Awful and Awesome Ep 356: Maharaj, Chandu Champion, The Fall Guy

While discussing Maharaj:

Rajyasree: The maharaj in question is played by Jaideep Ahlawat.

Deepanjana: And, his abs.

Rajyasree: Yes. That’s a different cast member altogether because Jaideep has worked out a lot. I am very happy to see these results, I must say. 

This and a whole lot of awful and awesome as Deepanjana Pal and Rajyasree Sen discuss the films Maharaj, Chandu Champion, The Fall Guy, and Do Aur Do Pyaar.  

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.

Audio timecodes

00:00 - Introductions

00:58 - Announcement 

02:27 - Topics

05:27 - Maharaj 

27:00 - Chandu Champion

38:38 - The Fall Guy

49:10 - Subscribers letter

49:35 - Do Aur Do Pyaar

References

NL Sena - NEET but not clean

Maharaj 

Chandu Champion

The Fall Guy

Do Aur Do Pyaar

Subscribe to Newslaundry 

Click here to download the Newslaundry app on Android. And here for iOS.

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, edited by Umrav Singh and Saif Ali Ekram.

Full audio

-: [00:00:00] This is a News Laundry Podcast and you're listening to the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap.

Rajyasree: Hello, hello. This is the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, episode 356. This is Rajshri Sen and today we have with us Drumroll! Who do we have? Should I introduce myself? Yes, please introduce yourself. And we have I'm the founding co host of this podcast. It's the OGs. The OGs are here today. So Dipanjana is joining us from Bombay and I am joining from here and but just to keep things constant, we made sure that both of us haven't watched everything because that would be too much.

Absolutely. But before we get into the meat of it, we will get [00:01:00] into the neat of it. This is by chance. I did not practice this. I just Came up with this, which is awesome. But there's a new NL Sena project, uh, called neat but not clean. Basically, as all of you know, the neat exam controversy has affected thousands of students in India.

Many the exams have been, there's going to be a retest of the exams and which was decided at the last moment and the apex court is now looking into the matter. Now, who are the perfect scorers were papers leaked in an organized manner or was it just like random leaks which have happened? Uh, have groups linked to alleged paper leaks in other states had any role to play?

And what happens to the people who are the students who are active? But it is not the people who are going to be affected. As part of this SENA project, Basant Kumar and Sumeda Mittal will bring a series of ground reports from Haryana, [00:02:00] Bihar and Delhi to answer these questions. So please contribute. Just go on the NLCENA page and contribute whatever amount you can because this will help us tell these stories.

and also do a much more detailed in depth analysis. Reportage on this. So from there to something not as ceal or that impacts India at all, we have uh, we have three Hindi films. And one English film. So we have, uh, juth Khans debut film, juth Kahn being America Khan's son, uh, juth Khans Debut film Maharaj.

We have Karthik s first series. So many first, first series film. I don't know, maybe he is done other serious films. I don't watch Kakar, so I don't know. Has he done other serious films? Technically, yes. What? Bhol bhalaya? 

Deepanjana: [00:03:00] Satya Prem ki katha. 

Rajyasree: Oh, that was also, uh. 

Deepanjana: Oh, What was it? I mean, credit where credit is due, uh, it was not a conventional sort of hero vehicle.

Uh, even though it ended up being that way, like ultimately he's very much the guy who saves the day and all of that jazz, but, uh, centrally the heroine is a rape survivor and someone who is having trouble with the idea of intimacy. Because of her experiences and, uh, Karthik Aryan played a sort of, you know, good for nothing, useless kind of a guy.

Okay. Whose only redeeming feature turns out to be that he is sensitive to this woman's, um, feelings. Hmm. And also supportive of her and doesn't really Give a damn that she has the taint of rape, uh, attached to her. So it was an unusual film for a Hindi, um, for a commercial Hindi film, uh, maker [00:04:00] audience star the whole works.

And it did well. It made something like a hundred crore if I remember correctly. Oh, this is last 

Rajyasree: year and it has Kiara Advani in it. I think as I see Karthik Aryan, it immediately, I just. It falls on one blind spot, like what has happened to you with Maharaj. So we have Chandu Champion. I wish, I wish I had a blind spot.

I wish. So there's Chandu Champion, there's Maharaj, there's Do or Do Pyar, which is a contemporary love story, modern contemporary love story. And then there's a fall guy, which has no pretenses of what it is. It's a blockbuster fun film, which actually is a little series that has one thing about the stunt people who are ignored in, uh, in normal discourse when you're writing reviews or watching a film or handing out awards, which has changed now, but we will get to [00:05:00] that later.

Uh, what do you want to start with, Dipanjuna? 

Deepanjana: Um. Shall we start with Maharaj, since I have watched apparently seven minutes of it? No, I've watched 15 minutes. You claim seven. Because six minutes was the song, na? Which you have suffered from. 

Rajyasree: But you have watched all 

Deepanjana: of 

Rajyasree: it, so then I can ask you about that.

It's just so many insights I will give you on this. You wait and watch. So, Maharaj is, uh, Junaid Aamir Khan's son's debut film. You wait and watch. It is, uh, based on a true life story. So, first of all, it came into, it got highlighted more because there was a court case asking for it to be banned or not shown.

Not banned, but not telecast at all. It was these, uh, this was by the members of. Though, which I did not know about this sect, but that means nothing. The Pushti Margi sect [00:06:00] said that this film, uh, like blackens the name of the Pushti Margi sect. It has, it's basically blasphemous and so on. And therefore there was a stay on this and it got delayed by a week.

I don't think it got delayed. Yeah. A little bit more than that. And, um, 

Deepanjana: in all accuracy, one must agree that the Pushti Margis do not come out looking very good in this film. Yeah, at all. Um, at all. But then perhaps their, um, faith should not allow for women to be treated this way, if that is indeed true.

And the fact is that, um, the The central story is based on real life incidents, real life people. This is a case that was, um, that went to trial in a colonial British court in 1862. And, uh, there was a very sort of valiant effort, I believe, at that point of time. I don't know the history, historical case that well, but I do know that there was a valiant effort [00:07:00] by the Pushtimarghi, um, Sex Council to say that religion does not come under the Control of the secular court.

Um, and that was essentially the argument that they had gone with, but the British judges basically said that, uh, that's not true. There is an individual right that is being violated in the process of the things that they were doing. So there's a legal precedence for bringing this into the secular space.

Yeah. But, I mean, Why not try a petition? No. 

Rajyasree: Yeah, it's still a democracy as 

Deepanjana: far as we know. Yeah. 

Rajyasree: And they did manage to stop it for a week. Yeah. So 

Deepanjana: it was great publicity like you and me, there must have been more many people in the country who had no idea these guys existed. And now because of their objection, 

Rajyasree: we know they exist that.

And also I have to say, while I had heard murmurs about this film, this Maharaj film, and [00:08:00] that Junaid Khan is in it. I actually had not paid attention to wait OTT it was coming. I didn't know it was an OTT film. First of all, I thought it's only on big screen. I did not know what the storyline was. And because of this controversy, I, I felt obliged also that I must watch this film, which almost got banned.

Like it's the way I will watch monkey man. When it will never release in India, but I know people who have watched monkey man and who have said it's a little all over the place, but then just because it's so that's what, so because it's not being released for various reasons, political reasons, I'll watch it out of some misplaced loyalty to free free speech and so on.

The loyalty is well 

Deepanjana: placed. It's just sad. And I've said this before as well. Um, the, it's not that your loyalty is misplaced at all. Loyalty is well placed. It's [00:09:00] just sad to champion free speech. We have to support things like this. Yeah. Like 

Rajyasree: things like this because, so this is directed by Sidha Malhotra who is not the hot Sidha.

Mara was the actor for a second. I had got confused. I thought, wow. Even said that has done something. But it starts.

is a real life, was a real life journalist and social reformer. And it focuses on this 1862 Maharaja libel case, which happened. And the Maharaja in question is not a Maharaja King, but a Maharaja priest, Maharaja, uh, uh, who is the head of the sect, who is played by Jaideep Alawat, who looks very, very. And his abs.

That's a different cast member altogether because Jaideep has worked out a lot and I am very happy to see these results, I must say. [00:10:00] And I personally think he's a very, very good actor. I read a review which said something accurately that you have to give Jaideep credit for keeping a straight face while saying some of the lines that he has to say in this film because he does it with as much enthusiasm and truth to his craft as possible but they are such ridiculous lines like he must have gone home and said Now I've had to do this also for my career for whatever because I can't believe that he felt there's no great acting range on display here other than Jaideep believing in the role.

He looks like he believes what he is doing. So that is good acting. But, uh, he is called, which I thought was a little odd in, uh, 1862 that the Maharaj is called JJ, which is a pretty cool way of referring [00:11:00] to Like even Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is not called R. R. by his. I feel like that's 

Deepanjana: some sort of dubbing, um, cover up for something, I feel.

But the thing is that In the long list, and again, I have to caveat this by admitting that I did not finish watching this film. I made a valiant effort and then I gave up. Um, but, uh, in the long list of things that don't work in this film, JJ is a very small problem, you know, and the thing is, I completely agree with you, Jaydeep Allahabad is one of our most gifted actors.

He can lift anything. And everything for, uh, like there was a film that he and Ayushman Khurrana did called an action hero. It was one of the most underrated films that have come out of this, uh, industry in recent times because it is a spectacular film. Both actors are really good in it. But [00:12:00] Jaideep and Rawat is able to take such action.

Everyday tiny moments. Yeah. And elevate them just with his expression. Yeah, I was gonna say that. 

Rajyasree: Without saying a word, he is able to do that. He's one of the few actors. No. So this story, let's just give, this is Setin. Gaja, uh, there is this Maharaj who is the head of the sector. No, it's in Bombay. No, he cuts Bombay.

Is it Bombay? Why are they dressed in. Ghagra Cholis. No, Jana, they're wearing Ghagra Cholis. 

Deepanjana: I 

Rajyasree: know, but I'm pretty sure they're coming to Bombay 

Deepanjana: for this. Then you know how 

Rajyasree: much of an effect this has had on me, impact. Listen, that town hall is Bombay. That's my mistake. That town hall is not Kutch. Are you sure?

Okay, maybe it is. I don't know. They're all Gujarati people. Maybe there's a Gujarati township. Maybe that's a Gujarati township in Bombay. I feel like 

Deepanjana: when he, you know, when his mother passes away or something, [00:13:00] he moves to his uncle's house in the beginning, they tell you, he moves to his uncle's house with that widow down to his.

And that's 

Rajyasree: in Bombay. I think the setting does not matter itself at all, clearly, because it may have no impact on me or on the story. But that means they had a lot of property, the Maharaj. He has a massive tank, a water tank in his and it's a Haveli. It's not even like a Haveli. It's like a palace almost.

But, uh, there is, uh, he is the head of this sect and there's a ritual which happens. He chooses, uh, All families can choose to send their daughters or wives or sister, any female, uh, member, family member to him to sleep with him. He will sleep with them. And there's a viewing gallery where people can view, uh, him having sex with this person.

And it is considered a blessing to be, to have [00:14:00] him, uh, sleep with you, basically to have sex with you. And this practice carries on. And Junaid Khan's, uh, fiancée is chosen to be one of these women during, uh, one festival which happens and she, so all these women go voluntarily though. No one is shown being dragged, crying or anything.

They think that it's a blessing as well. Uh, and his fiancée goes and has sex with, uh, Jyoti Palawat, Junaid Khan sees this and tells her he is shocked that she's doing this and she tells him to leave and he breaks up the engagement and spoiler alert because this is really going to rock your world. She then kills herself.

And then when she kills herself, he's anyway. Uh, against this practice that the Maharaj indulges in and people are believing in totally and following. Junaid Khan takes it upon himself [00:15:00] to fight against, to bring, uh, a certain level of awareness to how backward this practice is. And he's a journalist. He works with other two, three other social reformers as well to write articles on this practice.

And It then becomes a legal Maharaj, uh, slaps a defamation, uh, this thing, suit on, uh, Junaid Khan. And then you see the court case. Now, the court case is very dramatic. So everything is said like in a Hindi film, like Meenakshi Shashadri's, what was those films, Ghayal and all those films. It's said in that.

Damini. Damini, Ghayal, even Ghayal has a court case where it's very dramatic the way everyone. So I, I 

Deepanjana: just want to butt in for one second and interrupt you to say that I don't think Maharaj is obliged to be accurate or realistic. It's a movie. [00:16:00] It's a Bollywood movie. Like you're saying, we have a very long tradition of extremely dramatic court sequences.

They have brought us much joy and entertainment over time. It's not obliged to be realistic. It is, however, obliged to be, one, entertaining and be convincing. Yeah. The thing about, uh, the The over the top, uh, drama that came in, you know, with the Millard objection kind of, uh, court cases that we would see in, uh, 80s and 90s Bollywood in particular, um, the point is that it wasn't that these were accurate.

It was that they were entertaining. You were with that lawyer the whole time you felt the injustice when, you know, the oily sleazy defense counsel is able to completely, uh, make use of a loophole and Amrish Puri makes like googly eyes and everyone is scared, you know, all of this stuff, it worked. The problem in Maharaj, and I haven't even got that part of the affair.

Uh, the problem in [00:17:00] Maharaj is much earlier. The use of all of these Standard tactics, devices, and tropes of mainstream Hindi cinema, they are used in a way that feels so tiresome and embarrassing. Like it's just so badly done. Like for example, um, I, I, the, one of the things that in the bit that I watched, I watched until, um, the engagement is broken 

Rajyasree: off.

Okay. 

Deepanjana: Right. Between Carson and his fiancee, I've forgotten her name, um, played by Shalini Bhag, that I do remember. Uh, so before this, like you mentioned, there's this ritual in which, uh, Shalini Pandey, Shalini is, sorry, 

Rajyasree: Shalini Bhag is later, sorry, sorry, does not need to be in the film by the way, that her role is completely useless.

Deepanjana: Yeah. Uh huh. So. The ritual that we've been told about, it's called [00:18:00] Charan Darshan, if I remember correctly. Um, something like that. I mean, I know it translates to basically seeing the feet, essentially. Yeah. But you're seeing more. You get to see a lot more, but the way the story is set up, it seems that Karsan has no idea what Charan Darshan actually means.

Neither does this young woman who is selected for this ritual. Right. Meanwhile, the men who are watching, like Sri mentioned earlier, there are men who are able to watch this ritual, uh, carried out, they know what they're paying for, right? So there's a guy who comes with his teenage son and goes to the guard and says that the guard who is standing outside the room where all of this sex is happening, um, the guy says that, you know, I want to bring my son and the guard looks at the son and says, Oh, you're a teenager.

I'm sure it's about time you got into this. How educational, uh, practice. So like everybody knows like what is going on [00:19:00] except person, which is bizarre to me, like, how does that work? But not just that, when we're shown what is happening inside, there is what could have been a very tangled and complicated and a completely different story from what we have in the film.

But we basically see the young woman riding her religious leader. She's on top and The, the reason why I'm mentioning the sexual position is, and it's not shocked by 

Rajyasree: what is happening also, just for a second, it doesn't, yeah, show when he unties her blouse, there's a, they show her face, not looking, it's not like she's looking gleeful then, but she seems to get into the, uh, act and mood quite, uh, happily and easily, which I'd forget about at this point, That stage in, uh, time, which is 1862, that it would be a very big deal for a young girl to suddenly, [00:20:00] uh, the first person that she has sex with is a son, she doesn't even know that she's actually going for this to happen to her.

Even today, people would be in shock. I'm saying even uneducated, like, I'm not talking about people from our milieu. So to show this sort of calmness with which calmness and very easy, the ease with which she sort of gets into the practice is a little strange. 

Deepanjana: It's, it's strange because it could have been a conversation about how Uh, complicated.

The idea of consent is when you don't feel free to voice your lack of consent, but that kind of complication, this film is not interested in touching at all. 

Rajyasree: And she's educated. She's an educated woman. We're repeatedly told this. Yeah. They keep saying this, that now you finish your education. Like she's done her college almost.

Whatever. She's educated. [00:21:00] It's not an uneducated or undereducated person. It's someone who has gotten educated. And she's in love with this, uh, boy, young man who is clearly very educated, who they at least try to tell us that he has great intellectual thought and he does not believe in. Are we told that he is a shining light?

Yeah, yeah. He's a shining. Yeah. And that he questions like he's an atheist. So he questions. He doesn't believe he doesn't follow anything just because that is tradition and so on. So when you're showing I can't raise my eyebrow 

Deepanjana: biologically high enough, so I'm using my finger. 

Rajyasree: So it just does not work.

Make there's no nuance in this film for sure at all to sum it up. There's no nuance. Even the fight that happens that this guy's on is thrown [00:22:00] out of his house because he raises a voice against the Maharaj. Nothing is like he's torn out and he's absolutely fine. He just sets up a press and then he's like, it's quite cool.

The entire thing is it. Aunt who he loves so much, his widowed aunt who he's always, uh, spoiled and they show this affectionate relationship. She's the one who says you have to, you must leave the house. That, that, that trauma of the person I have always supported is the one who is telling me to leave.

Anyway, there's no nuance. The, uh, then that fiance dies. Then the, then this new girl pops up Sunday who is straight out of, she's not out of even an Aditya Chopra film or something. She is straight out of those Balaji telefilms. She's whistling and she's got this low cut, this thing. So cholis tend to be, which is why I thought they were in Gujarat, they're wearing these cholis and [00:23:00] confusing me, no?

And, uh, she plays no role. Like, it's not like she, uh, is the catalyst who makes him fight this court case or something. She's just there to be pretty and she says, I always wanted to support you and my parents are very upset with me, but I'm here to support you. What I found most disappointing 

Deepanjana: about Maharaj is not so much that more than anything else, and this is not just for Maharaj, this is something that I've come up with.

Um, against a lot of the times when I'm watching Indian stuff, it's just that our imagination as storytellers is becoming so limited. Yeah. And, um, I just want to offer as a contrast some, uh, a genre that I've watched a lot of these days. Korean drama. The K dramas. Yes. Yeah. Uh, K dramas and C dramas, Korean and Chinese dramas, both of them.

I don't watch as much of Chinese because it takes too long, but, uh, But both of them have a very robust tradition of, um, historical fiction. Yeah. [00:24:00] This is not historically accurate fiction, by the way. This is history in the way that we want to see, they want to see it. It's glamorized and it's inaccurate.

Women have way more rights than that society or allowed at that point of time. There's like floaty, um, you know, fabric going everywhere, all of that stuff. It's historically completely inaccurate, but it's set In an imagined past, and what they end up using that imagined past to do is talk about things that are of concern in the present.

It's like doing good fantasy, basically, right? Something like Maharaj should have been able to do that. Yeah. That's all I'm saying. Give me a coherent story. Give me a the right balance between escapism and thinking about what could be relevant in the present. And if you can't do all of that, then just don't make it seem embarrassing.

It was, I found really bad watching this film because like, there is. [00:25:00] If you, if you think of it from a debutante actor's point of view, it's from the Yashaj's table, you get to act opposite Jaidi Pehlawat, there is a director who has a certain amount of prowess and, you know, about, you know, a filmography to their name, what more can you ask for?

And then you end up in this, he's so It's so awkward, Junaid Khan, and in the 15 minutes that it's 

Rajyasree: so Yeah, no, so the only positive I felt, which is not about the film, I felt the positive about his, uh, debut is that that this debut film is that I do think that in today's India, it is very brave to choose this as your debut film, which is raising a question on a Hindu religious leader, even if it had been a fictional leader, because You know that it's not going to be easy.

I think it's impressive that even Jaydeep Alawad, although I would expect him to be fine with a role, whatever the role is, as long as he finds it [00:26:00] interesting. But for Junaid Khan to being a Muslim, Also that he is playing a Hindu reformer and also I did think that was impressive that you know that he did not go for, not that I would think that he would go for a traditional role given that he's Aamir Khan's son and all that.

But maybe action hero, those kinds, even if it's slightly had gate would be that kind, not something to do with religion and so on, which you cannot deny that in today's India and the, uh, uh, atmosphere that we have. And it is a difficult choice for most people to make, but this film could have been so much more given that it also had Jai Deep.

See, Junaid Khan, I did not think in his first film will be so wonderful. Anyway, maybe he will never be so wonderful. And I've plodded through it because I'm very dedicated. But nobody's appreciating. Should we move [00:27:00] on to our next one? Yes. Which one? I mean, what else can you say? Yeah. Chandu champion. Chandu champion.

Which is, I will give my own input that it stars Kar Mm-Hmm. And it's directed by someone who I have watched at least some good films, uh, directed by him. And I think he, at least in his interviews and otherwise comes across as an intelligent, uh, person director. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, Kail Khan. And now the Panina will tell us about this film, which she watched from the big screen.

So Tele jumping is a biopic. 

Deepanjana: It is. Actually, I think, uh, three. Yeah, it's three sports movies in one. Um, it's a biopic based on the life of a very real person, Muralikanth Pethkar. And we see Muralikanth Pethkar from, uh, the age of, I guess, like seven, eight, maybe a little bit older. I can't tell kids I'm useless that way, but, uh, he's a boy [00:28:00] basically who's being picked on and et cetera, poor, uh, family, lower caste.

His father's a tailor. Um, everyone makes fun of him and he hates being mocked in that way. So he, he decides and he sees that there is a lot of respect that is given to athletes. Okay. Because when he's young, there's a, uh, Olympic bronze medalist who comes to their village or is from their village. So there's, there's a backstory like that.

And basically little Murali Kanth Petkar who is called Chandu champion as a taunt by his schoolmates, uh, Murali Kanth Petkar decides that he's going to become an athlete and he's going to get the Olympic gold. Okay. And then everyone will respect him and it'll be amazing. Okay. So to that end, he first, uh, tries, he has no idea how to go about this.

He's from this little town in Sangli, I think, or a village near Sangli in Maharashtra. Um, so he first joins the army, through the army, he [00:29:00] joins boxing, the boxing team, and he gets like, he has a lot of success. Once the boxing career is like, seems to be absolutely on a high, he suffers a tremendous Terrible accident because he's posted to Kashmir and, um, they're attacked by one presumes Pakistan.

It is not clearly said, but who else in Kashmir? Uh, he is then in coma for many years. When he wakes up, he's semi paralyzed. Um, Oh, sorry. I forgot the first film, the first film, the first sports film before all of this was in becoming a wrestler. Like in a cardiac type person? Oh, he becomes a wrestler. Yes.

First he becomes a wrestler. Then he joins the army, then he becomes a boxer, then he gets injured, then he goes into coma, then he goes into depression. But like, uh, he's not able to regain strength in his legs. However, his former boxing coach is like, bruh, it doesn't matter if you can't move your legs.

Paralympics is a thing. Um, and he [00:30:00] becomes a swimmer. Okay. Um, and he ends up going to the Paralympics of a particular way, which I'm sorry, I do not remember. Okay. Uh, but, uh, it's the year that the, um, that there was a attack on the main Olympics, Munich, uh, the Munich or Olympics. Yes, the Munich. Yeah. Uh, yeah.

Rajyasree: Okay. Yeah. 

Deepanjana: Uh, so the Paralympics are shifted out of Munich and held at the last minute in Heidelberg. Okay. Because of this last minute change, the records are completely all over the place and it turns out. Nobody knew that Murali Kanthpetkar had won the gold in his, uh, category. Yeah. He made a new world record.

He got the gold medal and nobody knew. Nobody knew. Like it just completely disappeared from public memory. So the film is an attempt to bring [00:31:00] Murali Kanthpetkar back. Okay. Right. And. The thing is, this is an amazing life, right? Like this is an absolutely amazing life. Um, it should have been, if not riveting, then at least engaging.

Now, Kabir Khan is a very accomplished director. One of the things that he's extremely good at doing is yanking your heartstrings so that you weep even while you're like, why am I weeping? Why exactly am I weeping? You know, um, he is the master of emotional manipulation, but it is always for a good cause.

Like his, he has, he has a bleeding liberal heart. It's, it does not get more liberal than his. He's progressive. He champions all the right ideas. So like, He is for me, like he is the best front bencher energy that I can think of, but just like most kids who sit in the front bench and get the first, you know, first place in everything, [00:32:00] they're very dull.

And the movie is, this is the problem. It's just, it's accomplished. It's, uh, it's got some fabulous cinematography and path. Does Karthik act well? This is a very difficult 

Rajyasree: question to 

Deepanjana: answer 

Rajyasree: because, Why did he choose Karthik Aryan is something which I'm trying to understand. Because Karthik, 

Deepanjana: well, the thing is that Karthik Aryan had a really interesting year last year, when he ended up being in very unexpected hits.

Also, I think Karthik Aryan very desperately wants to establish himself as more than the Pyaar ka Panchnama kind of guy. Um, and good on him for picking a project like this. But the thing is that, and here's the thing, there are about four moments in this film where Karthik Aryan does manage to get, you know, his pitch perfect.

Okay. It's quiet. It's not overdone. Uh, interestingly that [00:33:00] none of these moments have dialogues. And I'm saying interesting because Karthik Aryan's claim to fame were the monologues of Pyaar Ka Panchnama, like his rapid fire delivery of Love Ranjan's writing has been what made him famous in the first place.

But when he actually stills himself. And in the words of therapy centers himself, he's, he can act. It's not like he can't, but he is definitely not mature enough as an actor yet to shoulder a film like this because there's nobody else, like nobody else has time. And yeah. And Kabir Khan tries, Vijay Raaz is in this film as the coach and it's a.

It's a lovely little role, which it does. I don't think he's always reliable. Um, I'm not sure the name of the actors who played, um, uh, mother and brother. [00:34:00] Um, there is no like physical resemblance at all, but those two are very good actors. Like they really, every time they're on screen, you feel for them, they're just not on screen much, but you know, essentially the problem with Chandu champion was not.

anything other than this should not have been a boring film. It's a, it's technically fine. There's nothing wrong with it. But the problem is that even though you're giving me three sports films, and, and all the drama that comes with being the underdog participant in a contest, If you, if you had to, you know, if in the middle of the interval, you got a call because there's some work thing that you have to attend to, you'd never feel any sense of suspense of, Oh, what happened then?

Yeah. So which is a mid term and everybody is so good. So monotonously good that I was just like one villain, one bad guy from all [00:35:00] that way. Like it's all 

Rajyasree: positive. Okay. Okay. 

Deepanjana: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe he only met good 

Rajyasree: people. Maybe he only met good people, but tell me, have they steered clear of song and dance in this film?

Or there is dance? No, 

Deepanjana: no, there's a, Oh my God. There's some. I don't even know what's going on. There are, there aren't as many as one might have expected perhaps, but there are songs, but it's just, the other thing was that bothered me, but this is very idiosyncratic. This is not a general criticism. This is something that didn't work for me specifically.

There's an over the top quality in this film. Like everyone exaggerates their expressions and they're having the time when, uh, when an audit, and so this song. The first song in the film, if I remember correctly, is one that happens on a train, um, when a bunch of soldiers are being taken to whatever it is they're going to chain.

Um, I guess somewhere in there, I don't [00:36:00] know, something like that. And this guy comes, this little orderly type chap who naturally looks like he's probably Nepali or someone from the Northeast. He comes with a, uh, Tree of chai and he's constantly exaggerated, big eyes, eyebrows up, huge smile, let me dance.

And I was like, Oh my God, I'm so embarrassed for you right now. 

Rajyasree: So it's a Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Like he, it, he always has those characters, which are everyone. Bajrangi 

Deepanjana: Bhaijaan, I think was a little more tempered than Chandu Champhil is. 

Rajyasree: I cried so much in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. I was trying to remember how much I cried in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, despite it being a Salman Khan film.

I don't, 

Deepanjana: I don't think you would have cried in Chandu Champion, except for One moment, which I think every person who has ever been in a swimming pool and swimming will relate with, there's a point at which he's, you know, he's charging as fast as he can, and his head slams [00:37:00] against the wall. 

Rajyasree: Also because he's not using his legs.

They are showing a Paralympic thing. So it's difficult to control yourself. And you, 

Deepanjana: like, that was, I mean, I, I literally gasped out loud in the theater. Which was quite a shock for me because I, I was like, by that time I'd actually had three coffees so that I stay awake. 

Rajyasree: But I'm very impressed that you watch Chandu Champion and I feel bad about it but one of my main reasons for not watching it is because of Karthik Aryan.

But maybe I should give him a shot. You know 

Deepanjana: the thing is. That's what I'm saying, I feel bad that. It's one of those things that a whole bunch of people would probably have gone because of Karthik Aryan. Karthik Aryan has a really loyal fan base of attentive, very attentive to that fan base. So I can see that working out, but I don't think anybody who went to watch that film to see him at his best would [00:38:00] have necessarily felt Paisa Vasool, you know, because It's too much for him.

Yeah, it's just too much for him. Bajrangi Bhaijaan at the end of the day actually worked because that child was obnoxiously 

Rajyasree: adorable. Yeah, was so adorable. Absolutely. And Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Nawazuddin and it is a Salman Khan film where you don't expect Salman Khan. plays like a hero in the film. So you're not expecting any thespian skills from Salman.

You are, Salman is playing himself being a cute guy in that film. So, but, uh, a Paisa Vasool film, which I thought was Paisa Vasool, because you, you know, At least what I expected I got from the film was the Fall Guy because I just, I thought it would be a fun film with not anything particularly intelligent in it and it lived up to it totally.

And [00:39:00] it has Ryan Gosling and M. D. Blunt who, and I like the whole premise of it being that these stunt people are so integral to all these films and no one really pays any attention. To any of them as an other than obviously the filmmakers, but you don't see it in and maybe there is that pecking order in on a film set where there's a deference to the stunt person, but obviously in the pecking order, the star is the star.

And then you have the stunt people and so on. I watched on Amazon prime. No, no, you can rent it on Amazon prime. For some 230 rupees or something, but whatever, but, uh, the story is that Ryan Gosling is a stunt, uh, man, and he has this girlfriend who is MD Blunt, who is working on, uh, she's an AD on [00:40:00] that project.

that first film that he's on. And then he has this really he has, uh, he's the stuntman for this obnoxious star. And for some reason, he has this horrible accident. And then he goes out of the business because and he also breaks up with Emily Blunt. And then one fine day, he gets a call and he becomes a He's a waiter.

Is he a Wait? No. He parks cars. He is a valet in that restaurant. Parks, cars. He's a valet. Yeah. Yeah. And then he gets a call from, uh, uh, Hannah Ingham, who's just fabulous. All I just find her very entertaining. I love her so much. She's, I just love anything, Jason. And she is the producer of that old film of his, and she says, oh, uh, Emily Blunt is the director of the film and she wants you too.

Come and be the stuntman. And he's so excited that he goes on the set and then discovers that this is not the [00:41:00] case. And then there's this whole thing about a missing star. He has to go and find the missing actor, but there's more to the story. There's a murder angle and so on, and there are lots of stunts and it's a lot of fun.

Basically . So, and I thought Jason Memo's role was. fabulous at the end that he so I don't want to give away it because it's a fun kind of film like if you yeah you might as well wait and see what Jason Momoa does but I did think that if you're making a fun film which is what I sometimes not sometimes very often feel about Hindi films is that You know, you're going to watch a fun like it's not supposed to be like go go are gone which I quite liked actually, but there's another one which came on my go.

Madgaon Express, which is suppose Madgaon it was now, uh, which also, [00:42:00] you know that it's. just supposed to be a fun film, but somehow we never, we either make it so slapstick and ridiculous, or we never hit that right level of fun, which I felt, okay, Go Go A Gone did manage to do it to a certain extent, to quite a big extent.

For over here, you have these two big Hollywood stars. Hannah Waddington, uh, Waddingham is no small fry either. Jason Momoa coming in even for a bit, whatever it is. You come together to make quite a mindless little film in the sense that it's not an intelligent film from any angle. Like, it's not an intellectual film.

But it's such a You give the audience what you've promised, fun. So there's two things, right? Like, I think, 

Deepanjana: I think you're absolutely right. There is a certain craft to making a fun film, a silly fun [00:43:00] film, which is a vanishing thing today. Because everyone's so intent to, upon being meaningful in one way or the other.

And the thing is, this silly stuff, curiously enough, it ends up being meaningful without trying so hard. Um, but, but with Volga, I didn't think it was a bad film. That's not what I'm getting at. But there were two things. One was that I really felt like it was, It was really insecure about being a silly film.

So I must now elevate myself. I mean, look, we're about stunt performers and stunt performers don't get enough love. Like, you know, like giving, it was like, it's not going to be of enough value if it's just between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt's characters. Um, it really wore that. weight very uncomfortably.

Like it was constantly trying to give itself more meaning in that way. That was something I felt very strongly about because [00:44:00] I don't actually need you to do all that. I will appreciate the stuntman and all of that. Because you're doing exactly because of the film anyway, but the flip side of it was that I don't think there was enough chemistry between Gosling and Blunt.

Like, I didn't believe that relationship at all. It was very insipid. Now, the thing is, Ryan Gosling is one of the funniest actors. In Hollywood. Right. Aside from being one of the most beautiful men. Yeah, I was going to say, he's so 

Rajyasree: easy on the eye that it's lovely to 

Deepanjana: see him. It's beautiful. I mean, I'm not ever going to complain about seeing Ryan Gosling on screen, but Ryan Gosling and this happened with Barbie as well.

Ryan Gosling kills it in these promotional stuff, right? Yeah. He's funny. He's beautiful. He's intelligent. He's articulate. He is the internet boyfriend redux, right? Like every film that he does, he becomes [00:45:00] the internet boyfriend because he knows exactly how to have you just drool and fall at his feet. Now the problem is, that's him as a person.

The writing of the character doesn't match up as intelligent or charming as Ryan Gosling is in person. So Ryan Gosling's character is such a disappointment next to Ryan Gosling, the person. That especially if like, If you have followed all the promotional stuff and these days with, you know, Instagram and things like that, it's really easy to do that between YouTube and Instagram, that's where all the promotional stuff are.

So if you've seen all of that, for me, it was, it was a disappointment because that, that energy and that crackle wasn't in the film. Yeah. Um, I kind of felt a little bit of that with another film, another beautiful blonde man in it. Hitman on Netflix. Yeah. Glenn [00:46:00] Powell is again, very funny, very charming, very clever, good actor.

I mean, whether you look at him neck up or neck down, that man is a blessing for the queer gays and the female gays. Thank you. All those involved. Hmm. Um, and yet. In the films that he makes, except for Step It Up, which was like, which I have not watched. That was a brilliant rom com. I'll watch it. Just watch it.

Put it top on your feel good list. Whenever you want to pick me up. That's the film to watch. Um, it's lovely, but like I, I, I enjoyed any one but you, it was the, it was exactly the stupid rom com that it meant, you know, made itself out to be. Hitman is not stupid. Hitman does have a lot more depth to it, but, uh, the person Glenn Powell, just like the person Ryan Bosling, is a lot more charismatic and a lot more effortlessly [00:47:00] charming than the characters that he plays.

Yeah. You know, so, so like Fall Guy for me, Failed as a romance and that's what it actually was. There wasn't chemistry between the two of them. The love story, just like it just kept getting picked up at the most awkward moments. If I don't want these two beautiful people to just come together, 

Rajyasree: then, then the romance has failed.

But I think I like the stunts. I like, I like all these. I like the way they, uh, make fun of, which is worth making fun of the new, uh, age of all these, uh, Mad Max, uh, all these films where there's an apocalypse and there's this hero come to save the world and all. Yeah. And that there's a string of these kind of films.

So I liked all that about it, but the romance, you don't really believe it at all. In fact, 

Deepanjana: exactly. Yeah. And without that, the pivot is [00:48:00] lost for the film, then it's just like sequences floating all over the place. So then this is also the sort of thing that I feel is, uh, um, you know, it's the kind of film that works well in clips.

Yeah. 

Rajyasree: Yeah. Okay. So 

Deepanjana: a 30 second clip, a 45 second clip, even a 90 second clip works fine. And at this point with so many studios looking for virality rather than necessarily an box office continuity, everyone's hyper aware that a film is going to be in theaters for maximum a couple of weeks before it goes online.

And you must make it bitty and quick so that. fragments can be taken to create interest. This notion of long form continuity that was basic to a film, film storytelling in the pre social media age and the pre TikTok age particularly, [00:49:00] um, I think we're seeing the impact of that in this sort of writing.

Rajyasree: But speaking of romance, which we'll get to for the next film, because there's a lot of romance in it, supposedly, I will read out one mail, because only one person has written a mail to us. Akanksha has written, So happy that Nainika is back. Lovely episode from Abbas always. Keep up the good work, y'all.

Thanks Akanksha for writing in and good of Nainika to be kind enough to read it. step in because all of us stepped out. But there is a new rom com again, but on Netflix, this was on Hotstar, sorry. The word Topyaar, which stars Vidya Balan. Pratik Gandhi, who I think is a fabulous actor, Senthil Ramamurthy, who was in which show?

I'm, I've forgotten that. Heroes. Heroes and Ileana D'Cruz, uh, in this film. [00:50:00] They are the four characters to Vidya Balan is married to Pratik Gandhi. And, uh, they've been married for 10 years, not particularly like, it's not like they showed 25 years or something, but. Listen, 

Deepanjana: for people who are 20s, in their 20s, 10 years is a long time.

For old 

Rajyasree: women like you and me, it's not that long. This time I know it was Bombay. Yeah, I just wanted to know because she was not wearing a Ghagra Choli and roaming around and confusing me like that. And Vidya Balan works as, what does she do? She's a dentist. And he works in his family business. He runs the factory.

And, uh, so on and he, it's a pretty successful business. He has Japanese, uh, business partners and all the [00:51:00] delegations coming and all, and they've had a love marriage. They do not have children. They live in Bambi and Bandra, I think they stay. Like a nice part of Bombay. They have a lovely flat, but both of them are having a face and, uh, with their ballin, uh, has pulled the right straw and got send the Ram Murti as her, uh.

Lover or boyfriend and he is a photographer who has come from New York from New York to explain away his accent also and why he's so, so not Indian and he's beautiful and he's a photographer and he's very in love with her and she seems very in love with him. And Pratik Gandhi is seeing Ariana DeCruz, who is an act, who is a budding actress.

But theater actress, I don't think she's a, she like they show the focus being theater [00:52:00] and her name is her stage name for something is Rosie. So when she messages him and all they refer to her as Rosie and there's a funny line in the film, which I thought was quite funny with Vidya Balan says, but it's basically about these two, uh, A couple who have found great happiness in the arms of other people.

And then what happens? I frankly found it quite trying the film because I was like, I watched it then I took a break. So when I like something usually I'm able to watch it, like sit down and watch it in one shot or take a break only if I have to, but I took a break. Then I started watching the next day. I, for some, shall we give away what happens?

No, we won't. Something. So Vidya Balan's family, she's from, they were not happy with her getting married to Prateek, who is Bengali in this film, and she [00:53:00] is, uh, And, uh, and they did not approve of this love marriage that they had and then her grandfather dies. So they go back to the family home. But, uh, Pratik Gandhi and she don't know that.

Each person is having an affair. So at that point they go back and then what all how they rediscover romance with each other and they learn they realize they love that means for their relationship. Yeah and that they still laugh about things together and all and what happens as a result what it means for their other relationships.

So I thought it was a sweet film. I did not think it was a wonderful film. I did not, uh, I felt the breakup was very smoothly shown, like I feel it is not so pleasant, especially [00:54:00] if you're having a relationship with someone who's married and if they tell you now, now it's not working out. Okay, bye. Very few people will like that in itself will be a storyline.

But how did. This because both of them are at a stage in their extramarital affairs where they have promised to be with these people and then they decide to know they want to not be with each other, but they don't want to be with these people and carry on these relationship. So I thought that was a little packed the way it was shown.

I did like that line which Vidya Balan says when she says who has an affair with someone called Rosie. Which I think is a is something I would also say , but, uh, I don't know. What did you think of it? I didn't, it didn't really move me or anything. Huh. So, 

Deepanjana: uh, just, um, as a bit of a backgrounder, uh, though, although Pire is an Indian adaptation of an [00:55:00] English film called The Lovers.

Hmm. Um, and the Lovers is the same premise. There's a a long married couple in, in the Lovers. They're much older though. Yeah. Yeah. I think in the late 50s, early 60s, something like that. It's also darker, bleaker than the Indian adaptation, which I think in terms of an adaptation, it's very cleverly done.

And it's well done. Um, the central story, like you said, old married couple, uh, they are both at the point of, um, Asking for a divorce from their spouse because they've been in long term relationships with other people and then circumstantially they're thrown together Literally on a bed and have sex and then they're like, uh, this is nice Yeah, and so now they're cheating on their cheating partners with their actually legally married partner, um, I am friends with one of the writers who was Uh, responsible for this adaptation.

So that, that's the caveat that I'll keep in mind. It didn't work for me. Totally. What did work for me [00:56:00] was Vidya Balan. I think she was just magnificent. Yeah. I can watch Vidya Balan play. And everyday woman, a flawed everyday woman. So good to see that. And she's so lovely. Like, you know, like, you know, when you were saying that, uh, she really picks the card when she gets send the last, her love, it never, it never stretches my credibility that someone like Vidya Balan, not just someone who looks like, not just someone who looks like her, but someone who is like her, she's such a charming personality, you know, this character.

With all of it's like there are these insecurities, there's resentment, there's frustration, um, it's a very, it's a very sort of tender portrait. I'm not necessarily a forgiving one, but still an affectionate, tender portrait of a middle aged woman. And as a middle aged woman myself, I felt that it was really nicely done, you know, and very [00:57:00] nicely performed.

The problem for me was more that, um, I wanted more sequences like that scene in which, uh, Vidya and Pratik are dancing in that club in, uh, Ooty, you know, these moments where you Feel a certain kind of camaraderie because, you know, as you and I both know that so many kinds of relationships that two people can have while necessarily being in one relationship, right?

The social tag is one thing, but living with somebody or being a person's friend for a long time, or being a person's lover for a long time means that your relationship changes, but there's a level of comfort and intuitive. Um, back and forth that you can do, which that scene showed really well, you know, but the problem for me with the film was that I didn't desperately want them to [00:58:00] come together.

Yeah. And if I don't want that for the lead pair, then neither do I really feel the melancholy of them choosing to go their separate ways or not being together or not being together. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

Both do get a bit of a short shift by the script, because even Emily Sendhil still has more time. And 

Rajyasree: a very like a single monotone character, you don't, and there's no reason why she should be that like, because Pratik Gandhi is shown as much as Vidya Balan is shown as an interesting character. He has.

He has a sense of humor. He's a sweet person. He's like, like a caring husband. Also, he's a caring person as such, even when they go back home to our family, who are not particularly welcoming. Uh, and that dining [00:59:00] table scene, whenever they're at the table, that's very well done. That banter that family members have and all.

He's shown as a sweet, nice, fun guy. Okay, but He 

Deepanjana: also liked this idea of a hero who is not in any way. Excellent. Yeah. You know, he's not the best looking. He's not the richest. He's not the most talented. It's not like if he starts singing tomorrow, he will become something like that. You know, like he's an everyday guy.

But the charm is in 

Rajyasree: him being in every, you know, I just felt the Ileana relationship, like it could have had a little bit more, uh, depth to it. 

Deepanjana: Look, the other woman, uh, the one that, you know, basically the homebreaker of a relationship, she has got the short shift in fiction and film for years. And it's unfair.

Yeah. Yeah. Because. She's, I mean, first of all, Ileana, as [01:00:00] we know from films like Barfi, is a very capable actress, right? She can do nuance, so give her a role with nuance. No, it's something, even her lines were not 

Rajyasree: witty, her, there was nothing. That sequence was funny. where she sends a piano to the house, which I can imagine anyone wasn't her.

See, that's the thing. It's like, you know, that could have also been a little something could I just felt it felt her character felt a little flat. You did not see what the charm was, why he had gravitated towards her because you get that in the Sendhil Vidya relationship. Yes. And that gets more 

Deepanjana: time, but it's written better as well, like you said.

And yeah, Ileana's character in contrast just gets, it's very convenient. She comes in whenever Pratik needs to be given something other than Vidya to gravitate towards. [01:01:00] Um, so that was a bit disappointment, uh, disappointing for me. Um, I, I really wanted to like this film more than I did. I did, I didn't dislike it.

I enjoyed many parts of it. Yeah. But I didn't love it. And I really wanted to love it. It's like I said, 

Rajyasree: it's. And I like the fact that Vidya Balan was acting after a while. Like you're that also that and the sparing of Vidya Gandhi that the storyline it could have been much much Uh, more interesting, let's see, not better, more interesting is what I would say, or more, and it lends itself to humor also so well, a situation like this, that where you're not trying to make it into a morose relationship drama, then it lends itself to humor very well, right?

But it just felt a little flat, 

Deepanjana: you know, Yeah, it definitely felt flat. And like I said, I [01:02:00] wanted to love it a lot more than I was able to do, you know, um, and not for any fault of mine. It just did not have that. It didn't inspire enough, right? It didn't feel strong enough. The emotions running through it were just not as strong as they could have been.

But that said, One, this is a young director. I think it's a first film. If I'm not mistaken. No, she's done. 

Rajyasree: Yeah. What? Run. Second maybe. Run and Contract. But this is her first big film, I think. 

Deepanjana: This is her first big project. So from that perspective, well done, man, because this is an unusual. It's a very unusual love story to do in a market that has stopped looking at love stories entirely.

Maybe. Because they just want alpha men, uh, you know, blowing up things or commercial love stories. They 

Rajyasree: want whether it's song, dance, not even where, 

Deepanjana: where was 

Rajyasree: the last time we [01:03:00] had a proper love 

Deepanjana: story? If we haven't, because it's just not been, you, you know, the thing is that the romance genre centrally requires a heroine that you can fall in love with, which means that you Immediately you need to give her character.

You need to give us screen time. Now, if you're making an alpha masculine hero, which is what our industry is obsessed with right now, because the more it becomes insecure about its prospects, it falls back upon tropes that have served it. Well, the hero and the leading man, and, you know, tapping into society's regressive patriarchal tendencies is just safer than trying to put forward something that is.

rebellious in some form or the other. Romance as a story, a romantic story is about rebellion. It requires people to act on their desires, which is a radical thing to do in conservative, regressive societies, right? So it's really hard to sell romance at [01:04:00] this point of time as a comfortable option. Romance is never comfortable in that sense, but it is comforting when it's done well.

So that's. To pick a romance as your story, to do a big film with, for someone like Vidya to come on board, to do a film like this, someone, um, All of this, I'm, I'm just so happy it was made. I mean, it, even though I don't think it was a perfect film, this is the sort of film when I see, I'm really happy to see it.

Like this, this film, Shows like Patal Lok's first season, like Kohra last year, uh, Sudeep Sharma's, uh, works basically. These are the things that make me feel happy that, that it's getting made. Like it gives me hope for the kind of, uh, storytelling, for storytelling to work. Yeah. Because like, otherwise, most of our mainstream stuff is so 

Rajyasree: bad.

You didn't give Maharaj a shot. [01:05:00] They also tried storytelling. You did. It'll work. One of us did. Even they tried storytelling. Both 

Deepanjana: of us is 

Rajyasree: too much I feel. No, but I think it's a sweet film which like if you want to watch something which as I keep saying some I get very tired nowadays of anything I put on to watch is so dreary and serious and depressing.

So it's nice to watch something which is a little light hearted, which has a slight feel good without being like soppy feel good and has some good actors in it. So that we and contemporary, which is something you can relate to. You can relate to these characters very well, I felt. And 

Deepanjana: also, uh, at the risk of giving away a huge spoiler, I was so happy with the ending.

Yeah. I really liked it. I loved the openness of the ending. [01:06:00] You know, like it gave, it gave space for both these characters to grow into themselves. 

Rajyasree: Yeah. 

Deepanjana: How lovely is that? No, no. So that's what. And you know, the thing is that we usually imagine love stories to be for young people, rightly so. Young people should be the ones enjoying the story.

effervescence of what romance and love and desire all of these things feel like but But it's also true that, you know, 45, 50, uh, I, I've forgotten how old these two are supposed to be. I think they're supposed to be 40 

Rajyasree: something, 40 something, which it says, regiment, right? 

Deepanjana: Yeah, I've forgotten exactly how, but they mentioned it, they make a point to mention the age.

So like, the thing is that, you know, in now, in the present. And you and I are testimony to this. Being in your forties is very different from what being in your forties meant for our parents. Yeah, yeah, of course. We feel younger in many ways. We get to be less [01:07:00] responsible than our parents had to be. And people of our parents generation had to be at this age.

So it's nice to have stories like this that acknowledge how even though you're older, there's still more growing up to do, that there's more self realization to have, that there are more experiences waiting for you. I like that. Yeah. But, but again. Caveat, I am, a lot of me wanting, like a lot of me liking this has to do with it being what you said, a being contemporary, uh, speaking to an age group that I can relate to because all of this stuff doesn't 

Rajyasree: happen.

And people we can relate to also. It's a. Milieu, which we are familiar with. 

Deepanjana: Exactly. But given all of that, ideally, we should have loved it and neither of us did. And that is also worth keeping in mind that this is a film to walk into with your managed expectations, not exceeding expectations for a long 

Rajyasree: time.

But I'd recommend watching [01:08:00] it. I think people should. If you want a live one. Yeah, it was very sweet. I liked it. But, that is all we have for this week, and I at least will be back. Amazing, we managed to do this in 90 minutes. I'm very, I'm very impressed that we have managed. No, we stopped in between hours, so it's less than 90.

But we discussed four films, so it's, uh, we didn't just discuss shows and so on. But, uh, yeah. Thank you for taking out your time. 

Deepanjana: You're very welcome. Thank you for thinking of me for this episode. Muchly enjoyed as always. 

Rajyasree: Thank you, Ms. Sen. Thank you, Ms. Pal. And it's a wrap. Thank

-: you for your subscription. You're changing the world by changing the way news is funded. For the smoothest News Laundry experience, download the News Laundry app. It is the best way to listen to our paywall podcasts. And you'll also get access to all free News Laundry shows. Keep us ad free and subscriber [01:09:00] funded.

Help us grow. Tell people who listen to you to pay to keep news free. Subscribe to News Laundry. Keep journalism independent.