The Long Take Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar

Writer-director Kunal Kemmu’s Madgaon Express smartly avoids taking the sleazy route and mostly succeeds in finding the soul of its cartoonish characters.

We talk about the film’s familiar set-up, and how it transports a Hangover-like premise to India.

We also discuss the performances of Divyenndu, Pratik Gandhi and Avinash Tiwary, while noting the tightrope walk actors have to pull off in absurd films like this.

We praise Kemmu’s handling of the climax, his gag-a-minute narrative, and his self-awareness, but also note flaws in the film’s central action sequence.

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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.

The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.


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Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s big-budget streaming debut, is yet another high-profile Netflix failure.

A summation and culmination of Bhansali’s lifelong ambitions, the show represents everything that is wrong with his sensibilities and style-over-substance storytelling.

We discuss the show’s flawed understanding of feminism, aestheticisation of female suffering, and haphazard structure.

We also talk about why the immaculate visuals and costumes that Bhansali is known for don’t contribute to his narratives.

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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.

The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support

In addition to being a thought-provoking movie about how close we are to disintegrating as a society, Alex Garland’s Civil War is a rollicking cinematic experience.

We discuss the film’s affection for journalism, the intricate character work that Garland is able to accomplish via action sequences, and the film’s stand-out moments.

One of them involves a scene-stealing cameo by Jesse Plemons, and the other is an extended climactic action sequence that works viscerally and emotionally.

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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.

The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support

Is Amar Singh Chamkila a long-awaited return to form for director Imtiaz Ali, or is it another let-down from the once-promising filmmaker?

We discuss the film’s inventive approach to the music biopic genre, if not narratively then at least formally. We also talk about Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra’s central performances as the slain husband-wife folk singer duo and address the ‘Hindi gaze’ that Ali brings to this inherently Punjabi tale.

Along the way, we also discuss the nature of high and low art and the film’s many defences of Chamkila’s controversial music.

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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.

The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support

Aattam, the latest Malayalam-language gem that further solidifies the industry’s artistic stronghold on the cinema landscape of the country, offers an inventive spin on the whodunnit genre.

We discuss the film’s gripping narrative, ambitious social commentary, and director Anand Ekarshi’s bold voice.

We also talk about the many moral quandaries that the movie puts its characters in, and how willingly it invites audiences to gaze inward and participate in the proceedings.

We also debate the merits of its final moments, which we compare and contrast with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.

The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support

Is Fighter another in the long and increasingly problematic line of hyper-nationalistic Indian action movies, or is its biggest problem that it can’t look beyond star Hrithik Roshan?

We discuss the many missteps that director Siddharth Anand makes in his follow-up to Pathaan, the unnecessary songs and the momentum-killing asides, but we also talk about how the movie goes out of its way to not paint all of Pakistan as evil terrorists.

Along the way, we also talk about the film’s many aerial fight sequences, the final showdown, the nonsensical attempts at comedy, and Anil Kapoor’s parallel mission to break some sort of decibel record.

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Hosted by Akhil Arora and Rohan Naahar, The Long Take is fully bootstrapped. Please consider donating if you enjoy our work.

The Long Take is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Overcast, Pandora, RadioPublic, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow The Long Take on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and YouTube. Write to us at thelongtakepod@gmail.com.


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-long-take/support