The Pardesi Podcast

Melanie welcomes Alisa the Bollywood Newbie (Alisa Rivera) on The Pardesi Podcast for the first time!

Alisa talks about how she began watching Indian Cinema a little over a year ago, and her love of Aamir Khan.

We get into a discussion of Thugs of Hindostan which we both found average.  We discuss the intense reaction and disappointment of the Indian audience and what it might mean as a turning point year for the Khans.

You can find Alisa on twitter @BollywoodNewbie and Melanie of The Pardesi Podcast below:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PardesiYT

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Movie review of the 2018 Hindi film Thugs of Hindostan starring Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif - by Melanie on Pardesi.

Thugs of Hindostan is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language epic action-adventure film, written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, and produced by Aditya Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Lloyd Owen. Set in 1795, the film follows a band of Thugs led by Khudabaksh Azaad, who aspires to free Hindostan (the Indian subcontinent) from the rule of the expanding British East India Company. Alarmed, British commander John Clive sends a small-time Thug from Awadh, Firangi Mallah, to infiltrate and counter the threat.

Produced on an estimated budget of ₹300 crore (US$42 million), Thugs of Hindostan is the most expensive Bollywood film. Initially titled Thug, the film marked the first time Khan and Bachchan featured together as leads, and was the second collaboration between Khan, Acharya and Kaif, after Dhoom 3 (2013). Principal photography commenced on 5 June 2017 in Malta; the film was also shot in Thailand and Mehrangarh. It was put on a short hiatus after Bachchan was injured on set. Filming concluded in March 2018, the final schedule being completed in Rajasthan. The soundtrack was composed by Ajay-Atul, with lyrics written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Thugs of Hindostan was released during the week of the Diwali festival, on 8 November 2018.

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Movie Review of the 2018 Tamil film Sarkar (Government) starring Vijay, directed by A. R. Murugadoss - by Melanie on Pardesi.  Watch the video of this review on Pardesi Reviews here.

Sarkar (English: Authority) is an Indian action film film starring Vijay, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Yogi Babu and Radha Ravi. The film is directed by A. R. Murugadoss, co-written by Jeyamohan with music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Girish Gangadharan, edited by Sreekar Prasad and produced by Kalanithi Maran under the banner Sun Pictures. The film began production in January 2018, and is scheduled to be released in November 2018, coinciding with Diwali.

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Movie review of the 2018 Telugu film Savyasachi starring Chaitanya Akkineni and Madhavan - by Melanie on Pardesi.  Watch this review on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/zmgA1Y5K7K0

Savyasachi (lit. Ambidextrous) is an Indian Telugu-language action film directed by Chandoo Mondeti & produced by Naveen Yerneni, C.V. Mohan, Y. Ravi Shankar under the banner Of Mythri Movie Makers. The film features Naga Chaitanya, R Madhavan and Nidhhi Agerwal in lead roles.

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Movie review of the 2018 Hindi film Baazaar starring Saif Ali Khan - by Melanie on Pardesi.

I will be posting stand alone short podcasts that repeat the same day movie reviews I post on my Pardesi Reviews Youtube channel.  Shah Shahid of The Splitscreen Podcast told me he would stay up to date with my reviews if I posted them as a podcast, so Shah, this one's for you.

You can watch they video of my review of the Hindi film Baazaar starring Saif Ali Khan here:

https://youtu.be/zC_gKQRjjtY

Baazaar (transl. Market; Hindi pronunciation: [baːzaːɾ]) is a 2018 business crime drama film directed by Gauravv K. Chawla, written by Nikkhil Advani, Aseem Arora and Parveez Sheikh. Starring Saif Ali Khan, debutant Rohan Mehra, Chitrangada Singh and Radhika Apte. The film is set in the backdrop of money, power and business, largely based on the Stock market. The film was released on 26 October 2018.

The Hindi films Karwaan, Dhadak and Sanju all came to streaming services in October.  Karwaan and Dhadak are on Amazon Prime, and Sanju came later in the month on Netflix.

These three movie reviews I first posted on my Youtube channel right after I saw the films in the theater. All three are definitely worth a watch.  Karwaan is Dulquer Salmaan's Hindi film debut, acting alongside Irrfan Khan.  The Dhadak review has some spoilers, but I note when to stop listening if you don't want any spoilers at all.  I had to give some spoilers to compare Dhadak to the original Marathi film Sairat, including the ending differences.

Here are the original Youtube videos if you'd like to watch them:

Karwaan: https://youtu.be/JVz-XEAX7KM

Dhadak: https://youtu.be/lmvEVWfNxx0

Sanju: https://youtu.be/Ij9stof-sFE

To keep up to date which Indian films are on Netflix and Amazon Prime, do check out Kathy Gibson's AccessBollywood.net.

This episode of The Pardesi Podcast has Melanie Greenberg and Margaret Redlich discussing how they first started watching Indian Cinema, and our fandom of Shahrukh Khan.  We discuss our favorite and least favorite SRK films, and where we see his career possibly going next.

You can find more Indian Cinema reviews by Melanie on her Youtube channel: Pardesi Reviews: 

https://www.youtube.com/c/PardesiReviews

Margaret Redlich has written the book Don't Call It Bollywood: An Introduction to the Hindi Film Universe: http://annorlundaenterprises.com/books/dont-call-it-bollywood/

Margaret writes extensively about Indian Cinema on her Blog:  https://dontcallitbollywood.com/

Welcome to The Pardesi Podcast.  Who is Melanie, why is she a Pardesi, and how did she start watching Indian cinema? 

You can find more Indian Cinema reviews and trailer reactions by Melanie on her Youtube channel: Pardesi Reviews: 

https://www.youtube.com/c/PardesiReviews