The Long Take with Akhil, Rohan & Devika

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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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.

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

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.

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