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Hi, I am a Harika Nanda and you are listening
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to Three Things being an Express News show. This week,
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on the show, we've been looking back at some of
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the biggest moments of twenty twenty four.
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Till now.
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We have discussed the biggest events that shaped politics this year,
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the trends in the health sector, the key changes adopted
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by the judiciary in twenty twenty four, the major trends
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in the realm of technology, the most significant sporting moments
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of the year, and the developments that shaped geopolitics. And
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today we're talking about the trends in entertainment, from Pushpa's
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Wildfire to Sarkatka Artannk. Twenty twenty four saw a wide
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range of films and web series. While some performed extraordinarily well,
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some couldn't satisfy the audience. But two trends that stood
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out last year in particular were the release of sequels
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and exploring the horror comedy genre. I foresaw an array
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of sequels from Pushpa two three to bulgra Ya three
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and Singham three being released and receiving appreciation from the audience.
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But the biggest film of the year was the aluar
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Junstarr Pushpatu, which broke bau Ballytoo's record while grossing at
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REPEZ one thousand, seven hundred and sixty k globally and
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as we speak, the numbers continue to grow. It was
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also the year when an Indian film, All We Imagine
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as Light, won the prestigious Grand Prix at the Khan
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Film Festival. To discuss the major highlights of twenty twenty
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four as far as movies and ott web series are concerned,
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we are joined by The Indian Express's film critic Shubra
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Gupta in this episode, Soushubra, if we talk about the
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silver screen we saw back in twenty twenty three, Sharru
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Khan's come back really gave a massive.
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Jolt to the box office.
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So in twenty twenty four, were there any films that
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could emulate that kind of an impact.
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The film that really blew ever everything else out of
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the park was Push par Part two, which was coming
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riding with a lot of expectations because the first part
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had been astonishingly successful all through the country, you know,
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and given the fact that it was a Telegu film
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and it was a dub film, it really was coming
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in with a kind of buzz that only big star
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Bollywood has up till now achieved. And I am looking
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at Baho Belly Part one and two, but those did
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not have this kind of a single hero. It was
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more like a mythological Those two were mythological epic. The
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kind of films that Rajio Molli does are in that zone.
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But this was a solo hero and he had delivered
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one of the biggest hits with the first one and
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this literally Push par two has you know, it's still
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making the kind of money that most of Bollywood has
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just been looking at completely flabagasted as to how come
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an Aluurjen film which they all was thinking that it
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do really well, But I don't think anyone had any
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idea of the kind of money that it has made
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at the box office. And I think everyone is completely astonished.
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But I think what the cost correction that desperately Bollywood
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requires is to see how to put a strong story
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into a formula which has become completely tired and old.
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Fire adore fire right.
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And we also saw that the genre that stood out
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this year was horror comedy. Three two and Bulboa three
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were some of the films of the genre that performed
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really well. So can you talk about the films from
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the genre and of course beyond that as well that
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really made it big at the box office.
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So I think twenty two twenty four was the year
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that Bollywood was literally left grappling with questions of how
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to get people into theaters. And I'm here talking about
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the big budget, big star led Bollywood, which has always
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been a kind of a film that gets at least
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the first two or three days. You know, the people
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who want to do the first day, first show wallas
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into theaters regardless of whatever they have heard about it.
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But I think twenty twenty four was the year when
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they realized that it was not going to cut it anymore,
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that you need to give the audience something more than
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just a star and something more than just a big budget,
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locations and all of that. And it was very clear
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from the beginning of the year when we saw that,
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you know, the big budget films that were scheduled in
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the first few months of the year, including phytic Rosians Fighter,
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atche Kumar's big film, all of these films which are
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expected to really max out the box office didn't do
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well at all. The film which actually started to get
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some light into this whole gloomy Atmisphere was Munjia, which
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is a Madoc film, which is a horror comedy based
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on a myth, and it's about this Munjia, you know,
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who is an evil stroke, cute spirit. The film had
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no stars in it. The story was the star as
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well as the way there it was treated and it
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was a sleeper hit. And then came three two, which
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was again you know, it was in my opinion it
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was not as good as the first one, but it
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was again in the same zone. It was horror, stroke,
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comedy and a kind of a light way of you know,
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looking at patriarchy and looking at you know, female empowerment.
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It was a massive hit. S watch a Little Just
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Knows is three Banyata they say, they goes with you.
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Towards the end of the year it was in any
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talk of the big budget Bollywood films. There was Singham
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Part three and Bulbulay Up Part three, both of which,
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according to trade pundits, have done well enough. But I
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think the film that really blew everything else out of
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the park was Push par part two right.
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And then there were also stories like Lapata Ladies and
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Girls Will Be Girls which attracted eyeballs and also gave
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people some.
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Food for thought. I think what happened with Lapata Ladies,
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a Kiren raose second film, that it touched a nerve
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and it's somewhere within the viewing audience which actually said, hey, look,
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this is a story which means something. It has a
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fable like quality, but it has women at the center
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of it. It has a very progressive bone in its body.
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It is talking about upliftment and empowerment without really becoming
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preachy though. It had a very strong messaging in practically
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every frame. And I don't think Kiren Rao was the
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kind of director who was scared of this messaging. I
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think she meant for the messaging to go out as
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strongly as it did. But I think what really surprised
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people was the fact that so many of us really
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walked into theaters, you know, to see this kind of film,
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which again is not your conventional box office draw just
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gone up and how many do pull Ny Sparani and
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Shuchitalati's film A Girls Will Be Girls, which was a
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Sundance breakout in January of twenty twenty four. It got
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two awards at the Sundance Film Festival which is a
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festival that everybody in the ecosystem really looks at very
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carefully because it's the festival where first and second time
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filmmakers are showcased. And I think we Atalati's film really
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sort of elevate itself into the true coming of age
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Zone is in the way that it explores the inner
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kind of you know, sexuality of a young woman that
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has not been done before in Indian cinema, at least
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not the cinema that I have seen. In this kind
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of very delicate, but very very nuanced, very sharp kind
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of wave pretty Panighre. He's the actress who plays this
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eighteen year old a boarding schoolgirl. Tanikkusruti as the mother
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is absolutely fabulous in the film, just as she was
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in All We Imagine Is Life. I think this is
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very much kanikus Ruthisia. I think she's been fantastic in
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everything she's done this year, very delicately done, but very
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powerfully done. So I think it's one of my favorite
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films of the year.
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Right, And you mentioned All We Imagine Is Light twenty
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twenty four also saw India shine on the global stage
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with this film, So what were your thoughts regarding that.
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So I happened to be in Can when the film
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was shown at the first press screening, but it was
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towards the end of the festival, and some of us
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very optimistic thesis were sitting there and saying, maybe maybe
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they've scheduled it toward the end because somebody in the
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programming team really knows that this is going to get something.
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But anyway, all the speculation came to an end within
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two days of us watching it because it got the
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Grand Prix. It may not have got the you know,
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the top award, but for an Indian film to first
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of all have been you know, selected in the competition,
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which happened thirty years after the you know our the
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Swaham Shaji Karun's film was big enough, but the fact
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that it actually got to that point was amazing. And
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I remember coming back from Can and writing an edit
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a piece for the paper saying that usually when something
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like this happens, when an Indian film becomes sort of
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a grabs attention at a festival outside of the country,
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there is momentary excitement and then it dies down. But
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I had stuck my neck out right then in June,
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I think and I said that I don't think this
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is going to be the fate of this one. I
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think it's going to go bigger than any other Indian
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film which has won an award like this, an award
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like this. I had said that I think it's going
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to go bigger, not just because of the film and
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the kind of film that it is, which is again
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something which has blown so many of us away, but
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it's also about the filmmaker, the kind of the tragictory
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that she has had. It released in the US last month,
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and you know, it has been on the top of
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so many of the critics groups around the globe, especially
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in the US and as well as in the UK.
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It's got the Golden Globes norms for her. We did
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not send it India, did not send it as an
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Oscar possible, which I think was not the greatest thing
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to have done. But I have a feeling that it
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is going to fetch up at I think it is
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going to be in contention for some big awards. All
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we imagine as Light, that is truly the light. I
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think in twenty twenty four.
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When all we imagine as Light had won the property,
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Shubrah had had a conversation with the director of the
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film Pyle Capadia, where she shared the details of the
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day the award was announced that when it.
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Got selected only we were very very excitic about it
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and for our French producers also a can festival is
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very important, so we were very joyous and when we
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so we got.
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A call like okay.
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So the thing is that if you win a prize
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and can they tell you in the morning that you
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are one something were nice clothes and come so they
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don't tell you what prize you won, So that is
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a bit of like anticipation is there, but you're not.
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Supposedly, So we knew there was something.
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And then when we got to Groprey, it was like
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amazing and I was really happy because my crew was
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there in the audience. I would have taken everybody with
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me if I could, because it really was a collaborative
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film like it's it's filmmaking is really it's really a
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process of a lot of people coming together. So even
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to go there with everybody that was really nice.
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Right and now coming to the ott space Subra. Many
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web series came out this year from ic One for
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the k Hijack Freedom at Midnight, bandishpanded season two, and
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of course many many more so which were the ones
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that stood out for you in twenty twenty four.
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So I think Ott again trumped the mainstream films completely
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this year. And there have been a few of my
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top shows which I've already written about, but let me
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quickly recount. I think Ice eight one four was one
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of them, you know, which was an above Sina's, a
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recreation of the hijack that had happened, the Kandahar hijack,
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and the seven days that the people who were in
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that plane, the kind of experiences that they had, the
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hijackers and their demands, and the kind of response that
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the Indian government of the day, how they were scrambling
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for answers, and so it I think all of it
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became a very involving, engaging kind of experience. Good evening,
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this is your captain speaking.
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And I had a great print for you to plane
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hijack you guy.
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Opens again. I really also liked Freedom at Midnight, despite
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the fact that I'd found it lack in a few places.
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But I think as a series and what it is
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trying to say about the country and the creation of
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the nation, I think it definitely is one of those series,
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which I think is a must watch. Actually I did
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like Call Me Bait may have been later in the list,
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but I think in terms of just getting a female
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character to do the kind of things that Anania Pande
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manages to pull off with a sweetness and yet with
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a sharpness which it doesn't really happen. It's kind. I
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think rom coms of this kind or even comedy series
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are getting sharper and they are getting more vivid as
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we go along. I think that truly was one of
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my bests, and Bandish Bandits To season two was really
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really enjoyable again, which again I found the focus on
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the music as well as the people and the stories
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that they're trying to tell. It really takes you away
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from the blood and gore that a lot of web
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series dive into, because that's an easy this creation of
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this world, it's not an easy to have classical music
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as the theme that you that as well as contemporary
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problems and difficulties around spreading the classical music in amongst
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people who have zero idea about it. I think this
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series does a good job of positioning itself where it
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is looking at both the traditional view of the classical
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you know, Gharanas as well as the music, as well
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as understanding that there is a whole generation out there
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which has no idea of this dharuha, of this kind
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of gift that we have, and it marries the two
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quite beautifully. Sane some Rat s Hamrat or Kharaneko Verje
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mire Is Karani kum and.
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Right and apart from these, which are the web series
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that you would say deserve a mention in your list,
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I really.
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Actually also enjoyed Kali Kali, But that was that thing,
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Kali Kaliaki, that one that was the second season. And
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for the kind of thing it is it talks about,
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it's pulpy. It has kind of a thrillerish and it
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has people who have characters whom are neither good nor bad.
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They're in the gray zone, and there is lots of murder,
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and there's lots of mayhem, and there's lots of violence,
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and I think it sort of stuck to its point
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of view in a really consistent way. One I like
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was Lute, which was one of my favorite series this week.
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It's a very unusual series because it takes the setting
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and the characters out of India. It takes it to
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the international waters. It's about you know, pirates, and it's
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about the people who are on the ship. And it
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has really terrific performances from people like the Wade Gomber
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and Radjat Kapur and you know a couple of other
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people whom I thoroughly enjoyed. And then also Poacher, which
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was you know, Richie Meta's Poacher, which again is about
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and it's the title which pretty much tells its own story.
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It's about poaching. It's about animals being you know, poached
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for their especially elephants being poached for their very precious
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tusks and for the ivory. And the people who go
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after these poachers as well as the people who are
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not getting their hands dirty. They sit in big cities
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and outside of the country and they are the ones
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who pull the strings. So it's this kind of conflict
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between man and animal and the people who put this
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puzzle together, which I think was really well done and.
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Super What about the ones that couldn't make that kind
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of an impact.
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The one that really didn't work for me was I
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think an early one. It was Killer Soup, which was
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Manoj bached by Konkona Sen Sharma. The two people who
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are guaranteed to give you anything that they are in
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usually is elevated by their presence, and here it was
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Abishek Chobe, whose cinema work I really enjoyed so much.
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But somehow there was something about the series where it
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was kind of underlying its weirdness and it's bizarre and
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characterizations as well as the things that happened which didn't
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really come together for me. The biggest one which I
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felt like really let down by was Mirza Pour season three,
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which was really truly the biggest I think, if not
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amongst the biggest series of this year. But this third
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one didn't really have too much punkash the party because
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the man has you know, they've gone and killed him
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Colleen Bhaya, which is I mean, what's the point of
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watching a Mirzapur if it doesn't have him in it?
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And the others were really not the kind of thing
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that they were made to do. Your good dou Bayas
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and all of his cohorts well not something that really
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excited me at all. Well as far as Panchaya the
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new season is concerned, again, it's fun, but it's also
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I found it's more of the same, so I think
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it needs to get out of that. Either it needs
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a new such a g or it needs something new,
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because it was kind of comforting to go into that
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zone again, but I didn't find it very exciting in
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terms of just newness, and that same thing that happened
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with gud Luck again one of my absolute all time
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favorite shows. It had that sameness which I think the
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show needs to be aware of and the creators need
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to figure out how to freshen it while keeping all
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of our favorite characters in play and Suhan.
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Now we are in twenty twenty five, the new year
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has begun. So what are your expectations this year and
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which are the films that you are genuinely looking forward
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to in twenty twenty five.
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I do hope to find some hidden gems on also
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the films that little films with the smaller budgets, with
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the big hearts, or with the story which is top
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lining the film rather than the starry presence in it.
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So I think in January we're going to see Santosh,
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which is an again of film which won our hearts
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at the can Festival in twenty four, which is actually
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UK's choice for the Oscars and it has made the
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last stent for the international film. It has Shahana Goswami
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and it was made by a UK based filmmakers and
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they're Suri. But it's a story that is set in
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an Indian village and it's about a kind of a
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rule burnt town which is rural as well as getting
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into the urban sector. It's about Shahana's she plays a
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police inspector. She gets into a very tricky situation and
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the way she comes out of it, in the way
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she deals with that whole cast in class. Issue is
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a film that is worth everybody's time and I'm hoping
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that it will really do well in the box office.
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Here what Bollywood is looking at is almost like a
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clutch where it is looking. I mean, it's casting about
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to see what will work. And I think right at
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this moment, the what will work is something that is
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completely up in the air. I think they have expectations
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and I think we have. I mean the audience also
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has expects from the second part of War, which is
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a writic Erotian blockbuster. When it first came, you know,
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it is in the same zone of you know, patriotic soldiers,
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you know, pushing India's enemies back where they belong. The
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first film had made the numbers and it was a
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good enough film for us to really, you know, sort
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of look at it as an entertainer. So perhaps this
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one will also you know, cut it. We don't know.
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It will depend upon how they've done it and the others. Also,
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the bigger ones are all sequels, are all part twos
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and part threes. I think there's Jolly LLB which has
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another part coming out, and I think a few more
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of this kind of sequels. If the sequels are good
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enough in and of themselves, I think most people will
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enjoy them. But if they are afflicted with sequelitis something,
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you know, something that basically means that you know, you're
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just putting in the stars without anything else to bind
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the film together, I don't know whether anything will come
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out of it. And I think the other thing is
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that there are I don't really hear off films which
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are sort of mid budget, the kind of films that
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like Munjaia for example, which came completely out of the
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blue right. So unless they are keeping it under wrap
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or people are making those movies which will come out
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in twenty twenty six, not really sure, but my feeling
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is My suspicion is that everyone's desperately working on this
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horror comedy zone because this is pretty much what seems
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to be working. But most people also forget, including filmmaker
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that you know, the first mover advantage is usually always
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with the first few films. Then people start getting tired
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of the same kind of formula. Even this will become
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a formula, and this is something I think Bollywood should
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be aware of. You were listening to Three Things by
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00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:48.480
the Neil Express.
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00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.640
Today's show was edited and mixed by Siriesh Bavar and
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00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:54.839
produced by men Hurri Kananda. If you like the show,
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00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:57.839
then do subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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00:22:57.960 --> 00:23:00.160
You can also recommend the show to someone you think
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00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:02.480
we'll like it, share it with a friend or someone
395
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:04.920
in a family. It's the best way for people to
396
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:07.440
get to know about us. You can also tweet us
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00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:11.119
at Express Audio and write to us at podcasts at
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00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:12.440
Indian Express dot com.
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00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.799
Hi, I am a Harika Nanda and you are listening
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to Three Things being an Express News show. This week,
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00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:15.400
on the show, we've been looking back at some of
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00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:17.719
the biggest moments of twenty twenty four.
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00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:18.559
Till now.
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00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:21.839
We have discussed the biggest events that shaped politics this year,
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00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:25.440
the trends in the health sector, the key changes adopted
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00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:28.600
by the judiciary in twenty twenty four, the major trends
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00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:32.280
in the realm of technology, the most significant sporting moments
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00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:36.119
of the year, and the developments that shaped geopolitics. And
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today we're talking about the trends in entertainment, from Pushpa's
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Wildfire to Sarkatka Artannk. Twenty twenty four saw a wide
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range of films and web series. While some performed extraordinarily well,
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some couldn't satisfy the audience. But two trends that stood
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00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:56.840
out last year in particular were the release of sequels
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00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:01.079
and exploring the horror comedy genre. I foresaw an array
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of sequels from Pushpa two three to bulgra Ya three
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and Singham three being released and receiving appreciation from the audience.
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But the biggest film of the year was the aluar
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Junstarr Pushpatu, which broke bau Ballytoo's record while grossing at
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REPEZ one thousand, seven hundred and sixty k globally and
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as we speak, the numbers continue to grow. It was
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also the year when an Indian film, All We Imagine
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as Light, won the prestigious Grand Prix at the Khan
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Film Festival. To discuss the major highlights of twenty twenty
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four as far as movies and ott web series are concerned,
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we are joined by The Indian Express's film critic Shubra
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Gupta in this episode, Soushubra, if we talk about the
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silver screen we saw back in twenty twenty three, Sharru
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00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:51.239
Khan's come back really gave a massive.
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Jolt to the box office.
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So in twenty twenty four, were there any films that
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could emulate that kind of an impact.
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The film that really blew ever everything else out of
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00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:05.359
the park was Push par Part two, which was coming
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riding with a lot of expectations because the first part
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had been astonishingly successful all through the country, you know,
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and given the fact that it was a Telegu film
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and it was a dub film, it really was coming
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in with a kind of buzz that only big star
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Bollywood has up till now achieved. And I am looking
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at Baho Belly Part one and two, but those did
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not have this kind of a single hero. It was
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more like a mythological Those two were mythological epic. The
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kind of films that Rajio Molli does are in that zone.
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But this was a solo hero and he had delivered
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one of the biggest hits with the first one and
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this literally Push par two has you know, it's still
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making the kind of money that most of Bollywood has
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just been looking at completely flabagasted as to how come
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an Aluurjen film which they all was thinking that it
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do really well, But I don't think anyone had any
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idea of the kind of money that it has made
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at the box office. And I think everyone is completely astonished.
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But I think what the cost correction that desperately Bollywood
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requires is to see how to put a strong story
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into a formula which has become completely tired and old.
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Fire adore fire right.
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And we also saw that the genre that stood out
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this year was horror comedy. Three two and Bulboa three
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were some of the films of the genre that performed
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really well. So can you talk about the films from
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the genre and of course beyond that as well that
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really made it big at the box office.
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So I think twenty two twenty four was the year
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that Bollywood was literally left grappling with questions of how
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to get people into theaters. And I'm here talking about
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the big budget, big star led Bollywood, which has always
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been a kind of a film that gets at least
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the first two or three days. You know, the people
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who want to do the first day, first show wallas
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into theaters regardless of whatever they have heard about it.
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But I think twenty twenty four was the year when
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they realized that it was not going to cut it anymore,
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that you need to give the audience something more than
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just a star and something more than just a big budget,
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locations and all of that. And it was very clear
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from the beginning of the year when we saw that,
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you know, the big budget films that were scheduled in
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the first few months of the year, including phytic Rosians Fighter,
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atche Kumar's big film, all of these films which are
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expected to really max out the box office didn't do
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well at all. The film which actually started to get
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some light into this whole gloomy Atmisphere was Munjia, which
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is a Madoc film, which is a horror comedy based
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on a myth, and it's about this Munjia, you know,
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who is an evil stroke, cute spirit. The film had
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no stars in it. The story was the star as
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well as the way there it was treated and it
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was a sleeper hit. And then came three two, which
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was again you know, it was in my opinion it
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was not as good as the first one, but it
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was again in the same zone. It was horror, stroke,
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comedy and a kind of a light way of you know,
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looking at patriarchy and looking at you know, female empowerment.
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It was a massive hit. S watch a Little Just
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Knows is three Banyata they say, they goes with you.
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Towards the end of the year it was in any
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talk of the big budget Bollywood films. There was Singham
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Part three and Bulbulay Up Part three, both of which,
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according to trade pundits, have done well enough. But I
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think the film that really blew everything else out of
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the park was Push par part two right.
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And then there were also stories like Lapata Ladies and
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Girls Will Be Girls which attracted eyeballs and also gave
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people some.
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Food for thought. I think what happened with Lapata Ladies,
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a Kiren raose second film, that it touched a nerve
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and it's somewhere within the viewing audience which actually said, hey, look,
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this is a story which means something. It has a
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fable like quality, but it has women at the center
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of it. It has a very progressive bone in its body.
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It is talking about upliftment and empowerment without really becoming
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preachy though. It had a very strong messaging in practically
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every frame. And I don't think Kiren Rao was the
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kind of director who was scared of this messaging. I
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think she meant for the messaging to go out as
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strongly as it did. But I think what really surprised
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people was the fact that so many of us really
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walked into theaters, you know, to see this kind of film,
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which again is not your conventional box office draw just
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gone up and how many do pull Ny Sparani and
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Shuchitalati's film A Girls Will Be Girls, which was a
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Sundance breakout in January of twenty twenty four. It got
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two awards at the Sundance Film Festival which is a
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festival that everybody in the ecosystem really looks at very
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carefully because it's the festival where first and second time
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filmmakers are showcased. And I think we Atalati's film really
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sort of elevate itself into the true coming of age
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Zone is in the way that it explores the inner
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kind of you know, sexuality of a young woman that
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has not been done before in Indian cinema, at least
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not the cinema that I have seen. In this kind
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of very delicate, but very very nuanced, very sharp kind
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of wave pretty Panighre. He's the actress who plays this
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eighteen year old a boarding schoolgirl. Tanikkusruti as the mother
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is absolutely fabulous in the film, just as she was
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in All We Imagine Is Life. I think this is
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very much kanikus Ruthisia. I think she's been fantastic in
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everything she's done this year, very delicately done, but very
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powerfully done. So I think it's one of my favorite
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films of the year.
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Right, And you mentioned All We Imagine Is Light twenty
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twenty four also saw India shine on the global stage
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with this film, So what were your thoughts regarding that.
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So I happened to be in Can when the film
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was shown at the first press screening, but it was
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towards the end of the festival, and some of us
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very optimistic thesis were sitting there and saying, maybe maybe
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they've scheduled it toward the end because somebody in the
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programming team really knows that this is going to get something.
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But anyway, all the speculation came to an end within
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two days of us watching it because it got the
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Grand Prix. It may not have got the you know,
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the top award, but for an Indian film to first
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of all have been you know, selected in the competition,
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which happened thirty years after the you know our the
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Swaham Shaji Karun's film was big enough, but the fact
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that it actually got to that point was amazing. And
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I remember coming back from Can and writing an edit
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a piece for the paper saying that usually when something
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like this happens, when an Indian film becomes sort of
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a grabs attention at a festival outside of the country,
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there is momentary excitement and then it dies down. But
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I had stuck my neck out right then in June,
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I think and I said that I don't think this
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is going to be the fate of this one. I
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think it's going to go bigger than any other Indian
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film which has won an award like this, an award
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like this. I had said that I think it's going
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to go bigger, not just because of the film and
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the kind of film that it is, which is again
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something which has blown so many of us away, but
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it's also about the filmmaker, the kind of the tragictory
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that she has had. It released in the US last month,
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and you know, it has been on the top of
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so many of the critics groups around the globe, especially
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in the US and as well as in the UK.
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It's got the Golden Globes norms for her. We did
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not send it India, did not send it as an
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Oscar possible, which I think was not the greatest thing
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to have done. But I have a feeling that it
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is going to fetch up at I think it is
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going to be in contention for some big awards. All
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we imagine as Light, that is truly the light. I
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think in twenty twenty four.
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When all we imagine as Light had won the property,
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Shubrah had had a conversation with the director of the
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film Pyle Capadia, where she shared the details of the
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day the award was announced that when it.
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Got selected only we were very very excitic about it
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and for our French producers also a can festival is
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very important, so we were very joyous and when we
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so we got.
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A call like okay.
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So the thing is that if you win a prize
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and can they tell you in the morning that you
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are one something were nice clothes and come so they
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don't tell you what prize you won, So that is
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a bit of like anticipation is there, but you're not.
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Supposedly, So we knew there was something.
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And then when we got to Groprey, it was like
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amazing and I was really happy because my crew was
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there in the audience. I would have taken everybody with
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me if I could, because it really was a collaborative
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film like it's it's filmmaking is really it's really a
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process of a lot of people coming together. So even
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to go there with everybody that was really nice.
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Right and now coming to the ott space Subra. Many
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web series came out this year from ic One for
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the k Hijack Freedom at Midnight, bandishpanded season two, and
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of course many many more so which were the ones
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that stood out for you in twenty twenty four.
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So I think Ott again trumped the mainstream films completely
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this year. And there have been a few of my
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top shows which I've already written about, but let me
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quickly recount. I think Ice eight one four was one
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of them, you know, which was an above Sina's, a
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recreation of the hijack that had happened, the Kandahar hijack,
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and the seven days that the people who were in
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that plane, the kind of experiences that they had, the
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hijackers and their demands, and the kind of response that
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the Indian government of the day, how they were scrambling
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for answers, and so it I think all of it
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became a very involving, engaging kind of experience. Good evening,
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this is your captain speaking.
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And I had a great print for you to plane
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hijack you guy.
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Opens again. I really also liked Freedom at Midnight, despite
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the fact that I'd found it lack in a few places.
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But I think as a series and what it is
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trying to say about the country and the creation of
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the nation, I think it definitely is one of those series,
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which I think is a must watch. Actually I did
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like Call Me Bait may have been later in the list,
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but I think in terms of just getting a female
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character to do the kind of things that Anania Pande
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manages to pull off with a sweetness and yet with
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a sharpness which it doesn't really happen. It's kind. I
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think rom coms of this kind or even comedy series
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are getting sharper and they are getting more vivid as
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we go along. I think that truly was one of
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my bests, and Bandish Bandits To season two was really
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really enjoyable again, which again I found the focus on
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the music as well as the people and the stories
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that they're trying to tell. It really takes you away
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from the blood and gore that a lot of web
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series dive into, because that's an easy this creation of
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this world, it's not an easy to have classical music
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as the theme that you that as well as contemporary
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problems and difficulties around spreading the classical music in amongst
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people who have zero idea about it. I think this
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series does a good job of positioning itself where it
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is looking at both the traditional view of the classical
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you know, Gharanas as well as the music, as well
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as understanding that there is a whole generation out there
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which has no idea of this dharuha, of this kind
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of gift that we have, and it marries the two
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quite beautifully. Sane some Rat s Hamrat or Kharaneko Verje
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mire Is Karani kum and.
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Right and apart from these, which are the web series
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that you would say deserve a mention in your list,
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I really.
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Actually also enjoyed Kali Kali, But that was that thing,
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Kali Kaliaki, that one that was the second season. And
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for the kind of thing it is it talks about,
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it's pulpy. It has kind of a thrillerish and it
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has people who have characters whom are neither good nor bad.
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They're in the gray zone, and there is lots of murder,
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and there's lots of mayhem, and there's lots of violence,
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and I think it sort of stuck to its point
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of view in a really consistent way. One I like
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was Lute, which was one of my favorite series this week.
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It's a very unusual series because it takes the setting
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and the characters out of India. It takes it to
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the international waters. It's about you know, pirates, and it's
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about the people who are on the ship. And it
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has really terrific performances from people like the Wade Gomber
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and Radjat Kapur and you know a couple of other
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people whom I thoroughly enjoyed. And then also Poacher, which
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was you know, Richie Meta's Poacher, which again is about
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and it's the title which pretty much tells its own story.
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It's about poaching. It's about animals being you know, poached
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for their especially elephants being poached for their very precious
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tusks and for the ivory. And the people who go
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after these poachers as well as the people who are
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not getting their hands dirty. They sit in big cities
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and outside of the country and they are the ones
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who pull the strings. So it's this kind of conflict
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between man and animal and the people who put this
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puzzle together, which I think was really well done and.
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Super What about the ones that couldn't make that kind
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of an impact.
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The one that really didn't work for me was I
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think an early one. It was Killer Soup, which was
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Manoj bached by Konkona Sen Sharma. The two people who
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are guaranteed to give you anything that they are in
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usually is elevated by their presence, and here it was
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Abishek Chobe, whose cinema work I really enjoyed so much.
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But somehow there was something about the series where it
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was kind of underlying its weirdness and it's bizarre and
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characterizations as well as the things that happened which didn't
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really come together for me. The biggest one which I
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felt like really let down by was Mirza Pour season three,
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which was really truly the biggest I think, if not
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amongst the biggest series of this year. But this third
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one didn't really have too much punkash the party because
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the man has you know, they've gone and killed him
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Colleen Bhaya, which is I mean, what's the point of
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watching a Mirzapur if it doesn't have him in it?
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And the others were really not the kind of thing
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that they were made to do. Your good dou Bayas
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and all of his cohorts well not something that really
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excited me at all. Well as far as Panchaya the
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new season is concerned, again, it's fun, but it's also
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I found it's more of the same, so I think
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it needs to get out of that. Either it needs
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a new such a g or it needs something new,
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because it was kind of comforting to go into that
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zone again, but I didn't find it very exciting in
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terms of just newness, and that same thing that happened
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with gud Luck again one of my absolute all time
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favorite shows. It had that sameness which I think the
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show needs to be aware of and the creators need
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to figure out how to freshen it while keeping all
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of our favorite characters in play and Suhan.
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Now we are in twenty twenty five, the new year
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has begun. So what are your expectations this year and
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which are the films that you are genuinely looking forward
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to in twenty twenty five.
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I do hope to find some hidden gems on also
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the films that little films with the smaller budgets, with
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the big hearts, or with the story which is top
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lining the film rather than the starry presence in it.
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So I think in January we're going to see Santosh,
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which is an again of film which won our hearts
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at the can Festival in twenty four, which is actually
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UK's choice for the Oscars and it has made the
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last stent for the international film. It has Shahana Goswami
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and it was made by a UK based filmmakers and
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they're Suri. But it's a story that is set in
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an Indian village and it's about a kind of a
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rule burnt town which is rural as well as getting
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into the urban sector. It's about Shahana's she plays a
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police inspector. She gets into a very tricky situation and
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the way she comes out of it, in the way
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she deals with that whole cast in class. Issue is
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a film that is worth everybody's time and I'm hoping
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that it will really do well in the box office.
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Here what Bollywood is looking at is almost like a
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clutch where it is looking. I mean, it's casting about
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to see what will work. And I think right at
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this moment, the what will work is something that is
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completely up in the air. I think they have expectations
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and I think we have. I mean the audience also
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has expects from the second part of War, which is
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a writic Erotian blockbuster. When it first came, you know,
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it is in the same zone of you know, patriotic soldiers,
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you know, pushing India's enemies back where they belong. The
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first film had made the numbers and it was a
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good enough film for us to really, you know, sort
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of look at it as an entertainer. So perhaps this
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one will also you know, cut it. We don't know.
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It will depend upon how they've done it and the others. Also,
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the bigger ones are all sequels, are all part twos
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and part threes. I think there's Jolly LLB which has
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another part coming out, and I think a few more
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of this kind of sequels. If the sequels are good
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enough in and of themselves, I think most people will
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enjoy them. But if they are afflicted with sequelitis something,
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you know, something that basically means that you know, you're
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just putting in the stars without anything else to bind
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the film together, I don't know whether anything will come
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out of it. And I think the other thing is
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that there are I don't really hear off films which
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are sort of mid budget, the kind of films that
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like Munjaia for example, which came completely out of the
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blue right. So unless they are keeping it under wrap
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or people are making those movies which will come out
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in twenty twenty six, not really sure, but my feeling
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is My suspicion is that everyone's desperately working on this
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horror comedy zone because this is pretty much what seems
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to be working. But most people also forget, including filmmaker
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that you know, the first mover advantage is usually always
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with the first few films. Then people start getting tired
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of the same kind of formula. Even this will become
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a formula, and this is something I think Bollywood should
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be aware of. You were listening to Three Things by
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the Neil Express.
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Today's show was edited and mixed by Siriesh Bavar and
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produced by men Hurri Kananda. If you like the show,
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then do subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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