Bulbbul

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Bollywood Cinema Club. I am your host, as always, Chris Statue your journey through Bollywood cinema, I am your guide to that. As always, I am joined on every episode by a good friend of mine who either has a interest in film or Bollywood cinema, or why not both. On this episode, I am joined by my good friend, recording artist and horror enthrought horror film enthusiast, mister Andy Nosis. Hello, thank you for having me and on this episode of The Bollywood Cinema Club, we're gonna be taking a look at twenty twenties Bubble, a Indian horror film that is a very as as someone who knows already your exposure to Indian cinema, I already know the audience doesn't, but this is very atypical.

Just wanted to let you know ahead of time. So Andy, before we talk about Bubble, tell me a little bit about your exposure to Indian cinema if you have any I don't have any, actually, uh so, but I'm always happy to discover new things and seeing that this was on the list for us to watch, I was very excited to watch and uh I'm glad I watched it. Yeah, yeah, so um, you know my kind of background. Obviously, to give you an idea, I do a lot of Indian cinema on my other show, The Culture Cast. Once a year we do an Indian Cinema month, and this kind of sprouted from there out of that idea.

So that is why we are here talking about Bull Bull because A it's Indian cinema, and B it is a horror movie and you are a horror fan as am I, and so I figured, you know, kind of the format of this show. I was thinking over time, I'll just you know, we'll do horror movies, Indian horror movies, and that'll kind of be our thing on this is, you know, Indian horror movies, and then someone else who likes comedies or action movies will do Indian action movies or whatever. But man, to your point, this being your first entry point into Indian cinema and Indian horror movies, and I guess kind of my first entry into Indian horror movies. What a movie? Yeah right, it was a ride.

It definitely was a ride. I did not know what I was getting myself into. So this is directed by nv Dutt who she's a rather well known filmmaker in India. She's been working since two thousand and five. And you know, she kind of got started, I guess, working on it would seem to be working on like like rom coms, and then from that she kind of branched out into doing other things.

And then you come to this story, which, you know, what's really funny is this story is so universal that, like, I don't have to explain much to you in the way of what the story is. It's this is not a this is not a particularly complex or even um socially context sensitive story, because sometimes some of the stories in Indian cinema are a little bit more culturally context sensitive, and I don't think the one in this in this movie is I mean, obviously, in this country we don't have a history of child brides, but in India they they did, so that's kind of the big cultural issue in the movie obviously. But the main plot follows trip to you. Dimri as Bubble, a child bride who it's essentially it's her story told in a nonlinear fashion, to say the least, and I think that's kind of maybe I don't know, if you had any confusion.

But I had a little confusion about the way the story was being told because it's not told chronologically at all. There's a lot of jumping back and forth and in the middle. And yeah, but it works, it works. It had me intrigued because it was it was letting my brain have to it's doing the work, you know what I mean? Right, So I was like, okay, okay, like pay attention, Okay, now we're here.

Now we're there. Here's you know. So I actually liked that about the movie. Yeah, because the film opens on Bubble as a child and her kind of friendship with Satya, who is her bride. I guess her husband to bees younger brother, so it's her brother in law.

But again she's a child, so she falls in love with her brother in law essentially, and which is more appropriate, right obviously, because her husband, Indranil is like in his twenties at the beginning of the movie grown ass man. Yeah, yeah, and then you know, and so the movie takes place, like I said, it's about twenty years before and then you jumped forward twenty years after Satia gets back from London because he goes to London to become a doctor. And I guess, I guess he goes to London to become a lawyer, but he's kind of more of a detective in this movie, or kind of a detective stand in and the again the movie is then when he comes back to India, he's presented with well, in the town where you grew up in in Bengal, there is a string of serial murders where these men are being murdered in rather gruesome fashion, and Satia is kind of you know, he's on the case now and he's trying to figure out who it is.

And then he re meets Bubble and boy, she's different. Huh. She's a lot more confident in herself. Yeah. It doesn't seem to care what anybody has to say or what recommendations as far as being culturally traditional.

You know, why aren't you veiled? Why aren't you wearing shoes? Why are you here alone where people can take advantage of you? And are you smoking? Yeah?

She wasn't phased by it, And I liked that about it because I think it I'm not sure if it was intentional to kind of give it away so quickly, but I knew right, well, right, I knew, Yeah, I don't think that the quote twist of the movie is much of a twist. I mean it's it's given away rather like you said rather early. This what this movie struck me more as as kind of a dark fairy tale in a lot of ways. I mean, it's lit like a fairy tale, this movie. Yeah, this movie is very well lit.

H god. Yeah. The the usage of the color blue and red is really prominent and pronounced throughout the film, which I really appreciate because I mean, again, you know, there is this kind of assumption that when you watch an Indian cinema film, you're gonna get singing and dancing. That's your assumption, right, none of the zero. Yeah, I mean this movie is it.

So that's the other thing I kind of wanted to mention in the lead, and like your exposure to Indian cinema, this is as atypical as it gets. This is the shortest Indian cinema film I've ever watched, is ninety minutes. That is so that's more like an American Western, and this movie feels like a Western film in a lot of ways. I mean, it draws from a lot of Western inspiration and European horror inspiration. Obviously, it's a very gothic film.

My god. I mean yeah, they practically live in a castle. Well yeah, it's it's got like pans Labyrinth type vibes or or like the Orphanage, you know, movies like that. Yeah, it's very Gamo del Toro. Yeah.

I could see, yes, So I was able to grasp it immediately. I was this beautifully lit and the fantastical realism. Yeah, it was just like you said it was. It's a gothic horror film, and in gothic horror film, traditionally there's something quite beautiful about the origin of a villain or a monster or in this case, you know, the demon woman, right right, Yeah, And that's so that's the you know, That's the thing about the movie is like you kind of mentioned the big twist of the movie, and so I guess we should probably mentioned spoilers since this movie is technically still new. Is like you mentioned, the main character becomes vengeance incarnate.

I guess you can interpret it a number of ways. They do kind of, And so in the film she's called the chew Dial, which is a like, like you mentioned, like a demon woman or like a vengeful spirit and that kind of where it reminded me a lot of Western cinema where you have things like last House on the Left or um, well that's I mean, I guess that's not Western. That's why is western. I guess you have I spit on your grave. I mean a lot, a lot of revenge cinema from the seventies and eighties.

That's what this reminded me of in a lot of ways, because she is a vengeful spirit and she is you know, her character is put through the ringer. She is the main character of the movie, but she's also the villain of the movie. I mean, the you know, a demon woman. I thought it was really interesting that that's what it was being called because, you know, towards the end it and rightfully so is renamed a goddess, you know, right, And that's what I thought it was more. Yeah, it didn't feel demonic.

The presence to me felt more like, even although brutal in its way of you know, justifying situations, especially or specifically geared towards women in general. Right, I felt that it was not so much a vengeful being but a justice entity goddess, and that's what gave it to me more it was something whimsical, you know, when we get to see her, even as the kid is telling the story of this goddess, we get to see that she dances on trees and you know, just the small horror elements of it where her feet are backwards kind of thing is is obviously it's abnormal and therefore becomes kind of creepy, you know. But the twist in the end, I was like, well, I'm not surprised because she had the attitude of somebody who would eventually become this creature.

But no, I do like that it was and you know, her standing there didn't look like a demon to me, and I was at first I was like, is it supposed to be a succubust type of thing or But I think the word goddess fit it perfectly to me. Well, and I agree. And in that scene, you know there there is a scene in this movie that is it's rough, that's all I can say. It's a scene of sexual assault that is prolonged. Yeah, I think it probably got it.

I think it goes on for like a minute or two minutes. It's it's a lot, and it's not graphic, but it doesn't need to be it's as graphic as it needs to be to kind of get the point across. And I think it's a little cheap to go to the mentally unwell character being a sexual assault. We've seen that a million times. It's lazy, but I mean it works because this is a revenge movie and it draws from it wears, it wears its influences on its sleeve.

So I get why they were like, we need to push this to the absolute maximum, worst possible scenario. And it also allows them to have the same actor playing the villain of the film than the secondary kind of again villain of the film. But yeah, that's in that scene the moon turns red, and that is indicative of Collie kind of I guess, coming into her body and giving her that opportunity to to enact her revenge, because like you said, my interpretation is not that she is some sort of demonic presence. It's that it's that she is metering out the justice of the you know, to make up for the injustice, which there's a lot of right and again, and that that's more of this movie, less what the chew dial is.

You know, the Chew dial is kind of more It's like a woman who dies during childbirth. It's a you know, it's more to that effect, and this is this is more like the spirit of vengeance, because yeah, she's going and killing men who have been abusive or men who are doing terrible things to women. I mean, this is a feminist revenge film and I'm here for it. I enjoyed it. Oh yeah.

That By no point was I like, this is whoever is doing this is going too far. No, everybody that got it deserved it, and they had it coming either way, whether it was going to be her or I don't know their own wives doing it. But there was a line at the beginning that immediately solidified what the tone of this film is going to be. And that was when they were preparing the child bride for the ceremony and she asks about the toe rings, and at first the woman who's preparing her says that it's you know, it's also that you don't fly away, or something to that degree, and then she kind of just pulls down the facade and says, look, it's it's to control you. So what it's for, And the child has the question, you know, well, what is control?

What does that mean? And I think that definitely set the tone for the rest of the movie, and you can feel it in every scene, men controlling women And I don't know if that's a cultural thing, and I can't speak to that with my knowledge in that section is very limited, but yeah, I do like that a movie like this is able to push that that narrative, and because I don't know what is allowed and what isn't allowed in many parts of the world, and so I was fearful for the women, you know, whether they were outspoken, or they weren't dressed the way where they were supposed to be dressed, or there was a lot of moments of tension like that where I figured, I imagine that it's punishable by physical abuse or torture.

I don't know which we do end up seeing happening when with the Fire Poker, But I like that a movie like this exists in a certain part of the world where women are very limited, whether it's culture or religion, things like that. I think it's pretty cool that someone made a film like this using horror elements in a way to break that narrative, break that norm that women have to bow down to men because we said so, Um, it's just it's it's kind of like a superhero film in a way, you know, bull Bull being the superhero. Her attitude through the whole film was great. I just loved it. I loved how she went from being she didn't take it out on anybody that didn't deserve it.

Mmmmm, now including Satia, who wanted to control her himself, right right, which and that's the other thing. And that's the other thing that's kind of I appreciate about this movie is it kind of takes to task you know, those hashtag good guys because that's what he is. Yeah, because you know, it's it's not like she was taking out all men who make mistakes. She was those men were never going to change. They were always gonna It was clear that they were.

They were degenerate, right yeah, they were set in those ways and that's it. But Satia, she knew him, and she knew that there was still good in him minus him trying to control her. That's what kind of why she kind of laughs it off in a way projecting this isn't you, and I know it's not you. And I appreciate that nothing really happened to him because I think she was fully aware that he would realize what's really going on here and why and leaving that letter to his brother in the end, I think sought that through him saying that he didn't want to end up being like his brother and he fears that he might already be. If that isn't a great character arc, I thought it was, and he does not want to end up like his brother, would you know, my god, how like just you know, the brutality.

I think the husband might have may have been more brutal than than this. This vengeance demon ever was well he was he took a child bride right, and that he ended up itself is brutality personified. Yeah, I think I think she took it at easy on these men, just you know, ripping out their throats or in Mahorendra's case, biting him on the neck like a vampire. There again, there's you know, there is a little vampire stuff going on, right. I mean, I can't help but just love the look of this movie.

It feels so unlike any other Indian cinema film I've ever seen. It feels so modern, but at the same time like firmly rooted right in Bengal. It feels it's it's but again it does have it does have those kind of things that you don't get from American cinema of the of this type, because American cinema of this type they don't really make it anymore, even I mean they don't. Nobody's focusing on Gothic cinema anymore. I mean it's not like they, you know, I mean anymore.

I mean you still get outliers. But this is like a fun throwback and then and again like that brutality I think speaks more to the kind of fantastic nature of the movie. I don't know why, but it's just it is like fairytale escue, right. Yeah. As awful as that is, and as awful as the things that happen are, it's not presented in like a overtly real way.

I mean, it's super even when she's being beaten with a fire poker, it's still like heavily stylized, right, right, and in a way, you know, because we know what that would probably look like realistically, right. But it gets the point across, because this whole film is like a painting and it's it just keeps going and it's it's beautiful to look at, but we know what's happening. I mean, the opening credits of the film were magical. It was almost, uh, well, like you said, fairytale, Like I felt like I was about to watch a fairytale film like a pap book or something, right like, it's it just it has that nature, that quality to it. It's really really great in the music as well, almost you know, Danny Elfman type or something like that.

It was just this movie was magical. Yeah, yeah, And once it started, I was like, Okay, I think I'm going to really enjoy this, and I'm glad that you did because again, like I again, I never I'm never worried when it comes to showing somebody Indian cinema who's never seen it before. Most of the time, if not all the time, I've had a fair amount of success because again I also like, I know the kind of movies that you like, and this is firmly inside of your wheelhouse. You you would watch an American version of this movie because you already have right so you know, you know, I you know, it's it's let the right one in. It's it's all these kinds of female driven horror stories that have been coming out in the last decade.

And this is firmly in that camp of a girl walks alone at night. It's it's it's I you know what I mean. Like this is kind of in that same vein of let's tell a story about the female experience, the woman's experience of a certain kind using the horror genre. Yeah. I think that's the great thing about the horror genre anymore is it was always a place to have something to say.

But now even more serious directors are realizing that. And again, I don't think I need a serious director to say something serious in a horror movie. There are plenty of people like yourself and myself who say enough serious stuff in horror movies. But something like this it kind of speaks to both. It has something to say, and I think it is successful in its message, but also at the same time it's wildly entertaining.

Yeah, it's like Mama almost you know, where it is female driven. It's kind of what I wish the Curse of Laodona would have been, right, you know what I mean, something more whimsical and hauntingly beautiful, and but there being a reason or purpose for a being like this to exist, and Laydona could have been a situation where she was a an abused woman. Maybe she didn't drown her kids on purpose, maybe something that her husband did led her to do this. I don't know, she was showing mercy or something, and the film didn't do that. It just kind of had her she's just crazy and killed her kids, which is kind of a cop out to me, right, I agree, And so I think it would have been great to where something like this film Bubble is what the Curse of Liodona could have been?

Is that Why is she doing this? And is she just trying to protect children from all the horrific men in the world or just bad parents the child abductions, it's kind of like sinister, you know, it's more so to keep the children away from horror or or something, you know what I mean. And that's not what we got. We got just cheap thrills. And that was that.

And that's why I appreciate movies like this. As I was watching it, as like, you know, if this was an American film, if this was ever remade into an American film, how beautiful could that be? You know what I mean? It's already stunning as it is, but a story like this I think needs to be told everywhere, you know, and that's it's almost shocking that it's being told where it's being told, and I find that really cool. Well, and that's and that's the thing I mean when I when I think about this kind of story, this is not where I would set it, right, you know, when I when I think about this kind of story, it does kind of it does lend itself more to kind of the Western color palette, the Western idea of you know, like castles and Gothic architecture.

But then you set it in Bengal in this kind of old abandoned towards the end of the film, but at the beginning, very much not the case. But you it's this kind of amazing. It's just like, I don't know how to explain. It looks like a castle, but it's not. But it's it's like it's like a giant stylized mansion and it just works.

And again, I also think that goes further back to Tripty Demri and Avanage Tauari and especially Rojoo bos as the two villains. I mean, the acting in this movie, the amount of time that you're given with Bubble, even though this movie is only ninety minutes. It is definitely her movie, and I really appreciate kind of seeing because yet, like you said, Satia has this kind of interesting arc that kind of resolves in the final frames of the movie. But Bulbo's arc is also I mean, obviously it's just as interesting and it's obviously just so heartbreaking. But by the end of the movie, like you mentioned, you just go, yeah, no, I'm completely on board.

Like I understand why you're doing this, because, like you mentioned, you have this husband character who is beyond reproach. I mean, he's just you know, he's a he's a sadist on top of his own brother who you know. Again, the character of Mahrendra Mahrendra, like it's it's a problematic character. Obviously, I think it Do you think it works if it's not great? Obviously this is the husband, the husband's brother, like the one that's kind he's kind of not all mentally there, right, Um, I'm not really sure what his purpose was here to kill her by accident, right, And it's just it's so complicated.

I knew something was up when she was a child and he went in her room, you know, and uh so that's the way you say on accident. I'm like, well, I'm obviously the killing was on accident, right, right. The act that led to her death was not no, not in any shape, form or fashion, right. So just I it was kind of like a jekylin Hide in that he was the insanity that his brother was internalizing because the brother was stoic and it was like egomania, but it was never verbalized, and it was never it was all through his eyes, the way that that he would notice things. And I was like, maybe he's just not a violent guy.

And I'm actually shocked because I'm well aware that in certain parts of the world, things like this lead to like beheading, you know, and it's it's horrifying. So I was fearful for his wife, and when it didn't happen, I was like, Okay, maybe it's not that kind of movie. And then he sees both their names in the book and that further makes him believe what he was already thinking, and you know, proceeds to beat her with a fire poker, breaking her legs, and I guess that was him snapping, But like I said, I don't know. Like I said, I was getting jekylin Hide with the two and I was also, it's the same actor, right, yeah it is, No, it's in both roles. Yeah, okay, I figured I saw, you know, in the first frame.

I was like, are they twins? I couldn't really tell. But I'm not sure what the brothers purpose was in this film other than to, like you said, act this vicious and disturbing, uh act that leads to her death and thus creating this goddess of vengeance. And I mean she did die in that bed, right, Yeah, that was my interpret. It didn't look like he killed her from like he just like had his It was like it was not it looked it didn't.

I wasn't as I was. I knew what was happening, but it didn't look like it, right. I think it was the loss of blood from her legs, I guess because her bandages were white. Right. As he was fidgeting with the bells and and and playing with the ropes and whatnot, they started to bleed through a little bit, and as he proceeded to act out this repulsive act, the bandages became fully bread or is that is that?

Is that? Is that a kind of count back to the thing at the beginning where she dipped her feet into the red paint, right, that's what I thought it was. It was like a callback to because like that's her moment of kind of rebirth as that child bride, and then here's this next moment of rebirth as you know, the goddess of vengeance. I think he just suffocated her by accident with his hand, which is again like it didn't look like that's what was happening. But yeah, I didn't see that because you know, when the doctor did come in the next day, he says, you lost a lot of blood.

Yeah I know, yeah, I know. So that's what I figured it happened. Maybe it was both, you know, or a traumatic experience like that. Can I don't know. It was just so disturbing.

So but she did die. She did she did die, because that's that's kind of yeah. Yeah, yeah she did. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, explain that to me. I thought it was cool.

I just want to know what it means. I don't know what it means. So towards the end of the movie, bull Bole is her the kind of the jig is up and Satya and doctor Sue Deep who is who is should be the love interest for Bubo. Yeah, I loved him so nice, such like a genuine good guy, as opposed to Satia, who's kind of like those hashtag good guys or quotations good guys. I mean, Satia kind of redeems himself in the end, right.

He's what would have happened in you know, in Maleficent, you know, when she's a child and and meets the guy, and you know, they're in love with each other, and then they grow up he turns out to be like an evil dictator, only he you know, dies, But Satia was reminding me of that of the guy who she was in love with before. But now she's she's become this really powerful being, more powerful than him, and he just can't have that. And even if he doesn't know what it really is, right because you know, he immediately makes the assumption this is the work of a man. And as soon as she said why not a woman, I was like, yeah, it's because it's you. Why not me?

Yeah, I know it was you, And and that was kind of annoying to me that, as you said he was, he was definitely trying to control her, sending people to the house because she's alone asking why are you not veiled? Kind of annoyed that the doctor was there providing therapy for her feet. He's very much like the patriarchy, the patriarchy of now personified Indranil. The husband is more the patriarchy of then personified, right, So, I don't know. He finds out and lets out a huge scream.

I wasn't sure if he screamed in horror realizing that it was her the whole time, or if he screamed because he realized what he had done, which was if the legends are true, this is where she thrives the most is in the forest because she dances on trees. This is her home, you know. And now I've burnt it down, which means I could have potentially killed her, but did kill her or did Yeah, So they had come back to the kind of hide and seek from the beginning of the film, and they kind of echo that at the end of the film where they're intercutting between her in the tree as the fire consumes the tree and them kind of you know, counting you know one too, which it was a great scene, kind of great great callback, great usage of kind of that that kind of book almost book ending the film, like bringing it all the way back to kind of rite where it started.

Yeah, it's poetic, it's powerful. I mean, it's powerful stuff. Again. That's and you know that this film does have like a very literary quality to it, and that and that is one of the things. I mean, that is one hundred percent one of the things that really just made this feel like a book, a picture book, a very well illustrated picture book of fairy tales.

That's what this felt like. And the ending, I don't I don't know how I feel about the ending because the ending feels like a horror movie. It's like, but you know what, at the same time, it's like, this is a horror movie, so why not? Right right? I would have loved to have seen what was going to happen to the guy, but whatever is happening in your mind is way worse.

Yes, so maybe we don't need to see it. The intention is there, and we've clearly seen what she's capable of, so we know she's going to handle business. I do like her appearing through ashes, like burning ashes, which I'm wondering if if there was another rebirth that happened kind of like a phoenix where you can kill it, I suppose, but it will keep coming back, and probably quite stronger, if not a phoenix than a hydra of some sort. You know, it's cut one head off to grow back. You know, it's you know her, Like you said, her original form is burned and all that is left is for her to reform from the ashes, which she shut us literally.

Yeah. The husband, the the original child bride taking husband, goes back to his estate, like you mentioned, Satya kind of in this narration is you know, kind of telling him, hey, I'm not like you. I don't want to be like you. I may already be like you. And even if I am, I'm ad of here.

And Indranille goes to his bedroom where he used to sleep with his child bride and lo and behold baby, Look who shows up but bubble herself out of the fire and flames. M I've only made her more powerful. If anything, that's even scarier to think about is what other abilities were given to her? Or did she that she grew through fire? You know what I mean, right, because prior to that it was mostly just blood.

You know, she died in blood, and so her her carnage was her power. And now she has obviously manifested herself through fire. It's pretty interesting. I wouldn't you know, she'd probably burn him alive. I don't know, but he was more than that, yeah, exactly.

Or she takes him with her to I don't know where she comes from. I don't know where she's been. I don't know, or I don't know. Is there a sequel happening for this film? Or I don't know, I don't know.

I mean, that's the thing, you know, it was rather successful. Trippty Demri did win the Best Actress in a Web Original Film the FilmFair Ott Awards in twenty twenty. It got generally positive reviews when it came out, you know, a lot of kind of positive feedback about the visuals or the kind of feminist nature of the film and the performances. But then there were kind of some people that were like, well, you know, it's a lot of substance or a lot of style, but not a lot of substance, which I don't necessarily agree with, because I would agree more if the movie was longer. I think the fact that it comes into like a brisk ninety four minutes is pretty impressive.

Yeah, because these kinds of movies. These kinds of movies aren't normally ninety three minutes or ninety four minutes, right, They're normally like two hours, I guess. I mean, you know, like a big gothic movie like this normally what I mean like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. And well, you know, I'm having thoughts. Now Here's what I'd like to think happens.

In the end. He's his actions are brought to justice and it is confirmed that he did indeed beat his wife and you know, render her completely helpless and causing her to die. Because no, I don't think anybody other than the doctor realized what happened to her while she was in the bed. Anyways, what you know, in traditionally, people who are very wealthy, which this guy is supposed to be, would have been cool to have seen his punishment being that he is locked away in his palace and now has to be tormented by her spirit for the rest of his life. I think it's I think that is a greater punishment than just offing him.

Right, He's he's forced to see the spirit of his vengeful wife, you know, and and her torment him the way he tormented her. Yeah, mentally emotionally, I think that would be way more justified than just stabbing him or or beating him day on a daily because then you know, he could just easily die, and then it's there's what's the fun in that's But also she's got a lot of work to do, and I don't think she has all the time in the world to just stay there with her husband. No, you know, she's got people to protect and uh and women and children to protect from men like him. But I would like to think that that he's locked away in his castle and maybe every now and then she reappears, so he's horrified every day wondering when she'll come back kind of thing, and that's that's his punishment.

I think that would be great. Well, And that's the thing you mentioned about this movie, Like it's it's interesting because it is in a lot of ways a superhero adjacent movie because like it's not is it a horror movie. It's stylistically horror adjacent, but I'm not sure it is a horror movie. But it has gothic undertones. But like you mentioned, it has this feeling of like I want there to be more to this story because there is this aspect of her.

It's not just her metering out punishment against her own familial antagonists. She's also having to like, like we've said, she also goes and kills these men in the village. I'll, you know, dexter, any other kind of dark passenger taking out the garbage of society. Yeah, it's a vigilant ghost, right right, which is an interest, which is an interesting idea. I would I would have no issue seeing more of that.

Yeah, No, I hope there's more of this. I really do, because I actually really enjoyed it, and stories like this are my favorite. I love seeing someone who's got it coming get it and really get it. But as far as horror, i'd say stylistically, it's a horror film, right, because it's not just horror adjacent, right, Yeah, Because it's got all the elements it's it's got it's very gothic, and there's a lot of horror that's rooted in Gothic literature. And as you said, this film feels very by the book, it feels very poetic, it feels like literature on screen.

Um, So I think this is like traditional horror. You know, vengeful spirits have always been It's a tale as old as time. Like you said, this is a story that we've seen, we've heard, and I mean it's you know, let's not let's not sit and pretend like Hans Christian Anderson or the Grim Brothers that those stories aren't in the kind of same vein of horrifying that this is, you know, that same kind of horror being done to other human beings by other human beings. Yeah, you know, because that's what this is. This is horror being done to you by someone else, not some supernatural entity and that and you know fairy tales, I mean, you know Cinderella snow White.

I mean, that's someone who's bad, being bad to another human being, and it's it feels like it kind of slots maybe further for adults, but still kind of in that same kind of dark fairy tale mill you m. I think I think that's the best type of horror. You know. It kind of reminds me of an episode of I believe it was Tales from the Crypt with the actress Adrian I forgot her name, but she was in the fog Adrian Yeah, where she hits a homeless man with her car and nobody saw, so she just kind of drives off, and the spirit of the homeless man keeps appearing, you know, in her car, outside the car, or on the roof, and he just won't die. But that's because he's already dead, and he just you know, every time she thinks she's gotten rid of him, he keeps appearing more and more, and the more he appears, the more decay he is.

And that is so scary, you know. And she finally gets home thinking that she got rid of him, but he's been under the car the whole time, and he at that point he's just a grotesque, horrible figure there to torment her. I think stuff like that is really really freaky. It's maccabre, you know, it's Tales from the Crypt and those kinds of shows trafficked and almost exclusively is like Gothic horror and capital it's more capital h horror, right, yeah, right, like Lovecraft, Stoker, stuff like that. Yeah.

So stuff like this, you know, where somebody was was killed and tortured or beaten or whatever and then come back as vengeful spirits. It could go two ways, and I think this one went more in a direction that was beautiful, was still horror elements in it, but it could have easily gone in a gruesome, disturbing like just like a really scary because you know, even when she's revealed, she still looks beautiful, she looks stunning, She looks like a goddess, and they could have easily made her into a gruesome figure or some kind of icon like horror, skeletal or DEMONI looks rather normal. Just has backwards feet, yeah, which you know, that gives it enough creep factor to make it still horror. And it also ties in to her character having her feet broken, right, which I thought was a nice little stylistic touch.

It's like, the thing about her is her feet, and her feet is kind of the thing that makes it makes sense that she is now at you deal, is it's her feet, because that's part of that story, is the backwards feet. Yeah, it's spooky. I like things like that. I like, uh, you know, you hear tales about how someone died and they keep appearing in that way, you know, so to know that she died with broken feet makes it makes sense that she appears with backwards feet, and it is very spooky. And what we should mention is when she comes back to life, she comes back to life and they don't realize that she died.

Yeah, which is a strange choice, a choice that I like, but it's very different from what I was expecting. Right, And you know, the sister was she her sister, her sister, she's like her sister in law. It's it's the husband, the the the god, the her husband, brother's wife, the guy that sexually assaulted her, her his wife, right, so she and their their in laws. Her character was reverally interesting to me because she was all about presenting and following tradition. This is the norm.

Why aren't you wearing more more vibrant clothing, Why aren't you draped in silk? So, why aren't you wearing jewelry. Let's put you know, oil in your hair. Let's let's present you the way that you're supposed to be presented as the woman of the house. And she didn't care about that.

And I think it was interesting the way that that flipped after her husband was killed. You know, she had her head shaved and wore more grayish or white. Linen's was not interested in being so vibrant, and Bubble was now the essentially the queen of the house. You know, she wore everything that was asked of her to wear before just wasn't interested in, but now where's it all? But wears it all because she wants to, not because she was told to.

And I think that something very powerful about that. Well, and it's and that character of Benodini played by Paula Damn, the widow, the widow, she's the reason most of the bad things happen because she's jealous of Bubble and Indradill's marriage, and she's the one that pushes him to go and beat her. Essentially, she's the one who says, oh, isn't Satya. Haven't you seen Satya and Bobbo they're looking at each other. And again, that's an interesting kind of another kind of angle of the matriarchy keeping itself down, which is that kind of like, you know, I firmly believe this that in our country, if women did not have the right to vote right now, you would have women who would be actively saying it's okay that they don't have the right to vote, right which would be mind boggling.

Right. Well, yeah, I mean you meet even in the States, you still meet women that are very like, hey, if you don't a man is not you're never going to find a man if you keep thinking, a woman shouldn't have to think, right, you know that level of like that's the matriarchy keeping the matriarchy down. Yeah, it happens in Latin families as well. Through my experience, I've seen it, not my mother, thank goodness, but the older generation being very hate Mary Rich. If he hits you just cover your face because you want to be draped in And as this woman even said, he may be insane, but you'll be draped in Linen's.

He might be insane, but you know, and it's yeah, there it is right in this movie. I mean like that again. It is an attack on the toxic matriarchy that, like you said, our country has it, but it's not as pronounced as the toxic patriarchy because the patriarchy runs everything. Well, you know, you see women giving other women shit for learning sorry my partner, my language. Well I don't know how this is, you know, but you know, giving them a lot of trouble for learning how to do things that typically or stereotypically a man should do, like fixing a car or just being handy around the house.

A lot of women do that by themselves, as they should know how everybody should know how to do things by themselves. Right. In fact, women get angry when they see a man cooking. That's not your job. Where's your wife tell her to cook?

Shouldn't you be outside enjoying a beer? Like, No, people like that, it's very gross, Like that's your wife's job. That's your woman's job. It's like, how about everybody's job is to pull their weight and break these norms that make no sense. They're not helping anybody, no, break the societal norms that we had no choice in making.

And look, I mean, you know, you know our country is no different than India. We have plenty of societal norms that we have been dealing with as a society for a long time, just like India has had plenty of their own issues that they have dealt with and are continuing to deal with. And it's like anything else, progress is measured in baby steps, you know, It's measured in inches, not in miles. Yeah, but I do appreciate seeing these kinds of movies where it's a Indian film from a society similar to our own that is really driven by the patriarchy, that is saying down with the patriarchy, right, down with the toxic matriarchy too, I mean down with all of it, really, And that's kind of what you know. Again, this movie is is a revenge fantasy, but it's not the bad kind of revenge fantasy.

No, everybody deserves it. Everybody does. And I think to your point, there's many people that would see something like this and assume that it would influence women to act out in a way that the villain in this film did, who I don't see as a villain, But I don't think that's the point. I think it's important for women to see films like this and feel empowered, not by the carnage, but just by the standing up for yourself part of the film. And that was my takeaway.

The carnage and the fantasy is all there for entertainment purposes. We are fully aware that a woman like this would not cist floating around on trees with backwards feed and things like that. But it's what the message is behind the film that you don't need to be what everyone says you have to be just because you're a woman and their men. You are fully capable. And I see that in American films as well.

Kill Bill got so much crap because it's hyper violent. And Tarantino said it himself that he was trying to create a superhero for women to look up to, and nobody really got what he meant. He wasn't saying he wants girls to go out and you samurai swords on each other. He was just saying it'd be cool if girls also knew how to fight, how to defend themselves, how to do things traditionally that girls aren't just quote unquote not supposed to do. And I think that's a fair point, but it always gets lost in the imagery because you see gore, and that just means bad things, you know, which this movie kind of stays away from.

I was, you know, very surprised at the lack of gore, right right, Yeah, But you know, when there was a little bit of blood, it was it was used in a very artistic way, right, which I appreciate. Like I was surprised, but not disappointed. I was surprised more because again, if this had been a Western film, they probably wouldn't have shown that restraint because they tend to not really you know, they don't, I mean, you know, and not like a condemnation or a you know, me you know, clucking my tongue or anything, but we tend to enjoy the gore. Yeah, and the blood. I have my reasons for like the gore and the blood, you know what I mean.

And look, I haven't seen enough Indian cinema horror films. I've seen enough Indian cinema other kinds of films, but not enough of this kind of subgenre of Indian films or a genre of Indian cinema. I have not seen enough of this to know whether or not all of them are restrained. I don't even want to presume to know. So my assumption is there are gory Indian cinema films, but maybe there aren't, and I'm excited to find out.

Yeah, if and if there are, I want to know and I want to see them. Yeah, Please by all means, like reach out and tell us, because I would love to know what they are. I would like I would like suggestions. I don't want this to be a you know, That's the idea behind this podcast was never for it to be a singular journey through Indian cinema. Because the thing that I have realized about Indian cinema is when I share it with people who are open to it, which we should all be open to it.

It never fails to impress, Like you enjoyed the shit out of this movie, right, You really liked this movie? Right? I did. I was glad I watched it and I and I would put this on my list of movies to watch around like Halloween time. Even it has that vibe like we keep saying, it's it's like magical and fairytale like and I like to watch films like that around Halloween, you know, all movies like Coraline or hocus Pocus where magic is involved and to the point where they call her a witch.

In this movie, they do call her a witch. Yeah, they do at one point. Yeah, there's a witch. Yeah. So it's it's yeah.

No, I really like this movie. And you know what the best thing about this movie is it's on Netflix, guys. Yeah, and it's a Netflix original, right And and I'm not advocating for this. If it you can watch it with English audio, it's not very good because I didn't. Did you watch it with English dub?

No? I did not. It was tirible. I turned it on for a while and it was often I like to listen to things in their original language. But even if I don't know what they're saying, I want to hear the way the inflection is really important how something is said, and if it's lost in translation, it's not going to have the same impact.

I do the same thing with Japanese martial arts films. I want to hear it in its original language. I will read the subtitles so that I can get the gist. You're going to have to, yeah, but I want to hear how intense what is being said is actually being said. And so no, I watched it in the way it was supposed to be listened to.

That's how I watched it. I'm with you. I clicked them on for a little bit because honestly, it's been kind of rare in the Indian cinema that I have watched to find things that are dubbed in English. So I watched it for like probably five to ten minutes with English dub. It's what's funny is the English dub is so far even from the English subtitles because like the sub when I was reading the subtitles while listening to the dub, the subtitles in the dub did not meet match up and that's because the subtitles were more descriptive than the dub was obviously.

Right, Well, that happens a lot people's native language. Sometimes they're as like, sometimes there is no word right for English that translates to English. How do you say this word? It happens in Spanish as well, how do you say this word in Spanish? And I'm like, that word doesn't exist in Spanish.

I can give you something that kind of means that, but there is no word for that in Spanish. Right, tupperware in Spanish is tuugherware like shit like that, Like, there is no word for that. Some things it's just it is that word in Spanish too. Yeah, how do you say okay? It's just okay.

People speak Spanish, they say the word okay because there is no word, which is why you'll notice some English in Indian cinema, because it's just you know, you'll notice it. Sometimes they just speak English. Yeah, like it's just I mean, again, this was a British colony. They were around people who spoke English all the time. It pervaded their culture, just like if India had been an imperialist colony and we had been a colony of India, Hindi would have pervaded our culture.

You know, That's the way it would have been. So it's just it's just that's you know, you'll notice it as we watch more of these films, and I'm sure you notice it. In this film, there was some just English that happened, you know, I remember it, but I don't remember what words. But I do remember finding that interesting when it did happen. Yeah, and it happens pretty frequently, especially in Hindi films.

Yeah, because again, I mean they were dealing with the Brits all the time, right, I wonder what the word was. I know there was a spot in the movie where somebody said a word in English and I was like, oh, that's interesting. Of course it makes sense though, but I can't remember what the word. I'm trying to remember. Yeah, I'm trying to remember as well.

Again, it would it would probably have stuck out even more in this movie, given like the time period that it's set in, because this is also a period piece, but like a lot of sister in law that might have set it, and like a lot of recent Indian cinema like stuff that's set contemporary, there's even more English. So and it's not played for laughs. I mean, it's just like like I said, it's just part of the dialogue. So the other the other thing that I was really impressed by with this movie, you kind of mentioned it was a Netflix original. Uh my god, that where did the budget go?

Because they put it all on the screen. Like, I'm impressed with the quality of this movie on top of everything else, Like I've seen plenty of American made Netflix originals that don't look this good. Yeah right, the color learning First of all, the design, the set design was beautiful, The clothing was beautiful, the makeup, the hair, everything was just awesome. And the editing, the lighting, the color washing with the blue, the red, every time it was the props. I think the budget went entirely where it was supposed to go.

Sure looks like it yeah yeah, I know. I mean again like it's a Netflix original, but it looks like a film that could have come out in theaters because it's the production value is so high. The quality of it is, you know, and again like the I guess I don't know what people's assumption for Indian cinema is, but this is an Indian cinema film, which means that it can be whatever you believe it is now because like I said, all of this, all of this film's trappings really lean heavily on the kind of thing that shows up on Netflix in the United States. Yeah, it happens to be in Hindi, but that's awesome. Like I hope people have stumbled upon on this by accident, because again I don't know how hard Indian cinema features are being pushed on your Netflix and stuff like this.

Do you see Indian cinema stuff show up on your Netflix? No? I see a lot of um like Japanese interest films that that pop up. Never Indian cinema. And that is interesting because there's a lot, there's a ton.

Right when you told me it was on Netflix, I was like, I mean, that's awesome. Why is it never recommended? I never, It's not even a category on my page? Right, they advertised two percent of the content. Right, So when I when you know, you gave me the name of the film, and I opened up my Netflix and typed it in and it was there.

That brought me so much joy. I was like, how cool is that that it is there? This is not advertised. And as soon as I clicked play, and I saw the quality. Immediately saw the quality of the film.

I said, this is a great looking movie. Why are we not showing this more? You know, I get I have my dreathers, and we've talked about it before, and I don't want to bring it up a whole lot on this show. But I think people's lay mass excuse that they don't want to read subtitled movies. But but I think it's I don't think it's a I don't think it's actually subtitles that are the problem.

I think it's actively engaging because you cannot be on your phone on a movie with subtitles. You just can't want, you cannot. And I'm one of the few people that I know that is willing to disengage from everyone else to focus on the story of a film. And if that means I have to read subtitles, I am more than happy. I want to read the subtitles.

That's how I got into a lot of martial arts films, specifically films like Ipmuan, where it is all predominantly more. As the films progressed, they became more English because they became really popular in the States. But the first two are entirely well. The first one is entirely subtitle, and I'm so happy that I don't mind reading subtitles because as soon as I finished that film, I was obsessed. I'm like, I'm a fan of this movie and that excites me to get to read subtitles for now Indian cinema because I relate it to the story so much and I think it translates pretty well.

And it is annoying that no one wants to get off their phone to read a story. In fact, most people are like, well, actually, it's just that I prefer to read books, then put the phone down and read the damn read a book. Then yeah, read the captions, like or yeah, go read a book. I'd like to see you put the phone down to read a book. You know, I know I don't mind reading captions.

I think it's it's pretty easy to do, and it actually helps you follow the story even more. You're you're an active you're actively reading or watching a film. You know, when I when I read, I try to underline and highlight things when I read because that makes me a better active reader. Does it slow my reading down? Sure, But at the same time, like it makes me a better active reader because I am invested.

I'm why I'm reading everything to see if there's something I want to highlight or something I want to mark, as opposed to or as opposed to just you know, absent mindedly being on my phone while the movie is going, which we're all guilty of. But the thing is, there are plenty of things that we can get away with that, things we've seen a million times, right, Like for new stuff, like I don't understand how you could watch something new and be on your phone. Doesn't make sense, not to me, not to me. And you know what's even funnier to me is that it's easier to follow a film that way sometimes than to watch a movie with that's like already in your language that you can just understand, like for us it would be English.

Sometimes I'm not paying attention to what they're saying, even though they're speaking English and I clearly understand them, and then something happens and I'm like, wait, what did I just miss? Because my mind went somewhere else because they're just blabbing away. I leave subtitles on with everything. It's better with subtitles. You can follow it because you're reading it you're active, and you see the sentence right before you're like, you know, maybe I'm a huge no.

I know, everybody I know, for the most part, who watches stuff like this, watches movies to talk about them, has subtitles on. I have to have them on. I don't like not having them on. And with anything they're like, you know, we'll be watching something, I'll be like, can you put the subtitles on. I'll be that guy I'm annoying.

I don't care, Like I don't care. I mean, I don't care, and you shouldn't either. If it's something that you like to do and it's something that you need to do, you need to have the subtitles on, then turn the subtitles on. But it has prepared me for and it is something that has come out of my love of foreign cinema where I was doing it anyways, So it does make me a better movie goer and a better movie watcher, right, And I think it, like you said, it is hard enough to It's hard in this day and age. And I understand with the limited amount of time we all have to set aside an hour and a half or two hours to watch a movie.

But if you can't do it, then don't watch something new, just watch something you've seen a million times and be on your phone anyways. Oh yeah, yeah. If I'm with my girlfriend, she's like, Hey, that new movie just came out. Do you want to watch it with me? I'll say sure, but I'm going to be fully transparent with you.

I'm not going to pay attention because there's a Twitter war going or something like that, So let's watch it tomorrow, or you know, just be honest about because if if I'm on my phone, I'm not going to hear anything. This is to be honest. So and I know that sounds rude, but I'd rather you just tell me, Like, if I'm going to ask you to watch a movie with me, i'd rather you tell me. I have a habit of looking at my phone, just letting you know. I'd rather know that.

That way, I can just be like, Okay, well, how about we saved this for another time then, and let's just put on something that we've already seen. It's put on pulp fiction, I don't know, not a movie that you got to be invested in, right, Like, I've seen it already, so we know what's going to happen. It's background noise at this point, right, And yeah, no, I you know. That's the other thing, Like this is a good kind of entry point to Indian cinema. Also because it is not three hours.

It is only an hour and a half. Most Indian cinema films that I have seen do not clock in sub two hours. So hey, well, I was impressed that they got everything out on the screen. They told a coherent story, They told a story with compelling and interesting, fully realized characters in ninety minutes. That's impressive.

Tons of American cinema doesn't even do that, right, And I will warn you it is hard to keep my attention for longer than two hours in a movie, even movies that I'm excited to see, you know, especially today. And I don't know what it is about American films now that need to be two hours and thirty minutes. To think it needs to be two hours, they get they're not. Actually, that's the thing with Indian cinema. It doesn't feel like it needs to be two hours.

It just is because that's the story. Like the story is told completely, Like it does need to be two and a half hours. In Indian cinema. In American cinema, it needs to be that so that they can get the most amount of money out of showing it at the feeder or whatever. Right, it just bugs me.

It's like, what happened to just a good hour and thirty minutes. I'm not talking about Indian cinema. I'm talking about American cinema, cinema in general. All the movies today are just three hours. Why, Like, it makes sense if it's the finale to a huge series, you know, like end Game or something, to be that long because we don't want it to end that quickly.

But just any movie comes out today and it's three hours or two hours and thirty minutes, it's too long, well, especially when it's like some of it as you're spitting your wheels. But then you have a movie like this ninety four minutes, yep, quick and breezy right under. I mean, there you go, Like, this is my kind of movie, fun subtitles that I can follow. It's not that long, beautiful visuals, great acting, spooky, awesome music. This is my type of movie and all this is my way.

I'm glad, I am glad we watched it. Then, m I am glad we watched it. This was this was a this was a good choice, a good movie, and you know, I'd be curious to kind of see more of Nvita Dutch stuff. She has another film coming out that she did some lyrics for. She does a lot of music lyrics, she doesn't do a lot of movies, so this is this is her first movie that she's ever directed, So I would like to see more of her stuff because this is a pretty good first outing m I'd like to see her.

Dude, like an anthology. I mean, stylistically, this this looked, this has the look of a like a yeah it's coming. Yeah, so yeah. The next time Andy and I talk, we will be talking about a film titled ghost Stories from twenty twenty and it is an anthology series. Yes, so yeah.

So as a pinhead said, you called, we answered. So until then, Andy, where could people find you if they were looking for you on the internet? Yes, all social media is Andy Nosis. That's gnosis, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok YouTube, And as for me, cstasue dot com, cstacchiw dot com. That's my link tree culture cast is where the Indian cinema originally kind of started.

That discussion started a couple of years ago and we've transitioned it here to this show. So if you want to listen to old episodes of the Culture Cast where talking about Indian cinema, you can go to Culture Cast, but for this show. Bollywood Cinema Club, Bollywood Cinemaclub dot com, Bollywood Cinema Club on all social media platforms. Rate and review on iTunes, give us a good review, give us a good rating. That is the only place that those kinds of things help us.

Andy, thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to the next Indian cinema film we get to watch together. Absolutely, Thank you so much and I can't Yeah, I'm excited for the next one. If you haven't seen it, you should get you should. If you haven't seen it, you should.

As a pretty good way to end the show, so we'll leave it at that,