The Other Banana (The Other Banana)

 

Continuing with our Director Series, we talk about Vetri Maaran's sophomore film, Aadukalam, an auteurial effort that was a sign of things to come.

For this episode, we are joined by independent journalist, translator Kavitha Muralidharan. Listen on.

We are trying something new with this episode. The Other Banana team is joined by Deepti to talk about not one, not two but three recent Malayalam films that may seem different at a surface level but have a common theme going - a clash between two men that we can either reduce to a form of ego or delve deep into the complexities that inform this clash. We try to do the latter. We talk about Sachy's Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Lal Jr's Driving License (also written by Sachy) and Anuraj Manohar's Ishq. Listen on.

We return after a long long time. Various commitments kept us busy but we are back with a new season and we couldn't have picked up a better film to start.

Hemanth M. Rao's Sapta Saagaradaache Ello - Side A released on September 1st and later on Amazon Prime, and at least for me it is one of the best films of the year from India. A romantic tragedy starring Rakshit Shetty, Rukmini Vasanth, Pavitra Lokesh, Achyutha Kumar among others, the film boasts of compelling writing by Rao and Gundu Shetty and excellent filmmaking from Rao, and shot by Advaitha Gurumurthy.

Side A is also first of a two part film. The story of Manu (Shetty) and Priya (Vasanth) isn't over and we will see their journey continue in Side B that releases on October 27th.

Director Hemanth M. Rao joined us for the episode and we talk about everything from workshopping with actors, some writing decisions, characters and the ideas behind the film and shotmaking.

Aditya is also joined by pod regular, journalist Subha Rao

Participants:

Aditya

Hemanth M. Rao

Subha Rao

Link to Subha's interview of Hemanth: https://www.ottplay.com/interview/sapta-sagaradaache-ello-director-hemanth-m-rao-love-demands-vulnerability/37928feb01634

Hello and Happy New Year from the team of The Other Banana Podcast! It's not got off on a happy note, mind you, what with the anti-CAA/NRC/NRP protests and the general discontent across the country. Much needed action, of course. Maybe there is hope in this fight. On that note, our first episode of 2020. We talk about an underrated, less discussed film. Anucharan's KIRUMI. It trains its focus on one man, Kathir as Kathir, who is unemployed and is hired as an unofficial hand by the police. Through his experience, we get to witness the power wielded by these unofficial henchmen and the larger picture of the state-police-criminal nexus comes into view. Consider the violence in UP/Delhi and yesterday's attack in the JNU campus, this film's storyline seemed topical. Listen on, we have full team attendance.

We at The Other Banana believe that director Girish AD is doing something incredible with the genre of romantic comedy and coming of age. With the recent big hit Premalu, that awed audiences across south India, we decided to take a look at all his films that show steady progression in certain genre conventions as well as successful attempts at breaking them with memorable writing, characters, comedy and performances.

In this episode, Poorvaja S, journalist from The Hindu joins Aditya and Deepauk to talk about Girish and his three films so far - Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, Super Sharanya and Premalu.

There is a lot of giggling and laughter but also some observations into what makes Girish AD unique and how he has revitalized the genre in India. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Deepauk

Poorvaja

Edited by Anantha.

In this episode we talk to the music director of Annayum Rasoolum, his use of session musicians, the VGP recording theater in Chennai, #self , and end up "fanboy"ing both Rajeev Ravi and Manikandan. Big thanks to K for making time for us! Links to the music we discuss in the episode below: Lead in/Fade out music: Vazhivakkil from Annayum Rasoolum Kammattippaadam album on iTunes and Spotify

Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 released a little over a week ago and has taken the box office by storm. A critical and commercial success, the film has attracted a wide demographic to the theatres. Largely due to its source - Kalki R. Krishnamurthy's serialized novel Ponniyin Selvan published in the 1950s, a historical fiction based on the Cholas and the conflicts within and outside the kingdom for the throne. The film, like most Mani Ratnam films, is also an example of technical mastery which is one of the attractions for widespread theatre viewing with almost no one choosing to wait for the streaming release like it is the norm of late.

The film is star studded - Karthi, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Trisha, Jayam Ravi, Jayaram, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sarath Kumar, Parthiban, Prabhu, Lal, Prakash Raj and more. There are stars behind the camera as well apart from the director and writing team (Mani Ratnam, Jeyamohan and Elango Kumaravel). It is edited by Sreekar Prasad, art direction by Thotta Tharani with cinematography by Ravi Varman. Music is by A.R Rahman and sound design by Anand Krishnamoorthi. Foley Artist is Prathap and re-recording mix by Craig Mann.

In this episode, we talk about one aspect of the technical mastery - sound design. Sound Designer/Engineer/Editor Anand Krishnamoorthi joins Aditya and Ashoka to talk about the sound of Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 and the nuances in the art of sound design. We talk about sound design in general in cinema as well as the work that has gone into Ponniyin Selvan. Anand gives both eli5 explanations for some aspects of his work and also some nerdy and deeply technical things that go into a film's sound. Listen on.

Definitions of a few technical terms that will help in enjoying the conversation better

Recce

Foley

Sync Sound

ADR

Participants:

Anand Krishnamoorthi

Aditya

Ashoka

Edited by Ashoka.

Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram is just a week away and the expectations are immense for the film starring Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil. The furor began in late 2020 when they released a teaser revealing the title accompanied by a sampling of one of the greatest title tracks by Ilaiyaraaja - Vikram from the film of the same name that released in 1986. The 1986 film was a mammoth effort in terms of scripting and production. A screenplay written by Kamal Haasan and writer/novelist Sujatha adapted from the latter's serialized story and directed by Rajashekar the making of Vikram is as much of a lore as its aftermath, influences and the new film it has spawned (though not a sequel).

Vikram has Kamal Haasan as an intelligence agent playing the closest James Bond could come to Indian cinema back till that point (and after Jai Shankar in Tamil cinema). It also had Sathyaraj as the villain with Lissy, Dimple Kapadia, Amjad Khan and Charuhasan completing a role call of who's who from different language industries.

Guru aka Lazygeek joins us to talk about how Sujatha and Kamal Haasan met, their journey through cinema, their collaboration on Vikram, the production effort,how the film turned out and how it has aged. Joining him are Aditya and Anantha

Participants

Guru

Aditya

Anantha

Edited by Ashoka

 In this episode, we take a look at one of the biggest hits in Telugu cinema for 2018. DIrector Sukumar's Rangasthalam starring RamCharan & Samantha. Our guests were columnist and friend of the podcast, @KrupgaGe and popular movie critic @crhemanth.

Listen in as we talk about the politics that the movie captures and how it addresses a lot of issues thanks to some stellar performances by the supporting cast.

 In the final episode of our romantic comedy series, the gang gets together to discuss the representations of class and caste divides in the Thamizh film Meyaatha Maan.

We are joined by journalist, and author @krupage (do check out her book River Remember on the Chennai Floods here)!

Still in the post-Valentine hangover the cabal decides to go over the 2017 Kannada rom-com Ondu Motteya Kathe. We dive into the disparities of self-valuation vs. 3rd party valuation and the range responses the arranged marriage systems creates as a result.All in all this is a #GRCA certified podcast. Music, of course, sponsored by the great Rajkumar. (listen to the pod to find out why)

Lijo Jose Pellissery's Angamaly Diaries, was a much feted movie from 2017 that every member of the cabal loved. So it is no surprise that episode 21 of the podcast marked the return of the cabal back to full strength to discuss this feature.

At The Other Banana Podcast, we felt that the writing and editing of Pa. Ranjith's latest feature Sarpatta Parambarai (streaming on Amazon Prime) were two of its strongest suits. While every department of the film has worked in wondrous ways in this once in a generation film, we thought it will be fun to get Tamil Prabha (we discussed his novel Pettai in an earlier episode), who collaborated with Pa. Ranjith on the script and editor Selva RK to talk about the technical aspects of editing, how they all worked together in terms of writing, filmmaking, shot making, dialogues to deliver the film we see today.

Starring Arya, Pasupathy, John Kokken, Dushara Vijayan, John Vijay, Kalaiyarasan, Shabeer Kallarakkal, the film tracks the boxing clans (parambarais) of the mid to late 70s, their history and landscape and the larger politics that surrounded and impacted their personal lives.

Please use headphones/earphones!

Show notes:

Baradwaj Rangan's interview of Pa. Ranjith

Tamil Prabha's post on Pudhupettai

Our earlier episode on Tamil Prabha's Pettai with Arivu and Kavitha Muralidharan + Tamil Prabha on Pa. Ranjith's Madras.

And we are back with an episode on one of the films of the year- Lokesh Kanagaraj's Leo. If you haven't yet heard of the film, crawl out of that rock and here we go- starring Vijay, Trisha, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun etc, the film, after Vikram and the introduction of Lokesh Cinematic Universe, was THE Tamil film if not Indian film that a huge fan base was looking out for. Now that it's out and we can have a spoilers filled discussion, we got Deepauk, Anantha and one of our returning guests Equanimus to talk about it. There is a lot of crap out there in the name of engaging with this polarizing film that's perfectly good for the most part but if we may say so ourselves, nothing beats this one. Listen on. Participants: Anantha Deepauk Equanimus

We’re back with Part 2 of our conversation on MayaBazaar . The Cabal veers off into broader discussions on the Mahabharatha epic and why we should revisit films that were our childhood favorites.

Things take a horrific turn... Ok fine, we're just being dramatic. The Cabal each came into the discussion thinking Pawan Kumar's third outing was a well executed film, but I think we were all genuinely surprised at what we ended up discussing. Hope you all enjoy this pod as much as we enjoyed discussing the film.

 

In a fit of nostalgia, the Cabal revisits the 1985 Thamizh film classic, Aan Paavam. It also gives one of our members the opportunity to wax eloquent on the phenomenon that is Ilaiyaraja. Big thanks as always to @jestme for joining the crew to discuss one of her favorite films as well!

And all music in the pod composed by the indomitable Ilaiayaraaja.

We like to call this episode "A Brief History of Music." To understand where both music and its listenership stood at the beginning of he 20th century we trace the origins of music - with a specific focus on European and Indian music - across 4 key stages of evolution. We believe this fact base is critical to understand why film music and Raaja have the impact that they do on us today.

Also here's Part 1 of this series you might want to check out.

Key eras/aspects of music covered:

The stone age (musical cue: Dr. Jean-Louis Ringot on the lithophone)

Higher Civilizations - primarily the Greek and Indian eras

The B.C. to medieval ages of music (musical cues: Gregorian and Rig Veda chants)

The classical era of music (musical cues: Handel's Messiah and Raga Behag by Charumathi Raghuraman)

Participants:

Deepauk

Mahesh

Bala Chidambaram

Related books, links and references:

Raaja opening clip: Podhigai Interview with T.V.G

Opening Music: Sangeethame from Kovil Pura

Closing Music: Uliyin Osai

A short history of music by Curt Sachs

Shape of Ancient thought by Thomas Mcevilley

Bala's blog post on musical history

We are super excited to present this episode on one of the most enduring and memorable romantic comedies of Tamil cinema. 15 years ago, a then little film called Kanda Naal Mudhal released and surprised everyone in the best way possible. Directed by debutante V. Priya, produced by Prakash Raj and starring Prasanna, Laila, Lakshmi, Revathy, Karthik Kumar, Regina Cassandra (also making her debut), the film had a great team of technicians as well - Thotta Tharani, Sreekar Prasad, PC Sreeram and one of the best music and background score by Yuvan Shankar Raja. The film is still considered to be everyone's favorite romcoms and, as we found out, has aged beautifully.

Deepauk and Aditya speak to the two debutantes from the film - director V. Priya and actress Regina Cassandra as they take a trip down memory lane to talk about the making of the film, how the team came about, the scripting and production experiences, what the actors added to the film and the post release word of mouth that helped the film a great deal and continues to entertain 15 years later. Along the way, we get one great anecdote after another. Listen on.

Our new episode is not only a double bill but also something unique. For the first time we are talking about a novel. In this podcast, we talk about a one of a kind Tamizh novel. Pettai by Tamizh Prabha that was published by Kalachuvadu Publications in 2017. The novel deals with the history of Chinna Thari Pettai - modern day Chintadripet in Madras, India and the story of a host of interesting characters over the course of four decades till the present day.  Aditya along with singer, songwriter and musician Arivu, and independent journalist Kavitha Muralidharan delve deep into the intricacies of the novel to mine the ways in which the author has captured the lives of the people of Chintadripet. No prizes for guessing where he's from. It's a Tamizh novel by Tamizh Prabha so  only fair that this episode is completely in Tamizh.

Followed by the discussion on Pettai, Tamizh Prabha talks to Aditya about Pa. Ranjith's 2014 film MADRAS, starring Karthi, Kalaiarasan and Catherine Tresa. He has penned the script of the next Pa. Ranjith film starring Arya.

On Pettai with Kavitha and Arivu: 0 - 1:30:10 

On Madras with Tamizh Prabha: From 1:30:11

References:

Intro - Kalangal Kadanthu Ponathe

Madras Suvar Theme

S Ramakrishnan speech on Pettai referenced in the podcast

In this episode, we are joined by Niranjana Ramesh, urban researcher working on the everyday life of cities at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Aditya, Niranjana and Ashoka discuss Nalan Kumarasamy's sophomore feature Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum. Though not as well received as his debut Soodhu Kavvum or as well remembered, this film tried to break a lot of stereotypes associated with Tamil romantic films. It centers the film from the point of view of the woman, Yazhini played by Madonna Sebastian, along with the ever reliable Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi as Kathir. Listen on.

With this, we take a break from Tamil post the Vetri Maaran series and switch language to Kannada to focus on one of 2019's best Indian films - Roopa Rao's Gantumoote starring Teju Belawadi and Nischit Korodi.

Joining us in this episode is Krupa Ge. Later in the episode, we have an interview with Roopa Rao, the director herself, to talk about her film, her fascination with the 90s, the process of writing and filming Gantumoote and the formal choices she made to tell a story.

Almost everybody agrees Lijo Jose Pellissery's Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam that released mid January of 2023 and on Netflix at the end of February is going to be the Indian film of the year? Why? We thought we'll dig in. 

Aditya watched it twice in theatres. Deepauk watched it a day before recording of this podcast. And our special guest critic, programmer, author Srikanth Srinivasan watched it thrice in theatres and a couple of more times on Netflix. With a screenplay by S Hareesh and directed by Pellissery, the film stars Mammootty, Ramya Pandian, Ashokan, Ramya Suvi, Poo Ramu among others.

The three of them gather to discuss what makes this film so interesting, the seamless Tamil-Malayalam intermingling, the filmmaking ideas and cinematography, the almost exclusive Tamil cinema soundtrack throughout the film, and the film's philosophical interventions. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Srikanth Srinivasan

Deepauk

Srikanth Srinivasan's writings on the film:

A Letter to Lijo Jose Pellissery: https://theseventhart.info/2023/01/25/a-letter-to-lijo-jose-pellissery/

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam Part 2: https://theseventhart.info/2023/01/31/nanpakal-nerathu-mayakkam-2022-part-2/

If anybody would like to watch Ratha Kanneer, it's on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F63Qhsl5010

Here is a playlist of songs that you hear in the film: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlgM21QZS6YyKtiXGxtGyMAzTVbR2Y_8R

After a long break, we return to our Director Series on Mysskin. In this episode we talk about Mysskin's 2014 film Pisaasu starring Naga, Prayaga Martin, Radha Ravi et al. The film broadly falls under the horror genre but with its filmmaking and inherent philosophy subverts the genre in many different ways. Add to this, Mysskin's next film is a sequel to Pisaasu starring Andrea.

To talk about the film Aditya is joined by two distinguished guests.

Sudhir Srinivasan returns to our podcast to talk about his favorite Mysskin film. Sudhir is a film critic and editor of Cinema Express. He had earlier joined us to talk about Aayirathil Oruvan

Amrutha is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Film and Digital Media Studies at the Department of English Language and Literature at Wofford College. She obtained her doctoral degree from Department of English at MSU last year, with her dissertation on 'Situating Tamil Cinema'. Her PhD advisor was Dr. Swarnavel Eswaran who is a friend of the podcast and joined us for an episode to talk about Andha Naal.

Edited by Aditya and Anantha.

References:

Amrutha quotes from Kogonada's 2013 video on Neorealism in the podcast. We recommend Kogonada's Columbus and he also has a film coming up in March 2022 - After Yang.

Previous episodes on Mysskin series:

Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum.

Yuddham Sei.

We look back at the genius of Jandhyala in taming societal issues with comedy. Aha Na Pellanta(1987) is one such gem that stands the test of time and tackles dowry. In this episode, @maxdavinci is joined by Yamini an editor from Mumbai, and @localteaparty returns as a guest to the podcast. Listen on as they talk about their memories of first watching it, Bramhanandam's insults, inspirations for Trivikram,  and the staggering work of Rajendra Prasad in Telugu cinema.

A look back at one of the many iconic films Sridevi made. Much like RGV's film, this pod is an ode to Sridevi the star.

Long before JD and Bhavani of Lokesh Kanagaraj's Master, there were Shiva and Bhavani (and a JD on the sidelines) in a college setting in Ram Gopal Varma's directorial debut Shiva. Combining student politics along with a ruthless gangster played memorably by Raghuvaran, Shiva set new standards for filmmaking and South Indian mass cinema. It was the arrival of Ram Gopal Varma as a reckoning and cult sequences featuring Nagarjuna, paired with Amala.

Max is joined by writer (The Family Man), author, stand up comedian Suman Kumar and Atlasdanced to talk about the various aspects of Shiva that hit home - the Steadicam, the Telangana dialect, a more realistic portrayal of college and the incredible sound design. And of course, Amala. Listen on.

Link to the video of 25th anniversary celebration of Shiva that is mentioned in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg4V2smAC6c

This week the cabal talks about Attakathi and the Pa.Ranjith universe more broadly. We're joined by special guest @jestme and the group had a lot of interesting things to say. A fulfilling discussion on a truly unique voice in Thamizh cinema.

The Cabal does a bilingual film in its true spirit - with a bilingual guest. We are joined by LTP aka @localteaparty to talk about the L.V Prasad classic MISSIAMMA(1955), one of the famous films from the golden period, made in Tamil and Telugu with different casts. 

And we are back with the part two of the series on Singeetam Srinivasa Rao's Michael Madana Kama Rajan. 

In this episode we take a deep dive into the characters of MMKR beginning with the four Kamal Haasans - Michael, Madan, Kameshwaran and Raju followed by the other characters who are all equally memorable but then we are never objective in our likes and dislikes, are we? Listen on to find out why we unanimously chose Raju as our favorite Kamal and what we like about the other characters. Once again Aditya, Deepauk and Anantha are joined by Equanimus.

Following <a href="https://wp.me/p9iHkc-dE">Kaithi</a>, our previous episode, we thought of getting deep into the masala genre. And for that, we must get into what makes 'Thala' Ajith and 'Thalapathy' Vijay tick. In this episode, we talk about their respective phenomenon with two of their marquee films as the angle - Vijay's Thuppakki and Ajith's Mankatha. 

Listen on.

What happened to the glorious traditions of classical music in the 20th century? How did film music capture the public consciousness in Tamil Nadu (even India)? What is the significance of Ilaiyaraaja's arrival? These questions form the discussion in the third part of our series.

Though this episode stands on its own, you can listen to Part 1 and Part 2 for better context.  

Key topics covered:

The impact of the world wars on classical artists

Atonality and the recession of western classical music from the public consciousness

Formation of the sabhas and musical theater traditions in the Indian classical paradigm

The scope and space provided by film, a modern medium, for innovation in music

The three phases of Tamil Film Music, and the inventiveness of M.S.Viswanathan

Annakkili and the arrival of Ilaiyaraaja

Participants:

Deepauk

Mahesh

Bala Chidambaram

Musical References:

Ilaiyaraaja - Annakili

Ravel's Bolero

Shostakovich - Leningrad Symphony 7 Movement 2

Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire

Parthu Kadan Kodungal - Gopalkrishna Bharathy

Wagner - Ride of Valkyrie (OST Apocalypse Now, Da 5 Bloods)

Stravinsky - Petrushka

G.Ramanathan - Vaadaa Malare - Ambikapathy

M.S.Viswanathan - Ammammaa Keladi Thozhi - Karuppu Panam

C.Ramachandra - Eena Meena Deeka - Aasha

Wynton Marsalis - Second Line

M.S.Viswanathan - T.K.Ramamoorthy - Unnai Ondru Ketpen - Puthiya Paravai

Additional References:

Ilaiyaraaja Music Academy Speech

M.S.Viswanathan on Charukesi and Ammamma Keladi

Ilaiyaraaja Interview clip

The impact of Sabha culture

Bala's blogposts on music of the  20th century, Tamil film music

In this second episode of the Balaji Tharaneetharan series we discuss the recent direct to OTT release Oru Pakka Kathai. @gradwolf & @anantha are joined by special guests @equanimus & @milified to discuss:

- The fantastical nature of the topic and how it presents its social commentary

- What is the film trying to say about science, religion, and how both interact?

- What is the portrait it draws of the children in the film?

- Is the film pro-life? How do Balaji's films portray women?

- Female centric films in the male gaze

- Ranking the 3 films Balaji has made thus far

A huge thanks to our guests for joining us in this engaging discussion!

The cabal continues its animated discussion on Virumandi in this pod. We cover the cast characters, specifically the women, the music, and the film's penchant for drawing from the real world in this session. We're joined by 2 special guests here; @jestme is on the pod again and the venerable @atlasdanced joins us this time with his unique brand of insights.

In this episode, we talk about the legendary S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, the long career that he has had as an.....actor! One of the under-discussed aspects of the inimitable singer-performer, his talents in front of the camera have made a mark of their own, something that has even bled into his talent behind the mic. He could be the genial father or the sincere, bumbling cop. Or he could be your friendly, neighborhood family doctor. He remains Balu the singer in front of our eyes but he can also accede to the demands of the role. Joining Adi for this pod are regular guests Krupa and Equanimus. Listen on.

As the title suggests, Raj B. Shetty's latest Kannada film Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana contains its share of mythological undertones. But the film is more than just that almost reinventing the gangster drama at an epic scale with very curious passage of character developments. Set in Mangaluru, it tells the story of Hari (Rishab Shetty) and Shiva (Raj B. Shetty), the backstory of how they climb up the ladder of crime in the city and the eventual souring of the relationship. The film's conspicous homo-eroticism was noticed by many and how well it does what it does with it and the film's complete disregard for women in its universe has been topics of debate.

For this episode, we have full house of The Other Banana team - Aditya, Deepauk, Anantha and Ashoka discuss the setting, the relationship between Shiva and Hari, what the film does well and what it does not, the character of Brahmmaya played by Gopal Krishna Deshpande, the writing and filmmaking in Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana.

Episode edited by Anantha

Links:

The Raj B. Shetty interview with Baradwaj Rangan

Our episode on Raj B. Shetty's Ondu Motteya Kathe

Baby Mol, Helen Paul and Jessy. In just the last one year, Anna Ben has emerged as one of the most promising newcomers and a confident performer on screen. With critically acclaimed films like Kumbalangi Nights (2019) and Helen (2019), and Kappela (2020) that dropped on Netflix a little over a week ago, Anna Ben is already a star and looks destined for greater heights. In this interview, Aditya talks to Anna Ben about her quick rise to stardom, her craft and how each of her three films has shaped her. Listen on.

This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film, each one thoughtfully hand-picked. From new directors to award-winners. Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies—there is always something new to discover.

At The Other Banana, we continue our series on Padmarajan with his 1986 film Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal (Vineyards for Us to Dwell In). You can watch the film with subtitles on MUBI. You can try MUBI free for 30 days at <a href="https://mubi.com/theotherbanana?utm_source=theotherbanana&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=fallbrandcampaign_2021" target="_blank">https://mubi.com/theotherbanana</a> or click here. The film stars Mohanlal, Shari, Vineeth, Thilakan et al.

To talk about Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal, we are joined by special guests - filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar and film critic Aswathy Gopalakrishnan.

Participants:

Bejoy Nambiar

Aswathy Gopalakrishnan

Aditya Shrikrishna

Episode edited by Anantha

You can listen to the other episodes in the Padmarajan series here:

Kallan Pavithran

Deshadanakkili-Karayarilla

In episode 63 of The Other Banana, after a long time, we move to the Telugu film industry. Chinizyaada and Amrita joined Max to talk about Allu Arjun's Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo directed by Trivikiram and boasting of a humongous star cast with Tabu, Jayaram, Pooja Hegde, Nivetha Pethuraj, Rohini et al. The film was a huge hit and Thaman's music is still ringing in everyone's ears, and thanks to David Warner, in the eyes too. It's streaming on Netflix. Listen on.

Notes:

The piece that Chini refers to in the pod is here: https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/srikakulam-dialect-to-the-fore-in-sittharala-sirapadu-from-ala-vaikunthapuramuloo/article30674308.ece

With the macro context set in the first three episodes of the series we shift focus into musical details - specifically Raaja's use of folk music. This episode focuses on Raaja's use of folk rhythms, the forms he employs, and touches briefly upon what Carnatic music provides to a composer like him.

Topics covered:

The need for analysis beyond personal aesthetic preferences

Folk rhythms and their use in everyday life vs. in celebration

Formalized folk elements and their impact in Raaja's compositions

Santham and the use / placement of lyrics

The personality of a Carnatic Raga and what it provides a composer

Participants:

Deepauk

Mahesh

Bala Chidambaram

Speech Clippings

Music academy speech

Sundari kannal oru sethi (3:50)

Gundello Godari clip

ARR Oscar Felicitation Speech

Musical References:

Chiththirai Sevvaanam

Nethiyila Pottu vai

Vanthathe kungumam

Etham ayya etham

Poovil vaNdu

kizhakkala suvathu pakkam

Aayiram thamarai mottukale

Naanoru sinthu

Aila Re (for Yelae Nee Yettipo)

Ending clip from Naatupurappaattu

The cabal (well at least 2 of the cabal) is/are taken in by the atmosphere, sound, and aesthetic of Rajeev Ravi's directorial debut. We loved it so much we decided to do this as 2 parts, with a surprise addition coming in part 2.

 

Close on the heels of a win at the Critics Choice Film Award we're joined by Maha Venkatesh, the writer director of the film to discuss some of the behind the scenes aspects that went into the making of the film.

Big thanks to Maha for making the time to join us and giving us his thoughts. Our continued love and support to him on his journey!

In this episode we dive into the atomic elements of composition that we can observe in Raaja's music. How does he use sentence structures and motifs in his compositions? Can we really tell apart where Carnatic ends and Western touches begin in his music. Briefly we also cover one stark difference between MSV and Raaja.

Topics Covered:

What are sentences and how have they been used by Beethoven and Mozart?

How do sentence structures show up in Raaja's music?

What is a motif and why does it often form the kernel of the full composition?

How has Raaja used various motifs in his film songs?

Participants:

Mahesh

Deepauk

Bala Chidambaram

Musical References:

Subramanyena (Notes)

Kaatumalli

Sakkarakattikku

Its a full house for the last pod of the year; all 4 of us talk about movies/series of 2021: what we watched, what we liked, what we didn't and what we hope to see more of in the coming year. It is a freewheeling chat covering regional content from South India and a lit bit from around the world.  

...oh and a Happy 2022 from the crew! 

Participants:

Deepauk

Ashoka

Aditya

Anantha

Episode edited by Ashoka.

At The Other Banana podcast, we are aware that we haven't been paying attention to our Kannada roster as much as the others. In an attempt to address that, we got together some folks who were excited to talk about one of the finest comedies from Kannada cinema.

In this episode, Anantha and Ashoka talk about Gauri Ganesha (1991), a film directed by Phani Ramachandra and starring Anant Nag, Vinaya Prasad, Master Anand et al, with two special guests.

Alok Prasanna Kumar, an advocate based in Bengaluru who is also a columnist in various publications, joins the podcast along with filmmaker Suneel Raghavendra. Suneel is the director of the film Puta Tirugisi Nodi. Listen on.

Participants:

Anantha

Ashoka

Alok Prasanna Kumar

Suneel Raghavendra

Edited by Ashoka.

Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi starring Dhritiman Chatterjee, the first of his Calcutta Trilogy, released in October 1970. K Balachander's Varumayin Niram Sivappu released almost exactly ten years later, in November 1980, and starred Kamal Haasan and Sridevi. The two films bookend an important decade in Indian history. Pratidwandi came at the height of the Naxalite movement in West Bengal and Varumayin Niram Sivappu was made in the immediate aftermath of Emergency and the Lok Sabha elections of 1980. A tumultuous decade for India, Congress and Indira Gandhi, possibly casting a long shadow in the political landscape of today.

Deepauk and Aditya are joined in this episode by Sohini Chattopadhyay, an award winning independent journalist from Kolkata with bylines in New York Times, Al Jazeera, Mint, The Hindu and SCMP among others. 

Listen on.

Some of Sohini's work in the context of the topics discussed in the podcast:
Why Don't These Girls Work? Women and work in recent Hindi film
https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/gW0RmkMUb27QUducQZaLIL/Why-dont-these-girls-work.html
Work and recent Hind film
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/full-time-romantics-in-a-nation-of-job-seekers-1549567469480.html
Housework and women in Bengali film and Hindi film:
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/two-bengali-films-delve-into-the-emotional-cost-of-women-s-housework-like-no-hindi-film-has_in_5f5d1b9cc5b67602f605fa06
Looking at Work in Panga and Chhapaak:
https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/bollywood-features/panga-and-chhapaak-what-happens-when-women-tell-womens-stories/

We're joined by @equanimus as we discuss Vetri Maaran's third film Visaranai (Interrogation). Based on the novel Lock Up by Chandrakumar, this was Vetri's first foray into adapting previously written material for the screen.

At The Other Banana, we are changing track a bit. Instead of arbitrarily choosing a film, we have chosen a director and will be focusing on all (or the best ones) their films, dedicating an episode to each of their works. We begin with one of the finest we've got in Tamil cinema - Vetri Maaran. 

In this episode, we talk about his debut, Polladhavan (2007), that also marked the beginning of an actor-director combo we cannot get enough of - Dhanush and Vetri Maaran. Listen on.

Ten years ago Selvaraghavan came up with a film that had nothing in common with the films he had directed up until then. It was a mix of historic fiction and fantasy, with elements like prophecy, "chosen one", deliverance, revenge and black magic. Aayirathil Oruvan starring Karthi, Andrea Jeremiah, Reema Sen and Parthiban received mixed reviews upon its arrival but the film has found an intense following over the last decade. It's nuances are studied with care, subtexts of Eelam and Sri Lankan civil war all too obvious now, along with the most entertaining, confounding and fantastical latter progressions in a Tamil film in recent times.

To talk about Aayirathil Oruvan, Aditya is joined by Ashoka with special guests - film critic Sudhir Srinivasan, Entertainment Editor, Cinema Express (The New Indian Express) and Nadika, who returns to The Other Banana once again after the Super Deluxe episode.

Here is Arul Mani's article on Selvaraghavan that's discussed in the episode.

While the anniversaries  - 10th, 25th or 30th - of many films were celebrated this year, one title probably got ignored by a large section of the media. Balu Mahendra's Sathi Leelavathi released 25 years ago. It had Kalpana, Ramesh Arvind and Heera Rajagopal in the lead with cameos  - more like star attractions - from Kamal Haasan and Kovai Sarala.

We thought of revisiting this very funny film that deals with a serious issue and reevaluate what works and what doesn't. Max and Anantha are joined by Suman Kumar and Jestme. Jestme is a returning guest of our podcast. Suman wears multiple hats. He is a novelist, stand up comedian and screen writer. He co-writes the Amazon Prime web series The Family Man. 

 In part 1 of the discussion of the film, the gain delves into the key aspects that made the film Telugu cinema's cult hit of 2018. They try to get under the skin of the characters and the milieu before we bring on a special guest for part 2. 

 In this episode @complicateur and @gradwolf are joined by Ashwathy G to discuss Aashiq Abu and Syam Pushkaran's heart wrenching film - Mayanadhi. 

The Cabal goes a little more mainstream this week exploring the 2012 Malayalam hit Usthad Hotel. Bit of a guilty pleasure, this film brought some varied reactions from the group. But we could all agree on one thing - Dulquer and Thilakan were excellent!

 For our first venture into Hindi cinema, the cabal discusses the 2018 horror film Tumbbad. While most horror films tend to be morality tales, Tumbbad really differentiates itself by setting up mythology and universe that is entirely relatable. The gang loved watching the film and we hope you all do as well! 

In a return to the true mainstream, we talk about the December 2017 Mohan Raja - Sivakarthikeyan - Fahadh starrer Velaikkaaran. We had a rather wide, ranging discussion about the movie as well as the meta movie within it. A film that really suffers from excess but is redeemed really by its inventiveness and the occasional sparkling dialog.

We return to our Mysskin series with his 2013 film - Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum or The Wolf and the Lamb starring Sri, Mysskin, Shaji Chen, Adithya, Baby Chaitanya, Angel Glady et al. The film is a truckload of Mysskin goodies, the Madras after dark shining through as the entire film is events over the course of a single night. It throws up and answers a lot of questions - what is right and what is wrong, good and evil with everything in between, how situations and decisions contextualized to the events determine more about oneself than we might assume. The film is ripe for both mining Mysskin's aesthetics and his philosophical musings. It might just be Mysskin's best film so far.

To talk about the film, we have with us Angel Glady who wears many caps - actor, playwright, theatre activist, dancer etc. She plays the role of Bharati in Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum, credited as vanadevathai (forest fairy). She shares with us her thoughts on the film, working with Mysskin and some great anecdotes from the time of filming. Glady is joined by Deepauk, Anantha and Ashoka. Listen on.

The Cabal talks about Fidaa, nay Sai Pallavi, with guest @Chinizyaada. Shekhar Kammula is good where he is comfortable and out of sorts in most other places. And of course, the discussion couldn't help but steer to that other romance that is set from the female POV, Om Shanthi Oshaana.

We are back with an episode on literature.

On this episode writers and translators Priyamvada and Suchitra join Deepauk and Aditya to talk about Tamil author and screenplay writer Jeyamohan, and their translations of his works. Priyamvada's translation of Aram titled Stories of the True was published last year. Suchitra's translation of Ezhaam Ulagam titled The Abyss came out couple of months ago. We talk to them about their journey through Tamil literature from readers to translators, Jeyamohan's influence, his place in the larger canon of Tamil literature, his politics and their experience translating two of his important works.

Jeyamohan's Blog: https://jeyamohan.in

Link to Stories of the True: https://www.amazon.in/Stories-True-Translated-Tamil-Priyamvada/dp/9393986177

Link to The Abyss: https://www.amazon.in/ABYSS-Jeyamohan/dp/9393986525/

Link to Jeyamohan's interview on Scroll by Suchitra and Priyamvada: https://scroll.in/article/1047710/as-a-writer-im-apolitical-and-spiritually-free-that-is-how-id-like-to-retain-myself-jeyamohan

Suchitra and Priyamvada's initiative Mozhi to bring together literature from different Indian languages: https://mozhi.co.in/

Participants:

Priyamvada

Suchitra

Deepauk

Aditya

Edited by Anantha

This episode is more or less an ode to one of the finest films to come out the Malayalam industry this year (an industry that sets the standard high enough that this adjective is pretty high praise). Unda, Khalid Rahman's sophomore effort after Anuraaga Karikkinte Vellam, points to an evolution we hope continues on to many more films to come. Everyone on the crew enjoyed watching the film and we sincerely hope more people nationally and internationally stream it on Amazon Prime.

Also read: @complicateur with his initial thoughts when the film first released.

The gang gets together to talk about the Manikandan favorite, Aandavan Kattalai. A lovely film that helps you see the lighter side of the completely heavy social issues it explores.

Listen to our episode where we talk to the music director of Aandavan Kattakai, here.

Today is August 15th and on this day in 1992 Mani Ratnam's Roja released. Along with the film arrived a new sound that awed one and all throughout the country. In the next thirty years, this music will unite India the way only cricket often does. Today marks 30 years since AR Rahman broke out. His growth was tremendous and quick, he transcended borders within India first and then made a mark internationally as well earning two Academy awards in the process.

We at The Other Banana thought that this calls for a special episode on growing up with AR Rahman. We have two special guests joining us for the episode.

Arjun Nair is a music producer, music director, voice artist and part of the A Cappella group Voctronica. Their most popular cover, among others, was a medley of Rahman songs titled Evolution of AR Rahman. You can listen to it here.

Meher Manda is a writer, educator and culture critic based in the USA. The episode was originally her idea and we almost instantly decided to record it and she brought Arjun on board.

Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya who also edited the pod

Arjun Nair

Meher

In the latest episode of the podcast, we discuss the recent Bollywood  movie 83 – which retells the story of India’s miraculous victory in the  1983 World Cup.

Talking Points:

• A missed opportunity to recreate the cricketing miracle that was 1983
• The conspicuous absence of India’s victory over West Indies at Berbice
• The complete erasure of Mohinder Amarnath’s golden season
• Ranveer Singh and Jiiva – and their game attempt to approximate Kapil Dev and Krishnamachari Srikkanth
• The film not setting the context for the 1983 World Cup
• The lack of a genuine bad guy – which makes the movie search for antagonists
• The factual inaccuracies in the movie – including a big faux pas in the final scene
• The movie explaining scenes way more than showing them through storytelling
• The cinematographic techniques – long-shots combined with close-ups and highlight reels
• The nationalistic tone that runs through the movie
• The Malayalam movie 1983, which takes a completely different approach to recreating the miracle of 1983
• The Indian cricket ecosystem’s inability to create cultural value and works of art

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)

Aditya Shrikrishna (@gradwolf)

Anantha (@anantha)

Related:

With Obvious Storytelling, ’83’ Is an Opportunity Lost to Show Underdog India’s Famous WC Victory – Tanul Thakur – The Wire

83 Loses Itself In The Excesses Of Euphoria – Rahul Desai – Film Companion

Lead image from here.

We made it to 100. Thanks to all our listeners, no matter if you've listened to one episode or stuck with us this long since 2018 for every one of them! We've enjoyed doing this for the last 3 years and wish to continue the rewarding endeavor.

To celebrate the century, we thought the film, the filmmaker and the guest must all be special. So we asked filmmaker Balaji Tharaneetharan to talk about a film by the director who's inspired him the most - Balu Mahendra. Aditya and Deepauk join Balaji Tharaneetharan to talk about Balu Mahendra's Sandhya Raagam (1989).

Balu Mahendra considered Veedu and Sandhya Raagam as his best films, two of his most uncompromising works. Balaji spoke about Sandhya Raagam, broke down some shots and moments from the film, his favorite scenes and what affected him the most. And the discussion wasn't confined to Sandhya Raagam. He talked to us about Balu Mahendra, what makes the director-cinematographer a singular Indian filmmaker, how he once visited the director when he was filming and what struck him the most, and other such anecdotes. Balaji also talked about his dream to do away with digital and make at least one movie using film.

A big thanks to Balaji Tharaneetharan for joining us for this episode.

Related links:

Sandhya Raagam on Youtube

Our director series on Balaji Tharaneetharan - Episode 1 and Episode 2

Our episode on Balu Mahendra's Veedu

One of our listeners think it would be a good idea for us to talk about the 2006 Chimbu Deven's historic-fiction "Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi".

We too think this is a great idea. 23am Pulikesi is one of the best comedies of Tamil cinema in the last 20 years featuring Vadivelu, Nassar, Ilavarasu, Sriman, Thambi Ramaiah, Manobala and many others.

We have Anantha, Ashoka and Rajiv touch upon the film, its comedy, the performances, the homage it pays to its predecessor: Uthama Puthiran, how it could be a modern office-drama masquerading as a period-piece and several other things.

ps: Rajiv has his own crime-fiction podcast on Spotify named "Detective Mathimaran". You can listen to it here.

Sapta Saagaradaache Ello - Side B team is back and this time we have director Hemanth M. Rao and actor/singer Chaithra J. Achar joining us. She plays Surabhi in this follow up to SSE Side A. Side B looks at the life of Manu (Rakshit Shetty) and Priya (Rukmini Vasanth) a decade after their tragic love story seemingly ended. We travel with these star crossed characters as Manu grapples with life without Priya after getting out of prison, his tryst with Surabhi and the inability to move on from the strongest love of his life.

We talk everything in this podcast - Chaithra's audition for Surabhi, the staging, colours and lenses used, the progression and inner selves of the three characters, some anecdotes and happy accidents from the filming and also broach the subject of stalking. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Hemanth M. Rao

Chaithra J. Achar

Edited by Anantha

Listen to our episode on Side A with Hemanth and Subha Rao here.

Nithilan Saminathan returns after Kurangu Bommai with a bigger canvas and a bigger star. His talents are still visible, refined even, but his latest film with Vijay Sethupathi in and as Maharaja started a discourse about rape-revenge genre in cinema, gratuitous violence, depiction of sexual abuse, and the conspicuous choice of Vairamuthu as lyricist.

Aditya joins Deepauk and regular guest Subha Rao to talk about what irked them about the film, what they liked, and where Tamil cinema must do better. And how the audience reaction in the theatres didn't inspire much confidence. The discussion contains spoilers.

Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Deepauk

Subha Rao

Link to Subha's opinion piece on the film in The News Minute: https://www.thenewsminute.com/flix/opinion-vijay-sethupathi-film-maharaja-is-an-example-of-how-not-to-depict-violence-on-screen

 

The gang takes a little trip to the 80's Malayalam nostalgia by revisiting Chithram. We're joined on this pod by writer editor extraordinaire @supriyan to cover a seminal moment in the history of Malayalam cinema, Mohanlal, and the film's director Priyadarshan.

Big thanks to Supriya for making the time out to talk with us! You can watch the film here, listen to that lovely Neha Nair rendition of Eeran Megham, and take a trip down memory lane with Charithram Enniloode as well.

Continuing with our Director focus on Vetri Maaran, we talk about his 2018 film Vada Chennai. Not only mythical in its approach but also somewhat mythical in its inception, making, release etc considering the talk about the film started in the early 2010s and the film finally released in October 2018. We are not done with it yet. The sequels are coming. Or so one hopes.

Bonus: We have a special guest joining us later in the episode - actress Aishwarya Rajesh who plays Padma in the film. She talks about her role, her audition and the stellar career she has had so far. Listen on.

Aishwarya Rajesh Interview from 45:45 minutes.

Comedy and romantic comedy is thriving in Telugu cinema. It's not the case with other industries of similar size. This year, cinema theatres briefly opened before the second wave of the pandemic in India and a small film that no one saw coming made a huge splash. It became one of the biggest hits critically and commercially. Maybe it was the timing, maybe it was the nature of the film or the absolute abandon with which it was made, the audiences couldn't have enough of it. It is indeed Anudeep KV's Jathi Ratnalu, a comedy that pushes the genre in every fashion, may it be the dark part of it or the silly. Jathi Ratnalu is streaming on Amazon Prime.

The film stars Naveen Polishetty, Rahul Ramakrishna, Priyadarshi, Faria Abdullah, Murli Sharma et al. Aditya and Anantha are joined by writer, director, actor Rahul Ravindran. Rahul made one of the best romantic comedies in recent times - Chi La Sow - for which he won the National Award for Best Original Screenplay. We talked about our favorite sequences from the film, why comedy and romcom are doing great in Telugu cinema, Naveen's career arc so far, whether the film translates well for non-Telugu audiences and more.

Listen on.

In this episode we dive into Raaja’s most ambitious album - Thiruvasagam in Symphony. We discuss the historical origins and similarities between the 2 schools of music that Raaja consciously combines, breakdown elements in each of the songs, and address the need for humility when engaging in the critique of such attempts.

Topics Covered:

Initial listening experience and how it has evolved over time

What is an oratorio and how did the form evolve?

What is the form of the Thevaram tradition and what does it bring to the album?

How Raaja combines the two forms as part of the album

Bouquets, brickbats, and the hollowness of both when it comes to TiS

Participants:

Mahesh

Deepauk

Bala Chidambaram

Musical References:

St.Matthew's Passion

Raaja talks about the forms laid out for us by his predecessors and his intent of creating TiS

a clip of Hariprasad Chaurasia

Handel's Messiah

Pannum pathamezhum

Thalaye nee vanagaai

Insert part about criticisms from Raaja

Putril Vaazh

The Cabal dissects a procedural and debates privacy, potential for scams and the state of personal data in India through the lens of the 2014 Tamil thriller Thegidi.

The cabal turn nocturnally romantic and commit sacrilege by comparing this episode’s film Nila to Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Watch the movie on Netflix before getting started.

The cabal watched  Aadhalaal Kaadhal Seiveer and came out with different opinions. Director Suseenthiran has taken a done-to-death college romance and lead it down a slightly different path which culminates in a well-aimed-kick-to-the-balls ending. Note to the listeners:  Please do watch the movie to understand the discussion better. The movie is available on Youtube, hotstar and many other platforms.

Hello! In this episode, Deepauk, Anantha and Aditya talk about Roby Varghese Raj's Kannur Squad starring Mammootty, Rony David Raj, Azees Nedumangad, Kishore and others. The film is a thriller based on a real squad of police officers who are tasked with the toughest cases.

The film is very similar to last year's Kuttavum Shikshayum directed by Rajeev Ravi and H Vinoth's Tamil film Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru. Both the films, like Kannur Squad, feature a team of police officers operating beyond their familiar turf, traveling to different parts of the country in search of criminals on the run. We also look at how the films stack up and what they do differently with familiar premise.

We also talk about Mammootty who is having a terrific late innings in his career and a particularly great 2023 with Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam (check out our episode on the film), Kannur Squad and Jeo Baby's Kaathal The Core that is currently in theatres.

Participants:

Deepauk

Anantha

Aditya

Edited by Anantha.

This week, the cabal tackles a film we had some trouble classifying; in the end we decided Anukokunda Oka Roju is either a "suspenseful comedy" or "just a comedy. Despite the genre issues, we all thought the film was worth a watch and employed interesting storytelling techniques. The film can be viewed with subtitles on Youtube

The gang got together to discuss another instant classic from the Malayalam film world this year - Virus. Huge ensemble cast, complicated issue, and a number potential issues that could've derailed the movie and yet it is pulled off with such elan. A strong recommend from the crew!

 The cabal had the wonderful opportunity to converse about the film with @chinmayi the voice of @trishtrashers for our Valentine's special on 96. Popular columnist and friend of the podcast @KrupaGe also joins us on this episode. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. 

The year for Tamil cinema hasn't been all that great so far but then comes along a film like Vinayak Chandrasekaran's Good Night.

A superb character study and exploration of dynamics, the film-also written by Vinayak-stars Manikandan, Ramesh Thilak, Meetha Raghunath, Balaji Sakthivel, Raichel Rebecca among others.

It also stars stand up comedian, actor, writer Jagan Krishnan who joined us for this episode to talk about the experience of auditioning, working in the film and what he thought about the various character dynamics in the film. He also shared some anecdotes while at it. Listen on.

You can find links to Jagan's work and information and tickets for his tour that's coming up here.

The Malayalam film referenced in the episode is Vadakkunokkiyantram.

Participants:

Deepauk

Anantha

Jagan

Edited by Deepauk.

We hit a half century! In The Other Banana's 50th episode, Anantha and Aditya talk to Hemanth Rao, director of Kavaludaari, the 2019 Kannada film.

Kavaludaari is one of the latest entrants in Indian cinema's film noir. It combines the genre's trademark techniques to tell a compelling mystery story that spans decades. Director Hemanth Rao talks to us about the film, the challenges he faced in its making and his career in general.

 The cabal finally decided to sit down and wrestle with Super Deluxe this past weekend. We were ably aided in this quest by @NadikaNadja as we dove inextricable deeper and deeper into the universe created by Thiagarajan Kumararaja. While we've all tried to come to terms with what we experienced, I think we'll all be either watching the film in the theaters again or on some streaming platform as soon as it is available!

Big thanks to Nadika for joining us! Look forward to everyone's feedback and having an open discussion with our listeners on their thoughts.

In this episode, Madhumita, who recently directed the wonderful KD (a) Karuppudurai joins us for a chat. We had asked her what's that one film she'd love to talk about and she chose Majid Majidi's 1997 film Children of Heaven, a film that turned her towards a filmmaking career. Madhumita chats with Aditya about the film and on topics ranging from her film KD, directing and writing children, on Satyajit Ray, Anjali, Asghar Farhadi and more. 

You can find Aditya's review of KD (a) Karuppudurai here. The film is streaming on Netflix.

At The Other Banana Podcast, we begin another series on Director Mysskin. Unlike the earlier director series we'll be delving into a handful of what we consider important or landmark films of the director, not all of them.

The series starts with Mysskin's 2011 thriller Yuddham Sei starring Cheran, Dipa Shah, Jayaprakash, YG Mahendran, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan et al. It has music and score by K, who had joined us in our podcast for one of his films, Annayum Rasoolum. A lot of ideas Mysskin's films would grapple with found a winning combination here and therefore the decision to start with Yuddham Sei.

Joining Aditya and Ashoka is independent journalist Ashameera Aiyappan. If you follow Tamil cinema closely enough, you couldn't have missed her reviews and interviews. She was previously with Cinema Express where she continues as a columnist.

Listen on.

 As part of our #GRCA series on romantic comedies the gang discussed the decidedly middling Kannada film Katheyondu Shuruvagithe. Listen, and hopefully it will get you in the mood for romance as we have better films coming up for discussion! 

Episode Trigger Warning: Suicide After a long break, we are back with our Director Series on Malayalam  auteur Padmarajan. This one is on his 1986 film Deshadanakkili  Karayarilla starring Shari, Karthika, Urvashi and Mohanlal.  Deshadanakkili  Karayarilla might be one of the popular mainstream films in the context  of any language, with big stars, but it is also one of the earliest  Indian films to talk about a lesbian relationship, confronting the world  of queer subjects and the hardships the LGBTQ+ community faces in  public and private spaces, what it means to be queer in the confines and  threat of heteronormativity and how this subtext can be approached directly with formal elements of cinema while remaining a film that's  about female companionship at the surface level. For this episode Aditya is joined by two guests - Darshana Sreedhar Mini,  Asst. Professor at University of Wisconsin - Madison's Department of Communication Arts and Affiliate - Gender and Women's Studies, Center  for South Asia and Center for Visual Cultures. Our second guest is Rajashree Raju, Board Member of Kerala based LGBTQI+ welfare  organization and activist group Queerala. She's been associated with the organization since 2016. Here is the link to watch the film on Youtube. Unfortunately there are no  subtitles but it is worth watching even without it as the cinematic elements make sure the subtext is eloquently conveyed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHaQY1xgac4 Here is a link to the book Unruly Figures: Queerness, Sex Work, and the  Politics of Sexuality in Kerala (Decolonizing Feminisms) by Navaneetha Mokkil that has a chapter on the film and is discussed in the episode.

Back in January Adithya and Deepauk discussed The Family Man with series writer Suman and actress extraordinaire Devadarshini about season 1 and the impending release of season 2. 

Topics Covered:

- Writing for the longer form and influences

- Choices made to create a truly pan-Indian show and how the politics play out

- Casting for season 2 and how the South Indian supporting cast was pulled in

- The early stages of Devadarshini's career on TV and how they came about

- Why have the dynamics of 

- What can we expect in Season 2? (NO SPOILERS!)

To restore parity after discussing an old Kamal Haasan film we thought we must do a Rajinikanth film. Ok, that's not the reason but we felt this Rajinikanth film must be discussed.

This is 1978 and Rajinikanth's early years in Tamil cinema. It's the year he stamped his authority and signaled the coming of a legend of Indian cinema. Mullum Malarum, directed by Mahendran with cinematography by Balu Mahendra and music by Ilaiyaraaja had Rajinikanth, Shoba, Sarath Babu and Jayalaxmi. The film was based on a novel by Uma Chandran. A seminal film in not just the crew's and Rajinikanth's careers but to Tamil cinema itself, the film informed the direction Tamil cinema took from there on and also colored the future characters played by the superstar.

To talk about all that and more we invited two of the biggest fans of the film. Shakila Zamboulingame, more popularly known by her account 1916tamilcinema on Instagram which contains some of the most original takes on everything Tamil cinema. Joining her is journalist Kavitha Muralidharan who is participating in our podcast for the third time.

Participants:

Aditya

Anantha

Shakila Zamboulingame

Kavitha Muralidharan

Edited by ABVan

We are back with an episode on a Telugu film after quite sometime. In this episode Max, along with Amrita and Krupa Ge, talk about Shiva Nirvana's 2017 debut directorial Ninnu Kori starring Nani, Nivetha Thomas and Aadhi Pinisetty.

 We couldn't get everyone together when Kaala released and published a blogpost instead. With Petta releasing, we wanted to ensure we did not repeat the same. So we hauled in everyone last weekend and some of us had pretty diverse opinions in this impromptu discussion on the film. We cover everything from the film references to the politics of the movie in the discussion! 

Swaroop RSJ and Naveen Polishetty get together to make a truly rollicking detective/suspense caper that is equal parts film noir and comedy, a mix that's as diabolical as it is fun.

In our fifty first episode, @maxdavinci and Aditya are joined by film critic Hemanth CR to talk about Swaroop RSJ directed Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya, a film starring (and co written by) Naveen Polishetty, Shruti Sharma et al.

We return with a Telugu film, a massive hit from 2022. Just when we thought only male star driven, machismo action films could do well in theatres, we had films based on romance with author backed pairs work their charm at the box office. One was Thiruchitrambalam. The other was Sita Ramam directed by Hani Raghavapudi.

Sita Ramam stars Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur, two stars made to glisten the screen. In this episode Aditya joins Sal of Salandthebadpun on Twitter and our returning guest Amrita to talk about the film, how the romance works with the help of the actors' charm and great looks, the set and costume design, the casting of Rashmika and the way her character is written. We also talk about the fragmented politics of the film, muted but always grating in the background.

Participants:

Aditya

Sal

Amrita

Edited by Anantha.

The Lewd Cabal discuss Dileesh Pothen and Shyam Pushkaran's 2017 stunner Thondimuthalum Dhriksaakshiyum. We arrive at some reasons why these 'slices of life' are hard to execute and potentially hide away interpretations from all viewers. Also covered is the near-perfect marrying of form and function across all of the technical aspects of the film.

The film that made Anushka Shetty a trailblazer and a legitimate superstar in the South. A film so mad, so crazy and so much going for it that you cannot take your eyes off it even if you'd cower just a little bit. Kodi Ramakrishna's Arundhati is a legendary film in Telugu cinema but even its very existence is couched in legends as Hemanth Kumar CR tells us in this podcast with anecdote after anecdote. Joining him are Max and Yamini. Listen on.

Two of us take a walk down memory lane with author, filmmaker, and film studies professor Dr. Swarnavel Easwaran to discuss AVM Productions' cult hit Antha Naal. Featuring (then) rising star Sivaji Ganesan, Pandari Bai, and screenwriter Javert Seetharaman in a crucial role.

Dr.Swarnavel's book Madras Studios is a great primer of the studio system that existed in Thamizh cinema at the time and his film Kattumaram starring Mysskin is in the festival circuit garnering acclaim. His article on the cinematography and poetics of 1950s Tamil cinema (in particular Maruti Rao the cinematographer for Antha Naal) resulted in a shot from Antha Naal gracing the cover of Screen - one of the foremost film studies journals in the world. (Please email us if you would like a copy)

We thank Dr.Swarnavel profusely for sparing time to connect with us. It was a particularly insightful and informative discussion on the politics and technicalities of cinema of the period. We hope you enjoy listening and let us know what you think!

Hello. In the latest episode we visit one of the best films of 2023, SU Arunkumar's Chithha starring Siddharth, Sahasra Shree, Aafiya Tasneem, Nimisha Sajayan, Anjali Nair and others.

Some trigger warnings might apply and this is a spoiler filled discussion as the film deals with child sexual abuse. We have two special guests joining Aditya in this episode.

S. Poorvaja is a journalist with The Hindu and has extensively covered and reported stories related to Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. Some are linked below.

Sannuthi Suresh works with Tulir Centre for the Prevention and Healing Child Sexual Abuse and is a psychotherapist. We talk about how the film portrays a sensitive issue, how much it gets right about the functioning of law, police investigations, the healing process, the POCSO case proceedings and more.

Participants:

Aditya

Poorvaja

Sannuthi Suresh

Some POCSO stories reported by Poorvaja

POCSO: a case study

After recent case of sexual misconduct, spotlight on need for child protection policy in schools

A spate of sexual misconduct charges is rocking Chennai’s schools

Subha Rao's interview of Siddharth and SU Arunkumar

Baradwaj Rangan's interview of SU Arunkumar

The Cabal addresses two primary criticisms leveled at podcasts - just a bunch of guys letting their friends speak for too long - by inviting some special guests to talk about Arjun Reddy; one of the most polarizing Telugu films of 2017. Much thanks to our special guests Krupa , Ranjani and Ideallaedi! Music from Sethu, as a precursor to Bala's slated remake of Arjun Reddy.

In this episode we dive into one of the first true fusions of Carnatic and western classical music to come out of India - Ilaiyaraaja's 1986 independent album How To Name It. We discuss the context for the album and what may have been Raaja's artistic intent in attempting this album. Additionally we dive deep in to 2-3 specific pieces and what Raaja has been able to achieve in terms of composition there.

Topics Covered:

What was perceived as fusion at the time How To Name It was released?

A detailed breakdown of the title track and what it achieves in terms of melding the Carnatic and Western classical forms

What is fugue and why did Raaja choose this form for a piece in the album?

What was Raaja's artistic intent in pursuing this effort? How has the album panned out in an overall evaluation and would it be different if done now?

Participants:

Mahesh

Deepauk

Bala Chidambaram

Musical References

East meets West

Veedu BGM

Simhendra Madhyamam

Shanmugapriya

Marainthirunthu Paarkum

Raajathi Raaja

Kaathal Kasakkuthayya

Art of fugue

The How To Name It Album

Image courtesy Karthik Srinivasan for Vijay TV

Other Vetri Maaran films we talked about in the series:

- Vada Chennai ft Aishwarya Rajesh

- Visaranai

- Aadukalam

- Polladhavan

In our final episode in the Vetri Maaran series, we are joined by lawyer and fellow film fan @subjudiced (https://twitter.com/subjudiced) to discuss how Vetri Maaran weaves the personal stories of Poomani's Vekkai into a tapestry of social commentary. The film spurred a discussion on some of the grave injustices that have been meted out to the Dalit communities through the poor allocation/misappropriation of what is guaranteed to them by law.

Once again, an early contender for one of the best films of the year comes from Malayalam cinema. The Great Indian Kitchen, written and directed by Jeo Baby, filmed by Salu K Thomas and edited by Francies Louis hit the exclusive Malayalam OTT platform Neestream last month. Starring Nimisha Sajayan and Suraj Venjaramoodu, a film rich in visual flourish, edited with finesse that uses pure imagery to convey its story, theme and politics, The Great Indian Kitchen hits right where it hurts. 

It was a great pleasure to have director Jeo Baby and cinematographer Salu K Thomas join Aditya and Deepauk to talk about the film, how it was scripted, shot and edited and what were the influences behind the making of this film. Jeo and Salu touch on several things like having a script with editing patterns written down, improvised dialogues, finding the right house for filming, the influences of KG George's Adaminte Vaariyellu (1984) and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Elippathayam (1981). Listen on.

You can find Adaminte Vaariyellu on Youtube here and Elippathayam here.

In this episode, we talk about SS Rajamouli's 2010 action-comedy "Maryada Ramanna". The Cabal talks about everything that felt right in the movie and few that didn't. Here we go. Maryada Ramanna is inspired by Buster Keaton's "Our Hospitality". You can check it out on Youtube.

Thallumaala is one of a kind cinema to come out of India this year. A complex screenplay (or storyboard?) structure, a filmmaking style that takes giant leaps of faith and a great rhythmic sense to the narrative coupled with its music make it an immense watch. You watch it and you want to watch it again all over again. The film is written by Muhsin Parari and Ashraf Hamza and stars Tovino Thomas, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Shine Tom Chacko, Lukman, Swathi Das Prabhu who all form a part of a whole winning ensemble.

To talk about Thallumaala we have special guest Uday Bhatia, writer and film critic at Mint Lounge. Joining him are Aditya and Deepauk. 

You should also check out Uday's book Bullets Over Bombay: Satya and the Hindi Film Gangster, on the story behind the making of Ram Gopal Verma's Satya and its effects on Hindi cinema that lasted more than two decades.

Participants:

Aditya

Deepauk

Uday Bhatia

Edited by Ashoka