June 19, 2025 • 22 mins
The Malayalam-language sports comedy film Alappuzha Gymkhana has no stakes, no villain, and no classic structure. This could either have been a bold decision or an act of self-sabotage. It’s somewhere in the middle.
We talk about the film’s underdeveloped characters, its over-reliance on flashy camerawork, and its overlong second half. We also discuss its cultural specificity, its zero-stakes narrative, and its refreshing idea of male friendship.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Hi I'm. And I'm Ruwan Rahar.
Welcome to the long take. This week, we're discussing the
new Balala movie Allah Bula Jamkala, which is now streaming
after a theatrical release. It's the new film from the
director who made Kunda and the Talibullah called Kaharajaraman,
and stars a bunch of faces that you may or may not have seen,
depending on your, I guess, consumption of full Alam cinema.
(00:38):
Yeah. What are you?
Are we on? Oh, I was pleasantly surprised,
but not blown away. Yeah.
I think I was, I'm not sure, pleasantly surprised, like maybe
like a minor version of that, but then to a degree where the
extended skate boxing I think eventually got to me by the
presentation and how just kept on going on.
(00:59):
Forever, which is basically the entire second-half, no.
More than the second-half, I think.
I think it starts like before the R mark and then it goes on
until like movies like 2R20. I think I'm not wrong.
And yeah, so I think it's more than half actually, not even
half. Yeah.
And, and because it's so like, starkly different from the first
(01:19):
half, it feels like an entirely different movie.
Yeah, in not just the way that it's like short and everything,
but also because of, you know, the characters are in an
entirely different setting as compared to where they were in
the first half, which was more relaxed kind of.
And then this one, it feels like, you know, watching like
Lagan but like the full match instead of like.
(01:42):
Sniper of you're like, I think it really got to show like, you
know, the match for every guy because it's like what, 5 or 6
people and they start diving into each other at some point,
like, you know, eventually escape, right?
It's just like they'll do like amontage and like three of them
will get knocked out in like 10 seconds and that'll be funny.
But like no, they want to show them getting knocked out as you
said, in real time. Yeah, yeah, we see like full
(02:04):
extended matches and all of themare like similar except like one
guy. Yeah, this injector's cart they
have released before, like, you know, the main movie, like
they're like, we won't release the conversation.
Yeah, although if you had kind of condensed it a little bit, I
think there is a lot of interesting stuff happening
there. There is like this extended like
(02:24):
Brawl basically that happens at the end which is like.
After it was cemented, my like comparison for me, like I was
like baiting, like I was hoping,like I don't know where they
would go. Like I'm hoping, I think imagine
where they would go. And once they went to the street
ball, I was like, this is basically India's Cobra at this
point. I haven't seen Cobra.
What happens in Cobra? Cobra essentially like like
unlike The Karate Kid movies, which are like which they were
(02:46):
also teenage focused with semi adults like Koba has completely
like teenage vibes, like teenageangst and all that and teens
trying to like under like this guy was in the Connecticut and
they're like they are rivals dojos, which like just sounds
weird. You're like why the rival dojos
like it's sounds hilarious, but lot of times in Koba Kai
training while they're training inside in dojos like that, their
(03:09):
angst will spill over onto the streets and do their high
school. So it just becomes like the
playing in the dojos and then they they give them training of
like, you know, you have to onlyuse this stuff for like defence
or the life philosophy, whether they're rival dojos.
Like I don't know why I feel like I'm going to use this at
this point. But the point is they also have
these like brawls everywhere with the essentially like there
was like meaningful like momentsfor like these character of like
(03:32):
figuring out like, you know, like not everything can be
solved with punches. Well, but this is where it's
actually the movie was going, right?
Especially like give us like for50-60 minutes of like, Oh yeah,
this is like you're using the right way, like using the ring.
And then last 20 minutes, it's just like they go crazy.
But that's basically except that's like I know how many
seasons 4-5 plus count. No, I, I thought it was more
(03:53):
like this guy's last movie, which was like Thalumala.
And that movie was like essentially like a string of
like just St. brawls, like adventurously kind of short and
edited St. brawls. And this was like a version of
that. Happening glad I forgot that he
(04:14):
made that movie because I did not was not able to get through
that one. I think I saw like 20 minutes of
that and I was like, this is notfor.
Me. That was the one where
everything was like a music video.
Yeah, but it was like very only thing I remember is only for 20
minutes and I was like 3 years ago I think is there.
It was like very annoyingly edited and like very loud like
background music that. It I think that movie won like
(04:39):
Best Editing at our Critics Choice Awards.
Yeah, I forget that I abstained from that category because I
couldn't finish the movie. It's basically like the most
editing is yeah, which is. Not just a problem with like our
group, which is the problem withOscars and every other award as
well. Anyways, I wouldn't be too
surprised. Yeah, this one kind of shows up
(05:00):
in editing categories also because.
This one imagine if this too much shows up in cinematography
category like what was happeningin that boxing like match for
like 60 minutes. Actually, which one?
I like the cinematography actually.
No, I like it in bots, but I also don't like it in bots.
Like it. It's some of it is good when
they'll actually like with the characters and it's like Creed
level. But the moment they leave the
(05:21):
characters and do like a white shot or which are like there are
several white shots every 30 seconds and then I don't like it
anymore. Oh, I thought I I heard.
In fact, I was consistently impressed with at least this
aspect of the movie because, yeah, I mean, the writing is a
little uneven and the pacing is a little uneven.
And, you know, like we've spokenabout second-half is like a
little too long. All those problems exist.
(05:42):
But then I remember consistentlybeing like, oh, this looks like
a real movie, right? And I wonder what the resources
were because they can't have been like that much.
And, and I mean, even the first half, which is like in the
streets of Alleppey or whatever,this gymkhana, it's like there
is some effort being put in there in terms of, you know,
(06:04):
striking a mood and, and a senseof place.
It's not like the kind of stuff that we usually see, which is
like sublight on go to the world, whatever, you know?
I think the problem with me for the wide shot, especially for
the boxing stuff, I have no problem with the city stuff and
whatever they did before they get to those.
Whatever the wide shorts, I don't understand.
Essentially when you're showing the entire ring and I can also
(06:24):
see like the stating for the audience like the that kind of
wide shot, OK, Like they were basically sort of kind of set
this stage and they would use those kind of shots like over
and over again in every boxing match or between the boxing
matches. Like when they're trying to show
like the others side stories like what's happening on the
sidelines. And it was just weird for me
because for 80% of the movie Thestadium is like empty.
(06:46):
And then people start coming in.Yeah, it makes sense, but.
Isn't it the same day? I don't know.
If it's the same day, but typically.
It's like the same day. Like it just feels like they're
having the spikes on the same day.
It doesn't feel like day has passed.
No one slept at any point. I mean, either way, you know
like, but I like whatever littleexperience that I have of
attending sports events like final, Mizada logo thing,
(07:07):
etcetera. I know they didn't even get to
the final, they were in the second round and they start
running in the end. Yeah, yeah.
But like with the final make Shamco, I'm guessing I.
Don't know if it's a one day butanyway, like it was distracting
for me. I was like, this is unnecessary.
You can just stick to very closetight, you know, ring level
shots and that'll be more enjoyable for me.
Because I was thinking like, boxing as like a sport has been
(07:30):
filmed in so many different ways.
Yeah. How do you like make it fresh,
you know, especially. I think that's impossible.
I think that that train has leftthe station.
Are we gonna confresh anymore? You can only even do it is we
can engage it. Yes.
And I mean, you can maybe use a combination of techniques that
others have in the past, which Ithink is what they do here.
(07:52):
So but like the Raging Wolf stuff, you cannot not do right,
which which they do here also quite a bit of.
But then as I mean, the spectrumis so huge, like from Raging
Bullseye Laker. I think Creed 3 is what you also
notice here because Creed three had like very different boxing
sequences as compared to even the first two Creeds.
(08:13):
Yeah, you know, but that just goes to show like what the
extent of this is. But that being said, this is
boxing. This is not like Dangal or
something where you can, you know, put an Indian spin to it.
It is it. Looks and feels like boxing,
yeah. So there's that.
The otherwise, you know, it likewe were speaking about the
cinematography and all that there is, it looks refined.
(08:36):
It doesn't look like slapdash orat least as slapdash as I had
presumed that it would be for some reason, you know, So
overall I was like, oh, so thereis it's not like one of those
situations where even the stadium is like, it's not like
they're using stadium lights to kind of light this the the.
Lighting going on. Yeah, Yeah.
So it's like it's it's a movie version of a boxing match,
(08:58):
right, Which is always interesting.
So on that level, I thought, good.
I mean, there are corners of thestadium are completely in
darkness, which makes you just wonder if it's like they see
whatever authorities being like,let's just save some electricity
or or whatever just to make it look interesting.
But at least there's some thought going on behind how
(09:19):
these scenes are lit, which I appreciated.
Yeah, so we've done a lot of like technical stuff on the law
and I think we've done touched upon slightly on the story and
stuff like it's OX 100 and couldhave been trimmed down or just
again, it's technical rating characters you've touched upon
very, very briefly. If I would actually dive more
into the characters now, they'rean arcs mostly for JoJo, I would
(09:40):
say the main guy and there's probably an arc at some level
for the coach, yes. Other people don't really have
an arc. It's more of like banter among
themselves I would say. So I guess when I start with the
coach first or the JoJo. Coach Kato, instantly, it's like
he's frustrated, right? And yeah, and you kind of see
where that is going and you kindof the movie kind of invites you
(10:01):
to fill in the blanks yourself. And then you do that.
And then it's largely unsurprising he is like an
interesting idea of a person because it seems like, I mean,
everybody who's played any sort of sport in their lives has met
somebody like. This.
And especially in Kerala, you know, like a couple of times
(10:21):
that I've been there, like the one thing that you notice is
that it's actually true. You know, like 1 neighborhood,
not even 1 neighborhood, like one corner of a neighborhood
would have like a football team which everybody's extremely
proud of. And like a football match
between 2 like 2 streets that are like parallel to each other
would be like a massive event and all the kids and like, you
(10:44):
know, like the every street would have like 1 like great
footballer who they like everybody.
He's like the hero of that little St.
So those little cultural specificities.
I like that I that's what's missing in a lot of our movies.
And I would appreciate if more of our movies were more
culturally specific. Yeah, just being like the India
(11:04):
hero. In India, the hero or this movie
has no stakes, no adversary, no one, right?
Which is it goes against the rules of drama, if you will,
because it's not like they wanted to be boxers, they just
happened upon it. Or it's not like there is like
one major guy that they have to fight.
(11:25):
Like even in The Karate Kid movies was a villain to hold
that year. Yeah, there's just like minor
villains here, like every bout has their own minor figure.
It's just a figure that's to be defeated, you know, that that
adversity isn't presented as like particularly evil or doing
something nefarious that makes us hate them more.
You know, like the stakes are solow.
(11:46):
Like we don't even expect these guys to win is the level they're
at. It's just an experience.
Like you look back like it's like childhood experiences.
There's nobody's in it for anything except the experience
itself. And if it is actually one day,
as you said, then I mean, it's interesting to look back and
wonder what sort of impact like single day events have had.
(12:09):
You know, And normally because I've we watch so many of these,
especially like Hindi movies andstuff where it's almost as if
they're manufacturing like hurdles for the main character
to kind of go through. And you're like, but because,
you know, we want to hype up themain guy or whatever.
And now that is there here, which is I guess risky, but
(12:33):
that's only it's admirable only if you pull it off and and this
movie like partially pulls it off for me.
So I'm still like in two minds about that.
Yeah. I.
Had like similar vibes on like adifferent thing, you know, I
felt like the movie it's yeah, it is on one level like
refreshing in a way that you're basically following people.
This is not a rax for which is like it's like basically rags to
(12:56):
semi less rags per the end. Like if they've they've gained
some self respect maybe for themselves but not much else.
Yeah, they're still not going toget into college.
So they're not actually some grand achievement.
It's not like some Chandu champion nonsense.
He's like some level athlete now.
Yeah. But on the other hand, like
movies sometimes feels like too eager to almost like laugh at
(13:19):
itself. It's like I appreciate.
I appreciate obviously self. When is it any movie?
But because they're like, so almost like it feels I'm not
able to describe it. But like, that's why the movie,
what I could find was eagerness.It was initially like, like
coming out with so much like energy or like 42.
It's just like they don't know where to channel it at some
points. And sometimes they end up
(13:39):
channeling it in a direction, but it's not useful.
And then I'm like, why did you just waste time there?
Like for the instance I understand why they want to show
Jojo's like failed whatever romantic pursuits.
After a point I'm like they are going, not going anywhere, so
why are you beating the same room?
Yeah, because it happens twice in different forms.
(14:02):
The one, yeah, that stands out the most is the party one, I
think because that's the woman we were introduced to 1st on the
boat. And I mean, see, that was
interesting scene for two reasons, right?
One is that the movie isn't interested in portraying JoJo as
some sort of hyper confident dude.
And in the scene he verbalizes his whatever insecurities,
(14:26):
vulnerabilities, which again, isunusual.
And the scene ends with him basically biting the dust,
right? It's like, oh, no, it flop
orgasm. Yeah, being in that situation,
Giorgio doesn't do anything thatcould be considered offensive,
right? Which I know is like a very
(14:48):
basic thing to note. But if when you consider just
the amount of terrible behaviourthat we've seen male heroes do.
Oh, and completely like the filmmakers are completely oblivious
to that behaviour, right? Which is why it continues.
I mean, it would continue probably even if they were
aware. But what we've learned is that
they are not aware and it continues and it's seen as a
(15:10):
matter of fact, you know, like abig camera band Hoge to
obviously cuts the whole guy here and you and you don't
expect it to end in the way thatit does, which is this guy being
like, I don't think I'm ready and then basically leaving.
It's not like he goes down and bags to his friends or any of
that. He gets a call.
You're like bye, bye, you're notyou're not it.
(15:32):
And there's that basically what he learns there is that you
can't force something to happen,which is what he was trying to
do from the first scene on the boat, right?
He's trying to keep move. Exactly.
In public, he has like he's developed this persona that
he'll like get it, but he hasn'tdeveloped, as he just noted, the
(15:53):
confidence to actually like pullany of the off like it's it's
grounded in nothingness. Yeah, and then what happens
towards the end is more organic,right?
Which he's not like forcing it, it just he develops a friendship
and he finds a purpose I guess right at the end JoJo does,
which I guess all of them were lacking completely.
(16:14):
So in that regard, it's like oneof those coming of age like
typical almost Americanized movies, but still like sort of,
as I mentioned, like culturally specific, which is sometimes
makes a big difference. Yeah, but in between those two
moments, I think I was complaining about is that the
stuff with like that hard woman,hard girl out because they're
(16:35):
all who. Have completely forgotten, but I
know that there is. A boxer, right yeah, yeah box.
Are you false for Natasha? Where is the movie because the
movie is like 60 or 70 minutes in that state boxing
championship, which means they only have limited number of side
arcs to build up. They keep harping on the Natasha
and JoJo like at least 3-4 timeslike arc comes up through
(16:58):
various assets like someone getsknocked out.
They will try to get Natasha andor Natasha's teammates is like
fighting very well or boxing very well.
Sorry. So then they'll get it again and
they keep I feel like that arc. The thing doesn't really go
anywhere. They don't know they don't have
a lot of threads to pull there. This is the single thread
they're like we don't have to delve up this thread or the end
end game of the thread. But we have the starting but we
(17:19):
don't know how to do the middle and that's what I'm like.
You're doing the same thing. It's just getting repetitive and
it's getting like also annoying on some level because like you
can sense that Nakash is not into this at all.
She'll be eye rowing for every scene.
And I'm like, what? You just repeating that eye row
now You know what? But.
You know, this is the, this is when he, like loses his match
and he's like, let's hang aroundand watch her match and then
(17:42):
we'll go, yeah, this is that thing only.
Yeah, but that comes like that'sanother later points, right,
but. That's another later point here.
Yeah, Uska Pele, they're dropping through because his
match comes like probably 4th or5th before that.
Next two people get knocked out 1% miraculously wins, then
someone in the Bashar teams win.So then he goes and tries to
like when he is coming, obviously use the excuse to
congratulate her to like see this his crush again.
(18:05):
And none of the scenes really goanywhere.
They seem very like juvenile, which is a weird company for a
movie that about juveniles. But like I feel like it needs to
be slightly more like I've seen so many of these movies where
like it's done better and it's. Still, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was like they were hitting a wall.
They were like. It's like the movie was also
made by like an 18 year old, right?
(18:26):
Where like Nene Hum, that's whatI think.
I meant by like 2 weeks is that they want to like scratch these
things, but they quite don't know actually quite what to be
found on when you start scratching.
It's almost like when someone like writes, I mean, it's a
viewer compared to making what came out my head like something
you like basically, you're not gone through, I guess.
I mean, I'm sure he's gone through enough life experiences,
but like somehow you don't haven't developed the insight
(18:47):
into those life experiences or you haven't had enough time to
like like to reflect on something or you haven't had, I
don't know. He's just not sat at something
long enough. So you're lacking and we're
lacking that, and obviously it lacks on screen as well.
You you, I mean, see watching that his earlier movie also the
thing that kind of even I was like a little overwhelmed by it
and I was like, not for me is that neither of these Movies
(19:10):
Now, you know, have any sort of patience.
And it's very like, I mean, we've complained about, like,
reels having an influence over movie making.
And like, 99 times out of 100, it's terrible, you know?
And this is one of those situations also where I feel
like you're watching too many reels, you know?
(19:32):
So you need to calm down. You need to, like, have sort of
moments where people are just quiet and looking at each other.
We have versions of that in thismovie.
But even those versions, everyone's just yapping.
So yeah, like that whatever hospital wing situation,
opportunity to kind of just. Be a good opportunity, as I
(19:54):
said, exactly the world you created yourself, a place away
from the boxing arena where you can have these side shattereds
and have conversations that the characters need to progress as
characters cuz otherwise it's just action happening outside.
But yeah, go on. They haven't used that
opportunity to, I'm guessing. Go far enough, right?
Yeah, because then you have the coach barge in at one point and
(20:16):
he gives a pep talk and that's interrupted.
And then the doctor, nurse, woman has a thing with the
coach, and there's like another layer added to that thing.
Whereas simplicity would have been ideal in that moment,
right? Could just have the kids kind of
interact with each other. Instead, now you have three
different layers that the scene is operating on, which is I
(20:37):
guess the sort of the problem. Yeah, it is.
Sort of like overstuffed and like showing diversity, like
giving us like an ensemble but then not exactly always knowing
how to differentiate the ensemble and give them enough
like varying threats, right? Like they all seem on the same
part sometimes. Which I think the movie is
partly in on because like 2 guyshave the same name.
Shafa Yeah, yeah, yeah. And one guy has blonde hair so
(21:01):
they're like please don't. Leave it to track, yeah.
And one guy. Wear like our characters are
confusing. One guy wears glasses, so I
mean, I mean. I heard a lot from people but
why why is why is the bar for like Indian cinema becomes so
low that then these things that people have to like shout about
on the rooftops? Because then you have like the
(21:22):
alternative for us even was KC chapter 2 and wait till you were
that one. Oh my God, yeah, As I have,
obviously we have like weeks of like jewel thief like in a row,
and then we had one of this every four months.
So then I guess that's why indents are.
Happy. Yeah, Because then you have KC
Chapter 2 in which like it's setin like whatever, 1920 and then
(21:42):
Akshay Kumar says them's the rules at one point and you're
like, just blow my brakes. And that's all for this episode
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will see you next week. Thanks for listening.
(22:02):
Bye.
Hi I'm. And I'm Ruwan Rahar.
Welcome to the long take. This week, we're discussing the
new Balala movie Allah Bula Jamkala, which is now streaming
after a theatrical release. It's the new film from the
director who made Kunda and the Talibullah called Kaharajaraman,
and stars a bunch of faces that you may or may not have seen,
depending on your, I guess, consumption of full Alam cinema.
(00:38):
Yeah. What are you?
Are we on? Oh, I was pleasantly surprised,
but not blown away. Yeah.
I think I was, I'm not sure, pleasantly surprised, like maybe
like a minor version of that, but then to a degree where the
extended skate boxing I think eventually got to me by the
presentation and how just kept on going on.
(00:59):
Forever, which is basically the entire second-half, no.
More than the second-half, I think.
I think it starts like before the R mark and then it goes on
until like movies like 2R20. I think I'm not wrong.
And yeah, so I think it's more than half actually, not even
half. Yeah.
And, and because it's so like, starkly different from the first
(01:19):
half, it feels like an entirely different movie.
Yeah, in not just the way that it's like short and everything,
but also because of, you know, the characters are in an
entirely different setting as compared to where they were in
the first half, which was more relaxed kind of.
And then this one, it feels like, you know, watching like
Lagan but like the full match instead of like.
(01:42):
Sniper of you're like, I think it really got to show like, you
know, the match for every guy because it's like what, 5 or 6
people and they start diving into each other at some point,
like, you know, eventually escape, right?
It's just like they'll do like amontage and like three of them
will get knocked out in like 10 seconds and that'll be funny.
But like no, they want to show them getting knocked out as you
said, in real time. Yeah, yeah, we see like full
(02:04):
extended matches and all of themare like similar except like one
guy. Yeah, this injector's cart they
have released before, like, you know, the main movie, like
they're like, we won't release the conversation.
Yeah, although if you had kind of condensed it a little bit, I
think there is a lot of interesting stuff happening
there. There is like this extended like
(02:24):
Brawl basically that happens at the end which is like.
After it was cemented, my like comparison for me, like I was
like baiting, like I was hoping,like I don't know where they
would go. Like I'm hoping, I think imagine
where they would go. And once they went to the street
ball, I was like, this is basically India's Cobra at this
point. I haven't seen Cobra.
What happens in Cobra? Cobra essentially like like
unlike The Karate Kid movies, which are like which they were
(02:46):
also teenage focused with semi adults like Koba has completely
like teenage vibes, like teenageangst and all that and teens
trying to like under like this guy was in the Connecticut and
they're like they are rivals dojos, which like just sounds
weird. You're like why the rival dojos
like it's sounds hilarious, but lot of times in Koba Kai
training while they're training inside in dojos like that, their
(03:09):
angst will spill over onto the streets and do their high
school. So it just becomes like the
playing in the dojos and then they they give them training of
like, you know, you have to onlyuse this stuff for like defence
or the life philosophy, whether they're rival dojos.
Like I don't know why I feel like I'm going to use this at
this point. But the point is they also have
these like brawls everywhere with the essentially like there
was like meaningful like momentsfor like these character of like
(03:32):
figuring out like, you know, like not everything can be
solved with punches. Well, but this is where it's
actually the movie was going, right?
Especially like give us like for50-60 minutes of like, Oh yeah,
this is like you're using the right way, like using the ring.
And then last 20 minutes, it's just like they go crazy.
But that's basically except that's like I know how many
seasons 4-5 plus count. No, I, I thought it was more
(03:53):
like this guy's last movie, which was like Thalumala.
And that movie was like essentially like a string of
like just St. brawls, like adventurously kind of short and
edited St. brawls. And this was like a version of
that. Happening glad I forgot that he
(04:14):
made that movie because I did not was not able to get through
that one. I think I saw like 20 minutes of
that and I was like, this is notfor.
Me. That was the one where
everything was like a music video.
Yeah, but it was like very only thing I remember is only for 20
minutes and I was like 3 years ago I think is there.
It was like very annoyingly edited and like very loud like
background music that. It I think that movie won like
(04:39):
Best Editing at our Critics Choice Awards.
Yeah, I forget that I abstained from that category because I
couldn't finish the movie. It's basically like the most
editing is yeah, which is. Not just a problem with like our
group, which is the problem withOscars and every other award as
well. Anyways, I wouldn't be too
surprised. Yeah, this one kind of shows up
(05:00):
in editing categories also because.
This one imagine if this too much shows up in cinematography
category like what was happeningin that boxing like match for
like 60 minutes. Actually, which one?
I like the cinematography actually.
No, I like it in bots, but I also don't like it in bots.
Like it. It's some of it is good when
they'll actually like with the characters and it's like Creed
level. But the moment they leave the
(05:21):
characters and do like a white shot or which are like there are
several white shots every 30 seconds and then I don't like it
anymore. Oh, I thought I I heard.
In fact, I was consistently impressed with at least this
aspect of the movie because, yeah, I mean, the writing is a
little uneven and the pacing is a little uneven.
And, you know, like we've spokenabout second-half is like a
little too long. All those problems exist.
(05:42):
But then I remember consistentlybeing like, oh, this looks like
a real movie, right? And I wonder what the resources
were because they can't have been like that much.
And, and I mean, even the first half, which is like in the
streets of Alleppey or whatever,this gymkhana, it's like there
is some effort being put in there in terms of, you know,
(06:04):
striking a mood and, and a senseof place.
It's not like the kind of stuff that we usually see, which is
like sublight on go to the world, whatever, you know?
I think the problem with me for the wide shot, especially for
the boxing stuff, I have no problem with the city stuff and
whatever they did before they get to those.
Whatever the wide shorts, I don't understand.
Essentially when you're showing the entire ring and I can also
(06:24):
see like the stating for the audience like the that kind of
wide shot, OK, Like they were basically sort of kind of set
this stage and they would use those kind of shots like over
and over again in every boxing match or between the boxing
matches. Like when they're trying to show
like the others side stories like what's happening on the
sidelines. And it was just weird for me
because for 80% of the movie Thestadium is like empty.
(06:46):
And then people start coming in.Yeah, it makes sense, but.
Isn't it the same day? I don't know.
If it's the same day, but typically.
It's like the same day. Like it just feels like they're
having the spikes on the same day.
It doesn't feel like day has passed.
No one slept at any point. I mean, either way, you know
like, but I like whatever littleexperience that I have of
attending sports events like final, Mizada logo thing,
(07:07):
etcetera. I know they didn't even get to
the final, they were in the second round and they start
running in the end. Yeah, yeah.
But like with the final make Shamco, I'm guessing I.
Don't know if it's a one day butanyway, like it was distracting
for me. I was like, this is unnecessary.
You can just stick to very closetight, you know, ring level
shots and that'll be more enjoyable for me.
Because I was thinking like, boxing as like a sport has been
(07:30):
filmed in so many different ways.
Yeah. How do you like make it fresh,
you know, especially. I think that's impossible.
I think that that train has leftthe station.
Are we gonna confresh anymore? You can only even do it is we
can engage it. Yes.
And I mean, you can maybe use a combination of techniques that
others have in the past, which Ithink is what they do here.
(07:52):
So but like the Raging Wolf stuff, you cannot not do right,
which which they do here also quite a bit of.
But then as I mean, the spectrumis so huge, like from Raging
Bullseye Laker. I think Creed 3 is what you also
notice here because Creed three had like very different boxing
sequences as compared to even the first two Creeds.
(08:13):
Yeah, you know, but that just goes to show like what the
extent of this is. But that being said, this is
boxing. This is not like Dangal or
something where you can, you know, put an Indian spin to it.
It is it. Looks and feels like boxing,
yeah. So there's that.
The otherwise, you know, it likewe were speaking about the
cinematography and all that there is, it looks refined.
(08:36):
It doesn't look like slapdash orat least as slapdash as I had
presumed that it would be for some reason, you know, So
overall I was like, oh, so thereis it's not like one of those
situations where even the stadium is like, it's not like
they're using stadium lights to kind of light this the the.
Lighting going on. Yeah, Yeah.
So it's like it's it's a movie version of a boxing match,
(08:58):
right, Which is always interesting.
So on that level, I thought, good.
I mean, there are corners of thestadium are completely in
darkness, which makes you just wonder if it's like they see
whatever authorities being like,let's just save some electricity
or or whatever just to make it look interesting.
But at least there's some thought going on behind how
(09:19):
these scenes are lit, which I appreciated.
Yeah, so we've done a lot of like technical stuff on the law
and I think we've done touched upon slightly on the story and
stuff like it's OX 100 and couldhave been trimmed down or just
again, it's technical rating characters you've touched upon
very, very briefly. If I would actually dive more
into the characters now, they'rean arcs mostly for JoJo, I would
(09:40):
say the main guy and there's probably an arc at some level
for the coach, yes. Other people don't really have
an arc. It's more of like banter among
themselves I would say. So I guess when I start with the
coach first or the JoJo. Coach Kato, instantly, it's like
he's frustrated, right? And yeah, and you kind of see
where that is going and you kindof the movie kind of invites you
(10:01):
to fill in the blanks yourself. And then you do that.
And then it's largely unsurprising he is like an
interesting idea of a person because it seems like, I mean,
everybody who's played any sort of sport in their lives has met
somebody like. This.
And especially in Kerala, you know, like a couple of times
(10:21):
that I've been there, like the one thing that you notice is
that it's actually true. You know, like 1 neighborhood,
not even 1 neighborhood, like one corner of a neighborhood
would have like a football team which everybody's extremely
proud of. And like a football match
between 2 like 2 streets that are like parallel to each other
would be like a massive event and all the kids and like, you
(10:44):
know, like the every street would have like 1 like great
footballer who they like everybody.
He's like the hero of that little St.
So those little cultural specificities.
I like that I that's what's missing in a lot of our movies.
And I would appreciate if more of our movies were more
culturally specific. Yeah, just being like the India
(11:04):
hero. In India, the hero or this movie
has no stakes, no adversary, no one, right?
Which is it goes against the rules of drama, if you will,
because it's not like they wanted to be boxers, they just
happened upon it. Or it's not like there is like
one major guy that they have to fight.
(11:25):
Like even in The Karate Kid movies was a villain to hold
that year. Yeah, there's just like minor
villains here, like every bout has their own minor figure.
It's just a figure that's to be defeated, you know, that that
adversity isn't presented as like particularly evil or doing
something nefarious that makes us hate them more.
You know, like the stakes are solow.
(11:46):
Like we don't even expect these guys to win is the level they're
at. It's just an experience.
Like you look back like it's like childhood experiences.
There's nobody's in it for anything except the experience
itself. And if it is actually one day,
as you said, then I mean, it's interesting to look back and
wonder what sort of impact like single day events have had.
(12:09):
You know, And normally because I've we watch so many of these,
especially like Hindi movies andstuff where it's almost as if
they're manufacturing like hurdles for the main character
to kind of go through. And you're like, but because,
you know, we want to hype up themain guy or whatever.
And now that is there here, which is I guess risky, but
(12:33):
that's only it's admirable only if you pull it off and and this
movie like partially pulls it off for me.
So I'm still like in two minds about that.
Yeah. I.
Had like similar vibes on like adifferent thing, you know, I
felt like the movie it's yeah, it is on one level like
refreshing in a way that you're basically following people.
This is not a rax for which is like it's like basically rags to
(12:56):
semi less rags per the end. Like if they've they've gained
some self respect maybe for themselves but not much else.
Yeah, they're still not going toget into college.
So they're not actually some grand achievement.
It's not like some Chandu champion nonsense.
He's like some level athlete now.
Yeah. But on the other hand, like
movies sometimes feels like too eager to almost like laugh at
(13:19):
itself. It's like I appreciate.
I appreciate obviously self. When is it any movie?
But because they're like, so almost like it feels I'm not
able to describe it. But like, that's why the movie,
what I could find was eagerness.It was initially like, like
coming out with so much like energy or like 42.
It's just like they don't know where to channel it at some
points. And sometimes they end up
(13:39):
channeling it in a direction, but it's not useful.
And then I'm like, why did you just waste time there?
Like for the instance I understand why they want to show
Jojo's like failed whatever romantic pursuits.
After a point I'm like they are going, not going anywhere, so
why are you beating the same room?
Yeah, because it happens twice in different forms.
(14:02):
The one, yeah, that stands out the most is the party one, I
think because that's the woman we were introduced to 1st on the
boat. And I mean, see, that was
interesting scene for two reasons, right?
One is that the movie isn't interested in portraying JoJo as
some sort of hyper confident dude.
And in the scene he verbalizes his whatever insecurities,
(14:26):
vulnerabilities, which again, isunusual.
And the scene ends with him basically biting the dust,
right? It's like, oh, no, it flop
orgasm. Yeah, being in that situation,
Giorgio doesn't do anything thatcould be considered offensive,
right? Which I know is like a very
(14:48):
basic thing to note. But if when you consider just
the amount of terrible behaviourthat we've seen male heroes do.
Oh, and completely like the filmmakers are completely oblivious
to that behaviour, right? Which is why it continues.
I mean, it would continue probably even if they were
aware. But what we've learned is that
they are not aware and it continues and it's seen as a
(15:10):
matter of fact, you know, like abig camera band Hoge to
obviously cuts the whole guy here and you and you don't
expect it to end in the way thatit does, which is this guy being
like, I don't think I'm ready and then basically leaving.
It's not like he goes down and bags to his friends or any of
that. He gets a call.
You're like bye, bye, you're notyou're not it.
(15:32):
And there's that basically what he learns there is that you
can't force something to happen,which is what he was trying to
do from the first scene on the boat, right?
He's trying to keep move. Exactly.
In public, he has like he's developed this persona that
he'll like get it, but he hasn'tdeveloped, as he just noted, the
(15:53):
confidence to actually like pullany of the off like it's it's
grounded in nothingness. Yeah, and then what happens
towards the end is more organic,right?
Which he's not like forcing it, it just he develops a friendship
and he finds a purpose I guess right at the end JoJo does,
which I guess all of them were lacking completely.
(16:14):
So in that regard, it's like oneof those coming of age like
typical almost Americanized movies, but still like sort of,
as I mentioned, like culturally specific, which is sometimes
makes a big difference. Yeah, but in between those two
moments, I think I was complaining about is that the
stuff with like that hard woman,hard girl out because they're
(16:35):
all who. Have completely forgotten, but I
know that there is. A boxer, right yeah, yeah box.
Are you false for Natasha? Where is the movie because the
movie is like 60 or 70 minutes in that state boxing
championship, which means they only have limited number of side
arcs to build up. They keep harping on the Natasha
and JoJo like at least 3-4 timeslike arc comes up through
(16:58):
various assets like someone getsknocked out.
They will try to get Natasha andor Natasha's teammates is like
fighting very well or boxing very well.
Sorry. So then they'll get it again and
they keep I feel like that arc. The thing doesn't really go
anywhere. They don't know they don't have
a lot of threads to pull there. This is the single thread
they're like we don't have to delve up this thread or the end
end game of the thread. But we have the starting but we
(17:19):
don't know how to do the middle and that's what I'm like.
You're doing the same thing. It's just getting repetitive and
it's getting like also annoying on some level because like you
can sense that Nakash is not into this at all.
She'll be eye rowing for every scene.
And I'm like, what? You just repeating that eye row
now You know what? But.
You know, this is the, this is when he, like loses his match
and he's like, let's hang aroundand watch her match and then
(17:42):
we'll go, yeah, this is that thing only.
Yeah, but that comes like that'sanother later points, right,
but. That's another later point here.
Yeah, Uska Pele, they're dropping through because his
match comes like probably 4th or5th before that.
Next two people get knocked out 1% miraculously wins, then
someone in the Bashar teams win.So then he goes and tries to
like when he is coming, obviously use the excuse to
congratulate her to like see this his crush again.
(18:05):
And none of the scenes really goanywhere.
They seem very like juvenile, which is a weird company for a
movie that about juveniles. But like I feel like it needs to
be slightly more like I've seen so many of these movies where
like it's done better and it's. Still, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was like they were hitting a wall.
They were like. It's like the movie was also
made by like an 18 year old, right?
(18:26):
Where like Nene Hum, that's whatI think.
I meant by like 2 weeks is that they want to like scratch these
things, but they quite don't know actually quite what to be
found on when you start scratching.
It's almost like when someone like writes, I mean, it's a
viewer compared to making what came out my head like something
you like basically, you're not gone through, I guess.
I mean, I'm sure he's gone through enough life experiences,
but like somehow you don't haven't developed the insight
(18:47):
into those life experiences or you haven't had enough time to
like like to reflect on something or you haven't had, I
don't know. He's just not sat at something
long enough. So you're lacking and we're
lacking that, and obviously it lacks on screen as well.
You you, I mean, see watching that his earlier movie also the
thing that kind of even I was like a little overwhelmed by it
and I was like, not for me is that neither of these Movies
(19:10):
Now, you know, have any sort of patience.
And it's very like, I mean, we've complained about, like,
reels having an influence over movie making.
And like, 99 times out of 100, it's terrible, you know?
And this is one of those situations also where I feel
like you're watching too many reels, you know?
(19:32):
So you need to calm down. You need to, like, have sort of
moments where people are just quiet and looking at each other.
We have versions of that in thismovie.
But even those versions, everyone's just yapping.
So yeah, like that whatever hospital wing situation,
opportunity to kind of just. Be a good opportunity, as I
(19:54):
said, exactly the world you created yourself, a place away
from the boxing arena where you can have these side shattereds
and have conversations that the characters need to progress as
characters cuz otherwise it's just action happening outside.
But yeah, go on. They haven't used that
opportunity to, I'm guessing. Go far enough, right?
Yeah, because then you have the coach barge in at one point and
(20:16):
he gives a pep talk and that's interrupted.
And then the doctor, nurse, woman has a thing with the
coach, and there's like another layer added to that thing.
Whereas simplicity would have been ideal in that moment,
right? Could just have the kids kind of
interact with each other. Instead, now you have three
different layers that the scene is operating on, which is I
(20:37):
guess the sort of the problem. Yeah, it is.
Sort of like overstuffed and like showing diversity, like
giving us like an ensemble but then not exactly always knowing
how to differentiate the ensemble and give them enough
like varying threats, right? Like they all seem on the same
part sometimes. Which I think the movie is
partly in on because like 2 guyshave the same name.
Shafa Yeah, yeah, yeah. And one guy has blonde hair so
(21:01):
they're like please don't. Leave it to track, yeah.
And one guy. Wear like our characters are
confusing. One guy wears glasses, so I
mean, I mean. I heard a lot from people but
why why is why is the bar for like Indian cinema becomes so
low that then these things that people have to like shout about
on the rooftops? Because then you have like the
(21:22):
alternative for us even was KC chapter 2 and wait till you were
that one. Oh my God, yeah, As I have,
obviously we have like weeks of like jewel thief like in a row,
and then we had one of this every four months.
So then I guess that's why indents are.
Happy. Yeah, Because then you have KC
Chapter 2 in which like it's setin like whatever, 1920 and then
(21:42):
Akshay Kumar says them's the rules at one point and you're
like, just blow my brakes. And that's all for this episode
of The Long Tech. You can follow us.
On Facebook, YouTube threads andInstagram at the long Tech pod.
You can track to us at the long techpod@gmail.com.
Please leave us editing and review weather episode and we
will see you next week. Thanks for listening.
(22:02):
Bye.
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