The Long Take with Akhil, Rohan & Devika

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.

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, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

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, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

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, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].

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.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at [email protected].