Abbas Momin: but he's wearing a wire.

So he records them confessing to. Take wanting to take someone's life.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah.

Abbas Momin: And then they get arrested because there is an intent to, uh, to for criminality.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. So

Abbas Momin: he's playing that job of, of, of a fake hitman to, to get these people arrested.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. And he, the interesting part about his character was this character who Skip Hollins was wrote about is this guy used to actually get into character like he would Yes.

Adopt different characters for personalities for each each undercover sting operation that he [00:20:00] was doing.

Abbas Momin: Yes.

Rajyasree Sen: And, uh, he was a very straight laced professor. Otherwise he was an innocuous sweet professor otherwise. And, uh, now you see what your, your observation.

Abbas Momin: So, uh, so of course the, the, the, the story gets interesting where one of his.

potential clients happens to be this really beautiful woman who wants to get her husband killed because she's in an abusive marriage. And because he feels for this woman, he actually doesn't do the job for her. And then things things unravel from there. Now my thing is, I think Richard Linklater is trying to make a dark comedy.

All right, because the romance then develops between this woman who wants to get her husband killed, but she's fallen for someone who for a living. All right, so we're supposed to be Find this funny somehow. These two people essentially want to take people's lives. One of them. in theory does.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah.

Abbas Momin: But they are also in love.

They're also, [00:21:00] uh, they, they also have this passionate love for each other. And then as this, there's a backstory of an ex cop who has been suspended because he was found doing something, uh, wrong. And because of which he was suspended whose place our protagonist has taken the Glenn Powell character. Now this is where the spoilery comes in.

The end of the film literally has both of them. Killing this character. Okay, they put a plastic bag. And another.

Rajyasree Sen: She's also killed that other guy. She's killed her

Abbas Momin: husband. Yes. And then there is no consequence for it. Like in the end, we're supposed to be happy. They literally portrayed this as a happy ending.

Oh, it's sunshine and they have kids. But did you think it was a

Rajyasree Sen: happy ending or did you feel they portrayed that sometimes bad people get away with doing horrible things?

Abbas Momin: So if that was the intention that did come across because the ending is this picture perfect movie ending for me and I'm like, why should I root for two people?

One of them has killed her husband, the other one, [00:22:00] so there is And she's killed

Rajyasree Sen: the other guy. She's the one who he just does the last moment.

Abbas Momin: They both planned to kill each other. Like he's on the floor suffocating. I did

Rajyasree Sen: like that sequence though, where he's taking his last breath behind them. And they are saying they love each other.

Abbas Momin: So the, so the film, I think that the writers are trying to say this, this dark side of the character was always inside him, right? He's a psychology professor. So the fact that he takes this interest and dresses up to dress up for this hit man thing, that means he has this internalized fantasy inside him.

That I wish I was a hit man. I was actually doing these things, but I can't. And then towards the end, we are supposed to be like, okay, now he's actually getting to live out this weird side of his fantasy because he's met someone who will actually murder for love. But my thing was like, yeah, why am I, why am I rooting for either of these?

Like, I'm scared. If this couple is out there, I'm like, I'm scared. And they've had [00:23:00] children

Rajyasree Sen: and all and they are in this picture perfect. What if the,

Abbas Momin: what if the child finds out, They'll kill the child.

Rajyasree Sen: They are quite cold hearted. No, but why if it's a Quentin Tarantino film and in Kill Bill and all so many horrible people.

Kill

Abbas Momin: Bill, the violence is almost comical. People are getting beheaded and blood is flowing everywhere. I love it. It's a, it's a cartel happening. You show me that I'll believe it. But this is supposed to be like real people in a real setting. And then suddenly they're killing people for love. I'm like, This is love,

Rajyasree Sen: but love is a good reason to kill people.

So

Abbas Momin: is it? So

Rajyasree Sen: I was at a dinner the other day and I said, I didn't mean it like that, but I just said it. I said, you know, if I commit a murder, I feel I can commit a murder and not get caught. And there was a, someone who's very high up in the Navy was sitting there and he looked at I didn't realize that he took what [00:24:00] I said seriously and after dinner, he said, you know, I can't get over how you said that, that you'd really believe that you would.

So I said, now I can't commit a murder because you will say that she said it at the dining table. So obviously, but I said, I, I don't think I'd feel bad really. If I wanted so that was she had a motive to motive might have been not that I don't think the husband was abusive. I think she just didn't like that.

Maybe he was also abusive, but she wanted that money

Abbas Momin: in that one scene, they said there's a scene where they coming out of the nightclub and they show this husband trying to get his wife back. So they paint him as a despicable person. Now, if he dies, I'm not sad. The other cop wasn't that bad. Why did you kill that?

Yeah, I just

Rajyasree Sen: felt that cop. Could have not been killed also, but they had to kill him to save themselves. It's survival of the

Abbas Momin: fittest. Then you paint him as this despicable guy who will do anything to get his job done. Sometimes good

Rajyasree Sen: [00:25:00] people also have to die for the cause. But I thought it's a big departure for Richard Linklater to be making a film like this.

So for people who don't know and if you haven't watched the movie, These films that you should before sunrise, he made before sunrise with Ethan Hawke and what is her name? Something Delvey,

Abbas Momin: Julie Delpy.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. And then he made before sunset also. And it's lovely. It's all conversation. And it's a really before sunrise is especially a beautiful film.

So from there and sweet romance and unrequited love and all to have this man who is a man and woman who seem to not have any compunctions because they found love finally in their life. Yes. That is a big departure. Chose range on Richard Linklater's

Abbas Momin: part. Yes.

Rajyasree Sen: I was also impressed. So nowadays, I, I always used to look at who EPs, who the [00:26:00] EPs and all are.

This is executive produced by Jason Bateman.

Abbas Momin: Jason Bateman.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. So I find that quite fascinating that sometimes the most unlikely people. Uh, EPs on these, like films that you would not connect to them usually and also that is there, but I did think it was a nice watch.

Abbas Momin: It is a nice watch. Yeah, I would give it that.

Like it's, I was never bored for a second. Yeah. And he's fun. Glenn Powell is

Rajyasree Sen: fun too. Uh, this thing, because I saw this other film with him and Sidney Sweeney.

Abbas Momin: Yes. Anyone but you.

Rajyasree Sen: You feel like shooting him and Sidney Sweeney and then yourself also. It's the worst kind of rom com. And they are supposedly very good looking in that.

Uh, like if you like them, I think it's for people who are fans of Sidney Sweeney and

Abbas Momin: Yeah, that's what I was about to say. Like Glenn Powell, Sidney Sweeney is like the female version of that. A lot of men are in love with Sidney Sweeney right [00:27:00] now.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah. So the same, so that film though, Glenn Powell showed no acting prowess.

In this he is. Acting. And he clearly is capable of scripting a film also. So I felt those things which have nothing to do really with what the film is. These side things. See, look at Jason Bateman. Look at these. Look at Glenn Powell. But, uh, I think it's, uh, after a long time also, I'll tell you, normally I find nowadays every film is so deep and dark and intense.

I'm like, there's a war going on here. There's a war going on there. Look at who's been voted into power in India again. Then I'm watching one depressing film. You're just like something's light. So this is light if you don't analyze as much as a process. But why are these bad people being bad? People are very happy.

As you can make out if you look at politics. Okay. That's

Abbas Momin: very true. [00:28:00] So

Rajyasree Sen: maybe it's just a commentary on life, basically.

Abbas Momin: Oh my God.

Rajyasree Sen: But read the, you have to read that article which, uh, it's based on because that guy is really, like when you're reading it, you'd be like, this can't be a real person. So it is based on a real person.

So it's worth, it's worth, I would recommend watching it.

Abbas Momin: Yeah, yeah, even I would. My problems were only with the last 15 20 minutes. Up till then I think the film is pretty good.

Rajyasree Sen: You know what would have made it a little bit more maybe palatable is if they'd shown him looking hesitantly at her. At the end also, like, because you don't know whether she's going to bump him off next.

Because she's bumping off people very calmly and happily. So they should have shown some hesitation on his part.

Abbas Momin: I agree. Yes.

Rajyasree Sen: So there is a mail from concerned uncle. Okay. Two things. Abish's IMDb page says he is one of the oldest faces in the [00:29:00] Indian comedy scene. Oldest? I'm glad I don't have an IMDb page.

What will they write about my face? Who knows who's written this? And the second point of concern uncles made is I have an aunt who's quite an old lady now who believed women are more prone to brain tumors because of long hair pulling the brain down. I think Ms. Sen will get along brilliantly with her.

She did not get brain tumor just like Ms. Sen won't get testicular cancer. I am glad I could send such emails to two awesome people who can take a joke. You know, everyone's dissing what I said, but it's not so far fetched, by the way. So Ishita has written. Oh, this is

Abbas Momin: about the cycle. About the, it is true.

Okay.

Rajyasree Sen: I'm just saying I will not give up this train of thought at all ever. I just want everyone to know Ishita has written, hello guys. Going straight to the point, I started watching this show on Zee5, The [00:30:00] Broken News. It stars Jyoti Pilka Hoker and Sonali Bendre are very nice talkers. More importantly, the show is about news channels, the Indian media, corporates and so on.

I want Abhinandan's take on the show by I have. I'm the one who's watched the show, but also Manisha and others. Don't name me on another idea. If you guys go to an episode on depiction of news, media and cinema and get Manisha on that episode. The American show, The Newsroom created by Ed Sorkin is one of my favorites.

But if you guys have more to share, it would be interesting. Kudos to all the amazing work by the done by the team. The show that you should actually also watch is The Morning Show. What is it called? The Morning Show? Yes, yes. It is very much a commentary on how, uh, big business tries to interfere with news.

Uh, Jon Hamm's character is loosely buried. Loosely based on Elon Musk's character and Tesla. Okay. And so it's [00:31:00] definitely worth, uh, watch Ista. And of course there's some parts which are stretched like it hasties with the spoon and, uh, Jennifer Aniston and all that. Jennifer Aniston. Yeah. But it's a very, very strong commentary on the news ecosystem business currently.

Yeah. So there's one more show. That we watched. I watched.

Abbas Momin: Yeah, I watched three and a half episodes. Which is not bad.

Rajyasree Sen: Okay, so Eric is the new mini series, the Netflix mini series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. I think this is his, not I think, I know that it's his first mini series for Netflix or Netflix.

For Netflix. Anything for Netflix. And, uh, In this, he plays, it's created by R. B. Morgan. Uh, Benedict Cumberbatch plays this. It's set in a time before cell phones.

Abbas Momin: Yeah, set in the eighties. Eighties.

Rajyasree Sen: And they are in New York. They live in New York. He is the [00:32:00] son of a real estate tycoon, but, uh, he has nothing to do with his family.

He is He has created this show called Good Morning Sunshine. And he is a puppeteer. And they are puppets like Fraggle Rock. Have you watched Fraggle Rock, Abbas?

Abbas Momin: No, I haven't. But I've seen the Muppets show. Yeah, so

Rajyasree Sen: Muppets, Fraggle Rock. So Fraggle Rock was very big also. And Yellow Big Bird. You know, Big Bird.

That's for

Abbas Momin: the Muppets only. That's the Muppets

Rajyasree Sen: only, right? So the same, it's those kind of, uh, puppets, like, big, like, where people are inside the puppets and all that. And, uh, Good Morning Sunshine is set in New York. And it's very, it's a very popular show. It has some, uh, Uh, characters who are a little rude and adult and so on.

So it's not like a baby baby, like it's not a show for, uh, like a sweet, sweet little show. And he is married to [00:33:00] this woman who is, I couldn't really figure out what her job was, but she, she's a working person. She looks upset

Abbas Momin: most of the yeah, she's

Rajyasree Sen: upset most of the time. And they have a very, very sweet, cute son who looks like he's he's 10 years old.

I think he's a 10 year old boy. And he spends a lot of time like after school, he will go back with his father to his father's office. And he watches Benedict Cumberbatch doing his like creating puppets and the storyline and so on. And one day when He is to leave for school the night before his parents have this big fight, and in the morning, they let him walk three blocks down to his school, but he goes missing.

And the entire series is about how his father and mother, uh, do they find him or not?

Abbas Momin: Yeah,

Rajyasree Sen: basically. [00:34:00] And, uh, so I watched the entire thing. I think there are seven episodes or six episodes. And, um, I quite liked it. Okay. But, uh, I did think the relationship, like the relationship with the parents was shown very well, I felt.

And there's this dark underbelly to New York, which they get to also to the NYPD also. Yes. Not to be trusted. Also,

Abbas Momin: you forgot to mention a very, uh, crucial aspect of the show, which is a magic realist aspect of, uh, Oh,

Rajyasree Sen: what am I? Yeah. I've forgotten Eric. Who Eric is. Eric is this. Sorry, I'm getting old. Eric is, I knew I was missing something very big.

So the most interesting part of the show actually, which is the most absurd part also, if you look at it like that. Is this young boy, he clearly emulates his father, but is also, you [00:35:00] realize that he's very scared of his father later through the series that comes out, but he draws much like his father does.

And he's created a monster. And this monster is Eric. And he says, what? And his father, at that point in time, time before he goes missing itself, uh, the boy goes to the costume department and she gives him the cloth which he chooses what fur the, uh, Eric will have. And uh, Benedict Cumberbatch, when this boy goes missing, decides to bring, uh, Create Eric on the show and that Eric will be a way of getting his son to believe that his father loves him and I should come back all that but Eric takes on a personality of his own and he is like an alter ego or like he's just another personality in Benedict Cumberbatch's head who also you'll see it's very nicely done because when he's walking through New York, Eric is walking [00:36:00] along with him

Abbas Momin: with him.

Rajyasree Sen: And he also talks to Benedict Cumberbatch is clearly a little unhinged that there's no doubt about and he's an alcoholic and he's an addict. He is an addict. And, uh, he starts talking to Eric, basically. The

Abbas Momin: imaginary Eric.

Rajyasree Sen: The imaginary Eric. And then what happens? You see, so,

Abbas Momin: so, uh, I, I quite like the fact that they've actually used Eric as a huge puppet instead of like a computer generated, uh, uh, you know, effect and also that, uh, Benedict Cumberbatch is voicing Eric also.

So that also was a, was a really nice touch. Uh, I really liked, I mean, so far the show that I've seen three, three and a half episodes, I'm very, uh, fascinated by, uh, Missing mystery. Yeah. And to add to that, that whole pastiche of 80s New York, I think is very, uh, very glitzy and glamorous to look at. I think the whole [00:37:00] 70s, 80s New York has been, um, glamorized so much in pop culture, like the early Scorsese films.

And, uh, also in this particular show, there's one, um, One particular nightclub that the police officer keeps frequenting. So that whole dark underbelly of racism

Rajyasree Sen: thing also that very strong because NYPD was known for, it still is known for its racism. It's been dealt with a little bit right now. Maybe they've toned it down, but eighties and seventies, like it was synonymous with racism so that it's this black police officer who is in charge of, uh, missing.

children. Then the AIDS thing, that entire, there's a,

Abbas Momin: that hasn't been, okay. So there's,

Rajyasree Sen: Oh, here's a spoiler, Abbas. Uh, there's a full, uh, storyline of, uh, the AIDS crisis, which was, uh, happening in America at that time, that entire [00:38:00] thing of, so if y'all haven't watched this film, it's called, uh, The what heart?

Let me, I will just find it and tell y'all. But it is about, uh, you know, how gays are looked at, were looked at in America at that point. How they were considered the people who had spread AIDS everywhere. That you are, you won't touch someone who has AIDS. So that is a very strong storyline which will come out as well.

And, uh, it's, I just felt it had many, many layers, which were fabulous, absolutely, and the wife and husbands, like, you know, again, you don't, you almost don't for me, at least, the mother does a lot to look for that child, though, but at certain points, you're like, God, she's so horribly unhappy all the time.

And he's also, like, they're so, everyone's so unhappy. Yeah,

Abbas Momin: that is true. I mean, when you're [00:39:00] talking about dark and depressing shows, I was thinking about, yeah, we're going to talk about Eric in a few minutes. So it's, it's, it's not technically, um, it's not, the show doesn't pull you down. I think the mystery aspect of it keeps you hooked on at least for the first two, three episodes.

Then I think we do realize. about the missing boy, uh, in, in, in the third episode. Uh, but I really liked the, the, the visual aspect of it, the whole neon driven eighties look of, uh, of the, of the show. Um, I just want to mention that. So the Benedict Cumberbatch character. Uh, is loosely based on Jim Henson, who used to be this star puppeteer, who's the creator of the Muppets and, uh, Jim Henson, actually, there is a documentary on him, which is, which has come on hotstar called Jim Henson idea, man.

So I think you can do a nice double feature. If you watch Eric, you can also check out the Jim Henson documentary. But I did you, do you like Benedict Cumberbatch in it? I thought that the whole. him being [00:40:00] alcoholic and spiraling down thing came out a little suddenly, because in the first episode, they don't really give a hint to it.

And then suddenly, but I

Rajyasree Sen: think that was something with a lot of alcoholics are like that, right? They seem perfectly normal when you're that's so good at hiding their addiction, that only someone living even people living with Someone sometimes can't figure out how addicted they are, right? So I thought that actually was shown very well that he's actually And there's you'll get to that in their house There's a point where they're cleaning up the house and there are bottles coming out of everywhere.

He has just Shoved it in any and every little place. The part with Jod for me, that is the way an addict will be. When he's looking for a son, you'll get to that later. There's a point where he sort of goes on a bender and he could have just saved his son is right there. [00:41:00] But he's out of it totally. So he doesn't even know that his son is like, if he walks a little hundred meters forward, his son is actually over there.

So that part, I think Bennett, it's a very unlikable character, Benedict Cumberbatch's, like at the end, like he's doing, he is looking for his son, all that. And he does not, it's not like he doesn't care about his son. But, uh, his character is not like, I can just imagine being married to someone like that.

He, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, so the addiction part I actually thought made sense.

Abbas Momin: Okay.

Rajyasree Sen: But there are many layers to various characters and back stories which come out, which is, so I, right. That's the part I like. It is a very depressing show though. Okay. And, uh, it. Towards the end, it gets a little better, but it is like, it's not like everyone has a happy life or something.

Abbas Momin: Yeah. It's still very watchable. It's very watchable. I wanted to watch the next one.

Rajyasree Sen: [00:42:00] Yeah. It's not like so bleak that you're like, Oh my God, I can't take it anymore. That kind of thing. But I'm just, I have to see. Uh, this world of digital streaming, the kind of shows that they are making with very, very big stars.

I think where you can't make, you could make this into a film also, I suppose, but that they have the money to pay these stars to do really big. I started watching Man in Full, the one with Jeff, uh, Jeff Daniels, Dan Lane and all. And you know, when it's like, wow, you got Jeff Daniels to do this six part series, which is just fabulous.

Absolutely. It's created by David E. Keddy. It's one of those shows. It's like succession. It's sort of like succession. It has that same tone and all. So I think that, that these big stars are doing. These films [00:43:00] for Netflix and shows and all. Netflix, Amazon, whatever. Like Kate Winslet's that show. I love the regime.

Abbas Momin: Yeah, Mayor of East Town. No, and the regime. Have

Rajyasree Sen: you watched the regime? No, I haven't

Abbas Momin: watched the regime. You have

Rajyasree Sen: to watch it. She plays an unhinged dictator.

Abbas Momin: Okay.

Rajyasree Sen: It is so funny. And she's so And you

Abbas Momin: found that very relatable.

Rajyasree Sen: I found it very relatable. It wouldn't be an unhinged Dictator was as amusing, but he's not true.

It could be anyone. I could be talking about it. I don't come at us, but I would recommend watching, uh, Eric. I think people with children might find it a little this thing, but even y'all should watch it. It has lessons for parents. I feel spoken like one last thing I want to

Abbas Momin: say, since we're talking about puppets, actually, do you remember?

Like this is a 90s kid thing. Okay. This one show, which used to come on ZTV. And I've been watching like there's so much [00:44:00] nostalgia, porn happening, people are resurrecting all this. This one puppet show, nobody seems to remember. It used to come on ZTV. It was, it was a puppet show. It was called Jangli Tufan Tire Puncture.

Do you remember? Do you have any memory? I

Rajyasree Sen: remember the name. But I have not got two

Abbas Momin: characters. One was Jangli Tufan, the other was Tyre Puncture. And Jangli Tufan was this green wild puppet. OK, puncture was like this lit sort of, you know, small guy. And no 90s kids seem to have a memory of this. So if. Uh, anybody at listeners of Awful and Awesome on News Laundry, if you guys remember it, please put it in the comments or send us a mail because I really want to know where are the Junglee Toofanians out there.

Rajyasree Sen: There's a, uh, Instagram, uh, handle called Junglee Toofan Tyre Puncture, but it has nothing to do with the show. It's a man. It's, I don't know why he's,

Abbas Momin: I'll DM

Rajyasree Sen: him later on. Oh, I've never seen it's, it's like Sesame Street basically. [00:45:00] It's

Abbas Momin: like Sesame Street. There's like, there's not even an archival footage or like grainy video of this on YouTube.

Are they on hand?

Rajyasree Sen: Are they hand puppets?

Abbas Momin: Yes, they're hand puppets.

Rajyasree Sen: Oh, I don't remember seeing this at all. I have to say.

Abbas Momin: So yeah, if there are listeners out there who remember this show, please let us know because I want to know where you people are.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah, because I have not heard of this means I've heard of it, but I never watched it.

So that other film that I was saying that everyone should watch, it's called The Normal Heart. It has Mark Ruffalo in it. Uh, it's about this AIDS, uh, the AIDS crisis in, uh, America and how, like it's about, uh, couple and Julia Roberts is there, the lawyer who fought for, uh, changes to be made in how, uh, did you say it's

Abbas Momin: about Ka?

Rajyasree Sen: No, a

part about . And uh, we have another letter though. One second. Anirban [00:46:00] has written, Dear ANA team, at around 43, 15, well, 43 minutes, 15 seconds, Abish Matthews suggested that the Indian National Anthem was written to welcome a king. Anirban, did you notice that I roll my eyes and I did not say anything because I felt that I should not be rude.

So I just roll my eyes. I let it roll, basically, because anyone can say anything. One does not have to react every time, but what you are saying is correct. I am surprised that no one corrected it. This is a lie that was reported by some contemporary English newspapers and keeps resurfacing despite being debunked many times, including one rebuttal by the BBC.

Tagore himself was offended and wrote about this in a letter. Also, if you listen to the fourth song in the fourth stanza, the Adhinaayak is referred to as Mataad. So my grandmother was in. College in when the anthem was written, her [00:47:00] family and it means her family, our family and the tags were very close.

They still are, but, uh, it, this had nothing to do with any king or anything. It was called John and it was, and it was, uh, uh, it was about the country. It was then taken and made into the national anthem. He had not written it poet to be the national anthem,

Abbas Momin: did a.

Rajyasree Sen: But everyone has theories and I also have a theory on testicular cancer, which everyone's saying is incorrect.

That doesn't mean it's incorrect. And Ja group has core has written Hello, this is my first time writing to you, you using this is about me, you using obnoxious and Punjabi synonymously forced me to write. Don't know if that was a joke or what, but just wanted to see that sometimes these jokes don't come across as jokes.

I would accept that it depends on one's mood. I'm sure if I was in a better mood, I would have laughed at that comment as I have done in the past. But I think at some point, [00:48:00] jokes don't sound okay anymore. Oh, I'm just sad. But I have been hearing a lot of hatred lately directed at Punjabis, especially Sikhs.

I don't need to tell you what we are being told. I need don't need to repeat what is being said about us. So you just kind of get demoralized sometimes But it's okay such as life. It was not meant. Uh, Seriously, although some punjabis can be obnoxious. I have to say but people say so many things about bongs Also, you mustn't I was about to

Abbas Momin: say that Yeah, and keeps equating bongs with being elitists all the time.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah elitist loud lazy lazy So many things, I would be a wreck. Uh, this thing Jagruv, if I took what he said seriously. Everyone making fun of Mamata Banerjee and all all the time. We also feel hurt. It's not that we don't feel hurt. We just, nobody listens. Yeah, but you just write

Abbas Momin: poetry about it. Yeah, we also write poetry

Rajyasree Sen: about it.

Don't be hurt. I'll say things about others also. Don't worry about it. I'm an equal [00:49:00] opportunity offender. And Shivam Tyagi has written, School of Rock is seriously an amazing piece of work. Thanks for recommending it. A movie I'd recommend would be Bridge to Terabithia. Marketed as a kids movie, but it's quite mature in its content.

I also want to thank Abhi for being there. I can't remember crying in any movie ever, except at the end of Deadpool. See if you can hold it in there. But yeah, I'd rather watch a show alone than with a crybaby. I'm not a crybaby, Shivam. I'll come and beat you up if you speak like this. I feel I relate to the panelists more when you are there.

Haha. Too bad he's not there then today. Right? By the way, School

Abbas Momin: of Rock also a Richard Linklater

Rajyasree Sen: film. Oh, see? Such a good

Abbas Momin: film that was.

Rajyasree Sen: So after School of Rock and all, I'm quite impressed he's made Hitman.

Abbas Momin: Hitman, yeah. No, but he's written, uh, Abhi, thanks for being there. As in, he's talking to Abhinandan.

Rajyasree Sen: Yeah.

Abbas Momin: Oh,

Rajyasree Sen: not like Abhi. [00:50:00] Like, thank you for being there now. Abhi, he's saying. He doesn't realize even Abhinandan cried in, uh, this thing, by the way, in Interstellar. And he was like, he tried to wipe his tear and he thought I hadn't seen, but I see everything. Okay. So what if I cried in Chennai Express? It's okay.

One part I cried. That was

Abbas Momin: for

Rajyasree Sen: a different reason. It was one part I cried. God, that film, what a film that was. So that's all we have for you today. It's a mixed bag. Good, bad and better. But, uh, we will be back next week with, oh, that's something I wanted to watch. Oh, Presumed Innocent. I'm going to watch Presumed Innocent, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal.

And it's on, yeah, it's on Apple. It's starting from today. And it sounds

Abbas Momin: like an Apple. Yeah,

Rajyasree Sen: it's supposed to be very good. And Harrison Ford played this role in 1990 or something.

Abbas Momin: Oh, okay.

Rajyasree Sen: So that's why I wanted that. It's Harrison Ford. But [00:51:00] he's not in

Abbas Momin: this one, right?

Rajyasree Sen: He's very hot still. For an 85 hot, I feel.

Abbas Momin: It's true.

Rajyasree Sen: But, uh. You were also

Abbas Momin: shirtless in the new Indiana Jones.

Rajyasree Sen: Then, but that I think they did CGI Khan being shirtless. He doesn't look the way he does in real life. But, uh, thank you, Mr. Moomin.

Abbas Momin: And thank you, Ms. Sen.

Rajyasree Sen: And it's a wrap.

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Awful and Awesome Ep 354: Panchayat Season 3, Hit Man, Eric

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