Sing is Kinng (2008)

Podcast Episode Description:

🎬 From Bollywood Comedy to Real-Life Gem: Exploring Sikhism and Swag in "Sing is King"! 🎬

In this episode of Fear of Stairs: Desi Films Decoded, we're unraveling the chaotic, comedic, and surprisingly heartwarming world of "Sing is King," starring the one and only Akshay Kumar. Buckle up, because this rollercoaster of a movie takes us on a wild ride from Egypt's pyramids to Australia's gangster underworld, all while presenting Sikhism in a comically adventurous light.

Join our squad—Winnie, Adam, Khilli, and Nicky—as we chat about:

・ The bizarre yet entertaining portrayal of Sikh culture and values. Is it respectful or just a giant meme?

・ How Akshay Kumar's character goes from village idiot to mafia kingpin in the most hilarious ways possible.

・ The surprising depth of the film's message about redemption and kindness, all wrapped up in laugh-out-loud moments.

・ The standout musical numbers, including a cameo by none other than Snoop Dogg! 🎤

・ Everything you need to know about why using Snoop Dogg in a Bollywood film was both the weirdest and coolest thing ever.

And, of course, we'll dive deep into the overarching themes of Sikhism, the clash of cultural identities, and the hilarious twists and turns that define this Bollywood comedy gem.

So grab your popcorn (or samosas), hit play, and let’s figure out if "Sing is King" is a must-watch for its feel-good vibes or just another Bollywood comedy mishap. Spoiler: There are definitely some cringe and binge-worthy moments you don't want to miss!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Sing
is king.
Okay, under an hour.
It's exactly 10.
This will be so easy to do under an hour.
Yeah.
Okay, let's see.
All right.

(00:43):
Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова
Welcome to Fear of Stares, Desi Films Decoded, the podcast where four friends from different backgrounds unlock the world of Desi cinema.
I'm Winnie, the Desi who's never been to India.
Hey, I'm Kili. I'm from India. I love films, watching them. Yeah.
uh my name is nikki and today i learned that no matter what heinous crime you do your family will
always be there behind you
i'm adam i'm from america when killie does this he sounds like
he's like a kid trying to get adopted or
something
I'm
Love me. I love films.
I like movies

(01:05):
and films and
I'll sit quietly next
to you.
I promise.
Although he definitely doesn't
do that while we watch a movie. He's a very
vocal. Oh my god. I brought this up
with him.
Don't give me that face.
Watching Final Destination was the terrible next to him.
Oh,
Nikki was
there too.
I was there, man.
Okay.
I told that I'm going to watch Final Destination only on one condition.

(01:29):
That I wasn't going to talk during that film.
Because I'm scared of that film.
I was conveniently seated on the opposite
side.
It wasn't just the talking.
It was the phone.
Yeah, I didn't realize that the phone...
I know what you're trying to do.
It's too scary for you.
So you try to...
Fill it with your own noise.
Yeah.
So that
it's...
Yeah, yeah.
Because I don't like watching, like,

(01:52):
the suspense where someone might die right now.
Why would
you go watch...
That's literally the whole,
like,
foundation
of Final Destination.
No, it's funny.
That was the literal reason of me.
It's funny
because Nikki admitted he was scared
before the movie.
Kili was acting all tough.
and then in the end
Kili reads the whole
wiki plot or something
just so he can anticipate

(02:13):
what happened
I don't want to watch
this film
and then I was going
because like you guys
like wanted to go
he
walked away
from the hospital scene
and then came back
and Ertuzal was like
bro you missed the whole thing
and you were like
it's okay
I read it on Wikipedia

(02:37):
I'm sorry
I was taking a share and...
I think he conveniently
left at that
moment.
He didn't
have to witness that.
No, no, no.
I could
sense something was coming,
but I saw the hospital scene.
But before watching the scene,
I already read about it.

(02:58):
I...
Wait, and you read it during the
movie, right?
Yeah.
Okay, cool.
It was like, I mean, I don't have any prestige value for watching.
What is this called?
Like
a war.
Final destination.
Yeah, it
doesn't have any respect in my eyes anyway.
That is
a bold statement.
That sucks for you.
But no, I saw him like laughing the whole time, right?
At the beginning it was fun.
Yeah.
Because I talked to him afterwards and I'm like, how's the movie?
He's like, yeah, I didn't like it.
Is there like a Bollywood equivalent of Final Destination?
What would come closest?
No, I don't think they're so creative to make it fun and also gory.

(03:22):
And also gore doesn't come on Bollywood as much.
Not sadistic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think this is like a big worldwide hit because it's like it's universal.
I
think Bollywood finds different ways to torture you.
Kind of like what we just experienced with Sing is King, according to you guys.
Well, yeah.
So let's talk about it.
Winnie, introduce this film.

(03:55):
Yeah.
Okay, I guess I chose it.
And it might be the last movie I get to pick for a
while.
But the movie Sing is King.
It was released in 2009, I think.
I
think it was 2008.
2008, starring Akshay Kumar.
And I suggested it just because I had such fond memories of going to watch it.
I don't really remember the movie.
I think I was...
11 or 12 at that point but it was a pretty big event in Bangkok like a bunch of Thai Indians
went to Central World Cinema I had never seen the theater that packed samosas were flying around
it smelled like curry it was and you just met everyone you know like my mom's trying to tell

(04:19):
me like this person is that so it was a pretty big monumental moment memorable um yeah and that's
why I suggested it I'm Sikh so a bit of Sikh pride we haven't done a movie based on
showcasing Sikhism yet in Bollywood.
So this is both a good and a bad introduction to that, I think.
Yeah.
How many times

(04:40):
have you seen it?
Just once.
Just the once in the cinema.
And yeah, it's my first time again where I actually remembered the plot.
And it's quite different from what I remember.
I thought it was a bit like prideful, celebrating Sikhs and all.
Now it's a bit ridiculous as a movie.
No, I
watched it and I thought this...
must have been your favorite movie.

(05:02):
I feel like it was so formative for you.
I'm very surprised you only saw it once.
This is why I was telling you, like,
you're discrediting my theory here
because I feel like this is like the urtext
to everything you like and how you feel about things.
Okay, yeah, Adam has been saying this for the past week
that he is not surprised I chose this movie.

(05:22):
It's very me and I have no idea what you mean by that.
I don't see you as a doobie.
Okay.
No, no, no.
That's not what I'm saying.
I didn't.
Keep a claimifying Nikki.
I don't think she's the main character.
Happy.
I think this has everything for you.

(05:43):
I think this has hip hop.
right?
Like, yeah, I was like,
maybe this is how you got introduced to hip hop. Yeah,
it has
some Sikh stuff. They are traveling around, right? So it has like a diaspora aspect.
I was like, I bet you growing up, and this is probably like the funniest movie ever.
And you like learned about Snoop Dogg and you learned about like, you know,

(06:06):
Sikhism and stuff. And I bet this was just your jam. And she does criminology.
yeah where every criminal should be killed yeah but i was like but maybe
she got some like
sociology ideas from this too i feel like it just has everything that you're interested in
in this one movie and maybe you don't know it but maybe it was like the seeds of everything

(06:27):
yeah
maybe it lives in me subconsciously yeah
you
want to discount everyone of their guilt and
find the good person in them
It's true.
Like Happy
or Lucky, whatever the name is.
Yeah.
Who's the main character?
Happy or Lucky?
Jesus Christ,
Happy.
Happy, yeah.
Okay, but I think that might just be Seek Values then.
Maybe that is kind of
the common

(06:48):
ground here.
Yeah.
Was it when you say like you saw everyone in the theater, was it like a limited screening
or something?
Or it was...
like
like the
what I'm trying to say
is like it was a film
screened for like
a very limited period
of time
or something like that
I
mean back then
there weren't too many
Bollywood films
that were
like showing

(07:09):
in a
cinema
in Thailand
it was quite rare
only the big hits
so I remember
this was just like
one Sunday
everyone ended up there
even now
if you go watch
some of the big
Bollywood films and cinema used to see a bunch of Thai Indians, but now it's become more
like everyday thing they're showing.
Yeah.
So it's not as like people don't kind of like congregate there anymore.
Yeah.
Last month, like last few weeks, I've seen this another branded Bollywood film is being

(07:34):
screened there.
Houseful part five.
Isn't that also Akshay Kumar?
I think he's there.
Yeah.
It's also like a branded franchise now.
Yeah.
Was everyone Sikh
in the theater?
I mean, like when I say Thai Indian community, most of us are Sikh here.
Not all, for sure, but it is the predominant representation.

(07:55):
And I think that's why the Sikh diaspora is quite global,
because a lot of us left during the partition.
So the biggest Indian diaspora in England, for instance, is Sikh Punjabi.
Same for Canada.
And so I think that's why this movie also featured that international element
where they go to Australia.
It is also a big Sikh diaspora there.
to kind of relate, appeal a little bit more to like the NRI, non-resident Indian crowd.

(08:19):
I guess that was a period where Bollywood was trying to go global and international.
Yeah, I mean, we'll get into it, but I just, do you remember your life before and after this movie?
Did it have
a big effect on you?
It really was not that pivotal.
I feel like I'm disappointing you or breaking some kind of
illusion.
This is the only thing I had to talk about.

(08:40):
This is my only angle for this movie.
It did not
make me as
a movie.
ah shit alright so let's do the plot then
cause I got nothing
so there's this like
there's this like
okay so Sing His King refers to this like
under mob boss
he's this guy that's like
his name is Lucky

(09:00):
he's known as The King
and like he's in Australia
yeah
and he has like this criminal empire and we get to learn more about how you know powerful he is
we get this like really crazy shootout scene and we also get to learn more about his like henchmen
which i thought
was a nice touch
because like they're actually important characters as

(09:21):
we'll
soon find out
right like every single one of his henchmen has like a personality and they have lines of
dialogue that's not just like throw away
or anything. So, you know, I can
appreciate that. His brother is like this
blind deaf dude
that like is done
for comic relief.
Where like,
you know, whenever some shootout happens

(09:42):
he'll be pointing the gun in the wrong direction.
It was funny.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, it's funny.
I like that guy.
First five times.
Yeah,
Javed Joffrey.
Mika, right?
Mika.
Mika, that was it.
That was his name.
Mika.
Mika.
Mika.
I
thought it was alright.
His name is Javed Joffrey.
He's a very good dancer.
Like, he was known for his dance skills.
I think he has also a dance number towards the end, right?

(10:04):
Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah.
That's his song, Mika.
Yeah, but given how big his empire is,
his security is totally screwed up.
His security is really bad.
He gets attacked left and right all the time.
So they have...
He's this powerful boss.
He doesn't want to go back

(10:25):
because, of course, he's a wanted criminal.
We get to learn how powerful he is.
I already said that.
And then we get this quick chase scene
where, you know...
he goes he flies he jumps off like a building through a parachute but somehow the parachute
flies back up after grabbing the guy he was chasing i don't know it defies all movie logic
but anyway he's part of this like little village that uh our main character's in his name is happy

(10:50):
and happy is like he's like i i want to describe him as like
a village idiot with a heart of gold.
That's pretty accurate.
Yeah, that
sounds it up.
I would describe it.
He's always wanting to help people,
and I'm sure Winnie will be able to explain that
about the nature of what Sikhs should be

(11:11):
doing,
which plays a bigger role.
Basically, he likes to help out people, which is nice,
but in doing so, he keeps...
fucking things up for the village.
He's clumsy.
He's really clumsy.
He bombs into things,
crashes and makes things fall apart.
Try chasing a chicken.
You guys are making it sound cute,
but next level.
He left half the village homeless

(11:32):
just trying to catch a chicken
to make butter chicken.
Yeah, it's...
It's so annoying.
Like, he's very physically clumsy and makes a huge mess and runs around chasing stuff and just, like, destroys buildings.
Yeah.
But people like him because...

(11:53):
because he means well he means well yeah
it's not malicious
okay
and also i think his grandfather
is the like a village head oh yeah yeah
about that as well very rich
he just has like a rich
granddad that pays everyone off yeah to deal with like happy shit and
one thing i noticed about this
movie is that they always give background stories for characters and then then it never gets mentioned

(12:22):
ever again
in the throughout the story i'll get there i can think of a few examples but first like basically
like in that village right there's this like father he's he's basically uh lucky's father
he he
gets he gets sick and then the village start thinking of a plan about how like
hey yeah maybe we should hire happy to go to australia and get him back but not because
they want him to get them back get the guy back they want to get rid of happy and
So then they set off Happy

(12:42):
along with his friend.
I forgot his name.
That old guy, Ragadish?
Right.
Rangpadi, who's also a famous actor.
Rangila.
Rangila.
Rangila.
Rangila.
Rangila
is a really good actor.
He's from a previous generation.
I think we've seen Rangpuri in another movie.
He was also in another movie that we've seen.
Have we watched Rangpuri's acting?

(13:04):
I
think we did.
I'm quite sure we did.
I can't remember right now.
Okay.
I can't remember.
Oh.
let us know chat
anyways
we have live chat
nobody's
saying anything
so they send off Happy and Ringila
to the airport and then they get like
this quick little mix up they bump into someone
who will find out later

(13:24):
where they get like their plane ticket
switched up and
I don't know why they didn't stop.
I don't know why they didn't realize that they had the wrong ticket,
but they ended up in Egypt.
And we get like this whole...
I honestly feel like the movie crew just had a lot of money left and say,
hey, you know what?
Maybe we should do a trip.
And then they went to Egypt because like,
I felt like that whole bit of Egypt only serves to like, you know...

(13:49):
Introducing the
love interest.
I think
Egypt paid
them.
Yeah.
Like they paid them to like...
promote egypt as a tourist
place but they didn't show
anything in the jose was there oh the music
number
right yeah they were dancing in like in
the pyramids and like in the some heritage site

(14:09):
i think they're on the beach or something too they were going all around so
basically they
ended up in egypt and then they you know it was an excuse for uh our our main our main hero to
explore the
the country and basically he bumps into
Katrina Kaib's
character which is our
female lead
her name is Sonia again

(14:31):
we have Sonia again
and she's like this
like really pretty
like okay wait she's really pretty
yeah
she's very pretty
I think she's hot
and basically she was like getting
her bag
snatched by some thief and then you get like this
long winded
chase scene where he falls in love

(14:52):
with her and they get to spend time together.
But of course, he had to go
to Australia, so he just...
Good way to promote
tourism in Egypt.
Yeah, that means that
they probably didn't pay
for that.
But it is an accurate representation.
Oh my god. Okay, yeah.
Sounds true.
Yeah, yeah,

(15:12):
yeah.
I've heard many stories.
One thing I did notice during the Egypt
sections is that like
Like all the people there are speaking English.
But that's every Bollywood movie.
They all completely ignore whatever country they're in.
And they either like speak Hindi or English or whatever.
Wherever they want to go.
They came from Arabic in a Bollywood movie.

(15:33):
They actually spoke Arabic at some point.
Hachinaka spoke a bit of
Arabic to someone
in
Egypt.
I remember.
Yeah, the vendor, right?
Yeah.
So that's there.
But yeah, just completely unnecessary.
Though Egypt being there didn't serve the plot point in any way at all.

(15:55):
It did not.
And one thing I want to ask you, Adam, is that throughout the movie, you have some English speakers.
But I think me, Winnie, and Julie were talking about it.
Like, we...
We don't know if they're speaking in a British accent or an Australian accent.
There was like a lot of like English speakers there and throughout the movie.
Australian.
They come off as British to me.

(16:16):
I
don't know.
I feel like it's Australian.
It makes more sense.
They're in Australia.
Yeah.
sense in this movie.
When
you mess up
your like
boarding pass
but I mean
but it's not
on the same name
right?
So you will be
stopped at the gate
or they're like

(16:37):
100 times checking
before you get
on an airplane.
You guys cannot
try to rationalize
this movie.
It defies all logic.
They're in the airport in Egypt and the loudspeaker is saying, welcome to Egypt.
And the guy is like, no, is this a new name?
Like how Bombay is Mumbai.
Oh, yeah, I remember cruising with that name.
Egypt is now, Australia is now Egypt.

(16:57):
So confident.
Yeah.
It's just pure confidence.
And then Happy fights with the security guards at the airport.
And then before they go back, he does admit he fell in love with Sonia.
Yeah.
So now his heart's with Sonia.
He loves her, but they go to Australia.
They go to Australia and they try to look for his brother,
but they had some...

(17:18):
I remember they had some difficulty at first
trying to find a place to stay.
Basically, he meets this woman who's also Indian
and she's selling flowers
and she shows him some kindness in a foreign...
lamb
and basically like that adopts him in one night in one night yeah he's working for her the

(17:41):
next day yeah
and i thought the movie was gonna go in a different direction there because like i
thought okay maybe this is just like him trying to make a living here in australia
he falls in love
with the mom
I actually thought Rangila would fall in love with the mom.
That would be
super cute.
Yeah, yeah.
I thought that
was going to happen as well.
But also, you guys know this is mom.
She's like the mom in every
movie.

(18:01):
Yeah.
Right.
How many movies?
I think it's a fourth
movie, I guess.
I don't know.
I don't know.
We just saw her, yeah.
India's mom.
Oh, yeah.
Dostana.
Right.
Then
Rangda Basanti.
Then seeing a skiing.
Definitely have
watched another film where she's the mom.

(18:22):
She fights John Abraham in Doom.
Oh,
yeah.
Yeah.
She's just a default mother,
right?
If you have her as the mom, then the movie's going to be a hit.
For sure.
For sure.
We will cover it if she's the mom.
But before that, this
was a big
box office hit.
That was a
box office hit.
It was?

(18:42):
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Critical
reception was really like on the fence.
Did you hear about this movie?
I know.
I know.
Because the songs were pretty popular.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We missed the part where he lands at the airport in Australia.
And he talks to a police officer.
And he's like, I'm king.
And they immediately take him to the
gangster.

(19:04):
I was like just so dumbfounded how easy it was.
Yeah.
to get to his like
this criminal underworld hideout.
I
didn't understand.
I thought I missed something.
I was like,
what am I missing?
And I kept like rewinding.
I was like,
no, he just goes there.
Isn't that a huge,
shouldn't that be a huge part?
Like how is the police
taking him there
if they know where he is?

(19:25):
Okay, maybe they're in cahoots.
That's not too hard to
believe.
But also like,
Just
showing
up in a turban being like, that's my family.
No further questions.
You're
definitely in
Australia now.
We will escort you there.
No
problem.
You both wear turbans.
You're definitely related.
There's only one other person we know with a turban.
By the way, I really like his green turban.

(19:46):
That shit was baller.
I
liked it.
Can they wear any color?
Yeah, yeah.
I was
wondering one thing.
Weenie can answer this
because I didn't grow up in a Sikh community, right?
So I was looking at the beard,
the trimmed beard,
but whenever I met a Sikh person
who wears the turban,

(20:08):
they rarely had that much of trimmed beard.
They usually have like...
attendance
like a
uncrimmed beer
or a beer
that is not
that super
thinly
trimmed
so is
it
like a
like a
fashion
choice that
the film made
or is it

(20:28):
like
like where
is it like
okay
I don't know
Is it okay? Based on religion, not really. But it's a generational thing. Growing up here, all my uncles didn't trim their beards.
But
all my brothers, cousins, even before they cut their hair, they all had trimmed beards. Sometimes they would clean shave also.
Sometimes they would keep it.

(20:49):
My brother had the exact same beard. I need to ask him if he followed this guy as a fashion role model because he literally had the same style with a turban.
So, I mean, I think this movie takes a realistic approach. It did get into some controversies from Gurdwaras and like Sikh leaders for promoting the wrong image of Sikhs, like showing the trimmed beard, showing them drink and all how that is not in line with Sikhism.

(21:27):
Yeah.
There's also some people who are just like, well, that is really what the youth is doing.
Young
Sikh men, even
if they wear the turban, they have to integrate, adjust a little bit to fit in wherever they are.
So they're going to shave their beard.
They're going to live this lifestyle.
So better to show this movie having both sides of that.
They're
still
promoting good
values based on Sikhism, but also...
I think there was a part in the movie where they kind of commented on his appearance.
Like, you don't look Sikh or something?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think at
one point,
because when he becomes king,
you'll come to the plot afterwards,

(21:48):
then he creams his beard more than what he had.
And then that point,
I think the flower lady...
He speaks in like, what have you done?
Like, why are you
looking like this?
I think he like apologizes playfully and says
it's just for the roll
or something.
But even he trimmed like
that.
Even before that, his beard was pretty much trimmed.

(22:09):
Yeah.
It was not like a longer beard.
What are the facial hair rules?
You're just not supposed to cut your hair
at all or trim.
You can trim more.
not really.
Not supposed to remove any hair.
Really?
But like,
it's going to grow out forever.
I
don't think so.
I mean,
so I know some of my uncles,
they wear,
I don't know what you call it in
English,
but there's

(22:30):
a band that kind of holds it up.
And then when you take it out,
then it kind of gets bushier.
But yeah,
it's,
a big part of Sikhism.
And I think it makes
a lot of people
turn away from it
growing up in diaspora
because that becomes
a whole emphasis
on Sikhism.
It's like,
you can't cut your hair.
And when you grow up
in a non-Indian country,
it's very
difficult
to integrate like that.

(22:51):
Our friend,
Irman,
has a really long time.
yeah
you know like Nerman I think like he's one of the few ones who didn't cut his hair my brothers
they kept it till they're about 17 18 and then they chopped it off so you can also say the ones
that you know trimmed their beard shaved their beard eventually they did go on to become adults
and cut their hairs because they could make their own decisions at that point that's what
I've seen
like I've never seen like a turban person with like that much trimmed hair I mean they would

(23:17):
definitely I've not seen like with very long
beard they're definitely
trimmed but not like
They gave the appearance of like a kind of untrimmed appearance.
Yeah, yeah.
Mostly young teenage boys who just can't yet because their parents won't let them.
Yeah.
It's going to be more
years.
And what about the alcohol?
Alcohol?
You're not supposed to drink if you're like in the cal-sa.

(23:41):
I mean...
Yeah, but you know, Sikhism is not a strict religion, like do this and you'll go to hell. There is no concept like that. It's a spiritual religion. It's like if you do this, you won't get as close to God, basically.
So
Nikki, in your school,
when the boys had turbans or they wore the paka, did they get bullied?
by other students.

(24:01):
Yeah, we like to call them
salapao buns,
like dumplings,
like those things.
Yeah, that's what we used to say to them.
Yeah.
But like, you know,
they were cool about it.
We were all friends.
So, but I mean,
I mean, today I don't,
I don't say that to my friends.
I don't say that to
mine.
Yeah, Nikki has more
Indian Thai Indian friends
than...
Than you do.
Yeah, yeah, that is true.

(24:22):
If they go to a Thai public school,
would they have had to cut their hair?
No.
No.
No.
they don't have to
but you'll rarely
find a Sikh
in a public school
and I think
that there
they'd be heavily
a lot more bullied
than an international school
so
there's like
for Thai people
right
obviously
in
by law
there's like
a mandatory military school
that we all have to attend

(24:42):
during our high school
and the Thai Indians
they
they also have to go
but they don't have to
cut their hair
or anything
they have to
like this like i wouldn't call it like turban like something to cover up their hair
and like they
i remember like the the the soldiers and the generals they were so they're like racist like
they
just keep
mentioning that how long their hair or like calling calling them nicknames that refer

(25:06):
to their hair it's like just a normal thing i suppose
yeah and like the
the public school kids
would also like try to like
make fun and
all that.
But,
like, I feel like, you know,
I'm not going to speak for my friends,
but I feel like you develop, like, a thick skin
for it. Yeah.
And just
growing up with, like, other Thai people,
Thai people don't grow a lot of facial

(25:27):
hair. They don't grow long
hair. So it's just very
different
from, like, Thai aesthetics,
like, physically what they can
do. Like, they don't, like,
grow hair that fast.
Yeah.
Come
to think of it, like, they're
our Thai Indian friends are the ones that have
beards first before
anybody...
Yeah, really.

(25:48):
I mean, I did notice,
and when you can just,
please add to it as we go along,
but, like,
the group
politics they had in the beginning in the village and stuff i felt was very different than what we
saw before i don't know if that's a sikh thing like the kind of community
village like a sangha
yeah that's a big part of sikhism it's like a sangha there's a lot of community gatherings

(26:11):
i think that's
really
that might be a village characteristics of
indian village
yeah they
kind of function like that yeah we just didn't see that too much i thought that was cool we
have we ever
like dwelled
upon a lot of
villages in the
films not much
right
only only the
yeah not much
so it's mostly
have been towns
and cities

(26:32):
like the villages
kind of have
this kind of
but this was
like the village
was shown in a
like a good
characteristics way
right
like you
can portray a
portray a village
in a in a
brutal way or
in a very
friendly manner
so I think in
this film it was
taken as a very
like a light
hearted nice
village like a
those very optimistic stereotype of village life.

(26:56):
So that's
why it was very happy-go-lucky.
That's his two characters.
Okay.
Oh.
Oh, man.
Yeah, I felt like that kind of community aspect
and then when Happy goes to Australia and he's just...
trying to teach
like, yeah, like everyone's the same
and it is very different than

(27:18):
what we've been, you know, watching before.
So it
is interesting to see the Sikhism
throughout.
So yeah, I did skip apart.
Like they did manage to find
Lucky through, you know,
airport security and basically
like, you know, they tried to get
lucky to come back, but obviously he didn't
want to come back.

(27:39):
Even though he knew that his father
was sick
and possibly dying.
But, you know,
Happy tries to convince him to come back
many times, and then at
and then eventually they were on this like there's a scene where they're on the boat
and i don't know who lucky's enemies are like nothing is ever established i don't want to
question it but like you see all sorts of like soldiers and bikers and and and like

(28:06):
I don't know.
It's like they said that like there's like a shootout happens, right?
With all sorts of people.
Yeah.
And
Happy carries Lucky through like by carrying him.
Like he literally carries the guy to protect him.
But then like because Happy is a bumbling idiot, like he swings Lucky around.
Like he gets hit by a lot of things through his head.

(28:27):
And in doing so, he ends up in a coma.
He's paralyzed.
He's unable to speak.
And through some hilarious misunderstanding,
his entire gang thinks that Happy should take over his criminal empire.
Yeah.
So he kind of gets into this medical condition.
The name was mentioned, but I

(28:48):
don't remember it.
But he's
basically paralyzed.
He can see...
He can hear, but he cannot talk.
And then he could just point his finger and then I was asking them to like, you know, kill that kill happy.
But they think that he wants happy to take over his empire.

(29:09):
It's the
perfect sickness
for a comedy movie.
Yeah.
I don't know if the dialogue is like more clever
in the native tongue, but like
I get the general.
No, I don't think so.
Oh, it's just as dog shit as it was here?
Okay, cool.
It's in Hindi, right?
It's kind of
dwells between
Hindi and Punjabi.

(29:29):
Sometimes it
goes in like
pull on Punjabi mode it's kind of a Punjabi version of Hindi like they're they're using
a lot of Punjabi phrase a lot of Punjabi sentences
but
then they're interweaving it with Hindi
okay so then everyone will understand it both yeah mostly yeah yeah
that's so that like Hindi

(29:50):
speakers can understand it or still have like a Punjabi flavor to it yeah that's cool
yeah so um i was trying to recall what happened next
i don't even remember uh he goes he becomes
the king he becomes
the king uh he becomes the king and then like you know he he realizes that
he forgot about the the mom that took care of him the the flower seller and she was like he finds her

(30:14):
in like this really like sad state and we find out that like she is the mother of like her daughter is
coming back to australia
and basically like she lost
like the mother lost her husband
and now her family
is like poor so she has to sell
flowers to get by but what
her daughter doesn't know is that

(30:35):
you know her daughter doesn't know that they're
poor right they used
to be rich
and
the daughter still thinks that they're super
rich and the mom hasn't told her any
differently somehow she's
supporting university by selling like a hundred dollar roses though we
should know
the guy buys the rose
one rose for a hundred australian dollars and said i'll only pay a
hundred dollars to you old lady so like i don't know maybe she is maybe it's quite lucrative but

(31:00):
she's not yeah she just said that the daughter will come home and see her as like a middle
class woman instead of super rich which isn't the biggest problem i think but
Lucky sees a
homeless person on the street
and is like, fuck that, but this flower mom
we gotta make her look rich as fuck for her daughter
Yeah, so the movie takes another
left turn where it's like

(31:20):
he decides to bring the mom
into the mansion
and then make her
pretend to be
the owner, the matriarch
of this whole family
and all of Lucky's henchmen
are now
playing as like servants
like one's a gardener

(31:42):
one's like a driver
the fame fatale is like
a secretary who by the way I think
is a very funny character
I really liked her
and then we find out that like
you know the daughter of this
flower seller is actually none other than
Sonia of course
coming back from
studying in Egypt

(32:02):
the
classic
university location
She brings
her fiancé, who's this fucking jerkwad of a man.
He's like
this punit.
He's like an asshole because he just bosses all these servants around,
and they want to kill him.
But, you know, I think the next few...

(32:25):
for the next like half hour in the movie we you know we just see moments where they're like you
know trying to put up with this like uh this act put up this act to show that like you know the mom
is rich they
put up like
this facade right
all
the while that happy is trying to make so you know
sonja happy yeah
but this is that one this is like my least favorite trope

(32:47):
uh,
of any film,
but we see it a lot in Indian films of like,
why is she with this dude?
She deserves better.
I have decided this and I'm going to like,
make her like me to save her from her bad relationship.
And that like trapped me a lot in my youth too.
And it really makes you like get angry at,
dudes and stuff even though like the girl

(33:08):
chose to be with them and like maybe
they're happy like maybe he has none
of your fucking
business maybe
he's not
a jerk and maybe he's just an asshole because you keep
trying to take his girl you know
but I don't think unhappy was actively
trying to
take Sonia. Yes he was he fell in love
with
her
Egypt. He fell
in love but he didn't
cross boundaries like that
yeah so what Adam is saying

(33:28):
I think that's what
authors do in the film
like the filmmakers do
and they put the actors
in a position that
oh no they are not wanting it
they are the nice person
because also
Happy Hears
gives a speech to this guy,
her fiancé,
that like,
oh, no,
you guys should be together.
You guys love each

(33:49):
other
and everything.
So happy.
So that the character
is on the safe side,
but it's the author's view
all the time
that, oh, they are not.
So that's why I think
Because you're taking this moralistic standpoint that this girl shouldn't be with this guy but with the nicer guy.
And that's what influences the guys in turn.
Not to be like the main character and be okay with whatever is happening.

(34:13):
But to be actively...
like you
know sabotaging other
people's
relationships so that
you can get into because that's
the
moralistic standpoint
the film is taking
yes yeah but also punit was so rude and like yes to to the
workers is one thing that is already such a big representation of your personality like you're a
person if you're an asshole to like wait staff and you know other people who serve

(34:35):
but
also being
that rude in front of the mother who he just met
like do you guys
not find that weird
like that's his future
mother-in-law
and he's already like
he's being a complete
dick
and I think the movie
does that intentionally
to make you dislike
this
character
he's
supposed to be
the antagonist
and to make you
root for happy
in the end
yeah to take the
character to the
extreme level of

(34:55):
assholery
like there's
no
subtlety
like any dumb
person can understand
that this is an
asshole
guy
it goes back to that
question why is
Sonya even with
well that's the point
that's why
these
movies are weird
is
because
well
then why is she
with them
like
I get there's like abusive relationships and sometimes they're hard to leave.
This doesn't have any of that.
And like,

(35:16):
I,
I just,
again,
sure.
In,
in this movie,
maybe he is a huge asshole,
but I do think a lot of people take that and they're like,
these,
this girl that I wanted,
like,
I don't like that guy she's with and he's bad for her.
And
like,
I'm
going to sabotage the relationship to save her.
And they're like,

(35:39):
I'm going to sabotage the relationship to save her.
fuck off dude like she chose to be with him they're fine they're happy leave them alone i
think
absurdity is not with how big of an asshole he was behaving in front of her mother the absurdity is
like her mother is seeing like what kind of guy her daughter is with and looks okay with that and
does everything to like keep like keep that relationship
intact, that is the weirdest
part for me.
She was so protective in Dostana.
She couldn't bring that same
protectiveness
here.

(36:00):
Apparently, being gay is worse than being an
asshole. Have
you had that
dynamic where like
guys come up to you and they're like, the guy you're with right now, like, he's bad.
I'm better for you.
Have you ever had that?
Like in college.
Yeah.
That's about
the time when guys do that.
Right.
And
that's about when you know that they're bad because why are you coming and telling

(36:21):
me this?
You know, like it's a it's a really poor strategy.
I'm pretty sure it has a very low success rate.
it never worked for you?
no
okay
good
good for you
good for you
I will mention one thing
that when Happy
was spending time
with Sonia
during Egypt
right
they talk about
like
so Sonia is a lawyer

(36:42):
and then they
talk about
there's this like
one thing that is really
like very important
to the film
own, right? They said something like
Sonia wants
Sonia is a liar because she wants to get
rid of all the criminals
in the world
Like killing them
They should vanish off the face
of the earth, something like that

(37:02):
Maybe not to that extent, but
that's what she said
So I'm not wrong
So then Happy says that no
he believes that they
can get second chances basically
There is a chance for them
to reform
And that's when you realize what the...
It took me a while to get this point of the movie because, like, so he turns...

(37:23):
So, like, so now that Happy is, like, the kingpin, right?
He, like, makes all of these, like, criminals, like, do good deeds.
Like, so there's, like, you have, like, this quick...
A few bits and pieces of montage where, like, they get sent to, like, destroy businesses.
Yeah.
But instead of working for the evil white men that they're affiliated with, they were trying to shut down...

(37:48):
I don't remember what it was.
A food truck
with
these impoverished, colored people.
Africans.
Africans.
I
don't know if they're Africans or...
They are.
They said they're from...
I forgot.
They
said
they're from like Nigeria
or something.
Yeah.
Didn't they
say they're...
They said like, what country are you from?

(38:09):
I forgot.
Did the color filter change when
they're going to their slav?
It totally did.
It's
like Sepia tone.
Yeah, right?
It got so depressing all of a sudden.
They are so black and so poor, the camera changes its lens.
And it was like, it was so obvious, like, that whole segment was like, we're supposed to feel, like, super sorry. And of course, like, Lucky's henchmen did feel that way. So like, okay, maybe we should help them out.

(38:36):
So they have, like,
a change of heart, right?
and then like helping like the poor instead which is like okay i don't know that's so easy like what
they suddenly have like a change of heart and it's not just that one scene there was another one where
like they have to like send them get rid of this little girl but instead they decide to send
her
kidnap kidnap the little blind girl this blind

(38:57):
girl but for the reason they took her to the
to like the doctor
and then like this little girl makes
this little speech like you killed my mom
but then she told me that
God will give me a new set of
eyes and it really did
I don't know
the doctor can do that like then Mika
really wanted to get like eyes from this doctor

(39:18):
which was really funny
Is
this a
Sikhism theme about a class of criminals or not?
Is this a Sikh thing that there's no such thing as a class of criminals?
Or what is that?
I mean, there's no explicit mention of criminality.
But a big part of Sikhism is SEVA, which is community service.
You just have to try to help

(39:38):
people do as much
for the community as you can.
That's why you'll see a lot of Sikhs doing...
In the UK and stuff, they'll do, like, drives, food drives for people.
Here, if you go to Gordwara, also, it doesn't matter what culture you are, race you are, you can go in, they'll feed you.
Like, there's a whole concept of community.
But criminality, I think it's, like, trying to see the good in people, right?
Like, it's there.

(39:59):
Like, that's kind of the theme that we're all created equal.
We all have God within us, like...
It's a bit of a pantheistic, how do you say the word? Pantheism?
Religion?
Yeah, no one's condemned to hell.
Right, right. So it's like trying to get in touch with that good side of you and other people can try to help you see it.

(40:19):
And did this inspire you in theaters when you were 11 on that Sunday that maybe criminals deserve a chance? Did any of that resonate with you?
Yeah, that's why I'm friends with all of you guys.
Yeah.
I've got good chances.
This is our make-a-wish that
Winnie's doing for us.
We're all about to die of cancer.
All I want to do is make a podcast for a year.

(40:57):
I...
was stunned that the lawyer
just wanted to like literally murder.
She thinks that there's like a whole
like
separation of humanity
where
one is just
a class of criminals
and all they know how to do is commit crime
and we need to like
wipe them from earth
so that there's no more criminals
and that is the only cause of crime.
And once we just kill every criminal,
we're good.
And
then it'll be like
a really nice life.
And that is some real psychotic shit.
And she's writing a book about it.
How are you a lawyer?
How did you meet anyone?
Like, what are you talking about?

(41:18):
I think she deserved that boyfriend.
Yeah, that's honestly true.
Like, she's kind of more of a psycho than the boyfriend is to have that
kind
of stand.
That's funny
because I thought that would be a point that you would agree on.
What?
That just like criminals.
Yeah.
What?
That criminals deserve to die.
That is not.

(41:40):
Why?
In what way?
I completely
believe the opposite.
Okay.
Wait, no, no.
Explain.
Explain.
Now I need to declare
my name on a friend.
I mean, you can
remove certain parts.
You want everything the billionaires, not
the criminals.
They're also criminals, but
like...
Yeah, by choice,
by choice.
Not by like lack of opportunity.

(42:00):
Yeah.
it's called and again i don't think they're like born that way like if they want to reform that's
fine but if they don't want to give everything up then yeah they can like go against the wall but
that's fine that's like their choice
so should someone like lucky sing be killed you think
no if he wants to give everything up and be cool i'm fine with that
all right yeah it's
like it's
up to him it's up it's not like his personality defect means he deserves to die i

(42:24):
don't think that
Definitely not kill the back snatcher.
I mean,
Adam has a stance of like, you know, you can't because I'm a bit of like a peace
person.
Like, you know, I have nonviolent methods.
And I
like
I'd like to think that you can talk your way out of most things.
And Adam is very much like, no, sometimes you can't
make sense.
Like
he's a lot more pro-violence.

(42:45):
No, I'm pro-violence against like people committing crimes.
But the crimes I refer to are like.
you know, big mass systemic crimes,
not people stealing loaves of bread and shit.
I don't think,
I think
those people deserve that
and no
one should kill them.
I don't
think there's like a,
it's a, it's a genetic trait.
I think there's like external factors
that make you do
stuff.
Standpoint
wise,
stealing food is not a crime.

(43:05):
I don't think trying to eat or live
or survive is a crime.
it's not?
Stealing food is not crime.
Alright, let's turn up a
restaurant afterwards.
If someone's stealing food...
No, we are...
Will you steal food from a restaurant?
No, right?
Like, it's people who usually steal foods
are like, who are hungry.
I'll steal food from you, Kili.
Okay.

(43:26):
Okay.
Go ahead, do it.
I'm gonna kill Diki for that crime.
No, I'm okay.
If you want to eat that,
that whatever I'm eating,
yeah, go.
Give me...
Fookless food.
All right, so anyway, so he
goes, he does a lot of community service.
Sonya learns that criminals deserve life.
It's just that, like, I just like the whole, like, look, I get it.

(43:49):
It's wholesome, right?
Like, people can turn over a new leaf.
It's just the way it's like, are you telling me it takes a bumbling fool
to convince a bunch of criminals that through the power of kindness,
they can just suddenly, like, have empathy for the misfortune?
Like, I just...
I
do
believe that though.
Yeah.
I think especially because they come from the same village.

(44:10):
They're probably like torn apart from their culture and their values living in Australia.
And then you have this old piece of home coming and kind of like reinstilling those values that you already have the foundation for.
He's just like reminding you.
I can see it working.
Sometimes gangs
do the best community service.
like in Mexico and stuff like
like
gangs that have territories like to help out the

(44:32):
community because like you need them on your side
that's like a classic
thing where like
anywhere where there's gangs like they actually do
take care of the community because you need them
like that's just doing
politics
that's the whole theme Godfather is
built on like that's the whole thing
Godfather is everyone is good
gangster because they're doing good for
people
that's Godfather
pessimistic then I don't know

(44:54):
Cynical.
So cynical for doubting gangs.
Okay, okay.
Gangs are pretty much the best group of people on the earth.
I heard this
theory that like,
like Hollywood used to be really condescending,
not condescending, sorry, supportive,
like putting...
gangsters like mafia bosses in like a high image because there was a lot of mob money running in

(45:15):
for sure bollywood is exactly the same
yeah so
bollywood was run by a lot of mafia money from
that area so you'll always see in bollywood films i mean even if they're violent even they're
committing murder you'll see a human side of them there are a lot of uh mob films where it's
glorifying the mafias it's it's very common theme in bollywood as well

(45:36):
Yeah, so that's what, that's what, I remember that scene where this guy who finds out that he has a long loss, like his girlfriend,
ex-girlfriend
has a son or daughter.
Yeah.
Yeah, daughter, right?
It was a daughter.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, as a daughter and who turns out to be his child.
And then he was like crying and being sad because that girl left her because he was violent in violent criminal.

(46:02):
And then he cries about that to Happy and then Happy reminds him, why are you crying now?
Remember how many people you have made orphaned?
And then the montage of his down memory lane was so fucking.
So funny.
It was like these people having this, like, eating outside, like, having fun on the beach,

(46:24):
and then he's just going, killing the father.
This was what I was talking about.
Like, just, like, they introduced, like, this plot line, and then just gets dropped.
drop right away
like you know
they introduce that guy
as like
lover and child
right
and then like
that never
that never comes back
even the village
doesn't come back at all
at the end

(46:45):
you get only like
one quick shot
scene of them
going back to the village
in the credits
oh is it
oh okay sorry
my bad
but then there's
snoop dogs
so most people are not
noticing the village
he didn't even get to
snoop dogs
He turned off
like an hour into the movie
He's like I'm done
But that was a very good scene
He's like they went to Australia
I read the Wikipedia plot
Oh gosh you and your Wikipedia plot

(47:07):
He
was in the toilet early before recording
He's like I got it guys I saw it
Yeah that was like
Yeah that's what Keely said
There was like an
assassination
attempt
And then one of their henchmen meets like that
That war
that he gives like the quick speech
about how like you know think about all the people
you've killed and then he gets like
this epiphany or whatever I just cannot

(47:28):
but
this scene I think
it's so
it shows how effective his speeches are
and like this comes up throughout the movie where he's
like people listen to me because I
speak the truth they find it endearing
and he does have a way with words like
the people endeared to it
yeah Nikki finds it cheesy and cringy
I find it impactful
in
this universe everyone is
dumb
Well, that's because

(47:48):
they're trying to portray Sikhs, I guess.
And that's the first
stereotype they'll go to.
Is that real?
No, no.
There is a very, very racist stereotype in India about Sikhs being dumb.
It's
like,
so they pass these blonde jokes as Sikhs jokes.

(48:17):
Yeah.
I mean, it's done by non-seekers, definitely.
It's a racist, racism towards them.
And also like, yeah.
So like, Weenie pointed out that like, it kind of goes, plays into that like, dumb guy territory.
Yeah, like there's like dumb, gentle, giant
reputation that
Sikhs have.
They're always diluted to this kind of persona where they're kind hearted, but they're, yeah, they're like,
what do you call it?
Dumb, gentle, giant
or whatever.
Yeah, empty-handed.
Yeah.
So not like clever
or anything?
No, no.
Just dumb and naive maybe?

(48:38):
Dumb, naive,
but
kind.
Kind of
exactly
how happy Singh is portrayed
is like
the pure representation
that Sikhs have had
predominantly in Bollywood.
And that's why
I found this movie
a lot less...
interesting and less of a breakthrough
watching it as an adult because of course as a child
I don't pick up on these things and watching it as an adult
I'm like wow it's like I'm watching one

(48:59):
big banter
yeah and it's also like there's these
famous Santa Banta jokes
that's how you say it right? Santa Banta
jokes
in India that's based
on these two Sikh men
And they're kind of like blonde jokes, your
mama jokes.
They're basically translations of blonde jokes, most of them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
basically.
So any dumb jokes you have, you place it on Santa Banta, which is just, that's how Sikhs

(49:22):
kind of got this reputation for being dumb and...
naive and kind at the same time
and the producers and actors are not
no one is sick i
don't see
that's pretty offensive yeah
i mean that's weird that's not a real that's not a real turban he's
wearing but that sucks
that your whole seek community went to go see a movie kind of making

(49:43):
fun of them
essentially that's what happens when you don't have a representation
right that's how
little representation we have right
now we're going to be able to see a little bit of representation.
Right.
So, you know,
Happy is spreading
his happiness everywhere to
these mafia men and women.
And basically, like,
his crew is inspired by his kindness,
right? All except for one person,

(50:03):
which is Mika, the
blind brother of
lucky and punid figures out that hey you know maybe happy is having the hots for my
fiance so then like punid and mika they conspired to kill kill happy at the wedding like like i know
punid wants to keep wants to marry sonia like to keep her away from happy while uh i think yeah

(50:29):
while mika wants to kill
wants to seize the throne, basically.
Also, the henchman...
He orders the henchman
to kill
his brother, Lucky,
basically. And then there was a scene where...
No,
the henchman,
the original henchman, they kind of
kidnaps this fiancée
to because they want to uh get katrina kai and akshay kumar together

(50:54):
yeah they were that's true
yeah they were trying to they were trying to break break them up
yeah just
so that like because they
realized that like happy was in love with with sonia
and sonia is also in love with happy and
she doesn't realize it yet
correct oh yeah just
uh
anyway yeah so they tried to do that
and um but you know

(51:15):
happy being the nice person he is you know he
he doesn't want to take uh
Sonya for himself he just wants her to be
happy which is you know he chose
his character
do you think that's true I don't buy that at all
I think they were just trying to show you know the
he's like super heart of gold moment
I don't
like do you
We keep saying he's nice. Is he being nice?
He was kind of being nice.

(51:36):
Maybe like Mr. Nice Guy.
But he's like a bumbling idiot
too that ruins things
and doesn't really think things through.
And I just don't...
He's only a bumbling idiot when he doesn't have something philosophical
or deep to
say.
When the
script requires him to say something meaningful
it gets all wise.
That is true.
His actions are not like nice.

(52:01):
Nice.
you know
like
he told them to take
all the money from the safe
and go distribute it
to poor people
that's good
if he's not
doing anything
with his own actions
yes
yeah
he's like
hurting
and physically damaging
everything around
him
it's not his fault
that everything he touches
just burns and crashes
I think it
is
I think it is
I'd be pissed
uh yes but he's nice okay cool so

(52:21):
with all that being said like there's an assassination attempt
unlucky uh they threw him off they throw him down the stairs and in doing so he bumps his head so
then he regains consciousness right that's very easy
yeah it's the most it's the most convenient
sickness i've ever seen in a movie yeah
he learns of mika's deception so he goes to the wedding where
like all the characters are there

(52:42):
they're about to get married and then like some
fight so like there's like a
convoluted joke where like
the I keep I forgot her name
the femme
fatale
gets guns
from everybody so then like
nobody has guns just to put it
simply and then they break into this like
all out brawl
like all of brawl where they're fighting over and then in the chaos that was like happening right

(53:05):
there was like uh they asked the the what do you call that guy the guy marries sonia and happy by
accident yeah
that was
like how how convenient
i don't like weird how that works
And the weird, the weird, the whole weird
part about it is like Puneet suddenly says, oh, I realized maybe this is destiny. All right, I'll, I'll give you my fiance. And like that, he just gives her up

(53:31):
so easily.
I tried to kill you, but now through a legal loophole, you're married to Happy and I, I support this.
Not
even a legal
loophole.
Yeah, it was like, what was that?
They were holding
hands and
just taking turn around.
It was just like a very Hindu wedding trope.
And they're like Sikh people, but they're doing Hindu marriage somehow.

(53:52):
Hindu wedding.
Because Sonia is not Sikh, I guess.
But anyway...
And then there is another thing like where,
did you realize the father of the fiance is played by the same
actor?
What was up with that?
Yeah, why
did they do that?
And then
it doesn't play any part
of the
story.
Because
he has weird makeup.

(54:27):
Yeah.
yeah and
i'm
like why is he like when is he gonna take the makeup off and reveal something right
because it looks like he's it's shitty makeup and it clearly looks like a guy with old person makeup
and
at one point punit even looks at me and he's like oh you look like my father yeah
i thought it
would play some role at the end like they will dress like someone like one person one of the
character will dress like other character and do certain things or something
Nothing happens.
I think it was a trope for the audience.
Like the audience is going to expect something out like that.
And then it will not happen.
And that's the joke on audience.
No, that will not happen.
There's no payoff with a

(54:47):
lot of portraits.
None of that.
Maybe the
actor just didn't show up.
He couldn't make it for the day of filming.
And they're like, all right, you're doubling up.
i or i or
i think just look infirm and sit in this chair
i think they
just keep cutting away
doesn't do anything i
think the contract whatever they had with javid jeffrey the actor is like this
much time you have to be on screen and then uh the character mika doesn't have that much on the

(55:12):
screen time so they're like okay we'll give you another character
yeah
maybe probably is he super
I do like him.
He has like a presence.
He's like a good actor.
He was an actor.
He's a dancer.
He's an anchor.
He has done like a lot of...
He's a comedian.
He's many things.
He's a very talented person.

(55:33):
Yeah.
He has also a dance number, right?
He has a whole dance number being like a total badass.
He's kind of the coolest character in the movie, right?
Yeah.
none of that made any sense to me
I didn't get it either
I don't get why he was
so he said he's not blind but then he actually is
so there
was a scene
where Puneet goes to

(55:54):
meet the guy that is going to off
Happy and it turns out it was Mika
then
Mika just like
we think that Mika is actually not blind or deaf.
He was saying
that there was a piece of dialogue where he was saying like,
Oh,
I've been tricking.
I tricked my entire family for years.
I'm deaf
and blind.
But as soon as,
and then there's a whole dance number about doing that.

(56:14):
Sure.
About like,
being able to see and shit and being cool.
Yeah, but then Puneet, when Puneet learns of that,
he leaves, and then his henchmen said,
oh, so you were pretending to be blind death this whole time?
He must not know that.
It was like, so then they just did this whole
joke,
like another one-up or whatever.
It was so weird.
None of that, the payoff was just so...

(56:36):
So he was pretending to be not blind in front of Pune so
that Pune
takes him
seriously.
That's it.
That's it.
That's the whole gag.
So his
goal this entire time is to become the king, right?
Like he wants Lucky's position.
And somehow he thought that acting blind and deaf was the best way to get there.
But also, no, no, because he was actually blind.

(56:57):
He is blind and he's
pretending not to be.
yes yes i i know he's pretending but
okay yeah
yeah no i i know i know okay never mind leave that
so do we know the official story on
mika though i'm
pretty sure he's blind no no he is
blind like
when they made the joke but okay yeah and

(57:18):
the whole song was just him faking it but he does
a very bad job faking being blind in all the other times that's why it's funny
like in all the other scenes,
he's like,
I'm not really blind.
You know,
I was doing this on purpose.
I'm dancing with the mannequin on purpose,
but then he does a whole dance number where you like,
I'm like,
Oh wow.
He actually is pulling it off.
So either he can pretend to not be blind well or bad.

(57:42):
And
you're so
low.
Yeah.
and I don't know which one's which.
I think we're looking too much into this character.
It's okay.
At the end, I think he gets the glasses from Japan,
and he's able to see.
No, he goes to the doctor
with the little girl
and fixes his eyes.
He goes on Mr. Beast's show
and gets his eyes fixed.
No, because there's a scene
when the whole wedding brawl is breaking out,
and he gets a phone call,

(58:02):
and he's like,
oh, is the glasses ready?
Is it being delivered?
We get this stupid-ass joke
where he's wearing the funny hair.
We're
supposed to laugh at that.
and that's the
finale
look at the idiot blind guy
trying to fix his blindness
idiot
look at that dude in crutches
trying to walk
so yeah he
so when they resolve
so when Puneet gives up
the Sonya to Happy

(58:24):
the only problem left
is that Mika wants to
kill all of them
and that's when you
you see Lucky swoop in
to save the day
and say like
you know, I knew your plan all along.
And then, like, you get, like, this...
You get, like, this final scene where...
I'm gonna put this in the simplest way possible,
but Happy diffuses the situation

(58:46):
by, like, talking about the importance of, like...
being kind right
yeah like
they made me feel like all right you know no one like mika was
saying stuff like you know nobody felt sorry for me and and that made like uh lucky say that you

(59:08):
know when i was my boss i was never happy because i was ruling people with through fear am i am i
getting this right
yeah
I think so.
Yeah, you're getting the gist of it.
And they plan to keep making money somehow by being nice.
Being
nice or something.
And they just resolve everything by realizing,
oh, maybe we should go back and be nice.

(59:29):
And that's the end.

(59:51):
yeah he doesn't go back to the village
right? They did go
back to the village
but like that creates like a pothole
for me because it's like
these are wanted
criminals. They
haven't done
anything to redeem themselves.
Worry not.
There's a sequel.
It's called Sing is Bling.
I
don't think it's like.
It's not connected.

(01:00:12):
That's how they do it.
They just keep the same
actors.
Why is it K-I-N-N-G?
Oh, well, I just read it on Wikipedia.
Nikki, you probably saw this as well.
But pretty much they went to a numerologist.
And numerologists suggested having an extra N for luck.
And so the sequel, seeing as bling, has two I's.
Yeah.
Bling.

(01:00:32):
All right.
So let's do the fear stare scale.
Whitney I think this is what you've been waiting for this whole time the staircase moment
quite literally what
was your staircase moment in this movie when
he falls down the stairs
he did
it a character fell
down the stairs we all clapped

(01:00:55):
actually
a very like opposite effect of like what
Fear of scares, the original fear of scares.
That's true.
This fall cured him.
Yeah.
Then
kill him.
And I wanted him to die.
I didn't want him to keep going.
No, but the actual staircase moment is probably when the daughter ends up being the woman he fell in love with in Egypt, right?

(01:01:18):
Did you guys see that coming?
What I didn't see coming is that they had to pretend to be servants, like the mob.
that was it for me
what
I didn't see coming was that Mika
was pretending not to be blind
but then actually was blind again
yeah for me as well that was
like a
I
can't remember because the daughter's

(01:01:39):
coming gonna be
like katrina kaff because katrina kaff is number one
is like a big
actor and we saw her already
introduced and having being a love interest i'm like definitely she's gonna come back and then
when she said no my daughter isn't abroad like she can't be around oh definitely it's gonna be
when the
mother did say like oh i have a daughter who's coming back like they introduced us to

(01:02:10):
someone
else
I guess maybe I've watched enough movies to know where this is going to be.
I'd be so pissed
if they never talked about
her again.
I'd be like, why did we spend 20 minutes in Egypt with this whole musical number?
Then he's like, well, that was it.
That was our Egypt time.
My nice memory and it never came back.
That would be so shitty.
All right, Dance Lord Claus.
There were musical numbers.
What was your favorite?
Sing is King.
Yeah.
Snoop Dogg.
Okay, so this was not in the movie,

(01:02:32):
but it was an after credits music video.
But there was a Sing is King in the
movie as well.
There was a Sing
is King in the movie without Snoop
Dogg.
Right, right.
And then they
did a reprise.
with Snoop Dogg.
Yeah.
Yes, and they keep doing the chorus
throughout the movie.
Sing is king,
sing is king.
I like the beat of that
because it was done by Honey Singh, I guess.
And Honey Singh was like a really good rap,

(01:02:54):
like a hip-hop artist
who was working in Bollywood.
There were some songs by Mika Singh also.
Oh yeah, it was Mikas Singh.
Yeah, I think it's Mikas Singh,
who is
very famous.
Mikas Singh
was the singer of that song, right?
Yeah.
There was also that song where, like, Happy was singing, like,
dissing the groom in the beginning.

(01:03:16):
Do you remember that?
Oh, that's like a Bhangra ballet song.
I don't remember the name, but that's a song that's commonly played in weddings now.
It's very
dancey.
Every movie we talk about, we're like, this is played in weddings now.
Like, how many wedding songs do they play?
Right?
It's like a huge playlist.
Yeah.
But we're also watching, I think, like the movies with like some of the most classic song hits.

(01:03:37):
And this movie definitely in Punjabi weddings I attend because like people, Punjabis just need to like Bhangra and these are all ballet songs.
This year is like, or this era was like Snoop Dogg was just doing whatever.
And I think like anyone could just pay him to be in any song.
I remember the story, you know, insane clown posse ICP, the guys with the

(01:03:57):
clown
makeup.
Yeah.
They they hired Snoop Dogg around this time as well.
And all he wanted was twenty thousand dollars in a briefcase in cash because he just like didn't want to do stuff with the label anymore.
So he was just like, whatever, just pay me.
And so that's what I thought happened here. And in the video, it looks like he's on a green screen the whole time. So I thought he was doing like a pit bull type thing. You know how like pit bull is just like never in the music video. He's just always like in a cutaway green screen shot. And I thought Snoop was in that, but then it does show him with the director and the other actors.

(01:04:30):
for one scene.
So like,
he flew all the way there
to look,
to be on a green screen
and then have one shot
in a chair.
It was weird.
Like,
you should use him
if he's there.
I don't think it'll take much
for Snoop Dogg
to go to India.
No.
Just
take him to
the hills.
He'll go for the hash alone.
I think he didn't have much
of the production timeline
because
of shooting
that kind of music video

(01:04:51):
takes like a long...
floor hours so i think he was just open for like two hours or something and
they're
like oh just
put the green skin we'll think in the post like what to do yeah sit in the chair pose and
then
just like kind of dance around a green screen for a
while pretend to
react to like indians dancing
around you because that's all he's doing yeah he's doing the pitbull moves i like the song i like the
song i
think you have a solid solid yeah there were a lot of bangers yeah yeah

(01:05:14):
family feud factor
Mika's dad.
I mean, there's a lot about themes about family, right?
But less feud
this time.
Yeah.
There wasn't a lot of,
like, mom breakdowns
either.
No, there was no mom, actually.
Like, only, like, yeah, there was, like, this love interests mom.

(01:05:37):
Yeah.
But she
was not being a very mommy...
I
think it is kind of like a little found family.
You know, like your community is your family.
Because like the friend that goes with Happy like hates him.
He's the one that like wants Happy to never come back.
But then he becomes friends and starts protecting him.
And all these gang members are protecting each other.

(01:05:57):
Like,
I don't
know.
It was a very kind of like...
unconsequential.
There's no stakes or drama.
It was like a peaceful family almost.
I mean, despite all the gangster criminal behavior.
But like at the end scene, there's like 15, 20 guns at the wedding and nobody dies.
Like there's no shootout.
Yeah.
There's no real action.
And the bad guy is just kind of a jerk.

(01:06:17):
Yeah, they're just dealing.
Jacob died
as slow dead that night, that day.
They didn't introduce any gun, dude.
Spice level, regional heat check,
who has been to Australia and or Egypt?
I
actually thought they were going to,
knowing that the movie will take place in Australia,
I thought we were going to see some fun stereotypes of Australians,
but no, there wasn't.

(01:06:38):
The only confusion I got was,
are they actually Australians or are they British?
Yeah, which I mean, might be British.
Like, yeah, it was a total Dostana treatment.
We're like, we don't, we didn't see any Americans in that really.
There was a lot of white people in musical numbers in the background.
Well, that's, I mean, they're bread and butter.
That's literally what gets them off in the theater.

(01:06:59):
Yeah, just watching
white kids dance to Indian numbers.
There was this American soldier in Dostana.
Yeah.
yeah the gay one
that was it
just like criticized
but yeah
there's no Australians
we don't see
the opera house
we don't see anything
do
you guys notice
though that there's
a few different gangs
that they show
right and there's
a huge racial divide
between the gangs
because there's like

(01:07:19):
a gang full of black people
and then they show
this like East Asian
criminal gang
and then there's
also like a biker gang
yeah
yeah
So I think we just saw the underground, underworld of
Australia.
Racially divided
underworld.
Which probably is true.
So accurate, heat level check.
And you just know any Australians that watch this movie are going to be like, get these immigrants out of my country.
Yeah, they're like this Singh gangster.

(01:07:41):
Get him the fuck out.
uh what's the moral of the movie
be kind to
criminals only okay moving on
uh how'd you guys feel about the movie i'd go
for a three
that's
honestly higher than
yeah it's
from the dance numbers in my opinion dance

(01:08:04):
numbers like a bit of the family there's a
it's an okay movie if you're willing to throw your brain away
for
a little bit and watch it
yeah would you
show like uh your younger family members this yeah
because again there's very
limited Sikh representation in Bollywood like this is one of the few ones we have and it's not

(01:08:25):
utterly terrible like it still has a good messaging overall
are you gonna play it for them
I don't know.
Probably not.
Show them before
they become adult.
When they're still in a
next stage.
If you recreate this movie to theater,
hire a bunch of people to be there,
they can grow up and be like a human rights
actress and like

(01:08:47):
hip-hop.
Okay, what's the next movie?
I'm going to pronounce it wrong so what is it
Ghosn
which means who question mark
K-A-A-U-N
K-A-A
-U-N
No it's K-R-A-U-N
K-A-A

(01:09:08):
gone this means who
I changed it the movie is now
Kron that we're watching
okay Adam didn't believe us just now
he just googled it that's why he has
conceded
it no yeah it's gone so we're
gonna watch K
-A-U-N
gone
we're gonna watch that next week
please tell your friends
to listen to the podcast

(01:09:30):
and don't shit talk us on YouTube
anything else
Sing is king.
Sing is king.
Sing is king.
Ding, ding,
ding.
Love life.