Queen is Dead - A Film, TV and Culture Podcast

Amartya and Dhruv had been desperately waiting for Spike Lee's latest film to release, only because they wanted an excuse to go back and revisit Akira Kurosawa's incredibly influential 1963 classic, "High and Low." This episode -- promoted as an extended deep dive into Spike Lee's exasperatingly absurd (mostly in an amusingly bad way) "Highest 2 Lowest" -- is, in actuality, very much an excuse for...

Long gone are the days when Dhruv and Sanjeet talked about QID not being a platform for ranting about films we hate. What was supposed to merely be a (fun) category addition to our Best of 2025 (So Far) List took about an hour of discussion, which made our already super-sized episode even more (probably unbearably) long. So Cris -- who proudly claims this to be "his episode -- has dutifully e...

In this very special episode, Dhruv welcomes back Prakhar Patidar (previously appeared on the "All We Imagine as Light" ep!) to discuss the Taiwanese New Wave of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s because, well, they both love its particularly sad, introspective, and -- yes, that dreaded word -- SLOW -- depiction of loneliness that engulfs every fabric of one's being as they stumble aroun...

It's another Ari Aster movie discussion -- something we didn't think we would do after our "Beau Is Afraid" experience. BUT -- "Eddington" is something different for Aster, even though it does (justifiably for some, not for others) devolve into something of a "Beau Is Afraid"-style paranoid nightmare. It's his brand of absurdly cruel personal neurosis funneled through the cruelly absurd America of...

Hello, Hello, Hello! In this new episode, Amartya, Sanjeet, and Cris discuss the new Lokesh Kanagaraj directorial starring Super Star Rajinikanth. They talk about the discourse surrounding the film and ask - is the hype around the film to blame for the film's failure, or is it more to do with generic writing? Listen to them also briefly discuss (read: eviscerate) the new YRF Spyverse addition,...

Dhruv and Cris follow Laura Dern's Sandy (from "Blue Velvet") out of her cheerfully dreamy Lumberton suburbia into the -- at first, hellishly garish, then, coldly desolate wilderness -- of the American West, trying to make sense of how Sandy (now called Lula) tries to keep her passionate romance with Sailor (played by Nicolas Cage) alive as the reality around her threatens to burn do...

Hello, Hello, Hello In the latest episode of QID, Dhruv invites the creator, Arjun Sivakumar , and regular guest-cum-host of the " Cinematic Liberties Podcast ", Ashwin Dev , to discuss one of the great filmic oddities of this year -- Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" (now available to rent/buy on digital platforms). Before talking about the film, the three of them talk about the "whack" legacy of th...

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No - It's (a new) QID Episode! Hello, Hello, Hello! In this new episode, Amartya & Sanjeet discuss James Gunn’s ‘Superman,’ currently playing in theatres. They compare his "sunny" interpretation of the superhero to Snyder’s grittier take (that both of them liked!), contemplating what (if anything) the DCU may have in store for them in the future. Do hit 'Follow' on S...

Hello, Hello, Hello, In this episode, "Past Lives" skeptics Cris (taking Dhruv's place) and Aryan invite "Past Lives" lover-for-life Tuhin Das ( @tuhin221b on Twitter ) to discuss and check the math(s), as it were, on director Celine Song's latest theatrical release, "Materialists." Listen to the full episode to hear where they agree—and largely disagree—on the effectiveness of Songs's writing and...

After stumbling through the industrial hellscapes of Pennsylvania and Victorian-era England, Dhruv, Cris, and Arijit find themselves -- somewhat miraculously -- in the town of Lynchian Lumberton. Here, there is no darkness - it's colorful and cheery in the way that only the most gorgeous of Technicolor dreams can be. Is it an illusion, genuine, or both? Listen to the full episode to hear them...

Hello, Hello, Hello, This is -- arguably -- the only sane discussion we have had on the "MI" franchise, courtesy -- the presence of Adithiyan and the special appearance of Mr. (Raj) Aryan -- but most of all the absence of "MI: I, 2 & III" moderator, Varun Bhakay. Dhruv, Cris & a surprisingly sober, sensible (and somewhat salty) Hemant are also there -- dueling it out about why, for some of...

Hello, Hello, Hello, Dhruv returns -- more out of necessity than choice -- to try and bring some semblance back to the "MI" ep discussions. He succeeds -- for about 40 minutes. Enter Amartya. Cue Varun losing his marbles (again). Cue Cris losing his marbles when trying to edit whatever happened after an in-depth discussion on the greatness of "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol." Spoilers, of cour...

Hello, Hello, Hello, A more than usually embittered Varun Bhakay "moderates" this episode in which everything from his recent inability to acquire a visa to visit Paris, his unconditional "love" for Canadians & Americans, and his even more obsessive love for absent host Dhruv Krishna Goyal are discussed as fellow vampire Hemant Ganti participates, sane Amartya Acharya exasperates, and insane C...

Dhruv and Cris take a minor detour from the endlessly mysterious world(s) of David Lynch to a somewhat more familiar one in their second (of they don't know how many) eps on David Lynch. And joining them is a returning guest, Arijit Paul, who is thankful to Lynch (especially his work in "Eraserhead") for not only inspiring him to pursue a career in (film) sound but also for validating his love for...

Dhruv and Cris are entering the endlessly mysterious world(s) of David Lynch for the first time (of many!) this year. And joining them, in his very first (QID) outing, is Devarsi Ghosh (@devarsighosh), a film journalist doubling as their Lynch guide for this trip to Lynch's nightmarish evocation of Philadelphia in his feature-length debut film, "Eraserhead" (1977). Before reaching there, however,...

It's here (again) - The type of episode we don't necessarily like to produce but really had to, just to convert the time wasted watching Dharmatic Entertainment's "Nadaaniyan" into something (hopefully) productive and cathartic! Cris, Dhruv, and Amartya try to make sense of Bollywood's sheer incompetence today and find (at least Cris does) a potential savior in Himesh Reshammiya, "Badass Ravikumar...

In this episode, Dhruv, Aryan, and Cris discuss their favorite Non-Indian (English & Foreign Language!) Films of The Year in the same format in which they discussed their Best Indian Films of 2024! Each of them selects not only their favorite film but also their favorite director, cinematographer, composer/sound designer, scriptwriter, editor, supporting and lead performers of the year! Two ne...

In what can be described as an episode exclusively inspired by the success of (and the subsequent backlash to) Sean Baker's "Anora" at this year's Academy Awards, Baker-fan Dhruv moderates also-Baker-fan Hemant and new-to-Baker's-films Cris' discussion about his latest film and the reception to it. Listen to the full episode to hear Hemant and Dhruv first discuss what they love about Baker's appro...

In what can be described as an episode exclusively inspired as a response to the exclusion of "Queer" and "Challengers" in this year's Academy Awards, Luca Guadagnino-devotee Cris invites spoilsport Dhruv to talk about the director's latest release "Queer" and how wonderfully it complements the director's wonderful "Call Me By Your Name." Listen to the full episode to hear Cris express his love to...

In this episode, Dhruv and Amartya invite Devi (@film.trance) and Adithiyan (@curioseradithiyan) to discuss their favorite Indian films of the year in the same format in which they discussed their Best of 2024 (So Far)! Each of them selects not only their favorite Indian film but also their favorite director, cinematographer, composer/sound designer, script writer, editor, supporting, and lead per...

Hello, Hello, Hello, In this bite-sized episode (relative to the episodes we have already released and will release in the coming month), Amartya and Varun discuss Vikramaditya Motwane's latest Netflix series, "Black Warrant," and why you should not only watch it but "savor it." Spoilers Galore! Follow our Instagram page: https://instagram.com/queenisdead.filmpodcast Do hit 'Follow' on Spotify if...

Hello, Hello, Hello, This is the second part of the discussion we had on Robert Eggers! Here, Dhruv – joined by the brain-melting and blood-sucking vampire, Varun, and his “spirited animal” friend, Hemant – tries to talk about Eggers’ latest horror film, “Nosferatu,” in relation to F. W. Murnau’s 1922 German Expressionist classic, and Werner Herzog’s existentially despairing 1979 remake of it. But...

Hello, Hello, Hello! In what is another one of our director retrospective episodes, Dhruv, Amartya, and Aryan (from America) talk about the 3 feature films directed by much-revered horror director Robert Eggers, whose latest film, “Nosferatu," just recently released this week in India! (We have a whole “Nosferatu" themed ep planned to be recorded and released in the coming week, which includes an...

Hello, Hello, Hello Dhruv and Amartya’s first foray into this type of episode – that we have consciously avoided up until now – comes courtesy of our new QID member and admin of our Twitter page ( https://x.com/qidpodcast ) – Cris ( https://x.com/limjaeseven ). Rather than simply bash films released this year that we unanimously hated, however, we’ve tried to talk constructively about a variety of...

Hello, Hello, Hello! In this new (but considerably delayed) episode, we talk about two films that approach the subject of talking differently -- "I Want to Talk" and "Meiyazhagan." ' I Want to Talk ,' directed by Shoojit Sircar and starring Abhishek Bachchan , continues the director's trend to push his films to the brink of becoming anti-dramas. C Prem Kumar's ' Meiyazhagan, ' on the other hand, i...