The Other Banana

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 funn...

We are back with a new director series! For a long time, we've been mulling about a series on acclaimed director Padmarajan, who's made some of the best Malayalam films of the 1980s and remains an important name in Malayalam cinema of that era.  We asked actress Kani Kusruti, the recent winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Biriyaani, what is a Malayala...

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 Varumayi...

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 fo...

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 cha...

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 frien...

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 anec...

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), t...

A new attempt at The Other Banana Podcast. We are taking two films  - an original and a remake or plagiarized version of the same, and discussing about the merits, demerits and memories associated with the two. In this episode, we talk about the Priyadarshan's 1997 Malayalam film Chandralekha starring Mohanlal, Sukanya, Pooja Batra, Innocent, Sreenivasan, Nedumudi Venu et al and the film it w...

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 associat...

In this episode we're joined by Dolly Kikon , Usham Rojio , and Anannya Baruah as we explore Nicholas Kharkongor's 2019 film Axone. The film is out on Netflix and we encourage everyone to watch! The film provides a great platform to understand some of the issues faced by people from the North East states as they migrate to cities like Delhi. However, the film misses the opportunity to have a serio...

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 ta...

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 Tr...

How about some nostalgia for 90s kids? @complicateur , @gradwolf and @ABVan come together to talk about the superhit cult favorite of all Tamil cinema fans and importantly, Captain Vijaykanth fans - written by Mani Ratnam & directed by K Subash in 1990 Chatriyan. This neatly cut film with a background score to die for is an important evolutionary cog in the genre of Tamil cop movies. Everythin...

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 Davi...

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 S...

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'...

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...

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...

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 gu...

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.

  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.

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...

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 o...

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.