In this episode of Awful and Awesome, Rajyasree and Abhinandan engage in a conversation about advertisements, beginning with the Fevicol and Fevikwik ad. Rajyasree talks about the Malayalam movie Kumbalangi Nights, the Mumbai Metro ad and the controversy surrounding the Brooke Bond Red Label Ad. They also review an award-winning short-film Banoffee Pie, the new Star Wars trailer, David Chappelle’s stand-up Sticks and Stones, Season 2 of Succession followed by more ads.

The podcast starts with the two talking about the Fevicol ad. Rajyasree felt it was like watching a short film, while Abhinandan tries to figure out the meaning of ‘Bangali Kirmit’. The second ad they talk about is the Fevikwik ad. Abhinandan thinks it has a feminist perspective. He says “There is a feminist point, the kabadi is a woman as opposed to a man; most kabadis are men”. Rajyasree jokingly adds, “I felt that the girl is the person who believes in the NRC and the kabadi–wali is the one who wants everyone to be a part of India.”

Rajyasree then goes on to review the Malayalam film Kumbalangi Nights. She says the movie is set in the backwaters and covers the story of four brothers. By and large, she was not very impressed with either the movies or its reviews. She says, “When I finished the film, it made zero impact on me.” They also talk about the depiction of male characters in Malayalam and Bengali movies. Abhinandan says, “Lots have shown how Bengali and Mallu men are lazy.” Rajyasree concludes by saying that people need to watch better movies if this is their idea of good cinema.

Finally, the episode wraps up with Abhinandan’s Punjabi song recommendation.

For this and much more, tune in.

 References:

Fevicol Ad

Piddilite Ad

Kumbalangi Nights

Banoffee Pie

Star Wars 

Sticks and Stones

Succession Season 2

Red Label Ad

Red Label Ad 2

Ice Cube and Symone Sanders on White Privilege

Mumbai Metro Ad

Produced by Parikshit Sanyal, recorded by Anil Kumar, and edited by Umrav Singh.