The Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap

In the latest episode of The Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri talk about a Pakistani movie, Cake, as well as a show based on Vampire housemates, What We Do in the Shadows. They also discuss The Times of India's new classified ad. The podcast kicks off with a discussion about a video game, Sniper 3D Assassin, where journalists get killed. They also talk about some of the shows that came to an end, namely the Game of Thrones and The Big Bang Theory. While talking about Cake, Abhinandan said, “If a Pakistani film is above average, it’s said, oh, it is brilliant." Giving anecdotes from the film, Rajyasree adds, “They make our regressiveness seem progressive.” While discussing What We Do in the Shadows, Rajyasree not only recommends the show but also describes it as "laugh-out-loud funny". She urges people to watch the show instead of watching Republic TV's Arnab Goswami. The duo also discusses the new Nirma commercial starring Akshay Kumar. Abhinandan criticises him by saying, “He demonstrates his lousy martial arts which he pretends to be an expert at." For this and more, tune in!

In the latest episode of The Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri talk about car advertisements, new trailers, Kanhaiya Kumar’s campaign song, Amy Poehler-directed Wine Country and more. Reviewing Poehler’s directorial debut, Wine Country, Rajyasree says the film doesn’t work despite the fantastic cast. She says, “They keep trying to put in funny lines, sometimes you should just let it (be). But it’s really impressive to see this line-up of really funny women come together for this film." Moving on, the hosts talk about the Datsun redi-Go advertisement. Rajyasree found the idea of the ad quite heart-warming. She also added that it was strange that the car was parked in the middle of the road while the participants were resolving their fight. According to Abhinandan, it was completely realistic for a Delhi road, but he disagrees with the message that the ad puts out. The duo also talks about The Kings, an Indian dance troupe, which won NBC’s World of Dance competition this year. They discuss Suresh Mukund and his 14-member troupe’s journey and performances. Abhinandan finds their routine and performances to be fantastic. He says, “The kind of acrobatics and the physical ability and dexterity of his team, and the strength, is phenomenal.” Talking about movie trailers, Abhinandan finds the trailer of De De Pyaar De, starring Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Rakul Preet Singh, to be quite funny. What impressed Rajyasree the most was the age-gap between Bollywood actors and actresses who often romance each other and how it has been directly addressed in this case. They also discuss the trailer of It: Chapter Two. The hosts discuss their takeaways from the first film, which was based on a novel by Stephen King, and how they look forward to the new film after this brilliantly produced trailer. The panel also discusses a short film called Tyson, Kanhaiya Kumar’s election song, and more. Listen in to find out!

Winter has come and gone, the Night King's had shatteringly bad luck, Arya's become kickass, and the Mountain stands like a hunk of flesh behind Cersei. But listeners of the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap have been asking: "Why aren't you talking about all this?!" So in this very special episode, Abhinandan says "hold my beer" and ropes in some in-house Game of Thrones nerds to talk about the greatest pop culture phenomenon of modern times. He is joined by Meghnad S, Gaurav Sarkar and Anish Daolagupu, all of whom are GoT fans on differing levels. Unlike Abhinandan, they've got one thing in common: they're all glued to their screens and watching the show. Meghnad, Gaurav and Anish discuss what makes the show so great—no, it's not just the sex and gore—why everyone is so obsessed with it, and how people are incredibly outraged about the latest season. Meghnad tries to defend the show, Anish and Gaurav fight back, and Abhinandan is thoroughly amused by this spirited debate. Listen in!

In this new episode of the Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri talk about the 2019 Met Gala, the trailer of Sacred Games 2, two election music videos, and more. From tracking the history of the Met Gala to deciding whether or not Abhinandan’s taste in sneakers is "Camp" or not, the duo discussed the “the party of the year” in details. This time, the theme was—Camp: Notes on Fashion. In Rajyasree’s opinion, “the frizzy hair” look of Priyanka Chopra made her look like the Hollywood actress Helena Bonham Carter, who Abhinandan thinks always “looks a little off”. However, he thought that Deepika Padukone looked magnificent! The duo also discusses the new Pan Bahar advertisement, which they find incredulous. Although they agree that it is “as crappy as an ad can get”. Rajyasree says, “This is how India will overpower the world.” Abhinandan said this ad will help inspire people to join the para-commandos. The next ad they discuss is one put out by Surf Excel. According to Rajyasree, it is a short, compassionate, well-made ad. In fact, one of the best ads she has seen recently. Speaking about the cast of Sacred Games 2, Abhinandan says that he is excited for it as he really enjoyed the first part that was written by Varun Grover. Two new songs that they talk about are Raftaar - Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar and Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad Campaign Song. The former between the two matches the funk of Congress’ Ab Hoga Nyay song, according to Rajyasree. The panel also discusses Netflix’s new nine-part series Street Food and the popular MCU film Avengers: Endgame. Listen in for more!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss the film Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, television show Veep, political satire stand-up comedy show Aisi Taisi Democracy: The Aazaadi Tour, and music videos by Taylor Swift and Madonna. They also break down the new Pepsi commercial-cum-music video Har Ghoont Me Swag and critique the Election Commission’s new radio commercial. The podcast kicks off with Rajyasree talking about the film that she could bear only 45 minutes of—Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, starring Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Sonam Kapoor, and Rajkummar Rao. She believes it severely lacks conviction and fails to push the envelope given the potential of its lesbian-centric storyline. The panel then discusses two music videos by artists generations apart from one another. The first is Madonna’s Medellín that Abhinandan believes is “very slick” but wishes “there was a better song to go with it”. He compares it to Taylor Swift’s latest single, Me, and observes that while both videos were cinematically phenomenal, Swift's song embodies the generation it caters to, while Madonna’s "toe-sucking" scene in the video just seems like she's trying too hard. Although both hosts cringe at Pepsi’s new tagline, Har Ghoont Me Swag, they laud the video’s attempts to push the boundaries. On the other hand, the Election Commission’s radio commercial urging transgenders to vote is subject to far more criticism since both hosts thought it reeks of political incorrectness. The conversation then steers towards the stand-up comedy performance, Aisi Taisi Democracy: The Aazaadi Tour, and the panel discusses its cutting and insightful level of comedy. Rajyasree also talks about the political satire TV show Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, saying she believes it's brilliantly scripted and well worth a watch. Tune in for more!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen discuss the 64th Filmfare Awards, The Music Teacher, Selection Day season 2, Bharat's trailer and Akshay Kumar’s interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The podcast kicks off with a discussion on a Netflix movie, The Music Teacher. Rajyasree says, “While there is a poignancy to it, it’s very stretched out." Despite being a movie based on music, the dubbing of the songs and its lip syncing by the actors is extremely poor. Abhinandan says, “For a film about music and music teachers, they couldn’t get the singing right which is ridiculous.” However, Abhinandan praises the frame of the film as it is shot in the hills of Shimla. The hosts then discuss the trailer of Bharat. In awe of Salman Khan, Rajyasree thinks that the movie is going to be a blockbuster. She says, “To pack so much into a trailer is also a skill in itself.” The film encapsulates documentary evidence of Jawaharlal Nehru’s passing. Abhinandan says, “What they have said is something along the lines of Forrest Gump because they use documentary evidence of Nehru’s passing.” The discussion moves on to Akshay Kumar’s interview with Modi. According to Rajyasree, the choice of Akshay Kumar as the interviewer was fabulous in terms of the stance on social issues and politics that he has in general. But on a whole, the hosts condemn the idea of this interview itself. Abhinandan says, “I thought it was a complete PR exercise, it’s a disgrace that all television channels are carrying it. It’s a disgrace for ANI that it did something like this, it is clearly to avoid the Election Commission cracking down on them...” Also, he takes a dig on what Modi speaks about his chat with Obama and regards it as completely nonsensical. Stay tuned for more!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss Reason, Game Of Thones, some political songs and ad campaigns, and a lot more. They start off with Anand Patwardhan’s Reason, a documentary split into eight parts, which they conclude is to attract a digital audience. The documentary is about the hate spread by Hindu organisations and how they're responsible for the murders of Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and Gauri Lankesh. Abhinandan says the film looks like it was made in the 1980s and calls it "boring". But he adds: "What I like about this is that I had followed the Dr Dabholkar murder, you see a lot of footage of him which I haven’t seen on television … what was a revelation for me was what a brilliant and articulate man he was and how beautifully he debunked godmen and stuff.” Moving to Game Of Thrones, Rajyasree gives a sneak peek into the first episode of Season 8. She says, "All the characters were pretty much shown in the first episode." She also found it a little disappointing, considering the long wait for its release. The discussion moves to BBC's documentary podcast Mumbai Mirror, which is on the life and work of a newspaper before the elections. Both think it was very well put together. Rajyasree says it captured both feel and flavour, adding: "It's not just about election reporting ... it's mainly about the running of this newspaper." The conversation shifts to political music videos and ad campaigns like #MyFirstVoteForModi, Chunega Kya and Acche Din Blues. Both Abhinandan and Rajyasree intensely disliked #MyFirstVoteForModi—which is intended to reach out to young voters—and call it "terrible". On the flip side, Abhinandan praises Chunega Kya and Acche Din Blues in terms of their production value. On the latter, he says, "...it's an excellent piece of audiovisual communication, an excellent piece of cinema, the singing/narration is amazing." For this and a lot more, tune in!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss Criminal Justice, Traitors, the trailer of Joker, and the political campaign songs of the Congress and BJP during election season. The podcast kicks off with Rajyasree telling us about a new Hotstar series, Criminal Justice, which she feels is suspenseful but also unrealistic and implausible in parts. She says the actors are good, except "doped-out Jackie Shroff". Our hosts talk about the newly-released trailer of Joker. They agree that Joaquin Phoenix is one of those actors who really becomes a character. While Rajyasree appreciates the trailer as it gives nothing away, Abhinandan finds it to be a case of tedious repetition, saying "they're all the same”. They move on to discuss the campaign songs of the Congress and BJP. Rajyasree says that Congress’s song Ab Hoga Nyay is a "well-made music video and a catchy song”. Abhinandan thinks the Congress's production value was higher, though "the BJP has more money". In the BJP's song Main Bhi Chowkidar, he says he's disappointed with the line "yeh ek a kela nikal panda main iski katar hun". He says, “When you’re making a music video … in any mass communication exercise, there should be the sense of 'team'. Not ‘you are king, I am your dust’.” He says the AAP started the concept of catchy political songs, even though they had very little money. Tune in for more!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss the latest How To Train Your Dragon, Vice, Us, A Star is Born, The Favourite and much more. The podcast kicks off with Abhinandan and Rajyasree discussing animated movies, particularly the How To Train Your Dragon series. Though Abhinandan liked the earlier parts, the latest offering didn't captivate him. Rajyasree, who's not passionate about animated movies, moves on to the Oscar-nominated movie Vice, a comic-biopic on former US Vice President Dick Cheney. She says the movie captures the nature of politics at the time, Cheney’s relationship with Donal Rumsfeld, and the charismatic interactions and motivations of the wives of prominent political leaders. Abhinandan expresses his dissatisfaction with Jordan Peele’s movie Us (2019) which may also stem from his dislike of horror films in general. He says he predicted the plot minutes into the movie. Rajyasree says she enjoys most of Peele's work. "Everything is a commentary with Jordan Peele.” She recommends Get Out by the same director. Moving on to the movie A Star is Born, Rajyasree says the actors' performances and the movie in general were adequate, but not challenging. Abhinandan remarks that with musicals, there are often two kinds of reviews: those who like the movie too much, and those who didn't. He says: "A Star is Born, like La La Land, had two kinds of reviews. There were the La La Land haters and there were people who said it was just the most amazing film ever. Same thing with A Star is Born.” Rajyasree then gives a brief synopsis of the movie The Favourite, saying she enjoyed watching it and found it funny. Abhinandan seems to lose interest just from its description. Rajyasree then says she found the mini-series A Very English Scandal extremely intriguing and amusing, and a wonderful commentary of the time. "It's very funny because it's British, right?" she says. Abhinandan agrees that British humour is very good. The discussion also spans Akshay Kumar's new advertisement for Suthol and Madhur Jaffrey's music video Nani. Rajyasree and Abhinandan also plan on watching the upcoming movies PM Narendra Modi and The Tashkent Files—notwithstanding their dread. Tune in for more!

On this week's episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover the Patriot Act episode by Hasan Minhaj on India's elections, Netflix shows Delhi Crime and Cricket Fever, a short film, and a lot more. Holding the conversation baton, Abhinandan kicks off with a rant on the quality of short films being made, saying: "Short films are an indulgent filmmaker’s time pass.” They then discuss Cricket Fever, which is a sneak peek into the lives and dressing rooms of players and officials, spiced with how efficient and decisive Akash Ambani is as a leader. Abhinandan narrows the discussion down, saying: "So it's basically positioning Akash Ambani as a genius taking our country to a different level of success.” Next up is Hasan Minhaj's India episode of Patriot Act, where the hosts discuss how Minhaj simplified the idea of India's elections without taking any sides and presented a neutral show. They mention how Minhaj not only talked about Yogi Adityanath but also questioned Shashi Tharoor about his own controversies. Rajyasree points out the hurdles Hasan faces, saying: "He’s Indian, he’s Muslim, he’s brown. It’s not easy for him.” Abhinandan says he found the show a bit "plain". They then discuss the latest ad films by Mothers Recipe, specifically their idea of unrealistic cooking timeframes. Referring to a play, Rajyasree decodes this mystery of fast cooking: "Maybe they have a hidden Ramu who does all the cooking for them." For this and a lot more, tune in!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss Captain Marvel, Surf Excel’s advertisement #RangLaayeSang, Leaving Neverland and more. The podcast kicks off with Abhinandan who, though a Marvel Universe enthusiast, wasn't convinced by their latest offering Captain Marvel. Rajyasree expresses her lack of interest in watching the movie. She then discusses Ricky Gervais’s Netflix series After Life, saying: “It is one of the finest shows that he’s created in a while.” Abhinandan chimes in, mentioning Gervais’s endearing performance that accompanies his dark humour. The conversation moves to the Surf Excel ad #RangLaayeSang which, contrary to its intentions, invoked some amount of communal disharmony. Both Abhinandan and Rajyasree think the ad managed to convey its message and express their dissatisfaction with the kind of responses that have popped up on social media. The duo then discusses the documentary Leaving Neverland. Talking about the documentary's format, Abhinandan says it's a compelling watch. Rajyasree praises the extensive detailing of facts to allow viewers to reach their own conclusions. Abhinandan tries to dissect Micheal Jackson’s position while emphasising that it shouldn't be taken as a justification. He says, "I believe Micheal Jackson was insane … on a different wavelength … I think he was coming from a place of love and not damage ... he truly believed this love was genuine love.” Rajyasree disagrees, citing examples of warped love and sexual grooming. This and a lot more, so tune in!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss Sonchiriya, the Oscars, Three Identical Strangers, and more. Rajyasree kicks off the podcast with the recently-concluded Academy Awards. Abhinandan asks her what was good about the show this year. She praises the event's opening with Queen's performance. "It was really nice to see how much the audience get involved,” she adds. Addressing the outrage over Green Book winning Best Picture, she says, "I did like it a lot. I didn’t understand why people weren’t happy about it.” The conversation moves to recently-released movie Sonchiriya. Both Abhinandan and Rajyasree liked the film. Abhinandan says, “The use of slow motion was unnecessarily long … Music was completely unremarkable … the art direction and costumes were outstanding.” Next up is two documentaries: Three Identical Strangers and Leaving Neverland, which is about the alleged child sexual abuse by Michael Jackson. Abhinandan addresses young listeners of the podcast, explaining why Jackson is still popular despite the allegations, as described in several opinion pieces following the documentary's release. He says: “You can’t comprehend how big Michael Jackson was … He is the basis of an entire pop culture movement.” For this and much more, listen up!

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Ankur Pathak, entertainment editor at Huffington Post. They discuss Gully Boy, Period. End of Sentence., the Oscar awards and more. They start off with Gully Boy, with Abhinandan asking Ankur what worked for him in the movie. Ankur says: “I just felt that Zoya is basically ... fighting for your right to dream fearlessly.” He feels Zoya Akhtar made interesting points about the relevance of art. Abhinandan thinks films made with Western cultural references are usually very self-conscious and contrived, but for Gully Boy, he says, "It was comfortably cool, although rap and hip hop is not an Indian thing … it seems very authentic.” The discussion moves to Period. End of Sentence., a 25-minute documentary based in India which recently won an Academy Award. Both Abhinandan and Ankur liked it immensely. Abhinandan says, "Its message was more profound or impressive than crafting … storytelling.” They also thought it did have its weak points and think it takes much more to merit an Oscar win. Speaking of the Oscars, they talk about the award ceremony this year, which was accused of being more about "wokeness" than craft. They also criticise the Academy for, among other things, its choice for Best Picture this year, stating BlacKkKlansman and Roma were better options in this category. For this and much more, listen up!

In this episode of the Awful and Awesome, Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss My name is RaGa, Yesterday, Gully Boy, The Assassination of Gianni Versace and more. Abhinandan kicks off the podcast by discussing some of the movies he watched over the week. The duo then proceed to review the trailer of My name is RaGa. Introducing the trailer, Rajyasree jokingly says, "This film is about our future Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi.” Abhinandan is at a loss for words. To him, the trailer looks very bad. Rajyasree, sarcastically, proceeds to praise Rupesh Paul, the movie's director. She says, “He has tried to show us Rahul Gandhi from the time he is 7 or 8 to 47…Indira Gandhi is also shown…then there is an ugly version of Rajiv Gandhi as well.” She expresses her confusion by questioning whether the movie is pro-Rahul Gandhi or against him. The duo agrees on the fact that they are definitely not going to watch the movie when it is released. The discussion then moves to the trailer of Yesterday, a movie that is set in a world that doesn’t know of the Beatle’s existence. Abhinandan, talking about the trailer says, “It has got a brilliant plot.” He adds: "I am really looking forward to watching this film." Abhinandan also reveals the worst-film ever made. To find out, listen up!

In this episode of Awful and Awesome, Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss the Oscar line-up (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Wife, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Green Book), the Grammys, state of radio in India, Mere Pyaare Prime Minister and more. The duo first talk about The Wife. Rajyasree gives a spoiler-free review of the film, “You have to watch the film to see this relationship. There is a mystery, there is a twist. It’s not a relationship film, but it is extremely well done.” Abhinandan then brings up Green Book. He expresses his liking for the film, but also adds that there were parts which were too simple. Rajyasree praises the performances in Can You Ever Forgive Me? but critiques the pace, “I really like slow films, but I felt somewhere it loses the momentum...Your interests fails a little.” The last film discussed is Bohemian Rhapsody. Rajyasree says in praise that she realised “how well they make biopics in the States...they show the characters with their greys and blacks.” On the occasion of World Radio Day, Abhinandan talks about the dismal state of FM radio in our country. He says, “For all the political incorrectness and the wildness that finds its way into television and print...no community of presenters is as dumb, ignorant and unknowingly offensive as radio jockeys.” Rajyasree then speaks about the Grammys, which she found to be excruciatingly long. For this and more, listen up!