The Other Banana

We are back after a long gap to continue with our Bala series.

This one is special. Pithamagan was special. As two stars Vikram and Suriya come together, Bala goes up a notch and delivers a film that is as timeless as it is strange and compelling. With Vikram, Suriya, Laila, Sangeetha, Karunas and Raaja's music, Pithamagan shocked and awed everyone.

Equanimus joins Aditya and Anantha to talk all things Pithamagan and Bala's masterpiece.

Edited by Anantha

It's been some time but we are back with the Bala series. This time we talk about the 2001 film, Bala's sophomore feature Nandha starring Suriya, Laila, Rajkiran, Saravanan, Karunas.

This felt like a more assured Bala, more confident in his approach and expanding the definition of mainstream. We have the same team to talk about the film. Hari and Anantha join Aditya.

Participants:

Aditya

Hari

Anantha

Edited by Anantha

A new Director Series at The Other Banana

We have long debated a series on director Bala. You could say that Bala is not Bala anymore and his films are increasingly becoming difficult to meaningfully engage with but, the Bala 1999-2010 was something else.

A new voice broke out in Tamil cinema in 1999 with Sethu. One of the several assistants of Balu Mahendra who will go on to make a mark in the following years, Bala ushered in an auterist sensibility with unique technique, point of view, characters and settings. The Bala universe was instantly recognizable.

In the first of the series, we begin with his debut in 1999 which not only kickstarted his career but also redeemed Vikram's career and pushed him into stardom. With one film, a new star actor as well as a star director were born. Listen on.

Participants

Aditya

Anantha

Hari

Edited by Anantha

We are returning after a while but with a biggie! Director and cinematographer C Prem Kumar joins us to talk about his latest film Meiyazhagan starring Karthi, Arvind Swamy, Sri Divya and others.

The film has been warmly received by the audiences and is a breath of fresh air for Tamil cinema. Films with strong writing, a slice-of-life genre with male characters written as gentle and vulnerable have become rare. There is such a homogeneity of genre dominated by action, masala and violence that a Meiyazhagan deserves to be celebrated not just for how good it is but also for the mere fact that it exists.

Prem Kumar joins Aditya and Subha Rao to talk about the writing decisions, what was cut from the opening scene, music and lyrics, the characters of Arul and Mei, the trimming decisions by distributors and the importance of the small and mid budget film, and more. Listen on.

Edited by Deepauk.

In this episode writer Aditya Mani Jha joins Deepauk and Aditya to talk about two 2024 films, both Telugu originals, and adapted-inspired from two Hindu epics - Mahabharata and Ramayana.

One is Nag Ashwin's Kalki 2898 AD and the other is Prasanth Varma's Hanu-Man. One has a stellar pan-Indian star cast with the likes of Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone et al while the other has Teja Sajja, Amritha Aiyar, Vinay Rai among others. One has big budget and larger scope. The other has a big heart and novel ideas.

We talk about what the films get right, what they do not and which Hindu epic is more interesting, adaptable and more. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Deepauk

Aditya Mani Jha

Edited by Anantha.

Nithilan Saminathan returns after Kurangu Bommai with a bigger canvas and a bigger star. His talents are still visible, refined even, but his latest film with Vijay Sethupathi in and as Maharaja started a discourse about rape-revenge genre in cinema, gratuitous violence, depiction of sexual abuse, and the conspicuous choice of Vairamuthu as lyricist.

Aditya joins Deepauk and regular guest Subha Rao to talk about what irked them about the film, what they liked, and where Tamil cinema must do better. And how the audience reaction in the theatres didn't inspire much confidence. The discussion contains spoilers.

Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Deepauk

Subha Rao

Link to Subha's opinion piece on the film in The News Minute: https://www.thenewsminute.com/flix/opinion-vijay-sethupathi-film-maharaja-is-an-example-of-how-not-to-depict-violence-on-screen

We at The Other Banana believe that director Girish AD is doing something incredible with the genre of romantic comedy and coming of age. With the recent big hit Premalu, that awed audiences across south India, we decided to take a look at all his films that show steady progression in certain genre conventions as well as successful attempts at breaking them with memorable writing, characters, comedy and performances.

In this episode, Poorvaja S, journalist from The Hindu joins Aditya and Deepauk to talk about Girish and his three films so far - Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, Super Sharanya and Premalu.

There is a lot of giggling and laughter but also some observations into what makes Girish AD unique and how he has revitalized the genre in India. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Deepauk

Poorvaja

Edited by Anantha.

In this episode we dive into the atomic elements of composition that we can observe in Raaja's music. How does he use sentence structures and motifs in his compositions? Can we really tell apart where Carnatic ends and Western touches begin in his music. Briefly we also cover one stark difference between MSV and Raaja.

Topics Covered:

What are sentences and how have they been used by Beethoven and Mozart?

How do sentence structures show up in Raaja's music?

What is a motif and why does it often form the kernel of the full composition?

How has Raaja used various motifs in his film songs?

Participants:

Mahesh

Deepauk

Bala Chidambaram

Musical References:

Subramanyena (Notes)

Kaatumalli

Sakkarakattikku

We couldn't ignore Malayalam cinema's great run in the first couple of months of 2024 so decided to talk about Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malaikottai Vaaliban which received a lukewarm to polarizing reception after huge expectations.

Right after the universally feted Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, Malaikottai Vaaliban couldn't have been more different, a fantastical tale that eschews the diktats of narrative cinema and leaps from one genre to another with every scene. Starring Mohanlal, Katha Nandi, Sonalee Kulkarni, Hareesh Peradi, Danish Sait, Manoj Moses and others, there is a lot in the film to like and talk about.

Aditya is joined by his namesake writer Aditya Mani Jha and Mint Lounge's film critic Uday Bhatia, three people who immensely enjoyed the film to talk about what worked, the influences and whether a sequel can be expected or not. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Uday Bhatia

Aditya Mani Jha

Edited by Anantha

Sapta Saagaradaache Ello - Side B team is back and this time we have director Hemanth M. Rao and actor/singer Chaithra J. Achar joining us. She plays Surabhi in this follow up to SSE Side A. Side B looks at the life of Manu (Rakshit Shetty) and Priya (Rukmini Vasanth) a decade after their tragic love story seemingly ended. We travel with these star crossed characters as Manu grapples with life without Priya after getting out of prison, his tryst with Surabhi and the inability to move on from the strongest love of his life.

We talk everything in this podcast - Chaithra's audition for Surabhi, the staging, colours and lenses used, the progression and inner selves of the three characters, some anecdotes and happy accidents from the filming and also broach the subject of stalking. Listen on.

Participants:

Aditya

Hemanth M. Rao

Chaithra J. Achar

Edited by Anantha

Listen to our episode on Side A with Hemanth and Subha Rao here.