Awful and Awesome Ep 342: Love Storiyaan, Argylle, BAFTAs

While discussing Argylle: 

Nainika: I’ve seen a lot of movies since joining this podcast. I’ve watched the awful, I’ve watched the awesome, but I’ve never watched…

Rajyasree: The boring?

Nainika: No, the bizarre. (laughs) It was a bizarre film. I fell asleep, I woke up.

Rajyasree: But, what a starcast they’ve got.

Nainika: I think this film is a money laundering front for all those involved. 

This and a whole lot of awful and awesome as Rajyasree Sen and Nainika Singh Rathore discuss the series Love Storiyaan and Feud, movies Argylle and This Is Me…Now, and the BAFTAs. 

Watch it here.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introductions

01:27 - Headlines

03:01 - Love Storiyaan

15:09 - Letter

16:10 - Argylle

32:20 - Letter 

34:23 - BAFTAs

39:10 - Announcement on NL Sena Modi 2.0 Report Card

40:09 - Feud S2

References

NL Sena: Modi 2.0 Report Card

Argylle

Feud S2

Love Storiyaan

This Is Me…Now

BAFTAs

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

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Shubang Gautam, edited by Hassan Bilal and Saif Ali Ekram.

AnA Episode 342: Full audio

Rajyasree: [00:00:00] This is a News Laundry Podcast and you're listening to The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Rap.

Hello, hello. This is The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Rap, episode 342. This is Rajesh and Seth. And I'm Nainika. And We have a nice ish mix. It's been a dull week on cinema and otherwise, so we have a nice ish set of things to discuss. So we have Love Storia, which is the new It Was Valentine's Day. So we

Nainika: have Love Storia.

Did you have a good

Rajyasree: Valentine's Day? I did. What did I do? I must have been working on it. Very good, very good. Thrilling, absolutely. Thrilling. So Love Storia is the new Amazon Prime series on love in, under difficult circumstances. [00:01:00] Then there's Feud, season two of Feud is there. And then Argyle. We have the BAFTAs, we have, oh, I watched JLo's, uh, new film, which is very, I didn't watch the whole

Nainika: thing, I'm not that, this is, I caught the trailer and that told me everything, I

Rajyasree: needed to know, it's the same, I did not, so I fast forwarded bits of it, it's called This Is Me Now.

Before we start this show, here's what happened in the world of pop culture and entertainment this

Nainika: week. Christopher Nolan's epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer marked its dominance at the BAFTAs and bagged seven trophies, including Best Film and Director. Emma Stone was named Leading Actress while Cillian Murphy bagged Leading Actor Award.

We will speak about the BAFTAs in detail in the episode ahead, so please tune in.

Rajyasree: Television actor Rituraj Singh passed away after a cardiac arrest on Tuesday. He was 59. Singh had appeared in shows like Aahat, Anupama, Made in Heaven Season [00:02:00] 2 and even films like Badrinath Ki Dulhania.

Nainika: On Saturday, veteran poet Gulzar was named as one of the recipients of the 58th Gyanpeet Awards.

Gyanpeet Awards is the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Gyanpeet for people's outstanding contribution towards literature.

Rajyasree: The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director and the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, which are part of the National Film Awards, have been renamed on the recommendation of the Committee for Rationalization of Film Awards.

Of course. I think this committee's name itself is fabulous. Committee for Rationalization of Film Awards. You must find a job for everyone. This is how you make sure there's no unemployment in this country. That is true. This

Nainika: is how the government is ensuring the unemployment numbers. After a hiatus of seven years, Colombian singer Shakira is all set to make a comeback with her new album, Women Don't Cry Anymore, on March 22nd.

I will be tuning in, so you

Rajyasree: should as well. Okay, let's get on with [00:03:00] the episode.

Nainika: Um, since it's after Valentine's week, so in the spirit of love, let's do Love Storia. Okay, fine.

Rajyasree: So I sat down to watch Love Storia on 14th, no on 15th I sat down to watch it. My Valentine's wasn't that bad also. So, Love Storia is based on India Love Project, which was started during, uh, the pandemic by Priya Ramani, the journalist, her husband Samar Halankar, and Nilofar Venkataramanan.

And, uh, it was launched in, uh, October 2020 when, uh, and it was done on Instagram. Basically, it was small, uh, snapshots of, uh, couples who were, it was started as inter caste and inter community couples, but then it became just couples who might have had a difficult relationship and a difficult way of getting together.

Yeah, [00:04:00] and their coming together was Uh, was an obstacle course. Basically, it was not easy. So, Karan Johar has backed this project, which is why, which

Nainika: is why it looked the way looked very slick.

Rajyasree: It looks very slick, but it's also a little ironic because I think Priya uh, Karan Johar. But then when you're making a show, it's But you need producers.

Nainika: Exactly, you need

Rajyasree: producers. Yeah. And so the show is six, uh, separate stories. And, um, it has a queer couple who is in Calcutta, then there is a couple who, uh, left India during the Bangladesh war, and then they come back after like decades. Absolutely. It's all about them. Then there's, uh, Another couple, which is a northeastern couple, they're both RJs and they get set up for Rival Channel.

Yeah, and they get set up. They end [00:05:00] up talking to each other because of a prank caller, who is also very interesting because that prank callers a blind RJ herself and she prank called one of them and she says about how her boss shouted at her because you're not supposed to prank all her rival channels RJ and put them on air and all, but then how that romance started.

And each of these, uh, episodes is around 30 minutes. It wasn't a long episode. I remember. So I saw the first one, which is Ullek NPA, who's a journalist and his wife. Ika. So Ika used to write for news Laundry, actually. Really? Yeah. I did not know that. So I know both of them because she used to, we first got to know her and then we got to know Ole and I've spoken to Ole a lot and all, so it's two people I knew that is, I know her less because I think we did an event, I've forgotten now, it was like so long.

10 years back. I think we did it. [00:06:00] medical journalism event with Chitra Subramaniam and, uh, Ekta, no, and Ullek, who's the journalist. So Ekta works in publishing and their story is that Ekta was married before and she had two daughters and then. She was in an abusive relationship and then she leaves her husband and, and then she meets Ullek and how they got together despite, like, the kids did not like him, her, his mother did not.

That is a very sweet story.

Nainika: The kids, they really had to, like, get them

Rajyasree: cajole and how that happens at all. Yeah. So now what worked for me is, one is of course, because I know them, I was able to associate with them a little more. Also. It's set in Abhinandan's colony, so I know that because that's how she got in touch with us.

The apartments? Yeah, so that's how she got in touch [00:07:00] because she knows them. Oh. And so the setting is very familiar to me, but what did not work for me is they do these reenactments in the episode as in, so part of it is narration by The couple who is being featured and part of it is acting with actors.

Now, I just felt it could have been done far better. Also, because what is that thing earlier Amazon Prime used to have, which was the new modern love, right? So, given that you have, uh, Karan Johar's backing and the production is of quite a high quality. I felt it could have been scripted better.

Nainika: Yeah, fair.

You're right. Because it just felt like the actors were there sort of like, you know, you have one of those, your crime shows where the reenactment is really terrible. It was just like they did that for a love story, so it was very half baked there. Also

Rajyasree: the actor who played Oleg looks like Oleg, the actor who plays [00:08:00] her, they went and shoot with someone.

Oh, she was very pretty. I don't know why they chose this actor. Like, did she upset them or something? I don't know. I was like, at least try and get actors who look like them. And also the reenactment, I don't know, it just felt a little tacky, the reenactment part. Yeah, because it

Nainika: was also not good reenactment.

It was just like sort of a ham fisted attempt at trying to recreate. It just doesn't work. Like, you just get them to stay. speak to each other if that's what you want to do, uh, but yeah, it was a little messy there. I do think that the stories had merited themselves. My darlings

Rajyasree: is more than just a script.

It's the heartbeat of life. Join me as we explore the meaning of real love through the lens of genuine stories.

He said, you are a young woman and I'm a young man. We could be having an affair. I didn't think of myself as a young [00:09:00] woman.

Nainika: Two episodes that I watched, I think both of them were very sweet. Which was the second one? The same one? No, the second one that I watched was, uh, Teesta and Deepan, the queer couple from Kolkata. Okay, from Cal. That one was quite sweet, uh, as well. But I felt like their story was maybe like a little bit too sanitized, because it was just like Um, for, you know, a trans couple, um, in small town coming, I mean, one came from like a small town in Assam and Tista was from, um, Calcutta.

So I felt like their story was like a skipped over, maybe like glossed over certain parts just for, you know, narrative comprehension. It was a little too, to make it like palatable to a, no, palatable to like a straight, uh, cis heterosexual audience. Uh, a little too, you know, so I suppose like

Rajyasree: that was, that's also a little off because the whole point of India Love Project, so I'm all for the India Love Project because I think anything that [00:10:00] promotes that you should not hate each other, correct, is a you should not hate each other just because someone's from a different caste and community.

You can dislike people who are stupid. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Or people you might consider just Painful and boring. But seriously, though, I like I think in today's day and age, and this came about during that love jihad time that it was done to combat that. So it's something that should be celebrated.

It should be promoted. In any of these stories where people have gone against odds to be together, but this did not fit into all the love, even though they can eat, that's not love jihad, correct, correct. It's just difficult. So they've opened up. So I think it also evolved over time and to just, I

Nainika: suppose they chose stories that were like entertaining also to watch as opposed to just like a difficult situation because I think the packaging of it is love story because they want to show love stories and not necessarily stories of like, yeah.

Yeah.

Rajyasree: Religious [00:11:00] struggle. Also, I don't think Amazon Prime would have the balls to, uh, this thing to front end a project, which is about love jihad. Correct. So keeping all that in mind, but I could be that I was just not in the right frame of mind to sit through all of them. Because I also feel romance is a very difficult genre.

Nainika: It's a one of the prestige genres because it's very difficult to get right to show to people who are actually in love and for it to also translate for the understanding of the viewer is very difficult to do and a lot of very decent directors fail at it. I think last year I was talking to Abbas about the last movie that Anurag Kashyap directed and it was just not

Rajyasree: good.

So that's it. So I think it's a difficult genre also. So the heart is in the right

Nainika: place. That is true. I did feel like the series had a lot of heart because the stories were also just And they're sweet. Because they were real people so the stories were actually quite sweet and wonderful to look [00:12:00] at. How they got the couples to talk about each other and they gave them a bit of a free hand.

I think that was very sweet because it was very evident that all of the people like They loved each other. So it's, it's always sweet to watch. It's always good to have that reminder. Um, so yeah, I mean, creating, like, critiquing the form of the story is just one part of it. I still do think it's sweet. It has a lot.

So watch

Rajyasree: it. I would say still watch it because it's It's sweet and nice. And sometimes I also feel there's a lot of content nowadays online on OTT, which is so depressing that by the end of it, I'm like, Oh my God, now I feel like killing myself again today. So this doesn't make you want to do that. But I do feel it could have the entire scripting and storytelling could have been.

Nainika: Better. Fair. I guess, you know, that is something for the production house to take note on, but the stories are quite. I mean, yeah,

Rajyasree: do what you want. But, uh, watch it. Maybe you'll like it. So two, three people wrote to me on Twitter and said, we [00:13:00] hope you're reviewing it because we

Nainika: really liked it. I did think it was sweet.

I did think it had heart. I mean, you know, artistic decisions aside. So yeah, go ahead. Watch it. I think Rajshree and I both agree that you should

Rajyasree: watch it. In fact, Shomona wrote to me, which I wanted to read out. Shomona wrote, this turned out to be really watchable and endearing. I binge watched yesterday because it features a friend and activist, Rahul Banerjee.

There are so many very silly romance series on OTT, but this one is quite lovely. Please do review it. So that's what I'm saying. It depends. Or I also think if you know someone. Then it just wasn't because I like the maybe someone else won't think that the only episode was fair nights and after sit through and like, Oh, it was.

But when you know the person featured, obviously it's nice. So then your relationship with the episode. And she's also got a point that there's so many stupid romance. Sure. That is

Nainika: true. Romances as he keeps. Okay. I have to ask since it's, I mean, after Valentine's week, do you, do you like romance? Do you rate [00:14:00] romance as a genre and do you have a favorite?

Rajyasree: Yeah, I have lots of favorites. There's this film called the art of love, which is in fact on Netflix. I think it is a beautiful film. Absolutely. It's about, uh, It's a very old film and it's just beautiful. There's another film called, it's not an English film. There's another show called River, which is about these two cops and it has, uh, a very well known Stephen Skarsgård, I think in it.

And it's a detective show and as in police detective, but at the heart of it is the love story between the, uh, two detectives that's there. And I love love stories, but I like very like where they usually someone dies or something at the end so that it keeps things interesting, keeps things interesting, fair.

Yeah. So I'm a big fan of but it's very difficult to find a good. That is so

Nainika: true. It is very difficult to find interesting, good love stories that [00:15:00] are also watchable.

Rajyasree: I can't think of any. in recent time.

Nainika: What came out in recent times is, I actually can't think

Rajyasree: of anything either. There's nothing. Oh, let's read one mail, which is most probably, there's a mail which is criticizing me.

So we will read it. Okay. S has written, why have you not given your name? Because you think I'll find you and beat you up. On episode 341, Rajashree said Arthur Harari happens to be Sandra Hewler's husband. This is incorrect. Arthur Harari is directed Justin Triet's partner. That's what I meant. Of course.

But the wrong thing came out. Keep up the good work. Now, I don't know whether this keep up the good work is supposed to be sarcastic or you really mean that. Hope to see Abhinandan and Abbas paired as hosts in one of the future episodes. That would be nice. Hope springs eternal, my dear. But don't forget to write to us at newslaundry.

com slash podcast hyphen letters or podcasts at newslaundry. com Please send [00:16:00] emails from the email that is associated with your subscription and write awful and awesome or A& A in the subject line. We're waiting to hear from you with baited breath. With baited breath. Uh, we are going to discuss the film that I did not watch, but I wanted to watch.

I just want to make this clear. Well. Agile. I behave like Abhinandan.

Nainika: No, no, that's okay. That's perfectly fine. Uh, because it's, you didn't lose out on a lot. Oh, then it's okay. So, Agayal is, uh, it's a spy comedy. It features an ensemble cast of Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Brian Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, Henry Cavill, Sophia Botella, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, Samuel L.

Jackson. It's quite star studded. So, everyone, huh? But do not let that fool you. So the plot centers around a reclusive author who's drawn into the world of espionage after she realizes that her new spy novel resembles real world events.

Rajyasree: So this person is Bryce Dallas Howard. Yes, this author

Nainika: is Bryce Dallas Howard.

So I caught the movie, it was like a really late night show on [00:17:00] Valentine's Day.

Rajyasree: That's what you get for trying all these times.

Nainika: I was watching it with a friend and I went to like a really fancy, really expensive theater. One of those is like really nice recliner bed was like, Oh my God, I was just like, it was like a really fancy and I caught like a, I finished work and everything and I got like a really late night show cause that was the only ticket available for the movie.

Midway through the movie, I fell asleep and I suddenly woke up like in a start and I was like, and I was feeling very guilty because I was like, I've paid all this money to be in this fancy theater. I should be maximizing the movie experience. You were

Rajyasree: maximizing the recliner experience. It's quite comfy that recliner.

Nainika: It is quite comfy. With that cover and all. Yeah, they gave you a nice blanket that smells like very strong laundry detergent. And I looked over to my friend and my friend was also sleeping. So I guess both of us were just like completely checked out of the movie. It was. that bad. And it starts off with, I think, like, it starts off with Dua Lipa.

The only reason I went to watch the movie is because it features Dua Lipa, [00:18:00] who is so beautiful. Uh, and I completely got scammed out of my money because she was there for, like, the first three, four Because you

Rajyasree: can't afford to pay her. She's more expensive than any of the others.

Nainika: Yeah, absolutely. So she was there for, like, three, four minutes, and then the rest of the movie is The most, I feel like I've been watching a lot of movies ever since I've done News Laundry, and I've watched good things.

I've watched the awful, I've watched the awesome, but I've never watched the

Rajyasree: bizarre,

Nainika: like completely bizarre movie that Argyle was. midway through the plot. Like, I fell asleep. I woke up. I was like, what the hell is happening? It's completely taken a turn for the worse. And the acting is terrible. The sets are terrible.

The dialogues are weird. But what are the stalkers

Rajyasree: they've

Nainika: got? I have no, so I, what I presume is the movie is a money laundering front. Very likely. I think everyone just sort of came together to hide their like, Yeah, maybe they had something. Or they all lost a bet. Yeah, so maybe whatever they're [00:19:00] hiding in Panama or Cayman Islands or whatever they had to like wash it somehow and that's why all of them agreed to do the movie.

I certainly

Rajyasree: hope you dance as well as you dress.

You and I, we're not so different. Agent Argyle. Hold on.

The book is phenomenal, sweetie, but What happens next? It's called a cliffhanger, mother. Ellie, it's called a

Nainika: cop out. Bizarre. And when I say bizarre, I do not mean, like, I watch, I love watching bizarre things because they're bizarre, but this was the bad kind of bizarre. Like, there's an insane scenario where They sort of this like the Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell are sort of [00:20:00] captured because they have a bunch of guards coming their way So they decide they go and they're in an armory.

So they have like guns and everything around them so they decide to throw out all these colored smoke bombs and put on gas masks and Ski and dance while killing like it was it was

Rajyasree: party and then they said that let's also make a film where we are all here, maybe they are all friends. Maybe

Nainika: that's what happened, but it was, it was an experience.

Uh, for sure. I would not, I mean, I would recommend it if you just want to have the most bizarrely bad movie watching experience of your life, but there's nothing. positive I took out of it, apart from the fact that Dua Lipa looks beautiful. But then she always does. So I feel like I didn't have to waste that money to find out.

Henry Cavill's character was also weird. The acting was weird. Just, I can't wrap my

Rajyasree: head around how Because I read very bad reviews of it, but sometimes I'm not sure with reviews. There have been films which have got bad

Nainika: reviews and then I No, but this was like, this is not even bad in the sense of accidental genius.

It was [00:21:00] really long. Like I have I don't think

Rajyasree: I had a good sleep and woke up and the film would still

Nainika: and I still had time to contemplate how bad the film was even after taking a nap and waking up. So that tells you, I've never contemplated walking out of a theater. I watched a lot of bad stuff, but at some point I was just like, I should just get home.

Like it's late. I need to be up early tomorrow. I should just go. It's that

Rajyasree: bad. It's so bad. I'm very happy I didn't go to watch this. And I was like, the

Nainika: plot was bizarre on every, like, she sort of, I mean, spoiler alert because who cares, I'm just going to talk about it. At some point, essentially what happens is she's predicting all these events through her books because she was a spy and she lost her memory somehow.

Okay, okay. And she used to be a figure skater in her past life and these bunch of henchmen. And a dancer also. Yeah, she used to be a ski dancer. So a bunch of henchmen are coming at her, but they're in some sort of room where they have. pumps that are filled with crude oil. So to, you know, to confuse the guard, she just like opens the walls of all these pumps.

So it's like the whole floor is covered [00:22:00] in crude oil and she sticks knives to her shoes and starts figure skating and

Rajyasree: killing all of them. This is rubbish. Absolutely. We should not say anything about garbage. Yeah, it is. And we should not say anything about Hindi films.

Nainika: And that is true. RRR was probably cinematically more comprehensive and better well done than whatever the hell this was.

And Dua Lipa does not make up for it. So do not make the mistake I made. But she's

Rajyasree: in all films for just two minutes. Even in Barbie, she's there

Nainika: for two minutes. But that one was still worth it. Like even just like even without Dua Lipa, I could watch Barbie, right? So do not make the mistake I made. Do not go chasing Dua Lipa like that.

Just. I don't know, look at a picture of her on your phone. So stay

Rajyasree: away from the

Nainika: theater. Yes, stay away. But it was a very nice theater though. Go to the theater. Which is the most bougie theater you've been to?

Rajyasree: All these ones only. Whatever that lounge seating thing is. So

Nainika: back in my college town, they used to have one of those, you know those um, Art deco style single screen theaters of the [00:23:00] year that were very beautifully

Rajyasree: done was there when we were growing up, but carry on.

Tell us tell us about your experience

Nainika: For the longest time it used to play the worst like c grade

Rajyasree: Cs you're talking about?

Nainika: No, no, so this was back in Patiala. This is not Delhi. So this, for the first three years of college, it only played like the worst, like, C grade horror slash pornographic, like softcore porn.

And we wouldn't even look at it because all of us were sure there were drugs being traded there. Which was somehow, like, the last year of college that I was, I think the owner got a bunch of money and renovated it completely. But he kept the art deco style alive. So it was like, Gorgeous theater to be in and he did like the acoustics and everything.

So there was like a proper balcony, proper hanging seats and proper like, and it was beautiful.

Rajyasree: So if you still go to Regal in Colaba, that's what they've done. They've renovated it but kept, and it's a single, uh, screen theater as far as [00:24:00] I know still. Then over here also there was Chanakya, of course they made into a multi screen, but they've tried to keep that oldest thing.

It's beautiful. In CP, there's a Revoli, which is very nice. Yeah, it's got that. I love the charm of old theatres. Yeah, so they've kept it like a single screen. So it's worth going

Nainika: and seeing. All the refurbished single screen theatres are like the last few of the art deco buildings left alive. And I love looking at abandoned theatres also.

There were, there was a sense of like a real spookiness about them. There's one in GK. There's one close to ISBT. I forgot where it is, but they're all really pretty. So yeah, I mean, write to us and tell us about your favourite theatres.

Rajyasree: scene. Uh, speaking of romances, I did watch This Is Me

Nainika: Now. From the queen of romance herself, Jane Doe, who understands love better than she

Rajyasree: does.

Yeah, but there is another film of hers which I watched, which is an OTT film only you should watch, called Shotgun Wedding, [00:25:00] where she is getting married to this guy and it's very funny. I felt, not like a Haha, kind of funny, but it's not bad at all. No, it's actually, no, no, it's not bad. It's got that very hot guy, Josh, uh, Juhamel, his name is, and Jennifer Coolidge is there as her, as her mother, I think, and they are anyway having a destination wedding in some beach resort.

And then all these gun toting, uh, Guys show up who are like, they look like the mafiosi and then she basically does a shootout over there and she's like, it's bizarre, she pulls a machine gun out and all sorts of, it's really like over the top funny. Crazy, yeah. Yeah, so, but this was not that kind, like that film also made little sense, but This Is Me Now is a one hour film.

Which is also supposed to be the launch of her new album. Right. And because it's JLo, obviously she can fund her own film. If Beyonce also wants to make a film, [00:26:00] Beyonce will be able to make a film. And this is JLo's ode to Ben Affleck. What

they say about me,

about hopeless romantics, that we're weak. And I'm not weak.

I learned the hard way. All love stories have a happy ending.

Time's up. Let's pick this back up next week. What are you guys doing here? We think you might be a sex addict. What? Maybe. So it's a one, uh, this thing is directed by Dave Myers. I don't know who he is, but anyway, it's directed by him. It stars Ben Affleck in it, but not as Ben Affleck. He's playing a [00:27:00] newsreader called Rex Stone, full prosthetics on his face and all.

And the only reason I realize it would seem is when you're watching. on your laptop and your mouth goes over a certain part of the screen, it shows the cast, right? And that's Ben Affleck and I realized it was him. But JLo is playing this, uh, it starts with her as a factory worker in a sci fi kind of thing where everyone is Dressed in sweats and all and there's a metal heart which is supposed to be her heart and the heart is stopping and there's a dance number.

So I fast forwarded the dance number because the song was not the best part. It was not a nice song at all. Then there's that there's one song which is which has been released. You've seen the video of Can't Get Enough. Yes. So it goes basically she has a she keeps getting involved with people it shows because she's looking for Ben Affleck still.

And Ben [00:28:00] Affleck was her true love. And, uh, so she has Fat Joe is her therapist. He, Fat Joe is who he must be a singer. Yeah. He's a rapper. Okay, then the other people in this are Jean. So there is also, now this I was not expecting. There is a, they show you looking up into the solar system and like you have the Greek, uh.

Gods. Gods. They are looking down upon her. There's a whole, and she keeps referring to, which is worrying for an adult to be doing this. Right. She says, uh. Oh, you know, is he, uh, like, she's basically going through each of the sun signs. Mm-Hmm. And none of them are perfect matches for her. And up in the sky, uh, uh, the congregation of all these, uh, sun signs.

So Jane Fonda is playing Sagittarius. Trevor Noah is playing Libra. What? . Oh, because it's really. It's [00:29:00] weird. Okay, Kiki Palmer is playing Scorpio, Post Malone is playing Leo, Sofia Vergara is playing Cancer, Jay Shetty, that guy, that Indian guy who's like

Nainika: the bright eyed and

Rajyasree: who's like a motivational speaker, who's like a young hot version of this thing, Sadhguru.

Oh, right. But same caliber. What is he playing? He is Aries, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Listen to this, Neil deGrasse Tyson is Taurus. Neil deGrasse Tyson is that Who used

Nainika: to be on Twitter pouting about how scientific you need to be. Yeah, yeah, he's a

Rajyasree: Of course. And Sadhguru is spicy. Now everything was Everything was You need to tell me.

There's no Capricorn. How is that possible? No, no, Mazvi there. There are two other people who I did not recognize. But It was too funny because everything I was fast forwarding and that's what Trevor Noah. So I stopped because I wanted to see what Trevor Noah and all are looking down at her from the center of [00:30:00] that table.

And they're saying now look at what she's doing and all and each of these people is giving their two bits, right? Sunday Sadhguru came and started and the meaning of love is something something and all. I was like, dude, how did they even think of getting Sadhguru?

Nainika: And why did, you know what, Sadhguru is just like, uh, just doing side quests at all times.

Like

Rajyasree: he's, yeah, because you never know when he stops being, uh, uh, considered the greatest thinker in town. Correct, correct, correct. But it's basically about her search for love, love and Ben Affleck. The only good thing about this is that it's in Vana. You know, it's also

Nainika: surprising to, it's also surprising that, you know, the amount of main character syndrome it takes for someone to think all the gods are congregating around a table to figure out what happens in

Rajyasree: my life and that, uh, it's just bizarre that she is, she looks like a million bucks, but she looks like a million bucks all the

Nainika: time.

put money into it. There was this really funny picture. She was wearing some like, [00:31:00] you know, some, some archival couture piece from 98 or something to go promote her movie at a Target.

Rajyasree: But it's like that. This film is also like that. You're like, you've spent so much money. None of this. Jane Fonda, you've got, you know, and Jane Fonda is now given at some interview saying, I feel like basically saying that their relationship seems to be too much of like performance art.

Correct. And they should just. Spend some time with each other without cameras and all, and it would be, which I don't think she meant her co star to say all this. Of course, of course. But, uh, since I've watched it, everyone should watch it. It's on Amazon Prime. Yeah, yeah. This is me now. I

Nainika: think I have to watch it just for

Rajyasree: how crazy it is.

And fast forward the weird parts. There are lots of

Nainika: weird parts. Yeah, I, I pretty much realized.

Rajyasree: And I'm sure there are other actors who I can't find on the thing who will, uh, pop up later but it was just

Nainika: bizarre. And it's also crazy. I think both of you and I had a bizarre time watching strange things but I think like Sadhguru in a thing takes the cake.

Rajyasree: Yeah, [00:32:00] that's the whole thing. Sadhguru suddenly sitting in this circular

Nainika: form. Would you, would you be okay if Sadhguru was one of the gods deciding what happens in

Rajyasree: your love life? Then he'll kill me. He'll put me in hell. A worse hell than this life is. Sadhguru will be responsible for that, but it was just absurd.

Absolutely. I, and I was just thinking he really loves her Ben Affleck to agree to, but he didn't play him. Maybe right at the end he plays him. Ben Affleck has like

Nainika: good taste

Rajyasree: and you know, that Anadriya Amas was. It's so nice. Okay. Who he was seeing before.

Nainika: He was seeing her. I keep forgetting

Rajyasree: about it.

Yeah. And she broke up with him on text. She dumped him on text. Well, I

Nainika: guess she's also like young and

Rajyasree: beautiful. She basically said it was, uh, drawing attention away from my career

Nainika: to be seen with him.

Rajyasree: Yeah. That I'm constantly photographed.

Nainika: And yeah, I think the only thing Ben Affleck look happy, looks happy in his, his Dunkin Donuts commercials.

Rajyasree: When he's with Matt Damon. And when he's with Matt Damon. Damon. Damon. Very happy. That

Nainika: is true. [00:33:00] Those two

Rajyasree: are like really in love. Otherwise he just looks. He always has a faint. It's

Nainika: quite cool to always look faint. He should have made a love with Matt Damon, but I suppose that's not possible. I

Rajyasree: think he's, the amount he loves Matt Damon, he loves nobody else,

Nainika: for sure.

That much is there. Probably not even. I mean, yeah. I

Rajyasree: really don't think he loves her as much. Okay, I'm going to read another letter, uh, which does not abuse me, but which shows that this person has not been listening. to our episodes. Anonymous has written, the hosts of the show really need to move beyond Bollywood when it comes to Indian movies.

Here are some Malayalam movies you can start with. Kadhal. So Anonymous, Kadhal was discussed in great detail on an episode. So you must also Always have your facts right before throwing a stone at us, okay? But the rest I take on board. Nathan, I'm not going to pronounce any of these names because I'll pronounce them incorrectly, but, uh, I [00:34:00] am going to watch Mammootty's, uh, Brahma Yugam.

This is a new supernatural thriller, but thank you for sending the list. We will review them and we try as much as we can. It's sometimes not easy to do because it's in cinemas only or it's on OTT and we've chosen the wrong thing. So I take full responsibility. Absolutely. Like a grown up. The Baf took place.

Nainika: I do not know the full lineup of what happened at the B. I love the B. Okay. But I love No, no, I saw what was important, which was the pickup. The code was looking very nice. So Ri had such a paint expression because

Rajyasree: Baf was, and David Tenant was the, uh, host for the bafta. So I like Baf. And I like Screen Actors Guild and the Critics Choice because I find them a little, like they are a little, uh, because I'm pretentious and Bengali, so they are a little highbrow.

So I'm like, okay, this, this must be better than the others, but, uh, [00:35:00] all the, so BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild and all are considered the, like, almost like, uh, predicting what is going to happen at the Oscars. So, uh, who all won? Oppenheimer won for best film, then lead actress Emma Stone won for Poor Things, and Margot Robbie was nominated for Barbie.

Was Lily Gladstone nominated? Uh, no, Lily Gladstone was not nominated, and, but best film, Killers of the Flower Moon was nominated. For lead actress, they had Fantasia Barrino The Hewler for Anatomy of a Fall. She was excellent. Carrie Mulligan, I thought was excellent in Maestro. Vivian Opera, I don't know this film, Rilene and Margot Robbie.

Best actor was Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer. And all the People, we thought you, you who was in Past Lives, then Bradley Cooper for Maestro, which I thought he [00:36:00] was brilliant actually in it, but so was Cillian Murphy, uh, Rustin this film, I don't know, uh, Holdovers, Paul Giamatti, which I really want to watch, and Barry Keoghan for Saltburn, which I really, so a friend of mine watched Saltburn and she said it's,

Nainika: I've not heard good

Rajyasree: things about the movie.

Yeah, she's watched it. So she's in films and all that. So they got access to all this. Yeah. So she said it's not all it's being made out to be, but supporting actress was Devine Joy Randall from the Holdovers and her speech was very nice. Uh, Emily Blunt was nominated, Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks, so the color purple has got a lot of nominations.

Claire Foy from All of Us Strangers.

Nainika: Oh, I did not know what Claire Foy was doing post The Crown,

Rajyasree: but it's good that she's doing well. Oh, she's praised the parents of uh, Andrew, what's his name? There, she's come praised. She's praised. Oh,

Nainika: no, no. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Fair. That

Rajyasree: one. Makes sense. And Sandra Hewler for Zone of Interest, Rosamund Pike, Sorburn, uh, [00:37:00] supporting actor Robert Downey Jr.

got, Christopher Nolan got, uh, Best Director, and, uh, BAFTA Rising Star Award was Mia McKenna Bruce, who I don't know. Outstanding British film was the Zone of Interest, where they made a speech also about, uh, Gaza, I think. Right. And, uh, Film not in the English language, which Deepika gave, was to zone of interest and so very nice.

The documentary film was 20 days in Maripur, which is supposed to be excellent original screenplay anatomy of a fall, which I strongly recommend. So it was really nice. It was, uh. A tight show. And of course, none of these are screen nowadays. You watch it on YouTube if you want to watch it. Other than Screen Actors Guild, I saw Netflix is flashing that they are going to show the live stream of it.

I think, yeah, I can catch it on. But, uh, It's like, it's just nice to see so many good looking, talented actors together, dressed well, [00:38:00] saying smart things. Michael J. Fox presented the film, uh, the award for best film. Okay. So he came, he has Parkinson's, right? So he made a huge effort to actually come here.

That is sweet. So, it was very nice, Robert Downey Jr. 's, uh, Speech was very interesting, Speech was very good, And, uh, it was just, uh, Anne Samantha Norton, her name is, she won for, um, won the BAFTA Fellowship Award, which I think the Royal Family, uh, funds it, The British Royal Family, And she gave a very beautiful speech about, you know, why representation matters, Because she comes from a very poor background, And she said, I used to watch films where people like me were shown and it mattered because I felt that I felt like my life is still a story worth telling.

And from there, even Barry Keoghan has stayed in 13 foster homes. That is true. You know, I find those things really

Nainika: fascinating. He's a true working [00:39:00] class actor and, uh, yeah, it's quite

Rajyasree: nice. From there to reach this position is just fabulous. So, uh, it was good. I'm waiting for the Screen Actors Guild Award.

Now we have one announcement though. Right. The new NLCNA Modi 2. 0 report card project is, uh, there on the NLCNA page. The BJP is about to complete 10 years in power as everyone knows with the upcoming general election. Modi will be asking for a third. term on the back of the welfare schemes, BJP's welfare schemes.

But what does the data say on the implementation of these schemes? The new NLCNR project is a deep dive into these schemes, which aims to give readers the most definitive report on how the welfare system has performed in the Modi years. A report like this requires a lot of time and effort as you can imagine.

So please consider powering us. Log on to newslaundry. com slash subscriptions. Select any amount of your choice and help make [00:40:00] this report possible. Any contribution actually does make a difference, but the bigger the contribution, the better. And you should support free news. But, uh, from there. to something sort of related to news, which is Feud season two is out.

And the first season was about the, um, the battle between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in Hollywood. And this one is about, uh, Truman Capote, the author who wrote In Cold Blood, but he also wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's. And that's why he was a very talented. I'm a huge fan of Truman Capote, yes. It's just that in the last 10 years of his life, Truman Capote, just like, he became an alcoholic and he just didn't write, like he kept trying to write, but was not able to, but Gus Vanson, the director has directed the series.

And it is based on the book, uh, Capote versus the [00:41:00] swans, which was about in the last years of his life, uh, Truman Capote in, um, he always wanted to be part of the inner circle of America and whatever the, sort of the elite circles, and he has a group of friends, one of whom is played by, so it's Naomi Watts, there's Calista Flockhart, there's Chloe Sevigny, there's Diane Lane, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, and Treat Williams, who I really like, who died during the shooting of this, and Ella Beatty, and all of these are real life characters.

So, uh, Naomi Watts plays Babe. Paley, who was this, who was a writer for, an editor for Vanity Fair. And then she gets married to Treat Williams, who was, uh, William Paley, who was a very well known senator. And she gave up her career. Calista Flockhart plays Jackie O's sister, Leigh Radziwill, who was very [00:42:00] well known also, and who famously We're seeing Aristotle on Onassis and Jackie O.

Jackie is the one who made a move and Right, and she closed the deal. She closed the deal. And Chloe Sevigny plays CZ, who is this slightly brassy blonde who, but these are all very well established women who commanded the social circles of New York. Dan Lane plays Nancy Slim Keith, who is this very well known, again, a little older, but she owns tables and all.

And Demi Moore plays this woman called Woodward, who shot her husband thinking he was a Someone who an intruder was a story, but Truman Capote went around telling everyone that you murdered the husband, of course, and it is just fabulous. If you follow and Truman Capote is played by Tom Hollander, who is in this thing, The King's Man [00:43:00] and Pride and Prejudice and all.

Money. An endless adventure. Hello, ladies. Mind if I sit down? Oh, I wish you could, but we're being joined in just a second.

We see the importance of presentation.

Underneath, though, it's an act. Truman. Tell me everything. It is very well scripted. It is, uh, tight, right? So there he had done this very famous, the masquerade ball where he brought in everyone from New York was invited and all. But what happened is that he, [00:44:00] at the, Beginning and end of everything, Truman Capote was a writer and he has very few compunctions.

He was not a nice man, to put it mildly. And it's based on this novel, Capote's Women, a true story of love, betrayal and a swan song for an era by Lawrence Leamer. He basically wrote his vanity affair pieces about these women and their lives and all the confidences that they shared with him about who was sleeping with whom and all.

He was the original gossip girl. Yeah. And the only thing is he barely disguised the names and, uh, they cut him out from his life and he can't deal with this being thrown out into the cold. So at the end, uh, and the Naomi Watts character is the one who, um, Jessica Lange plays his mother and she's like mother's ghost.

She comes and she was a horrible mother, but he always wanted her approval. So that sort of spears his behavior. [00:45:00] But, uh, Babe, who ultimately sort of forgives him, she gets cancer and she forgives him and all, but his, the last two episodes are left of this, but it's a fabulous, uh, Like a commentary on those times.

I

Nainika: really wanted to watch it. The only reason I couldn't was because it was season 2 and I hadn't watched season

Rajyasree: 1 already. No, so season 2 is a different story. Season 2 is the Truman Capote story. Season 1 is the Susan Sarandon and uh, this one. Jessica, uh, what's her name? Jessica Lange only, uh, one, which is, which is also a fabulous show that, so to me, I preferred season one, but maybe because I followed Joan Crawford and all, I used to call my mother mommy dearest, because Joan Crawford's daughter famously wrote a book Call mommy dearest about how horrible her mother,

Nainika: how mother was.

I, I'm a huge fan of Truman Capote. I've read a lot of his short stories. Yeah. Stories, words, [00:46:00] stories. So I'm a huge fan. So I think that, which is why I was really curious about it. No, you must watch it, but I'll So please catch few. Dawn. Yeah, it's on

Rajyasree: hot stop. It's on hot stuff and it's definitely worth watch.

And uh, if you start watching now, at least you will get to, so Ryan Murphy has, uh, produced it. Oh, . So it's got that, uh. This thing, Nickelodeon twang. Yeah. And, uh, the two time Pulitzer Prize finalist, John Robin Bates has scripted all eight episodes. So if you watch it now, you'd actually be able to watch five episodes that are available.

Stretch, absolutely. And then the other two are still about to roll out. Yeah, it's every week they release them. But after a long time, I watched a show, which is, so the two shows, which I really enjoy right now, are Expats, which I love. Oh, I've been watching Expats. And the last episode is just, it's one hour, 40 minutes.

Caught two episodes.

Nainika: I

Rajyasree: haven't gotten to the end yet. It just gets better. One episode, the, this is the fourth, whatever the episode [00:47:00] before this one, this is the fifth one, I think. The episode before this one was the only one which I felt was a little over the top. But otherwise, I really

Nainika: enjoyed it.

Rajyasree: It's a fabulous show.

Absolutely. So at least something has been recommended, which is worth watching. But, uh, that's it for this week. And we will be back next week with Indrani Mukherjee's. Documentary, which I have to watch because I can't believe Netflix has backed this. And we'd like to thank our producer, Priyali, and our sound recordist, Anil.

Yes, as always.

Nainika: Thank you, Priyali. Thank you, Anil sir.

Rajyasree: So, till next week then. Thank you, Ms. Rathore. Thank you, Ms. Sen. And it's a wrap. Thank

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