Abhinandan: Rajyasree, not today, but I will review this show soon...I think I watched it a little late...Made In Heaven.
(producer cracks up)
Abhinandan: (stares) Our producer just laughed...What’s so funny?
Rajyasree: Why did you watch Made In Heaven?
Abhinandan: It was recommended.
Rajyasree: Yes, four years back!
This and a whole lot of awful and awesome as Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen discuss the movies Woman of The Hour, Girls Will Be Girls, and Heretic, Shyam Benegal’s cinema, and the new Kim Kardashian music video for Santa Baby.
PS: Abhinandan recommends a new Punjabi song, so make sure you listen to the full episode.
Have something to say? Write to us at newslaundry.com/podcast-letters.
Timecodes
00:00 - Introductions
03:22 - Announcements
02:57 - Headlines
07:04 - Woman Of The Hour
11:56 - Subscriber letters
22:49 - Shyam Benegal nostalgia
30:00 - Heretic
38:07 - Subscriber letters
41:20 - Girls Will Be Girls
45:02 - Kim Kardashian’s new music video
References and recommendations
Subscriber Sandeep Banik’s ‘fun ad’
Takeaways from CNN’s Investigation: How Airbnb fails to protect its guests from hidden cameras
What Went Wrong With Capitalism
Newslaundry’s Broken Ballots series
Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
Click here to download the Newslaundry app on Android. And here for iOS.
Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, edited by Umrav Singh.
This episode is outside of the paywall, just for the week and just for you. Before it goes back behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.
-: [00:00:00] This is a News Laundry Podcast and you're listening to Awful and Awesome.
Rajyasree: Hello, hello. This is the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Episode 376. This is Jyotish
Abhinandan: Sinh. And this is Abhinandan Sekhri wishing you a very Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Should I sing now? No, but I do hope you will subscribe and this your new year resolution will be that you must support independent media.
So let me straight up first tell you that we have a new project in Adel Sena project up, which is. An investigation and a deep dive ground report onto in the Hindu Rashtra project. Villages and government buildings in Gujarat have declared themselves as Hindu Rashtra. School in Madhya Pradesh fires a Muslim teacher after a communal clash.
Signboards in [00:01:00] Uttarakhand call for boycotting non Hindus. And many such things are happening all across the country at a scale and at a level which don't often catch your eye because news doesn't actually report from the ground anymore. So do support this NLCNR project. It is up on our website. Here is a QR code.
I do hope you will support us. And we have news laundry gift subscription, new year offers. Our subscribers are our biggest brand ambassadors. We are looking for gift ideas for New Year's and Christmas. And what better gift than spreading the word? the message of public funded news. So, and of course, we've also launched another campaign is going to run through the year, fight to breathe because the horrible AQI in most of North India, it only comes up during two, three weeks.
It's big news that it dies. We are going to be continuing a campaign where we'll bring you some startling facts, et cetera, et cetera, but I'm killing the quick. Christmas cheer. Uh, right now let's be happy. Rajshri Sen came dressed as a Christmas tree. She insisted that because she's wearing a green sweater and I don't know this [00:02:00] is supposed to be a Christmas tree.
This is
Rajyasree: Christmas colors.
Abhinandan: Okay.
Rajyasree: And the brown is the bark of the tree and these are the branches sticking out where the leaves have fallen off because of the bad pollution.
Abhinandan: So if you guys have Been put off by Christmas for life, you know, you know who to blame. I
Rajyasree: hope everyone noticed that in the end of my 40s, I'm very flexible.
Did you notice? Because I'm an athlete, as Abhinandan knows. I usually run 20, 25 kilometers every morning.
Both: There was the
Abhinandan: American sprinter. Flojo, we have Slojo, Flojo Kima Slojo, you should not make fun, why did you
Rajyasree: say Florence Griffith Joyner? Why do I know him? Because, because you're Slojo, because you're Slojo, you shouldn't make fun, you said Florence Kima, you try to make me look old.
Abhinandan: Okay, so Rajshri Sen, uh, we have [00:03:00] Lots to offer.
Rajyasree: Lots to offer. Of which Abhinandan has
Abhinandan: watched. We'll get to that. But first, uh, the headlines.
Rajyasree: Yes. These are short and sweet headlines.
Clip from Kalyug: The
Rajyasree: good news is that Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light won Best International Feature at the Gotham Awards 2024. It bagged two Golden Globe Awards and the Critics Choice Award nominations and was Barack Obama's top pick for movies this year.
It was, in fact The number one on his list. The bad news is that the Film Federation of India said that it did not submit the film as India's official entry for the Oscars because it was technically very poor. Wow.
Abhinandan: No wonder. So I
Rajyasree: went to the Film Federation of India website to check who is. On the board, jury, whatever, they have not updated their list since 2015.
So they are very efficient. So we don't
Abhinandan: know who's managing a website. But yeah, [00:04:00] if you pay us very nominal amount, New Zealand, you can manage your website Film Federation. In other news, the bad news is that Chandigarh authorities ordered Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh to not sing songs that mention alcohol, Patiala peg, panch dara, etc, etc.
So, which means that no Punjabi songs will ever be sung ever again, ever, like ever. The worst news is that Aaj Tak yanker Sadeer Chaudhary joined the tirade and said, our youth listens to such songs every day. It has led to them looking at criminals as heroes. And of course, I, you know, as we know that he has spent some time in Tihar for for
Rajyasree: allegations that you can look at.
I want to know about him. to do the live India, uh, sting, which he'd done a fake sting on this teacher, claiming that she was having sex with students. And that's also, he's my hero.
Abhinandan: And, uh, in, uh, other bad news, uh, actually. Dr. Alu Arjun is in more trouble as the Congress leader has filed police complaint over Pushpa 2 scene where they say that he's, uh, [00:05:00] he's showing police in a poor light.
In other bad news, Alu Arjun has been summoned to appear for questioning at Chikkapalli police station and, uh, they say it is normal. It is part of the investigation.
Rajyasree: He has a family. fabulous head of hair. I've been noticing. Okay.
Abhinandan: And the good news is that it has apparently collected 1600 for Pushpa too.
I did not have the courage to watch it, but I happened to watch a song of it on YouTube. I'm just, I mean, the impressed, are you kidding? I mean, the choreography, you know, we make fun of the pu kind of the, the, the choreography and songs. What is this? Choreography it, so
Rajyasree: they're actors. What
Abhinandan: are actors
Rajyasree: as in Ana and actors?
They are not mal cinema. That's what I mean. I'm making that they. So it
Abhinandan: is, [00:06:00] I mean, I, I, I don't have the courage to watch it, but I'm sure she'll watch it after she's watched all the seasons of Desperate Housewives of Terrence Hill, but Spencer's partner and other such things. And now for some seriously tragic news, filmmaker, Sean Benegal.
Uh, just in fact, yesterday before we recorded this and I shall be talking about some of his earliest cinema. And we were discussing just before this that he's
Rajyasree: not Bengali,
Abhinandan: that he was not Bengali. So we checked out, you know, he was from Maharashtra and what did she say?
Rajyasree: I'm just saying he's.
Abhinandan: He's almost Bengali because he's so talented, because a Maharashtrian can't be so talented, only Bengali.
I said,
Rajyasree: The truth is out there, is all I'm saying.
Abhinandan: So you have to be Bengali to be talented. And if you are not, you're almost Bengali if you have talent.
Rajyasree: Yeah.
Abhinandan: So Rajshri Sen, what are you going to be talking about? Because you watched a lot of stuff.
Rajyasree: I watched some [00:07:00] very good stuff, I must say, for a change.
Oh, good stuff. You got that good stuff. You remember that song? I know. What is this song? Who has sung this?
Abhinandan: It was this pop group in the 90s. You got that good stuff. I'll just tell you.
Rajyasree: Thank
Abhinandan: you.
Rajyasree: Uh, so I watched, uh, this film, which you can rent on Amazon Prime. I think it's on Lionsgate actually. You can rent it.
It's called Woman of the Hour. It's directed by Anna Kendrick, who's usually, uh, uh, she does a lot of comedy films and it's her directorial debut and it's about, it's quite interesting. So in 1978, there used to be, in the 80s and all, there used to be these dating shows, basically, there'd be a woman sitting on one side and there'd be a, uh, like a, There's a 90s
Abhinandan: also.
Rajyasree: They used to have the And yeah, and you'll ask questions and all that. So this woman went on this dating show called The Dating Game [00:08:00] in 1978, and the person she won the date with turned out to be, and she did not know this turned out to be Kar. It que would not be a bad because he'll give you two, three stallions, two, three cars.
This guy was not as nice. He was a serial killer. Rodney lc. Quite nice looking. I have to see the
Abhinandan: network didn't do his due diligence.
Rajyasree: No, because he had a case against him. He'd been let out an hour, but the film is, it's a short film. It's one and a half hours. I got the only thing is that I felt that it should not have been called woman of the hour.
It was focuses a little bit on her. Half an hour is on her. She's trying to be an actress in LA and someone, her agent says, why don't you go on the show because I've got you this gig. People will get to see you. That's the reason why she and after she wins this thing and she's just being cocky and cute on the show and she rejects the other two guys [00:09:00] and one of the other guys who's the This guy shows him a picture of her like a butchered woman.
And he said, what is wrong with you? And then he doesn't get to speak to that guy again. But he did warn her, the other contestant. He said, just don't go out with him. And she thought he's just like, he's the loser. So he said this. And they go for a drink straight from the, this thing. And she, yeah. Figures out something is very off about the way he's talking and when they're going to her car, he, yeah, she says, I'm leaving.
I'm going to the car. So he says, give me your number so that I can call you. So she makes up a number. And then he tells her, can you repeat the number again? So she said, but I just gave it to you. So he said, yeah, so repeat the number. And he's this really polite guy. So, and he said, you lied to me.
Abhinandan: Now you will die.
Rajyasree: No, so that's the thing. And she [00:10:00] says, whatever, I don't want to see you again. And she turns and she's walking. And she gives him mutter, I'm going to smash your head. With a rock and she just, uh, and she somehow manages to get away because some people come into the car park. But he basically gets caught. I felt the only thing is it's not like it's a known case.
He had murdered 113 women. Are you serious? Because he was just like, he was just not getting caught at all. But he basically gets caught. He kidnaps this, 16 year old homeless girl. This is a true story. True story. And he kidnaps a 16 year old homeless girl. And when he takes her. That was, I
Abhinandan: thought we'd discuss.
Rajyasree: This is very uplifting. The end is uplifting.
Abhinandan: Okay. Lift it quickly. And,
Rajyasree: uh, he kidnaps her. And when he rapes her and tries to kill her, she pretends to wait, wait, it gets better. She pretends to be dead. Then when she comes to, she just is really nice to him. [00:11:00] Because she's like, okay, I'll have to get out of this alive.
Abhinandan: Play this guy. Wow. That's some presence of mind. And
Rajyasree: she's totally like calm, sweet. She makes it seem like she's in love with him. Almost. They go to one of those in the States. They have a pump house like that. And she goes and she calls the, he goes to get cigarettes. And she goes, or goes to the loo. She calls the cops on him.
And she finally went to court and she testified in front of him and she said this is what and that's how he got arrested. But it's worth watching because of it's just very chilling.
Abhinandan: Okay. So, um, then after this, you'll be talking about a film called Hetrick. It's a football film.
Rajyasree: Football Hattrick you have?
Football Hattrick? Hattrick
Abhinandan: wota three, like metric Hattrick. Metric Hattrick. It's not a Hattrick. What is it? No, Heretic. Heretic? What is Heretic? It's very good. Heretic is when you score two goals and one later. [00:12:00]
Rajyasree: One is later usually.
Abhinandan: It's not a Hattrick. It's not a Hattrick. Heretic I'll tell you. Heretic everyone should watch.
Okay, so we'll do Hattrick, but before that we have a few emails. We only entertain the viewers. feedback of subscribers. Uh, the rest of you can leave your hate comments on my Twitter timeline or YouTube comments or
Rajyasree: mine
Abhinandan: or hers. Uh, all those men for equality people you I've been watching your tweets.
I've been reading them. Don't feel bad. I haven't responded to each of them. I responded to a couple of you. So, but those of you who have meaningful feedback, you can mail us at podcasts at newsline. com. I repeat. Podcasts at newsrunner. com. We only entertain the feedback of subscribers. So if you're a subscriber, do tell us what you think, why we are so shit, what we can do better.
The QR code is flashing. As I say this, you can flash that and become a subscriber or you can click on the link in the show notes. Now let's get to the subscribers. There's more sensible people. Sahithi says missing awful and awesome this week. 14th of December. Can't wait [00:13:00] for you to discuss the Kapoor family meeting with the PM.
XD Abhinandan. XD matla? No.
Rajyasree: PM. Huh, sorry? That's a laughing
Abhinandan: emoji. Oh, that's a laughing. The things we learn. You must have loved Saif Khan Shah. We discussed this and of course, I was always right about people who are spineless and gutless have, have a special affection. Rajshahi has a special affection for them.
Rajyasree: Just randomly. Had no choice. Now he is Muslim in this country, has to come out the meeting alive
Abhinandan: and
I
Rajyasree: just feel Seth is the, was the least of the problems the rest of the family. That said Mendi is very bad me.
Abhinandan: I'm
Rajyasree: [00:14:00] like So I just keep going. I just feel that Riddhima and all were quite cheap. Netu was also there. Netu Kapoor was there. Then
Abhinandan: Dheeraj says, hello, everyone. As it comes to a close, you could do a small video of everyone at NL talking about books or long read reports they read this year, why they liked, why they think it was important.
That's a very good idea. I'll break it. I've got
Rajyasree: one thing just now I'll tell you in fact. So,
Abhinandan: uh, Dheeraj's idea of everybody at NL records team. Yeah. Dheeraj, very good idea. I'll just, after this, we'll go tell the editors and all the heads of department and maybe we should, uh, January onwards, start releasing it.
So tell me what are your recommendations? What did you read? The
Rajyasree: thing need not be what was published this year, but whatever they consume this year, it could be a movie or show too, but make them choose just one could help people with holiday reading. So two things, one is there's, I will, uh, we'll put the link below.
It's a long read on Airbnb. It's an [00:15:00] investigative report on what all happens at Airbnb.
Abhinandan: And it's horrific
Rajyasree: because, uh, because of the safety issue, it's like Uber or Tinder and all, it's really horrific, the kind of thing. That was excellently done. Also, the infographics, everything. And the book which I strongly recommend, which you've read also, and which just won an award, is The Vegetarian by Han Kang.
Clip from Kalyug: Mmm.
Rajyasree: which is excellent and Han Kang just won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. You only gave me that book. It's about
Abhinandan: that, uh, girl who starts fast starving herself.
Rajyasree: Yeah. So, uh, do read that. It's really
Abhinandan: disturbing book.
Rajyasree: Yeah.
Abhinandan: You know, you just But we spotted it. Spread the sado. Batlab it's Christmas. Kuch bolo achcha.
Serial killer. But aren't you impressed? You recommended a
Rajyasree: book that is
Abhinandan: so disturbing.
Rajyasree: But it's very nice. Also, you can read, you can, uh, Kerala files. [00:16:00]
Abhinandan: I'm sorry. Sorry. Yeah.
Here's what my recommendation. In fact, I picked it up very late this year, but I've, I'm loving it. I've almost finished Archie comics. No, no, this is what went wrong with capitalism. I recommend on hafta, but it is the data. It's Richard Sharma's new book. I wish I could interview him on that, but I will later.
Rajyasree: But why have you not interviewed him on that? Because I started reading it like
Clip from Kalyug: last
Rajyasree: year. I
Abhinandan: mean,
Rajyasree: Yeah, of course you've interviewed Richard. I remember. I don't remember. I couldn't have dreamt of you and Richard talking. What a weird ass dream that would be. Yeah, I can't focus. I'm just saying what a strange thing.
Sandeep Banik says, Sandeep Banik is Bengali. Unlike Shyam Benegal, who could be Shyam Bengal. So
Abhinandan: Sandeep obviously must be talented.
Rajyasree: Of course. Hi A& R. I don't know why is Nikku getting so much hate for interviewing Shalini Pasi. [00:17:00] My guess is that their bias is coloring their views. Their means those people out there and they haven't even watched the interview.
The interview grew on me and I must say it was quite delightful. Although I do want to know Nikku's honest opinion about Shalini Pasi. A& A every two weeks is still a bummer for me but as Raj Kapoor once said, the show must go on. I would, I want to say something in the hundred year, hundred itto, Raj Kapoor with him.
Why was Zeenat Aman not there? Because he had an affair with her. So they did not call her. She was not there. I noticed. Other people noticed other things. I noticed this. I would recommend the movie. Control CTRL starring Ananya Pandey for Niku. You should watch it. It was really good. Being a postdoc in AI and safety critical systems, many of the events shown can actually be performed.
And season two of Bad Sisters for Raju. In terms of, I don't know if people just call me Raju. In terms of songs, I found Ishq by Faheem [00:18:00] Abdullah very pleasing. We will, Watch and listen. Finally, I found this fun ad, which we will also watch. See you in two weeks.
Abhinandan: So the link to the ad, the fun ad, is below, which we'll put also.
Uh, but, uh, Rajshri, I actually, not today, but I will review this. I think I watched a little late. It's a show called Made in Heaven. It's our producer. Why
Rajyasree: did you watch Made in Heaven? Even I'm looking at why did you watch it?
Abhinandan: Because it was recommended. It popped up and I watched one episode. It was
Rajyasree: recommended four years back, man.
No, last
Abhinandan: year,
Rajyasree: last year, it is two years old. What did
Abhinandan: you think?
Rajyasree: No, we are going to discuss one episode, which is the Radhika Apte episode, where she's having a, there's no Radhika Apte episode. He's watched season one. You watch, there's a season two. I haven't watched
Abhinandan: season two, but I will talk about it. Uh, very, I was very, um, nice.[00:19:00]
Rajyasree: Shobita, obviously you'll think is very nice. No,
Abhinandan: I'm not shallow like you. Okay. Okay. So, uh, then we have, uh, actually we have another email because Sandeep wants to know my true opinion of Shalini. And there's one more person who also wants to know. And of course, he's not so kind. Kapil Dev says, Kapil Bhaji.
Rajyasree: Maybe it's
Abhinandan: Kapil Dev. Kapil Bhaji. Maybe it's not that Kapil Dev. But if it is Kapil Bhaji, I'm a fan.
Rajyasree: I'm also a fan. But if it's not
Abhinandan: that Kapil Dev, I'm still a fan because you're a subscriber.
Rajyasree: And you've written 96 words only. So, Hi Niko,
Abhinandan: I've seen your many interviews from the good old days of Ayagri and Cleaners to the recent ones.
I've always found them insightful and the humor you bring acts as a cherry on cake. In my opinion, your last interview with Charlie Passi was not only unneeded, but also a bit vanilla. Obviously, I'm no one to tell you what to do or what not to do, but I would like to know your thoughts process behind it.
Are you able to achieve whatever you were trying to achieve there?
Rajyasree: I have something to add here.
Abhinandan: Okay.
Rajyasree: That while Kapil Dev has watched your, these two shows, has Kapil Dev watched [00:20:00] your Debut show Kuka has suffer. What was it called? Come on, say the name
Abhinandan: Han. My debut show. It was a offshoot of another show,
Rajyasree: so it was, Niku used to go into crowded areas and he would engage with the public.
Nick couldn't go into
Abhinandan: crowd areas. Niku went to area. They became crowded.
Rajyasree: He was, was so popular. He had to be saved once a van had to go in and save him. So the cops had
Abhinandan: to come. So if
Rajyasree: anyone finds these, where are these? In
Abhinandan: the Indian day archives, who knows. This was three cable news and all. It was Doordarshan days.
So there were very few cameras. And I remember that basically I used to give away free stuff and do this Vox Pop kind of thing. The cops had to come with me. He's looking
Rajyasree: decidedly unimpressed by this description. So,
Abhinandan: uh, honestly, uh, I was, uh, why we did that interview is because I didn't see [00:21:00] Vraman. Uh, said that since you guys do pop culture podcast, uh, and he had recommended this show, not recommend, but we spoke about this on Hafta and he had watched it and he said that this shows, you know, it's taken the viewing world by storm.
And since you do a pop culture, cause this has no place in the regular news laundry programming, as far as the news and politics is concerned, he says she's a pop culture phenomena. And if you have a pop culture podcast, you should do an interview with her. So I told her, okay, fine, I'll do an interview with her.
So we requested, I wasn't sure whether she'd even do an interview with us. So I requested, so I had gone in there to do like a, you know, pop culture, a fun thing. But, uh, but I actually was quite impressed with her because I honestly, I went there, my expectations were low, but she's, uh, I came back quite impressed with Shalini.
Basic, the reason is, I won't get into this thing, but she knows exactly who and what she is. She has no, you know, [00:22:00] she's not Saif thinking she's intellectual, you know, Saif has the pretentious of an intellectual or people like Akshay Kumar who think they're very patriotic or people like Salman Khan who think they're very macho, but actually, you know, pathetic, meek, faltoos.
She, her self view. And what outside is here is basically, for me, Isn't she not delusional? You don't have to be delusional. I think everyone, including me, what the world thinks of us and what we think of ourselves, there's a gap. And the further the gap, the more delusional you are. Her gap is a little less, which is a very rare thing, actually.
Rajyasree: Okay. I hope she's become a subscriber and I hope that tomorrow when I come here, there'll be a Subodh Gupta sculpture over there. Okay. That's all I'm saying.
Abhinandan: That's all you're saying. Oh, that's never all you're saying, Rashi, you're always saying lots more. But before you talk about Hattrick, [00:23:00] yes, a bit about Shyam Benegal.
Well, he had a phenomenal. I mean, personally, you know, even when Lata Mangeshkar passed, we did not discuss it, but we are discussing Shyam Benegale because, you know, it's very fresh in our minds because it just happened yesterday. And for me personally, he was very important filmmaker because in the nineties, when I was working in News Track, when I used to do that show,
Rajyasree: Nikku
Abhinandan: Ka Suhana Safar, uh, Oh, it'll be in Doordarshan archives, by the way, because it was for Doordarshan.
Nothing
Rajyasree: we can find from Doordarshan, no?
Abhinandan: Last
Rajyasree: week's bulletin board. But
Abhinandan: on Sunday, Star Movies had just been released, or Star Plus. I don't know if Star Movies was there at the time. Used to show in the afternoon. One film. Uh, uh, art, arti film. Was it Star or was
-: it DD? DD used to
Abhinandan: one arti film because they weren't, they weren't 500 channels.
They were just like six, seven channels back then. And his Ankur, Nishant, I remember having my aloo ka paratha's [00:24:00] having a bath and then sitting in front of the TV. Trikal. So I have, out of all the filmmakers, other than Yash Chopra, probably I've seen most of his films. The other person whose films I've seen most of is Shyam Benegal.
And I just thought he was so gifted. So which is one of your favourite
Rajyasree: ones?
Abhinandan: Or two, three.
Rajyasree: I can't say all three. Not only my
Abhinandan: favorite Shambhengal film, I've said it before on Awful and Awesome, it's one of my all time favorite films is Kalyug.
Rajyasree: Kalyug. I don't think I've watched Kalyug, but I've watched Mandi, which I love, which is like, I think everyone should.
And I think Mandi is there on one of the streaming channels. Then, uh, this thing, they've given the Hindi name, but Suraj Of
Abhinandan: course, that is one of the
Rajyasree: Manthan was lovely. Ankur was, it's just, and his female characters are so beautifully written without like pandering to them. They have all sorts of, like, they are not the nicest characters sometimes, especially in Mandi.[00:25:00]
And, uh, it was also the way he made Mandi was very interesting because at that point, none of them got paid. Nina Gopal. Uh, Shabana Azmi plays the, it's set in a brothel and Soni Razdan and also Alia Bhatt's acting genes I think come from her mother because Soni Razdan's done some spectacular and I don't know whether she's an NSD done.
Abhinandan: But Kalyug. Got the best movie award, Filmfare award. Back then Filmfare would still give awards to, you know, these days, Alu Arjun's film will get the best film or Dabangg will get. If you've done well, you'll get best film. Anima will get best film. No, you
Rajyasree: used to get, like good
Abhinandan: cinema used to get. And the thing is that film like Kalyug, it's not on any streaming platform, but it is available on YouTube in like seven parts.
It's been uploaded in 12, 12 minute chunks. What is the story? Kalyug is basically set in Bombay. It is Mahabharat in the setting of, uh, but, uh, business, a business family. OK, [00:26:00] OK. Oh, I should. And if you want to see Shashi Kapoor at his best. Oh, he is. I think that he must be in his thirties. I'm guessing he was
Rajyasree: very good.
There was at
Abhinandan: his. Most attractive, charming, like Yeah. As a chica would've just been in love with him. Like he has slight gray, he, you know what sha, this is like
Rajyasree: New Delhi Times. You watch New Delhi Times. Yeah, I remember. It's so good. It he was very attractive. His character
Abhinandan: is current because he's the son out.
Okay. Okay.
Both: Kin is.
Abhinandan: It's got Anantnag, it's got Amrish Puri, just the cast, it's got Rekha, [00:27:00] Rekha Rajbabbar. It's, it's such an amazing film. It is so brilliant. And it's so subtle. Uh, it is, I think one of the finest pieces of cinema to have ever come to India. The film
Rajyasree: which I did not expect. Means I did not dislike it, but it was not his best.
Yeah,
Abhinandan: it was so overrated. I remember at that time also, you know, I remember this one was, um, feted as what A performance Ishma Kaur. It was such a mediocre performance. It was a very mediocre, it was just a contrast from Herb, you know, he know number one aar. Huh? That people said what them, but I mean, if you were to go by Sha Beal's list of his filmography That's right.
That's one of the, that be one of the least impressive.
Rajyasree: So he and Govin Ne Alani actually. And Tapan Sinha. Do you know who Tapan Sinha is? Tapan Dada? You don't have to make fun of Tapan Sinha,
Abhinandan: very bad. You saw Mishti Doi every Sunday at Eden Garden Park Please, it's an award winning. While watching Baba Singh Gupta.
And Manthan. You [00:28:00] should watch Manthan. It's
Rajyasree: Monthon. He's made it. Sham Benegal, who actually at heart was a Bengali.
Abhinandan: But the word was invented in Bengal, Monthon.
Rajyasree: Everything was invented in Bengal. We know now, what are we going to do? Then these Punjabis came and just ruined it all for us. Then we
Abhinandan: started saying, In fact, speaking of, uh, you know, uh, songs which mentioned Daru, Very one lovely song I came up with, I've added to my Punju Baby playlist.
I have a playlist called Punju Baby, which is my most Listen to playlist. It has a very fascinating concept. It is, uh, by Jordan Sandhu. You see, Jordan Sandhu, this is what it sounds like.
Clip from Kalyug: It's
Rajyasree: like a background music to being molested or shot.[00:29:00]
It's very bad, very crass.
Abhinandan: No. I used to love you so much, et cetera, et cetera. And my, you know, friends, they talk about it. That is
Rajyasree: what's being said. It's sounding. And Tere Yaad
Abhinandan: Naal Aani Chahi Di Ek Botal Free Balli Hai. With your, With your memories, one bottle should come for free.
Rajyasree: This is the thing. One bottle has to come for free.
The
Abhinandan: beauty of heartbreak in Punjab is even the beauty of heartbreak is with Bottle of Fari Baliye. I have nothing to say, nothing. Ek bottle Fari Baliye. Too good ya. You know, without Punjabi music, the earth would stop spinning. Thank God. The earth is spinning. Spinning because of the beat Punjab provides.
Rajyasree: Why did you not vote for the Jiang? Because I'm having, don't make fun. He's the dead. He's
Both: the dead. He [00:30:00] were watching boring Bengali cinema
Rajyasree: that I didn't go for the make fun as much as I want, but also at heart . But there's a film which I think everyone should go to the theater and watch. Mm-hmm. Which is Hug Grant hat Trick.
Heretic. It's the second part of Metrix. Keep quiet. Metrix. Uh, so this is Hugh Grant's second act in his film career. I feel is fabulous because he stopped playing the romantic, the
Abhinandan: bumbling, adorable British guy.
Rajyasree: So he gave an interview where he said, I hated my Notting Hill character because he's such a wimp.
Abhinandan: I, I. I like his politics and what he stands for, but he's just so insufferable. You don't have to be like a dick all the time. I've seen so many of his interviews. He's just unpleasant to the person. If you don't want to talk, don't fucking stand in front of the mic. Jon Stewart has said he was his worst guest.
Don't just be nasty to the person. Just don't make things awkward. Just walk the red carpet, go take [00:31:00] a seat, buy popcorn or mishti No, that's No, you'll stop in front of a mic. He's been invited, no? You'll stop in front of a mic. You'll be unpleasant. You won't. You'll be a dick.
Hugh Grant at the Oscars: Um, what are you most excited to see tonight?
Abhinandan: To
Hugh Grant at the Oscars: see?
Yeah. Well, I know that you probably watched a few of the movies. Are you excited to see anybody win? Do you have your hopes up for anyone?
Um, not, not, no, no one in particular.
Okay. Well, what are you wearing tonight then?
Just my suit. Your suit? Yeah. Who made
your suit? You didn't make it?
Um, I can't remember my tailor.
That's okay. Yeah. Ta shout out to the tailor. Yeah. Um, so tell me, what does it feel like to be in Glass Onion? It was such an amazing film. I really loved it. I love a thriller. How fun is it to shoot something like that?
Well, I'm barely in it. I'm in it for about three seconds.
Yeah. But still you showed up and you had fun, right?
Uh, almost.
Okay. All right.
Rajyasree: I just find his personality. He, I think he's lovely and he's so cute looking and [00:32:00] no, so Jon Stewart said, he said, don't forget that I've interviewed dictators also. But my worst guest was not a dictator, just a dick, but heretic is this. I think it's one and a half hours long.
Abhinandan: It's your favorite genre.
Rajyasree: It's my favorite genre, which is horror, but not a horror as in ghost horror kind of thing. It's like a thriller. It's a psychological thriller. It's set in, um, America, where there are these Mormon missionaries. It's set in
Abhinandan: Michigan.
Rajyasree: So it's winter in America in our town in America and these two young girls who are Mormon missionary sister Chloe and sister something.
Uh, they must be 16, 17 years old. They are going house to house like they do know those born again Christian that has to tell you about Christ our Savior like that. So they Uh, visiting various places and [00:33:00] then one of the houses is Hugh Grant's house. He's a professor. He seems to be, so they go and his house is up this hill and all.
Like
Abhinandan: the psycho house.
Rajyasree: Yeah. No, it looks like a, like I'd still be a little wary because it's a little far, but that's why two people usually go. Because you have to walk then. But
Both: you could run. But I can run.
Rajyasree: I run. I won't be walking. So they go to this house. And so there are only three people in this film.
Pretty much. It's just Hugh Grant and these two girls. And they knock on his door and he is this charming, the way he, those characters, he's, he plays, he's charming, he's very sweet. He said, oh, of course, I had asked about the Mormon church. So they said, can we, uh, we can come in? Like they're talking to him from the doorstep.
So he says, come in. So they said, no, we can only come in if you're, uh, if there's another, if there's a woman present at all. So he said, well, my wife is there if that works. So they go in and uh, he says she's making blueberry pie and she'll just [00:34:00] come out. But as the conversation keeps, there's no wife coming out.
But the only thing is he lulls you into this false sense because he does know about the Mormon church and he shows them the book of Mormons and he's He's quite informed about everything and he's chatting very nicely and, uh, it's soon you start figuring out first there's no wife, clearly. And then the conversation, then they realize that they are stuck in this house and there's no signal on the phone.
And he said, but I did tell you all that. Are you fine with, uh, transcripts? Like, by the way, the house has metal and something. He said that there's no signal because it's an old house and there's metal in the floors and this thing. And the door is locked with a timer and he tells them, you can leave. It gets more and more like it's a lot of conversation, but he basically [00:35:00] says, you can leave.
There are two doors. Like you can go through the back of the house, you'll have to go and it's snowing outside and all and I say, listen, the head of our church is going to come looking for us. They know that we've come through. So he said, but that's, I'm not seeing anything. I don't know why you're getting so worried and all that.
And he says, you can leave through the back of the house and there are two doors. There's belief and there's disbelief. And he said, so you have a choice. You can either go through one of the doors or you cannot go through. And there's this whole conversation about what religion is to people. What is monotheism?
Is it iterations of the same religion over? over the years. So from the Egyptians to Hinduism to Islam and so on. And he said, what makes you believe and what does religion do to you? So it's a, it's a, it's a philosophical. Yes. And then he makes them,
Abhinandan: he converts them.
Rajyasree: No, [00:36:00] then it takes a bit of a turn. But he basically has almost like a maze in his house.
And it's how these do these girls escape or not? It's a test. It's a test. And he is
Abhinandan: God.
Rajyasree: So no, he's so good at being chilling. And then he'll suddenly crack the way Hugh Grant does. He'd like crack a cute smile and there's a bit of a funny line which makes him more and more chilling. So if you
Abhinandan: were trapped you'd be oscillating between fear and love.
I'd be like, this
Rajyasree: is so cute. It is just, and the, it's scripted so well, and especially the dialogue and the conversation. You haven't given away any spoiler, I'm impressed. Yeah, because it is, I really think people should go, I think he's going to be nominated for an Oscar for sure. The other thing is these two girls are moments in real life.
So, which is interesting that they got these, uh, two. The Mormon church didn't expel them. No, because they, the girls are quite, [00:37:00] uh, clear about why they believe in Mormonism. So, the arguments are, you know, it's Sound. So,
Abhinandan: it's a good ad for Mormonism.
Rajyasree: No, not really, because he does His arguments on monotheism and how religion controls you through sex, through, uh, uh, shaming you.
Okay. His arguments are very good, but it's a very, very interesting. You should watch it. That's what I was telling you. These
Abhinandan: two doors, Rashid Ahmed, someone asked me years ago. I don't know if you've heard it. There are two doors. Okay. One is to heaven. One is to hell. And there is one person in front of each door.
One always tells the truth and one always lies.
Rajyasree: You've told me this, but I've forgotten what I said.
Abhinandan: One always tells the truth. And one always lies. Okay. And one road leads to, one door leads to heaven, one to hell. You can only ask either of them one question. You don't know which is which. You don't know who's telling lies.
You don't know who's telling. You can only ask [00:38:00] one question. What question would you ask so that you get to the door to heaven? Think about it.
I can give you the answer at the end of this podcast.
Rajyasree: So, no, but definitely watch this.
Abhinandan: Right. Uh, then Rajshri Sen, we have a couple of emails, three are left. You want
Rajyasree: to
Abhinandan: tell us about those? Yes.
Rajyasree: Uh, Prasad Vasudevan has said, Hi Abhinandan, please watch and review the Malayalam movie, Kishkinda Kandam. It is a beautiful movie with stellar performances.
The movie is relatively short, but it's relatively short nowadays. Just two hours, five minutes. That's run time. Thank you. It's on Amazon or one of these, uh, new
Abhinandan: year resolutions. I'll watch more stuff.
Rajyasree: You watch heretic because you'll really enjoy it. Okay. A Sean Chatterjee has written hi, Rajshri and Abhinandan.
Just wanted to say, I love listening to you guys. You guys make up a good pair. Keep the show alive as it works as therapy. [00:39:00] I don't think people should. Put their mental health at our doorstep. P. S. This, this event is what Nikhil was talking about, which Trump visited after winning the election. Please do watch and review.
Thanks. P. S. I love UFC. Best spots in the world.
Abhinandan: So the video that you have put is when he went to Madison Square Garden with Elon Musk. I saw this. So this is what he was talking about. Okay. Got it. Okay. I mean, I'm not a fan of UFC. Uh, I used to be a fan of boxing, but I'm I'm beginning to question my love for boxing because as I'm getting more and more, uh, information about what it does to some of the boxers, same thing for, you know, what it does for American football.
But football also, they say,
Rajyasree: if you hit the head. Not regular football. Hit the head, na, hit the ball. No, that too, even
Abhinandan: in hockey and cricket happens. And then finally, Mohammed Salman also.
Rajyasree: Hi Abhinandan and Rajshri. Referring to your discussion on Vikrant Massey, public discourse is always harmed when big headed, narrow minded, right wing talking points are mouthed by people from famously multicultural, multi [00:40:00] ethnic or multi religious family backgrounds.
It's what makes people like Smriti Irani the absolute worst too. Such people are living the promise of what India is a free democracy with equality and opportunity. opportunity for all can be. They overcome all barriers to achieve their potential in the fields they work in, and they use their role models, model status to instead propagate the most closeted points of view.
Great respect for the work you do. Appreciate when other cohorts step in, but Avinandan and Rajesh, you have a vibe no one can match. Thank you so much. Thank you so
Abhinandan: much. Uh, did you see Vikrant Massey attended this? Really cringe event of Republic and, uh, you know, moderator asked him that if you were to do a biopic of a journalist, which journalist would you like to portray?
And he said, of course, the one and only, there's no match for Annabelle. I mean, even this much?
Rajyasree: Boss ki chato.
Abhinandan: Boss ke chaato ke chaato ke chaato ke ke chaato
Rajyasree: yaar. That's,
Abhinandan: that's sad. Thodi to, thodi dignity honi chahiye, [00:41:00] little
Vikrant Massey on Arnab: bit. Agar aapko kisi journalist ki biopic ho, toh wo naam kya hoga?
The man is here, and I mean it.
I mean it. I genuinely mean it, uh, because Abhi hum thodi he's had the guts to stand out tall. All these years.
Rajyasree: It's very sad.
Abhinandan: So, Rajshri Sen, um, on that note, do you want to talk about something else? Kim Kardashian, something upbeat, please. Nothing like
Rajyasree: Girls will be Girls is very upbeat. It's the new film.
I'll just do two minutes because y'all should watch it. It's on Netflix. Amazon Prime. It's a new film. Richa Chadha's first production, I think. Oh, I must
Abhinandan: watch it. Yeah, I've read about it.
Rajyasree: It's very good. So it's directed by Shuchi Tarati and it has the actress from, uh, we, all we imagine as light. Kani Kusruti plays, uh, the girl's mother and the girl is played by Preeti Panigrahi.
She's a student in a [00:42:00] boarding school. And, uh, It's a coming of age story of this young girl and, uh, her mother is almost like a single parent in the sense that the father goes out of town to work and comes back, is there far lesser than they would like him to be there. And it's about this mother daughter relationship.
So I thought, and there's this boy who this, girl who's the head girl of the school she falls in love with. I felt it was very nicely done, the mother daughter relationship. Certain things did not make sense because I don't think a mother would, uh, sleep in the same bed as her daughter. Daughter's boyfriend, like say, come and sleep in my bed, not have sex, but see if I go to
Abhinandan: cinema, you watch on Brazzers.
Rajyasree: I was like, what is this? One of those, I didn't realize Amazon's branched out into that.
Both: [00:43:00] So maybe
Rajyasree: they got confused at one point, a different scriptwriter came in and he wrote that scene. You
Both: just reduced the level of this show is just always brought down to that level by Rajshri Singh.
Rajyasree: But I felt the dynamic between the girl and her, the boy she falls in love with because he's not too good at studies.
He's come from out of town. It's a co ed boarding school. Uh, why she likes him, how he, how he in a way plays her, but not like how he plays people because he's this boy whose parents live abroad. Survivor basically. Yeah. And what he does to make friends. It says, so it's, they've got a lot of things, right.
And it's, uh, it's worth a watch. Yeah. It's got some good reviews. I will definitely watch it. It's on. It's on Amazon prime. Amazon prime is a lot of good stuff. Cause even this show that I watched,
Abhinandan: uh, made in heaven [00:44:00] was also an Amazon prime. Why are you laughing?
Rajyasree: I'm five years late. Are you going to interview Shobita Duleepalya after this?
Abhinandan: I should actually. I'm very impressed with the performance. What has she done after this? Then she got
Rajyasree: married to Chaitanya, Naga
Abhinandan: Chaitanya. But forget that guy, the main lead, dude, he is an outstanding actor.
Rajyasree: So he has married Tarun Tejpal's daughter. Oh, I see. But he's,
Abhinandan: he's an amazing, amazing actor. What's he done after that?
Rajyasree: He's done quite a few films.
Abhinandan: Oh, really? I must watch it. He's very good.
Rajyasree: He's such a good actor. And he does theater also. Which one is he talking about? The photographer you're talking about? No, no, the main guy, yeah. Even the photographer is good, but he, they use him as like a sutradhar. The thing is that
Abhinandan: in that every, like every episode there was someone I knew.
Half the people that are DOSCOS. So like, uh, his brother, he was a boy I used to play football with and he stopped coming now. I know why, because he's going to Bombay and he's acting. Um, then, uh, [00:45:00] Sheru Sharad Sharma, he was the basketball coach. Then of course, Vijay Raj from Monsoon. Why didn't you
Rajyasree: become an actor?
Abhinandan: No one gives me role.
Rajyasree: Oh, after
Abhinandan: all that. So there's a
Rajyasree: Christmas music video I have. As a recommendation, because I watched it. It's four minutes, 56 seconds. I think Kim Kardashian has a new video out, which is this old song called Santa Baby. You've heard this song, no?
Abhinandan: No.
Rajyasree: Santa Baby.
Abhinandan: Never heard it.
Rajyasree: Marilyn also sang
Abhinandan: it.
Where she's crawling around. She's
Rajyasree: crawling around. Her thong is showing and all, but, uh. She sang it? Yeah, really badly. Uh, but it's anyway one of those songs where you're not singing.
Abhinandan: Christmas aisa disturbing sa music video with these grotesque looking. No, but see the
Rajyasree: last two seconds just watch. There's a surprise guest appearance of someone.
Robert Downey Jr. No, yeah. That would still be okay. See who it is.
Abhinandan: That's [00:46:00] Macaulay Culkin.
Rajyasree: Yeah, this is what it's come to from home alone to Kim Kardashian crawling up to him in her thong.
Abhinandan: So uplifting as usual.
Rajyasree: It's quite uplifting. If you wear, I just want to say this though. She has a line of, uh, underwear called skims, which is like magic.
Like if I were to, I can't get it in India, but if I were to get skims, my figure would be like, uh,
Abhinandan: your job.
Rajyasree: No, yeah, Flojo was thin like that. Would be like Vanessa Williams when she won Miss World.
Abhinandan: Okay.
Rajyasree: Because I do look a little like Vanessa Williams.
Abhinandan: Because the, because it's like you wear it and your body changes.
Rajyasree: It does do, it clenches in
Abhinandan: your waist. I'll also
Rajyasree: get that then.
Abhinandan: You'll also get that. So, on that note, I will. Uh, once again, urge you to please subscribe so that our journalists can continue to do the jobs that they do. I'm very, very [00:47:00] proud of our team for this voter suppression story series they've done.
We want to continue to do it. These are very important, uh, reports, which unfortunately, legacy media has abandoned. So it's up to you to support journalism. The QR code is there. The link is in the show notes. You can go to newsletter. com and subscribe. Uh, now coming back to the Riddle. Rajshri Sen. I would ask.
Yes.
Rajyasree: One always says the truth, one always lies. I would say,
is this where I want to go?
Abhinandan: Knowing you, they'll both point to hell. So, here's the answer. What? You ask the truth. If I ask the other person, which is the door to hell, what would he point to? So if you ask the person who lies,
Clip from Kalyug: he'll
Abhinandan: point to heaven. And if you ask the person who tells the truth, [00:48:00] he'll also point to heaven.
Rajyasree: No. Yeah.
Abhinandan: Think about it. It'll take you a while to process. I can see the wheels turning in your head. I need
Both: it. So,
Abhinandan: on that note, uh, thank you so much. Those of you who supported us through the year. It has been a pleasure. A very eventful year. There have been struggles. There have been it notices, which is a constant, um, there have been lots of court hearings, all the lawyers who've supported us.
Thank you so much. We are forever grateful. Many of you support us pro bono. Uh, many of you support us, uh, with advice, the subscribers who've been supporting us. Thank you. Many of you. Not renewed, I'm guessing, stuff economic times, but if you can even afford 300 to 400 rupees a month, which is not that much, I would really urge you to do that.
So we can get more and more journalists. You'd be surprised the amount of journalists out there in the market who do not have a good place to go to journalism. And they keep asking me, can you hire us? And I'm saying, I wish I could, but I just can't afford [00:49:00] to. There's so many good journalists out there, young people who want to do stuff, but they just don't have a platform.
So if you support us, uh, we can actually increase our team and bring you journalism like we do, but four times more. So do consider. a heartfelt request on Christmas, New Year's. Give us a Christmas gift. Give your friends a Christmas gift. Works all around. Rashi Sen, any parting, uh, as we close 2024 and, uh, sing, uh, Auld Lang Syne.
Rajyasree: Auld Lang Syne. Auld Lang Syne like that. Like it's not on with Chinese. No, just be, be good. Don't watch bad things. Don't support the wrong politicians. Be
Abhinandan: smart. Don't. Only don't watch bad things because Abhinanda is going to be recommended all of them to watch. So that is my job.
Rajyasree: We and watch Saif's new films.
There's a film called Lal Kaptaan, [00:50:00] which is on Hotstar or something. Watch that on New Year's Eve. This is why. And keep subscribing. Support free news. And we'll be back in
Abhinandan: Jan
Rajyasree: in Jan. Happy
Abhinandan: New Year. Happy New Year. Uh, and thank you to our producer Priyali. Thank you to our sound recordist Anil. And, uh, thank you all around.
Yeah. Uh, have a fantastic weekend.
Rajyasree: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Sekhri. Thank you, Ms.
Abhinandan: Sen.
Rajyasree: And it's a wrap.
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