Stay ConnectedA weekly wrap up of consumable and non-consumable entertainment curated, especially for the internet age. Hosted by Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen. Click here to support Newslaundry: http://bit.ly/paytokeepnewsfree
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover Netflix series Typewriter, the new Lion King movie, Top Gun: Maverick, a controversy involving Priyanka Chopra, and more.Kicking off with Typewriter, Rajyasree says she's especially impressed with Kanwaljit Singh’s performance in the show. However, she adds: “There was nothing scary in it.” Abhinandan comments, “This is no Stranger Things.”Rajyasree and Abhinandan discuss their love for the original Lion King movie and how the new photorealistic remake fails to live up to the original, despite excellent visual elements. What stole the show for Abhinandan was John Oliver’s character Zazu, who he felt was fantastic. Rajyasree adds that the Hindi version’s trailer was “unimpressive”.Up next is Top Gun: Maverick. Despite not being a huge fan of Tom Cruise, Abhinandan says his reaction upon watching the trailer was “bete ye toh deknhi padegi”. He talks about the iconic nature of the original Top Gun and how the new one could be better or worse. Bringing up the iconic love song in the original movie, he lists other excellent "lovemaking" songs. (Hint: there’s a surprise here!)Finally, the podcast moves to the controversy surrounding the three Masterchef Australia judges quitting the show. The hosts discuss charges of non-payment to workers surrounding one of the judges, and the reasons that led to all three leaving. They also debate whether the show can survive without them.For this and more, tune in!
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover Stranger Things season 3, the Ambani family’s birthday video for Shloka Ambani, Danny Boyle’s Yesterday and more.Since Abhinandan finally watched Stranger Things, the duo discusses the latest season. Abhinandan shares his admiration for Winona Ryder, saying, “When I was a young boy, she was the love of my life." They talk about the casting and the acting, calling it “brilliant across the board”. When asked which season she liked best, Rajyasree said: “Season 1 was nice, but season 2 didn’t do anything for me."Up next was the film Yesterday. Rajyasree felt the lead actor wasn’t “very good looking” and Kunal Nayyar from the Big Bang Theory would have been a better-looking fit. Although, she did love his acting. They also discuss the premise of the film and its relation with The Beatles. The duo shares their love for The Beatles and how they hummed along to the songs in the movie. Abhinandan also felt that “if you’re making a film about The Beatles, the film better be as legendary as the band”.Next, the duo discusses Amir Khan production’s Rubaru Roshni and the stories that it brings to light. Abhinandan felt that “it is really well-made” but was disappointed with the music choices.Finally, they move to the legendary video put out by the Ambani family on the occasion of daughter-in-law Shloka’s birthday. Rajyasree strongly felt that “the only natural person there was Mukesh bhai”. Abhinandan asks a poignant question: “What do you give to someone who already has everything?”. (Hint: the answer is the video)
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover Kangana Ranaut’s controversial statements, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s interview with Anupama Chopra, Punjabi pop music, Sacred Games 2's trailer and more.The duo kicks off with a discussion on Kangana Ranaut’s ugly spat with a journalist. Rajyasree says, “It was quite ridiculous the way she carried on and on." They also talk about Kangana’s sister's involvement and the online hungama that followed.Moving on to Kabir Singh’s director, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s interview with Anupama Chopra, the panel discussed his comments and Anupama’s response. Abhinandan felt that it was handled really badly, and that "it was a terrible interview". "She should have challenged Mr Vanga,” he says. Finally, they move to the latest trailer of the second season of Sacred Games. Abhinandan shared his expectations from the show and what he thinks might feature this season. Rajyasree commented, “It has Saif in it, how can it not be good?". Expressing his excitement about the show, Abhinandan adds, “I have not looked forward to any show as much as I have to this."
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, host Rajyasree Sen speaks to guest Meghnad S. They speak about Article 15, The Office’s Indian remake, Fleabag, an advertisement from Subway, Meghnad’s new book Parliamental and much more.The discussion kicks off with a weird Subway advertisement—that made no sense to Meghnad. The duo also talks about Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag, the Indian remake of The Office and more. Meghnad, who loves the US version, talks about the differences and similarities between the two versions. He says that they’ve literally translated the US version line to line but there are some uniquely Indian nuances. Later, commenting on the UK version, Meghnad notes: “The original UK version is like a meme, you can just take it and put it anywhere. It's like Shakespeare." To which Rajyasree responds: “Shakespeare just died, again."Rajyasree and Meghnad then discuss Ayushmann Khurrana’s Article 15. Rajyasree is surprised that the film was even allowed to release considering it's not flattering to the government and wonders “if the person who gave it the certificate understood the film”. They talk about how the movie deals with caste and its impact on the Indian audience. Further, the duo talks about the closing down of Mad magazine. They share their childhood memories of reading the magazine.For this and much more, tune in!
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen talk about online series When They See Us, Charité at War and Season 5 of Black Mirror, Telugu movie Arjun Reddy and its Hindi remake Kabir Singh, a Vice movie on musicians from marginalised communities, and much more. The duo starts off by talking about the latest Pond’s commercial. Rajyasree says, “Nowadays commercials aren’t just ads, you have to have a hashtag”. Abhinandan says he found the campaign to be a "sweet thought", adding that it's a great concept though he thinks the boxing shown in the video could have been much better. Discussing the docu-series When They See Us, Abhinandan explains it's a documentation of a famous 1989 case on "the Central Park Five", considered the most high-profile example of miscarriage of justice. He says he found the show "mind-blowing" and that he hasn't watched a show this good in a very long time. Rajyasree says, "How well these boys have come out ... [they] have changed their lives and been able to make something of their lives, it's very uplifting to see."Moving on to Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh, Rajyasree says: "Arjun Reddy is three hours too long and Kabir Singh is three-and-a-half hours too long." She's sceptical of the reaction of feminists to Kabir Singh, comparing Alia Bhatt's character in Gully Boy to Shahid Kapoor's character in Kabir Singh and saying both were wrong. In the context of the glorification of problematic behaviour, Abhinandan argues that you can have shows where a woman is perfectly happy to go back to her husband who's a problematic person, but the show has to be set in a warped society. He says it only becomes problematic when it's portrayed as normal. This and a lot more, so tune in!
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover Durex India’s orgasm inequality campaign with Pooja Bedi, HBO’s Chernobyl, Free Solo, Leila, Creed II, the ICC World Cup advertisements and much more.The duo kicks off with a discussion on Star Sports' ads on the India-Pakistan World Cup match. In the ad, the Mauka Mauka theme returns to slam Pakistan, glorify India and implies that India is Pakistan's father. They talk about the criticism and backlash the ad received online. “I'm not impressed with the ads at all, I think the IPL ads are better than this," says Abhinandan.Rajyasree reviews HBO’s mini-series Chernobyl, calling it “the finest docu-drama that she has seen”. She talks about the acting and set design of the show and some of the moments that she loved. The duo expresses their disdain of the Instagram frenzy around the site of the actual disaster with people going there for photo-shoots.Finally, the duo reviews Netflix’s Leila. They talk about the lack of good acting in the show. Rajyasree felt that “the characters did not make me feel for them”. They further discuss how the show lacked a thrill element and suffered from bad special effects owing to lack of budget.For this and much more, tune in!
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In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover Aziz Ansari’s set (part of the Road to Nowhere show), Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota, the trailer of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Lisa Ray’s book Close to the Bone, and much more.Kicking off with Aziz Ansari’s stand up show, Rajyasree explains that this is Ansari’s comeback tour since claims of sexual harassment popped up against him. She remarks that the show is “not haha-laugh-out-loud, which would be odd”, and finds his decision to reference celebrities like R Kelly “interesting as a content choice”. Abhinandan thinks Ansari is “lazy” and the show was “pretty ordinary”. He ends his review with a PSA to the millennial audience: viewers come out to watch the performer and not “their fashion show”.The duo reviews the trailer of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, set in 1969 and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Abhinandan appreciates the “spectacularly cut trailer” and pegs Tarantino as the “finest filmmaker of his generation”. Rajyasree expresses her fear that the film will be heavily censored before its release in India. Even so, they both intend to catch the film when it hits theatres.Moving to the movie Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota, Abhinandan says he loved it, and his biggest regret is that he could not catch the movie in the theatre. He calls Abhimanyu Dasani a “great performer” and appreciates the plot for its nuances and pop culture references. Rajyasree appreciates the action sequences for being on par with international movies and thinks the film was excellent. They attribute the average performance of the movie to terrible distribution.Rajyasree reviews the book Close to the Bone written by actress Lisa Ray. While the book comes across as “well-written”, Rajyasree quips that Ray’s life is “not very interesting” to read about because it smacks of privilege. Abhinandan interjects that a non-dramatic story can be made interesting if one “can tell the story well”, citing the example of actor Pankaj Tripathi.For this and much more, tune in!
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In the latest episode of The Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri talk about a Pakistani movie, Cake, as well as a show based on Vampire housemates, What We Do in the Shadows. They also discuss The Times of India's new classified ad. The podcast kicks off with a discussion about a video game, Sniper 3D Assassin, where journalists get killed. They also talk about some of the shows that came to an end, namely the Game of Thrones and The Big Bang Theory.While talking about Cake, Abhinandan said, “If a Pakistani film is above average, it’s said, oh, it is brilliant." Giving anecdotes from the film, Rajyasree adds, “They make our regressiveness seem progressive.”While discussing What We Do in the Shadows, Rajyasree not only recommends the show but also describes it as "laugh-out-loud funny". She urges people to watch the show instead of watching Republic TV's Arnab Goswami.The duo also discusses the new Nirma commercial starring Akshay Kumar. Abhinandan criticises him by saying, “He demonstrates his lousy martial arts which he pretends to be an expert at."For this and more, tune in!
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In the latest episode of The Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri talk about car advertisements, new trailers, Kanhaiya Kumar’s campaign song, Amy Poehler-directed Wine Country and more.Reviewing Poehler’s directorial debut, Wine Country, Rajyasree says the film doesn’t work despite the fantastic cast. She says, “They keep trying to put in funny lines, sometimes you should just let it (be). But it’s really impressive to see this line-up of really funny women come together for this film." Moving on, the hosts talk about the Datsun redi-Go advertisement. Rajyasree found the idea of the ad quite heart-warming. She also added that it was strange that the car was parked in the middle of the road while the participants were resolving their fight. According to Abhinandan, it was completely realistic for a Delhi road, but he disagrees with the message that the ad puts out.The duo also talks about The Kings, an Indian dance troupe, which won NBC’s World of Dance competition this year. They discuss Suresh Mukund and his 14-member troupe’s journey and performances. Abhinandan finds their routine and performances to be fantastic. He says, “The kind of acrobatics and the physical ability and dexterity of his team, and the strength, is phenomenal.”Talking about movie trailers, Abhinandan finds the trailer of De De Pyaar De, starring Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Rakul Preet Singh, to be quite funny. What impressed Rajyasree the most was the age-gap between Bollywood actors and actresses who often romance each other and how it has been directly addressed in this case. They also discuss the trailer of It: Chapter Two. The hosts discuss their takeaways from the first film, which was based on a novel by Stephen King, and how they look forward to the new film after this brilliantly produced trailer.The panel also discusses a short film called Tyson, Kanhaiya Kumar’s election song, and more.Listen in to find out!
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Winter has come and gone, the Night King's had shatteringly bad luck, Arya's become kickass, and the Mountain stands like a hunk of flesh behind Cersei. But listeners of the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap have been asking: "Why aren't you talking about all this?!" So in this very special episode, Abhinandan says "hold my beer" and ropes in some in-house Game of Thrones nerds to talk about the greatest pop culture phenomenon of modern times. He is joined by Meghnad S, Gaurav Sarkar and Anish Daolagupu, all of whom are GoT fans on differing levels. Unlike Abhinandan, they've got one thing in common: they're all glued to their screens and watching the show. Meghnad, Gaurav and Anish discuss what makes the show so great—no, it's not just the sex and gore—why everyone is so obsessed with it, and how people are incredibly outraged about the latest season. Meghnad tries to defend the show, Anish and Gaurav fight back, and Abhinandan is thoroughly amused by this spirited debate. Listen in!
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