KCxBCC: Fan

Weird. I want to say I showed you the trailer Mike a while ago, like at least a year ago, and then around the same time I showed it to Heather and Heather was like, someone talked about this with you yet, and I was like, no, and then you had kind of had the same reaction, And then we never got around to talking about it until now. And I actually am glad that we waited a while because I feel like there was a need to build this movie up, because I feel like if we had seen this movie without having seen some other Indian cinema, we might have thought that this is like the craziest movie we've ever seen. And there's a lot of stuff going on in this movie that is pretty fucking insane, frankly, if you just boil it down to the basic ideas of what's going on.

But I don't think this movie would have hit the same if we had watched it when we were initially trying to talk about it about like a year year and a half ago. Yeah, I think we were talking about the order crew had been doing some special effects breakdowns and they were talking about the one where it's the little shahru Khan's which Heather and I have seen and yeah, but I hadn't heard of FAM and you showed me that trailer and yeah, I was like, oh, please, let's do it. Let's do this thing because it is I mean again like that. Yeah. Yeah, well, well we'll get to it here in a second.

But to take a minor aside, Heather, you and I did talk about Zero, which that episode has not aired yet on the Bollywood Cinema Club. But do you want to tell the listeners of this show what Zero is? Just just give him a little taste of what that is, because I just want to have to hear you explain it, frankly, because it's as insane as this movie's premise. Frankly, I would actually say it's more insane this movie. Well yeah, okay, yeah, I hope everybody's sitting down.

So the premise is. Shabra Khan plays as as Mike this my collot to. He plays a little person and he is made a little person through the technology of computer graphics and he alls in love with this brilliant woman who is this amazing scientist and she's beautiful, but she has I believe was that uh what did she have cerebral palsy crew Yep, yep, she did. And I And the thing that to me is the most nuts about this movie because if you're agree, you just think, oh my god, this is gonna be the most offensive thing, and it's and it's not. It's really like not offensive.

I mean, it's depending. I mean, but I mean it's not as offensive as you would think, right, agreed. And I think that's a testament to the people making it. Is kind of what it feels like that it works as well as it does, because I remember when I when I started watching it, and then when you and I were talking about it before we started recording. The fact that there's a woman who does not have cerebral palsy playing a character with cerebral palsy would be the actual thing most people would be hung up on that movie about.

But it's because they juxtaposed that with miniature chahru Khan that it somehow doesn't seem that offensive or as as as not as not poorly intended it they had, they didn't have poor intentions behind it is kind of what it feels like. It has a lot of heart. I will say that if if my membory is correct, because it's been a little while since week we talked about it. Is that his height seems to range a little bit and vapor. It's like he's an eighth grader now he's two feet tall.

I don't know, a little little random, but yeah, I think the most shocking thing of that was, like, I'm like, is a sexually this movie kind of works? It shouldn't. It shouldn't a precision aout work on paper. It does, It does. It has a lot of heart.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's got a lot of heart. And and uxta post that with tonight's topic. You beat me to it, Heather, Oh, no, good, I'm glad you saw. I'm glad you saw exactly probably what we're going to be saying about this movie coming right out of your mouth before. It's like, it feels like Heather's describing this movie too on how oh my gosh, well, don't we don't have a tiny chavra Khan, but we get two chavar Khans for the price of one.

And this time he's not playing someone else, but he is, but he isn't. Yes, he's played doubles several times. According to the trivia. And that is not shocking because I think we've talked on your show before, Chris, that these Indian actors love to play doubles and they love to double themselves, whether it's I mean even in Juwan, the one that we talked about, he's the old chah Ru Khan and the young Chahru Khan or he never talked about that, but we didn't still that. Oh we still have never talked to her.

Oh yeah, we talked about Jaylor, but Juwan has it, the one Richard and I talked about that has a mere Khan in the third one, Doom three has it. There's It's honestly a very prevalent thing in these Indian cinema movies. And on this episode of the Culture Cast, I am still your host Christashi much as the chagrin of many, and it's my birthday month, so we get to talk about the movies I want to talk about, which is Indian cinema. It's also Mike's birthday month. Uh, but Mike is not as vain as I am, and he doesn't take advantage of it like I.

I'll just take all a fucking may buddy. Hell yeah. But on this episode of the culture cast. I am joined by Mondo Heather's Heather Drain. Well, hell am, it's awesome my birthday month too.

Oh that's right. God, I always I always forget that there's like seven of us. I think that have a birthday. The areas Andaurians are just coming in full force, right right, We're all here and we're all heavy emotion has according to the zodiac thing I believe is what it says. Uh.

And we're also joined by the projection boots. Mike White, you can just call me Junior Mike White. Oh Jesus, the way you said that, Mike was everything. That's my new ring town. That's pretty good.

And yeah, if you can't tell, and you may not, We're gonna be talking about a film from twenty sixteen that is in Indian cinema film and this time it is Bollywood. You can't get any more Bollywood than shahru Khan. Folks, we're gonna be talking about twenty sixteen's double Cha ru Khan Vehicle fan connection. We know, Huga Toga. Why why have you do?

Ze? Jada's wrong? I'm not a connection. What's this? Dania?

Don't Amity look at the lost controlfic jumped Gaudia, Nadia Nadion fan a small board they give to the love of my life, Arian Karnach Happy body is fan play? Could Arianna listen to me carefully? You have to make ya call it many? Could tote? Could a fan to meso?

Half the life parts when it winn like again? Is nice? Time for a part? Second kid play Fan Star Gipcha bar a star fan kipchar now blue kase I guess one o, come eb you think of j time got of he Guardian God of Night. So, like I've mentioned, the film came out in twenty sixteen.

It's directed by Manise Sharma based on a screenplay by Habib Fasal and Sharai Kataria. It's produced by Adita Tropra which means it's a Yash Raj Film's film, which means it's as high production value as you can get in Indian cinema. Folks, if you see YRF in front of things, you know that at least the movie is going to look amazing and probably most likely have some of the biggest names in Indian cinema acting in them. This film is no different. It stars Shahru Khan as not just one, but two characters, one of them a thinly veiled version of himself, I guess, the dastardly bastard version of himself, or maybe just himself, I don't know the man.

And then a younger version of himself, but not him specifically, a person, a doppel ganger, as it were, someone who has been either graced or cursed to look like the most important actor of modern contemporary Indian cinema and the biggest actor in the world. It's not really hammered home in the movie that this character is that, but we're talking about in terms of the actual actor shah Ru Khan. To look like shah Ru Khan in reality and not lean into it, I would assume would be a thing some people may or may not do. But as it happens in the film, the character of junior arian Khanna garov chand Na takes it upon himself to insert himself into his hero's life by beating up a rival star and then continuing to stalk him in various ways.

There's a lot going on in this movie. There is only one musical number, which is pretty crazy if you even want to consider it a musical number. It's more of a diegetic musical number. But I'm going to kick it to you first, Heather, because I want to know. I want to know both of y'all's opinions really badly.

But Heather, I'm going to kick it to you first. What did you think of fan Wow? This movie? It's interesting, It's really interesting. I think I think parts of it are a little messy, which we'll go into it.

I think there are parts of it that are really good. There are things I definitely loved about it. I feel a little mixed on it, but I wouldn't say it's a bad movie by ay mean, I mean it's it's sharru Khan SRK and anything's always like a great thing. But I don't know, it's interesting, it's interesting. There's some twists I really did enjoy.

But like you, I'm really curious as hell, like what are you two get to say about it? As we dive in, because there's like there's some choices. There's some choices made, and it's that some of them are great and some of them I was like, huh, okay, okay, well we're doing that. Okay. I would say instead of capital C choices, this movie makes all caps choices, choice choices.

Mike, what did you think of the choices that Fan twenty sixteen makes. There was some interesting, like you said, choices that were made. I've kind of seen this movie before. I think Fred Durst directed the movie like this God. I mean, there is the Fan from what nineteen eighty one?

I think it was The Wolf of Michael Bean Super Young Michael Bean and Lauren Paul. Yeah. Yeah, there's also the Fan with Wesley Snipes and Robert de Niro. There's also the Fan with Paton Oswald. So we've seen these kind of you know, fan worship gone awry stories many times we've not seen or at least I haven't seen where the fan is a dead ringer for kind of a dead ringer for the main character, though not really.

And it feels like certain times people can see that he looks like shah Rukhan and other times they can't. It's very odd. And then the weird thing how it's a very like straight ahead drama film and a thriller and these kind of things. But then when you get into the action scenes. We've thought about this before, Chris, that these are superheroes, like suddenly they just become heroes for like ten to fifteen minutes, and then they go back to being normal people.

But those action scenes, I mean it's like taken from another movie and plopped into this movie basically. But for the most part, I really enjoyed this one. How about you, Chris? Uh? Yeah?

So this was again like I've kind of alluded to a movie that I have been putting off watching because again, like, this is a movie I've stopped myself from watching several times because it was like, I want to watch it when we're close to this, not super far ahead of time, because I know I will want to talk about it with y'all ahead of time. And yeah, I mean this is this movie shouldn't even work in a lot of ways, like the conceit of shahru Khan is playing himself. Fine, like you've alluded to, Mike, this has been a thing we've seen before, but then to have him in a dual role as the person obsessed with him, and it's not just him in makeup or just him dressed differently, which is normally. I mean, we're talking like a Kate and ash Ashley movie where it's just like you know, and they're two different people and they dress them differently.

But I'm alluding to something more like the parent trap, where you have the same actor playing two different characters here instead of just having it be Shahru Khan, because again, you couldn't realistically get away with Sharru Khan in his mid fifties or early fifties playing a nineteen year old version of himself or eighteen year old version of a Well, they do what is one of the most amazing CGI jobs I've ever seen. I do not say that lightly because this if this did not work, the movie doesn't work at all, because in a lot of ways, it is the Junior Junior's character movie. Throughout we see Senior a lot, but he is more or less in the background until Junior inserts himself into his life. But again, it's still Shahru Khan playing the other character.

And somehow, and I'm not even you know what, I'll wind that back nut somehow it's because Sharru Khan is an amazing actor. That's why he's I think watching this movie would actually lead me to believe and in a lot of ways go out on a lemon and say he might actually be like the greatest actor of all time, because this movie has no right being as good as it is just based on the premise alone. Because if this movie was made in the States, I would I think it would get laughed out of the cinemas. I think people be like, oh, that looks like shit, oh the Uncanny Valley. And what's even more insane is it's not Uncanny Valley at all.

Frankly, it's I don't know, it's shocking to me how good the CGI looks in this movie, not because of where it's from, but because I mean again, it's like they took the budget of a Marvel movie and put it into one character, which I mean, you know, if you're gonna do that, that's how you do it. But yeah, I enjoyed this movie. There are some parts, like you've alluded to Mike and Heather that there are are going to be some questions raised, namely the action scenes are one of them. But I was kind of charmed by how insane this movie is in what it's doing, and that is and that really isn't where it stops. It just keeps going and going and going and going and going almost to a fault, frankly.

But yeah, so let's just kind of. I would say, let's start with the the not the elephant in the room, as it were, but the biggest thing, let's talk about Chavru Khan as this junior character, which feels like a fully formed character at least to me. Yeah, no, he it's it's weird because the cgi like because it kept be you can't help it be like, Okay, that's Shahr Khan, but he's littler, like he's skinnier, and they gave him what looks like prosthetic teeth because he's got a little more of an overbite and a smaller nose, which the character ends up kind of pointing out later on. But yeah, it's it's this character is so strange to me because it's like the first And that's the thing. This film has so many like tonal moments that totally go whiplash, Like the action scenes are a huge part of that, but part of it is like the begin it's like it's even the music, like the music swells like, oh isn't this charming?

Look at this young this young man from Deli. He loves his favorite actor. Okay, sure, his wallpapers literally am on like a photo. I'm on to this man and his wallpaper every like out his phone, but his parents don't seem that concerned about it, which that was kind of a question for I was like when I was doing my notes on this, yeh, initially was like, why what's a tell with his parents? Like they're supportive, which is good, but it's kind of like you think if you had, like, especially a son who's basically young adult and they're still like, oh my god, this actor I love, like you know, Like I'm like, so, I'm just gonna sit it to him down and be like, it's good to have heroes, but well, it's one thing to have heroes, but another thing that your son looks like the dead ringer of his his idol is that's where things get really weird.

And yeah, I agree, It's like do they how they are very supportive of him to the point where I'm just like, really, okay, this seems like it has gone past fandom into obsession, even just with him obviously in his wallpaper and everything that he's doing. They won't give him the money to go up to celebrate Chaukan. And I know, I'm saying cha Rukan even though it's a character, but he's so cha Kan, I know that they're giving him money. They won't give him money to do that, but they will support him very much when it comes to the talent show where he wins the money to go up to uh to celebrate the birthday of Chau Khan. But yeah, it's they seem supportive almost to a fault, I suppose completely completely, like the blind leading the blind almost and it's it's it's weird.

This character is kind of like it's like it's weird because like at the beginning and the end of the film, it's almost like this book end of like, oh look at this this charming man. I won't jump ahead to the end, but there's a there's a part at the end that I have to admit I laughed very hard because it just seems so inappropriate. But but yeah, and so it's like, okay, this is we know this guy's gonna be a stalker. I mean, it's even even without the all of the red flags in the movie, it's like the tailor. So it's like you're like, Okay, when is this worm gonna turn?

Because you know it's coming. Well, and that's and that's the thing I mean, I think I think for me, Like I kind of mentioned like the character works, but I don't think that the movie realizes that the character is working the way that it is intended. And I don't think the movie really ever acknowledges the success that it's having. It's trying to do something else almost the entire time. Like the music in a lot of the early scenes is kind of too upbeat for where we know this movie is going.

It's like in Body Double having the beach Boys. Like why this doesn't jive with what the movie's tone is because, like you've both already talked about, the movie is about a stalker fan hyper fan who just happens to look like the person he's obsessed with. I mean, it's kind of and I would actually say it's maybe the biggest failing of the movie is that the movie doesn't Acknowlogy looks like him enough. It should be like a bigger deal, Like when he's in that crowd of people, they should be they should be like looking behind when he's moving up and be like, holy shit, this guy looks like shah ru Khan. Because there's a scene at after the intermission effectively of the movie where the junior character puts on a disguise enough and Groucho Marks is up himself, puts on a hoodie in some sunglasses, and boom, now he looks like shahru Khan.

And he goes to Madame Tusso's and starts behaving bad and people believe it's him just there, like it's only been a year later, give me a break, and like that's the one thing the movie did not succeed at. And it's the thing that I don't think. I don't know why the movie's not invested in acknowledging the fact that this is kind of a not a horror movie, but it's horror adjacent. It's a thriller. It's I mean again, it's single white female.

I mean, you have a stalker who you can't get rid of, and this person is inserting themselves into your life, and because they look like you, they can do it even easier. The fact that they really never acknowledge that he looks just like it is a really strange choice to me. And wasast Yeah, I thought that one year later thing. It was like, well, he does look a little bit more like chau Khan now, but not that much more. I was thinking, like oh, maybe he lost weight or did some of this or did some of that.

Obviously, they probably changed the CG on his face a little bit so he looks a little bit more like Shawru Khan, of course. But yeah, I agree with you that it should have been a big deal. And I'm curious if audiences were they supposed to think that this was more light and fluffy. I mean, we've got these freaking bullies in the movie within like five six minutes of it opening, and they're real dicks to him. So I'm like, Okay, this movie has some malice.

Even in these earliest scenes, it doesn't feel like it should be portrayed as to your point, light and frothy. When he's going up and you know, like threatening to throw himself off of a train, but it's still played for laughs kind of thing. And it's not till he kidnaps Shower Khan's rival and starts to speed him up that you're just like, oh, no, things aren't good to hear whatsoever. But like like you said, I think we knew the entire time that things are going to go bad. Yeah, well, I think I think the biggest flaw with this this movie A lot of ways is that I think the writing because obviously the cast, the cast is tight, it's not the cast and certainly not as okay, but the writing is so uneven and the musical stings our time were so uneven that it's kind of like because one film that it made me think of like because it's like, if you're in do a character like this, it helps to kind of have like shades of gray because that only does that make that kind of more intense because you're like, at times you're like, man, you know you can kind to see why this guy ended up like so messed up and so crazy and so obsessive.

But uh, but it also like puts you in an uncomfortable headspace and I love it when movies do that, like uh, Fade to Black with Dennis Christopher, you know, Where You which is such a great film and talk about a great performance. But but the thing that helps it film, you know, is that there are times you really do understand that character and you kind of understand why he's obsessive, and you know there's a lot of shades of grade there and it's pulled off well like s R. Case got the talent to pull that shit off. I just wish that the writing would kind of match that, and you know, like I kept hoping, and they kind of allude to it much later on in the film of this being one of the biggest issues with this this character with with them.

I'm gonna say guy Van because I'm that's my Southern accent coming out. But the but the the non arian uh Arian s r K, the non like the titular fan character Junior, well yet Steve, We'll just call him she. I like that. It's like, because I kept hoping one the moment where he you know, he feels like his heroes let him down, is that, you know, are we going to see a moment where he just it fully crashes down on him that like, Wow, I'm an empty vessel, like I've hinged my entire personality and existence on this person I don't even know, and you know, and they finally kind of acknowledged that at the at the very end. But I can be like, man, come on, we got to go into that, because it's the whole thing with fan culture is that, you know, with with idolizing anybody, you're sack, you're always in age of sacrificing who you are as a soul as an individual, and so I kind of wanted a little more of that.

I wondered if that was the moment when he tears down all of the pictures, because that's definitely a big turning point in this movie. But to your point, I think that's him getting rid of that fan version of himself and then going into more of the avenger version of himself and wanting to take down a peg by going out and embarrassing him and causing all these scandals and all this, And it was interesting that it was the sex scandal, or basically the groping scandal that really started to bring him down more than anything, more than the outrageous behavior of Madam Tussoul's or any of that, It is the groping that happened just no one shows up for Srk's next concert or next event. And was like, WHOA, Okay, I guess that's sending a message.

That's sex sex pest shahru Khan. Yes, I saw the first sex sex pest is such a great term. He's not a sex pest in real life though, right, No, No, that just plays one on TV. Right, that's the thing, like Chahru Khan, best I can tell like is nothing like the Arian Kana senior character of this movie. And I'm not saying like, I'm not saying he's a bad guy in this movie quote unquote.

And he's not really the film's antagonist. He's I mean not really a protagonist either. He's really just a supporting character to the main character's existence. But he's I mean again like he's he's written in a way where he is somewhat redeemable, somewhat being the key phrase. I don't think he's completely redeemable.

But he's not painted as like a complete scumbag, because if it was painted as a complete scumbag, then you would feel like the you know, the fan character, the junior character is justified in what he's doing, which would be an even more morally confused movie than the one we already get. Now, I'm not saying this movie is confused. I just really don't think this movie wants to have the conversation that you mentioned, Heather, which is when the parasocial relationship becomes too much and then it becomes like you actually believe you're part of this person's life. What does that mean and how does that affect people? Especially in Indian culture where these kinds of actors are venerated this way.

Ami tab would go outside and wave to his fans every weekend. I mean, that's a thing like that, and there's nobody. I mean, there's nobody doing that here like that. I mean there is fan culture in this country of Hollywood star tours, but it's different in India and they really never get into it, which seems like such a strange missed opportunity. I thought so too.

I kept waiting for that, to be honest, because you know, I don't really think we have proper stars anymore in America, like like especially compared to India. Like in India's stars are still stars, like over here, like celebrity culture has taken over. I think the star system, like we don't really have an equivalent to say, like if you're going back to old Hollywood or even like you know, like sixties Hollywood, Like I mean, you know, you don't have we don't have really like a Frank Sinatra or Clark Gable, a Jean Harlowe or Sydney Poitier or you know whoever, Like you know, it's I just don't I don't feel like any of the current actors have that star power. Nobody's like I mean, there's fans, but it's celebrity culture.

People are more intert in Shannon, I think in this country with celebrity and and that sort of image than they are with actual like somebody seeming like they're amost like a mad charismatic, which is kind of what it feels like to me with with with Bollywood, It's like to me, it's like almost like old Hollywood, where it's like the stars just seem truly interstellar. Well, and I think there's also a stunning and again like maybe this is just me processing it through my Western you know, lens, but there is also a stunning lack of cynicism regarding movies. I mean it's they're seen as I mean, they are seen as a product obviously, but I think they're appreciated as less of a product and more of a thing.

That is, you know, you're going out of your way to go do this on the weekend, which is why it's kind of tonally inconsistent, because if you go see this movie with your family and there's a mother, a father, a son, and a daughter, they're kind of each going to get something out of this because there's a little bit of action and there's a little bit of romance, neither of which really work in this movie. Actually, they almost work against the movie that this movie should have been, if it was if it was written a little differently and focused on little different things. But again, it doesn't make that decision, which I'm perfectly fine with it. It makes this movie exactly what it is. But at the same time, that's the way Indian cinema tends to be with these big movies, with these big actors, is there's a little bit of everything for everybody.

Yeah, a buffet, yeah, which is I mean again, like the siloization of genres in this country with film is kind of you know, why we can't, you know, watch certain movies and go why I don't really get that movie. A lot of that comes from the movie not necessarily falling into a tidy genre box, because again, some of the most interesting movies tend to have no genre at all. They're just kind of their own thing. And that's why I think Indian cinema for me, is still so exciting, because that joy of filmmaking has not been lost. I mean, even as weird and off the wall as this movie is everybody in it is putting in one hundred percent.

I mean, and again, it wouldn't work half as well as it does if shahru Khan wasn't giving it his all and he is. Imagine if he was just sleepwalking through this movie like Chevy Chase did inn O Heavenly Dog, a movie where he plays two roles, just all, I don't cares whatever, Like nope, that this is a commitment to a role in a way that is again like this movie is being centered around this one actor, so he'd better be giving it as all. I'm surprised too. It's just all of the locations for this. I mean that we actually go to London and they're all these scenes in London, where I'm like, do we really even need to be in London?

Can be someplace else. But it also sounds like he was shooting other films at the same time. I can't even imagine this guy's schedule. I mean, these people are superstars for a reason because they work hard. I mean, not only are they doing these crazy action scenes, but they're also memorizing all this choreography and doing all these singing and dancing.

I mean, it's nuts to see what they go through for these films. And to your point, Chris, I totally agree as far as the lack of genre or just playing the genre. There were so many times in these movies where I just don't see twists coming because sometimes they're just outrageous and I'm like, really, we just did that, Yes we did, we are doing that. But I had to say this one. It's only quote unquote only two hours in what eighteen minutes long or something, and it's that's so short for a Bollywood film, and it really is pretty conventional, Like I would think that Westerners would not have a problem with this movie whatsoever, because to your point, there's the one song, there's three at least three really solid action scenes.

Yeah, maybe this is something that could be a good entree for white people that want to explore Bollywood cinema. And it's a really interesting use of CGI that we really haven't seen in I mean, like we've seen it in Western cinema, but it's been used in a different kind of I wouldn't say more disgusting way, but a more cynical way, which is resurrecting the corpses of the dead with Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing and Paul Walker. I mean I could continue, there's no point because those are three really terrible examples of things of decisions that were made in movies that like really are just like you don't have to do that. And here it's like we're gonna use that similar technology of like taking a full face and putting it on another person's body, but we're actually just gonna take the normal guy's face and do something to it to make him indistinguishable enough from the real person.

And I mean I haven't I mean outside of like a Mission Impossible movie, but there it's like used as a gag. This is the entire movie where shah ru Khan is giving a performance behind a CGI mask, right right, Yeah, the when you talk about people that are hiding themselves, like just immediately thought of Tilda Swinten with some of the roles that she plays where you're just like, oh, that was her, okay. But as far as like being behind CGI the entire time, I mean, the only thing I could really think of that immediately came to mind was Benjamin Button. And yeah, I think that there are plenty of scenes with regular quote unquote right Brad Pitt, but then it quickly moves from old man to young man, younger than Brad Pitt.

The only Western actor I can think of that's consistently shown to be able to kind of consistently emote very well, like behind like a wall of CGI is actor Doug Jones. Oh yeah, yeah at point. Yeah, a man I respect so much that I can only call him actor Doug Jones. I physically cannot just call him Doug Jones, even though I just did. He his actor Doug Jones.

But no, I mean, yeah, Shahar Kahan and no, I've read that to Mike where he was filming two other movies. Nuts, right, I can't even I'm mad. I mean, and yeah, like agree like somebody like that. Yeah, he needs to be a star anyways. I mean, yes, he's mad, charismatic.

Yeah, he's handsome as hell, very handsome, very talented. But good lord, I mean you think about all these little lake It just makes so many Hollywood people look like the cry babies. But there, you know, it's just like, oh it's it's and the CG. I was so good in this as a whole. There is there was, honestly for me, one uncanny Valley moment at towards a very very end, but as a whole.

And I mean especially because just like a few days ago, like my husband, I went to the movie theater and of course all the trailers, and I mean because we saw the new Godzilla x Kong movie. Of course that's a lot of CGI, but that's monsters, so a lot of it's monsters, so it's different story. But then like telling me they didn't get a real giant ape to play the real giant ape in the movie. Giant apes everywhere are angry. I don't want to talk about it, Chris, where's representation?

Where's a giant apes? Mathra is not real? I won't hear those kind of poppy cockery in my ears. But like, but so many of the trailers we saw, which almost all of them looked like outter dog shit to be honest, like it's pretty bleak, but so much bad CGI. And I mean even God's the le xkogue, Like some of that had great CGI and some of it was a little PS two, well ps three, you know, and here you know in fan they're and they're doing the most difficult kind where you're mimicking a human feature amidst things that you could touch like compared to you know, physical services and people that aren't CGI, and it works.

It shouldn't work, it should not work as well as it does. And I'm somebody who's very much like ninety nine percent on the practical side of things if I had my drothers. But yeah, it was so good well, and not only are they doing at once, but through the first half of the movie, I notice so many mirrors. There are mirrors every place and reflective services, and we really get to see him Junior being reflected multiple time, so it's not just on him, but it's all of those reflections too, and it's just like, oh my god, it's just not And then as we move through the story, like after his moment where he has felt betrayed, we start to lose the mirrors and we start to move more into him and shahru Khan both on screen at the same time, so they're quote unquote mirroring each other, but the mirrors themselves kind of go away.

But even like when he's on the train, where does he go. He goes into the bathroom when he's pulled in by the conductor. It's like him and he's fixing his hair and there's like two of him next to himself, all of these reflections, and it's just again, great, great job to do well and well and to your point, the the again, like you know, Heather, you're mentioning the idea of like everything now has CGI. I do wonder if this, if this had been the way CGI had been used, if we wouldn't be in the state that we're in now where it's like we'll just do it in post pro. That has become kind of the death knell of so many things.

You hear it like we'll just fix it in post It's fine, Like I get that this movie you had to do that, you didn't have a choice, but you also had to make sure that that technology worked ahead of time. And to your point, Heather, with movies now coming out that don't look as good as this movie, which came out in twenty sixteen, the Indiana Jones film that came out last year, could not make fifteen minutes of Indiana Jones CGI digitally Disaged Deaged look half as good as any one of the scenes in this movie. And to your point, Mike, with the mirrors, that feels like the knock the lamp moment of this movie from Roger Rabbit, where they were like, we're really gonna push ourselves as CGI affects like artists and make sure everything lines up, because yeah, when you have the Corridor crew out there now like inspecting everything, and they didn't know that in twenty sixteen, but like, yeah, I watched them talk about these kinds of movies.

They're shocked, and I'm like, why are you shocked? They're putting it all on one thing. They're not doing much else with it. It's for this singular thing. If it's not good, what the fuck did they do it for to begin with?

Absolutely Now I'm and honestly, I'm so glad you brought up the mirror thing, Mike, because that I love that and it was so beautifully done in fact, and one of the things I really loved about this film was the cinematography and also the composition of certain shots. And you mentioned the mirrors, and there's like a shot of the two srks like early on in the jail, right, and they're like they're being reflected off like a like a like a pane of glass, And the way that was done and framed and lit was gorgeous, Like that was such a beautiful, beautiful and beautifully executed scene like I and and I think that's the other thing a lot of like Hollywood movies are missing is that nobody really like has fun.

And again that goes back to what you were saying earlier, Chris, about the love of making film is you can always tell, like if somebody's fake in the fall, if somebody's just doing this because height test audiences will love it and we'll get money, and it's just a route thing. You can feel it. It's like having a stripper on your lap who's dead by the eyes. She'll grinds on you. But you know, mister softy is happening because you can feel it.

You know it's not real. You know there's no legitimacy, and you know, like if somebody's having fun, you can feel that. It's like a human thing. It's like we can sense it. It's like our animal sense knows it.

It just remembered the real comparison movie for this movie is Gemini Man. When you mentioned the Big Stars, I was like, oh, yeah, Will Smith, has he ever doubled himself the Gemini Man, which was twenty nineteen, And again, I don't think it looked nearly as good as this CG from twenty sixteen. And that movie was a failure, I mean just not a failure, but it might have been box office. I don't give a shit about box office. It was a failure that it didn't entertain and it was like an experiment to see if we could do this stuff.

But it was just an experiment and what the plot itself just wasn't. There was not a very intriguing or interesting movie at all. I forgot that movie was a thing, right, yeah, totally forgot about it. Sorry, Well, had you not mentioned, I would have completely well, and you kind of both have already mentioned like CGI and actors breaking out through the CGI. I mean the one that I always think of is Andy Serkis I mean the Guide's kind of I mean like he made his calling on Gollum and then King Kong and then I guess Caesar in Planet of the Apes, which for me, I think is like the best thing he ever did.

Is that third Planet of the Apes movie. Wait, wait, wait, snookes, come on, what about that? Oh god? I oh fuck me, why do I even thought about that? That's the god damn it.

I almost said smog too, and I was like, no, that was better Cumberbats and then you're like Snoke, and you know what the sad thing is, Like, I didn't even register what you said for like a good five seconds. I was like, oh, right, star Wars, so excited for Andy Serkis to be part of Star Wars. Then it was just like the wettest of wet farts. But Andy Serkis is amazing. I mean, he's like Doug Jones.

I mean they're both similar and that they're able to emote through things that ninety nine percent of the actors who are given a similar task just go, I don't really want to try because this sucks, so I don't want to do it. And that's not what's going on here with shah ru Khan. Like he's committed to the he's committed to the Gimmick Brother. And I mean I mentioned I wanted you to bring up and you know, kind of go into Zero in the opening, Heather, because that for me is like this movie, like you should show this movie and Zero in the same evening, not because they're like tonally the same, but because they are two of the wildest performances that are somehow more endearing than they have any right to be about the same actor playing in one movie a little person and the other movie himself and then a crazed psychotic fan version of himself, and they all work somehow, they do well.

And you know the fact that it's something you know, occurred to me because he guys, you were talking about how like the the s RK character are you on our senior is He's like he's just a person, which I like, but yeah, there are times where he is a little bit of a dick and in fact, you know, and at times to his detriment, because it's like, you know, dude, you know this guy is mentally ill, and you're just like you're just like it's not registering for you, and you're still just being an asshole to this guy who needs help, who needs who needs medical help because he is obviously, you know, having some issues. And but in comparison, there's that actor who's like his rival early on that we see Junior like basically tie up and force him to record this like apology and all that.

The Sid Kapoor character, Like that guy's actually a lot nicer than the SRK character because he actually like engages with this fans and yeah, even when his handler's like, ah, you need to get back and the guy's like no, no, let the fan in, and like he's so nice. He's actually like a really nice, like handsome guy, and it's kind of like, I don't know. It's like the more I thought about, I'm like, well, wait, maybe he was the good guy we just but also we don't but we don't have an action scene with him. Like he legit reacts how I think most people would in a situation where it's like, you know, your fight or flight, but it's like you're kind of paralyzed because you're like, whoa, what the fuck's going on?

This guy who I thought was a fan is like tie me up, he's hitting me, he's starting to like shove his trophy in my mouth that's kind of mined at one point, and he's just kind of like stunned, which I think is realistic as opposed to going into like a ten minute long action fight scene where people are tumbling like almost like repelling off of like large historical buildings. It gets really fucking crazy. Action scene means you're just like this is just a country bumpkin from out in the sticks, like from your hometown, SRK, but you you are not, like, people are not these things, these superheroes that they suddenly become. And then now Junior's also superhero for no good reason. But I mean, it's fun to watch, but at the same time, it's totally so different from the rest of the film that it just kind of sticks out for me.

Well, and I don't understand. I don't understand why they didn't lean on it more, because again, like in a lot of ways, the movie succeeds in spite of itself, is kind of what it feels like, like in spite of the fact that there's not enough action, in spite of the fact that the movie doesn't really lean on the psychological aspects of this, like you've mentioned, Heather, like you've also alluded to, Mike. The idea is this guy is mentally unwell. They should show him not even taking his meds, he goes off of his meds or you know, something to that effect, show that nothing has worked and that this guy is like again, he puts on this performance every year and he wins, and he's known as the local celebrity.

You know, he's the guy who won the watermelon seeds spitting contest in nineteen ninety five. You know, it's that kind of thing where it's like, you know, you just happen to be. You know, there are people that are Michael Jackson impersonators. There's a guy from right where I grew up in North Texas who is like one of the world's greatest Elvis impersonators, Craig Parker. He's actually very good too.

I wouldn't want to diminish his abilities as an Elvis impersonator. But that's effectively what we're talking about in this movie is someone who would make a living being a SRK impersonator. And they don't even go there. It's like they don't want to actually get into why this character is the way that he is. And for me, that's where a lot of the interest that's left on the table lies.

The preferred term is tribute artist. Oh god, oh god. I being a fan of Sherman Arnold Michigan own Elvis tribute artists, I'm aware of these things. Nice I were. This is the learning tree.

We are all sitting underneath it. You'll notice none of us said midget at any point, So I'll put it till now. The learning the learning tree, the learning. Yeah, no, it was. We didn't even get like a training montage like you kind of like that's the other thing is like if we had seen him being like, okay, he's going into avenger mode, vengeance mode, and he starts working out, he starts being like, okay, if I get to if I got to match my idol and make sure that my name is always linked with those that I got to mirror him in every way because s r K is boff, that is, I mean, because even his like shoulder muscles.

Those lads, I don't know, you get the swall, the swall muscles, the big wall, the ones where you can't shrug your shoulders. You're like, my neck is gone, it's all muscle. But I can't wear collars. My next too big. But like it's he even just even when he's wearing like a turtle record and then you can see like this guy's jacked like s oir caase in beautiful shape and like so it's like and you know, if this guy's gonna go toe to toe with him, it's like, yeah, get a montage, like you said, Chris, like maybe him not taking his meds, I him maybe retreating because at what point later on the parents say, you know, he was fine until he met you, and he came back different.

But we never see any real interaction with his family other than him selling the cyber cafe, which my question was like, where did he get all this money, as like basically a young adult to own his own business and get all this money for selling it when he's still living at home. I guess it all lose talent contests his only real income source, and he gets like, I don't know how much twenty thousand whatevers are compared to other things, but he's got that big way of cash. When he's taking the train that he refuses to buy a ticket because he was to travel the same way as Hero traveled. Okay, and it's peeling off hundred dollars bills or whatever for one hundred rupees for a vegetarian meal. I'm like, okay, that's my fan theory, and I do mean that as a pot.

Now, one hundred and thirty nine dollars, by the way, is how much money he won? Oh Okay, it's effectively like say two hundred and fifty American twenty thousand rupees. It's about two hundred and fifty. Yeah, so that's the thing, Like his parents go, you're not going to spend two hundred and fifty dollars to go to Delhi to see shahru Khan, Like there you go. They're probably like it's gonna cost more.

Yeah, well that's and that's the thing. It's like, like you both have alluded to, the beginning of the movie doesn't really do a very good job in setting up what the actual issue at hand is, which is this guy is unwell and none of this is okay to begin with, but it's kind of played with such it's a fancy that he's in these talent shows and look at him, he's juxtaposing himself with himself and he's doing these dances and everybody loves it. I love that that comes back later in the movie as kind of this sinister thing that and it's not even sinister. It's actually for his own good because again he is the villain of the movie. But like those scenes are kind of unfortunately few and far between in the second act of the movie.

The second act of the movie just kind of meanders all over the place in a way that by the time I get to the third act, where it's like a full blown action movie. It doesn't feel as earned as it should have. And again I'm not saying that the action movie couldn't have worked. It plenty well could have. Like we've kind of already talked about in these films, normal people do crazy things all the time, but here it feels like even a step too far because again, like they don't allude to him having really made any changes.

He's just we don't see him for a year. Okay, Yeah, it felt it felt a little random. It to me. It's like it's just like I'm like, oh, okay, and yeah, like it doesn't. The film as all is very enjoyable, as I think we're all pretty much an agreement on that, but yeah, it's that's random.

And also just the fact that a guy that that his his thing is computers and own and owned a cyber cafe, all of a sudden he's able to do light triple like somersaults and like Parkour, like I believe that's sor I believe that's Ark's character can because he's an actor, like more believably. But yeah, not the local dude like you mentioned Mike from your neighborhood. Like when we all we all knew somebody like this in high school that was like really into something or someone probably to what one might would say, in this film's case, an unhealthy level. But again like this, like this needed to be painted even more kind of sinister and where the movie goes at the end of the movie, it kind of thinks it took it there, Like, let's talk about the third act, because I think we all really want to, because that's where probably most of the problems lie for the movie, at least in the final you know, the final execution of the movie and what it's ultimately trying to say.

So at the end of the movie, you have SRK confronting himself his junior version on a rooftop after they've essentially bought their way up there and they're both at their wits end, and he essentially goes, hey, you need to go get help and like stop and start living for yourself and stop living for being me or you know, trying to be me and you are yourself and start living as yourself and be yourself, and he goes, nope, fuck you, you didn't say sorry to me, throws himself off of a building, which is just like that old time you never said the word. Sorry. Such a binary choice we have here here. I mean, I guess if we really want to dig into the idea that this guy's unwell, I guess the movie makes it pretty clear in the most drastic way possible that this man is clearly unwell.

But I don't feel like the suicide at the end of this movie is remotely earned at all. It kind of just feels like we don't know where to go with this movie. Really, Like I get what they were going forwards, like our names will be linked forever, but like, so what Like Jody Foster and John Hinckley are linked forever, But I think Jody Foster at this point is probably more known for other things, because as time passes and people forget and new things are made, people tend to forget those things. Most people now don't think about Richard Gear and the Gurbil anymore. Like that's not what anybody thinks about.

That was a thing sooner for yourself. Sorry, I'm sorry, Team gerbil An. Exactly When I was watching the movie, there's a moment where, uh, it's the two guys that come to pick up Junior after it has been revealed to Senior what he did with Senior's rival. The two guys that come to pick him up are tall, They've got these mustaches. I can't find their names on IMDb, but I would not be surprised if there are two of the guys that hang out with Well maybe not because it's South Indian, but they so look like those dudes that hang out with Jailer, the ones that are sharpshooters.

No, yeah, two Indian heavies. Yes, I will agree with you that the suicide is unearned, but I had to say it is shot beautifully with the lights in the alleyway and then the I think you mentioned blowout earlier, all of the fireworks going off overhead so reminded me of Jack at the end of Blowout when he's cradling Nancy Allen's body in his arms. There. Oh, Mike, okay, I'm glad. I'm glad you brought up a fireworks.

That was when I started laughing because I was say, what like this is I mean, the suicide. I didn't have a total issue with it, just because like there's a whole thing where he's talking about you've you've you've ruined my life, even though he's ruined his own life because and I had to mention my personal favorite twist is when Senior is like okay, basically okay, you want to go. You want to go, kid, Okay, let's let's let's see how you like it and goes to his parents' house talks to him on from his right next to his parents, being you know, and it's like, oh, you're gonna see the real me now, I'm not a star. Now, I'm just a guy from Delhi, like, and he's like, he's all like like a badass mode and he impersonates his stalker for the Talent Show while his stalker is watching him a gas The best part of the whole goddamn movie, thank you.

Oh my god, I was almost clapping. I was like this, I was living for that moment. I loved it. So with him suicide because his parents at this point have they've been forced to face the fact that like, yeah, your son has lost his shit and he's literally trying to kill people now and shooting in a public space. So yeah, I mean, there's no turning back.

As sweet as the thought isn't for Senior to be like, you know, basically say no worries, oh go back and Atholic, nothing happen you do that too. I'm like, I'm pretty sure the police might have an issue with that. I mean, that's a mentioned the laws that you have broken in other countries on top of that, and breaking an entering, scaring his poor kids and his wife and just all kinds of craziness. But there was kind of a beautiful, like sort of fuck you about being like you didn't stay sorry, and it's like, well, this is why this guy was never in a real relationship. Take it.

You cann't take not hearing sorry. Apparently you cannot have a healthy human relationship of any stripe without being at least being willing to say you know what, yeah I'm sorry ear, or just to let you go. So don't just gonna let you go. It's healthy. You can't hold a lot of things, like you know, whether somebody you know didn't clean the toilet sea or if it's your favorite superstar and they snubbed you and may have thrown you in jail because you may have kidnapped somebody against just a little bit, you know, it's just a weep it, but just the way that suicide Mike, you nailed it.

It's it's perverse because it's beautifully done and it's like, but it's like a hero's stepp right. They have given him the moon pushes of death scenes because it's gorgeous. The music's nice, and all of a sudden got fireworks. And this is where I thought it was a little uncanny valley when you have that camera angle will his face uh the camera angle where his face is facing flat straight up, and it does it. It's almost like it's almost like Rick to scrin it's so close to Rick to Sea.

I was a little uns that, but it's a death scene. You probably should be unsettled. But but I was like, okay, movie, I get it. The total whiplash you're just getting at one little little watch, one little like whips out in there of just like what are we I don't even know what's going on now? Okay, he's beautific, nice I but I appreciate it.

I'm like, if you're if you're gonna go nuts in a film, embrace it. Oh yeah, that's the only way it's gonna work. I kind of wish the movie had gone more nuts, like frankly, like that's I don't know, like that's and then that's kind of what we're all saying is like I wish that there was more of the stuff we enjoyed, which is the movie just being very strange, like in a very specific way. And I actually come to think of it and kind of surprised, given how successful this movie was, that this movie hasn't been remade in the States, like with a major Western actor like you mentioned, Happy Cock does not count. Friend Durst movie with John Travolta doing a terrible British accent does not God.

The fact that that fanatic, yeah, the fanatic, Yeah God, that movie is a yeah, good lord, this movie. I think I'm surprised they haven't you know, someone some aspiring you know, Western filmmaker didn't watch it. Go well, if we get the right actor, they probably would do this in a heartbeat, like like a Johnny Depp type, you know, like you know someone who's like, you know, just like I'll do it just cause like I'm a bit and you know you can cause again, you could lampoon the real person at the same time. And well, yeah, it's like Bullfinger almost where you've got the two brothers, like you find out at some point that the second Eddie Murphy is the brother of the first Eddie Murphy, but the first Eddie Murphy is completely insufferable lampooning himself, which I found to be great, right, and and again, like this movie doesn't even really pull the trigger on any shahru Khan stuff either, Like it's and look, that's probably because he's the one in the movie.

If it weren't him, but it was a character meant to be him, kind of like and again, maybe another thing that's similar to this, but it's done with practical effects is a tropic thunder where it's like you're kind of speaking to the real people. But like, again, Ben Stiller is playing Tom Cruise in that movie, which is why they're lampooning Tom Cruise. I don't know. I mean, I'm not saying SRK is not a well, well intentioned, self aware human being. I'm not saying that he probably is.

He wouldn't have gotten as far in life as the as the level and caliber of actor that he is if he wasn't half self aware at least completely self aware. But because he's playing the character in this movie that is himself in effectively real life, they don't send it up. It's just he's just there. And it may have even been better if he had been dialed up a little bit. But again, I think the movie doesn't really ever pick a lane unfortunately.

But I will say the scene at the end of the movie where he sees Junior in the crowd is just Oh, it's such a what the hell? Like he haunted forever. I mean, yes, yeah, it's it that reminded me of like a taxi driver moment with like Betsy getting into the back of the cab. I was just like, Okay, we're gonna end this way, all right, all right? He like I think we get it, like I actually get it the first time you did it movie, and that for me, I think that scene where like where Shavrak Khan's playing himself seeing himself and they just stay on him and it's like the very slow motion freak out of him seeing himself.

I think that scene is horrifying like that, and you get to see like the genuine insanity in this charc like in this character, and like, oh shit, like now he's seen it and now we're really in trouble. But it kind of they kind of undercut it by having come back at the end of the movie. I mean, like he will haunt your dream was like, what is this the Twilight Zone? All of a sudden, like come on it, we get it, I get it. Movie like this is this movie is not playing fair with its emotional kind of cards.

It's holding some back because again, it has to make shahru Khan, I guess, relatable and likable as a character. But I think it would have been a little bit more interesting if he had been kind of a bigger piece of shit throughout the entire movie. Just to underscore the fact that at the end of the movie, this guy also gets what he deserves. Like, I don't actually think shah Rukhan's character in the movie deserves to be saddled with this psychotic human being that was obsessed with him. Yes, he did not say he was sorry, but to Heather's point, get a fucking grip, dude, Yeah yeah, yeah, I don't.

I don't, especially when he keeps me like you still didn't say you're sorry. It's like, dude, you just framed him for a whole bunch of illegal activity in a in a foreign country that he's not a citizen. He's got to deal with like this third rate pissy ass. It's Peter Capaldi like, like Officer, it was slightly a little racist. I felt it.

He was like, yeah, it was, Oh my gosh, I was. And I'm like, that guy's a feeling. Can we just have him stalk his ass? You know? Like s Okays Not that I mean even Sarkay in this film, in his most dickish moments.

He's not that bad. It's nothing transgressively bad, you know. And and honestly, if they had mentioned in the movie, hey, he's making three films and he's got kids. Okay, Yeah, he's not gonna be Mary Sunshine all the time. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So yeah, And that whole end scene was weird because it's like, because the way that the characters were looking at each other, I'm like, is this supposed to be scary or is this some sort of like transcendent like ah, there you are, my little Stalker ghost or something. You know. I don't know what's seemed to again, because I like think about crowd scenes in a Perfect Blue like and that, and that's a very different movie. And I know it's an anime, but like her Stalker, when you see his face in those crowds, it's immediately like terrifying, it's scary, and you feel for her, you worry for her, you know. And I feel like if we're seeing a dead ghost of a stalker, that should be a similar five.

Well, I'm just glad that they didn't have him mouth the words I'm sorry and then have the ghosts like fade away. Would it have been so bad? Well, at least they didn't replace the ghost of Hayden Christiansen. Speaking of Star Wars, I guess and you know again because we have Wikipedia and someone wrote the Wikipedia explanation for the movie. The Wikipedia explanation is that he sees the fan in the crowd, and in seeing him, he appreciates the other fans more and he re engages with the other fans in the audience like are you fucking with?

Is that? I mean, I guess you can take that away from that scene, but I mean, the movie doesn't really have that discussion at any point, and having in the last thirty seconds of the movie what to what end? I like this movie as a character piece, as a weird character study of what a fan can look like in a culture where fandom is part of the film going experience. You know, liking a certain actor to the point of I love this actor. I'll only go see their movies, but they don't mine it enough, which is kind of strange because they're not like anybody else is gonna make this movie for this culture this way, like this is the one time you're doing this.

Better bring your A game. And I'm not saying it wasn't their a game, but I don't think it was as much of their a game as it could have been. Agreed. Yeah, No, I saw that Wikipedia entry too, and I thought that was a very curious interpretation because it's like, is it to say, like, I mean, if we had a moment where he's like, you know what, a lot of these people are crazy, but at least they're just regular crazy and not stalker like forging IDs and wearing fake beards crazy. Yeah.

Yeah, no, that was Handles so weird. It's almost like part of me as wishes they would have gone darker and be like where he keeps seeing different people looking kind of like the fan where it's just you realize this is a But again, it's like me probably wanting more of the parasocial kind of aspects brought to the forefront because I feel like there is potential for that, like I feel, But you know what, I enjoyed the film, Gosh, I have you know, somebody could definitely do a lot worse than the Fan as as evidenced by the trailers I had to sit through Twisters. Really, Oh, at first I thought you were talking about the trailers that you had to sit through on Fan and I'm no, no, no, no, no, those trailers are fun.

No, I mean it was finding it for me to tell Chris like, oh my god, I want it, let's do it. Episode No, No, you're right. Twisters was absolutely awful. They missed their big chance. There's no cow in the trailer.

The cow sold the first movie. Well, they should have had two cows exactly, That's what it should have been for each right. I was more of a fan in the first movie of the smoldering chemistry between Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. God could not stand one another. Apparently that's real, that's real.

They apparently hated each other so much that when doing the footage for the Universal Studios Twister ride, they refuse to do it together. So if you go to the ride and see it, that's why they're in two different places. Because they hated each other so much they didn't want to do it together. Oh that's funny. I had no indeed spilling the titster the Twister Teaster.

Wow, that's a whole different movie. I think that was the porn parody. This time it'll be this ain't Twisters triple X porn parody. I think it's so lazy. Right, let's go back to the days of Hannah does her sisters and on Golden Blonde exactly, Yes, the ponies, that's maybe my favorite.

Well, Chris and I are going to have to watch at some corn about the HBO classic And you know how much you know, much hot hot incest there is all the time, and that show the sexual tension between Tony and his daughter is off the hook. Oh god, I just don't like you know, there's a there's a Simpsons triple export and parody out there too, and it's just there's no incest because they don't do it, but everybody clicked on it expecting there would be, so, you know, you know, shame on them, shame on who oh lord, we have entered a dark dark was the dark alley? We went down the wrong alley, folks, even my degenerate soul has lived like good night, I wash my hands of the Yes, yes, splis splash, get the holy water.

We're taken a bath. And because that is, it's dark excited. But what it's not dark excited? Yeah? I did like this film as all I do.

I do wish there were things. But honestly, Chris, you made a great point. I think if I think if somebody, I'm surprised that a Westerner has tried to do it, but I'm glad because honestly, if they did try to do it, they would fuck it up. It would be terrible. They'd probably have some like you know which, by the they probably have like imagine, late was Pete Davidson, butthhole eyes himself as throwing myself threw up in my own mouth.

Well, i'd imagine. Well, butthhole eyes? Is that a reference to the late Eric Carmon who just passed away with his classic song from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Oh wait, that was hungry eyes. I'm whole eyes. They're watching you.

That was all enough. They see you, I mean, butthole eyes. They're taking a pooh. They see your every pooh is the that's the weird al approved version see on the Fly Baby, I got them for days oops oop themed songs. I'm here for it, yeah right itself, Yeah, it really does.

The thing is like, because even we don't really does Hollywood even have like I don't think it does, but I don't know. You you guys, you guys, honestly, you watch a lot more like like more new, like more recent movies than I do. Like do you think is there a current day equivalent over here in the States that could even hold sr case shock? I think there's one person that comes close. But I, oh, I guess two people.

I could see two people playing the role in this movie, either on the nose, Tom Cruise or Robert Downey Junior. I would add, of all people can reef yeah, oh wow, whoa I myself something I mean? And he'd be so like cool about it at first, and then he would just continue to get angry. And you really haven't seen angry KIANU other than like John Wick, you know, right, And even that is not really yeah, exactly, it's not. It's not Nicholas Cage.

Who is another person who could do this and he kind of did with that The Genius movie. Genius Movie, the one with him at Pedro Pascal the Unbearable weight of massive talent. They were Yeah, that movie it was okay, Yeah, because he was doing Sailor as as well as himself. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Actually, you know what that that's an interesting comparison.

Yeah, I enjoyed this more than that. I mean again, like, if we're talking about like fan worship and fan culture, like that movie kind of is the closest that we could look at immediately. But I mean to your point, Heather, like, and we've said this plenty of times on the ball, he would send him a club, and it probably bears re beating here on the culture cast, there aren't any actors of their equivalent in the States. There's not an equivalent of Rodney Kank, There's not an equivalent of SRK. There's not an equivalent of ron Beer Kapoor, who I'm ninety nine percent convinced is supposed to be the Sid Kapoor character in this movie, which is the name of the first movie Ron ber Kapoor got known for.

Was his character in that movie was named Sid. So I'm like, is that what this is? He also kind of looks like him too, but I don't think Ron ber Kapoor is like, again, that character in the movie is not even an asshole, so it's actually beside the point. But I don't think there's anybody like a lot of these really big Indian actors. And I don't even think you have to be that big because the one actor, Heather that showed up a bunch of times than when we did Bollywood Cinema Club a year ago.

Those episodes still havent come out yet. Is Johnny Lever And Like, he's not like a massive name, but he's in plenty of things and he probably has massive amounts of fans for his stuff. So yeah, I mean the fan celebrity culture in our country. It's once we figured out that mel Gibson takes a hoop like the rest of us and also is a massive bigot, which is his own problem, not ours. But you know that Tom Hanks takes his dog for a walk.

Now that we know that it's not, they're not nearly as exciting as they used to be, And that's kind of what it feels like. Yeah, no, I agree. Also, I just feel like they're a little more bland for some reason. Maybe it's because of the lack of mystery. But I also just think it's I don't know, there's like a quality like maybe that's why, like when it comes to we're modern actors.

Of course, I love old school character actors too. I'm always more intero with the character actors because I feel like they they're the ones that tend to have some kind of like sparkle about them, like even when they're in a tiny like like say like Dylan Baker, Like even if Dylan Baker's in something for ten minutes, I'm immediately like, oh my god, it's Dylan Baker, and I get excited, and he has a certain presence, you know where you know, there's so many like to me just kind of like facelessly that I just can't. I mean, you know, there are so many Like I'll see people talk about actors and actresses. I'm just like, I don't know, Like somebody talk about like Sophie Backter's cleavage, and I don't even know who that is, Just like, who's that one that I suddenly have seen every Oh Sydney Sweeney, yeah, from Immaculate.

I never heard of her until Madam Webb and then now she's everywhere. Madam Webb best film of twenty twenty four. Fuck yeah a currently, I've worked with her before. Apparently she's on the white Lotus. Don't do stupid things.

Seriously, don't do stupid things line light my and thank you, you're you're, you're welcome. That's my line reading from my dad web. Yeah that was that's up there. That's some crackling dialogue. Really sizzles on the page.

God uh yeah, I'm I'm kind of with you, Heather. I you know, maybe this is just me quote getting older unquote and becoming more of a get off my lawn type old man. But yeah, I just now the line is so blurred. It's like where are you from? Are you?

Are you from something? Are you from TikTok? Are you from YouTube? Or are you just famous for farting on the internet? Like at this point, well, I mean like at this point you can literally get Here's an example.

I was in LA a couple of weeks ago and I saw while walking out of the bathroom, and I won't say who, a pretty famous YouTuber that my parents watch, and like I called my parents when I got out of the bathroom and I was like, hey, I think I saw this YouTuber that you guys watch. While I was walking out of the bathroom, They're like, you should go say hi to him, and I was like, guys, no fucking way. But I was like, but I'll do it for you guys. I was like, I'll do it for y'all because I love you guys so much. So I like walked up to him and I was like, hey, I just wanted to let you know, like, and I feel bad now in retrospect, like I was like, I don't watch your stuff, but my parents do.

I was like, oh, sorry, and then he was like, oh man, that's really nice. And I was like yeah, okay, bye. But like again, like he was able to walk around in the airport with like and you know, there are pe in the world that cannot do that. And I think that that is becoming less and less every day. And also I think it's becoming less of a thing anyways, Like I don't know, like everybody can have their fifteen minutes of fame now, even if you creative for yourself.

So it feels a lot less exciting when you can just be like I'm gonna make YouTube videos and get famous that way. That the path to being famous is a lot more wide open than it used to be. Yeah, that's an excellent point. Actually, that's also like that guy sounds nice. I'm glad at least he wasn't a dick.

It was very nice too. I mean I kind of came off as a dick by accident. I was like, it's not that I'll watch your stuff. I don't watch your stuff, but someone else enjoys your content, so at least that's what's important, right, you know I would have taken the comp absolutely. Yeah, as opposed to what do you do podcasts?

Nobody does that to us anymore, right, Mike. Final thoughts on fan Yeah, Like I said before, I think this would be a good entry point for people to get into Bollywood films if they haven't before, because it is ready Western concept. We have seen this before. I think the action scenes are great, like the one musical number that we have, almost wish that there were more. And yet it's on Amazon Prime right now and the subtitles are very good, which is surprising.

This is one of the few films Chris, that we can say the subtitles were really good, So thank you for once. Amazon. If it's a why if it's a YRF film, and has a very high likelihood of being well subtitled as you can as you can probably tell. Yeah, once once we kind of start deviating off of the big studios, Yeah, your mileage is going to really vary. Yeah, yeah, Heather, what about you?

Final thoughts on Fan You know what I think. I think it's I think it's an interesting film. I think it's got a lot of fascinating twists. It's got some gorgeous symmetry, and it's got a great performance by Cirque. Could be better, it could be a howl a lot worse.

So Yeah, I liked it. I'm so glad we got it. You know, I'm I'm the same. I'm glad that we finally got to talk about it. It did live up to everything I was hoping.

It's kind of like for me, Heather, when we did Ega, which was, I mean again, like such a crazy concept of a movie and yet it works. I love Yeah. Ega is like I mean EGA, when a man is resurrected as a fly and then fights a human being the entire movie as a fly. If that doesn't excite you, I don't know what will. But this movie is up there for me in terms of like the highest of high concept things I've seen from Indian cinema.

And just like Ega, this movie is way better than it realistically, if you describe it to someone would have any right working. But this movie works really well. It has some problems, but again the problems don't get in the way at least for me and clearly for y'all of my ability to enjoy this movie. And yeah, I think to your point, Mike, this is a one that should be on a list of you know, Bollywood movies that be easy for you to get into because a it's easy to find and be it has the biggest you know, the in my opinion, and I think in a lot of people's the biggest name in Indian cinema in it. The last thing I did want to mention because none of us mentioned that the thing in this movie that I really appreciated that SRK did is he plays himself as junior from time to time and it is the part of the movie I wish they had mined the most because when he turns that shahru Khan on and does his normal voice and does the mannerisms, that's where the movie was starting to really shine.

It's like, oh, shit, he can like do him too? What does that mean? It never really gets mined. But again, if this movie were ever made in the States, that would probably be the direction that they go because you've seen this movie do its thing, and you would need to go a little further. So yeah, I think this movie lived up to the expectations that I had for sure.

And look, it's an SRK movie. You really can't go wrong. So on that note, we'll take a break, play some ads, and we'll come back with the end of the episode. Hi. I'm Susan and I'm Sharon, and we're the hosts of Eighties tv Ladies.

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Please join us as we examine one of the greatest sitcoms in television history, Taxi on Night Mister Walters at Taxi Podcast. Good Night, mister Walters. Good evening and welcome to Night Gallery. Thank you, Rod, and I want to welcome everyone to Midnight Viewing, where once a month we talk all about your follow up to the Twilight Zone, Rod Serling's Night Gallery. They say it's Rod Juley's Night Gallery, and it isn't really Rod jo Le's Night Gallery.

It's somebody else's. Oh we know, we talk about it a lot. Your curators at Midnight Viewing are the Projection Boots, Mike White. What can happen to human beings when trust is wiped out by suspicion and culture casts Chris Stashure, Small Boy, occasionally Crystal Ball and I'm Father Alone the kind of thing that usually infest nightmares. Join us monthly at Midnight Viewing.

The Night Gallery podcast at Weirdingwaymedia dot Com doesn't remotely belong to me o proprietary interest in that at all. Good morning, Sir, I shall make catch a year. Tibe is good, You're direct, lunch Bag, Willie Lifeline, sum Mus, Die Lumbaker, The Visa, Oh Nay More, Ragau Lucks Passes, Kick Girl, Who's to j Terry comes so Much? Yea Kia National Dandia Hero Bunk Hard Hero and Niko Bill like Bagi Terry Hero of Source mat to a Scarpet pland Macadata Lamiri Sochnay. So that's right.

On the final episode of April for Bollywood Cinema Month. Over on the Culture Cast, we are going to be talking about Moosafir, which is another Indian cinema movie. I've never seen it and I know nothing about it. I'd like to go into these movies knowing as little as possible. But we'll be joined by Colin Gallagher, which is fun because I haven't talked to Colin in eight months or something.

It's insane. Until then, Where can people find you and all the things you work on, Heather, Well, you can find me over at my linktree, linktree dot com, forward slash Mondoheather. There you will find various articles. You'll find my website Mondoheather dot com, I page you'reon at Mondoheather, my social media, and uh, various episodes of lovely podcasts I get to appear on, including the Culture Cast with Urga Music War, Where's Me Chris and the brilliant and always fantastic Rachel McFadden and uh and yeah, so yeah, just go over to my Linktree, liktree dot com, Forward, Slash Mondoheather by you, Mike, and everything that I do is available over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. And that's uh, everything that's worth listening to.

So definitely check out everything at wordingwaymedia dot com. How about you, Chris. As for me, Weirdingwaymedia dot com is where you can find almost everything. Mike. There's only one thing you can't find at weirdingwaymedia dot com, and that's rankin on Bond, which we do over on your Patreon and my Patreon for the ten dollars and up level.

What is ranking on Bond? You might ask, Well, you and I and ritual you know, I know, you know you're there. I hope you tell me more. Where am I? What's happening?

Dear stranger? Ranking on Bond? You and I and the Mofman Prophecy Zone Rich HadAM talk about James Bond once a month. And if that's the thing you're into, which if you're listening to this you might be, you can go and find over at patreon dot com, slash culturecast or patreon dot com slash projection. So yeah, all the places that you can go to find the stuff that I work on, Like Mike mentioned weirdingwaymedia dot com.

Uh, Heather Mike, thank you both so much for joining me. This was fun. We haven't done an episode of the three of us in quite some times. It's fun. Chris, Yeah, and uh and as always, we'll catch on the next episode.

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