Khandaan- A Bollywood Podcast

Asim and Amrita are joined by Pakistani drama reviewer Sophia Q to discuss the opening episodes of Mitti De Baway. Does the much-anticipated pairing of Mahira Khan and Wahaj Ali deliver? We get into the three timelines, the performances, the striking production design and the amount of slow motion.

The longer conversation also takes in Pakistani dramas more broadly, from subtitles and international audiences to the shows Sophia thinks are worth watching.

Contains spoilers for the opening two episodes.

There’s a video version of this episode on the Khandaan Podcast YouTube channel. If you watch it and enjoy it, please give it a like. It helps the channel grow and lets us know you’d like more conversations like this.

Support Khandaan and watch our full video episodes at Patreon.com/KhandaanPodcast.

Three films arrived in the same week, so Asim, Amrita and Sujoy have plenty to discuss.

Sujoy thinks Kunal Khemu’s Vibe is one of Bollywood’s best films of the year. Amrita appreciates Khemu’s distinct comic voice but wonders whether the movie occasionally feels like a showcase for its writer, director, producer and star.

Asim reviews Netflix’s Lust Stories 3 and asks why four acclaimed filmmakers have delivered an anthology that feels so strangely uniform.

The main review is Best of the Best, a South Asian college dance comedy starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. The hosts discuss girlhood, female friendship, colourism, diaspora identity, cultural gatekeeping and the importance of joyful South Asian stories. Sujoy, meanwhile, remains unconvinced by the film’s dancing, college rivalries and Hasan Minhaj.

Also: Preity Zinta, Bollywood music rights, Kunal Khemu versus the YRF Spy Universe and Asim inventing yet another Indian celebrity.

Follow Khandaan on YouTube and Patreon for video episodes, bonus conversations and more.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and too many new releases

00:26 Four films arrived in one week

03:21 Vibe review

06:04 Is Vibe a “boys’ movie”?

07:02 Kunal Khemu’s directorial voice

09:34 Preity Zinta returns

12:08 AI terrorists and competent comedy

14:03 Vibe versus the YRF Spy Universe

15:02 Should Kunal Khemu direct other actors?

16:24 Asim invents another Indian celebrity

18:01 Lust Stories 3 review

20:21 Four acclaimed directors, one uniform style

22:32 The relationship problems of Lust Stories

24:16 Kiran Rao’s contribution

25:38 Vikramaditya Motwane’s contribution

26:56 Shakun Batra’s contribution

28:02 Vishal Bhardwaj’s contribution

30:00 The strangely sanitised intimacy

31:32 Why Lust Stories is not for Asim

32:59 A growing cultural disconnect

33:32 Best of the Best review

36:04 Girlhood and complicated friendships

39:32 Why Sujoy could not connect with it

42:07 Can Maitreyi Ramakrishnan dance?

43:23 A joyful South Asian movie

44:11 Diaspora culture versus Indian culture

45:28 Why all group activities are dorky

45:57 The outsider experience

46:55 South Asian identity beyond India

47:22 Sisterhood and brown male characters

50:33 Maitreyi versus Hasan Minhaj

52:23 Identity, history and speaking honestly

54:39 Popularity, aggression and female friendship

56:15 Watching the movie with Sofia

57:09 The cost of licensing Bollywood music

59:28 The film’s best dance joke

01:00:18 Choreography and campus culture

01:03:55 Why Asian stories struggle to survive

01:07:19 The Best of the Best soundtrack

01:08:45 Game the Netflix algorithm

01:09:05 Where to find Khandaan

Watch the full video and support Khandaan on Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/khandaanpodcastWe revisit English Babu Desi Mem, the 1996 Shah Rukh Khan film that gives us three SRKs and somehow still leaves us wanting less.

Sujoy chose English Babu Desi Mem. Amrita would like to know why.

In this episode of Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast, Asim, Amrita and Sujoy revisit one of the strangest films in Shah Rukh Khan’s 1990s filmography. Loosely remade from the Clark Gable and Sophia Loren film It Started in Naples, it features Shah Rukh in a triple role, Sonali Bendre as a cabaret dancer raising his nephew and a plot that appears to abandon logic almost immediately.

We discuss Shah Rukh’s wigs, accents and aggressively broad performance, Sonali Bendre’s place in 1990s Bollywood, the film’s peculiar ideas about British Indians, Sujoy’s enduring love for the soundtrack and whether the voiceovers, flashbacks and abrupt ending suggest that the production simply ran out of money.

Is this really one of Shah Rukh Khan’s worst films? And more importantly, should Sujoy ever be allowed to choose the movie again?

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Chapters

00:00 Sujoy arrives unprepared
02:27 Why did he choose English Babu Desi Mem?
03:45 Shah Rukh Khan’s only triple role
05:12 Remaking It Started in Naples
09:16 The film’s extraordinary SRK introduction
13:24 Diwali becomes a fatal disaster
15:14 The child-rearing gets increasingly disturbing
17:17 Sonali Bendre enters the story
19:34 Revisiting Sonali Bendre’s career
24:17 Is Shah Rukh actually terrible in this?
25:35 Did the production run out of money?
28:35 Bhima Khalasi and committed villainy
30:20 The child who was supposed to carry the film
33:35 Sujoy defends the soundtrack
35:22 The troubling history behind the songs
37:36 Have Bollywood item songs disappeared?
41:06 What did we actually enjoy?
42:45 Ranking Shah Rukh Khan’s worst films
47:35 Sujoy’s final warning
49:23 Should listeners choose the next film?

Watch the full video version exclusively on Patreon: Khandaan on Patreon

Asim, Amrita and Sujoy
are finally back together for Episode 317, with two very different
movies on the agenda: Yash and Geetu Mohandas’ Toxic,
and Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and Rashmika Mandanna in Cocktail
2.

Toxic leads us into
a surprisingly complicated conversation about masculinity, the female gaze,
sex, violence and whether Geetu Mohandas has actually smuggled something
interesting into a giant Yash mass movie... or whether Asim and Amrita are
giving the film far more credit than Sujoy thinks it deserves.

Then there’s Cocktail
2: part relationship drama, part Judaai, part Reddit AITA post. We discuss
Shahid Kapoor’s increasingly intense screen persona, Kriti and Rashmika, the
original Cocktail, and how Bollywood romance somehow went from grand
declarations of love to “tu meri phati hui T-shirt hai.”

Plus, Asim recommends Babitha
Singh Reporting, Amrita brings us Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, and your
listener questions take us into Bollywood’s sequel obsession, David Dhawan’s
retirement, Varun Dhawan’s career, whether the Khans will ever play
grandfathers, and what happened to the stars who emerged in the 2000s.

And we end with a wonderful email from longtime listener
Pragati, who has been with Khandaan since the Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor episodes
and, most importantly, would like slow motion to finally retire.



00:00 Amrita Is Late & Khandaan
Is Getting Older09:20 Toxic Review28:00 Toxic: Masculinity, Women
& the Female Gaze38:00 Are We Reading Too Much Into
Toxic?46:50 Yash, Kiara Advani &
Final Toxic Thoughts53:50 Bethlehem Kudumba Unit56:30 Babitha Singh Reporting1:02:00 Cocktail 2 Review1:07:00 Cocktail 2: AITA Meets Judaai1:11:00 What Happened to Shahid
Kapoor?1:17:00 Listener Questions:
Bollywood’s Best & Worst Sequels1:22:00 David Dhawan, Varun Dhawan
& the Khans as Grandpas1:27:00 What Happened to Bollywood’s
2000s Stars?1:34:00 Email & the
Khandaan Community1:39:00 Wrap-Up

🎧 Support Khandaan and get exclusive episodes and bonus content:⁠Khandaan Patreon⁠📺 Watch our video episodes:⁠Khandaan Podcast on YouTube

🎧 BONUS ON PATREON: This week we're also reacting to the completely bonkers trailer for Yash's Toxic. Is it spectacular maximalist action, Manosphere: The Movie, or are Asim and Sujoy simply too old for this shit?

Watch the full video reaction exclusively on Khandaan Patreon

Asim and Sujoy catch up on the latest releases, starting with Awarapan 2 and the enduring appeal of Emraan Hashmi before turning to Rajkumar Santoshi's Batwara 1947 and its surprisingly nuanced take on Partition.

Then they attempt to survive David Dhawan's Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, which raises the bigger question of whether Bollywood has forgotten how to make mainstream comedy. Plus: Varun Dhawan's identity crisis, Asim's inexplicable rage at Manish Paul, and why Maa Vaapas Aunga turned out to be one of the most moving films Asim has seen recently.

Timestamps:

02:30 — Awarapan 212:11 — Batwara 194723:36 — Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai33:38 — Maa Wapas Aunga39:07 — Cocktail 2 & what's next40:21 — Toxic on Patreon

💬 Join the conversation:Do you think Awarapan 2 earns its nostalgia? Has Sunny Deol's recent filmography hurt Batwara 1947? And when was the last genuinely great mainstream Bollywood comedy?

🎧 Support Khandaan and get exclusive episodes and bonus content:Khandaan Patreon

📺 Watch our video episodes:Khandaan Podcast on YouTube

#Awarapan2 #EmraanHashmi #Batwara1947 #SunnyDeol #VarunDhawan #Bollywood #KhandaanPodcast