Khandaan- A Bollywood Podcast

Drishyam 3: One Body, Too Many Twists?

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One body, three films, and a family that really needs a holiday.

Asim and Sujoy tackle Drishyam 3, its increasingly elaborate twists, Jaideep Ahlawat’s scene-stealing performance and Tabu’s sidelined storyline. We compare Vijay Salgaonkar with Georgekutty and ask whether this is finally the right place to end the story.

With Amrita away, we also catch up on Digger, Animals, Baby Do or Die, Runner and Awarapan 2, discuss Bollywood music through Komal Nahta’s interview with the Tips brothers, and take questions from our live audience. Can Koffee with Karan recapture its early magic? And is Shah Rukh Khan entering his Tom Cruise era?

Spoilers throughout the Drishyam discussion.

Timestamps

00:00 Livestream setup and technical chaos03:53 Welcome: Asim and Sujoy go live06:13 Drishyam 3: first impressions and increasingly wild twists12:41 Jaideep Ahlawat joins the chase14:44 Tabu and the missing emotional resolution18:03 Vijay Salgaonkar versus Georgekutty22:29 Unpacking the twists and reveals31:35 Do we really need Drishyam 4?39:32 Can Koffee with Karan bring back the magic?42:37 Our final Drishyam 3 verdicts43:45 Komal Nahta, the Tips brothers and Bollywood music51:15 Digger and Tom Cruise54:30 Animals and Ben Affleck as a director57:40 Film recommendations from the live audience1:00:23 Baby Do or Die1:06:02 Runner and our Alan Ritchson watchlist1:08:18 Awarapan 2: embracing the melodrama1:13:11 Is Shah Rukh Khan in his Tom Cruise era?1:17:29 More livestreams and closing thoughts

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Samantha deserves a better family, Sujoy makes a case for Mirzapur, and Asim has found two good jokes in Welcome to the Jungle. Was it worth sitting through the rest of the film? You can probably guess.

Asim, Amrita and Sujoy catch up on Maa Inti Bangaram, the Mirzapur movie and Welcome to the Jungle, before taking on a listener-submitted Bollywood Would You Rather game. Would you choose Geet or Poo? Could you spend a year watching only Arjun Kapoor films? And how long would it take Aamir Khan to explain PK?

There’s also a catch-up on Pakistani dramas, streaming frustrations and the guests we’d love to bring back.

The video version of this episode is available on our Khandaan Podcast YouTube channel. If you watch it, please give it a like to help us grow.

For bonus videos, catch-ups and film and TV recommendations, join us at https://www.patreon.com/khandaanpodcast.

Send your questions, game suggestions and guest recommendations to upodcasting@gmail.com.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and the current movie slump00:56 Amrita on wholesome romcoms and female stardom03:16 Maa Inti Bangaram: Samantha, action and family dynamics09:42 Streaming subscriptions and the right packet of biscuits10:40 Mirzapur: Sujoy’s movie review15:20 Do you need to watch the Mirzapur series first?18:18 Welcome to the Jungle27:27 Bollywood Would You Rather28:08 Jaya Bachchan or a lift from Salman Khan?30:02 Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and explaining PK32:20 Arjun Kapoor films or bad Bollywood remakes?36:04 Geet versus Poo37:55 Dancing behind Hrithik Roshan40:17 Bollywood drafts and past podcast chaos42:43 Pakistani dramas and streaming frustrations45:25 Where to find us and Patreon extras

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.

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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?