A new Director Series at The Other Banana We have long debated a series on director Bala. You could say that Bala is not Bala anymore and his films are increasingly becoming difficult to meaningfully engage with but, the Bala 1999-2010 was something else. A new voice broke out in Tamil cinema in 1999 with Sethu. One of the several assistants of Bal…

We are returning after a while but with a biggie! Director and cinematographer C Prem Kumar joins us to talk about his latest film Meiyazhagan starring Karthi, Arvind Swamy, Sri Divya and others. The film has been warmly received by the audiences and is a breath of fresh air for Tamil cinema. Films with strong writing, a slice-of-life genre with ma…

In this episode writer Aditya Mani Jha joins Deepauk and Aditya to talk about two 2024 films, both Telugu originals, and adapted-inspired from two Hindu epics - Mahabharata and Ramayana. One is Nag Ashwin's Kalki 2898 AD and the other is Prasanth Varma's Hanu-Man. One has a stellar pan-Indian star cast with the likes of Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, K…

Nithilan Saminathan returns after Kurangu Bommai with a bigger canvas and a bigger star. His talents are still visible, refined even, but his latest film with Vijay Sethupathi in and as Maharaja started a discourse about rape-revenge genre in cinema, gratuitous violence, depiction of sexual abuse, and the conspicuous choice of Vairamuthu as lyricis…

We at The Other Banana believe that director Girish AD is doing something incredible with the genre of romantic comedy and coming of age. With the recent big hit Premalu, that awed audiences across south India, we decided to take a look at all his films that show steady progression in certain genre conventions as well as successful attempts at brea…

In this episode we dive into the atomic elements of composition that we can observe in Raaja's music. How does he use sentence structures and motifs in his compositions? Can we really tell apart where Carnatic ends and Western touches begin in his music. Briefly we also cover one stark difference between MSV and Raaja. Topics Covered: What are sent…

We couldn't ignore Malayalam cinema's great run in the first couple of months of 2024 so decided to talk about Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malaikottai Vaaliban which received a lukewarm to polarizing reception after huge expectations. Right after the universally feted Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, Malaikottai Vaaliban couldn't have been more different, a f…

Sapta Saagaradaache Ello - Side B team is back and this time we have director Hemanth M. Rao and actor/singer Chaithra J. Achar joining us. She plays Surabhi in this follow up to SSE Side A. Side B looks at the life of Manu (Rakshit Shetty) and Priya (Rukmini Vasanth) a decade after their tragic love story seemingly ended. We travel with these star…

Hello. In the latest episode we visit one of the best films of 2023, SU Arunkumar's Chithha starring Siddharth, Sahasra Shree, Aafiya Tasneem, Nimisha Sajayan, Anjali Nair and others. Some trigger warnings might apply and this is a spoiler filled discussion as the film deals with child sexual abuse. We have two special guests joining Aditya in this…

Hello! In this episode, Deepauk, Anantha and Aditya talk about Roby Varghese Raj's Kannur Squad starring Mammootty, Rony David Raj, Azees Nedumangad, Kishore and others. The film is a thriller based on a real squad of police officers who are tasked with the toughest cases. The film is very similar to last year's Kuttavum Shikshayum directed by Raje…

And we are back with an episode on one of the films of the year- Lokesh Kanagaraj's Leo. If you haven't yet heard of the film, crawl out of that rock and here we go- starring Vijay, Trisha, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun etc, the film, after Vikram and the introduction of Lokesh Cinematic Universe, was THE Tamil film if not Indian film t…

We return after a long long time. Various commitments kept us busy but we are back with a new season and we couldn't have picked up a better film to start. Hemanth M. Rao's Sapta Saagaradaache Ello - Side A released on September 1st and later on Amazon Prime, and at least for me it is one of the best films of the year from India. A romantic tragedy…

The year for Tamil cinema hasn't been all that great so far but then comes along a film like Vinayak Chandrasekaran's Good Night. A superb character study and exploration of dynamics, the film-also written by Vinayak-stars Manikandan, Ramesh Thilak, Meetha Raghunath, Balaji Sakthivel, Raichel Rebecca among others. It also stars stand up comedian, a…

We are back with an episode on literature. On this episode writers and translators Priyamvada and Suchitra join Deepauk and Aditya to talk about Tamil author and screenplay writer Jeyamohan, and their translations of his works. Priyamvada's translation of Aram titled Stories of the True was published last year. Suchitra's translation of Ezhaam Ulag…

As part of The Other Banana's efforts to bring in more technicians to the forefront, we have a special episode with a special guest now that Ponniyin Selvan Part 2 is out and the saga is complete. An effort that's achieved great success and more importantly, provided immense satisfaction and joy to experience on screen. Starring Karthi, Aishwarya R…

We return with a Telugu film, a massive hit from 2022. Just when we thought only male star driven, machismo action films could do well in theatres, we had films based on romance with author backed pairs work their charm at the box office. One was Thiruchitrambalam. The other was Sita Ramam directed by Hani Raghavapudi. Sita Ramam stars Dulquer Salm…

One of our listeners think it would be a good idea for us to talk about the 2006 Chimbu Deven's historic-fiction "Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi". We too think this is a great idea. 23am Pulikesi is one of the best comedies of Tamil cinema in the last 20 years featuring Vadivelu, Nassar, Ilavarasu, Sriman, Thambi Ramaiah, Manobala and many others. We h…

Almost everybody agrees Lijo Jose Pellissery's Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam that released mid January of 2023 and on Netflix at the end of February is going to be the Indian film of the year? Why? We thought we'll dig in. Aditya watched it twice in theatres. Deepauk watched it a day before recording of this podcast. And our special guest critic, progr…

Hello, we are back! After a lengthy break, The Other Banana returns with a new season and with a small change in programming for this opening episode. We have two special guests - filmmaker Don Palathara who's made films such as Shavam, Vith, 1956 Central Travancore, Everything is Cinema joined us to talk about Swedish auteur Roy Andersson's A Pige…

At The Other Banana podcast, we are aware that we haven't been paying attention to our Kannada roster as much as the others. In an attempt to address that, we got together some folks who were excited to talk about one of the finest comedies from Kannada cinema. In this episode, Anantha and Ashoka talk about Gauri Ganesha (1991), a film directed by …

Among all the epic star vehicles and action extravaganzas like Pushpa: The Rise, RRR, KGF and Vikram, we had a seemingly little film that became a box office hit. It's not a little film by any means. It has Dhanush, Nithya Menen, Prakash Raj, Bharathiraja in the lead and directed by Mithran Jawahar. The film, Thiruchitrambalam, is just more grounde…

Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 released a little over a week ago and has taken the box office by storm. A critical and commercial success, the film has attracted a wide demographic to the theatres. Largely due to its source - Kalki R. Krishnamurthy's serialized novel Ponniyin Selvan published in the 1950s, a historical fiction based on the Ch…

Thallumaala is one of a kind cinema to come out of India this year. A complex screenplay (or storyboard?) structure, a filmmaking style that takes giant leaps of faith and a great rhythmic sense to the narrative coupled with its music make it an immense watch. You watch it and you want to watch it again all over again. The film is written by Muhsin…

The podcast returns to Tamil cinema with one of the classics of the 1980s. Produced by AVM and written and directed by Visu, Samsaram Adhu Minsaram, released in 1986, remains one of the most memorable and talked about family dramedies. Starring Lakshmi, Manorama, Raghuvaran, Kishmu, Chandrashekar, Visu, Kamala Kamesh, Delhi Ganesh, Ilavarasi and ot…

In this episode we dive into Raaja’s most ambitious album - Thiruvasagam in Symphony. We discuss the historical origins and similarities between the 2 schools of music that Raaja consciously combines, breakdown elements in each of the songs, and address the need for humility when engaging in the critique of such attempts. Topics Covered: Initial li…

Today is August 15th and on this day in 1992 Mani Ratnam's Roja released. Along with the film arrived a new sound that awed one and all throughout the country. In the next thirty years, this music will unite India the way only cricket often does. Today marks 30 years since AR Rahman broke out. His growth was tremendous and quick, he transcended bor…

Vivek Athreya's Ante Sundaraniki released in June to mixed reviews. Telugu cinema is where romantic comedy is thriving and this film was Vivek Athreya's follow up to the immensely popular, hilarious Brochevarevarura. This also had great leads in Nani and Nazriya. While the film failed to click in the box office its Netflix release renewed the debat…

To restore parity after discussing an old Kamal Haasan film we thought we must do a Rajinikanth film. Ok, that's not the reason but we felt this Rajinikanth film must be discussed. This is 1978 and Rajinikanth's early years in Tamil cinema. It's the year he stamped his authority and signaled the coming of a legend of Indian cinema. Mullum Malarum, …

Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram is just a week away and the expectations are immense for the film starring Kamal Haasan, Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil. The furor began in late 2020 when they released a teaser revealing the title accompanied by a sampling of one of the greatest title tracks by Ilaiyaraaja - Vikram from the film of the same name that …

A film like Chennai 600028 needs no introduction but here is an attempt anyway - a small gang of first timers and amateurs, however privileged by their industry backgrounds, came together to make a movie on amateur cricket - street cricket to be precise - and male friendship. Venkat Prabhu bandied together Shiva, Premji, Nithin Sathya, Aravind Akas…

In the latest episode of the podcast, we discuss the recent Bollywood movie 83 – which retells the story of India’s miraculous victory in the 1983 World Cup. Talking Points: A missed opportunity to recreate the cricketing miracle that was 1983 The conspicuous absence of India’s victory over West Indies at Berbice The complete erasure of Mohinder Am…

The recent big announcement in Tamil cinema is the collaboration of director Nelson (Kolamaavu Kokila, Doctor, yet to release Beast with Vijay) with Rajinikanth. Since the time Rajinikanth collaborated twice with Pa. Ranjith and once with Karthik Subbaraj, there have always been calls for the biggest stars - meaning male actors who guarantee huge w…

After a long break, we return to our Director Series on Mysskin. In this episode we talk about Mysskin's 2014 film Pisaasu starring Naga, Prayaga Martin, Radha Ravi et al. The film broadly falls under the horror genre but with its filmmaking and inherent philosophy subverts the genre in many different ways. Add to this, Mysskin's next film is a seq…

As the title suggests, Raj B. Shetty's latest Kannada film Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana contains its share of mythological undertones. But the film is more than just that almost reinventing the gangster drama at an epic scale with very curious passage of character developments. Set in Mangaluru, it tells the story of Hari (Rishab Shetty) and Shiv…

Its a full house for the last pod of the year; all 4 of us talk about movies/series of 2021: what we watched, what we liked, what we didn't and what we hope to see more of in the coming year. It is a freewheeling chat covering regional content from South India and a lit bit from around the world. ...oh and a Happy 2022 from the crew! Participants: …

This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film, each one thoughtfully hand-picked. From new directors to award-winners. Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies—there is always something new to discover. In this episode, we talk about Vijay K…

This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film, each one thoughtfully hand-picked. From new directors to award-winners. Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies—there is always something new to discover. After 102 episodes on South Indian cin…

This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service showing exceptional films from around the globe. Every day, MUBI premieres a new film, each one thoughtfully hand-picked. From new directors to award-winners. Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies—there is always something new to discover. At The Other Banana, we continue our s…

Comedy and romantic comedy is thriving in Telugu cinema. It's not the case with other industries of similar size. This year, cinema theatres briefly opened before the second wave of the pandemic in India and a small film that no one saw coming made a huge splash. It became one of the biggest hits critically and commercially. Maybe it was the timing…

We made it to 100. Thanks to all our listeners, no matter if you've listened to one episode or stuck with us this long since 2018 for every one of them! We've enjoyed doing this for the last 3 years and wish to continue the rewarding endeavor. To celebrate the century, we thought the film, the filmmaker and the guest must all be special. So we aske…

At The Other Banana Podcast, we felt that the writing and editing of Pa. Ranjith's latest feature Sarpatta Parambarai (streaming on Amazon Prime) were two of its strongest suits. While every department of the film has worked in wondrous ways in this once in a generation film, we thought it will be fun to get Tamil Prabha (we discussed his novel Pet…

We return to our Mysskin series with his 2013 film - Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum or The Wolf and the Lamb starring Sri, Mysskin, Shaji Chen, Adithya, Baby Chaitanya, Angel Glady et al. The film is a truckload of Mysskin goodies, the Madras after dark shining through as the entire film is events over the course of a single night. It throws up and answers…

In this episode we dive into one of the first true fusions of Carnatic and western classical music to come out of India - Ilaiyaraaja's 1986 independent album How To Name It. We discuss the context for the album and what may have been Raaja's artistic intent in attempting this album. Additionally we dive deep in to 2-3 specific pieces and what Raaj…

At The Other Banana Podcast, we begin another series on Director Mysskin. Unlike the earlier director series we'll be delving into a handful of what we consider important or landmark films of the director, not all of them. The series starts with Mysskin's 2011 thriller Yuddham Sei starring Cheran, Dipa Shah, Jayaprakash, YG Mahendran, Lakshmy Ramak…

Back in January Adithya and Deepauk discussed The Family Man with series writer Suman and actress extraordinaire Devadarshini about season 1 and the impending release of season 2. Topics Covered: - Writing for the longer form and influences - Choices made to create a truly pan-Indian show and how the politics play out - Casting for season 2 and how…

In this episode we dive into the various forms of western classical music explored by Ilaiyaraaja, especially in his independent non-film albums. We focus specifically on the concerto form and how the Nothing But Wind album utilizes this form to highlight the virtuoso flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. Topics Covered: What are forms and how do we talk …

In this second episode of the Balaji Tharaneetharan series we discuss the recent direct to OTT release Oru Pakka Kathai. @gradwolf & @anantha are joined by special guests @equanimus & @milified to discuss: - The fantastical nature of the topic and how it presents its social commentary - What is the film trying to say about science, religion, and ho…

For the first series of episodes we take a look at Balaji Tharaneetharan's first 2 films (in release order) - the iconic Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom and the polarizing Seethakkaathi. @gradwolf & @anantha are joined by our recurring guest @equanimus to discuss: - Why Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom's humor was such a draw - Where Balaji draws hi…

Episode Trigger Warning: SuicideAfter a long break, we are back with our Director Series on Malayalam auteur Padmarajan. This one is on his 1986 film Deshadanakkili Karayarilla starring Shari, Karthika, Urvashi and Mohanlal. Deshadanakkili Karayarilla might be one of the popular mainstream films in the context of any language, with big stars, but i…

This episode continues to explore how Raaja uses frameworks from western classical music - particularly harmony. We discuss the form and function of harmony and explore, through varied examples and genres, how Raaja deploys them to create his musical experiences. Topics Covered: What is harmony? What do we mean when we talk about tone, note, and ti…