December 17, 2025 • 31 mins
You cannot separate a film’s politics from its craft—you cannot separate your own politics from your opinion. To do so would be like judging a Dal Makhani on the basis of presentation but not taste.
Dhurandhar is vile propaganda whose influence will spread beyond even its target audience of unemployed youth and WhatsApp uncles. We discuss how objectionable every scene involving R. Madhavan is, how abrupt the climax feels, and why director Aditya Dhar is so afraid of examining complexity.
We also talk about the incendiary red screen scene and its possible implications, and wonder why they chose to make the protagonist a murderer for hire instead of a real patriot with real motivations to undertake such a high-stakes mission.
—
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Hi, I'm Akura welcome. To the long take, this week
we're discussing the with Rangar.
It stars Ravi Singh in the lead and has written and directed by
Ayodhar. There's a lot going on in this
movie, which some of it tends tobe not about the movie, I have
realized after watching it. Yeah.
Why is everyone so obsessed withPakistan?
They need a villain, right? Without Pakistan, they don't
(00:38):
have, like, drama in their life.Yeah.
Because like introspection is like beyond like comprehension.
But like, yeah. Not worth it.
So this movie is basically like a manifesto, like for the next
election. I don't know.
I think this is one of those situations where the the monster
that has been created is far more powerful than anybody had
ever imagined. So at this point, essentially
(01:00):
you are these people are riding the wave that's going around the
country and hoping to get some financial benefit out of it.
Sure. Yeah, Like, and and, you know,
after a point, I don't know how it started.
It must have been opportunism. But then after a point, that
becomes your identity, right? Then you don't know anything
else. Like you're no longer an
(01:21):
opportunist. You're the you're the guy who
actually believes this stuff. You don't have really an
ideology of your own right and it's a dangerous the ideology.
Of their own is whatever the wind is swinging and the wind is
swinging for the last whatever decade and a half now towards.
There. So let's go along with.
No, but I'm going to the worrying part is that ideology
(01:45):
you develop over time, right? But these people have decided
this is our ideology, and after a point, it's going to be too
late to walk back on it. So they're going to pretend as
if that is it, Like, it's the truth, right?
If you repeat it enough times, it becomes the truth.
And this movie is a clear example of how we're just going
(02:05):
to like morph events to suit ournarrative.
And then if you say it loudly enough, with enough like force
and anger. Yeah, like this.
This guy's first movie was essentially based around events
that have no independent like confirmation ever.
Like India's never allowed any investigation or any like
(02:26):
credible way to like accept themsaying it, right.
They would. You had to accept what the
government told us and go along with it.
Otherwise, like we have no idea what actually happened.
And then you go ahead and make an entire like movie around it,
saying inspired by like real events.
And then just like as you saying, if you just keep saying
it enough times and it's hard, but there's a movie and now
there's this like it's the same thing.
(02:47):
I just like even a few months back when the India was an real
life conflict happened again in May, the government literally
called up like newspapers aroundthe country and were like yeah,
Chapo because we told you and they did not like confirm at
all. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you weren't allowed to. I was, I mean, still in a
newsroom. And that happened.
And I remember that it was you were not allowed quote or
(03:10):
publish anything that the Pakistani authorities were
saying, even as like on the record.
Yeah, forget that. Like now we have learned that
there are defence reporters working for Indian publications
who have built their careers for40 years, right?
There are people who actually know what they're doing.
And they were like, nothing is happening of the sort that you
want to publish. And Despite that, because some
(03:31):
minister called, they were like,Oh yeah, let's publish that
anyway because the minister is saying.
Yeah, yeah. So what I apparently I found out
like years and years ago that they're basically they are like.
Yeah. Well, now it's reach the, it's
the, it's reach the level where essentially you can accelerate
trigger a nuclear war if you're not careful, right?
Yeah. And you're literally publishing
(03:52):
like, Karachi hasn't blown up. And you're like, what has been
blown up? I don't know, Like who told you
that? Yeah.
What's happening in, like, mainstream news is sort of
trickling down to something, as you know.
Yeah. We're basically like 6 months or
like 2 years away from making a movie on India Bakan conflict
and showing Karachi being blown up right?
(04:13):
Like this is where we're going now.
Like if you're just gonna actually just have our mother's
character in this movie is essentially the government.
He's the government. Yeah, he is the government.
He's not. He's not the government from
that era. He's not a civil servant from
the era he's actually working in.
He's a mouthpiece for today's government.
Retrofittedly fitted time travel20 years back.
(04:33):
Yeah, it's, you know, here's thething, you know, that is not
that stupid, like the Karachi getting blown up thing.
He will never do that. What he'll do he's he'll, he'll,
he'll embellish what the government has actually said.
So if they've said that they will not like a LED training
camp with like one missile that has hit like a random tarmac and
(04:58):
really not done much damage or atree or a tree or a field or
something. So he'll he'll show that will
field Kenichi bunker there, you know, and will destroy Kurtiya.
Don't feel, feel. The same way this movie is like
obviously setting up why the government did the
demonetization, right? They're literally setting that
up about two and like this is hebasically, this is like how how
(05:19):
rogue one did something and it was like, Oh no, This is why he
left That whole this is not a mistake by the people who made
like a New Hope, which is exceptthat was like a fictional
universe and you were like laughing at them.
But this is like real life. Yeah, yeah, it's very weird.
Like you spoke about the Madhavan character almost feels
like Yogi watched the movie and then he was like, no, this has
very little Yogi in it. And so I need you to write like
(05:41):
3 Yogi scenes and five Modi scenes and all of them are
framed from the perspective of Madhavan who comes in and like
future government. The guys sitting in 2007 and
talking about like 2019, like like insane, like vision.
That's besharami. But here's the thing right, If
you take out all the Madhavan scenes, the movie doesn't really
(06:03):
lose much. That's what's going to be my
next, like, actual argument whenI was going to actually talk
about the movie, which we haven't started yet, is if you
take out all the government Indian songs and if you just the
entire movie is just like set inPakistan.
Yeah, I think it will be like 20% better automatically.
Yeah, yeah, because it doesn't really do much for the
narrative, right? The Madhavan stuff, it's just
(06:25):
like framing the movie in like sort of a reality and.
It's having the movie in in a reality that is suited for a lot
of the. Audience like a real world
situation, let's put it that way.
Otherwise we don't really. Yeah.
So that and the character is based on very obviously the
world, right? So who's a real person?
So what the what this what thosescenes are doing is basically
(06:46):
framing the store. The main story of Ranveer
Singh's character in like a reality, but not really.
They're just there for like almost like Sutra Dhar sort of
situation where you're like commenting on the events but not
the events or commenting on the political context will be
inaccurately. So there's like a lot of
nonsense going on, but like if you were to remove it, the movie
(07:09):
is a better and be more importantly shorter.
I think it'll. Be shorter by like probably 10
minutes. I don't think he actually is in
the movie at that much. Like after point the deeper the
movie goes on, like once they cut back to him, I think like 4
chapters after because he's he kicks out the movie, then he
disappears for like 4 chapters and he cut back to him and I
like Oh yeah, he had the movie with her like that happened to
me. Which like tells you, basically,
(07:29):
that he's so unimportant to the movie that you forget about him.
Yeah, and this is the guy who the movie opens with, basically.
And I mean, that's a great example of what this guy does,
right? He takes like a real event and
then just naturals it to suit his warped sort of hate speech
mentality. And, you know, Yeah, that's
really like the the opening scene was quite troubling, you
(07:50):
know, and then it kind of prepares you for what's supposed
to happen. But then you realize after a
ponder, nahi, the movie is not really about what the opening
scene was suggesting. It's it it can stand
independently, but then they've made the very obvious choice to.
Frame, yeah, and also at the same time also seeps any
(08:13):
individuality away from Hamza's character because now he's not a
character, he's a stand in for the nationalistic.
Audience, yeah. The character, which I can kind
of, you know, not forgive but wrap my head around because he
is supposed to be this guy without an ID or with like, a
new identity. So we aren't really supposed to
(08:35):
know more about him. So he's like, also, you're
right, he becomes like this sortof vessel, right for the crazy
people to project themselves onto.
Yeah, because like everybody reacts like when the woman time
he breaks character is when he sees things being happening to
India, right? Yeah.
And that time he's basically standing for like how the
(08:56):
audience sees. I'm like, Oh my God, this
happened to us. And he does.
You and I would also feel, but we weren't really, you know,
amid the gangsters in Karachi orwhatever, Like if people were
being killed here. You were horrified.
Yeah. And but like when you're getting
beaten up in the some random forest of Karachi on some like
Random Rd., your flashback is not going to be the 2611
(09:17):
bombings which you not did not listen person, you were not
there. No, I see, I can, I can
understand that one. I I'm not going to Ding them on
that because he literally handedthe gun to the Ajmal guy.
So like he and then you cut to aclose up of him.
So he's like full of regret and all that.
And then you have the scene withhis whatever handler and he's
(09:38):
expressing that regret and he wants to be more violent, but
he's like told to calm down. So there is like a chain of
events leading up to that final moment where the regret and
guilt is so strong that he has aflashback.
So I understand what they've done there.
I just feel like there is not like he's not really given the
opportunity to be fleshed out. Like it's so much of like going
(09:59):
from one event to this event to that event and everything is
like so short. Like somehow this movie is like
3 1/2 hours long but every scenehas no time for itself, always
being like rush into a. Different.
It is episodic and you get a sense of that picking boxes in a
way, right? Because we need this guy to do
(10:19):
something that will endear him to Akshay Khanna's characters.
What can he do? Save the child, done right?
So you get that out of the way so that you can have a way of
explaining why he was able to kind of Megan Roads into that
world. And then you it basically
highlights of this guy's life orin Pakistan instead of but I
(10:43):
don't really know how how you could do like a more grounded
version of it, doing, you know, mundane tasks and stuff in a
movie like this, because it's. I feel like what I don't get,
which like, you know, the movie really sometimes gives you like
room to like think of scenes which have been done in a
parallel movie or a very different movie and they'll like
(11:04):
take the time. Is that like it doesn't flesh
out the thinking behind it. It doesn't flesh out the
preparation for something. It just like shows you like, oh,
this happened. And I'm like, but at what point
do I believe that he's the only support absolutely smart guy and
everyone around him just like does not see anything happen,
right? Because in any other movie where
you start making these kind of moves, the people above you,
(11:26):
people around you, because this is a society where you're always
being watched and monitored, that things will leak out.
Like there is no like in a movielike Godfather, if the an
underling like of Hamza's level without telling his boss meets
with the father who had just been ousted and he's competing
against that meeting gets leakedto the boss.
(11:47):
In a way, like in a gangster movie way, yes, there are lots
of holes in it. That gets leaked to a boss,
right? The meeting.
He goes up to this guy's house. Then he goes to Jamil's house.
He meets with the SP, Aslam and Jamil at that guy's house and
that meeting does not leak out. No, that leaks out.
Yeah, it does in a way, because.And to to then to Stellusky.
(12:08):
This is so like he's the only smart one and everyone is
stupid. Everyone's dozing in that car
and he makes the right turn to the Forester Cohens conveniently
right. These things only happen because
you have decided the movie 1 needs to go here and you are not
doing the building blocks level of start telling us that needs
to be convinced us to get there.Yeah, yeah, yeah, no.
So a couple of points that you made.
Yeah, I agree with like the the characters need to be fools in
(12:32):
order for the movie to proceed, which I am partially.
I don't really care anymore unless it's like glaringly
annoying, which I didn't feel itwas in this case because I the
the the turning into the forest thing happens right at the end.
So by the time if you've not really bought into him being a
part of the family, then you're not going to buy into it.
(12:53):
So I mean, that depends on whether or not you've been
hanging on for the preceding 3 hours.
So I mean, I was like, by that point I was like hearty Kyo.
He's part of them. So they don't really have any
doubts, right? Which is why the cousin, the
brother I'm forgetting his name,agrees to go to whatever that
the the party tribe collect the the party the party tribe in the
(13:17):
desert to do all. That I think that's.
Yeah. And and and the other issue, the
big issue of that climax is thatfeels like very, very shortly
and like they thought of it likelast minute pair and they didn't
have an ending. So they just came up with it.
That's a separate conversation. But like, more to the point is
(13:37):
one of the biggest reasons why Ithink the movie shoots itself in
the 4th is what you were talkingabout this guy Hamza and him not
being fleshed out and him basically, he's partially a very
passive character, right? He's hanging around in the
background going from 1 scene toanother being told, and you
(13:58):
can't really be making yeah, oneby yourself, right?
So that's there. But then what they reveal in the
end about him is shocking to me,right?
Because it kind of goes against the very DNA of the movie itself
is that they say that he was some sort of death row prisoner
who they tried to kind of give apurpose to.
Which is weird because then you're saying that he doesn't
(14:20):
really have any motivation or personal say in any of.
There was never a built in like love for the country there.
I has always been like a deshpaktan.
He was done doing it for the country.
He's trained like 30 years for this.
He had basically willed his lifeaway, thrown it away for like
whatever 10-15 years, ended up like in jail waiting to be
(14:41):
killed and then he's given a purpose and like then why would
he have such a insane attachmentto do?
Exactly. He's not like so you made like a
killing machine monster, as you've said, but he's not
Captain America because Captain America was first to patriot in
the soldier. Exactly like the captain, Emeka
was a 5 foot 2 so guy who was like willing to go to the front
lines even though he should not be doing correct.
(15:02):
This guy is someone, he's basically like Chaudhary Aslam.
He's a mercenary, right? He doesn't have any personal
skin in the game, so why is he doing it?
And they are kind of yeah, go makes you like.
Undermines everything. You better.
What are you saying and it be and you are like 8 second by
which is so good so much near. And now the issue is Uske
Baadshi have seen reels of apparently someone with exactly
(15:25):
the same name as this dude beingmentioned in Ori and being
mentioned in and being describedas like a fallen soldier or some
sort of like soldier with an army rank or something like a
proper distance. So now I'm thinking in that cat
whatever meeting, he might be lying that this guy was like a
death row prisoner. He could actually be like, you
(15:48):
know, like a real soldier. But then you by doing that, then
you ruined this movie. I don't really care about what
happened. You can't be like putting the
rug like 4. Months so in in this movie's
context, from what we've seen, your kind of you've ruined and I
like this is what it would have been so much easier to be like
Havo desh bhakta, you know? Yeah, like he trained for this
(16:09):
entire life and he was sent on Amisha.
And odd and you're crazy audiences would have lapped that
up, but I don't know if they really like honestly, like I was
like quite bothered by this stupid story choice, you know,
especially if you're saying for.The longer it went on, I
realized that the character is almost like meaningless.
Like I'm realizing because the the movies aren't interested in
(16:32):
also the fact that when you liveso long in a foreign land, when
you still live so long with the purpose of being embedded in
that lifestyle as that, you willlose your way at some point.
You will actually become Hamza. And for him it's so much easier
because he anyway had no attachment to a prior life.
It's not like he had an honest life back home.
(16:52):
He had like people he's caring about.
He has none of that. So anyway, there's no attachment
and he's been sent to Karachi tolike, basically do whatever he
wants in a way, or else to like,disguise himself.
He will lose his way. He'll actually be like, no,
actually I want to become king of Karachi.
Screw India. Exactly which I feel that they
might do in the second part, butthen again we can't release
speak about them because. I don't expect that from the guy
(17:12):
who made like Who is giving likethe Government a mouthpiece
character in a movie. I don't know because you're
right, it does make sense for especially if you declared that
he is a random person with no real patriotic roots and and so
he is going to get corrupted by that power, right?
Especially now that Akshay Khanas character is dead.
(17:33):
So now he's going to take over, do whatever, whatever, but we
don't know if he's going to do it for whatever, furthering his
mission for India of a personal gain, you know?
He could do it for both, like hecould do it for both, but I feel
like at what point does he like it will be interesting then then
he's a character, right? If he's like doing it, like
where is where is he doing it for?
And if it just ends up being that he's always doing it, but
(17:53):
with an eye on, like, ensuring that India is, like, safe or
whatever. And Madhavan's character becomes
like, more and more in stature in the second movie.
And finally, like, he gets his, like, that's the one he's
waiting for, right? The Madhavan will have some
speech in the second part where he basically like, like, look,
what I said was justified. I did the right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I put this thing 20 years minute
that was up. So if that is what he was
(18:14):
building it towards, then this character is meaningless.
You're just doing it. But to sort that grand
narrative. Yeah.
But if you're interested in exploring this person who was
sent on nothing and then scales to some king level of a big size
city in Pakistan, then I'm interested to explore this
character. Yeah, but which I fear that they
might just do in the second part, you know, based on what
(18:36):
that sizzle reel that we saw at the end, you know?
But if they all again, so this movie entirely in a way, the
parts of it which are in Karachiare interesting on their own.
But as you said, like the lens around it is so annoying that
everything gets filtered from that and then you're like, oh,
it's being done to solve. Great.
So it's kind of it ruins the experience, you know, of
(18:57):
whatever whatever the real, realquote, UN quote story is of this
movie, it ruins that also. But they're like, to your point
about, you know, like the character like they could, they
had an opportunity to kind of dip their toes into like minor
complexity when he supposedly falls in love with that child
(19:18):
woman. So yeah, the like, on face
value, it feels real, right? But but it could also not be
real. But the movie is not interested
in that. Maybe that grey zone.
It's just like ha ho Gaya na Matlab.
Yeah, yeah. Because that would send it into
full like the American's territory, right?
And I would love to explode be like in that so on.
(19:40):
But I don't know if the movie isinterested in that because like
that woman is basically serving her purpose, like mostly like
she hi, this was the character that will film this video.
So a narrator can go here. I don't know if the movie is
interested in their dynamic and how it influences him.
Yeah, it's not. At least to this point, it's
not, he was heard. There are smarter movies I like.
Pathan did this cleverly. Like, we were like, Oh yeah.
(20:02):
Like, look, they're making you rude for like, a Pakistani
character. But like, this is where you can
actually complicate that there are countries are so much
similar that finally he is falling in love with a Pakistani
woman. Like, is the movie interesting
those questions? I don't think so from this
writer. No, no, no, even I don't think
so because he there is like somegenuine feeling towards the end
(20:24):
or whatever from but that I get from the performance is not the
writing. But yeah, in terms of plot, like
what you were talking about, youknow, that the meeting would
between Rakesh Bedi and Sanjay Dutt would be leaked it a
version of that meeting was leaked by the woman, you know.
And they have shown that, you know, these people have like,
influence in each other's households through their, like,
(20:44):
working class people. Yeah, because they use their
cook to poison the kid. Which means if that can happen,
then even Raymond Duckett has like, people in like Jamie's
household, or at least has reachthat he can figure out what's
happening inside his house. Yeah, yeah.
But this movie is not like the, it's very different from like,
say, or Razi, right, Which itself is a very mainstream spy
(21:04):
movie. Yeah, but this is a mainstream
spy movie that wants to be like a Tarantino romp also, you know,
but like fun music, action sequences, yeah, etcetera,
etcetera, all that stuff. Push like go to like the 12th
degree. There is a lot of gold.
Yeah, he does bash that guy's head in and we see a close up of
it. I mean there's multiple version.
(21:26):
There's like one time where likethey have like some Indian spy
hooked to like 15 chains and they pull them like.
It's crazy. Oh yeah.
What's his name? Arjun Rampal does weird ISI
stuff. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Well, Speaking of the ISI, the
whole sequence in which they basically have like a Dalat
while watching 2611 and then thescreen cuts to red and the
(21:49):
whatever the whatever weird wonky Tarantino reality of the
movie break. Our What universe did we enter
in that moment? We like honestly, like I watched
the movie, I watched the movie in like Cheshat log Bharathi
theatre man. But like, I can imagine in some
weird like, part of the country,without naming it, if like 400
(22:10):
people are sitting there, like outside, they could go riot
almost, you know, after being yeah.
It's very close to like, yeah, inciting like given especially
like it's not, you're not even using like a black screen
standard operating method, right.
You're not even using like a blank screen.
You are. You are pulling every string
possible to get people to that level, Torito.
(22:32):
While you're doing a propaganda Torito Maria Darako, I'd love
you not. Yeah, Obina.
Yeah, he's shameless. Shameless propaganda.
I mean the only way they could make it worse is if they had
like visuals in the corners. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CCTV footage of like some dude getting shot in the face or
something, Some real. Guy which like the movie starts
off like in that fashion, right?Like this modern character
(22:55):
enters the plane and he has likea full like, what was that TV
show that JJ Abrams made? Whether the detective would
figure out what's crime scene happened before he reaches that?
Crime. Yeah, yeah.
With Jesus. With Jesus and that lost dude,
yeah. Yeah.
So basically that's what he has.Like he has a full flashback of
like what must have happened forthose blood to be trailed.
And in that flashback is imagining the most gruesome
thing possible. Like the the knife is going back
(23:17):
and forth as if you're cutting meat and not someone's throat.
Yeah. Yeah.
And it's crazy. Like, what is this is the
opening minute of the movie. What is going to come in the
next 200 minutes? Yeah.
And shockingly, though, Ajit Dhawal actually claimed to have
gone inside the plane and said Bhagavata Kitchen and all that
(23:38):
stuff, and people did not reply,which I was quite surprised by
that. That actually happened.
Obviously the terrorist smirkingin his face and saying cake out,
but the bus dil ho, whatever, whatever he says that made-up.
Yeah, but like. It doesn't matter if because
like at what point there's stretching enough things that
(23:58):
I'm I'm not going to believe even the mining those things at
this point. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
You don't have to believe what Ajit Doval says either.
Yeah, because everything like this is murdered, right?
Like when you make a movie like this, there is no credibility
behind anything now. Like, I don't know which I'm
going to believe any part of it because I'm like, but I don't
know which parts are like actually.
Which is an important point, right, because board I think
(24:21):
most of the AAM janta and even like people who should know
better have forgotten is that you cannot separate these
things, right? You cannot separate.
Yeah. You can't be like, oh, but
action scene, Messiah, whatever the chase scene, car scene, when
you know that the context, the chase scene is to incite
violence and to like oppress minorities and to get you to.
(24:43):
Vote or divide you further. Yeah, you can't separate them.
You. That's like watching like
there's a. Movie in the first five years, I
think. Laughs at Aman Kiyasha, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like. It mocks it, It mocks peace.
The movies mocks peace like we walk the World Peace and then
goes on for 200 minutes to basically be like we should
what? We get their houses and kill
(25:03):
them. Yeah, wage war.
Oh. No.
Get in their houses and kill them.
That's like the last line that Ithink Ranveer Singh's character
has, yeah. Yeah, which is full like from
Uri, right? So I'm.
Like, what is happening? Like what have we agreed?
It's OK for characters to like say those things and then you
sort of like your movie shows you like that things won't end
up well, which is what like, youknow, a smarter like Godfather
(25:25):
does. Like it shows you like, yeah,
this is like a very people love people like movie characters in
those movies. But then you you see them get
come up and so you see them how their lives are dragged apart
because they lose their kids, they lose their wives or
whatever. They lose everyone around them
and their actions are result in like essentially regret later on
their lives. But then this movie is not doing
that. Is she saying no?
(25:46):
This is the correct way to say Ping?
And whatever guilt, regret, isolation, loneliness that this
guy is going to live with or diewith was worth it, was worth
defending his land. You know, that's what the movie
is saying. Because the movie like ends
again with like red text on a black screen saying revenge.
So let's not forget what the take away is.
(26:07):
Yeah, even like a movie with as troubled a legacy as Munich, the
Spielberg movie even that ends with, like, Eric Bana's
character being like, was it worth it?
Exactly because there is introspection, right?
And more importantly, those movies are made by people who
are so close to like that thing but are still able to reflect
(26:29):
back on their faith and be like,oh, but like, I think this is
like. This is not beyond we have done,
Yeah. Whereas I don't know if Aditya
Adhar has lived in Kashmir ever.He's a pundit, but I don't.
Know if he's not lived in Kashmir, has he spoken to people
on both sides and he's just speaking to the people he
conveniently. Choked.
It honestly doesn't matter because, you know, he could have
(26:50):
been anybody. It really doesn't matter that he
has like a Kashmiri name, you know, Kobe Banasakta and would
be just as vitriolic and violent, kind of.
That's the issue eventually is that the film it was involved
with, These movies are essentially like, they are not
like balanced. They they believe the things
(27:11):
that they've been told without seeing the gruesome side of it.
I would say, see, it's not necessary for a film maker to be
balanced. Especially sure, I would like to
see some perspective, even if I disagree with the perspective,
you know what I'm saying, what the core of the problem is.
See, you can be, you can be divided on political issues or
(27:35):
varying like kind of worldviews or whatever, right?
And some people can have really problematic ideas on things and
history and situations, as this guy clearly has.
But what I find is that there isa lack of humanity, even the
worst kind of movies propagatingthe worst sort of ideas.
(27:58):
If they don't have, like, a shared sort of empathy for,
like, human beings, then I'm like, Tum Insan Karabuk.
Yeah. How can somebody like, like you
said, like, they'll literally laugh at the idea of peace.
They're like, kill people, murder people, vengeance, you
(28:18):
know, violence. Innocent people will die.
We will. Our economy will be hurt if we
wage war. It doesn't matter as long as we
get vengeance. That is a very like inhuman sort
of thought process and that makes me like.
It's a dog eat dog world right? Like this is not does not end
well for you. There are no.
(28:38):
There's no way to like, be like,oh, we will just harm them.
We will show them who's boss andwe will sit here.
No, both countries have the samenumber of nuclear warheads.
Where do you think this? Ends exactly.
Everybody will die, whatever youknow.
But like the thing about art andany form of art like music,
painting, this that sculpture, poetry, whatever, there is a
(29:00):
shared like humanism, right? Like overall in this together
and this is the experience everybody either.
There's a reflection, right? Like even if you make something,
you're able to look at it and say, oh, I think this part is
flawed, right? You're able to self reflect and
be like, Oh no, I think, but this thing should be like, yes.
So there is no forget like say like basically to everybody has
(29:23):
the same set of emotions and experiences that they will feel
right in different circumstances.
We will feel sadness, anger, betrayal, hurt, happiness,
etcetera, etcetera. But then when you dehumanize the
other side to a point where they're just like mocking, how
is that different? Like they will look at a movie
like this and be like tum be thesame career.
(29:43):
You know, you're also like cheering for the end of
Pakistan. Like what is the difference
then, you know, and then you canjust keep going on and on about
who started it that hasn't. No, yeah, like that, That is a
never ending story, right? Like that argument is being used
all around the world to. Start world.
So and somebody needs to be like, yeah, I mean, like, screw
(30:04):
you, you started it. But like we are better than you,
you know, and we are going to end it because not only for us,
for also you. So this movie is not not
interested at all about democracy.
No, no, no, they want to be likewe are the boot.
You are the end for us and he will crush you and when you know
(30:26):
your place and then we will rulein that mindset forever.
That's what they want. They want us to put back 500
years into a world of kings and.I mean, so, yeah.
Very forever fought and we had like no concept of democracy.
That's they they want to go backto a lawless.
Yeah. And forward for like a few 100
crores in your bank account. Like screw you, you are the
(30:48):
worst of the worst. Oh God, can't believe there's
going to be like a second part for this.
And then probably like 30 more from like Dhar because you will
get rewarded as long as he livesthis country.
Yeah, right. Time to wrap it up.
Yep. That's all for this episode of
The Long Take. You can follow us on Facebook,
(31:08):
YouTube Threads, and Instagram The Long Take Board.
You can write to us at The Long Take board@gmail.com.
Please leave us a rating and a review where I will be about and
we will see you next week. Thanks listening.
Hi, I'm Akura welcome. To the long take, this week
we're discussing the with Rangar.
It stars Ravi Singh in the lead and has written and directed by
Ayodhar. There's a lot going on in this
movie, which some of it tends tobe not about the movie, I have
realized after watching it. Yeah.
Why is everyone so obsessed withPakistan?
They need a villain, right? Without Pakistan, they don't
(00:38):
have, like, drama in their life.Yeah.
Because like introspection is like beyond like comprehension.
But like, yeah. Not worth it.
So this movie is basically like a manifesto, like for the next
election. I don't know.
I think this is one of those situations where the the monster
that has been created is far more powerful than anybody had
ever imagined. So at this point, essentially
(01:00):
you are these people are riding the wave that's going around the
country and hoping to get some financial benefit out of it.
Sure. Yeah, Like, and and, you know,
after a point, I don't know how it started.
It must have been opportunism. But then after a point, that
becomes your identity, right? Then you don't know anything
else. Like you're no longer an
(01:21):
opportunist. You're the you're the guy who
actually believes this stuff. You don't have really an
ideology of your own right and it's a dangerous the ideology.
Of their own is whatever the wind is swinging and the wind is
swinging for the last whatever decade and a half now towards.
There. So let's go along with.
No, but I'm going to the worrying part is that ideology
(01:45):
you develop over time, right? But these people have decided
this is our ideology, and after a point, it's going to be too
late to walk back on it. So they're going to pretend as
if that is it, Like, it's the truth, right?
If you repeat it enough times, it becomes the truth.
And this movie is a clear example of how we're just going
(02:05):
to like morph events to suit ournarrative.
And then if you say it loudly enough, with enough like force
and anger. Yeah, like this.
This guy's first movie was essentially based around events
that have no independent like confirmation ever.
Like India's never allowed any investigation or any like
(02:26):
credible way to like accept themsaying it, right.
They would. You had to accept what the
government told us and go along with it.
Otherwise, like we have no idea what actually happened.
And then you go ahead and make an entire like movie around it,
saying inspired by like real events.
And then just like as you saying, if you just keep saying
it enough times and it's hard, but there's a movie and now
there's this like it's the same thing.
(02:47):
I just like even a few months back when the India was an real
life conflict happened again in May, the government literally
called up like newspapers aroundthe country and were like yeah,
Chapo because we told you and they did not like confirm at
all. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you weren't allowed to. I was, I mean, still in a
newsroom. And that happened.
And I remember that it was you were not allowed quote or
(03:10):
publish anything that the Pakistani authorities were
saying, even as like on the record.
Yeah, forget that. Like now we have learned that
there are defence reporters working for Indian publications
who have built their careers for40 years, right?
There are people who actually know what they're doing.
And they were like, nothing is happening of the sort that you
want to publish. And Despite that, because some
(03:31):
minister called, they were like,Oh yeah, let's publish that
anyway because the minister is saying.
Yeah, yeah. So what I apparently I found out
like years and years ago that they're basically they are like.
Yeah. Well, now it's reach the, it's
the, it's reach the level where essentially you can accelerate
trigger a nuclear war if you're not careful, right?
Yeah. And you're literally publishing
(03:52):
like, Karachi hasn't blown up. And you're like, what has been
blown up? I don't know, Like who told you
that? Yeah.
What's happening in, like, mainstream news is sort of
trickling down to something, as you know.
Yeah. We're basically like 6 months or
like 2 years away from making a movie on India Bakan conflict
and showing Karachi being blown up right?
(04:13):
Like this is where we're going now.
Like if you're just gonna actually just have our mother's
character in this movie is essentially the government.
He's the government. Yeah, he is the government.
He's not. He's not the government from
that era. He's not a civil servant from
the era he's actually working in.
He's a mouthpiece for today's government.
Retrofittedly fitted time travel20 years back.
(04:33):
Yeah, it's, you know, here's thething, you know, that is not
that stupid, like the Karachi getting blown up thing.
He will never do that. What he'll do he's he'll, he'll,
he'll embellish what the government has actually said.
So if they've said that they will not like a LED training
camp with like one missile that has hit like a random tarmac and
(04:58):
really not done much damage or atree or a tree or a field or
something. So he'll he'll show that will
field Kenichi bunker there, you know, and will destroy Kurtiya.
Don't feel, feel. The same way this movie is like
obviously setting up why the government did the
demonetization, right? They're literally setting that
up about two and like this is hebasically, this is like how how
(05:19):
rogue one did something and it was like, Oh no, This is why he
left That whole this is not a mistake by the people who made
like a New Hope, which is exceptthat was like a fictional
universe and you were like laughing at them.
But this is like real life. Yeah, yeah, it's very weird.
Like you spoke about the Madhavan character almost feels
like Yogi watched the movie and then he was like, no, this has
very little Yogi in it. And so I need you to write like
(05:41):
3 Yogi scenes and five Modi scenes and all of them are
framed from the perspective of Madhavan who comes in and like
future government. The guys sitting in 2007 and
talking about like 2019, like like insane, like vision.
That's besharami. But here's the thing right, If
you take out all the Madhavan scenes, the movie doesn't really
(06:03):
lose much. That's what's going to be my
next, like, actual argument whenI was going to actually talk
about the movie, which we haven't started yet, is if you
take out all the government Indian songs and if you just the
entire movie is just like set inPakistan.
Yeah, I think it will be like 20% better automatically.
Yeah, yeah, because it doesn't really do much for the
narrative, right? The Madhavan stuff, it's just
(06:25):
like framing the movie in like sort of a reality and.
It's having the movie in in a reality that is suited for a lot
of the. Audience like a real world
situation, let's put it that way.
Otherwise we don't really. Yeah.
So that and the character is based on very obviously the
world, right? So who's a real person?
So what the what this what thosescenes are doing is basically
(06:46):
framing the store. The main story of Ranveer
Singh's character in like a reality, but not really.
They're just there for like almost like Sutra Dhar sort of
situation where you're like commenting on the events but not
the events or commenting on the political context will be
inaccurately. So there's like a lot of
nonsense going on, but like if you were to remove it, the movie
(07:09):
is a better and be more importantly shorter.
I think it'll. Be shorter by like probably 10
minutes. I don't think he actually is in
the movie at that much. Like after point the deeper the
movie goes on, like once they cut back to him, I think like 4
chapters after because he's he kicks out the movie, then he
disappears for like 4 chapters and he cut back to him and I
like Oh yeah, he had the movie with her like that happened to
me. Which like tells you, basically,
(07:29):
that he's so unimportant to the movie that you forget about him.
Yeah, and this is the guy who the movie opens with, basically.
And I mean, that's a great example of what this guy does,
right? He takes like a real event and
then just naturals it to suit his warped sort of hate speech
mentality. And, you know, Yeah, that's
really like the the opening scene was quite troubling, you
(07:50):
know, and then it kind of prepares you for what's supposed
to happen. But then you realize after a
ponder, nahi, the movie is not really about what the opening
scene was suggesting. It's it it can stand
independently, but then they've made the very obvious choice to.
Frame, yeah, and also at the same time also seeps any
(08:13):
individuality away from Hamza's character because now he's not a
character, he's a stand in for the nationalistic.
Audience, yeah. The character, which I can kind
of, you know, not forgive but wrap my head around because he
is supposed to be this guy without an ID or with like, a
new identity. So we aren't really supposed to
(08:35):
know more about him. So he's like, also, you're
right, he becomes like this sortof vessel, right for the crazy
people to project themselves onto.
Yeah, because like everybody reacts like when the woman time
he breaks character is when he sees things being happening to
India, right? Yeah.
And that time he's basically standing for like how the
(08:56):
audience sees. I'm like, Oh my God, this
happened to us. And he does.
You and I would also feel, but we weren't really, you know,
amid the gangsters in Karachi orwhatever, Like if people were
being killed here. You were horrified.
Yeah. And but like when you're getting
beaten up in the some random forest of Karachi on some like
Random Rd., your flashback is not going to be the 2611
(09:17):
bombings which you not did not listen person, you were not
there. No, I see, I can, I can
understand that one. I I'm not going to Ding them on
that because he literally handedthe gun to the Ajmal guy.
So like he and then you cut to aclose up of him.
So he's like full of regret and all that.
And then you have the scene withhis whatever handler and he's
(09:38):
expressing that regret and he wants to be more violent, but
he's like told to calm down. So there is like a chain of
events leading up to that final moment where the regret and
guilt is so strong that he has aflashback.
So I understand what they've done there.
I just feel like there is not like he's not really given the
opportunity to be fleshed out. Like it's so much of like going
(09:59):
from one event to this event to that event and everything is
like so short. Like somehow this movie is like
3 1/2 hours long but every scenehas no time for itself, always
being like rush into a. Different.
It is episodic and you get a sense of that picking boxes in a
way, right? Because we need this guy to do
(10:19):
something that will endear him to Akshay Khanna's characters.
What can he do? Save the child, done right?
So you get that out of the way so that you can have a way of
explaining why he was able to kind of Megan Roads into that
world. And then you it basically
highlights of this guy's life orin Pakistan instead of but I
(10:43):
don't really know how how you could do like a more grounded
version of it, doing, you know, mundane tasks and stuff in a
movie like this, because it's. I feel like what I don't get,
which like, you know, the movie really sometimes gives you like
room to like think of scenes which have been done in a
parallel movie or a very different movie and they'll like
(11:04):
take the time. Is that like it doesn't flesh
out the thinking behind it. It doesn't flesh out the
preparation for something. It just like shows you like, oh,
this happened. And I'm like, but at what point
do I believe that he's the only support absolutely smart guy and
everyone around him just like does not see anything happen,
right? Because in any other movie where
you start making these kind of moves, the people above you,
(11:26):
people around you, because this is a society where you're always
being watched and monitored, that things will leak out.
Like there is no like in a movielike Godfather, if the an
underling like of Hamza's level without telling his boss meets
with the father who had just been ousted and he's competing
against that meeting gets leakedto the boss.
(11:47):
In a way, like in a gangster movie way, yes, there are lots
of holes in it. That gets leaked to a boss,
right? The meeting.
He goes up to this guy's house. Then he goes to Jamil's house.
He meets with the SP, Aslam and Jamil at that guy's house and
that meeting does not leak out. No, that leaks out.
Yeah, it does in a way, because.And to to then to Stellusky.
(12:08):
This is so like he's the only smart one and everyone is
stupid. Everyone's dozing in that car
and he makes the right turn to the Forester Cohens conveniently
right. These things only happen because
you have decided the movie 1 needs to go here and you are not
doing the building blocks level of start telling us that needs
to be convinced us to get there.Yeah, yeah, yeah, no.
So a couple of points that you made.
Yeah, I agree with like the the characters need to be fools in
(12:32):
order for the movie to proceed, which I am partially.
I don't really care anymore unless it's like glaringly
annoying, which I didn't feel itwas in this case because I the
the the turning into the forest thing happens right at the end.
So by the time if you've not really bought into him being a
part of the family, then you're not going to buy into it.
(12:53):
So I mean, that depends on whether or not you've been
hanging on for the preceding 3 hours.
So I mean, I was like, by that point I was like hearty Kyo.
He's part of them. So they don't really have any
doubts, right? Which is why the cousin, the
brother I'm forgetting his name,agrees to go to whatever that
the the party tribe collect the the party the party tribe in the
(13:17):
desert to do all. That I think that's.
Yeah. And and and the other issue, the
big issue of that climax is thatfeels like very, very shortly
and like they thought of it likelast minute pair and they didn't
have an ending. So they just came up with it.
That's a separate conversation. But like, more to the point is
(13:37):
one of the biggest reasons why Ithink the movie shoots itself in
the 4th is what you were talkingabout this guy Hamza and him not
being fleshed out and him basically, he's partially a very
passive character, right? He's hanging around in the
background going from 1 scene toanother being told, and you
(13:58):
can't really be making yeah, oneby yourself, right?
So that's there. But then what they reveal in the
end about him is shocking to me,right?
Because it kind of goes against the very DNA of the movie itself
is that they say that he was some sort of death row prisoner
who they tried to kind of give apurpose to.
Which is weird because then you're saying that he doesn't
(14:20):
really have any motivation or personal say in any of.
There was never a built in like love for the country there.
I has always been like a deshpaktan.
He was done doing it for the country.
He's trained like 30 years for this.
He had basically willed his lifeaway, thrown it away for like
whatever 10-15 years, ended up like in jail waiting to be
(14:41):
killed and then he's given a purpose and like then why would
he have such a insane attachmentto do?
Exactly. He's not like so you made like a
killing machine monster, as you've said, but he's not
Captain America because Captain America was first to patriot in
the soldier. Exactly like the captain, Emeka
was a 5 foot 2 so guy who was like willing to go to the front
lines even though he should not be doing correct.
(15:02):
This guy is someone, he's basically like Chaudhary Aslam.
He's a mercenary, right? He doesn't have any personal
skin in the game, so why is he doing it?
And they are kind of yeah, go makes you like.
Undermines everything. You better.
What are you saying and it be and you are like 8 second by
which is so good so much near. And now the issue is Uske
Baadshi have seen reels of apparently someone with exactly
(15:25):
the same name as this dude beingmentioned in Ori and being
mentioned in and being describedas like a fallen soldier or some
sort of like soldier with an army rank or something like a
proper distance. So now I'm thinking in that cat
whatever meeting, he might be lying that this guy was like a
death row prisoner. He could actually be like, you
(15:48):
know, like a real soldier. But then you by doing that, then
you ruined this movie. I don't really care about what
happened. You can't be like putting the
rug like 4. Months so in in this movie's
context, from what we've seen, your kind of you've ruined and I
like this is what it would have been so much easier to be like
Havo desh bhakta, you know? Yeah, like he trained for this
(16:09):
entire life and he was sent on Amisha.
And odd and you're crazy audiences would have lapped that
up, but I don't know if they really like honestly, like I was
like quite bothered by this stupid story choice, you know,
especially if you're saying for.The longer it went on, I
realized that the character is almost like meaningless.
Like I'm realizing because the the movies aren't interested in
(16:32):
also the fact that when you liveso long in a foreign land, when
you still live so long with the purpose of being embedded in
that lifestyle as that, you willlose your way at some point.
You will actually become Hamza. And for him it's so much easier
because he anyway had no attachment to a prior life.
It's not like he had an honest life back home.
(16:52):
He had like people he's caring about.
He has none of that. So anyway, there's no attachment
and he's been sent to Karachi tolike, basically do whatever he
wants in a way, or else to like,disguise himself.
He will lose his way. He'll actually be like, no,
actually I want to become king of Karachi.
Screw India. Exactly which I feel that they
might do in the second part, butthen again we can't release
speak about them because. I don't expect that from the guy
(17:12):
who made like Who is giving likethe Government a mouthpiece
character in a movie. I don't know because you're
right, it does make sense for especially if you declared that
he is a random person with no real patriotic roots and and so
he is going to get corrupted by that power, right?
Especially now that Akshay Khanas character is dead.
(17:33):
So now he's going to take over, do whatever, whatever, but we
don't know if he's going to do it for whatever, furthering his
mission for India of a personal gain, you know?
He could do it for both, like hecould do it for both, but I feel
like at what point does he like it will be interesting then then
he's a character, right? If he's like doing it, like
where is where is he doing it for?
And if it just ends up being that he's always doing it, but
(17:53):
with an eye on, like, ensuring that India is, like, safe or
whatever. And Madhavan's character becomes
like, more and more in stature in the second movie.
And finally, like, he gets his, like, that's the one he's
waiting for, right? The Madhavan will have some
speech in the second part where he basically like, like, look,
what I said was justified. I did the right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I put this thing 20 years minute
that was up. So if that is what he was
(18:14):
building it towards, then this character is meaningless.
You're just doing it. But to sort that grand
narrative. Yeah.
But if you're interested in exploring this person who was
sent on nothing and then scales to some king level of a big size
city in Pakistan, then I'm interested to explore this
character. Yeah, but which I fear that they
might just do in the second part, you know, based on what
(18:36):
that sizzle reel that we saw at the end, you know?
But if they all again, so this movie entirely in a way, the
parts of it which are in Karachiare interesting on their own.
But as you said, like the lens around it is so annoying that
everything gets filtered from that and then you're like, oh,
it's being done to solve. Great.
So it's kind of it ruins the experience, you know, of
(18:57):
whatever whatever the real, realquote, UN quote story is of this
movie, it ruins that also. But they're like, to your point
about, you know, like the character like they could, they
had an opportunity to kind of dip their toes into like minor
complexity when he supposedly falls in love with that child
(19:18):
woman. So yeah, the like, on face
value, it feels real, right? But but it could also not be
real. But the movie is not interested
in that. Maybe that grey zone.
It's just like ha ho Gaya na Matlab.
Yeah, yeah. Because that would send it into
full like the American's territory, right?
And I would love to explode be like in that so on.
(19:40):
But I don't know if the movie isinterested in that because like
that woman is basically serving her purpose, like mostly like
she hi, this was the character that will film this video.
So a narrator can go here. I don't know if the movie is
interested in their dynamic and how it influences him.
Yeah, it's not. At least to this point, it's
not, he was heard. There are smarter movies I like.
Pathan did this cleverly. Like, we were like, Oh yeah.
(20:02):
Like, look, they're making you rude for like, a Pakistani
character. But like, this is where you can
actually complicate that there are countries are so much
similar that finally he is falling in love with a Pakistani
woman. Like, is the movie interesting
those questions? I don't think so from this
writer. No, no, no, even I don't think
so because he there is like somegenuine feeling towards the end
(20:24):
or whatever from but that I get from the performance is not the
writing. But yeah, in terms of plot, like
what you were talking about, youknow, that the meeting would
between Rakesh Bedi and Sanjay Dutt would be leaked it a
version of that meeting was leaked by the woman, you know.
And they have shown that, you know, these people have like,
influence in each other's households through their, like,
(20:44):
working class people. Yeah, because they use their
cook to poison the kid. Which means if that can happen,
then even Raymond Duckett has like, people in like Jamie's
household, or at least has reachthat he can figure out what's
happening inside his house. Yeah, yeah.
But this movie is not like the, it's very different from like,
say, or Razi, right, Which itself is a very mainstream spy
(21:04):
movie. Yeah, but this is a mainstream
spy movie that wants to be like a Tarantino romp also, you know,
but like fun music, action sequences, yeah, etcetera,
etcetera, all that stuff. Push like go to like the 12th
degree. There is a lot of gold.
Yeah, he does bash that guy's head in and we see a close up of
it. I mean there's multiple version.
(21:26):
There's like one time where likethey have like some Indian spy
hooked to like 15 chains and they pull them like.
It's crazy. Oh yeah.
What's his name? Arjun Rampal does weird ISI
stuff. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Well, Speaking of the ISI, the
whole sequence in which they basically have like a Dalat
while watching 2611 and then thescreen cuts to red and the
(21:49):
whatever the whatever weird wonky Tarantino reality of the
movie break. Our What universe did we enter
in that moment? We like honestly, like I watched
the movie, I watched the movie in like Cheshat log Bharathi
theatre man. But like, I can imagine in some
weird like, part of the country,without naming it, if like 400
(22:10):
people are sitting there, like outside, they could go riot
almost, you know, after being yeah.
It's very close to like, yeah, inciting like given especially
like it's not, you're not even using like a black screen
standard operating method, right.
You're not even using like a blank screen.
You are. You are pulling every string
possible to get people to that level, Torito.
(22:32):
While you're doing a propaganda Torito Maria Darako, I'd love
you not. Yeah, Obina.
Yeah, he's shameless. Shameless propaganda.
I mean the only way they could make it worse is if they had
like visuals in the corners. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CCTV footage of like some dude getting shot in the face or
something, Some real. Guy which like the movie starts
off like in that fashion, right?Like this modern character
(22:55):
enters the plane and he has likea full like, what was that TV
show that JJ Abrams made? Whether the detective would
figure out what's crime scene happened before he reaches that?
Crime. Yeah, yeah.
With Jesus. With Jesus and that lost dude,
yeah. Yeah.
So basically that's what he has.Like he has a full flashback of
like what must have happened forthose blood to be trailed.
And in that flashback is imagining the most gruesome
thing possible. Like the the knife is going back
(23:17):
and forth as if you're cutting meat and not someone's throat.
Yeah. Yeah.
And it's crazy. Like, what is this is the
opening minute of the movie. What is going to come in the
next 200 minutes? Yeah.
And shockingly, though, Ajit Dhawal actually claimed to have
gone inside the plane and said Bhagavata Kitchen and all that
(23:38):
stuff, and people did not reply,which I was quite surprised by
that. That actually happened.
Obviously the terrorist smirkingin his face and saying cake out,
but the bus dil ho, whatever, whatever he says that made-up.
Yeah, but like. It doesn't matter if because
like at what point there's stretching enough things that
(23:58):
I'm I'm not going to believe even the mining those things at
this point. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
You don't have to believe what Ajit Doval says either.
Yeah, because everything like this is murdered, right?
Like when you make a movie like this, there is no credibility
behind anything now. Like, I don't know which I'm
going to believe any part of it because I'm like, but I don't
know which parts are like actually.
Which is an important point, right, because board I think
(24:21):
most of the AAM janta and even like people who should know
better have forgotten is that you cannot separate these
things, right? You cannot separate.
Yeah. You can't be like, oh, but
action scene, Messiah, whatever the chase scene, car scene, when
you know that the context, the chase scene is to incite
violence and to like oppress minorities and to get you to.
(24:43):
Vote or divide you further. Yeah, you can't separate them.
You. That's like watching like
there's a. Movie in the first five years, I
think. Laughs at Aman Kiyasha, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like. It mocks it, It mocks peace.
The movies mocks peace like we walk the World Peace and then
goes on for 200 minutes to basically be like we should
what? We get their houses and kill
(25:03):
them. Yeah, wage war.
Oh. No.
Get in their houses and kill them.
That's like the last line that Ithink Ranveer Singh's character
has, yeah. Yeah, which is full like from
Uri, right? So I'm.
Like, what is happening? Like what have we agreed?
It's OK for characters to like say those things and then you
sort of like your movie shows you like that things won't end
up well, which is what like, youknow, a smarter like Godfather
(25:25):
does. Like it shows you like, yeah,
this is like a very people love people like movie characters in
those movies. But then you you see them get
come up and so you see them how their lives are dragged apart
because they lose their kids, they lose their wives or
whatever. They lose everyone around them
and their actions are result in like essentially regret later on
their lives. But then this movie is not doing
that. Is she saying no?
(25:46):
This is the correct way to say Ping?
And whatever guilt, regret, isolation, loneliness that this
guy is going to live with or diewith was worth it, was worth
defending his land. You know, that's what the movie
is saying. Because the movie like ends
again with like red text on a black screen saying revenge.
So let's not forget what the take away is.
(26:07):
Yeah, even like a movie with as troubled a legacy as Munich, the
Spielberg movie even that ends with, like, Eric Bana's
character being like, was it worth it?
Exactly because there is introspection, right?
And more importantly, those movies are made by people who
are so close to like that thing but are still able to reflect
(26:29):
back on their faith and be like,oh, but like, I think this is
like. This is not beyond we have done,
Yeah. Whereas I don't know if Aditya
Adhar has lived in Kashmir ever.He's a pundit, but I don't.
Know if he's not lived in Kashmir, has he spoken to people
on both sides and he's just speaking to the people he
conveniently. Choked.
It honestly doesn't matter because, you know, he could have
(26:50):
been anybody. It really doesn't matter that he
has like a Kashmiri name, you know, Kobe Banasakta and would
be just as vitriolic and violent, kind of.
That's the issue eventually is that the film it was involved
with, These movies are essentially like, they are not
like balanced. They they believe the things
(27:11):
that they've been told without seeing the gruesome side of it.
I would say, see, it's not necessary for a film maker to be
balanced. Especially sure, I would like to
see some perspective, even if I disagree with the perspective,
you know what I'm saying, what the core of the problem is.
See, you can be, you can be divided on political issues or
(27:35):
varying like kind of worldviews or whatever, right?
And some people can have really problematic ideas on things and
history and situations, as this guy clearly has.
But what I find is that there isa lack of humanity, even the
worst kind of movies propagatingthe worst sort of ideas.
(27:58):
If they don't have, like, a shared sort of empathy for,
like, human beings, then I'm like, Tum Insan Karabuk.
Yeah. How can somebody like, like you
said, like, they'll literally laugh at the idea of peace.
They're like, kill people, murder people, vengeance, you
(28:18):
know, violence. Innocent people will die.
We will. Our economy will be hurt if we
wage war. It doesn't matter as long as we
get vengeance. That is a very like inhuman sort
of thought process and that makes me like.
It's a dog eat dog world right? Like this is not does not end
well for you. There are no.
(28:38):
There's no way to like, be like,oh, we will just harm them.
We will show them who's boss andwe will sit here.
No, both countries have the samenumber of nuclear warheads.
Where do you think this? Ends exactly.
Everybody will die, whatever youknow.
But like the thing about art andany form of art like music,
painting, this that sculpture, poetry, whatever, there is a
(29:00):
shared like humanism, right? Like overall in this together
and this is the experience everybody either.
There's a reflection, right? Like even if you make something,
you're able to look at it and say, oh, I think this part is
flawed, right? You're able to self reflect and
be like, Oh no, I think, but this thing should be like, yes.
So there is no forget like say like basically to everybody has
(29:23):
the same set of emotions and experiences that they will feel
right in different circumstances.
We will feel sadness, anger, betrayal, hurt, happiness,
etcetera, etcetera. But then when you dehumanize the
other side to a point where they're just like mocking, how
is that different? Like they will look at a movie
like this and be like tum be thesame career.
(29:43):
You know, you're also like cheering for the end of
Pakistan. Like what is the difference
then, you know, and then you canjust keep going on and on about
who started it that hasn't. No, yeah, like that, That is a
never ending story, right? Like that argument is being used
all around the world to. Start world.
So and somebody needs to be like, yeah, I mean, like, screw
(30:04):
you, you started it. But like we are better than you,
you know, and we are going to end it because not only for us,
for also you. So this movie is not not
interested at all about democracy.
No, no, no, they want to be likewe are the boot.
You are the end for us and he will crush you and when you know
(30:26):
your place and then we will rulein that mindset forever.
That's what they want. They want us to put back 500
years into a world of kings and.I mean, so, yeah.
Very forever fought and we had like no concept of democracy.
That's they they want to go backto a lawless.
Yeah. And forward for like a few 100
crores in your bank account. Like screw you, you are the
(30:48):
worst of the worst. Oh God, can't believe there's
going to be like a second part for this.
And then probably like 30 more from like Dhar because you will
get rewarded as long as he livesthis country.
Yeah, right. Time to wrap it up.
Yep. That's all for this episode of
The Long Take. You can follow us on Facebook,
(31:08):
YouTube Threads, and Instagram The Long Take Board.
You can write to us at The Long Take board@gmail.com.
Please leave us a rating and a review where I will be about and
we will see you next week. Thanks listening.
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