The Long Take

Heart of Stone , Netflix’s latest franchise-starter, is a step up from the likes of Red Notice and The Gray Man . But it’s far too generic to recommend. We discuss the film’s rudimentary representation of something as complex as artificial intelligence, the thinly-written characters, and Alia Bhatt’s thankless role. We also talk about the action set pieces, the overly serious tone, and Netflix’s p...

The Long Take is doing its first ever retrospective episode! Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro turns 40 this week, and we rewatched the cult classic and discovered that it still holds up. We discuss our favourite scenes, the simmering anger under the film’s goofy surface, and appreciate the skill required to play a dead body on screen. We also talk about how difficult it is for a film to rewire the audience’s br...

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie divided us like no movie ever has on this podcast. Is it a sharp satire of patriarchy, or is it simply making the most obvious points about how unfair the world is for half the population? Is it an imaginative skewering of consumerism, or is a particularly annoying attempt at covert marketing? Is it another win for Gerwig, or a shockingly tone-deaf misstep? We discuss all thi...

Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s most political movie yet, and in many ways, among his most sobering. We discuss the film’s dialogue-heavy storytelling, the epic Trinity test sequence, the moral dilemma at its core, and Nolan’s deliberate artistic deviations from his past work. We also talk about the hourlong final act, which turns Oppenheimer into a wholly different experience, and make a feebl...

Kohrra , the new Netflix crime drama series co-created by Paatal Lok’s Sudip Sharma, is a grim experience that takes a character-first approach to its complex storytelling. We discuss the performances of Suvinder Vicky and Barun Sobti, the rich and textured world that the show is able to create, and the social commentary about Punjab that it offers in an unusually subtle way. We also talk about Sh...

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth film in the long-running franchise, is a bloated, overlong and ultimately empty experience. We discuss the film’s action-first plotting, abundance of cameos and references, and unsatisfying attempt at giving Harrison Ford an emotional send-off. We also talk about that ambitious ending, and unpack the film’s tendency to repeatedly undermine its most...

Sudhir Mishra’s Afwaah —now out on Netflix after a negligible theatrical run—feels like watching someone engage in a primetime TV “news debate” with themselves. We discuss Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s miscasting, Mishra’s convoluted approach to several important themes and ideas, and the movie’s complete failure as a genre exercise. We also do a post-mortem on the four films directed this year by like-mi...

Tiku Weds Sheru , the new rom-com/crime drama starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Avneet Kaur, sent us into an existential spiral. We wonder how Kangana Ranaut could make her film production debut with something as pedestrian as this, and come up with conspiracy theories for how Siddiqui and Prime Video would agree to associate themselves with this movie. We also talk about its jarring tonal shifts,...

Extraction 2 , the sequel to Netflix’s hit pandemic-era action movie Extraction , resurrects Chris Hemsworth’s black ops mercenary Tyler Rake for some more high-stakes action. We discuss the film’s by-the-numbers plot, but also praise its central extraction sequence, edited to appear as one 21-minute sequence. We also talk about the Russo brothers’ franchise-minded approach to everything they touc...

Bloody Daddy , the new action thriller film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and starring Shahid Kapoor, marks a new low for them both. It’s streaming for free on JioCinema, but audiences should demand money for surviving it. We discuss the film’s laughable John Wick and Jason Bourne ambitions, given Zafar and Kapoor’s sheer disinterest in doing the actual hard work to achieve good results. The action...

Director Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed—out now on Netflix in a badly mangled form—attempts to condense India’s pandemic experience into one location and a handful of characters. We discuss the filmmaker’s tendency to use his characters as a mouthpiece, his decision to present this movie in black and white, and his use of symbolism to capture the pandemic experience. We also list down the troubling cuts im...

Vikram Vedha, the Hindi-language remake of directors Pushkar and Gayatri’s Tamil-language original, pretends to be smarter than it actually is. And what it is is a loud, nonsensical actioner that has more in common with the KGF films than Heat. While Hrithik Roshan is having fun as the antihero Vedha, Saif Ali Khan is too bland as his foil, the murderous cop Vikram. We discuss the film’s complicat...

Ben Affleck’s Air —out now on Prime Video—is an old-fashioned Hollywood drama featuring charismatic performances and propelled by a smart script. We discuss how the film avoids coming across as an ode to corporate America, and how it uses the grammar of sports dramas to tell an enjoyable and earnest underdog story. We highlight the film’s best scenes, and wonder if its success could translate to a...

Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor play semi-humans in director Luv Ranjan’s baffling new film, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, now out on Netflix. We discuss the unbelievable plotting, contrived character motivations, and truly terrible visual aesthetic. How could something that reportedly cost ₹200 crore look this cheap? We also talk about the casual misogyny of the story, its reinforcing of traditional...

Two charming movie stars, a director with a unique voice, and as many as four high-profile writers couldn’t salvage the new Apple TV+ action rom-com Ghosted , starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. We discuss the film’s anonymous aesthetic, the nonsensical plot, and the worrying influence of the Russo brothers on big-budget streaming cinema. We also unpack Ghosted ’s pointless cameos, CGI environm...

Vikramaditya Motwane’s period drama series Jubilee —now streaming in full on Prime Video—is meant to be a loving homage to the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, but it often comes across as emotionally distant. We delve into the show’s fascination for backroom drama, personal betrayal, and behind-the-scenes politics. We also talk about the several pivotal moments that take place off-screen, and wonder w...

Director Hansal Mehta’s  Faraaz  takes a real-life incident that happened in Bangladesh and uses it to make a political statement about India. We discuss the film’s reliance on the “good Muslim trope”, and the odd choice to limit the internal debate to religion. We also talk about the film’s tonal irregularities, its archetypal characters, and wonder who the target audience for something like this...

Gaslight —the new Disney+ Hotstar mystery—pushes star Sara Ali Khan’s career to newer lows. As the wheelchair-bound ‘princess’ looking for her missing father, she’s painful to watch in this film, which has no idea what it wants to be. We discuss its dour tone, lack of visual playfulness, and consistently dull storytelling. We also talk about Hindi horror movies in general, and how director Pavan K...

HBO’s The Last of Us , based on the acclaimed video game of the same name, is an early contender for show of the year. We discuss the narrative deviations from the source material, its staunch loyalty to the game’s themes, and the episodic nature of the series. Along the way, we rave about the standout third episode, and speculate about the behind-the-scenes drama that led to original pilot direct...

Iratta , the new Malayalam-language thriller starring Joju George in a dual role, is on the surface a locked-room murder mystery about the investigation into a cop’s death. But after setting up its premise and presenting a tightly-wound story, it takes a left turn so jarring that it is never able to recover. We discuss this jaw-droppingly incoherent, movie-destroying sequence, the film’s admittedl...

Gulmohar , the new Disney+ Hotstar family drama, is to Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding what Kaante was to Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs —a knockoff that doesn’t really understand what made the original work in the first place. Overstuffed with characters and subplots, the film wastes talented performers such as Sharmila Tagore and Manoj Bajpayee on poorly written melodrama. We discuss the film’s...

Hotstar’s latest Indian remake of a popular international show— The Night Manager —is passable mainly because of the low bar that the streamer has set for itself. But then it went and shot itself in the foot by chopping the season into two parts. We compare the series to the original British version—both are based on John le Carré’s 1993 book—and discuss the performances of its lead actors: A...

Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle’s new movie, the period epic Babylon —starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and newcomer Diego Calva—isn't for everyone. And we have contrasting views about it, as well. We discuss Chazelle’s bravura filmmaking, and dissect his inner conflict about his chosen profession. We also wonder if the film’s disjointed, episodic structure does a disservice to it. Along t...

An Action Hero —the new Ayushmann Khurrana film, now out on Netflix—spends two full hours pretending to be smarter than it really is. It’s actually just a collection of tired satire, poorly-directed action scenes, and unoriginal thoughts about Bollywood and celebrity culture. We discuss the film’s problematic perspective, morally dubious ending, and pointless third-act twist. We also talk about di...

Shah Rukh Khan’s comeback film Pathaan is a huge swing for the fences, in more ways than one. We discuss the action-thriller’s convoluted plotting and wonky visual effects, but we also praise its larger political themes, and just how willing it is to push the envelope and subvert audience expectations while playing by the rules. We also talk about the franchise-building, John Abraham’s perfor...