In the latest episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Abhinandan is in conversation with Mayank Shekhar, entertainment head at Mid Day. The duo reviews The Accidental Prime Minister, Uri: The Surgical Strike and Gillette’s latest commercial. They also discuss the portrayal of politics in Indian films, the evolution of film production in India and more. Mayank and Abhinandan also look back at the quality of last year’s films. “I genuinely believe that 2018 was the best year that I have had as a film reviewer watching films,” Mayank said.
Speaking about a new genre of movies, Mayank said, “They are propaganda films…there is a new genre called pre-election films.” On The Accidental Prime Minister, he said, “What really suffers the most is the production design…the prime minister’s office looks like a shaadi hall in the movie.” Abhinandan added, “I have heard that it does not look like a story, there are just scenes that are unconnected, it does not flow like a story…it’s just a bunch of scenes put together.”
Explaining the lack of a storyline, Mayak said, “It is hard enough to adapt from non-fiction to begin with…it would take competence of another kind to turn [Sanjay Baru’s book] into a coherent screenplay. Abhinandan also points out the difference between Uri and The Accidental Prime Minister. He said, “I have heard this one is pretty well-made.” Mayank agrees. He said, “I was stunned by it because my expectations were hugely low, as they should be because again you are walking in thinking ‘oh this is that pre-election propaganda film’.”
About the Gillette commercial, Abhinandan said, “It is appealing to the right values…I do not know what is wrong with that…overall I think it is a fantastic kind of communication from a brand that is so associated with machismo to come out with.” Discussing the backlash against the ad, Mayank talked about the people who criticised the ad. “I think a lot of opinion formation and dissemination has a lot to do with the fact that they call attention to themselves,” he said.
Tune in for more!
References:
Gillette Commercial
The Accidental Prime Minister trailer
Uri: The Surgical Strike trailer
Mukkabaaz trailer
October trailer
Wonder Years trailer
This podcast has been produced by Parikshit Sanyal and Kartik Nijhawan, recorded by Anil and edited by Satish Kumar.
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