Awful and Awesome Ep 349: Amar Singh Chamkila, Aattam, Baby Reindeer

While discussing headlines:

Jayashree: Does your fandom of Akshay Kumar extend to you watching his movies?

Rajyasree: No, that’s too much. I just think he’s a very good-looking man. 

Jayashree: I think the last Akshay Kumar movie I watched was Garam Masala, 20 years ago.

Rajyasree: I have nothing to say to that. 

This and a whole lot of awful and awesome as Rajyasree Sen and Jayashree Arunachalam discuss the films Amar Singh Chamkila and Aattam, and the series Baby Reindeer.

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Timecodes

00:00 - Introductions

02:25 - Headlines

6:20 - Baby Reindeer

20:30 - Amar Singh Chamkila

31:48 - NL TNM Election Fund

32:35 - Aattam

References

General Elections 2024 Fund

Amar Singh Chamkila

Aattam

Baby Reindeer

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

Produced, recorded and edited by Shubang Gautam.

Sting: [00:00:00] This is a News Laundry Podcast, and you're listening to the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap.

Rajyasree: Hello, hello. This is the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, episode 349. This is Rajshri Sen.

Jayashree: I'm Jayshree Arunachalam. And welcome to this episode of Awful and Awesome. 

Rajyasree: So, we have, uh, foreign, Indian. Indian means regional. Uh, this thing. It's regional, correct. Because we are constantly accused of only reviewing Hindi things, which is not true.

It's an unfair accusation, but I'm just saying that we have, uh, taken it to a different level itself this time. Because we have a Malayalam, uh, thriller. We have a Punjabi film. We have a, and then we have an English [00:01:00] series, of course. 

Jayashree: And we're really subverting it by making the Tamilian on this podcast review the Punjabi film.

Rajyasree: Yeah, because the Bengali said I can't bring myself to watch this. But I did watch the promos that that felt like the film only to me. I just want you to know. 

Jayashree: I expected much more. Yeah, I also expected more from it. Highly disappointed. See, but also my colleague told me the other day that, uh, He feels that I'm the kind of person who when I was in school, I would be like, Oh, I didn't study at all. And then I actually would have studied. And yeah, even I get this feeling, but he's, but he's right. 

Rajyasree: Yeah. So even I get this feeling. So to be fair, Which our producer will also vouch for. I always watch everything usually. This is the first time because I was travelling on work till Friday night. That's my excuse for this.

Jayashree: But what should You're playing and Abhirandan is 

Rajyasree: Yeah, you know I'm so busy guys. What can I do? 

Jayashree: [00:02:00] I still took out time for this recording. I had to walk. To my living room where I'm sitting without power. Okay. 

Rajyasree: So

I'm really, we are all suffering for our art. But what do you want to start with? 

Jayashree: Uh, we can start with the one we both watched, which I would be baby reindeer.

Rajyasree: I've watched the other one. Don't make it. You made me sound really bad. Now that only one thing I bought. So before we start with the. Meet of the podcast. We have the meat of the headlines of what has happened in the entertainment world. Gunshots were fired at Salman Khan's Galaxy apartment in Bombay on Sunday at 5 30 a.

m Police have arrested two suspects. One of them was Vishal Bishnoi, brother of Lawrence Bishnoi, the jailed gangster I think poor Salman Khan will never live down this black bug thing that happened. Even he must think, why? It's never going to go away. 

Jayashree: And meanwhile, Eleanor Coppola, the [00:03:00] renowned film documentarian, writer and wife of Francis Ford Coppola, passed away at the age of 87.

She'd earned a Primetime Emmy Award in 1992 for her documentary, Hearts of Darkness, a filmmaker's apocalypse. I've watched this documentary. 

Rajyasree: It is really good because they were mad. in this film. It's, you know, like everyone was drugged up and all. So everyone was in it. Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Heart of But what is it about?

Jayashree: It was based, it's on the Vietnam War. It's set in the Vietnam War, that one, Apocalypse Now. It's about Apocalypse Now. Yeah. So it's about, because it's called Hearts of Darkness because Apocalypse Now was based on Heart of Darkness. That sounds like a fun documentary. Yeah, the behind the scenes is hilarious, like, because you realize how, like, Cuckoo, this entire crew was that he was working with.

Rajyasree: Fahad Faisal's comedy Aavisham surpasses, Jesh, you will tell us. Varshan Gala Kashesham. In box [00:04:00] office collections by three crore. The film has netted 16 crores in India within four days of its release. I find Fahad Faisal very hot. This is an addition to the headline. I saw him once in Kochi airport but I was too shy to go up to him Is he very little?

Jayashree: Tell me, is he very little? Yeah, he looks like he's very little and slight And he's a short guy who in his movies is just playing a short guy Yeah, he plays, that's what, he's like a short guy only So I'm very keen to watch Aavesham, but I'm also very keen to watch Vashan Galkar I will also watch But that may be the awful recommendation next time And finally, your favourite star of Reels, Akshay Kumar, has a new action comedy Bade Mea, Chote Mea, which has crashed at the box office.

Rajyasree: Haa, with Tiger Shroff. Made from a massive budget of 350 crores, film collected less than 45 crores, despite a four day extended holiday weekend. Producer Vashu Bhagnani had earlier claimed to have grossed 1, 100 crores worldwide. What a fool. Vashu [00:05:00] Bhagnani's son, I would like everyone to know, is Jackie Bhagnani.

Jayashree: These are the things that I know. Nobody else might know, Jackie Bhagnani also wanted to be an actor, then he's become a producer. Was he realized everyone also act though? He acts. He's done a few films. I don't think he acts that much anymore. So Tiger Shroff is in this film. And if you were privy to my Insta reels, you would be flooded with the promos.

And they keep making reels of themselves, Akshay Kumar and him. But does your fandom of Akshay Kumar extend to you watching his movies? Absolutely. No, that's too much. No, but I liked Yeh Dil Lagi. I really liked Yeh Dil Lagi. And I have watched some others, but I'm not like a fan of, he's a very good looking man though, I think.

In a traditional Punjabi way. Now he's very like plastic. Now he's too old also na. His last, I think the last movie I [00:06:00] watched of Akshay Kumar was, Which one? Garam Masala. Garam Masala. Which must have been 20 years ago or something. I have nothing to say now. I watched it, I watched it three times, three times in the theater.

On that note, we will get into more wondrous things that have happened in the world of entertainment. So Baby Reindeer is a new series which is on Netflix. It's been created by comedian Richard Gad and it's based on. a true story in the sense that this actually happened to him. He 

Rajyasree: used to have a stalker for around four years who used to attend all his shows across the country.

She used to send him, uh, like strange gifts, like a cap, a baby, a stuffed toy, that kind of stuff. And he did, he has said that even he had behaved in a manner which might have encouraged her. [00:07:00] And, uh, Gad plays himself in this, Richard Gad. I don't know, is his name Richard Gad in the show? No. I don't think so.

No, no, it's, uh It's something else, what is it? Is it Colin? It's Donnie, Donnie, Donnie. Donnie Donny. Wow. We really watched it very closely. Yeah. Clearly. Donnie name is Donnie. Donny stays in, uh, England in, I don't know if it's London Radi. It is London, I suppose. But they don't really take Kto. Yeah. Yeah, because his, uh, pub is in, he's a waiter at a pub in, he's a bartender in Cam.

Yeah. So it's like London, extended London. And he, a woman shows up at the bar, this slightly, uh, dumpy, sweet looking woman who, uh, whose name is Martha and who comes in and she, he offers a cup of tea basically. And she says that she can't pay for it. So he said, that's okay. It's on the house. [00:08:00] And then things start unraveling.

Jayashree: So my intention was, you know, I'll, I was like, okay, there's no way I'm going to finish an entire series. Seven episodes is too much. Also, this is very much the sort of show I think I avoid because it seemed, I mean, he's a comedian, but it's not a comedy. Yeah. And it seems very intense. So I was like, okay.

My friend Rajshree, I will watch maybe one, two episodes for context and then, you know, we'll call it a day and I'll have enough to, you know, pepper you with questions. Man, I binged it over like four hours, I think. Yeah, I think I sat down and watched it till and I started watching at, I think, ten, twelve.

So I was watching till around 2 in the morning, I was watching it, but it was worth watching, I felt. Yeah, so I felt I knew, I felt like I understood the show, right? In the first episode, like you said, he's, a struggling comedian. He works in a bar and then this odd woman comes in and you know, she is overweight.

She's a little [00:09:00] peculiar. She sort of pretends to be this hotshot lawyer who's friends with David Cameron and Nick Clegg. And you can make out she's lying. That's the thing. Like while she's saying it, it's not like in the next episode, you figure out you can make out that she's, yeah, she's. obviously deluded or something and so I instinctively disliked it also because I felt the characterization of her as you know she's You know, middle aged, about the same age as him, she's overweight.

Rajyasree: Therefore, since she's also overweight, she's more of an object of pity. And he also admits to feeling, you know, sorry for her, so he chats with her. And then she comes back every day, and then she starts sending him mails. And those mails are Those mails are fabulous, absolutely. Yeah, and you're not quite understanding what's going on.

Also, the fact that she's sending it from a random phone, but at the bottom of every email she types, Okay. So I was like, okay, I got it. Like I understand the show, this show is about this man and this woman who is [00:10:00] very unconventional is supposed to be unattractive and he's sorry for her and then she becomes obsessed with him.

And then you wonder why he also encourages her a bit, you know, like he doesn't seem to dislike her even as he's sort of. Thinks she's a little bit off, but then you think, okay, maybe he likes the attention, you know, typical man, whatever, and then, but man, then it gets into that backstory and I found it, that's why it was really, so it's very well scripted, I felt because even when it gets into the back, we'll give some spoilers because, uh, otherwise you'll take a break, watch the show, then come back and listen to this.

Like, how much more could you get a baby reindeer than, but episode four in particular is where they really tell you why he is the way he is. And then, and so he has, then he starts dating a trans woman. And even that, like you're, you don't wonder why is he [00:11:00] suddenly on a trans dating site, right? And you get into, you realize, under, under, under a different name.

Jayashree: So he's clearly hiding. He's hiding. He's hiding. He has a fake persona totally, as in he says he's a construction site worker. Clearly it's something new to him because he's joined an app for the first time. He changes his name. So you, you assume there's some shame, but you Something, like you can't understand the, yeah, the psyche behind why is he doing that?

Then the stalker also finds out that he's, uh, Like she starts becoming a little more unhinged than you think she would be. So she becomes like a possessive girlfriend and it's just so her behavior actually is more normal. In the sense that if I'm a stalker, that is the way I will behave, but his behavior as someone who is being stalked and who, uh, seems to have no sort of, uh, [00:12:00] psychological problems or so on in the beginning, you keep wondering why, like, his character is the one which actually starts Unraveling more and more, you get into why he does what he does.

And, uh, she also, so she's a convicted stalker. When he Googles her, he finds out that she has been convicted. She spent time also in jail a few months and so on. But despite knowing that he's still, he's adds her on Facebook. Yeah. Adds her on Facebook. It's almost like an Addiction on his part also, but I felt the way her character is shown.

So I was reading his, uh, this thing, his interview, and he said, I didn't want to show her character as an object of pity. Also, but I do feel more like you feel quite compassionate towards her at certain points because [00:13:00] especially when she's sitting at that bus stop and it's cold and she's crying for 15 hours just because she wants to see him when he leaves his house.

Yeah, it's taking his house out it like you just feel A little, or when you go to her flat, when you see where she lives, it's just all very sad, I feel. Yeah, she's like, clearly got some hoarding tendencies. It's very dark. But again, my thing was that I expected the show to have that because I just thought it would be a story about a man and his stalker.

But, uh, so in episode four, though, there is this, uh, Reveal, which is so he's a struggling comedian. His comedy, let us objectively say is not, not the best, not the best. He relies heavily on props and things and it's all seems very antiquated and not funny. So then you find out in episode four that when he had been much younger.

Again, when he was a struggling artist, he went to Edinburgh [00:14:00] to perform at the Fringe, but like, he wasn't really getting any numbers, people weren't coming to see him. And then he met an older man who seemed, you know, quite polished, worked in the business, said he'd help him. I kept telling him that I will help you get ahead in the business.

That's the hook that that guy has. Exactly. And then, over the course of that episode, you realize that, uh, that older man did, uh, It's sexually abused. I can say that. Spoiler, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he did rape Donnie several times. And then the question is, but then why did Donnie keep going back? But also because he was in the cycle where he thought he was going to get famous.

He thought he had to do this to get ahead. And then that is like the halfway mark of the series, right? And then, you know, it's everything just falls apart and you realize this is why he is this person and how he's, you know, So tragic. And then he says this thing at the end where abuse makes you the, the sticking plaster for all life's weirdos.

And he feels that's why Martha came to him. [00:15:00] That's why he also is maybe empathetic towards his stalker because he's just, I don't know, his mind is fucked. Also the dynamic, so his parents actually come across as very I loved his parents. They are in Scotland, he goes there. Weren't they adorable? I wept, I wept.

Rajyasree: And that father is so like a traditional father. He's not mean to him or anything. He's just not comfortable hugging him. He doesn't show affection. I feel like it's also like a lot of Indian men. No. Yeah, exactly. Right. Not demonstrative. He won't say I love you and hold your hand and all, but, but they really step up when they need to step up.

And I think the conversations that his father has with the stalker are just hilarious because his father's relentless about carrying on telling her to bugger off. Absolutely. But that, so it's all, I felt, Every character, even those two boys, he ends up [00:16:00] sharing a flat with his, yeah, his ex classmates. They are like for 10 minutes, you see them on screen maybe, but even their characters are extra.

It's just, so there are some lighthearted moments, but you come away from this. It's like a study in psychology, but it was such a difficult watch. I was cursing you, like there was. Sunday night good. It's like a difficult watch, but it's a good. And I also felt his, uh, interactions with his sexual abuse. Was very so that conclusion is just you know, it's also great because people behave like this That's a because so often we even tell our friends, right?

Why are you even doing this because you're just being an ass and you have no self esteem and you must not be But people behave, yeah, don't talk to him and someone's treated you so badly and all, but people behave in [00:17:00] unexplainable ways. And which is what I think this show like really shows you that there is no rational or justification for some of the behavior that seemingly intelligent people are showing.

Jayashree: And there's no tidy sort of ending, no, like, it's not that well. You were violently abused. You maybe confront your abuser and you come away with this closure. Like, you want it. And most movies would show it in that sort of way, to sort of end everything in a way. But here it's not. He meets his abuser.

Certain things happen which surprise all of us and you're like yelling at screen, like, what are you doing and all? But, but maybe that's just more reflective of how life is. And that's the thing. No, I don't, I don't like watching realistic. Life depictions because you know, I feel like life in general is so distressing.

It's anyway so tiring sometimes. And you know, when I was googling this, it said comedy and all. So, yeah, like, oh, great. A light hearted [00:18:00] Scottish man on his journey. Sumukhi Suresh had done this, uh, had scripted this show, which I really had loved where she's a stalker. It's called Pushpavali. And again, she's like Martha in that sense that she's like the slightly dumpy sweet looking, but she's not popular with men, all that.

And you start off by feeling bad for her, but then you realize she's this horrible stalker. So I, but Pushpavali was far funnier, but it had like really. sad and tragic parts to it, you know, but this is a different level. So I highly recommend it. I think, but I have friends who, by the way, started watching it and they said, we found it so intense, we couldn't watch it.

So I also, I think around, uh, so again, there are lots of content warnings, uh, especially for very for [00:19:00] depictions of rape and so on. So in that fourth episode, I did, uh, have to fast forward, you know, like 10, 20 seconds at a time because I was too upset to watch it as it happened. So, but I'm so glad I stuck through and watch it because also, like you said, it's, you know, it's very graphic, very distressing, but it's also very tender.

Yeah. And that entire thing with the parents at the end, you know, so he comes clean to his parents. He tells them everything. He's like, I don't know if I'm your, Something or your gay son, but I don't want to be your dead also He said do you think i'm less of a man? And then he says I don't but I don't want to be your dead son and his parents Take it so astonishingly well.

And I was like, my God, if the parents take it poorly, then that's it. Like, also I love that train scene when he's leaving, the way the parents are behaving. His parents come to see him off and the father is just waving, waving. It's very sweet. It's a lovely, uh, this thing. I would say this is not at all, this didn't at all feel like a Netflix show.

Rajyasree: So that tells you like everything. So there's this show which [00:20:00] I actually prefer to, you haven't watched it, it's called Coupling. It's a British show. I love Coupling. Yeah. The very old Coupling. I loved Coupling. I feel it's better than Friends in a way because it's a little cleverer, more intelligent than.

Yeah. It is. It's fabulous. And it's. It's fabulous. It's fabulous. My favorite used to be Patrick. And then there was also that entire scene. And then Patrick came back in the crown. As Margaret's lover. It took a little bit of getting used to. Yeah. But now we will discuss something else which is on Netflix.

Which I wanted to watch. Actually I didn't want to watch. So I didn't watch it. Which is Amar Singh Chamkeela. Which is Imtiaz Ali's new film, which is a biopic of Amar Singh Chamkira, who used to be, I find this a bit of a stretch, but he was known as the Elvis of Punjab. And, uh, Diljit Dosanjh plays Amar Singh Chamkila and he used to sing.

So tell me if I got it [00:21:00] right. He used to sing with his wife Amar Jodh Kaur who is played by Parineeti Chopra and his songs were known for being very, uh, almost vulgar and, uh, bawdy and, but I find most Punjabi rap songs and all like that. So I'm a poor judge of, uh, that part, but it was known for being very graphic and, like sexual songs and so on.

The thing is, uh, okay, I will say at the outset, I did not dislike it. Okay. I'm actually quite glad I watched. I thought it would be one my, my awful for the week. But Okay, then I'll watch it. Yeah, it was, it was okay. Like, I don't think it was a fantastic film. It was fine. So I have no context at all about Punjabi music or Punjabi singers.

So it was a very new, I mean, I, I know about the insurgency and the militancy and all, but I know very little about People. And I also don't know Hindi, so I depended on the subtitles. I will say straight off that the subtitles are very disappointing. Like the Punjabi songs, like you said. So, [00:22:00] okay. He was a singer.

Jayashree: He wanted to make it big. He was known because he wrote very vulgar songs. And when I say vulgar, it is like, incredibly vulgar. And I was quite surprised. It was like, your, like the lyrics would translate roughly into something like your brother in law. is watching your sister in law bathing and then the cream comes out, you know.

Oh, it's like really gross. Okay. It is insanely graphic. So you're like, okay. And, uh, so he wants to perform and it's a very sort of cluttered field at the time. There are so many of these folksy performers like him, but somehow he makes it. And then he, so it's always like a duet. You'll always sing with a woman.

And so he's singing with a woman and her parents are like, okay, enough now. We'll move you to some sing with somebody else. So he marries her. And that is Vaignithi Chopra. So, and then over the course of time, uh, the militancy is at its peak. He's starting to get criticized because he's also really famous right now.

He's doing a lot of records. So while, you know, Punjab is suffering from no food and killings and murder [00:23:00] and things, He's still churning out his records because his music producer guy tells him they want your music like you must keep making music So he does but then he starts getting criticized by a very traditionalist sort of Sikhs who said who tell him that Your music is too dirty.

You need to move towards devotional. So he starts getting threats, but he's very like I Don't want to and I will continue so he does for a stint. He does do some devotional stuff or whatever so so far so good and um Now for the bad things is that, uh, it felt like a very surface level film. Uh, like there's very little context.

So I only knew that Chamkeela is Dalit because I had Googled it and I had read it before. But you and I saw that, huh? Yeah. So in the movie, it's, it's not dealt with in a very overt way. It is just that he is from poverty. There is a reason why Parniti's parents don't want her to marry him, but it's not really explained in this way.

Also, I should mention he was. Already [00:24:00] married at the time, but he married Parniti anyway. And then it's that was a very distressing sort of thing to watch. Also, I think the movie did one thing, which is that they reduced his entire identity to the fact that he sings dirty songs. It keeps coming back to that.

But I feel like as a character, there were surely there was much more to him than that, right? Like, Why did he, the question as to why did he choose to make this music? Because it's not like that was a genre. No, so it's not like that was a genre of music that at that point, like. No, but he also does say towards the end, he's like, why do you keep singling me out and not the others?

And I was like, yes, why? I wish this movie would give me a little bit of that context because I don't know. It's, it just And was also pushing the boundaries, na? His, in a way, his character, he must have in real life been pushing the boundaries. So to not get into why someone would also want to 

Rajyasree: do that, right?

Yeah, so it was, and I think it vaguely tried to do that in the second half, but [00:25:00] I just felt it could have been more. Okay, that is my, my biggest thing is the weakest link of this film is Diljit. Oh, Diljit? No, Diljit's performance is like his wig. It is not good. It is so bland. He comes, okay, see, he comes alive.

It is such a bad wig, though. Why? See, but, Ravshri, my question is, why must it look so bad? Like, it could look a little better. No, no, so Priyanka Chopra, by the way, her entire career, pretty much, she has worn wigs because she's always had short hair. And she has had the best wigs. Also because she destroyed her hair after dyeing it red in that movie with that, uh, that alien movie with that Hrithik Roshan look alike.

Which anyway that film was so bad. Oh, that guy, Harman Baweja, he was her. What's your Rashi? Was it Watcha Rashi or Love Story 2015? Oh, the other, Watcha Rashi is the other film that, that was [00:26:00] his, uh, first film, I think. I'm a big Harman Baweja fan. She finally dyed her hair so much that it became like straw and that's why she only does extensions and wigs.

But they could have just found out who makes her wigs, na, because Correct. His wig was terrible. See, also, there's a cut, sir, in the movie. So, I would have liked to know There's one small scene where his dad gets really annoyed with him and says, oh my god, did you cut off your hair? And I'm like, yes, but why?

Jayashree: Tell me. Oh, they don't get into any of this. No, no. It just stays at the very surface. And yeah, so, but his acting. So I then read a bunch of reviews, okay, like people are calling him incredible. Yeah, yeah, I was told he must watch, must watch everywhere. He has this, so for me, he carried the same bland look throughout, like he's getting threatened by a militant, he looks bland, his father is yelling at him, he looks bland, he's running away from Parineet, he looks the same.

So I found him the weak spot in what is otherwise a fairly competent movie. Again, towards the last 40 minutes, he [00:27:00] somehow got a little into his character, maybe, I don't know. Only when he sang did his eyes sort of light up. And, uh, what about her acting? Her, because she's standing next to this personalityless man no so she's looking radiant like her eyes are emoting she gives a smile and i'm like ah i can feel it because at least things are happening like and all the other smaller characters are not bad you know like they're decent enough it's just that i found him very very one note and i feel a bit bad to say it after he looked like a cross between like ranbir kapoor and And Priyanka Chopra from Barfi.

I felt his hair reminded me of Priyanka Chopra's hair in Barfi. I still think, I think even her wig there was marginally better. So I watched the promo events where Parineeti Chopra sang. Singing that it's, her singing is not great and her singing is bad. You'll say it. Yeah. So, [00:28:00] and then the Rie is made to sing right after her.

So then it's even her, what you remember of her singing is even worse. So that was the extent of my association with this film because I saw lots of promo where, because it pops up if by mistake, you click on one on Instagram, it keeps popping up in your suggested, uh, these things. See, I have this problem with Instagram which is that it now only shows me widow reels.

Like, it'll be like, I lost my husband 20 years ago to a boating accident. Where did you watch? And I, see, I kept watching these reels because I thought there's a punchline. But there was no punchline. But since I kept watching them, Instagram now thinks I'm obsessed with reels about widows. I get Akshay Kumar reels because I watched two or three of them and now I only get Akshay Kumar reels.

I would much rather get that. I watch them, they're quite entertaining. So it's carrying on or I get cooking reels and then there's the other stuff which Instagram is [00:29:00] listening to my conversations and the phone is like here and then giving me those reels after that. But, uh, because of that, I kept seeing these Chamkeela reels and I was like, this is not sounding good at all.

I think she, she sings, uh, she sings for herself in the movie also. And which I think is a good thing. Yeah, good for her. It wasn't horrible. Not her, like her live singing on the reels and things. But it was, but him, I feel like the thing is that, you know, when you watch him on stage, not that I have, but again, Like, he has so much presence.

And in this movie, I just didn't feel his presence. And I think that's important when it's a biopic about He's playing the yeah, you're playing the main character. You want to feel it. Also, I'm surprised, given that it's an Imtiaz Ali film, that Imtiaz Ali has made some doozies and all, but he is able to get his actors to act well.

Rajyasree: You might not like the film they are in, but they act very well. Correct. And I usually would blame [00:30:00] director only, but in this case, the others were clearly being directed. Ha, this one was. But also, I don't know, maybe other people are saying he was really good. Maybe my logic is very flawed. I feel a lot of people just say for the heck of it, Oh, very good, very good.

They have no. It's like when people recommend food to me and then I order from that place and I'm like, what shit food is this? And then I realized they have no understanding of food only. They have no taste. Exactly. Yeah. So they think that that food, it's the same way they think that it, so I just want to say that you have not, uh, convinced me to watch this film.

No. So now I will definitely not watch it. No, no, no. That, that's, that is because you made me go about his wig. See, I not gonna watch this. It's turning. Did I see, did, did I get bored? Was I looking at my phone? No. And I think that is a pretty good, so I. Clicked on because I realized yesterday that I will only be able to watch one of the films.

So I clicked on Amar Singh Chakla. 

Jayashree: And why was that? Why was that Rajshree? Why did you [00:31:00] not do your work? Because I was working so hard like Abhinandan. Or were you working so hard or were you going out? No, I was meeting people and trying to understand their psychology and see whether they are like baby reindeer or not, like that, so it was all to do with work, but I clicked on Amar Singh Chamkita and I saw how long the film is.

Rajyasree: And then I clicked on yeah, I clicked on Atom and I saw how long I think it's the same like maybe 10 minutes, but I was like, Atom is definitely going to be better than Amar Singh Chamkida and I'm more interested in that topic. So I just chose, I took an executive. decision and I chose Atom. And I feel it was the right decision.

That's all I'm saying. Okay, we have one announcement which I think you should make though about the TNL election fund. Yes. So as you know, elections are coming up. Uh, the first phase of voting [00:32:00] happens on Friday and News Laundry has tied up with the News Minute yet again to bring you all the important stories straight from the ground.

And this time, as you know, instead of one big fund, we're doing smaller projects broken up into themes, and you can decide which ones you'd like to power. From Newslaundry and News Minute, we'll have 15 reporters, producers, and editors on the ground covering various states. It also includes shows by Manisha, Atul, Danya, and Sudipto.

So head to newslaundry. com slash 2024 hyphen election fund and contribute. And to take your mind off what I think will be dismal results from these elections, though, uh, you can watch this film instead, which we bought, which is Atom, which is, am I pronouncing it correctly? Yeah. Atom, which is on, uh, Amazon prime, prime video.

Jayashree: And it is directed by Anand Ekarshi. It is a Malayalam, uh, I wouldn't really call it a crime thriller. It's more like a psychic. Yeah, I don't know. Not a crime thriller, [00:33:00] but it's a Malayalam film. It stars, uh, Vinay Ford, Sudhir Babu, uh, Kalabhavan Shahjahan and, um, It is set in a theater group, which has 12, 12 members.

I think it has 12 members and, uh, they are all male other than for one female, uh, member in the group. She has been, and it's a group which has been working together for a very long time because the girl, the woman has been part of the group for 16 years. So clearly the group has been around for that long.

What is, Uh, interesting is that they are not all full time actors or artists. They all have day jobs. They do not come from well off homes, pretty much. Any of them come from well off homes. One, uh, cooks in a restaurant. One is a petrol pump worker. Someone is a plumber. Someone is a priest. And [00:34:00] one of them, the person, the villain in this play, as in the plot, person who plays the villain in the play that is being staged by them is someone who is no who plays the hero is someone who plays the villain in films.

So he is the draw he is quite a draw for audiences and for a lot of press and PR that happens around this play because he's a film star who the others are all theater actors but he clearly has made some kind of. And he's been part of this, uh, play, which has been, which is being performed for a while.

For the last two years, he's been, uh, part of the theater group. Now, what happens is that the play is performed, uh, and on the night of one of the performances, everyone gets together in a hotel, which is, uh, a foreign guest, uh, audience member, Says that, why don't you all come and stay at my hotel, which is empty as a, like, as just a treat for [00:35:00] putting up such a great day.

And they all go to spend the night there. And other than for this woman, there's another one of the actors, his wife and child is also there and she's sharing the room with them. She also happens to be seeing one of the other actors, which nobody knows. Of that, this is happening, but at that night, one of the people, one of her colleagues sexually molest her.

Rajyasree: And, uh, the film is about what happens after that. Yeah. So I think, uh, the thing is, like, it's like a very common sort of trope thing. No, I mean, and has the full potential to have those usual cliches because, you know, everyone is drinking. She was also drinking. She was groped through a window and when she was asleep, and so did she even see who, so she says that she She's convinced that it was the film actor Hari of the troupe who had [00:36:00] Molested her but you know, she didn't see him or did she so should everyone take her word for it?

So then uh, so what I found interesting was so the troupe gets together without Hari and without Anjali who is the woman And they all discuss, and like you said, they're a very mixed bag. Like, one guy, which I thought was interesting, used to be an editor at The Hindu, of course. And now he's just sort of living off his bureaucrat wife.

And then, you know, so he's the liberal sort of model. And he's the one they go to also for advice. And like, he's considered one of the elders of the group that way. The elders who's also clearly, you know, smarter. And the others, you know, they're coming from various classes. And I thought it was very reflective of Kerala in general, like the petrol bunker attendant, the plumber, the cook.

They were actually very empathetic towards her. And they clearly seem very fond of her. It was enough that they all sort of implicitly said, you know, we should throw this man out of the group. And they discussed it in a very 12 angry men sort of way. So I was like, great, all good. Then that twist comes in, which [00:37:00] is Hari drops in unannounced.

And he, I mean, he's the film actor, right? And he said through his contacts, he has an exciting opportunity for the troupe. And you know, to bring them a lot of money and a lot of fame. Everyone will get, each person will get 8 lakhs, which is a lot of money for Yeah, and especially when, and also especially when you remember the context that a lot of these men are coming from very poor backgrounds.

Jayashree: So then he drops in, throws his bombshell, he's very excited and then he leaves. So then the, of course the dynamic changes. Uh, can you choose between money and fame and whatever? And then they go back to, but you know, did it really happen? Did it actually happen? And what I liked is that also, you know, there are these, There were very obviously liberals in the group, like the, like Vinay Fort, who is Anjali's girlfriend, uh, boyfriend, you know, he's the seemingly progressive, trustworthy, he uh, sort of blusters a lot about his values.

And he's the one who's pushing through this thing that we must, uh, we must, we must, you know, because he's also loves her, he loves her like [00:38:00] as a, as a partner. But then, you know, it's these seemingly progressive ones also who then sort of shake in their resolve by the end of this. And I feel like they're even worse than the men who judged her in the first place.

Rajyasree: Yeah. Also the motivations of various people to either stand up for her or to, uh, not believe her. Although no one really very vocally doesn't believe her to be fair to all of them. Yeah. They are like, which even we would most probably say that you can't just take a person's word at it. We must, you know, let's at least speak to her again.

Let's at least, uh, we should let the person who's being accused have give us his version of things we should tell it. So it is, I felt it was very balanced the way they showed, uh, The reactions and how things change. Suddenly you'll see something and someone will say, how could you see it? And he says, but I'm just giving you my opinion.

You said to give my opinion and this is my opinion. Now you must [00:39:00] listen to it as well. So, but I think the most brilliant thing, which I only found out after I watched the movie was that there is also this Um, documentary called Thespians of Atom, which is a 60 minute documentary which is shot on, um, the making of this film.

Jayashree: And I realized that most of the actors are members of this real life dance troupe in Cochin called Lokadarmi. So, for example, one of the guys, the oldest of the group, the one who had the dyed hair, and he kept, he was sort of, so he's a headload worker in real life before he moved to the theater. The guy who plays Jolly is a tile layer.

One, Ajji is actually a painter in real life. One guy runs a motor workshop, another guy runs a, he has a vegetable shop, you know. So it is actually that coming from very different classes, from very poor backgrounds, and it is the same people whom they brought to the movie. That sort of added another dimension to it because it's so, and that, because you said the movie works because of their interactions and their interactions worked because they've also been theater [00:40:00] actors doing this together for so long.

And everything is pretty much, uh, happening in that one house where everyone meets to discuss. things and there are only 12 characters there it's those are the actors you're dealing with. So I did feel it could have been a little shorter but I feel that with most films nowadays like you don't have to make a two and a half hour film this could have been done in two hours or less than two hours could have been a little tauter.

So it's an interesting thing to watch I just thought and you know it reminded me a lot of how um like in Chennai theatre circle during this entire Me Too thing again like very Uh, men, uh, were accused and nothing happened. And then I remember at one point they, um, a bunch of these theater groups set up this meeting where they said we'll have a meeting and we'll all chat to set up a posh committee.

But the meeting was held in the house of one of the men who had been accused. Of course. So it's just, but that's how it is. I mean, you name a sort of sector in India and there is some sort of me too story attached and yet this movie wasn't like a [00:41:00] moralizing sort of, it just felt like it, it felt very realistic in, in a way that was very interesting.

So, yeah. So I really, I really, really liked it. I just wish it was a little shorter. But, uh, also I don't know if it was hyped up too much. Like I thought it was going to be, or maybe my standard for Malayalam cinema is high enough. I thought it was a good movie. I didn't think it was great. Yeah. Yeah, that's the whole thing.

Yeah, it was not the best. I mean, it was better than Chamkeela, which is I'm telling you, there's no chance I'm watching this Chamkeela. Every second we are passing through, though, I need to find one person who agrees with me that he's just not. I'll watch 15 minutes and might be I'll watch 15 minutes and get back to you about it.

Rajyasree: But I think that's about as much as I can watch of it. But I would recommend watching It's also very, I'm quite impressed that Amazon Prime, especially, I think Hotstar does it a little bit, but Prime has a lot of regional language films, [00:42:00] which they put up. So watch it. So that is it for this week, but we will be back next week, hopefully with something decent and awesome.

And, uh, thank you Jayashree. 

Jayashree: Thank you Rajshree.

Rajyasree: And it's a wrap.

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