The Long Take: Recent Episodes
Akhil & Rohan
Another movie podcast by two know-it-all guys—Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar—killing their careers and burning bridges in Bollywood one review at a time. New episodes weekly. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Kottukkaali, writer-director P.S. Vinothraj’s follow-up to the acclaimed Koozhangal, divided us down the middle.
We speak about the techniques Vinothraj uses to tell an ever-evolving, odyssey-like story about a group of people accompanying a young woman to her exorcism.
We discuss the brief bursts of horror and comedy and talk about the larger points that Vinothraj is trying to make about a deeply rotten society.
We also debate the film’s ambiguous ending and wonder why the filmmaker wants to put us in the shoes of a monstrous male character.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Sector 36 is a gratuitously grisly dramatisation of the gruesome Nithari serial murders from around two decades ago. But because it unfolds with zero nuance, the movie mines cheap thrills out of a real-life horror story.
We talk about the strange arcs that Vikrant Massey and Deepak Dobriyal’s characters have been given, the haphazard narrative structure, and seemingly missing sequences that could’ve helped make the story smoother.
We also talk about Massey’s performance in the interrogation scene and the filmmakers’ odd decision to set the movie in Delhi and not Noida, where the actual crimes took place.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Kill might be one of the rare movies that actually benefit from a remake—that’s how royally it fumbles both its action and revenge plot.
We discuss the film’s indecipherable approach to close combat, the lead actor Lakshya’s wooden performance, and the lack of inventiveness in the story.
We also talk about the unearned John Wick and The Raid comparisons, and wonder why international audiences seemed to appreciate the film.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
The year’s biggest Indian hit, Kalki 2898 AD, is just as irredeemable as Prabhas’ other recent films.
But unlike those movies, this one barely features Prabhas at all and drags on for three hours without offering a single character you can latch on to. We talk about the film’s poor construction, subpar world-building, and superficial writing.
We also discuss its shameless sequel-bait of a climax and wonder why people weren’t up in arms about being short-changed by writer-director Nag Ashwin.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Angry Young Men, the three-part documentary about writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar’s partnership, is a massive missed opportunity.
We discuss the show’s cagey approach to its legendary subjects, the overwhelming feeling of self-satisfaction, and the unearned points it tries to score for highlighting the plight of writers in the film business.
We also discuss the superficial filmmaking, the lack of insight provided by everybody involved, and more than anything else, express our shock at the creative decision not to put Salim-Javed in the same room together.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Chandu Champion finds director Kabir Khan returning to 83 territory, for better or worse.
We talk about the film’s shoddy storytelling structure, its complete lack of interest in developing its protagonist, and its over-reliance on crutches like music and contrivances.
We also discuss Khan’s tendency to underestimate his audiences’ intellect and his inherent insecurity about his subject’s genuine achievements. Chandu Champion is another Hindi movie that shouldn’t get even a passing grade, forget the high praise that it has seemingly received.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
In Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey return as the murderous couple of hell who were introduced in 2021’s Haseen Dillruba.
The sequel boasts an entirely different visual aesthetic and its romantic-thriller tone stands in contrast to the tongue-in-cheek pulpiness of the first film.
We discuss what a huge mistake this is, while also trying to wrap our heads around the film’s illogical non-linear plot.
We also talk about Pannu and Massey’s one-note performances and the pointless introduction of a couple of new characters, played by Sunny Kaushal and Jimmy Shergill.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Longlegs is the rare psychological horror movie that truly gets under your skin.
Featuring an instantly iconic performance by Nicolas Cage, the movie creates an ominous atmosphere with the help of a measured pace and an unsettling reliance on silence.
We discuss the film’s grounded first act and its rapid descent into full-blown supernatural horror. We also talk about director Osgood Perkins’ immersive framing and the film’s themes of parenting and childhood trauma.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
They might as well have called Maharaj “Junaid Khan’s Launch Vehicle” because naming it after the villain makes even less sense.
We discuss the film’s many irredeemable flaws, which include shaming the victim of sexual abuse, projecting a red flag male character as the protagonist, and resorting to the problematic trope of “fridging.”
We also talk about the film’s obvious technical inadequacies, like flat visuals, a haphazard tone, and one-note acting performances.
Later in the episode, we discuss why Netflix avoided promoting it, and has essentially dumped it in the hope that nobody notices.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
In its third and potentially final season, Kota Factory seems to be responding to past criticism.
We discuss the show’s sudden bout of self-reflection, and the confused manner in which it examines the harsh realities of towns like Kota and the industries they service. We also talk about its aversion to human moments, and why the handful of them this season stand out.
Later in the episode, we wonder why the show remains watchable on a very fundamental level, even though it often makes the same storytelling mistakes that it used to.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Dibakar Banerjee is going to have to make two good movies to compensate for whatever hellish assault on the senses Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 was.
We discuss the film’s muddled social commentary, the frustration oozing out of every frame, and the general incoherence of the arguments.
We also compare LSD2’s aesthetic and thematic shortfalls, especially when compared to Banerjee’s past work, while wondering why he couldn’t find room for any self-reflection.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Crew, the new heist movie starring Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon, effectively weaponises middle-class angst against corporate overlords.
We praise the film’s dedication to punching up, the instant relatability that it is able to generate for its characters, and its tightly constructed first half.
But we also criticise its endless product placement, and the relatively disappointing second hour, which asks the audience to re-engage with the film through a whole new lens.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Writer-director Kunal Kemmu’s Madgaon Express smartly avoids taking the sleazy route and mostly succeeds in finding the soul of its cartoonish characters.
We talk about the film’s familiar set-up, and how it transports a Hangover-like premise to India.
We also discuss the performances of Divyenndu, Pratik Gandhi and Avinash Tiwary, while noting the tightrope walk actors have to pull off in absurd films like this.
We praise Kemmu’s handling of the climax, his gag-a-minute narrative, and his self-awareness, but also note flaws in the film’s central action sequence.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s big-budget streaming debut, is yet another high-profile Netflix failure.
A summation and culmination of Bhansali’s lifelong ambitions, the show represents everything that is wrong with his sensibilities and style-over-substance storytelling.
We discuss the show’s flawed understanding of feminism, aestheticisation of female suffering, and haphazard structure.
We also talk about why the immaculate visuals and costumes that Bhansali is known for don’t contribute to his narratives.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
In addition to being a thought-provoking movie about how close we are to disintegrating as a society, Alex Garland’s Civil War is a rollicking cinematic experience.
We discuss the film’s affection for journalism, the intricate character work that Garland is able to accomplish via action sequences, and the film’s stand-out moments.
One of them involves a scene-stealing cameo by Jesse Plemons, and the other is an extended climactic action sequence that works viscerally and emotionally.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Is Amar Singh Chamkila a long-awaited return to form for director Imtiaz Ali, or is it another let-down from the once-promising filmmaker?
We discuss the film’s inventive approach to the music biopic genre, if not narratively then at least formally. We also talk about Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra’s central performances as the slain husband-wife folk singer duo and address the ‘Hindi gaze’ that Ali brings to this inherently Punjabi tale.
Along the way, we also discuss the nature of high and low art and the film’s many defences of Chamkila’s controversial music.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Aattam, the latest Malayalam-language gem that further solidifies the industry’s artistic stronghold on the cinema landscape of the country, offers an inventive spin on the whodunnit genre.
We discuss the film’s gripping narrative, ambitious social commentary, and director Anand Ekarshi’s bold voice.
We also talk about the many moral quandaries that the movie puts its characters in, and how willingly it invites audiences to gaze inward and participate in the proceedings.
We also debate the merits of its final moments, which we compare and contrast with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Is Fighter another in the long and increasingly problematic line of hyper-nationalistic Indian action movies, or is its biggest problem that it can’t look beyond star Hrithik Roshan?
We discuss the many missteps that director Siddharth Anand makes in his follow-up to Pathaan, the unnecessary songs and the momentum-killing asides, but we also talk about how the movie goes out of its way to not paint all of Pakistan as evil terrorists.
Along the way, we also talk about the film’s many aerial fight sequences, the final showdown, the nonsensical attempts at comedy, and Anil Kapoor’s parallel mission to break some sort of decibel record.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Murder Mubarak lowers the bar even further for Netflix India, and feels like a particularly annoying missed opportunity.
We talk about the inept filmmaking, the strange structure, and the over-the-top performances of its ensemble cast.
We also wonder how the finished film can look like something that was snatched away from director Homi Adajania and handed over to editors who’ve never met him.
And for the second time in two weeks, we find ourselves noting missing scenes from a big-budget movie featuring major Bollywood names.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Merry Christmas, director Sriram Raghavan’s follow-up to the critical and commercial hit Andhadhun, is nothing to celebrate.
We discuss the film’s lack of discernible aesthetic, the complete absence of any spark between stars Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, and its baffling climax.
Along the way, we discuss the decision to reduce an important child character to a plot device, and the increasingly illogical behaviour displayed by both central characters.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Dune: Part Two is being called one of the greatest sequels ever made. It isn’t.
We discuss the problems that we’ve had with both Dune films, our issues with their cold tone, the seemingly rushed plot despite a nearly three-hour run-time, and the sheer number of characters to keep track of.
But we also appreciate director Denis Villeneuve’s handling of the action, particularly the sandworm sequence, and the film’s technical achievements.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
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All India Rank, the feature directorial debut of Varun Grover, is a refreshing change of pace for Bollywood, but still not as good as it could have been.
We discuss all the ways in which the coming-of-age drama avoids making the same mistakes as 12th Fail or Kota Factory, its ability to evoke a particular time and place, and its reliance on tried-and-tested narrative tropes.
We also talk about the toxicity in the Indian familial set-up that the movie calls out in its own understated way while making larger statements about aspiration and ambition.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Dunki, the third and final Shah Rukh Khan film of 2023, wastes all the goodwill he had built with Pathaan and Jawan.
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, Dunki ranks among the worst films we’ve covered on the podcast and is outdated to the point of being offensive.
We talk about the film’s most insensitive scenes, Hirani’s disinterest in taking real-life geopolitical issues seriously, and ignoring the tragic love story at the film’s centre.
We also talk about the film’s tonal imbalance, tendency to rely on cliches, and inability to make the best use of screen time.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Bhakshak, starring Bhumi Pednekar, is the latest socially conscious call-to-action from Shah Rukh Khan’s production company, and even though it’s a more grounded film, its sensibilities aren’t too dissimilar from Jawan.
We discuss what we liked and disliked about the film’s portrayal of hyperlocal journalism, its depiction of real-life atrocities, and its tendency to shed all nuance and scream at the audience.
We also talk about the film’s odd pacing, the often confusing narrative, and overall inelegance despite director Pulkit’s noble intentions.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Joram, the fourth feature film from director Devashish Makhija, juggles multiple tones and narratives. But is it successful at it?
We discuss Manoj Bajpayee’s mostly silent central performance as a displaced tribal man running for his life, and the film’s heavy handed socio-political commentary.
We also wonder if the movie would’ve worked better as a tight 90-minute thriller, and point out a worryingly regressive trend in Makhija’s films.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, is hardly as offensive as director Sandeep Reddy Vanga probably intended it to be, but it’s aggravating on many levels nonetheless.
We discuss the film’s infantile approach to its themes and Vanga’s dedication to being edgy at the expense of storytelling and character development.
We also talk about the film’s unbearable length, inconsequential subplots, and the odd decision to not introduce Bobby Deol’s villain sooner.
Along the way, we also talk about the numerous petulant attacks that Vanga has made on critics and how his neediness is reflected in the film.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Is Salaar the worst movie we’ve covered on the podcast? It might be.
We discuss the incomprehensible plotting, Prashanth Neel’s overwhelming direction, and debate about the film’s three major action set-pieces.
We also eat our words about Salman Khan’s dedication and Zack Snyder’s poor world-building after having seen a disengaged Prabhas and an under-confident Neel’s work here.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Shockingly, Tiger 3—the fifth overall instalment in the YRF Spy Universe—isn’t entirely unwatchable.
But the movie could’ve been so much better with just about any other star in the lead role instead of Salman Khan, who not only struggles to emote but also seems pained to move physically.
We talk about the film’s Pathaan-like progressive politics, flat visual effects, and Emraan Hashmi’s performance as the villain.
We also discuss Shah Rukh Khan’s cameo and wonder why even he wasn’t able to elevate the film.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Is 12th Fail actually one of the best Hindi movies of 2023 or is it massively overrated?
We find ourselves wondering why writer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s latest film is getting rave reviews, because all we could see was a deeply problematic, all too simplistic story about a young man let down by society.
We also talk about Vikrant Massey’s performance, and the egregious brown-face makeup that he’s been coated with.
Along the way, we discuss the film’s flawed perspective and disinterest in examining the more complex aspects of what is an undoubtedly stirring true story.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, the new film from the team behind The Archies, is a rare Bollywood movie about millennial malaise.
But like its characters, it’s too distracted by social media and the desire to say something about our addiction to it.
We talk about the performances of its three leads—Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Adarsh Gourav—and discuss the many ways in which it honours and undermines their experiences.
We also admire the effort that writer-director Arjun Varain Singh has gone through to ground the movie in a recognisable reality, as opposed to most Hindi movies of its kind.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Rebel Moon is the worst film of Zack Snyder’s career, and that’s saying something.
We talk about the director’s uninspired homage to the works of Akira Kurosawa and George Lucas, his unusually bland visuals, and the film’s wooden writing.
We also wonder why the project looks so cheap, seeing as it comes from a streamer that is often willing to invest $200 million on less-deserving movies, and why Snyder has cast seemingly his second and third choices for most roles.
We also discuss Netflix’s cynical approach to fashioning a franchise, and reverse-engineering a director’s cut movement, all at the cost of producing a cohesive cinematic experience.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla is the antithesis of Baz Luhrmann’s terrible Elvis movie.
We discuss Coppola’s sad-core storytelling, her determination never to leave Priscilla’s side, and her absolutely damning portrayal of the King of Rock and Roll.
We also talk about Cailee Spaeny’s central performance as Priscilla, Jacob Elordi’s menacing turn as Elvis, and the movie’s delicate handling of their very complex relationship.
But we also wonder if Coppola’s emotionally distant direction might have made the stirring true-life story a little unaffecting.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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In The Archies, writer-director Zoya Akhtar disguises her politics behind teen romance.
But does this diffuse the impact of what she’s trying to say? We talk about the film’s coming-of-age themes, how each character is given definitive traits, and whether it’s successful in capturing teen angst.
We also discuss the cast of newcomers, and wonder if the movie will be offensive to certain sections of the audience.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Kaathal – The Core, directed by Jeo Baby, is shaping up to be a real word-of-mouth hit, purely on the strength of its sheer quality.
We speak about the many reasons why the new Malayalam-language drama left us so moved, and highlight the two central performances by Mammootty and Jyotika.
We appreciate director Baby’s command over visual storytelling, and how effectively he uses silences to convey volumes about his characters.
We also discuss the delicate tonal balance that the film strikes, making sure to not paint anybody as the “villain”.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Leo, the new Tamil-language blockbuster starring “Thalapathy” Vijay, is now on Netflix.
We discuss the film’s abysmal storytelling, the charmless central performance, and poorly designed action sequences. We also talk about the larger Lokesh Cinematic Universe and how shoehorned-in the references to the franchise feel.
Along the way, we attempt to dissect the Inception-level flashback sequence and discuss the strange decision to cast Sanjay Dutt as the villain, only to dub over his original voice and reduce his character to a motiveless henchman.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Watching The Railway Men is like taking an express train back to Netflix India circa 2019 when the bottom of the barrel would be scraped week after week.
Almost unwatchable at even four episodes long, the new YRF-produced series is so inept that it makes you lose faith in the art of storytelling as a whole.
We discuss the show’s bizarre approach to a real-life tragedy, its wafer-thin characters, countless contrivances, and unintentionally hilarious plot devices.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Is The Killer one of David Fincher’s most inconsequential movies?
We discuss the film’s subversive approach to the conventions of assassin cinema, Fincher’s clinical treatment of the subject matter, and the odd bursts of humour that he peppers through the two-hour narrative.
We also talk about Michael Fassbender’s statue-esque performance, and spend a considerable amount of time trying to decipher the meaning behind the meaninglessness.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Is Killers of the Flower Moon a culmination of what director Martin Scorsese has been trying to achieve his entire career, or is it an overlong, overindulgent slog that general audiences will turn their backs on?
We discuss the film’s simmering tone, the epic tragedy at its core, and the performances of its central cast, which includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.
We also talk about the film’s memorable ending, which recontextualises not only everything that has come before, but also Scorsese’s own career.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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OMG 2, starring Pankaj Tripathi as a saintly middle-aged man, is a bizarre concoction of ideas that ultimately comes across as a lazy attempt to pander to the Hindu majority.
We discuss the film’s odd approach to a straightforward story, its stretched, preachy narrative, and the fact that the decision to package it as a religious drama feels like an afterthought.
We also talk about Akshay Kumar’s glorified cameo, which feels completely shoehorned into the story, and the film’s tentative approach to the very real themes that it occasionally touches on.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Khufiya, the new spy movie on Netflix, might just be one of the worst things that Vishal Bhardwaj has ever done.
We discuss the film’s tonal inconsistencies, incoherent plotting, odd performances, and most of all, that wild second-half.
We also talk about the background score and how completely out of step with its story; the strange decision to include full musical interludes and introduce entire subplots that lead nowhere.
We also delve into how secondary Tabu feels to the film, which replaces her character as the protagonist halfway through with Wamiqa Gabbi.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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Released as four separate shorts, Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl adaptations for Netflix are some of the best films that he has ever made.
We discuss his minimalist approach to each story, the offbeat narration and stagey production, and also the deeper themes he wants to tackle. Anderson also flips through genres and tones, but presents each movie in his own unique style.
While The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is by far the most uplifting of the bunch, the rest—Poison, The Swan, and The Rat Catcher—are a more cynical experience. Together, these films are a deeply personal expression, and a great entry point into his filmography.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Jaane Jaan, director Sujoy Ghosh’s Hindi-language adaptation of the Japanese bestseller The Devotion of Suspect X, is a competently made thriller with a hint of playfulness.
We discuss the trio of central performances by Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma, and talk about the change in perspective that Ghosh has introduced in his adaptation.
We also dissect the other changes the movie makes to the source novel, most notably the ending, which is toned down substantially.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani plays like director Karan Johar’s apology for his own past filmmaking, and for the many missteps that Bollywood has made over the years when it comes to gender politics.
We appreciate the film’s progressive ideas, its frank depiction of desire, and how willing it is to embrace its camp nature. But we also point out the moments where it goes overboard.
We discuss Johar’s efforts to do better, and highlight a scene that represents how drastically his thinking has changed.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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We didn’t enjoy the Shah Rukh Khan-led Jawan as much as Pathaan, but it gave us enough to chew on.
We praise the film’s thrilling opening sequence, but complain about the unnecessary flashbacks and Vijay Sethupathi’s poor performance as the villain.
We also talk about how effective the film’s political messaging could be, and appreciate Khan for sticking his neck out when most of his colleagues would be happy staying quiet.
Later, we call out the film’s problematic feminism, and note how mellow Jawan is compared to writer-director Atlee’s earlier work.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Friday Night Plan—the new Netflix movie starring Babil Khan—is the kind of film you forget the moment you turn off the TV.
We discuss its eagerness to borrow from classic teen comedies, but complete inability to offer heart or pathos.
We also talk about its odd perspective on teenage life, which seems like it is based more on films than actual experiences.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Satyaprem Ki Katha, the new Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani movie, left us incensed.
We discuss the many ways in which the movie is actively anti-feminist; its horrific treatment of Advani’s character, the obvious perspective problem, and its casual disregard for very real, and very delicate themes.
We also talk about its triggering tone, the film’s last-minute rug-pull, and the potentially dangerous ideas that it propagates about retribution.
But we lose all hope when we consider the mostly positive reactions that the film received upon its theatrical release.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Guns & Gulaabs is a high-profile dud from Netflix, a major step down from the surprisingly effective Kohrra.
We discuss the involvement of creator-directors Raj & DK, the show’s complete lack of identity and urgency, and its failure to make the most of its outlandish setting.
We also talk about the flat performances, the unfunny jokes, and speculate about Raj & DK’s overcommitment to multiple projects.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 plans for global domination.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 brains, how impossible Naseeruddin Shah found this on set, and why it’s a good thing that a planned sequel was never made.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 this and more in our latest episode.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 feeble attempt to rank where the movie stands in Nolan’s filmography.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 Sharma’s evolution from the Udta Punjab days, and our shared admiration for some of the show’s best scenes.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 heartfelt moments with Marvel-like humour.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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-minded filmmakers Mishra, Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and Hansal Mehta, and discuss the common problems with each of them.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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, its complete inauthenticity, and its refusal to be sincere about what it wants to be.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 touch, and analyse why that’s a bad idea for this series.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 is choppily edited, the storytelling is confusing, and the background score is an assault on the senses. For a wall-to-wall action movie, you never actually get the sense that the main character is the one doing the fighting, but at least Ronit Roy and Sanjay Kapoor understood the assignment.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 imposed upon the film by the CBFC, and what precedent this sets for the future.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
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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 complicated storytelling, the jarring tonal shifts, and complete lack of tension.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 an uptick in shoe sales for Nike.
We also chat about Matt Damon’s central performance, and the film’s decision to keep Michael Jordan literally in the shadows.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 dynamics, and the film’s reliance on dramatic moments over relatable human behaviour.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 environments, and wonder if Apple is headed down the same path as Netflix.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 whether the quality of visual effects and set design is satisfactory for a show of this scale.
Later, we discuss the possibilities of future seasons, and whether any of these characters have a chance of returning.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 is.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 Kirpalani is completely unable to evoke any sort of dread, even though that was his primary objective.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
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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 director Kantemir Balagov being replaced.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 admittedly disturbing final twist, and speculate whether external interference is to blame for the overall experience.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 convoluted plotting, the performances of its ensemble cast, and wonder if it would’ve been any better if it had stuck to the tone of its engaging opening scene.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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: Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor, Tillotama Shome, and Sobhita Dhulipala.
We also highlight the one scene that might be superior to its counterpart in the original series, and talk about the elements that translate smoothly to an Indian setting.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 the way, we talk about the state of the industry, and why it has become difficult for films like this to attract audiences to the cinema.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 director Anirudh Iyer’s lack of experience, and vow never to trust random people on Twitter.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 performance as the villain, and how crowd involvement impacts the viewing experience in movies like this.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 be handed a major movie, and why the industry can’t seem to look beyond the same bunch of writers as it churns out stinker after stinker across genres.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 Akshaye Khanna’s scenery-chewing performance as the villain.
Along the way, we wonder if Vijay’s old-fashioned resolve to protect his family is actually a form of abuse, and whether that might have been a reason behind the film’s popularity with Indian masses.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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.
Along the way, we discuss the state of Indian and international film criticism, which has resulted in films like Phone Bhoot getting a pass, and RRR becoming a major awards contender.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Stitcher, RadioPublic, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 episodes of some of the titles mentioned in the episode: Blonde, Top Gun: Maverick, and Cha Cha Real Smooth.
Chapters
- (00:30) Best movie #10
- (04:55) Best movie #9
- (10:19) Best movie #8
- (14:42) Best movie #7
- (19:47) Best movie #6
- (21:59) Best movie #5
- (23:48) Best movie #4
- (31:49) Best movie #3
- (38:40) Best movie #2
- (46:31) Best movie #1
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 the noise, or whether the writer-director picked an easy target.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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 future.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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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.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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We’re divided on Vasan Bala’s difficult-to-categorise Monica, O My Darling, out now on Netflix.
We discuss the film’s convoluted plot, its tone-hopping structure, and Bala’s hyper-stylised filmmaking.
And we also talk about the overbearing soundtrack, the dubious perspective, and the ambiguous ending.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Ayan Mukerji’s fantasy film Brahmāstra—out on Disney+ Hotstar after a theatrical run—is an outright disaster on several fronts.
It wastes its massive budget on sub-par visual effects, routinely forgets that it has to write meaningful scenes for Alia Bhatt’s female lead, and reduces Amitabh Bachchan to an exposition machine.
We also discuss the film’s failure on both a narrative and visual level, and how all of this is in service of a story that is cribbed from the likes of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and The Last Airbender.
Despite all that, Brahmāstra still has the audacity to suggest that it could spawn a franchise.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
There was a lot riding on House of the Dragon, the first Game of Thrones spin-off, which ended its 10-episode debut season last week.
We discuss how the show succeeds independently of not just its predecessor, but also when it is held up in comparison with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
We also talk about its slow-burn palace intrigue, how deftly it establishes its characters, and its apparent dedication to not providing easy heroes and villains for the audience to latch on to.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Dobaaraa, a sci-fi remake that takes the plot of a mediocre movie and somehow makes it worse, is probably the worst film of Anurag Kashyap’s career.
We discuss its unnecessary comedic scenes, the illogical plot construction, and the filmmaker’s lack of faith in the audience’s intelligence.
We also wonder—again—how Taapsee Pannu is still considered a movie star, despite exclusively appearing in terrible films over the last couple of years.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
It’s difficult to dislike Laal Singh Chaddha—the new Aamir Khan movie, now out on streaming—when it’s trying to be such an uplifting, anti-hate epic.
We discuss the film’s unwillingness to deviate from Forrest Gump, Khan’s divisive central performance, and the manner in which it cherrypicks the moments from history it wants to include (and those that it doesn’t).
Chapters
(00:24) Review: Laal Singh Chaddha
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Blonde is just as divisive as they say. And we are torn, as well.
Is Andrew Dominik’s unconventional biopic of Marilyn Monroe an irresponsible and dishonest act of exploitation, or is it a deeply immersive horror film in the vein of Mulholland Drive and Hereditary?
We discuss the film’s epic length, its precise tone, and Ana de Armas’ central performance. We also wonder if it would’ve played differently on a big screen.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Liger—with Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday—is easily the worst movie we’ve covered on the podcast, and nothing we say can communicate the utter depravity of what this “film”—from writer-director Puri Jagannadh, and producer Karan Johar—has to offer.
We discuss the shocking level of entitlement that can convince people that it’s okay to release something like this, the casually offensive nature of the entire project, and how it’s so bad that it makes Sadak 2 and Laxmii look like better alternatives.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Jogi is our second brush with director Ali Abbas Zafar after the truly unbearable Prime Video series Tandav, and we should’ve known better than to expect the filmmaker behind Tiger Zinda Hai to deliver a sensitive political drama.
We talk about Zafar’s timid filmmaking, his muddled political commentary, and the film’s lack of focus.
We also discuss the ways in which Jogi pulls punches, and wonder if it would’ve been better if it had made Diljit Dosanjh’s titular protagonist more of an archetype.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Thor: Love and Thunder is now out on Disney+, which gave us an opportunity to finally figure out if it was a worse theatrical experience, or an at-home viewing experience.
Taika Waititi’s second Marvel movie remains a disjointed affair that appears to have solid 10-minute chunks missing. It’s almost as if the old DC Films crew took over.
We discuss the film’s messy narrative, its disservice to the characters of Jane Foster, Gorr the God Butcher and Valkyrie, and its tendency to frequently undermine its own serious themes.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Amazon’s big-budget The Lord of the Rings prequel—The Rings of Power—the lavish fantasy series that fans were hoping for, or is it an unmitigated disaster?
We discuss the show’s slow-paced opening two episodes, the connections— both visually and stylistically—to Peter Jackson’s trilogy, and how well the series handles the multiple storylines that it throws the audience into.
We also talk about how The Rings of Power compares to House of the Dragon, and wonder if it is taking a leaf out of the Star Wars playbook.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Jordan Peele’s Nope—out now in Indian theatres—a meta commentary on his own career, or is it merely his tribute to blockbuster films?
We discuss the sci-fi thriller’s deeper themes, its spectacular IMAX cinematography, and theorise about that Gordy’s Home sequence.
We also talk about its Steven Spielberg influences, how it treats its central mystery, and where we place Nope on Peele’s filmography.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Bear, one of the best new shows of the year, has arrived in India two months late, on Disney+ Hotstar. Even though it’s made by FX, owned by Disney. Streaming works in mysterious ways.
We discuss the show’s tense storytelling, Jeremy Allen White’s terrific lead performance, and draw parallels with not just other films and series about chefs, but also The Godfather and Uncut Gems.
Update: The Bear can now easily be found on Disney+ Hotstar, after a less-than-ideal rollout on launch day. Guess it was a mundane reason after all.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Malayankunju—the new Fahadh Faasil movie, now out on Amazon Prime Video—is less the survival thriller that it was marketed as, and more like a surrealist character study.
We discuss the film’s disjointed halves, its near-wordless experimental narrative, and whether the detestable protagonist deserves a redemption arc at all.
We also talk about A.R. Rahman’s dissonant score, and how the film uses metaphor and symbolism to tell a story about the environment and those who live on the fringes of society.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Darlings—the new Netflix film starring Alia Bhatt—is yet another Hindi-language comedy that doesn’t know how to navigate serious themes.
We talk about the film’s tonal imbalance, the disrespect with which it treats its protagonist, and director Jasmeet K. Reen’s under-confident handling of some very intense ideas.
We also discuss why rape-revenge films are morally thorny, and how Vijay Varma is able to elevate his underwritten character through performance alone.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
JugJugg Jeeyo—the new Dharma movie starring Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Anil Kapoor, and Neetu Kapoor—is in constant conflict with itself.
Is it a comedy or a drama? Does it want to portray emotionally evolved modern characters, or does it want to be a slapstick Govinda film from the ‘90s? Does it really want to expose patriarchal mindsets, or does it want to devote its entire runtime to torturing its female characters instead?
We unpack this—and more—as we talk about JugJugg Jeeyo’s tonal inconsistencies, the terror that it feels every time it comes close to examining a serious theme, and the tall claim that it is Dharma’s answer to Marriage Story.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Yet another big-budget stinker from Netflix, The Gray Man—the new film from Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo—is so anonymous, it’s like it was literally birthed by an algorithm.
We discuss The Gray Man’s utter lack of personality, the incoherent action sequences, and deathly dull plotting.
We also talk about how it assembles some of the world’s most talented movie stars—Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas to name a few—only to rob them of every last ounce of charisma.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
More an ill-conceived collection of random sketches than a proper feature film, Netflix’s Jaadugar is the kind of movie you want to wave your wand at to make it disappear.
We discuss the film’s many problematic aspects—something that is becoming worryingly common for star Jitendra Kumar—and its absolute lack of cinematic value.
Jaadugar has zero understanding of football, cares little for its supporting cast despite being nearly three hours long, and features an intensely reprehensible protagonist who is projected as some kind of loveable oaf.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Anek—the new Ayushmann Khurrana film, now out on Netflix—is so unsuccessful at what it sets out to do that it’s actually possible that Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is a better movie, purely because it knows its audience.
We discuss the sheer incompetence of Khurrana’s character, the uniformly terrible performances of the cast, and director Anubhav Sinha’s nonsensical and utterly-confused storytelling.
We also talk about the fundamental issues with homogenising an entire region, the glaring age difference between Khurrana and co-star Andrea Kevichusa, and Sinha’s sloppy handling of the action sequences.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness—now out on Disney+—represents a welcome return to bold filmmaking for the increasingly cookie-cutter Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or does it?
We discuss director Sam Raimi’s signature kinetic filmmaking, how the movie short-changes its title character, and whether Wanda Maximoff’s motivations make sense.
We also dissect our contrasting opinions about the first Doctor Strange film, speculate why the MCU is so risk-averse, and what we can expect from Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Could Cha Cha Real Smooth follow in CODA’s footsteps and become Apple’s second Best Picture contender at the Oscars?
Actor-writer-director Cooper Raiff’s second feature is a coming-of-age story that tackles themes as complex as mental health, motherhood, and identity.
We discuss Dakota Johnson’s outstanding performance, the film’s reversal of gender roles, and its chances at next year’s Academy Awards.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
For our 100th episode, we have something special planned. Just kidding, it’s yet another movie that we’ll never talk about ever again.
Jayeshbhai Jordaar is—simultaneously—not as deranged as it should have been, and also one of the most miscalculated mainstream Hindi movies you’re likely to see this year.
We talk about Ranveer Singh’s uncharacteristically muted central performance, the film’s counterproductive approach to female empowerment, and its tone-deaf handling of some very real issues.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
If Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore — out now on streaming and video-on-demand — is the last Wizarding World movie we’re going to get for a while, then what a disappointing way this is for things to have panned out.
Has any other contemporary film franchise been this reactionary to fan concerns? We discuss the film’s convoluted (yet low-stakes) plot, its overabundance of characters (some of whom it keeps forgetting about), and the emotional core of the story, which is the romance between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald.
We also compare Johnny Depp and Mads Mikkelsen’s performances as Grindelwald, talk about the overuse of CGI and the lacklustre nature of the select few action sequences, and offer unsolicited advice to Warner Bros. on how they should fix this mess.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Top Gun: Maverick is such a refined big-screen experience that you're willing to forgive the movie’s most obvious flaws. In that way, it’s like its star, Tom Cruise.
We discuss Top Gun: Maverick’s meta commentary on Cruise’s career, and how it reflects his insecurities.
We also discuss the visceral IMAX experience, the film’s apolitical tone, and the straightforward but almost scientifically-effective script.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is RRR—director SS Rajamouli’s epic historical fiction, now on streaming—a rousing patriotic drama, or a blatant attempt at bhakt-baiting?
We discuss the film’s murky morality, over-the-top action scenes, and Rajamouli’s utter lack of interest in writing compelling women.
We also talk about RRR’s homoerotic undertones, its video game-like reliance on jadi-bootis, and the most confusing director cameo ever.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Did Amazon Prime Video just take a leaf out of Netflix’s playbook?
Modern Love Mumbai—an Indian spin-off of the original American anthology series—has such a poor hit rate that it makes Ankahi Kahaniyan and Ajeeb Daastaans look like early Black Mirror seasons.
We discuss our favourite shorts of the six films, the bizarre choice to adapt these from the American column and not source local stories, and why established directors should stop phoning it in with these projects.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Thar, the new Netflix film starring father-son duo Anil Kapoor and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, might claim to be a “neo-noir Western” but it’s actually an old-school revenge thriller at heart.
We talk about the film’s slow-burn storytelling, Anil Kapoor’s immaculate hair and Fatima Sana Shaikh’s immaculate make-up, and a pivotal climax scene that threatens to ruin the entire experience.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Gangubai Kathiawadi—the latest Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, out now on Netflix—proves that the director hasn’t outgrown his worst tendencies.
We discuss the Alia Bhatt-led film’s jarring episodic structure, the fantastical visuals, and Bhansali’s problematic romanticisation of female victimhood.
We also talk about his fear of depicting sex, his puerile portrayal of Mumbai’s red light district, and the Ajay Devgn saviour complex.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Every week, we tell ourselves that Bollywood cannot possibly hit new lows, and every week we are surprised.
London Files—the new Voot Select series starring Arjun Rampal—is among the worst things we’ve covered on the podcast.
We talk about the show’s illogical plotting, the seemingly random twists and turns that it throws at you every few minutes, and its bizarre tendency to forget important characters.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Mai—the new Netflix thriller starring Sakshi Tanwar—is a deceptively bad show that actively tries to distance itself from its compelling hook.
We discuss the show’s leaps of logic, gaping plot holes, and Tanwar’s two-note performance.
We also find time to chat about Abhishek Bachchan and his analysis of Dhoom, and inevitably conclude by shaking our heads at Netflix India yet again.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Pada—the Malayalam next-gen movie, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video—has an unconventional structure and uncommon thematic depth. But does it come together?
We discuss the film’s extended opening act, the sudden switch into hostage thriller mode, and the poignant note on which it ends.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Sharmaji Namkeen—Rishi Kapoor’s final film, out now on Amazon Prime Video—a noble failure or an unlikely success?
We discuss the movie’s unconventional production, which was marred by the tragedy of Kapoor’s death; the differences between the two central performances by Kapoor and Paresh Rawal; and whether the film manages to balance its broad humour with genuine moments of drama.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
And just in the nick of time, here are our predictions in every category at this year’s Oscars.
From Best Picture (will it be CODA or The Power of the Dog?) to Best Animated Short (hint, we don’t have a strong take), we predict who will win—and make an argument for who should win.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
To paraphrase Oh Dae-su, just because we don't like 83, does that make us bad people?
Now that the sports drama is out on streaming platforms, we take the opportunity to discuss Kabir Khan’s swing-and-miss.
We also talk about the caricaturish performances of the Ranveer Singh-led cast, and how the movie fails to bring any nuance to its inspirational true story.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Can Eternally Confused and Eager for Love—the new Netflix sitcom co-produced by siblings Zoya and Farhan Akhtar—stand out amid bigger (and much worse) shows on the same platform?
We discuss the eight-episode series’ lighthearted take on millennial culture, the scene-stealing voice-only performance of Jim Sarbh, and how it can be improved in future seasons.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Adam Project might be a slight improvement over Ryan Reynolds’ two previous attempts at starting a Netflix franchise—6 Underground and Red Notice—but it’s still a Ryan Reynolds movie, for better or worse.
We discuss the Deadpool star’s dedication to playing himself in every movie that he does, the admittedly well-done action, and how the movie wastes all its female characters.
We also talk about Walker Scobell’s impression of Reynolds, the digital de-ageing of Catherine Keener, and Shawn Levy’s direction (who reunites here with Reynolds after Free Guy).
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Batman—director Matt Reeves’ three-hour detective noir, starring Robert Pattinson as the iconic superhero—couldn’t nail the landing.
We discuss the film’s dense plot, its dour tone, and its similarities to Christopher Nolan’s masterful epic The Dark Knight.
And then, we lament about the third act, the ill-conceived romantic angle, and the non-ending that doesn’t adhere to the movie’s internal logic.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Just when we thought that Netflix and Dharma had made something that was merely mediocre and not downright terrible, The Fame Game, in its final episode, burst our bubble.
We discuss the new mystery series’ inept plotting, lack of insight into the film industry and the cult of stardom, and its problematic tendency to look down on the audience.
We also wonder if it was a wise move for Madhuri Dixit Nene to make her streaming debut with something this irrelevant, and what artistic statement Dharma is trying to make about celebrity culture.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
We aren’t allowed to talk about all nine episodes of Severance—the new mystery box Apple TV+ show largely directed by Ben Stiller—but even if we were, we would show the same restraint.
We discuss the show’s social commentary and the many interpretations you could have of it. Is it, for instance, a takedown of religion or corporate culture? A representation of heaven and hell, or a Matrix-style hero’s journey?
We also wonder—semi-seriously—if creator-writer Dan Erickson is a front for someone really, really famous.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Just because they sold Gehraiyaan as an intense romantic drama doesn’t mean it actually is one.
We discuss the completely bonkers final act twist in director Shakun Batra’s new film—out on Amazon Prime Video—and how it derails a perfectly fine story about millennial love.
We also delve into the performances of its three central stars—Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Panday—as well as Batra’s handling of themes he’s never quite messed around with before.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The mere whiff of the words ‘Hotstar Specials’ is enough to make us wish for the sweet release of death.
This week, we rant about The Great Indian Murder—the new “murder mystery” starring Richa Chadha and Pratik Gandhi—and wonder what sort of moral bankruptcy enabled the creation of a disaster of such magnitude.
We discuss Tigmanshu Dhulia’s amateurish filmmaking, the strange structure of the plot, and the terrible performances of its central cast.
As we go along, we discover—much to our displeasure—that try as hard as we might, we can’t keep certain memories of the show repressed forever.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Rocket Boys another win for SonyLIV—over a year since the release of Scam 1992—or is it too ambitious for its own good?
We discuss the show’s narrative scope, its progressive politics, and Jim Sarbh’s magnetic performance as Homi Bhabha.
We also debate whether Ishwak Singh could have been better as his foil Vikram Sarabhai, and if creator Nikkhil Advani deserves to be appreciated for changing his tune.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Kapil Sharma’s debut stand-up special for Netflix—I’m Not Done Yet—makes an incredibly strong case for why he should be.
We discuss the strange thought process that must have gone into putting something like this together, the safe material that Sharma (poorly) performs, and why this barely qualifies as a stand-up special at all.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Will Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth—available on Apple TV+—appeal to anyone but die-hard Shakespeare nuts?
We discuss what could have possibly motivated Coen to tackle the material at this point in his career, and the pointed visual aesthetic that evokes a very particular period in cinema history.
Along the way, we talk about the performances of Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, and the environment that allows for these kind of auteur movies—Coen is writer, director, and editor—to exist.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is HBO Max’s Harry Potter reunion special a blatant cash grab or the jolt of nostalgia our pandemic-infected souls need?
We take the opportunity to look back—like Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and the rest of the cast—on our memories of the Harry Potter movies and how they’ve evolved over the years.
We also talk about the impact directors Alfonso Cuarón and David Yates, in particular, had on the series—and conclude by imagining a dour future for J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Gaana, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
To close out the year, we list down our top 10 films of 2021—counting down from 10 to 1.
Our lists span from a Zoom movie to a stellar Malayalam New Wave title, and from a harrowing animated documentary to an impossible-to-describe fantasy epic.
Along the way, we also point out why lists such as this are so arbitrary, and how long we should ideally wait before discussing the best films of 2021.
And for those looking for deeper appreciation, listen to full episodes of some of the titles mentioned in the episode here: The Dig, The Disciple, Geeli Pucchi, The Green Knight, Madhyantar, Nayattu, and Sardar Udham.
Chapters
- (00:24) Best movie #10
- (05:48) Best movie #9
- (11:10) Best movie #8
- (18:34) Best movie #7
- (25:10) Best movie #6
- (32:49) Best movie #5
- (40:41) Best movie #4
- (47:01) Best movie #3
- (53:06) Best movie #2
- (59:42) Best movie #1
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Minnal Murali—the new Malayalam superhero movie on Netflix—a goofy sendup of the genre or an earnest attempt at creating a bold new homegrown franchise?
We discuss the film’s bloated length, its dedication to fleshing out both the protagonist and antagonist, and the various subtexts buried underneath its low-key charm.
We also talk about its failures (a lot of fat could be trimmed), its future potential and the unlikely nature of it, and lament about how Marvel has taken over the box office.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
We’re divided on Decoupled, the new Netflix sitcom starring R Madhavan and Surveen Chawla.
We discuss the show’s problematic protagonist, debate whether the humour is tone-deaf or satirical, and wonder how involved director Hardik Mehta was, considering the strong stamp of authorship that creator Manu Joseph has left all over the place.
We also highlight some notable scenes, and draw comparisons to Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Hank Moody from Californication.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Aranyak—the new Raveena Tandon-starrer on Netflix—is so uniformly poor that it has exactly one scene that stands out as being competently made. Otherwise, it never knows what it should be.
We discuss how everything—from Vinay Waikul’s direction to Charudutt Acharya’s writing, and from the accents and forced goofiness to Tandon’s central performance as a small-town cop—is so utterly misguided.
We also talk about how Netflix has been dropping the ball on an annual basis, and why Aranyak wouldn’t have warranted a second glance had it been released on a little-known app.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The deeply-confusing Bob Biswas—the Kahaani spin-off on ZEE5—continues Abhishek Bachchan’s downward career trajectory.
We discuss the film’s convoluted plot, the nods to John Wick and Jason Bourne, and stylistic departure from Sujoy Ghosh’s original.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Beatles: Get Back—a three-part Disney+ documentary series—is a Shoah-like exercise in self-indulgence from director Peter Jackson, a man who has never seen a piece of footage that he hasn’t wanted to make longer.
We discuss the epic’s aimless structure and its demanding eight-hour run-time, but also the moments of musical magic in it, and Jackson’s fascination with restoring old footage.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Can Dhamaka—the new Netflix thriller directed by Ram Madhvani—reintroduce Kartik Aaryan as a serious dramatic performer?
We discuss whether the film lives up to the potential of its high-concept premise, the various grudges that it bears and how it fares, and how reticent it is to deviate from the Korean original on which it is based.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Red Notice—Netflix’s latest bid at spawning an action film franchise—feels like it has been created by an algorithm in a Hollywood lab. Will it follow in the footsteps of Extraction, or end up more like 6 Underground?
We discuss how tragically it wastes three of the world’s biggest movie stars in Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot—while pondering over the boring and repetitive careers of the former two.
We also talk about the film’s big twist and how it lies to the audience, wonder where the obnoxious amounts of money spent on it went, and why Netflix is at times happy to just feed the keywords.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Does Chloé Zhao’s Eternals really deserve the unenviable tag of being the worst-reviewed Marvel movie?
We talk about the film’s glaring plot holes, its false sense of ambition, and how it wastes stellar performers in Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie.
We also discuss the bland action, the absence of Zhao’s distinct style, and the overstuffed roster of characters.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Director Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune looks wonderful and is filled to the brim with A-list actors, but it is oddly distant and too reverential of the source material. The film’s most subversive moment is when it reveals itself to be half a story.
We discuss its over-reliance on clunky exposition, how it fails to do justice to evergreen themes such as colonialism, and the lack of cultural specificity across tribes and factions in Dune. We also talk about Timothée Chalamet’s uninteresting performance and Zendaya’s glorified cameo.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Sardar Udham—director Shoojit Sircar’s new film starring Vicky Kaushal as the revolutionary freedom fighter—is an indescribable epic that alternates between a spy thriller and a quiet character study, but has the scope of The Revenant and Lawrence of Arabia.
We discuss the film’s unique time-hopping structure, and the incredible final act, in which Sircar dramatises the Jallianwala Bagh massacre with uncompromising clarity.
We also talk about Sardar Udham’s sustained tone of dread, its dissection of British India and relevance to contemporary India, and the anger that courses through its veins.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
With Rashmi Rocket—director Akarsh Khurana’s new film on ZEE5—Taapsee Pannu finds herself in the unenviable position of having starred in three terrible films in the same calendar year. If Pannu were in Hollywood, no filmmaker would touch her.
Not only does Rashmi Rocket do a disservice to the real-life stories it is inspired by, it also disrespects two beloved film genres by making a mockery of sports films and courtroom dramas.
We discuss Pannu’s poor performance—she plays a Gujarati character with a Punjabi accent, go figure—the film’s strange structure, and blatant product placement that feels like the writers licking the producer’s boots.
And for a film ostensibly about feminism, Rashmi Rocket’s protagonist needs a man to come to her rescue (over and over), and is made to perform an item number—does no see the irony in this?
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Even the random appearance of a Karni Sena guy can’t distract from the fact that House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths—the new true crime documentary series on Netflix—is more than just a by-the-numbers telling of a crime story that gripped the nation.
We talk about our memories of the Burari deaths, the seemingly endless dark spiral that Indian news media is in, and directors Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra’s decision to double down on discussions about the psychological and sociological angles in the case.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Break Point—the new ZEE5 documentary series directed by Ashwiny Iyer and Nitesh Tiwari—soars on the strength of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi’s compelling story, but it’s no The Last Dance.
We talk about the seven-part series’ cheap-looking filmmaking—the fake backgrounds, the cheesy graphics, and the lack of archival footage—and wonder how much better it would’ve been had the Tiwaris put in more effort.
We also discuss the show and its protagonists’ blindspots, whether or not it would make a difference to casual viewers, the highs of its 1999 Wimbledon and 2006 Doha episodes, and recall memories of watching Bhupathi–Paes play live.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The second season of Kota Factory—now acquired by Netflix—begs the question: why was this TVF show ever popular in the first place?
We discuss its one-dimensional characters, and its tendency to overuse Jeetu Ex Machina, which involves throwing Jitendra Kumar’s fan-favourite character at every problem.
We also talk about its lack of female perspective on screen, the series’ ignorance of real-world tragedies, and its indifference towards examining why the Indian education system is broken.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Sandwiched between two godawful short films in Ankahi Kahaniya—the new anthology on Netflix—is director Abhishek Chaubey’s near-silent near-perfect story about solitude in a big city.
We discuss the jarring discrepancy in quality in these three chapters, how director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari failed to capitalise on an intriguing premise, and why director Saket Chaudhary might get slapped by Meryl Streep.
Along the way, we lament at the state of Bollywood that continues to deny feature opportunities to a talent like Chaubey.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Mumbai Diaries 26/11—the new Amazon ensemble series led by Konkona Sensharma and Mohit Raina—is flying under the radar for now, but as we discuss on our podcast, it probably won’t for long.
We talk about the show’s politics, which feel almost revolutionary in the context of what we’ve been made accustomed to seeing. We wonder how creator Nikkhil Advani can deliver both this and The Empire.
And while we shower plenty of praise, we also discuss its melodramatic flashbacks, its outrageous perception of news media, and its baffling decision to deviate massively from facts in the third act.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings took us back to cinemas after 18 months—and we liked it so much that not once do we discuss committee-driven filmmaking or cynical-minded China appeasement, topics that should invariably come up while talking about Disney movies.
What we do discuss is Tony Leung’s scene-stealing turn as the “villain”, comparing him and the film favourably to Black Panther, the internalised trauma that is at the heart of Shang-Chi, and why Marvel isn’t going to need Bangladeshi bot farms to bump up IMDb ratings.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Dev Patel-led epic medieval fantasy The Green Knight—written, directed and edited by David Lowery—takes an Arthurian legend and filters it through a millennial lens.
We discuss the film’s momentous scale, its timeless anxieties, and Patel’s near-perfect central performance as a talentless man who believes he’s destined for greatness.
Along the way, we talk about our favourite scenes, the exquisite cinematography and the CGI fox, and gush about its spectacular climactic sequence.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Kuruthi—the new Malayalam-language movie on Amazon Prime Video—has a lot on its mind: communal hatred, environmentalism, and a Biblical notion of good and evil. But does it do justice to any of those ideas?
We discuss the film’s hyperreal nature and how it could’ve gone further (akin to its inspiration Get Out), director Manu Warrier’s meticulous handling of the home invasion portion, and its lacklustre final act that dissolves into full B-movie.
Later, we talk about Simu Liu’s knee-jerk reaction to Disney CEO Bob Chapek calling (the theatrical-only premiere of) Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings an “experiment”—and wonder if it was warranted.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: Kuruthi
- (28:12) News: Shang-Chi controversy
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Just because Sidharth Malhotra looks like a movie star, Bollywood has spent a decade trying to make him one. His latest vehicle, the war drama Shershaah, is a by-the-numbers vanilla biopic that doesn’t do justice to its subject, the Kargil War hero Captain Vikram Batra.
We discuss the film’s strange pacing, director Vishnu Varadhan’s handling of the action and the drama, Dharma Productions’ deliberate efforts to avoid nationalism, and the underwritten character that Kiara Advani has been saddled with.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad a much-deserved apology to DC fans for David Ayer’s mismanaged original film?
We discuss why we are willing to ignore the movie’s thin plot, have come to embrace its ridiculous and over-the-top tone, and believe The Suicide Squad would be deemed “anti-national” if it was made in India.
We also talk about our favourite gags (shout-out to King Shark and Polka-Dot Man), and wonder why Margot Robbie is top-billed even though Idris Elba is the real star of the show.
Later, we delve into gossip about The Batman, involving an acrimonious split between star Robert Pattinson and director Matt Reeves.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: The Suicide Squad
- (33:25) News: The Batman rumours
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Kriti Sanon-led Mimi is an improvement on the 2011 Marathi-language original, and still somehow downright terrible.
We discuss the disingenuous twists, its unwillingness to confront reality, and director Laxman Utekar’s embrace of tonal imbalance as a defining characteristic.
Along the way, we delve into the film’s irresponsible and egregious handling of surrogacy, suicide, bigotry, and other heavyweight topics.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is the politically-charged crime saga Malik—the latest Fahadh Faasil-Mahesh Narayanan collaboration, surprisingly picked up by Amazon Prime Video—an ambitious misfire or a brave success?
We discuss the film’s episodic structure, debate if it would’ve been better as a miniseries, analyse its kitchen-sink filmmaking, and list all its influences.
Later, we talk about the Emmy nominations, where everyone went home happy.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: Malik
- (29:48) News: Emmy nominations
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Black Widow a fitting farewell to Scarlett Johansson or a middling Marvel movie lacking a voice?
We discuss the film’s emotional underpinnings, Florence Pugh’s wry-humour character, the perfunctory handling of its themes, and Marvel’s persistent villain problem made large.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Not content with being a homage to Indian pulp fiction, Haseen Dillruba—the new Netflix movie starring Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey—is also a mix of cringe comedy, ‘90s Bollywood romance, and C.I.D. infused with crime noir. Unsurprisingly, it does none of that well.
We discuss why Pannu needs a better director than Vinil Mathew, his inability to handle the motley of genres at play, and what’s going on with Kanika Dhillon’s screenplay, from the inadvertent undermining of the film’s feminist tone to the tone-deaf tackling of toxic masculinity.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Not all chapters in Netflix’s new anthology series, Ray—starring Ali Fazal, Manoj Bajpayee, Kay Kay Menon, and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor—are worth watching. But are any of them actually good?
We talk about the uneven quality of the four episodes, how they deviate from Satyajit Ray's short stories on which they’re based, and who among the three directors—Srijit Mukherji, Abhishek Chaubey, and Vasan Bala—fares the best.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is director Amit Masurkar’s Sherni—starring Vidya Balan as a forest officer—a worthy follow-up to Newton?
We discuss the film’s ambitious ideas, Masurkar’s commentary on India under the Modi regime, and the film’s many passions, including environmental conservation, gender equality, and native representation.
Later, we talk about the behind-the-scenes reshuffle at Netflix India, and what that could mean for the streamer going forward.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: Sherni
- (30:23) News: Netflix India shake-up
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is The Family Man season 2 a breezy action series or a racist dog whistle for the far-right?
We discuss the indefensible failures of Raj & D.K., the series’ strong points—including those fascinating long takes—and the performances and characterisation of Samantha Akkineni and Manoj Bajpayee.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Does Cruella—the latest in the long line of Disney’s live-action reimaginings—earn its edginess?
We discuss the campy performances of stars Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, its derivative storytelling and myriad inspirations, and the film’s wall-to-wall soundtrack.
Later, we talk about Amazon’s $8.45-billion takeover of MGM, and what that could mean for the James Bond franchise going forward.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: Cruella
- (29:24) News: Amazon-MGM deal
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Martin Prakkat’s Nayattu—our first film from the Malayalam New Wave, streaming on Netflix—is a genre-fluid thriller with grave undertones.
We debate the film’s plot holes, discuss its handling of the Dalit struggle, and dive into its broad socio-political themes.
Later, we talk about the teaser trailer for Marvel’s Eternals, and wonder why in the world they chose to ignore director Chloé Zhao—and her recent Oscar wins—altogether.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: Nayattu
- (29:08) News: Eternals trailer
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder’s follow-up to his director’s cut of Justice League, is a bloated, boring mess.
We discuss the heist film’s simplistic plot, the lack of imagination in its depiction of zombies, and the thinly written characters.
Later, we talk about the state of piracy in India, prompted by Salman Khan’s angry tweet about Radhe.
Chapters
- (00:00) Review: Army of the Dead
- (23:37) News: Radhe and piracy
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Woman in the Window—led by Amy Adams and directed by Joe Wright—continues Netflix’s streak of acquiring terrible adaptations of bestselling thriller books.
We discuss the film’s troubled production, speculate what attracted its A-list cast, and wonder if Wright is overrated.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple one of the best films of the year?
We discuss its dissection of idolism, the exploration of generational mindsets, Tamhane’s command of the craft, and its commentary on filmmaking as a whole.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Searching for Sheela, a new Netflix documentary about Osho’s controversial former aide Ma Anand Sheela, is a sanitised puff piece pretending to be a serious profile.
We discuss the superficial, slapdash filmmaking, the tone-deaf treatment of serious themes, and the curious lack of a director in what is a Karan Johar production.
Later, we dive into the trailer for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and talk about the casting of Olivia Colman and Emilia Clarke in Marvel’s Secret Invasion.
Chapters
- (0:00) Review: Searching for Sheela
- (21:32) News: Shang-Chi trailer + Secret Invasion casting
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Neeraj Ghaywan and Kayoze Irani’s films are the only memorable bits about Ajeeb Daastaans, Netflix’s latest collaboration with producer Karan Johar.
We dissect the anthology’s four parts, the awful plot-driven nature of the first two, and the terrific acting of Konkona Sensharma and Shefali Shah.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Abhishek Bachchan was right. The Big Bull isn’t like Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story at all. It’s much worse.
Watch him laugh maniacally for what seems like an eternity, cringe as he loiters around tourist hotspots in Delhi, and scratch your head as you try to make sense of Kookie Gulati’s baffling direction.
The Big Bull is one of Disney+ Hotstar’s worst “Multiplex” offerings. And that is saying something.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Can Godzilla vs. Kong be criticised for favouring loud action over everything else?
We discuss the movie’s indifference towards human characters, its pointless world-building, and how the MonsterVerse has evolved over the years.
Godzilla vs. Kong is out on HBO Max and available in cinemas.
Later, we talk about Netflix’s industry-buckling bid of $450 million for two Knives Out sequels.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is the Sanya Malhotra-starrer Pagglait a rare win for Netflix India?
We discuss the film’s place in the new wave of Bollywood small-town dramedies, writer-director Umesh Bist’s eye for detail, and the stacked supporting cast.
Later, we talk about the Oscar nominations.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Zack Snyder’s Justice League worth its punishing four-hour length for anyone except DC fans?
We talk about the social media movement that birthed it, Snyder’s approach to the superhero realm, the differences with the theatrical cut (the good and the bad), and that exasperating epilogue.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Russo brothers have cashed in the blank cheque they earned with Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War. But is Tom Holland-starrer Cherry an overambitious epic, or an unmitigated disaster?
We discuss the Apple TV+ film’s style-over-substance approach, the Russos’ heavy-handed direction, and the script’s superficial understanding of complex crises.
Later, we talk about the pleasantly-surprising and diverse BAFTA nominations.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
There is nothing that writer-director Ribhu Dasgupta can’t ruin by simply pointing a camera at it.
With The Girl on the Train, he takes a novel that was adapted into a mediocre Emily Blunt film, and somehow makes it worse.
We discuss Parineeti Chopra’s misguided performance, the lack of any internal logic to its godawful narrative, and that Abbas–Mustan-inspired final twist.
Later, we talk about Netflix India’s 2021 slate, and the titles we’re most excited about.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, really one of the best American movies of the year?
We discuss Zhao’s documentary-like approach, its Terrence Malick inspirations, and the film’s narrative (or rather the lack of one).
Nomadland is available on Hulu.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Judas and the Black Messiah—produced by Ryan Coogler, and directed by Shaka King—isn’t just a powerful film, it’s powerfully made too.
We discuss the performances of Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield, the trumpet-driven score composed by Mark Isham and Craig Harris, its framing of revolutionary politics, and its multi-stage appeal.
We also touch upon the lack of similar films in Bollywood—which takes us into Martin Scorsese’s newest (justified) rant on how cinema is being devalued in the name of content.
Judas and the Black Messiah is streaming on HBO Max in the US, and out March 5 in India.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Tom Hanks might not be too vocal about his politics, as he lets his work do the talking. In his new film News of the World, director Paul Greengrass takes on the fake news media, despotic rulers, and MAGA culture.
We also discuss how Greengrass embraces classic Western tropes, the movie’s outstanding gunfight sequence, and the performance of 12-year-old co-lead Helena Zengel.
News of the World is available on Netflix globally, and on video-on-demand in the US.
Later, we talk about Marvel Studios’ second Disney+ series—The Falcon and the Winter Soldier—which debuted its trailer during Super Bowl.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
The Dig—a Netflix film led by Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes—is a small film with big ideas.
We discuss Mulligan’s fantastic run, the film’s socio-political subtext, and the trio of creative voices behind its success: director Simon Stone, cinematographer Mike Eley, and composer Stefan Gregory.
Later, we dissect the Golden Globes nominations, and the mysterious ways of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Tandav—the Amazon original, led by Saif Ali Khan—is offensive, but not for the reasons you might have heard about.
We discuss the Indian series’ idiotic controversies, its reductive politics, the hilarity of its storytelling (or the lack thereof), and how it wastes its ensemble cast.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Does Ramin Bahrani’s The White Tiger—led by Adarsh Gourav, with Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in supporting roles—live up to the award-winning book it’s based on?
We discuss the film’s exploration of caste and class in India, Rao’s terrible American accent, and how it fits into Bahrani’s filmography.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is it a loving homage to classic sitcoms or an unabashed Marvel spectacle? We attempt to unpack the first three episodes of WandaVision, the first MCU series on Disney+.
In between, we also speculate about future chapters, discuss Easter eggs, and wonder if it is all an introduction to the multiverse—one that seems to be more committee-driven every day.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
With The Mandalorian season 2, a lifelong film franchise now shows more promise on television. How did this happen?
We discuss Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s instrumental place in spawning the Star Wars cinematic universe, and compare it favourably to two of the best shows in recent memory: Game of Thrones, and Breaking Bad.
We also talk about our expectations from the other Star Wars series in the works, and where The Mandalorian might go in season 3.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
How does Wonder Woman 1984—the sequel led by Gal Gadot—waste the goodwill established by the first movie?
We discuss the DC film’s bloated runtime, lacklustre villains—played by Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal—its unwillingness to justify its ‘80s setting and the return of Chris Pine, and complete absence of thematic depth.
Later, we wonder how director Patty Jenkins plans to deliver all of Wonder Woman 3, Star Wars’ Rogue Squadron, and Cleopatra, in light of Warner Bros. “fast-tracking” the next Wonder Woman chapter.
We end by talking about the problems with the DC Extended Universe at large.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
In an end-of-the-year special, co-hosts Rohan Naahar and Akhil Arora talk about their favourite films in 2020, counting down from 10 to 1.
The movies come from directors such as Céline Sciamma, Geetu Mohandas, Greta Gerwig, Max Barbakow, Eliza Hittman, and Aaron Sorkin.
Stick around to hear us lament about the domination of American pop culture, and why we’ll never discuss La La Land on The Long Take.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is director Vikramaditya Motwane’s meta-mockumentary AK vs AK a one-line premise stretched too thin?
We discuss the film’s inventive approach to Bollywood satire, actors Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap’s willingness to lampoon themselves, and cinematographer Swapnil Sonawane’s use of long takes.
Later, we find time to rant about Indian film critics (it us) being treated dismissively by international studios (we’re looking at you, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Warner Bros.)
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
With Tenet, has Christopher Nolan become too Nolan-y, verging on self-parody?
We discuss the filmmaker’s delayed sci-fi espionage thriller, the problems with its time inversion mechanic, the admirable action set-pieces, and—the big question—whether it is worth a trip to the cinemas.
Later, we talk about Disney’s newly-unveiled massive slate, with a focus on Star Wars and Marvel.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Can Mank—an insider tale about ‘30s Hollywood, through the eyes of Citizen Kane co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz—win Netflix its first best picture Oscar?
We discuss David Fincher’s technical choices, his commitment to a discredited version of events, and the film’s mainstream appeal (or rather, the lack of it).
Later, we talk about HBO Max’s game-changing announcement, which will bring 18 Warner Bros. movies day-and-date on streaming and in cinemas.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Where does the $200-million Mulan stand in the pantheon of Disney’s live-action remakes?
We discuss the film’s multiple behind-the-scenes controversies, its treatment of Gong Li’s shapeshifting character, and how it panders to Chinese interests (in vain).
Later, we talk about Netflix’s terrible new reality series The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, and Asif Kapadia’s documentary film Diego Maradona in light of the great footballer’s death.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Steve McQueen’s anthology film series—Small Axe—the most personal he has ever been? We dive into the first film in the series, Mangrove.
We discuss its unexpected similarities to The Trial of the Chicago 7, McQueen’s distinctive direction, and the ambition of his five-film experiment.
Small Axe is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and Amazon Prime Video in the US.
Later, we talk about Delhi Crime’s success at the International Emmys—a first for India—and Netflix’s 62-million hit, The Queen’s Gambit.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is the fourth season of The Crown—the Netflix drama about the British royal family—the best one yet?
We discuss creator Peter Morgan’s impressionistic take on history, the performances of its ensemble cast—including Olivia Colman, Gillian Anderson, and Emma Corrin—and whether the show is an indictment of the monarchy, or a celebration of it.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Come for the rants about Laxmii, stay for recommendations on what to watch instead in the realm of transgender cinema.
We discuss Akshay Kumar’s messiah complex, the film’s rotten writing, its harmful depiction of trans people, and whether it can even be described as a “movie”.
Later, we talk about the government’s decision to regulate streaming content, and how that could affect the industry.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story worth the hassle of dealing with SonyLIV?
We discuss the word-of-mouth hit, including the treatment of its controversial subject, its themes of morality, greed, and corruption, and the performances of its largely unknown cast.
Later, we talk about the artistic counter-attack launched by Hollywood filmmakers against Donald Trump during his presidency, and highlight some of our favourites.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Sacha Baron Cohen’s secretly filmed satire sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the final blow to an (hopefully) outgoing president or a pointed exploration of American society?
We also discuss the legitimacy of that outrageous Rudy Giuliani scene, the film’s unexpected feminist values, and the performances of its leads: newcomer Maria Bakalova, and Cohen.
Later, we talk about another Netflix India dud, the Shabana Azmi-starrer horror Kaali Khuhi, and Spike Lee’s inventive new film, David Byrne’s American Utopia.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy a faithful adaptation of Vikram Seth’s lengthy novel, or does it get tangled up in its own excesses and restrictions?
We also talk about its ensemble cast, the show’s relevance to today’s India, and whether making it largely in English was a good idea.
Later, we discuss the reopening of Indian cinemas during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and whether or not we’d go to the movies if work demanded it.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Where does Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 rank in his illustrious filmography?
We discuss its similarities to the Oscar-winning screenwriter’s past work, the performances of the ensemble cast—including Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance, and Jeremy Strong—and the film’s urgent message.
Later, we talk about a viral review of Netflix’s horror series The Haunting of Bly Manor and whether film criticism should be a democratic medium for even non-experts to explore.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Amazon’s flagship series, The Boys, really as intelligent as it thinks it is? We discuss the show’s recently-concluded second season, its muddled plot-driven storytelling, and sprawling political and cultural themes.
Later, we discuss the reported involvement of Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange in Spider-Man 3—the sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home—and the quiet effectiveness of Netflix’s documentary miniseries Bad Boy Billionaires: India.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Sudhir Mishra’s satire Serious Men—starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui—one of Netflix’s best Indian films or a half-baked exploration of delicate socio-political themes?
Later, we discuss Disney’s decision to hire Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins to direct The Lion King 2, and co-host Rohan Naahar talks about his return to the world of football.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Can the Millie Bobby Brown-led Enola Holmes be the start of another franchise for Netflix? We also discuss Henry Cavill’s take on Sherlock Holmes and the film‘s Brexit allegory.
Later, we talk about Emmy winners—Schitt’s Creek (which wiped the floor) and (the brilliance of) Succession—and the disappointment that is Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Netflix’s star-studded The Devil All the Time a major awards contender or an ambitious failure?
We also discuss how Netflix is doing the sensible thing by going back to the drawing board with Baahubali: Before the Beginning, and why the “alarming” Netflix docudrama The Social Dilemma left us underwhelmed.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Cargo—Arati Kadav’s debut sci-fi fantasy film, led by Vikrant Massey and Shweta Tripathi—really as original as everyone says it is?
We also discuss whether Warner Bros. is making a mistake by betting on Dune director Denis Villeneuve, and why Mrs. Serial Killer will be considered a masterpiece—in 30 years.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Charlie Kaufman’s new film, i’m thinking of ending things, is a cerebral experience, but is it an emotional one?
We also discuss the death of Chadwick Boseman, the lasting legacy of his films, and why stories about race might be more appealing if told through genre.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Does Mahesh Bhatt’s awful Sadak 2 have the power to ruin the careers of everyone involved? We also talk about the original Sadak, India’s obsession with godmen, and Alia Bhatt’s immense love for her dad.
Later, we discuss the happenings of DC FanDome, from our hopes and fears surrounding Zack Snyder’s Justice League to why we’re excited for Matt Reeves’ take on The Batman.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Does the Bobby Deol-starrer Class of ’83 end Shah Rukh Khan’s dismal run with Netflix? We also talk about the film’s irresponsible tone, its committee-style filmmaking — and the ongoing controversy around Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Does the Janhvi Kapoor-led Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl deserve all the hate coming its way? We also discuss progressive patriotism, the IAF’s efforts to clamp down on the film, and how self-censorship will ruin streaming.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is the coronavirus pandemic going to change the entertainment industry for good? We discuss the future of streaming, the effect of COVID-19 on Bollywood, and whether the staggered release of Tenet is a good idea.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-led Raat Akeli Hai a desi version of Knives Out? We also discuss the Emmy nominations, where we sing the praises of Watchmen and its creator Damon Lindelof, and debate Better Call Saul vs Breaking Bad.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Is Dil Bechara the emotional send-off that Sushant Singh Rajput deserved? We also talk about how critics were bullied into giving it positive reviews, the meaninglessness of IMDb ratings, and Zee5’s deceptive marketing tactics.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Will the Charlize Theron-starrer The Old Guard be the biggest superhero movie of 2020? We also talk about Netflix's upcoming Indian slate — including Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and AK vs AK — and whether it is worth the hype.
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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar,The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.
The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, JioSaavn, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow The Long Take on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support
Co-hosts Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar introduce their movie podcast — The Long Take — and why you should check it out.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-long-take/support