The Long Take

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...

January hasn’t even ended yet and Netflix India is already back to regularly scheduled programming. Mission Majnu —the streamer’s Republic Day offering—is real bottom of the barrel stuff. We discuss the Sidharth Malhotra and Rashmika Mandanna-starrer “spy” film’s inept plotting, grating performances, and its questionable politics. We also wonder what qualifications one needs in Bollywood to b...

Drishyam 2 —the Hindi remake of the hit Malayalam film—is now out on Amazon Prime Video, which means that it’s time for us to re-enter the morally dubious world of Ajay Devgn’s Vijay Salgaonkar. We discuss the sequel’s shorter run time, and whether that makes it a better viewing experience than the first film. We also talk about Tabu’s reduced role, the deliberately convoluted plotting, and Akshay...

We apologise for reminding you that Phone Bhoot exists. We discuss the horror comedy’s complete lack of scares and laughs, and wonder how it could attract name actors such as Katrina Kaif, Ishaan Khatter, and Siddhant Chaturvedi. But more mystifying is how producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani have managed to get away with ripping off Ghostbusters iconography without anybody suing them. Alon...

To kick off the new year, we’re listing down our top 10 films of 2022. Our lists span from an old-fashioned musical to a documentary that has the year’s most astonishing scene. We’ve also got two politically-charged French movies about entirely different issues—and for the first time in the history of this podcast, a shared number one. For those looking for deeper appreciation, check out the full...

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery , Rian Johnson’s follow-up to his hit 2019 whodunnit, is further proof that the filmmaker remains unparalleled at genre deconstructions. We discuss the film’s cleverly-plotted mystery, the topical satire, and Daniel Craig’s central performance as the detective Benoit Blanc. We also wonder if Johnson’s eat-the-rich commentary was sharp enough to truly cut through t...

Avatar: The Way of Water has some of the most stunning visual effects ever put on the big screen, but is that enough to make up for the thin writing? We discuss director James Cameron’s tendency to lean on tropes, the film’s relaxed second half, and the cutting-edge high frame rate technology. We also praise Cameron’s rare ability to stage large-scale action, and speculate about the franchise’s fu...

Director Antoine Fuqua seems an unsuitable match for Emancipation , the new Will Smith movie, now out on Apple TV+. We discuss the film’s style-over-substance approach to serious themes, Smith’s undeniable star power, and its inability to flesh out its protagonist despite being a one-man show. — Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar , The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating...

Qala —the new Netflix film by Bulbbul  director Anvitaa Dutt—is so obsessed with superficial beauty that it forgets to peel beneath the surface. A psychological drama about jealousy and ambition, the movie is a poorly performed, disjointed mess that disrespects the audience’s intelligence and betrays its own themes. — Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar , The Long Take is fully bootst...

Kantara , the Kannada-language blockbuster—now playing on Amazon Prime Video after major theatrical success—is a hyper-masculine celebration of bad behaviour. But more problematically, it’s a movie that undermines its own themes. Instead of examining environmentalism, caste discrimination, and authoritarianism, Kantara prefers showing you two burly guys fighting in the mud. — Hosted by Akhil Arora...