While discussing Poor Things:
Jayashree: You threw me under the bus. I asked if I should watch American Fiction or Poor Things, and you led me to Poor Things.
Rajyasree: Which has won an Oscar.
Jayashree: So many terrible movies have. I had to watch Poor Things over dinner. So, I did not get my calorie intake last night, because it was a struggle.
This and a whole lot of awful and awesome as Rajyasree Sen and Jayashree Arunachalam discuss the movies Poor Things, American Fiction, Manjummel Boys, and the 96th Academy Awards.
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Timecodes
00:00 - Introductions
01:29 - Headlines
03:45 - Poor Things
18:40 - American Fiction
25:54 - NL-TNM Election Fund
27:28 - Manjummel Boys
34:10 The Oscars
References
Click here to download the Newslaundry app on Android. And here for iOS.
Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Shubang Gautam, edited by Umrav Singh.
Sting: [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 344. This is Rajyasree Sen. I'm Jayashree Arunachalam. So we And welcome. We like cutting into each other, it's okay. And then we'll get a meal saying that, you know, y'all should not cut into each other and all that. So it's okay.
Jayashree: Literally, you know, we've
Rajyasree: planned it all.
Yeah. All the cuts are intentional. This is like a South film. Rajshri and Jayshri Productions are now going to get you. The best and the worst of entertainment. So we have some very good stuff. Yes, you will agree. There's an Oscar. I [00:01:00] look grim. Yeah, I look angry. Oscar winning. Poor things. American fiction.
Then there's Manjumal. Am I saying it properly? Manjumal. Yeah. Not bad. Say it. Manjumal. Manjumal boys. So I said it correctly. Manjumal boys and Oscars. The Oscars. But before that we have a very important announcement.
Jayashree: Yes. So this episode of Awful and Awesome is outside the paywall this week. It will be outside the paywall next week as well.
Just like Hafta and Chacha. You can catch full episodes on our YouTube channel. And also please remember. We rely
Rajyasree: on subscriptions, your support. We don't take ads. And once these podcasts go back behind the paywall, we hope you will support us and subscribe to Newslaundry. Before we get into what we have to discuss, the headlines for this week are So the 96th Academy Awards were held last Sunday and witnessed a bump in viewership.
An estimated 19.
Jayashree: 5 million people watched the ceremony on ABC. This is the [00:02:00] biggest number drawn by the telecast in four years. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer swept seven awards and Emma Stone won the Best Actress trophy. We shall discuss this in detail.
Rajyasree: Yes, because Jayshree is really looking forward to discussing this.
Alexander Payne's Oscar nominee, uh, The Holdovers found itself embroiled in controversy ahead of the ceremony after accusations of plagiarism from Simon Stephenson, the Co writer of Luca, the Pixar film by Disney, the, uh, Stephenson has said that there are similarities between Holdovers and his 2013 script, Frisco.
Jayashree: Yes. And I think in very upsetting news, a
Rajyasree: bunch of Allu Arjun fans reportedly beat up a man in Bangalore and forced him to chant Jai Allu Arjun. This is as per the Indian Express. I know if these were friends of mine, they wouldn't know why they are being told, like they wouldn't know what Alu Arjun is saying, Alu Arjun, [00:03:00] which would make it even more interesting and even more upsetting days after a video off.
So first of all, who is Elvish Yadav? Elvish Yadav is a Big Boss winner also. Oh. That is how we all, the common people know about him, but he's a social media influencer and a YouTuber. And days after a video of Elvish Yadav beating up a fellow YouTuber, Maxton, went viral on social media, Yadav has issued a clarification alleging that the latter had threatened his parents.
So then it's okay to beat up, right? Yeah, of course. And FIR has been registered in the case.
Jayashree: This is like Take My A. wife's name out of your filthy mouth. Yeah, I'll just kill
Rajyasree: you
Jayashree: then. Yeah, fair enough. And finally, renowned composer Hans Zimmer and India's Shashwat Sachdev are set to collaborate on the upcoming series, Virdi, alongside artist James Everingham.
Rajyasree: Thrilling. Thrilling, absolutely [00:04:00] thrilling. But now to more thrilling things, which is, we are going to start with this film with Jess. She just was so excited because she stayed up last night to watch.
Jayashree: It's so, yes. So, but before we get any further in discussing the movie, Poor Things, Rajshri, I have some things to say to you.
So,
Rajyasree: I know I'm not close. We don't know each other very well, but in the five or six years I've been here, I have edited whatever copies you've written. I've edited with love and care. And I've shown signs of some intelligent life when I've written those copies, right?
Jayashree: You have. Yes. And then also on our last
Rajyasree: episode of offline awesome together, we bonded over Robbie Williams underwear.
Correct. You told me your mother and or sister is also named Jayshree, my grandmother, correct. Correct. A grandmother. Correct. Deep affection. And then yet last night you. threw me under the bus, [00:05:00] because I said, what should I watch? Should I watch American fiction or Poor Things? And you led me to Poor Things.
Which has won an Oscar for best actress among others. So many terrible movies have won Oscars, we may add, which we can discuss further in detail. But yes, I had to watch Poor Things and I had to watch it over dinner. So I did not get my calorie intake last night because it was a struggle. So it's a two hour, 25 minute film and all of you can watch it on Hotstar and it has not been edited.
I just want to censored, I have to say, um, uh, or if it has, they've done, uh, Like, I don't know what there was that they've censored because it's quite graphic. Also, it's very seamlessly censored then. You can't make out that it's been censored. But it's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who also made The Favourite.
You watched The Favourite? I watched three of his movies, surprisingly. I usually watch nothing. I've watched The [00:06:00] Favourites, The Lobster, and, uh Killing of a Sacred Deer. Oh, Killing of a Sacred Deer is also his. I didn't understand the end. That was very good till the end went a little, uh. Haywire. Yeah, but what a good film that was.
That was really good. I have a Favorite, I think, I was Okesh. Yeah, it could have been better than it was given that it had Olivia Colman and, uh, this thing, right? Emma Stone. And Rachel Weisz, I think. Oh, Rachel Weisz was also in it. But I
Jayashree: think it's a recurring theme, no? So basically the favorites and this movie are both about women who have a lot of sex.
Oh,
Rajyasree: you brought it down to this. So this is basically based on a 1992 novel by Alastair Gray. And it's about, so you don't really get it, sort of Victorian, but you don't get the timeline for the simple reason that there are trams which are zipping over your head, ziplining over your head and all. So it's.
It's one of those, uh, like much of the film, it [00:07:00] doesn't, many things don't make sense about it, especially the date it's set in, but it's clearly in a time before, uh, it's not modern times. Let's put it that way. There are no phones. It's sort of retro futuristic. Yeah. Retro. It's very Wes Anderson in a way. I thought it was very
Jayashree: Willy Wonka.
I think the
Rajyasree: correct terms. Willy Wonka also. Yeah. I think the correct thing is, it's supposed to be very steampunk, but it looked very, Sort of chocolate factory. Yeah, but I say this bitterly. Yeah. So it's, uh, the setting is the main story is that Emma Stone is, uh, has been rescued by Willem Dafoe, who always plays a slightly, uh, Oddball character and I don't think he's ever played a normal character in his life, like a normal man who loves his wife and children and goes to work.
He doesn't do all those characters. So Willem Dafoe's face is all cut up and sewn back together. You can make out that It's, he's like a patchwork [00:08:00] person and he's a doctor and you realize that through the story, it comes out that his father basically used to experiment on him on genetics and biology, like biological experiments and all to understand the human body.
And he rescues, uh, Emma Stone, who has tried to kill herself and, uh, who dies, but He takes a baby's brain, her baby's brain, her unborn child's brain, and puts it into her dead body's skull, and basically, I'm trying to make it sound as logical as possible, and then you see the evolution of this woman from being um, Like from a baby.
She is how babies learn to speak and behave and all. And her journey of self discovery to becoming a very well, not well spoken, but a very clear thinking woman who travels the, she goes to Lisbon [00:09:00] to, where do they go to Athens? They go as well, right? They go to Lisbon, they go to Alexandria and then they
Jayashree: end up in Paris.
In a brothel. Yeah. And then comes up. So basically I think. So William Dafoe's father seems to have been this kind of mad scientist. Yeah. He also now seems to be a kind of mad scientist, where he does all these experiments in his house. You can see there's,
Rajyasree: you know, a half duck cuff. Dog. Yeah. Creatures running around.
So, yeah, he, Emma Stone tries to die by suicide. He rescues her. He takes the unborn fetus from her stomach and implants its brain in her head. Yeah. So when we first meet her, she's this sort of just learning about the world around her. There's this curiosity. And she's like a child. The way that if you see, they see an insect.
Most children would whack it because they like a, like a toddler would whack it, not understanding what it is and the, the joy that children get from violence. Right? Because that's the nice part about being a child that you don't [00:10:00] have to, there are no restrictions of society on you. You just do what you want and go with the flow basically.
And he gets, so he's a very well renowned, uh, Professor of, uh, yes, he's a
Jayashree: professor Yeah.
Rajyasree: Of, uh, medicine and especially of surgery and so on, and he asked one of his students, which is, uh, Rammy Rami Yusuf, that you come and work with me. I want you to basically detail out in reports what you see of this girl who stays in my house.
And that's how our vocabulary improves also, because she's, uh, constantly talking to Rami and. He slowly starts falling in love with her, as in Rami Yousuf, and they, uh, then she decides to, like, they decide to get married, but then Mark Ruffalo, who I thought was very good, you did not enjoy Mark, he was so good.
So basically, But, like, the one thing I thought, like, okay, so she's, [00:11:00] so that's a sexual awakening. That's also there. And again, like most, you know, adolescents, she sort of discovers masturbation, except that she's in the body of a fully grown woman. And instead of agreeing, she loves Rami Yusuf, but also she doesn't really know.
What she wants or who she is or what the world is. And she hasn't met any other guy also, right? She's the only one. Along comes Mark Ruffalo, who's this caddish, hot little lawyer. And then he convinces her, like, come, let's explore the world. So, story starts because she runs away. And she goes with him to Lisbon.
And that's when the movie transitions also from black and white to To colour. So it's See, the thing is There's a lot about the movie that I felt like I should like because it's about this woman on this journey of exploration and she's curious and Emma Stone I thought was pretty compelling because there was this lot of like, physicality in how she transformed, like she was learning to walk and then by the end of it like you said she's She reads a lot.
She discovers philosophy and politics and [00:12:00] she discovers inequalities in the world and like, you know, it's very cool, but then, I don't know, I just found the entire, I mean, so while I could see a lot of sweetness, I also found it pretty unpleasant
Jayashree: to watch
Rajyasree: sometimes, like, I don't know, it was
Jayashree: just, especially I understand the sort of idea of the sexual awakening and Okay.
See, so Mark Ruffalo and compelling and he's this very, uh, typical sort of bounder, right? He wants sex, but then he's confronted by, I mean, he thinks he's a man of the world. He's unshackled by society. Yeah. And then he takes up with Emma Stone who is,
Rajyasree: uh, who wants sex, but who is truly unshackled by society.
Who is truly unshackled. And she's wants sex. She wants to pursue sex with different people because she doesn't understand the idea of that. You know, society means a woman must only sleep with this one man, so he gets embarrassed by her and what she's, you know, but even then, at the end of it, I would, it just.
It [00:13:00] felt like things were happening, but I felt no sense of investment in the way the plot was sort of unfolding. I, like, I liked Mark Ruffalo, I thought Emma Stone was great, but I just did not connect to it as a story or even as a concept. And I did find it unpleasant to watch in that, like, what was happening?
Like, what was As the plot was unfolding and yes she went to Lisbon Alexandria she was confronted by the poor and she felt really sad and then she went Paris and she went to Brothel and it just felt like okay here's like a girl on a wild adventure and the adventure was just not exciting for me to watch.
I also, so I felt it was too pulled, made too long. They could have yeah first of all they could have hacked off 30 minutes like we would have still got the point of it and I felt there were too many pieces which had to be, like, you know, boxes which had to be ticked on this journey. So, uh, you know that she'll [00:14:00] discover philosophy, that she will have her sexual awakening, that she will come back and like, you know, points made like, uh, a man will might go and have sex with everyone, but then he will come back to the stable woman who has waited for him.
And so they tried to turn that subversive and made it. Like she is doing it as opposed to the guy doing it, but it was very subversive. Now this will happen. Now that will happen. You know that why it's being, uh, why it's being shown because this is, if you don't show her coming back to that guy and asking, saying that she wants to marry him.
Jayashree: Yeah.
Rajyasree: Then, uh, how will you show the, how society actually treats women and like. You could have got those points without certain boxes being ticked. I thought the parts which were again, so I felt there were elements of it, which were nice, but which like the whole film did not the sum of [00:15:00] its parts is the parts were more than the sum.
Let's put it that way.
Jayashree: Yeah. And I felt, I think for me, the specific point where I was, so I liked the Again, so it's divided up into chapters. Yeah. I liked the
Rajyasree: Portugal
Jayashree: chapter. It was
Rajyasree: interesting enough I liked the chapter on the ship. Yeah. Then by the point, by the time we gotta to Paris, like you said, it was just the same sort of thing.
And then when she discovered, like, like I looked away for five minutes and then I looked back and I was like, oh, she's now a socialist because she's discovered politics now. Yeah. , I was, I had, I was having none of that. Like it was just now I was like, okay, enough, go home, wrap it up. So I felt like the Willem Dafoe part, you know, taking that Frankenstein's monster and then making Frankenstein, Frankenstein's monster basically becomes Frankenstein in this because he then creates his own little monster, which is Emma.
And so they were clever. That's what I'm saying. It's a clever concept, but the execution of it over time, Two hours, 20 minutes, I felt gets drawn out too much. So even [00:16:00] like things like that, his digestive system has been removed. Right. And then he both saw that bubble every time. So it's cute as a concept to write down that.
And so what are the, like, it's a character fleshing out a character. Yeah. But then after a point, you're like, okay, now you're really pulling everything. Too far, I felt. And I feel like in that process, it was also sort of, there were certain tropes that were still coming back, like, okay, yes, it was supposed to be a very whimsical film, but at the end of the day, she is that very manic pixie dream girl.
Yeah, yeah, of course. She's not like other girls. And while it was fun to sort of go on that journey, it just, I felt like it needed to It needed to sort of wind up, you know, much faster, but then the worst thing is I finished watching this movie and with a curse on my lips, as I thought of you, I lay in bed and then I was reading like reviews because I was like, there must be a review that will agree with me.
And I went through so many and none [00:17:00] of them are the only reviews that didn't like it. Written by, like, white conservative men who hated that she went off and had sex and all. So I was like, my God, Rajshri has made me a white conservative man in my outlook to this film. And I think, like, I really tried to give her a chance to like it.
I wanted to like how weird and bizarre it is. But. I think overall, I just came away finding it a watch that I had to sort of suffer through. But that was the aim, because I knew otherwise, if you watch the other film, you would have definitely liked it, which is American fiction
Jayashree: about it. And it sounded amazing.
Rajyasree: Yes, because it is very nice. So
this was available on Hotstar, but American fiction. Wait, also adding to my annoyance of poor things was I didn't know it was on Hotstar because I Googled it and it didn't show up. You bought it on Apple? Wait, [00:18:00] first I rented it on Apple, but then the Apple TV has a glitch, so it didn't show up. So then I rented it on YouTube and it was not a very good print and I was feeling very annoyed and so I'd already spent about 250 rupees on this.
And then I found it for free on Hotstar. This is not my fault. This is our producer Priyali's fault. You should have informed, but you could have watched it for free. So someone also told me when I said, I'm going to watch Poor Things, a friend of mine said, Oh, buy it on Apple. So I said, why would I? It's on for free on Hotstar.
And she said, but it must be censored. I said, I lived through it. I'm not going to buy it on this thing. It was so wildly uncensored. So, yeah, that's what I, which is what I told her. I said, if it. It's been censored. I don't even know what has been removed because it's pretty graphic on this. It's all there to see.
Yes, but American Fiction, which is the film that [00:19:00] Jessie could have watched, but then it wouldn't be as A tear in my eye. Yeah, it wouldn't be as Interesting to discuss that's available on Prime Video and I strongly recommend I highly recommend it's a very, very lovely film. It's directed by a first time director, by the way, he's never made another film before.
He's a 40 year old called Jefferson. It's the first film he's directed. And he also said that, you know. You're keep talking about how expensive films are to produce, but instead of backing a 40 million film, why don't you back 41 million films? And we still make pretty good films on a smaller budget. And it's actually a great.
So this is, This is also very clever, but they don't stretch it to, again, that, you know, they've taken a trope and stretched it like that. So it's about this whole thing, which I, I strongly believe that there's a certain kind, even out of India field, there's a certain kind of English fiction comes, that comes out of [00:20:00] India, which, which is written for, America and UK and all, which is the crushed smell of jasmine.
Yes. And the woman in the cotton sari and nationalism and one big house. And then she leaves. Then she'd yeah, exactly. So, uh, the, the same way I feel a lot of. fiction when there's a black family. It is all about how downtrodden and difficult. And of course, there is that happening in real life, but it's not everyone is not like that.
And there are other stories to tell. But there's a in this, uh, the actor is Jeffrey Wright. He plays a black author, who's Written many books and his latest book, which is trying manuscript, which he sent to, I think, nine publishers who his agent has sent and all the publishers have rejected it also because they've said we don't like, you know, write some, we want some black fiction about like, [00:21:00] you know, the downtrodden stereotypical black books as he puts it.
So he, just for the lack of it, he writes a full, book, which is, uh, under pseudonym, which he starts writing as a log, but he finishes the entire thing about this black characters there who speaking like pigeon English and, you know, shooting someone and all that. All the tropes are in this and the agent just sends it to publishers and he gets a 70 million dollar, uh, signing fee or something like that.
And first he said, what nonsense and all, then they just run with it. They say, okay, let's go with it. And they are doing that, you know, and you get how, um, These publishers also pitch it to like, say a hot star on Netflix for a film and who's going to act in it and who's an oh my god this when they are even speaking to him [00:22:00] and he never comes on camera.
He only does phone calls because they all know who he is. Right. That Yeah. Yeah. So they he speak in that Transcribed by https: otter. ai Like, they'll try and be very street with him and he'll also be very, so it's very, it's great and he, is it, is it, but is it funny? It's very funny. No, no, it's very funny, but it's subtle funny.
It's not ha ha ha kind of like, you know, it's not like slapstick, obviously, yeah. And he goes home to meet his, I forgot her name, mother, I think. And Tracy Ellis Ross, who's Diana Ross's daughter, she plays his sister and Sterling K. Brown is his brother. And Sterling K. Brown was also nominated for an Oscar.
Uh, he's excellent. He's his gay plastic surgeon brother. And they have this very fraught relationship, the two brothers. So that's what a lot of [00:23:00] things are discussed in this, but it's very, very clever. It's funny. And it's such a good commentary on what sells in fiction and publishing. Well, it sounds fantastic.
Yeah. So, you'll really like it. And you would have if you'd watched it last night, but it's very useful of you to tell me this, but too bad you had to watch it. I wonder how that happened that I didn't come across this movie. But you know, this is reminding me of this TV show that I watched called The Other Black Girl.
Yeah. Which is also about, it's about black editors in the publishing industry. Except that was, a bad show, which is just my luck. And it sounds like a terrific movie. No, no, it is. It's really good. I'm trying to see what they were nominated for one second. They won Best Adapted Screenplay. That's the and that guy walked up and nominated for a bunch of things.
Yeah, they were nominated. Sterling Brown was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Then [00:24:00] this one was also. So Jeff, Jeremy, what is his name? I keep getting Jeffrey Wright was nominated for best actor. Okay. So they were nominated for quite a few, uh, I'm seeing nomination, best picture and everything.
Yeah. Yeah. So it's worth, it's also one of those films, which is worth watching because a lot of the time the best picture films are like, Oh my God, I need to note to Amazon prime, no. Yeah, I will not buy it on. Yes, don't buy it. You don't need to buy it. And after a long time, I'm also a little fed up of watching, you know, serious, dramatic, uh, very sad and some like, like everything is a commentary on the sadness of real life.
But I, when I open the newspaper, I anyway have to, at least when I'm watching something, it should not be Depressing me. You are speaking my language also. See I have the same issue with books also. I mean. Yeah. You know these, I, I get it, like I know that books are supposed to reflect [00:25:00] periods in which they are written and all, but do you really have to read every sad thing that has ever happened?
Like. That's what. It's too much. Where is the escapism? Like. Yeah. Which is why people used to go to the movies. So American fiction is really good because it is a commentary. On this whole publishing world, but, and this whole like, you know, uh, like the black man should definitely be given that. So there's a very funny, I don't want to give away what happens.
Basically, he is called, Jeffrey Wright, is, uh, called to be a part of this jury. on I think the top 10 books for the year or something. So he and this other black woman who's written the stereotypical black novel and that's why she's the toast of the town, along with four other white authors. And the dialogue that happens about black fiction is just hilarious.
Absolutely. Because it's very, it's like soaked in irony. Absolutely. No, [00:26:00] no. So it's very nice. It's a clever, bright, intelligently written.
Jayashree: What a shame we couldn't say the same about four things. But yeah.
Rajyasree: Oh, so we have an announcement on the uh, News Minute NL election fund. Jessi, you want to just tell our people?
Yes, uh, so As you know general elections are coming up in a few weeks
Jayashree: and yet again News Laundry has partnered with the News Minute to bring you the important stories straight from the ground. So this time instead of doing one big fun project we're trying something new. We have smaller projects divided up into themes and you can choose which
Rajyasree: one you'd like to power.
So we'll have over 15 reporters, producers, and editors from News Laundry and News Minute on the ground, covering various states. We'll also have special election
Jayashree: shows with Manisha, Atul, Danya, and Sudipto, and your contributions will directly power their work. So head over to newslaundry. com slash 2024 election fund to make your contribution.
Also, if you are on iOS, we have an election fund contribution option [00:27:00] on the app. But you can also contribute
Rajyasree: via your website, on your phone, or the desktop browser. That way we will save Apple commission, guys, which is very important. Yes. Throw your iPhones out the window. That I feel everyone should throw out there.
Just see, I'm, that's why I'm using an HP laptop. It's my laptop. I'm
Jayashree: using an Acer laptop and I'm using a phone. I'll guarantee you've never heard of. It is an IQOO phone.
Rajyasree: Okay, that's interesting. A Wevo sub brand. My friend heads Wevo now, so I'll tell him that at least someone's using those phones. Tell him I really like it.
He can send me many new ones. He might send you more. Maybe he'll send for the entire NL staff. No, no, just for me. Okay, just for me. So, tell me about this film that you watched. In the theater! You went to the theater and watched this.
Jayashree: Yes, I very rarely do this, so it was an experience. So the movie is Manjumal Boys.
It's directed by Chidambaram. So to start off, it is pegged as a survival thriller, and I will say straight [00:28:00] out, this is a genre I dislike intensely, but that's my own fault. I mean, I get very anxious and stressed. You remember that James Franco one? Where he has to, like, cut off his arm. Oh, I
Rajyasree: loved it! Where he cuts off his arm.
Oh, come on! I love, so, I also like gruesome things a lot. So if you pull out an eye and all, like, watch like that. Yeah, so that is absolutely not for me. So I went into this a little hesitant. So, um, The basic premise of it is there's a group of men in Kuchin, near Kuchin and they decide to go to Kodaikanal for a holiday.
So there are about 10 or 15 of them and they go. So the thing that you need to know is there was a 1990s movie called Guna. It's a Tamil movie starring Kamal Haasan and it's Kamal Haasan is a mentally unwell man who
Jayashree: kidnaps a woman and he sets up in a cave in Kodaikanal. So this cave is now known as the Guna cave.
So these chaps from Kerala decide we will go on an adventure in
Rajyasree: Kodaikanal. And while they're
Jayashree: there, they're like, okay, let's go
Rajyasree: check out Guna caves. So, you know,
Jayashree: there are lots of forest department gates and signs and barriers, but you know, they're reckless and
Rajyasree: they're [00:29:00]
Jayashree: having fun and they've had a little
Rajyasree: drink.
Jayashree: It is based on a
Rajyasree: true story, but I will not give away the ending. So
Jayashree: they decide, okay, let's climb over all these gates and barriers and go into the cave anyway and then we'll, you know, spray paint our names and people will know that we picked her. So until then, it's a fun movie. It's got some great lines, lots of jokes, their chemistry is electric and everything is great until one of them plummets into a deep crevice inside the cave.
It's known as Devil's Kitchen amongst locals, and this is true, and no one who has fallen in has ever returned, because you're presumed dead. You're falling basically into a very narrow network of caves. So then suddenly everything changes, becomes a survival thriller, you're wondering is the man alive?
These guys are figuring out
Rajyasree: how they can get him out. And then it sort of transforms into, one, the story of the rescue. And two, it's also a great story about
Jayashree: friendship. And like, it's ten, it's very tight. It's very tense. It's also very charming and very affectionate. Um, and the song from Guna comes back and one of the most impactful scenes I've ever watched in recent times.
And see, the thing is, like, I [00:30:00] watch movies in theaters very rarely. When I go, I go on Mondays
Rajyasree: because Mondays I'm
Jayashree: off. And this was a Monday
Rajyasree: afternoon, a very small screen near my house. And it filled up and like the crowd was cheering and screaming and singing. And, I'm not one to really buy into theater experience.
You know, I'm like, I want to be able to watch a movie. I can watch it at home because I have a great setup. But man, that theater experience was electrifying. And I've heard people say the same thing, like of watching it in Noida, that it was full, the multiplex near my house. But that's really impressive that in Noida and all it's full, right?
Jayashree: Yeah. And so the multiplex near my house had a show every
Rajyasree: 10 minutes. And this is like the early days of Rajinikanth movies where there was that much sort of buzz over a cult classic. And So yeah, I mean, if I haven't said it yet, I loved it. It was. It was moving. It was so I have to say Malayalam cinema is just the kind of cinema that comes out and what I think a lot of it credit should be given to OTT that people like me [00:31:00] say, who would never end up on this, like, unless the film comes to a theater over here and I've read good reviews, would I go and watch?
The film, right? But now the kind of cinema you're able to, and especially because it's, I find Malayalam cinema far more evolved than like Tamil cinema and all. Like it's because it's not flashy and, uh, like there's no histrionics and all that too. I'm sure there is. But yeah, not in the ones I've seen. So that's what I've said before.
So the thing is that my husband is Malayali, which is why I tend to watch a lot of Malayalam movies. And the thing is that he curates the movies that I watch. So I tend to watch only the really good one, like Manjumal Boys. So I come away thinking, Oh my God, like me who thinks that, wow, it's so evolved.
And then I'll make the mistake of watching trash, like Bro Daddy, which is actually a movie. And it is so bad. And you're like, okay. The other exists, but also I think, I think it's a great and exciting sort of time for Malayalam cinema. And [00:32:00] something about this movie has just spoken to Tamil Nadu. Like I think, so the song itself from Guna has sort of become this friendship anthem when before it was a slightly creepy love song, you know, like my Instagram reels are full of random people doing stuff to the song.
And it's like the sort of, I don't know, and just the sort of way that the theater, the theater was reacting to it, the way like the public has reacted to it. I just think it's an exciting sort of Film to have been able to watch so I'm hoping that it comes true.
Jayashree: Yeah, and I'll tell you Which was that Noida or Delhi theater?
Rajyasree: No, I'm sure it must be in Delhi. Actually, I should check It can't just be in Noida that they are showing it. It's but I mean it's crossed 150 crores I think as of yesterday, so Wow. It's quite, quite a great thing. And it's nice that a film which has nothing to do, but that's the other thing, at least the Mallu films that I've watched also, tell me that Kumbalagni Nights and all, it's what?
Kumbalagni Nights. Is it not? You didn't like it, no? It was nice. I thought I liked it. Don't know. [00:33:00] No, I loved it. I watched it three times in the theater. The way you said it, I thought, did I not? Was I not supposed to like it? I was highly suspicious of you. No, no, no. I really liked it. So that's what I'm saying.
That it's not, I find the stories are not the traditional, like, boy girl romance somehow linking up to it. Like, there's, you know, It's so much about slice of life or an incident which is taken and that entire film like what you're talking about over here that this survival story that you don't see that in other like in Hindi cinema and all it will be one rando art film which will be made like that right so yeah and these are not that's what that's the thing right these are not pegged as art films they're just really Again, it's realistic, but without constantly being unpleasant.
Like, it's not like everything that happens has to have a moral or a greater sort of lesson for the audience. It's just how people talk. Oh, I want to watch this for sure. Also, this movie has the two sort of Out of the cast, I think there are just two [00:34:00] who are really well known and both of them were in Kumbhalangi Nights, which is Saubin and Srinath Basi.
Oh, then I'll recognize them. Go, go. Also, you like survival. Yeah, yeah, I love. So if someone dies or loses a leg or something, it would make it even better for me. I'll not reveal which mangos were lost. Oh, an animal will come up and eat one of them or something, no? No, but perhaps you'll never know. But perhaps you'll never know, this is true.
If you're lucky, they might. But from, uh, this thing from Manjumil Boys, to the biggest award ceremony and cinema happened, which is the Oscars 2024, which is the 96th one, which means four years later, it's going to be massive because it will be the hundredth year of it. So thrilling. Yes. Were you also
Jayashree: very into the Oscars like when I was
Rajyasree: younger, I used to like look forward to the Oscars and all now it's more like.
Like I watched it because it's also coming on [00:35:00] OTT. It's not like you have to watch it. And now with Tata Sky and all that you can record it, na? I, ever since you had that Tata Sky Plus game, I used to record it and then I'd fast forward. How quaint you are. Yeah, I fast forward. I fast forward. Even on Hotstar, I fast forward like that.
I fast forward bits of poor things. I watched, uh, I watched that film, do you remember? Mallika Sherawat's film. Her thoughts. That Kiss film. I bought the whole thing on fast forward. Now I finished the film in seven minutes, I think. And I knew exactly what had happened in that film. Because it was so, so intellectual after all.
But this time's Oscars was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. And he was quite good, I have to say. And no, it wasn't like, like, sometimes they'll get the comics or a talk show host and it's like, okay, what are they saying? So one year they got Anne Hathaway and James [00:36:00] Franco and they were both stoned out of their mind.
I think. But so that was the period when I used to watch the Oscars. So you know, like in the days running up to it, you'd be like, Oh, which have I seen all the Oscar movies, which is left and then the announcement of who was hosting was like an exciting thing. And like there was, I don't know, I felt, okay, maybe I was also young and now I'm old and jaded, but you know, there was like a kind of buzz around it.
Also, but now I think Jimmy Kimmel is just a safe choice. They've been bringing him back year after year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the safer one. But what did you think of his? edgy joke on Robert Downey Jr. What did he say about Robert Downey Jr.? He said, uh, he said Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer and he said, uh, you must be on a high, but is this the highest?
And then he kind of doubled down a little bit and everybody was like, oh, Robert Downey Jr. looks so face is just Yeah, I think his face has become like that now. I thought his Donald Trump joke was very funny, which wasn't a [00:37:00] joke. He just read out that tweet. Like Donald Trump was watching, because he's such a loser also, that he's watching Oscars and he's tweeting about it.
Because that's what the to be president, second time president of America, the way things are going. So I thought, I mean, I think Jimmy Kimmel was safe. I found his monologues okay. Okay, like it was nothing, uh, chatteringly funny or anything, but it was, yeah. He was pleasant. He was like pleasant company in a party when you have people who don't upset you, but they're sweet and nice to have around.
Like that. But I feel like the thing is that, okay, so this is my little soapbox, right, like, which is that I feel like, okay, the Oscars, I don't see the relevance of them so much anymore. I do think art is very political. I think celebrities know this. And I think Jimmy Kimmel himself made his speech political only in the fact that he talked about how Los Angeles is at its heart a union town, which kind
Jayashree: of surprised me.
Rajyasree: He was talking about the writer strikes and he said, we are a union town. We will stand with the unions. Is that up? [00:38:00] But my thing is that just. There's a very acceptable sort of flavor of politics that's allowed at these ceremonies and that was it, like Jimmy Kimmel was safe and he hit it. Yeah. And everything else was just about same old celebrities and the same old movies.
But it's always like that, I feel. Yeah, but only bump. The bump was that, uh, Jonathan Glaser, uh, his speech where he sort of referenced Gaza, and then it just went back to That was the only one, and then another person, oh, the Ukraine, yeah, the Ukraine filmmaker, uh, who won. And I think a handful of people were wearing, you know, scarves.
Little ceasefire pins. So they, what I did like was that they addressed the writer's strike that had happened. And that, and I had found it very impressive even then that all the actors, like really well known actors had become part of the protests. And I've forgotten which film it was. I think it was Oppenheimer.
They didn't go in for the screening. They were the [00:39:00] first. Uh, press screening was supposed, press screening now, it was the screening of the film and the entire cast was on the red carpet and they heard that the writer's strike had started and they didn't even go in. They just left and they joined the writer's strike.
So I can't imagine something like that and say in Hindi cinema. Can you imagine, first we'll finish our press launch and then we'll see whether we go back or we'll send a PR person to go and say that we also support. So that these guys actually, and that so many of the actors paid money to these writers to keep, because they had no livelihood for so many months.
Champions like Drew Carey, Drew Carey made sure they had a meal. He paid for all meals at a restaurant at the site where the strike was going on for those, that entire period while there was a strike. So we're just. So that way I've always find like [00:40:00] Hollywood and uh, like of course they have their sellouts and all, but their sellouts are far fewer than the people who stand up for something and they do it because compared to, I'm saying if you compare to our celebrities, because our celebrities are busy dancing at Neeta Bhabhi's.
It was not a pre wedding. It was a zoo opening where they will all dance and all that is what we are good at doing. So when you compare, what you're saying is Hollywood is lucky that Bollywood has set the bar so low. Yes. So now what do you, what did you think of all the big wins and speeches? So I thought, so I, when I watched Oppenheimer, I had really loved it.
So I, I did really like the film. I haven't watched Killers of the Flower Moon because it's five hours or something. It's not five hours, it's three and a half. But it's good. I was put off by the length, but it was good. Yeah, so I have to sit down and watch that because I know I have to watch that like, [00:41:00] property.
I can't just walk in and out of the film. I did not care much for Barbie at all. I went to watch Barbie with my, uh, friends, daughters, one who's 16 and one who's 18 and the 18 year old finished the film and she said, killer was, no, not killer. Oppenheimer was much better than this. So I said, yes, I can imagine.
But, uh, I did think, yeah, but I did think Ryan Gosling's performance of I'm Just Ken was hilarious. Absolutely. Also,
Jayashree: like he's one of the very few stars that just seems to be having fun. Like he's throwing himself into it, like no sort of holding back. Yeah.
Rajyasree: It was great fun. And that Slash was on stage and first I thought, is it Slash or is it someone who looks like Slash?
But it was Slash. So, but I get, uh, Like, I still think best director should have gone to, uh, Anatomy of a Fall, and even best film, like, [00:42:00] one of them should have gone to Anatomy of a Fall because it's so good, absolutely, but a lot of this has to do with lobbying, right? Yeah, of course. The entire thing is, which is what Jimmy Kimmel does say at one point, he said that, uh, this one didn't get nominated, poor thing.
And you're false. Yeah, he said, oh, Bobby, that Margot Robbie, uh, that Bobby wasn't nominated. Didn't get the nomination for Best Director. Yeah. So, which is the thing, it's all about lobbying and all, but. I thought most of the ones like best original screenplay for anatomy of a fall. I, I watched part. So I didn't think past lives.
It was that great. I'd watched it. I was like, okay, it's sweet, but it's not like fabulous the way it's made out to be and best original score who got Oppenheimer was very good. But then my thing is that, uh, was it loud? I didn't like Oppenheimer. I'll be very honest. [00:43:00] I also very nerdily. I watched it in the.
No, no, I watched it in the thing that Christopher Nolan said, you must watch it in the format. IMAX. Yeah. It was some IMAX something. So even watched it in that specific format. And I mean, I found it a bit tedious, I feel, especially by the sort of second half, I was maybe losing interest, but okay. I mean, I, but that said, I knew it would win.
I was convinced it would win. Yeah. I'd have been surprised if it had not won. Yeah, so I was sure it would get Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, I mean, honestly, yeah, Actor, like, I don't think he should get it, but I thought, so Best Actor in a Supporting Role, that Robert Downey Jr. got it for Oppenheimer, I don't see why he should have,
Jayashree: what was he doing in it?
Yeah, honestly, Mark Ruffalo
Rajyasree: in Poor Things, who knows? Yeah. And Ryan Gosling was also nominated. Sterling K. Brown was excellent in American fiction. Robert De Niro, [00:44:00] I don't know, was he good in Killers of the Flower Moon?
Jayashree: Yeah. He was nominated. So for actor, I mean, I understand why
Rajyasree: Emma Stone won. And I do think she brought a lot to that film.
No, she did. She was, yeah, yeah. She was very good. But I also did think that Lily Gladstone was fantastic in Killers of the Flower Moon. So I haven't watched But when supporting actor, um, I, I mean, for me, Robert Downey Jr and Oppenheimer was playing himself to a great extent. It was not. That's what I don't understand.
The performance of a lifetime. So he had to be a little understated and serious and a little menacing that even I can be. I feel honestly. I can totally be. Yeah, I can't. But even when I
Jayashree: joined, when I joined News Laundry and I was So, so I have never in my life been intimidating. And so I was like, I'm going to be working remotely with these guys.
I can pretend to be intimidating and they'll never know, like, they'll think that's
Rajyasree: who I actually am. And I tried it, but it only lasted a couple of weeks. Yeah. So I would not, uh, beg you down. For being someone who would be cruel and [00:45:00] intimidating, you are cruel and intimidating. There is even more insulting to my character than making me not watch American Fiction.
The one I felt really bad for is that I'm just seeing were they not even nominated? Was Maestro not nominated for Best Film? I think Bradley
Jayashree: was nominated,
Rajyasree: am I imagining it? It was, and they didn't win, but they were nominated for Best Director. Oh, was it a good movie? Did you see it? It is such a good film.
And Best Original Screenplay it was nominated for, and he was nominated for Best Actor, I think. But He won nothing, no? He won, poor thing, won nothing. I don't think Did he win for A Star is Born? Last time with Lady Gaga, I don't think he won that also. No, I just remember the intimate song performance. Oh my god.
I think they all remember it Especially after they broke up both of them. I must be remembering it but uh, no but uh, That he didn't get it because his acting is superb in that film the film itself that this man who It's very nice. Easy on the eye is [00:46:00] capable of directing this. It's really a very, uh, sort of layered kind of film, which has a lot of, uh, and she was nominated also, Carrie O'Mallegan, but he learned how to compose.
He learned how to play the piano. I just, I don't know why they just didn't give it and I felt like he'll start crying at one point because it kept panning to him but he kept smiling because he's a good actor. I feel like this is an Oscars thing though, you know, like I feel like there's a little checklist, like Robert Downey Jr.
never got an Oscar, he's now an Oppenheimer, which is this prestige project, so we'll give it to him. And then you, how can you not give it to Cillian Murphy, even though, I mean, Cillian Murphy, I think is a great actor, but in this movie, in this film, I didn't think I wasn't sure. So yeah, exactly. So I don't even Emily Blunt was like, what was, what, what was that?
What was the great actor? ting in it. I don't understand. Like, which is what I'm seeing with, uh, this, uh, what is her name? Emma Stone. [00:47:00] I get the, she's really acted in this film. And especially when she has that, like, she looks like a baby when she's looking at things for the first time, or when she's a little confused about why someone is telling her you shouldn't do something, which that the way children look at you, like, Why, what is wrong with it?
I can't understand what is wrong with it. She's got these crazy eyes which are able to sort of bring that. Like, Christina Ricci has those crazy eyes also. But I did think that Mark Ruffalo should have. He was so good. He would have been a fun win, you know. Like, he just sort of threw himself into this role.
Yeah. He was enjoying himself. I felt very bad for him that he didn't because these were at least they were acting the film, which I've been told is excellent, by the way, but it hasn't come here. It's come to Bombay and gone. Also is the zone of interest.
Jayashree: That's got the same woman as that. Yeah. And it's supposed
Rajyasree: to be really, really good.
Yeah. I [00:48:00] don't think it played in. I mean, I can't say for sure, but I don't think it played in Chennai either. I'm sure it will come to Netflix or one of these, but I rent it on YouTube. Is it on YouTube? Why don't you rent it on Apple right when it comes on Amazon Prime? Because I rented it on Apple and it just vanished.
Okay, so this is a warning. For all people watching this episode, Apple TV is stealing your money because I have rented it and they've not given it to me yet. Apple is just down with the big companies. Yeah, don't do it guys. Buy an ecu phone. We get no money from advertising. That is what you have to know.
Chinese funding. So we have got no letters this time. Which is shocking. So you must write to us at newslaundry. com slash podcast hyphen letters or podcast at newslaundry. com and in the subject line, you must write awful and awesome. Otherwise, they will read it out and NL Hafta. We will not read it out.
Don't worry. You're so [00:49:00] rude. We will throw them back. See, but it's confusing because Hafta, there's always a bunch of letters saying Rajshree said something terrible, but then they don't mean you. Yeah, so. You should just say Rajshri is always saying something terrible. And Rajshri has no clue. Yeah, has no clue about politics.
I can tell you about Emily Blunt war though, but, uh, we will be back next week. It might be both of us. It might be one of us. It might be none of us. It's anyone's guess, but this is how we keep you on your toes, but I should be back next week for sure. Yeah, she will not be speaking to me after this. She has been made to watch poor things.
I, I need to start a s for about a week. Yeah. For a week or so. But, uh, we will see you next week when the it will, the podcast be, will be available to everyone. You are just too lucky. Absolutely. And thank you ri. Thank you, Rajshri. And it's a wrap.[00:50:00]
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