Hello, and welcome to Bollywood drafts, a rankings podcast where friends come together to rank movies based on a category that could be actor, director, genre, or general theme. I'm your host and moderator, Manish mather. And it's Yas Chopra month at Bollywood drafts. His birthday is going to be at the end of the month in September. So to celebrate that, I brought on four Yashdropa fans onto the podcast to rank all 22 of his movies, starting from the 1959 Dhul Kapul to his last film, Jabta Khejan. So this podcast will be in the two parts. This is part one, so we're going to be ranking the bottom nine. And then part two, we'll do the top 13. So the way this part one is going to go is a little bit different than usual. And so I'll get into that. But first, I'm just really excited because I, you know, Yash Chopra is one of my favorite filmmakers ever. I've seen all of his movies multiple times, probably. So I'm just excited to talk about him and his amazing work and all his collaborators and sort of the, sort of the contributions that he made to Bollywood cinema and of course, to rank movies, which my favorite thing. So I'm going to introduce the panel, and we'll do a round of plugs and just general thought, general introductions, and then I'll explain how the draft is going to go, and then we'll get started. So first, I'd like to welcome Yamini back to the podcast after her appearance on famous duo's draft. Welcome.
Hello.
Hello, Yamuni. I'm excited to have you back because the famous duo's draft is, I think, one that I get the most feedback and thoughts of from people. So I'm really, really excited. And of course, your iconic father, the secret star of that podcast.
Seriously.
Any and all comments he has, I would love to hear as we.
He's gonna be listening to this one as well. So I'm so glad that, like you said, that.
Huge fan of your father. Yeah. Any plugs or links or anything you'd like to share for the listeners?
Yeah, so I am, like, I finally made a public Instagram that I'm trying to, like, you know, put, like, edits and, like, kind of thoughts and a bunch of things. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with it, but, like, I've kind of succumbed to peer pressure. Finally, after years of people being like, you work in the entertainment industry. Why do you not have a public Instagram?
Right?
So my public Instagram is. It's at yahminute, so it's ya dot minute, like. And my Twitter is papacharu, which I feel like you guys know me from. Anyway. Yeah.
Yes. Well, thanks. Thanks for being here. And I'm really excited to see how your account takes shape in the future. Next, I'd like to introduce Sal back to the podcast. You were there for, the first one ever, the Shah Rukh Khan draft, which, it was a fun episode, but I'm embarrassed to listen to it because I feel like I sound very rough and nervous. So I appreciate you being on there, but welcome back, any. Welcome back to the podcast. And any links or anything you'd like to share?
No, I am trying to disappear from public consciousness, so. No kidding. No, nothing to share. I'm on Twitter alindabhatpan, as per usual. And yeah, I mean, I'm really excited about this. I really enjoyed doing the Shah Ruhuan because I didn't really. I was not prepared, and I was very apprehensive about how that was gonna go. But it turned out to be so fun. And I thought Asim from Kandan was such a wild card. So I really, like, walked away from that with so much love for him. And I'm really excited to be doing this with all of you. I don't think I've ever done anything with Yamini or Nimrit. Right. This is the first time. And Aditya and I have worked together in the past. We've done something around Yashopra in the past, actually, we did. I worked on his screening series, which was a Yashopra Douglas sir screening series at the Tips cinema tech, which was super cool. So this is great to come together to do another Yashopra thing. Hopefully, like, every couple of months, Aditya and I will do something related to Yashtupra.
Yes, absolutely. And excited to hear more from Aditya about that. Let's go to you then. Actually, it's a great segue. Welcome to the podcast. You were here for the Sanju Leela Bhansali one a few months ago, so thanks for coming back. And yeah, I'd love to hear about your work with the Yashorpa films and your handles and links and anything.
Yeah, thank you, Manish, for having me again. It was such a pleasure to be on at the Sanjay Deva Bhansali episode. I'm hoping I'm less nervous and more coherent today so we can wrap up in 2 hours. Yeah. As Sal mentioned, I curated a series of films a month long series in February, this past February, the month of Saint Valentine, on, like, a parallel retrospective of films, particularly romantic melodramas by both Yash Chopra and Douglas Sirk. And just, you know, for two of those films, one being Lamhe and the other being Kabikabhi, I had, you know, Saleha and Manish as my guest introductory speakers, and it was really kind of an honor and a joy to have their faces be magnified on the screen, on the big screen and frame these masterpieces for the audience. So, yeah, really excited to be here with all of you. My Twitter handle is Stella Deli, so that's Stelladilli. And.
Yeah, awesome. Well, thanks for coming back. Thanks for inviting me for that. It was such a pleasure and an honor to participate in that. And I sent that video to my family and they were all. It was very exciting. And last but not least, I'd like to welcome back Nim from the film fair. Best actress winning movies 2000 to 2023 episode from a few months ago. Nim, welcome back. Thanks for coming back.
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited because yashupra is also, like, one of my biggest Bollywood like, loves. I grew up on all of his films. In fact, DDLJ, like, the Yashraj studios, like, DDLJ was the first movie that we got to watch in the theaters here in Edmonton. So, like, it was my foray as a young child into, like, the big cinematic experience watching their films going forward. So, yeah, I am super stoked because this list is fantastic and it's going to be fun, fun to talk about. So thank you for having me. And again, my handle is always maple Brownie on all platforms across the Internet.
Yes, thank you. Yeah, it's definitely a rollercoaster experience. I always love to go back and watch all my favorite ones, and then now I'm like, oh, I got to watch the ones that I don't really remember or care about, but there's always something to gain from them. So. Well, let's get started. Thanks to the panelists again for being here. So the way this is going to go, as per usual, I put all of your names into the random order generator, and that is how you will decide who is going to be player a, player B, player C, or player D. Now, what player you are determines where on the list you're going to be, placing your picks. So player D will be in 22, 21 and 17. Player C in spots 20 and 17, player b in 19 and 15, and finally, player a in 18 and 14. So again, we're doing the bottom nine of the 22 films, so that is spots 14 through 22, and then we'll go to 13 to one in part two. Um, so I've kind of created a little bit of a difference in terms of how the structure will go. So players A, B, and C will get two picks and one veto. And for this ranking, what the veto does, it actually makes the movie go higher on the list. Because we're ranking every single movie he's directed, nothing will be left off. So if you veto a movie, that means you want it higher on the list. Player D, I did something quite mean, perhaps, and if you have the three picks, so your taste is the most reflected on the list, but you do not have a veto in this round. Now, of course, if you don't use your veto in part one here, it will stay with you in part two. In addition to all this, I have created a separate rule for myself. So, yes, Dropra, as I said, one of my all time fave guys, you know, love, love, respect, admire him always. But I'm not participating in this ranking, so I wanted to exert a little bit of influence on here. So I created a rule called the moderator's mandate. Now, about two weeks ago, I selected a movie that if it gets played in part one here and there are no vetoes and it gets put on the list, I'm going to exercise the mandate and reserve it for part two as part of the part. As part of the top 13. Now, I feel like the movie that I picked for this might be a little controversial, it might be a little bit unpopular, but that is, I have my reasons for doing so, which we'll get into if it comes up today. If it doesn't, I'll explain it later, but I'm excited about that to see if it happens. Just my way of being a little bit of a puppet master, as you will. And I emailed myself, the neighbor of that movie two weeks ago as proof that I picked it two weeks ago and that it's not something that I'm doing right now. So if you guys want to see the proof, I will show it to you. That being said, I think we can go and start with the ranking. Unless there are any questions or comments or concerns or anything. All right, let's get started. So, as you can see, I put your names in the random order generator, and I'm going to hit randomize. And. All right, so it looks here that Yamuni, you get first pick, then nim, then Sal, and then Aditya. Will see what you are left with. So, Yamini, in terms of player a, B, C or D, what looks good to you?
Okay. I've thought about this, and I thought about the one that I want, and I'm definitely going to be player D. Okay. I do not want the responsibility of a veto, nor do I want the responsibility of choosing either 15 or 14, because I feel like that is where the fights are gonna start.
Oh, God.
I'm gonna sit in the back and watch that.
Okay, so next we have nim, in terms of players a, b or c, what looks good to you?
Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with c. Okay.
And then, Sal, you have player a or b.
Wait, what's the difference between player a.
And player b again, it's just where you're putting the. Where it goes on the list. So players b as 19 and 15 and player a in 18 and 1419 and 15?
Yeah, I'll do b, I guess. Yeah.
All right. And then at that leaves you for player a. So you'll be finishing us off for part one. All right. So let's get started. So, Yamini, that's up to you. Our player d. What's the number 22 film in Yashtrophora's filmography?
I mean, I think all of us might know or have an idea of what 22 is going to be for me. Really? 22 and 21? Are you. I wouldn't say interchangeable, because 21 just edges out 22 for one particular reason. For me. But for 22, like, for me, the worst yash Chopra film. Parampara. I hate Parampara. Like, Parampara makes me so angry. I. I mean, I know my parents are gonna be listening to this, but, like, fuck parampara. Like. Like, genuinely, out of all the films here, like, this was the one that made me want to, like, there was a. Like, you know when you go into NATO box and look at Parampara, like, the first review is like, do you ever just lose your will to live? And I felt that way. Like, the thing is, I like Sunil that usually. But, like, the thing is, I can't even. I feel like I can't even speak about Parampara critically because it just fills me with anger every time I think about it. Like, I feel like Neela Manse feel awkwardly mismatched. Vinod Khanna just. I just. Okay. I feel like post. I mean, Vinod. I mean, most of these actors, as they grew older, there were issues, but, like, post Oregon Vinod Khanna, I don't know the liberation with which he came back with. But it just feels like. Like on screen, I. The story is. The thing is, the story is something that like it does feel rehashed from like his earlier films. But like I don't feel the earnestness that was there in his earlier films at all. Like I just don't care for Ashwini Bhave. And she's on screen a lot. I like. I did like half a rewatch and I was like, you know what? Like my life does not deserve this.
Yeah.
I just. I like. Like, you know, everyone tells you like the most precious thing in life is time. And I did not want to waste it more on Parampara. Like the thing is again, right. Like even the films of Yashopras that I don't particularly like. I never felt like it was incom. I mean, I don't feel like Parampara is incompetent also, but not even like heart. I don't see interest in it. And yeah, I just. I do not like this.
Yeah. Number 22. I think that is pretty accurate in my estimation. But you know, we'll go to Aditya, our player. A any veto for Parampara here at number 22 or what are your thoughts?
I don't. I'm not going to veto Parampara. But it wasn't my bottom film. It was in my bottom nine for sure. But yeah, it wasn't the last one. I think I agree with Yamini in that it's quite grating and it does stick out in Chopra's filmography. But I do. I do feel like he's trying to do something perhaps, you know, extra soapy in this film. There is like a televisual quality to the film which is, I don't know, filled with like fluorescent colors. Probably one of the Gaudier with Vijay. It's probably one of the Gaudier Chopra color palettes. I think the reason why it's not in my bottom is because I guess I appreciate how it births in some ways or reintroduces the idea of this kind of stubborn, failed patriarch and a reformed patriarch who's so beholden to tradition and kind of has kind of tied the women in his family with like shackles in a sense. And you know, we see this patriarch repeat in Amitabh's second innings in his career terms with Yash Raj in Mahabhate as well as in. As, you know, Mister Raichand in Kabiku she kapi gam. So in some ways it feels important but there is a very intense tv serial energy I remember when Sal and I were talking a couple months ago, Sal mentioned, like, Dallas and dynasty. Of course, I was thinking of days of our lives as well. And then all the kind of ekta Kapoor serials that followed, you know, that kind of draw heavily from both Yash Chopra as well as Pansali's aesthetics. I think the whole sister wives moment between Ashwini Bhave and Ramya Krishnan, who's. It's her Bollywood debut, was interesting because we see these two women kind of, you know, within a very deeply conservative, misogynistic kind of model share their grievances, even if it's for one scene. But, yeah, not the performances in itself. Especially the younger leads are not very strong. But there is a southern gothic quality to the film that I like. It also has another instance of Kawali in a Yash Chopra movie, which we've seen, I believe, in Dharmaputra as well as Veer Zara. So I think just seeing those kinds of sprinklings of those elements is interesting.
Yeah, I think there is definitely a. A lot of yashopra isms in the movie.
Totally. And I think the one other thing that was really interesting was when Ashwini Bhave kind of gives her ultimatum to Sunil Dutt and she says, like, all the widows in this house are dead. Anyway, again, it feels like, you know, kind of an attempt to break the cycles of these generational curses in this very, like, hindu iconography kind of mahabharata kind of thing that is going on in this film. But, yeah, I mean, definitely not, you know, not even close to his strongest work. One of rare works that are based in roster.
No veto from you. Is that no veto?
Because I want to kind of save the vetoes for other.
Sure. Sure. Let's go to you, Sal. Up next, any thoughts on Parampara here at number 22?
I'm not going to veto it. It wasn't my bottom ranking film, but it was like second to last, I think. For me, I think this was just like a tricky period for Yashopra. He spent the eighties. I think he made one hit in the eighties. And I'm guessing just given the amount of time films used to take to make back then, I'm guessing Parampar. He probably started Parampara in the late eighties, early nineties. And it took a second to make. And he didn't make this for YRF. He made this for an outside production house. So I don't know how much his heart was in it, but I don't think, okay, so this is not the Ash Chopra film where I'm like, this has no redeeming qualities. There are things I like about it. Like, I think Ramya Krishnan is really beautiful in it. She's just like, as soon as you see her, I think she's funnily enough, the one time before this, she was in a hindi film, was also with Vinod Khanna in a song in Dayavan, I think, where she's on the boat. If you all have seen this, it's a remake of Nayagan. It's Virosthan's remake of Nayagan. And she's on the boat. And she was very young. And she's very young in this too. And she's like, absolutely magnetic. Like, she's like. Like a born sex symbol right off the bat. And I loved her. I think Ashwini Bhave is really beautiful. I liked her character in this. I like that she was kind of within the confines of that kind of Rajput Bahu. She was very kind of strong. She stuck with her. She stuck with her mind throughout and all of that. And she was very, you know, she gave that whole dignity, that kind of thing, that, like, trope. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed the scene where the two kind of. Again, this is two eyes meet. I love that kind of drama. I think, you know, we've sort of lost that from Bollywood. No one really gives that anymore. Maybe once in a while. But those moments I liked. I liked that. Um, I'm a big Vinod Khanna Stan. I think, um, he's one of the most beautiful men in, um, hindi cinema, in indian cinema. And he just, like, exudes sex appeal. And he does in this too. Even though he's, like, dressed terribly. They put him in these horrible, like, mustard colors. And I realized when I was doing this rewatch of Yashopra movies, Yashopra loves putting his men in yellow. So this is an interesting observation I took away from this. And this. This film was also interesting because you can tell when Yashobra has a crush on a guy as opposed to his heroine. Like when he has a crush on his hero as opposed to his heroine. So this was one of them. And then Lamhe was another one where he had a crush on the hero from the first half. You know, the handsome model Deepak, I think his name was. So you could really tell he was into Vinod. You know, he was filming Vinod so lovingly. So I enjoyed that. I thought there were things that I liked. And I watched Prampra when I was really young, so I loved that kind of boarding school energy of the second half. You know, it felt very, you know, malory towers, that kind of thing. If you've grown up reading, like, Enid Blyton books and things like that. So that. So I have, like, fond memories of it. It's a pretty ugly movie. You know, the early nineties were not a good time for Bollywood. I'm not crazy about the Shiv Hari Yash Chopra pairing. You know, I think there's good songs that came out of them. I think every film usually has, like, one good song or two good songs. This one has hambanjari dil ni de. That one's kind of a bop. But then there's a lot of, like, dead. Like, a lot of the other songs are kind of, eh, you know, they don't like, kind of power. The film forward. You're not going to listen to the whole soundtrack. Yeah. The four young people are not, like, great actors. This was not an era when, like, the young actors came fully polished and ready. This was pre hic, you know, so you didn't have that pressure to be, like, fully cooked and ready to go in your first film or your first few films. But I thought they were charming. They were pretty to look at. Like, Raveena looks gorgeous. Army looks really pretty. Neelam looks very pretty. They're all wearing those, like, big knits, you know, like, the clothes are cute. And so there were things I enjoyed, basically, is what I'm saying.
But are you. Yeah. Any veto then?
Yeah, no veto. But, yeah, no veto. But, like, yeah, I I don't hate it as much as. I don't hate it as much as Yamini, but I see why it would be.
All right, let's go to nim players, see to see if she has any thoughts on this movie or wants to use one of her vetoes.
So no veto for this. For me. To me, I think that the bottom three films are very interchangeable. They could all go in the same kind of position because there's very much a running theme with these movies from what I scene and. Yeah, but I'm brought. I remember as a kid, like, I'd seen, like, like, bits and pieces of the songs and stuff and I was always curious about it, but I actually never watched it when it first came out, surprisingly. So this was actually my first watch and it was tough. It was really tough to get through. And I was just like, yeah, no, as much as, like, I think the. The first half I found more engaging, if only because of the whole like Ramaya, Vinod and Ashwini kind of like triangle that was happening there. Because the girls like the women were beautiful and they had really good roles to themselves even though they weren't really big roles by any means. But the second half with like Amer and Saif, I was like, they look like kids. Like literally like Saif looked like a butcher. And on top of it I just. Yeah, I couldn't. I couldn't engage with the whole like, you know, aspect of like, you know, them getting. I guess. I don't know. It's just something was lacking in order for me to be really involved with their whole like you know, animosity between each other. And so yeah, to me it's. Yeah, I don't mind it being at 22.
Yeah, I don't really like this movie all that much either. Definitely. I think it's on the bottom of my own list. I do appreciate that there's a lot of sort of thematic motifs that Yasropora often returns to that in this movie. But I know it's missing the. Yes, Raj sort of spice to it. You know. I agree with the idea that I don't think he really had a lot of heart or interest in this film. So 22. That brings us back to Yamini for number 21. What is here at number 21 for you?
I am. Okay. I'm trying to. Okay. I think my number. I mean, I think like my number. I'm so confused right now from listening to everyone between my number 20 and 21 now. But I think I'm gonna go with my original number 21 which is fastly. And I think the reason fastly really edged out Parampara for me for the last position is because of Rekha. Makha is the shining light in that film. The moment I saw Rikha I was like oh, this film can be redeemed. I mean, again, I feel like for the bottom films I have not been able to think critically, as critically as I would like. Because just watching them I was not even confused. I was just like a bit annoyed. But at the same time I see where Yashopar was coming from. I see what he wanted to do with fastly which he then did better with Chandani. When I look at fastly I could see where the vision came from. But then like Rohan Kapoor and Faranas just are not it. Like, I think fastly if it was made like five, six years earlier with like an Amitabh or Rekha might have actually worked well. Not five, six years, maybe ten years. Earlier, I see the vision. I genuinely see the vision. He was let down by Faranas and Rohan Kapoor. Like, I do not buy the love at first sight between the two of them. I just don't also like the fact that he made Silsila and then like, sorry, not Tilsila, he made like, yeah, he made Silsila and then he was like, hey, let's make a film called Chand. Like Vijay and then Chandani, you know, but sorry, he made fastly. And then he was like, let's make a film called Bijay. And then chan me. My apologies, I'm thinking of Salsula. But like, I feel like there was so much he wanted to do with this film but he just was not sure as to how to do it. And I feel like that is what led him down because I. I'm able to, like, again, like the. It's exactly like. I mean, it's what I said before, like what he wanted to do in fastly. Like, he was able to better invent that vision in Chandani. Like Farah in all white. Like all of these things. These are things that he was like, okay, let me take the lack of success from fastly, but pick out the bits that I genuinely had my heart in and put that into Chandani with better actors through. Like, again, there are bits that I genuinely, like, appreciate. Like, I love Faruk Sheikh. I appreciate him. I love that it was him and Deepthi naval. The moment I saw deep Tinawal and I see Faruk, she hitting on other women. I'm like, you two are definitely gonna get together. Like, it's obvious. It is. Like, I love Farukshek and Deepti Navar. Again, there's definitely things to appreciate. There's the bit where, like, you know, when I forgot his name, Shivraj. Like, Farah's husband, like, is. He's about to like. Like, she comes out, like the attempted assault and everything. And Rika's the one who, like, stands up for her. She says, like, you know, meowski maho. Like, there are bits of it that I'm like, okay, I. I enjoy watching this, but overall, just sitting through that film was really difficult.
Okay, Fasuni at number 21. Let's go to Aditya. How do you feel about that choice here?
I agree with Yamini. I think Fastle was one of my lowest ranked films. But yeah, the things that. The elements that made it slightly higher than the bottom film was, of course, the screen presence of Rekha and Rekha playing Maya. This kind of the other woman, the kind of, you know, dignified or wronged or perhaps not wronged, but, you know, the other woman who isn't able to experience the luxuries of a status of a wife, you know, that becomes a mainstay in Rekha's career in some ways and interacts with her star text. But I think, as Yamini mentioned, the film's, you know, odes to the, you know, Chandni White and kind of creating, launching Farha or, you know, expecting it to be her breakthrough as a yashopra heroine was an ambitious attempt and it works in certain moments. But both the younger leads, Rahul Kapoor especially aren't competent enough to grab the viewer's attention. I do really like that song with Rekha and Sunil Dutt in the boat fast le Bahata lake. I think that's shot really beautifully because I think this was one of probably this was the first film with Manmohan Singh that Yash Chopra. With Manmohan Singh as a cinematographer, that Yash Chopra shot. And you can really. It benefits from the visual splendor, from the sophisticated lighting, from the reflections in the water from the kind of intersecting of the canoes, the use of the sheer curtains on the boat. Azureka and Sunil Dutt are embracing. So, you know, I think Manmohan Singh's gaze really adds to it. I appreciate the editing in the film as well. When Farha gets married to Raj Kiran who, you know, we. I wasn't expecting to see in this mode of abusive husband because we've seen him play the opposite archetype in art with Shabana Azni where he's kind of the more, you know, evolved, helpful, supportive, sympathetic, urbane man. And over here, he's playing this feudalistic, cruel, violent husband figure. But I think ultimately, what perhaps didn't work for the audiences then, even though this was Chopra's attempt at returning to romance was the, you know, relationship between the father and the daughter, between Farha and Sunil Dutt and, you know, the motivations or the tenacity being unconvincing between the daughter and the father because, you know, she didn't protest enough. He didn't. He was too quick to dismiss her marital struggles or overlook them. I think that was probably a bit unconvincing to an audience that was slowly experiencing economic liberalization, women entering the workplace. Which is why, as Yamini said, Chandini, probably besides the acting competency and the screen engorging charisma of Sridevi. Besides that, Chandani really works because it does take those things into account. It does negotiate modernity in a way that. But, yeah, I would say it's not. It's definitely one of my bottom picks, so I'm good with it being here.
All right, let's go to Sal. Would love to hear your thoughts on fastly here at number 21.
Yeah, I'm not going to veto this. It was in my bottom three. I will say I've been playing the wedding song Farooq and Dictis wedding song, like, multiple times every day since I re watched it. It is such a good song. I think it might be my favorite Shadi song from any yash Chopra film. The Ajme Ajungi song. It is like, the lyrics are so beautiful. Like Priyanand Bakshi Yashopra songs were giving on a lyrics level. I just have to say this, but, yeah, I think it's a lot of what Yamini said, it's a lot of what Aditya said. I think this film feels like a pilot for a lot of kind of the visual ideas that Yashupra did better later. But it's also a better looking film than Vijay and Parambara and even Dar, just because, again, the nineties were an uglier decade. The late eighties were uglier time. I think fastly, right up to the mid 1980s, Bollywood films still looked a certain way. They had, like, a certain sheen and fastly has that. The costumes are pretty, you know, everyone looks nice. The makeup is beautiful. There's, like, a freshness to it. So that's why I think Parsley wasn't, like, absolutely last ranked for me. Despite the truly, truly hideous attempted rape scene and the other scene, the lovemaking scene with Rohan and Parha. Like, I don't know this film. Vijay and Parampara are like. They feel like the exploitation cinema trilogy of Yash Chopra. You know what I mean? Like, there's something so sleazy about all three films that feel un. That feels unbecoming. You know, I'm like, you know, Yashi, you could have sat these ones out. And also, it feels like this is his Raj Kapoor film in a way. He's like trying to make a Raj Kapoor film, like. Like a primrog or something, while Parampara feels like his JP Datta film, like his kshatriya, you know? And like, when. When Yashopra makes a someone else film, it never works. Like, he has to make a yash Chopra film, which oftentimes is a very sweet, generous thing. Like Dar. Like, no one else could make a dar, which is why it works. No one else could make a chanmi, which is why it works. But like a film like this, where it feels like this hybrid beast, where there's all these elements of some other filmmakers kind of like style with his own, it never quite works for me. But, yeah, that one song, the Yuto Milneko Mille he Bahat. That one's lovely. That last song is lovely. Farha is very pretty, but, yeah, it makes sense at the bottom for me.
All right, let's go to you, Nim. What are your thoughts on fastly here at number 21?
I think everyone's pretty much said what the weak points were probably already of this. I think one of the biggest things was the fact that Farah and Rohan, it was their first movie. I think one thing is Yash Chopra, I've realized, looking at through his filmography is he needed a lot of seasoned people, a lot of actors that had experience behind them in order to help hold the vision and the emotions that he was looking for. And perhaps that's why he, you know, I don't think he did a debut after this with anyone, really. So I think that's. That's probably. Yeah, I think that's probably why. Because he realized that, you know, in order to carry certain types of scenes and. And emotional impact, he needed to have actors that were, you know, going to be able to bring it on screen, and they unfortunately did not make the cry. Aru Han, honestly, there's a couple of scenes where I watched and I actually laughed out loud when he was, like, saying his dialogues, just because it was so cringe to see what he was trying to say. Like, you understood the emotion, like, what he was trying to be like, you know, an arrogant, young, like, I know the ways of the world thing, but he just couldn't bring the right tone to it, in my opinion. But, yeah, that's my two cent on it.
Well, it seems like no one likes Fasile, which is valid and fair. Unfortunately, Fasly is the movie that I have selected for the moderator's mandate. I actually really do like this movie quite a bit. Maybe not as much that I would put it. I mean, I did put it in my top 13, but I think if it had been played and vetoed and maybe played again today, I might have kept it here in the bottom nine. But unfortunately, Fasly is now in the top 13. Sorry, I would. I'm not really expecting this much animosity towards it, but that's okay. This is part of the fun. So that means, Yamini, you are going back. I will save my thoughts for Vasily when it comes back. But Yamini, that's up to you now for a replacement number 21.
You know, when you said controversial, I was expecting like, Jabta Khajan or something I wasn't expecting.
I wanted to choose a movie that I knew would absolutely get played in the bottom nine. Did I expect it to be number 21? No, I thought it'd be like 1617 because I think there's like three other movies that I think are much worse than fastly. But I will mount my defense for fastly later on. And once that I have recovered from the beating it just took. But it's fine. That's what we're here for. But number 21.
Okay. Okay. Well, I guess everything's gone for a bit of a toss now. But I would then say, like, my number 21 is Vijay.
Yeah.
So the thing is with Vijay, right, like, I. You look at, it's obviously, like, inspired from, like, it's one of those Mahabharat inspired films. Definitely. Like, it comes from that entire entire series of films. And honestly, the eighties was like, a weird standpoint where there were so many films being inspired by, like, hindu mythology. But honestly, with, like, Vijay, I just. I mean, to be fair, like, a lot of my thoughts, like, I've written them down, but they're a bit of, like, a mush up. Like, I. I don't like post Namakharam Rajesh Khanna. I feel like whenever I have to see post Namakaram Rajesh Khanna, there's a part of my brain that does not think rationally. And, like, the. The older he gets, like, the less. And I sat down, I really thought about it because even when I was watching, like, ittafaq, I was watching all of these things, I was like, do I like Rajesh Khanna or do I just like a few of his films? Do I just like who he was? Because of his, like, partnership with, like, Sharmila Tagore and the fact that he had, like, he was a superstar. He was probably, like, the first, like, proper big, big, big superstar. But, like, do I really like Rajesh Khanna? And I watched this and I was like, I really do not like Rajesh Khanna. And especially post Namakaram Rajesh Khanna, especially when he got. When his, like, hair started having that, like, triangle look, I don't know what it is. Just like, later years Rajesh Khanna. And also, I think it's also a lot to do with, like, his off screen Persona post that. Maybe it's just like knowing his off screen Persona, knowing the person he is. And also, like, my love for dimple, like, subconsciously makes me hate him a little bit more. But I just. I do not like that. And I mean, in this film, him with Hema Malini, it's like, this is also a thing that you do see in Yashopra films where when he works with an actor when they're younger and then he works with them when they're older. And you have these older actors trying to play younger and these younger. Like, Anupam Kir is older than both his kids in this film. So, I mean, so he's younger than both his kids. He's younger than both his kids in this film. But, like, Anupam Khair is like Pedashi Buddha. Like, you can't do anything about it. He's like, always been an uncle, but it's just all these elements together. Like, you bring in, like, it is Yashopra, like, rehashing his earlier films. It is rehashing, like that massive ensemble cast. But again, like, and I think this also, like, a lot of my thoughts from this come from watching the romantics where he was like, I was really thinking about what would make, like, what is the formula for, like, a good film at that point because, like, the eighties were, like, a volatile time in Bollywood. But he was like, I did not have my heart in it. Like, I was just thinking, like, what is a film that would make money at the box office? Like, what is the formula I could follow? And when Vijay did not do well with that formula, that's when he was like, you know what, let me make a Chandani because clearly this is not the type of cinema that I should be making.
All right, Vijay at number 21, let's go to Aditya. Do you have a veto for this pic or what are your kind of general thoughts on the film?
Yeah, Vijay was my. Vijay was my bottom pick. As echoing Yamini, I feel like it's a very ugly film. It's uses of fluorescent textures and shades and tones is very grating. You know, we see those kind of palatial mansions that Yash Chopra uses in his movies, those kind of ginormous sets with spiraling staircases. And I feel like this film has the most unsightly version of that. And perhaps that makes sense because it is Anupam Kher's home. And I think musically too, the film is not at all memorable. Besides the Teri Vijay hai title track that, you know, thanks to Meenakshi Shashadri's very kind of telegenic synogenic presence on camera and kind of measured choreography, she manages to kind of make that song interesting. And there's a parallel editing sequence in that song, too, that makes it more interesting. But, yeah, the Rajesh Khana casting, the rehashing of the kind of Mahabharata sibling rivalry, the return of the bastard, makes it feel like a very inferior copy of Trishul, which, of course, is a much more superior film. And, yeah, there is a ticking time bomb in the climax as well. You know, we see again in Jabtakhajan. So a lot of just disparate elements that are half baked. The casting of Sonam and the kind of very fetishistic gaze on Sonam again hearkens back to late Raj Kapoor, as Saliha was saying, and I think the word she used was sleazy. So I feel like this in some ways, with fastly becomes and parampara becomes, you know. Yeah, the epitome of Chopra sleeves, if there ever was one. So, yeah, I mean, this was my.
Bottom pick, so no vito from. Let's go to you, Sal. Thoughts on Vijay. I know you mentioned it as part of the exploitation trilogy, but any favorable thoughts on it or Vito?
Yeah, no, Vido was my bottom pick as well. Probably Yashubra's ugliest film. Like, I think, like, what sums it up is Sonam's dress while they're dancing in the mountains in the Badalpich al khayya. Like, the fact that Yash Chopra approved a purple lame halter mini dress, like a clubbing dress for her to dance during in the mountains during a camping va la song. Like, that misjudgment should tell you that, yeah, Shobra's heart was not in it, you know? So I feel like that gives the game away. And, yeah, it's basically like a pretty bad, pretty half hearted remake of Trishul. Nothing in it really works. Everyone looks really ugly, you know? Yeah, I think that's. That's a big part of it. It just doesn't look good. It just. It looks hideous. Hema Malini looks bad. There are lots of bad wigs everywhere. I think Meenakshi is the only person who looks good in ithemenous. Yeah, I think it just doesn't work on almost any level. And, yeah, the creepiness of, like, a 17 year old sonam being ogled at, being sort of pawed at by, like, Rishi Kapoor, who just, like, after a point, he went uncle, and he never went back. I don't even care for Rishi Kapoor and Chandni. I'm just gonna say it right now. Like, just Rishi Kapoor, like sweater uncle era. Like, it's just not for me. You know, like post twink. Rishi Kapoor is not for me until he came into his character actor era. And he's creepy in this. He's not Shashi Kapoor. Anil Kapoor is no Amitabh Bachchan. So this film doesn't work for me. Top to bottom. It's just ugly. It's his ugliest film.
Yeah, absolutely. Let's go to you, nim. Any thoughts on Vijay here? Or perhaps veto.
Yeah, no. No vetoing movie. Like I said, for me, my bottom, like, four were like, were all interchangeable. And this is also in that list as well. And I, again, it was a tough movie to make through. And I was like, I am so glad I never, like, this is the only time I'm gonna watch it.
That's it.
Never touching it again.
So, I mean, I guess I liked. I mean, it's not that I like Vijay, but I do. I do find things to enjoy about it. I'm not surprised that it's kind of here towards the bottom. It's definitely in the bottom, like, third of my list or bottom fourth, I guess so. Yeah. Definitely not a strong movie. Sal, you mentioned that song, like, fine, the costuming is just here, but it's just like, I don't understand how to have a club dress and asadi.
It.
Just feels so out of place. And I was just also just shocked that, like, this is like the big. The big love song of the movie and it's just so poorly directed and shot. Quite a poor movie, you know, not. Definitely not a strong effort. Very ugly. I agree with all that. So now let's go to you, nim players see number 20.
So I'm going to put Joshilla here. It was a movie that I think in some ways, I kind of got a better sense of, like, what he. The view and the idea of, like, you know, redemption arc and whatnot was there, which is why it was higher on the list compared to the other movies. But again, an aging Dev Anand against Ahima Malini, I just. Every time, like, those pairings in that time, it always rubbed me the wrong way. And it was one movie that I was just like, just, again, doesn't work for me. And as much as Hima looked beautiful, ethereal and whatnot, but it just. I don't know, it's not a very strong product at the end. And I found myself kind of zoning out at moments because the story itself, like, I get what they were trying to do with it, but it just didn't work the way I think he wanted it to work out. And I. Yeah, yeah. Like, to me, it seemed like there's, like, two different stories in one story, in a sense, like, because there's the whole ahema and Devon and the Ark and everything and him getting out of jail and whatnot. Then there's a whole, like, Bron and his life being in, like, you know, and I get how they kind of put it together, but that meshing of the two, it just felt a bit forced. And so I. Yeah, it's. It's. Yeah, that's where I would have it at.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Joshila, number 20. Now, Naomi, you don't have a veto, but do you have any thoughts on Joshila? Would you have used your veto for this film if you had one?
Oh, God, no. Like, this is the round where it is on my list as well. Like, I mean, again, the thing is, like, I feel like, unlike Rajesh Khanna, I don't. I think I have less disdain for Dev Anand because I feel like I genuinely like Dev Anand when he was a. And I thought he was, like, a charming young man when he was in his peak era, as opposed to, like, Aifi Rajesh Khana, where I just liked his films because he did work with competent directors, like, great stories. But I feel like it's easier to make young people look old than old people look young. And it's like what Nim said, just like, hema malini with Dev Anand feels so jarring. And the thing is, I'm not really the biggest fan of Hema Malini. Like, I'm more of, like, I think the stuff that I really like of hers is where she plays, like, the feisty, like a sita or gita, like a basanti, like, yeah, dream girl and everything. But I. I do not buy her as a poet. I do not buy her being sympathetic to a young, but actually, like, pretty old man in jail. Like, I just. I feel like there's a lot of things that just. I did not. Like, I did not really. Like, there's a lot of things that when Yashopra has sold to me in the past, like, I'm like, yes, okay, I accept it. This is not something that I can accept.
All right, so, yeah, so Yamini would not have used a veto. Here for number 20. Let's go to you, Aditya. Any brief thoughts on Joshila?
Yeah, Joshila was my number 19, I think. So. Not too away from number 20. I agree that there's a lot going on in the film and there are two parallel, slightly half baked plot lines. Dev Anand's presence feels like an intentional self parody in some ways. And it's missing that captivating intensity of someone who plays a wronged convict or someone who's wrongfully imprisoned, someone who has a tortured past, someone who has a tortured romantic past. Dev Anand is not able to deliver even 1% of that. He's very much caught in his, you know, the hangover of his mannerisms and costuming, which works so well in a film like Hamdono, but. Or, you know, in his past works, but not anymore. And his pairing, a lot of the film hinges on the, you know, the romance between Hema Malini and Devanand. And that is because of that deeply unconvincing. It seems like he's, you know, a gunkle with his niece, you know, in the pairing. And. Yeah, I mean, it is. Hema's costuming was mentioned, I think, at some point. And I do. I do have a newfound appreciation for Hema in Yashopa movies. I like Yamini. I'm not particularly a Hema Malini fan, but I, you know, after having revisited some of his films, I'm seeing how she is quite decent, I guess, and satisfactory in many of them. Yeah, I think. No, again, very bloated screenplays, trying to do too much. But a couple of honorable mentions would be for Bindu, who plays Rani, Bindu's second yash Chopra movie, I believe. She's so delectable and juicy in her skin tight gowns and her, like, sheer saris with those like, full sleeve low neck blouses. And her boyfriend, the crook Sudhir.
He.
Calls her pussycat in one scene, he's like, pusika tum ash karo, you know. And I was like, is Bindu the original girl who's going to be okay in a subversive sense, maybe. He also. He also like, among other terms of endearment, in an action sequence, he says all of these, like, choice Punjabi swear words, you know, enter the chat. And of course, the other thing that is notable is the, you know, the wronged convict. The convict who has self sacrificed himself and kind of his, his love, which we see in Deer Zara. So I think that using the jail, using the prison as a space for affinity for romance across borders is really interesting. And I feel like there is a quality to the film which is critical of incarceration as a system. And I also like that Hema plays a writer and that's, you know, poetry becomes a big thing and literary connections become a big thing in chocolate movies.
Do you want to use your veto or you're okay with it here?
I'm okay with it being here, yeah.
All right, let's finally go to sal on Joshila here at number 20.
Yeah, this was at number 18 for me. So pretty much at the bottom. I think the most important things about this film for me are that, again, doesn't really feel like it needed to be a Yash Chopra film, which I think he again made this not for BR films and maybe his first film for Gulshan Rai, Rajiv Rai's dad, incidentally, who went on to marry Sonam. So funny sort of connection there. And his the first of his two collaborations with Ardi Merman. I really like the kiskarasta de khe, which is the famous song from this film. But then I don't care for the big Hema song. Sona rupa Laura. But then it's also very texturally interesting when I hear it on its own. Doesn't quite work on screen. So it's not Vijay fastle parampara level bad for sure, just because it's a seventies movie. And the aesthetics are groovier. They're cooler, the costumes are better, the bindu of it all. But I have this theory, right, which is that Bollywood leading men after 35, unless they can really, really prove that they've maintained facial integrity, like handsomeness, wife handsomeness wise, they need to be put in Prada, like retired forcibly until they can come back at 55 as dads, you know, like dignified older men, until for those 20 years, we don't see them. Because actresses like the leading ladies improve as they age. And the men after a certain age, they just get better, worse. So Devanand, really good example of this. The Khan's really good example of this. So this is a really great example. Like, Devanand is so grating in this. Rishi Kapoor, really good example of this. Like when you can start telling it's a toupee, you know, it's over, you know, it's Jover. So, yeah, I think Joshila, one of those films where it feels kind of inessential after this cutoff point, I think there's like redeeming factors. I like all the films after this, like all the other films. Like all the other films, like right after this point, I'm like, yeah, all of these. I enjoy all of these. I see a point to. But this set, I'm like, yeah, these are, these are not great.
Yeah. I have to say, I really hate, like, I don't really hate any Yas Drupal movie, but this is, this and Parampara are the two that I'm, like, a waste of time and effort. So I had this much. I mean, I had this number 21. I think it's kind of a snooze fest. I don't really see any. I think it's kind of cool to have this, like, you know, jail, this, like, convict poet character. And that's kind of interesting. But I'm just. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I mean, I guess, like, yeah, sure, Binda's great and she's always great, but I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan of this movie. So I'm glad to see it here at number 20. That takes us to you, Sal. Number 19, what do you have for us here?
So again, this is a film I liked. I enjoyed this. I liked this. It's admir and son, and this would have been a little bit higher for me. But I think the reason it isn't is just because it's a little bit rough technically. Like, you know, like some of the, you can tell that, like, it was a little bit choppily put together and things like that. I really enjoyed this film. I think Mumtaz is fabulous in this film. Like, people are always talking about who the most stylish Yashopa heroine is. May I submit Mumtaz in Aadmir in, like, she, like, she's giving Joan Holloway Mad Men. Like these, like, skin tight, like, sixties dresses, like the beehives, the buffons. She's. She has all these, like, little sayings. She has this life philosophy, which is like Zindaggi itta fakh, you know, and she has the song and it's so good she has to sing it twice. And she's like an actress. Come party planner, come secretary, corporate espionage doer. Yeah, she's fabulous. Sairabanu is really adorable in this, doing what Saira Banu always does, which is get annoyed at servants, giggle, argue with people, cry just a little bit and then giggle again, which is very aspirational for me as a woman in the 21st century. So I enjoyed that. Dharmendra, I love. I think he's such a great leading man. He's so versatile and he's so handsome in this. You know, he's just so beautiful in this. Perez is really fun. Everything works. It's a stylish movie, very, like, mid century modern. And design, the architecture, the houses, the cars, it's just a little choppily made. It's a little sloppy. That, like, yash Chopra finesse is not quite there. That really is the only reason. Otherwise, like, even the stuff that you see in later movies that you really appreciate about Yas Chopra, like, his ability to execute thrills. Right? Like, to do a thriller. You see this in Aatmir and San. You see this in the portion where Dhramendra's character is, like, traveling with the evidence to prove that, like, there's all this, like, illegal stuff happening behind the scenes with the contracts, you know, all the patriotism, you know, that kind of, like, secularist, nehruvian patriotism of a certain time. Like, that works for me. There's some good songs. Zindagita fake, I thought was really lovely. I like the albums that Yashopa did with Ravi. It's just. Yeah, it's a good film. It's a solid film. So. But again, like, not maybe as accomplished as the ones that come after this. That's the only reason it's this low.
Yeah. All right, let's go to you, nim. Thoughts on Admi Oren san.
So on my list, it was actually a bit higher than this point because I actually really liked the storyline in the sense of, like, furrows and Thurman. They're like. I mean, again, it plays that whole, like, you know, one of those things that he has where it's like, you know, somebody does something for someone else. And there's that Ehsan that, you know, he's done so much for me and I should try to return it in some way or form. But caveat being that, you know, it doesn't go exactly the way that they think it's gonna go initially. Yeah, and. But I did. I mean, I'm quite surprised that her minder only made this one movie with Gastropra, given that, like, you know, both of them are very kind of big during this time. But I think that as a movie, I guess the editing could have been a little bit more smoother in places. But I think that he had a really good, like, cinematic quality to this movie and that it played out engagingly. I really enjoyed Magdaz, as, you know, that, like, to see her kind of in that side role and then realizing how she becomes, like, a main actress later on, like, really, really, like, you could see that she had that spark in her to begin with and. Yeah, no, but I'm not going to use my veto just yet, so I.
Will let it be no veto from Nim. Let's go to you, Yamini. What are your thoughts on Admiral Oren San here at number 19?
Honestly. So honestly, what I'm loving is like the list is actually moving according to the way my rankings are. I definitely, definitely agree with Sal. Like in terms of Parampara fastly, Vijay Joshila for me were the ones where I could not think Aadmiran san genuinely is a film that like, I was hooked to. I did. I really enjoyed watching it and it's for the same reasons. Like that Sal said one like Mumtaz, like, what a revelation. What a star. I mean, like, I obviously, like, know Mumtaz from like, you know, a little bit later from like Brahmachary, obviously from Ajkal. But like, I think this was one of definitely, like her earlier roles or maybe later. Actually, my timeline's a bit messed up now. And I think from what I see, obviously Aadmir and son, it acts as a commentary on the working class that is then later more put forward by Yash Chopra in his films from Diwar Kalapathar onwards. This was really a bit of the starting point because if you look at his films before that, Dhul Kapoor, Dharmaputra and Bakt, not so much dealing with like the woes of the working class. I mean, this one also doesn't entirely deal with it in the way that it would. But it's definitely like sort of the catalyst that then, like pushes forward to what becomes. To, like, what becomes diwar and everything. Post that again. Like, I think for me it was a wild experience to see Feroz Khan being directed by Yash Chopra. Because. Because from when I think about that era, I realize that I've not seen a Feroz Khan film that wasn't directed by Feroz Khan. And I'm seeing Feroz Khan being directed by Yash Chopra. And I do not think that Feroz Khan could be not Firoz Khan. Like, I don't know how to explain it. Like, there's a certain flamboyance that Feroz has when he's directing himself that it felt slightly. It felt so much more subdued. Like, I was like, oh. Like, I mean, I obviously do take Feroz Khan seriously as an actor. But then this felt like I'm like, oh, I understand you before you were directing yourself. Like, yeah. I mean, honestly, I don't think it's a bad film. Looking at the current state of Bollywood I would say it's a good film, but I. But considering the films that we still have left, I think that's why it is so low.
All right. Yes. Okay. Let's go to Aditya on thoughts on admiral san here at number 19.
Yes. I find myself agreeing a lot with everyone. I actually have a special spot for this film. It started off being at the top of my bottom list because I am obsessed with Yas Chopra's arguably first film, Patal in Mumtaz Azadita. She is just so incredible in the film. She offers the film's kind of paradigmatic philosophy. And like Takya Kalam, when she says life is but an Itafaq, you know, everything is a coincidence. And I think that the cadence of that soundbite kind of guides the whole film. And in some ways, you know, she becomes the puppeteer of this Cain and Abel, you know, couple or like brothers, I guess, this tale of Cain and Abel, it's also, you know, if there were like, a, you know, queer Bollywood or queer subtext situation, since they aren't biologically brothers. There's a lot of scenes and shots in the film of the two of them, Dharmendra and Firoz Khan being very physically intimate with each other, along with the dams, of course. And there's a lot that can be mined there erotically. But, yeah, it's a beautiful film to look at. Its uncredited camera work is possibly Kg, if I'm not mistaken. But I just think Mumtaz turn as Rita was so spellbinding the outfits that Saleha mentioned her first scene on the boat with the leopard print, and she's removing her glasses. That immediately reminded me of Barbara Stanwyck in double indemnity or even Jean Tierney in Leaper to heaven. Just the sunglasses and what they signify for the so called modern woman and zindagi itta fakh hai. Oh, my God, what a smash banger like that song and the fact and the way that song returns to the film with a reprise by a very kind of baby girl, Dharmendra's kind of heartbreak. So, so good. I mean, that the layering of the music with the events in the narrative, with the pathos of the characters, with this kind of conflict of corruption versus capitalism in an India that is recently independent and kind of charging these workers with this kind of effort to become a superpower in some ways, the nehruvian socialism and industrialism that we talk about. To me, this film feels so canonical, and I struggle with it being, well, currently on my list. It's at number 17.
So why don't you use your veto?
I am torn, but I think I'll still keep my veto. But, yeah.
All right, so anytime. Number 19. I do like this movie. I feel like Yashtropra, in general does not get credit for being as political a filmmaker as he is. I think a lot of people see the Saudis and the songs and all that, and they think he's just kind of fluffy romance. But I think all of his movies are quite political in charge and have a lot of that running through them. And I think Admiral san is a really interesting movie about workers rights and all that, and echo all the thoughts on Montaz. This was kind of around pretty much where I had it on my list, so I'm not too upset with it here. So that takes us to Aditya, your first pick. Number 18. What do you have?
18. Sorry, I'm just seeing what we've missed so far. Okay, I'll go with Dharmaputra at number 18. Maybe it's too low for people, but. Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it's a deeply important film for Yash Chopra. It's one that kind of, you know, gave him a sense of, like, intellectual or like, ethical, you know, kind of fame in some ways among perhaps literati or, you know, the intelligentsia. I think it's unimaginable to have a film like this today where inter communal harmony is not only suggested, but emphasized and advocated for. It's perhaps Chopra's first and only part muslim social film set in a pre partition, british colonized India. I love its use of lanterns and gramophones and record players and gadaras and, you know, very typical Urdu kind of aesthetics. And Tahzeeb. In the first half of the film, there are some shots that are really beautiful, but at the same time, I feel like, you know, it doesn't quite. There's a point where the film starts to feel more of. More like a non fiction text that perhaps loses the viewer to some extent. But, yeah, there's much to love in this movie. There's much to kind of appreciate in this movie. The soundtrack isn't particularly memorable, but there is sloganeering and a sense of soapboxing that comes in tracks like na me hindu muslim bhai, charika dikhawa nahi kara, you know, and ya de la teho. The more romantic number with Malasina and Rehman in the beginning is, again, very beautiful and kind of the uses of curtains in that. And the depiction of Malasina's interiority becomes a big theme in Chopra's movies thinking about or kind of dwelling on the heroine's state of mind and her desire. But yeah, I mean, ultimately, if I were to compare this with Dhul Kapoor, his first, I would say dhol Kapoor comes out as a stronger film. Yeah. And. Yeah. So I think.
Sorry, go ahead.
No, so I guess, yeah, that would be it.
Okay, let's go to Sal. Any brief thoughts on Dhamputta? Do you want to use one of your vetoes here?
So, no, I don't want to use my video, even though this was higher on my list. I think the thing I, while doing my rewatches for this podcast episode because a lot of these films I watched when I was a kid, I watched them on Sony TV when they did a Yash Chopra festival in the early two thousands when I was like seven or eight years old. So I haven't watched a lot of them since. But I realized that I like a lot of these noble minded yash Chopra films a lot more than I thought I would like. These very idealistic, sort of, you know, do gooder type films. Like the. I like them a lot more than I thought I would. And I don't know if it's because India has changed so much since then. You know, indian films, Bollywood films have changed so much since then. Like you, as Aditya said, you couldn't make this film today. You couldn't say the things that these films say today. The speech at the end that Rajendra Kumar gives, you couldn't give in a film today. Like, these kinds of films could be like on Doordarshan back in the day and they couldn't know. You know, it's like, it's so strange. So maybe it's that. But I also really did think these were so beautifully made and didn't feel kind of, you know, the rhetoric didn't feel like I was being hit over my head with it. So I really liked this. I did like Dhul Kapul more, though. I thought that had a lighter touch. This had the advantage of a shirtless shashi Kapoor. So I give this one points for that. I also discovered that Mala Sinha might be one of my favorite golden age actresses just based off of this. And Dhul Ka, fool, watching them back to back, she's splendid. She's such a delightful actress to watch. Like, when I was a kid, I didn't get it because I was like, you know, she's. She was. She's a very womanly actress. And when you're younger, you like those more Gamin, more girlish you know, presences. But now I'm like, my God, she was an actress. She was a woman, you know, so I really enjoyed this. This is a little bit more heavy handed and I'm not going to challenge it, but I really endorse this. I really, really like it.
So no veto from Sal. Let's go to you, Nim. What are your thoughts on Dhamputa here at number 18?
So I had it a bit higher on my list as well, too, if only for the fact that given the current climate of India and everything, I found this movie a lot more kind of like heartwarming in a sense of like, you know, there was a time in India where there was a whole idea of communal unity and that, you know, one person versus another community. Like, there's no difference at the end of the day. Like, it's all just based upon these kind of man made ideologies and whatnot. And so I like, I know, like, I was reading up on it and that this was, like, probably one of his, like, first box office flops that he had. But I do think that it is like, there is a certain section in the midst of the movie where it does get a little bit more kind of historically heavy. And there's a lot of that whole, like, you know, the partition aspect and everything. And it's, it's tough to watch and that. And I think that a, extended the movie a bit more and b, it just kind of took away from the rest of the story. And so I could understand why it would be on perhaps a lower number as a list. But to truly, like, I mean, now we're getting into, like, really, I think really nitty gritty things when it comes to Yashopra movies because as a, and this is like, I think one of, like, Shashikaboor's first movie is like an adult actor as well. And, like, his on screen presence, like, you could tell this man had, like, a good screen presence and, and passion for the craft that he had. And, yeah, I really, I really appreciate it. And Mala Sinaman, between Dhul Kaful and this movie, like, she was just a, like, beauty on screen. Like, just absolutely gorgeous to watch. And her eyes, so expressive. And I like, I can see why she was one of the leading actresses of her era and did quite well for herself. So, yeah, I will leave it here.
Okay, Yamini, what are your thoughts here? Number 18, Dharamputra.
I mean, Dharamputra was higher for me as well, but I don't think I have much to say that everyone else hasn't already said, obviously, mala Sinha, I feel like there's not enough that you can see about her. I mean, she has the unfortunate responsibility of having to birth an illegitimate child yet again. But she's just. She's so wonderful. I don't know if I'd say she was my favorite of the golden age actresses, but I think that from what Sal said, I definitely got a newfound appreciation for her. Especially between Dhul Kapoor and Dharamputra. Yeah, I mean, I think it's an extremely well made film. I think that for someone like Yash Chopra, who has first hand witnessed, like, what partition was. And I mean, again, because I just recently watched the romantics, but you. And this is something that you see, I think, with a lot of punjabi people, at least around that time, where you look at Punjab as Punjab, not as India or Pakistan. And I think that this is a very important film between this and Dhol Kapoor. But I do have to agree with everyone else. I think Dholka Pool is slightly higher for me than Butra. But again, Shashi. Just like I love Shashi to bits. And a young shashi. Oh my. Oh my.
All right, that's all. I guess I'm a little bit more off step with all of you because I had this be pretty low on my list. I give it high marks for the message and for how brave it probably was at the time and how it reads as almost radical now. But I feel like filmmaking wise is just so choppy. And I don't know, for me, the filmmaking did not work at all. I feel like it's kind of a little jumpy and I don't know, the art direction didn't quite work for me as well. I. So, I mean, I'm not surprised to see it here and sort of in the middle part of this bottom. I think it's an interesting movie. I feel like it should be seen just in terms of, like, how much it's really, you know, you know, giving a really strong message. But I just feel like, as a movie, I found it to be a little on the dull side. So, dharamputa here at number 18. We are about to head into our intermission. And so let me read off the list. We have 22, Parampara. 21, Yamuni, played fastly, which I saved with my moderator's mandate. But there might be another twisted. We'll see. D. Number 21, Vijay. Number 20, Joshila. Number 19, Admi Oren. And number 18, Damputra. I'm excited to see what the next four will be on the list to round out part one of the Yashvra two parter. So we'll see you back in a few. In just a few. We are back from intermission with the second half of the bottom nine of the yes. Shortbread tree part episode. Now. Okay, Yamanee, you're starting us off at number 17, but here's my offer to you, okay? Because it's actually quite fortuitous that you played basile at number 21. And me being me, I did not anticipate this much hatred towards the films. And I want this list to reflect your tastes. I'm just the moderator here. So my offer to you is I'm going to allow you to unsave fastly. If you want to play here at number 17, do it for the greater good.
Do it for the greater good. Right? Like, that's what I'm wondering. Okay. Yeah, I can't. I can't see fastly in the top 13. I'm sorry. I just. I cannot. I'm sorry. I have to do it for the greater good. That's fine, because, like, I was thinking, what did I put as my number 17? And I was like, I do not like fastly much more than I do not like the film that I put at number 17.
Okay, well, that's fine. You know, my heart's a little broken, but it's okay. I made the decision to give this option to you because I generally. I did not at all anticipate how much you guys would hate fosway. Like, honestly, it did not. Because, like, I really like this movie. I'll kind of give a little defense. We already went through it, so I don't want to spend too much time on it. But I think a, the cinematography is just gorgeous, better than anything else that's in this. Listen, up until now, the music is great. I actually really like Faha Naz's performance. I think some of the ugliness is kind of interesting. You know, I think there's something of value there because Yastrophra doesn't really get that ugly and doesn't really do a lot of stuff like this. So I think it's sort of an interesting marriage between, like, sort of the, like, you know, like the sort of ugly eighties, you know, versus the, like, kind of more lush, romantic nineties, you know, put like, it's like this, like, trade off between, like, Jon, Denis and, like, I don't know, Vijay. I mean, I know that, you know, it's sort of like, in the middle of those two, I guess, timeline wise. So I really, I really do like this movie a lot. I mean, I'm not going to say it's my favorite or top ten. In fact, if I didn't come up with this moderators mandate, I'd probably put it at 14 or 15. But yeah, I'm genuinely, like, shocked when you guys are talking about it on Twitter the other day, I was like, oh, my God, my heart sank. I'm like, wait, this movie that I'm creating this whole rule about is not going to be a favorite on the list. But anyway, that's fine. Fastly at number 17, unsaved by Yamini, but we'll see. So number 17, fastle. That takes us to NIMH for number 16. What do you, so what I'm going.
To put here is Michelle, which I actually had lower on my list, but it hasn't come up as of yet. But this movie, again, it was a very politically charged kind of film. And, and there is a lot of, you know, discussion about, like, illegal versus legal type of work and standing up for what's like, right and truthfulness and everything. But Philippe Kumar just didn't do it for me in that role that he had. And like, I know he's playing a very righteous person who like, turns bad because of circumstances sort of a deal, but it just, it didn't feel as convincing. And, and there, and I think, like part of it was perhaps the story writing. I don't know. Like, I know it's based on another marathi, I believe, play. And so, like, there was something based upon it. But the, the marathi play, from what I read, Washington, more of like a professor who had kind of undergone changes and then they changed it to like a journalist that had experienced these type of stuff. And for some reason, I get what they're trying to say with the journalism aspect of it that, you know, you know, you have a voice and you can use that voice in a way. But given how, again, our current climate is and how media is so, like, overly like, you know, misused in a sense of whatnot, like, it just, I don't know. It doesn't hold up to the test of time in a sense. And Anil Kapoor's character, like, could have been played by anyone. I don't think he bought anything. Like, I know it was his first kind of acting, but I just, it didn't feel like this is like a standout Anil Kapoor like character that he, he could only do it in a, in a way. So for me, I'm gonna have to put Michelle here.
All right, Michelle, the number. Yavini, what are your thoughts here on that?
So Mashal is actually exactly at number 16 on my list. So I like that. See, one thing I realized while watching Mashal is that I do not like the eighties in Bollywood. I think 1988 and 1989 are an exception, but the rest of the eighties are just like a wasteland for me. I love the seventies, I love the nineties majorly because of nostalgia. But the eighties, I really, and I think a major part of that is because a lot of these actors who I loved from the sixties and seventies, it's like what Sal said earlier, once the toupees come out and they're trying to be heroes, but you can see. See the age. You can see that they're really, really trying to be like these uncles who are trying to convince you that they're younger. And I don't think Dilip Kumar does that. But I think also, it's just that my perception, my love for Dilip Kumar, really comes from his early years. And I realized that I haven't really seen much of Dilip Kumar in the eighties. And looking at him, like, how he was here, that really. It was a bit jarring. Like, I understand what Mashal is trying to say. Again, it's really like you're going beyond the anti corruption thing again. It's really like what we had mentioned during Aadmir and son, where we don't give Yashopra enough, enough credit for being the political filmmaker that he is. But it just didn't. I won't say it didn't work for me. There were obviously redeeming qualities. It was a bit jarring to see Aluknath being at the forefront of journalism. But, you know, that's one of those things. One thing I really enjoyed was, like, rati agni Uhotri, like a young rati agni agni otri. She reminded me, I don't know if you guys watch a lot of telugu cinema, but if, you know, like Lavanya Tripathi, like she looks like Lavanya Tripathi looks a lot like young Prateyagmihotri. And I think that was one thing that just kept sticking to me when I was watching the film. But I think 16 is a good place for it. I don't think it adds much to the Yashopra cinematic lineage, but I wouldn't say that it adds nothing. So, yeah, I think 16 is a good place for it.
All right, let's go to you, Aditya. What are your thoughts here on Michelle at number 16?
Yeah, I had it at number 16 as well. But I think I have perhaps more affection for the film and its performances. I mean, this is Dilip Kumar and Yas Chopra's first collaboration together. They have known each other since Dilip Kumar worked with VR Chopra, Yash Chopra's older brother at. In Naya Dor. And there was an assumption of them both to collaborate, these two powerhouses to collaborate, and now we're seeing them collaborate in the eighties. I think this film is an outlier among other eighties films because while it does have, you know, kind of these formulaic action sequences, it is very much rooted in what Yamini had earlier called, you know, the woes of the working class. You also get a sense of how Yas Chopra is perhaps politically more centrist, still very progressive and political, but more centrist compared to his older brother's filmography. But it's still very much part of that whole thing of, like, a reformed hoodlum, you know. Anil Kapoor, playing the tapori who improves himself, pulls himself up by the bootstraps under the adoptive parentage of Dilip Kumar and Vaheeda Rahman. I enjoyed Anil Kapoor's performance here. It was pre Ramlak Khan, pre, I think, some of his other eighties and nineties hits. So in terms of that, it feels quite risque to cost him. I believe Kamal Haasan was the first choice of. But he was kind of deterred from being part of this film because he was perhaps threatened by Dilip Kumar's screen time. But Javed, after the writer of the film, the first solo attempt outside of Saleem Javed's pairing, suggested Anil to Yas Chopra. So I think it really works for me. The chemistry between Anil and Dilip Kumar really worked. The grown up, kind of more wholesome romance or marriage between Dilip Kumar and Vahidar Rahman really works for me. I think that scene, oh, my God, that scene that I'm sure everyone you know has heard about, talked about the scene of Vahidar Rahman dying on the sidewalk and Dilkumar kind of just, you know, like a maddened creature, just screaming, wailing, hounding cars to stop so that he can take his wife to the hospital for an ailment that can probably be cured very easily, but it isn't because of the circumstances. That whole sequence is so riveting. It's breathtaking. It's a master class in both melodramatic acting as well as acting in general. So I think this is one of the greatest you know, outside of the golden age years, it's one of the greatest dilip Kumar performances. And I enjoy the cinematography a lot in the film. I think this was the film where, unfortunately, KG passed away during the making of it, if I'm not mistaken. And then Santosh Sivan, perhaps, was given the reins to take over the cinematography. So we get these two. We get this kind of visual language of these two master image makers where plays of light of, like, grit and grime is so gorgeous and the nighttime photography is so gorgeous. And the switching of these two, you know, these two men in this men's melodrama, in a sense, the switching of them, trading places from being the ethical do gooder, the just truth speaker, to being a vengeful adorn. I think Dilip Kumar does really well in that because he has this fatigue and this pathos in his eyes. And Vaidar Rahman is, of course, outstanding. I think she brings such. She's such a great scene partner and she brings this level of tehraab and composure in her performances. Always incredibly reliable. Yas Chopra, collaborator, of course.
So, Ditya, do you want to use your veto here for Michelle? So it sounds like you really do have a lot of affection for this film.
I do have affection for it, but I will not use my veto yet. Yeah.
All right, so let's now go to Sal. What are your thoughts on Michelle?
So I had Michelle a little bit higher, but I'm not going to use my video. Just going to let you know. I really like this film. This is like your dad's favorite Yashopra film, you know, like, if you grew up with the kind of dad I had. And it's also, like, the answer to the trivia question, which Bollywood film ends with the lead couple running a marxist newspaper? And the answer is a yash Chopra film. So that should really tell you the man had a insane range. It wasn't just Siobhan saris in the Swiss Alps, right? Like, literally, they're running like a marxist newspaper at the end of the film, like the husband and wife, like Rati and Anil. I really like this film. I think it's definitely flawed. I think it's imperfect. I think Yashubra really struggles with, like, the nitty gritties, like, the workings of specific industries, you know, where he has to get into, like, all those little things. So here he's doing, like, illegal businesses, right? Like, so racketeering and black markets and, you know, black market alcohol and things like that. And in the second half, like, that stuff, he's just not really able to do that in a very compelling way. And in probably ten years, he probably would have been able to with like, a research department and things like that, or with, like, once YRF had beefed up its, you know, story department and things with that kind of. With those resources. Although I don't know. I mean, given Jabtakh Hejan's screenplay. But. Yeah, but other than that, like, this is. This is such a great film in so many other ways. The Dilip Kumar scene where, you know, he's trying to get Wahida Rahmandha to the hospital. When I was growing up, that was the scene that was one of the scenes cited to us as one of the greatest acting scenes in Bollywood history. Like, it would constantly be cited. Like, if you want to see great Bollywood acting, you have to watch that scene. This was one of the eighties Dilip Kumar films. Like, there was another one, Vidhata, which was with Subhash khai, where, you know, Dilip plays this kind of noble a man who, like, sort of who flips and becomes this kind of underworld figure and that's hidden from his young protege who later finds out, etc. Etc. In that film with Sanjay Dutt. And again, I think with both Sanjay and with Anil these very early, like, sort of twinkier years, although Anil, I guess, never really a twink, given the pursuitness other years that I really enjoy them until they become character actors in the 2010s. So I really like Anil in this. He's not sleazy. He's sort of young and charming and raffish. I like Rati. Ratty is always rocking some of the most insane eyeshadow combinations in all of her films. So that's fun. Yeah. Santosh Sivan did the cinematography. So this is the. This is the film. This is the Yashopra film that you'll get that is the closest looking to a mani Ratnam film. So that's really fun. The song Mujeyto Miyadh Rakna or, like, you know, people talk about the lavish locations and things like that in a. In a Yashopra film. All of that is filmed in an abandoned train yard and like, this abandoned, like, railway carriages. And it's so dynamically shot like, that is one of his loveliest songs to look at. It's so beautiful. Like, I love watching that song. And Riddhinath Mangeshkar did the songs. I love the songs. And the last thing I want to say about this film, because I was trying to remember it while I was watching the film. One of the things that Yashopra does so well and it really comes through in this film is he does these really lovely, urbane, cosmopolitan, yet very, like, rooted indian older couples were, like, in love with each other. Like, and it's not like, you know, the woman isn't all Jaona Chorona. She's also in love with her husband. They're so affectionate. They're so tactile. They want to hang out with each other. They want to be with each other. They're each other's friends, you know? And you really see that in this film with Dilip and Wahida. You see that with Rakhi and Shashi in Kabhi Kabhi. You see that in all of these movies, you know, these older couples that just wanna, like, they vibe, they get along. And you don't see that in Hollywood films and films anywhere. And you consistently see that in Yashopra films. And I love that. And that's one of the multitude of reasons that I love Mashall. Although I feel like it's good at this place. It would be a little higher for me, but it makes sense at 16.
Yeah, that's a really good point, Sal, about these yastropha couples. I'm a big. I really, really like that. I don't think I really considered that, but that's such a running beam for him or motif. I like Michelle a lot. Again, like, it's very angry. Very, like, I mean, look, I'm not. I'm no political theorist, but feels socialist to me, or feels very like, okay, this is what it's like. This is, like, kind of. It's that same thing that we've seen in this previous, other previous, more like, political movies about, like, this is like, this utopic thing of, like, how. What we can achieve. And I like that a lot. I really do like the camera work in this film and the costuming. One of my favorite parts of this movie is actually not related to, like, the more political parts, but it is kind of an interesting meta moment, which is, like, right before that love song. I think Anil Kapoor, like, asks Rati Agnotti for a kiss, and she kind of pushes him, and she's like, this isn't an english picture. This is like, this isn't an english film. So we're not gonna kiss, which I think is really funny and a really kind of, like, cute little meta moment. And I think also kind of points to a lot of ways in which Jastrophra balances that line between more like that traditional samsari kind of vibe, but with some very, like, progressive love stories that feel very, you know, it's very subversive in ways that I think don't get a lot of credit. So I'm pretty happy here with Michelle. I just want to point out, Sal also saying the costuming in the film, which I really agree with, is also quite, quite nice to look at as well and feels right for the characters.
So.
Yeah, Michelle at number 16, very happy with that here.
Sorry. I just want to mention really quickly two things about Mashal as well. One being the set of the basti, the dogarpatti, Dogar Bhatti, the fictional, you know, Amchi Mumbai slum that they constructed Washington. So gorgeously done, almost like a magical ghetto. And one of the anecdotes was how Robert Wise, the director of Sound of music, apparently visited the set and was so impressed. It was like a crowning glory for Yash Chopra. And the other funny thing is, Amrish Kuri, as the antagonist, he keeps on saying this one thing, which I don't know why, makes me laugh, maybe because of the name, but he says, zamana bahadura hai tula Ram. Like, he keeps on repeating that and that, I don't know, makes me cackle each time. But, yeah, just wanted to mention these two things.
That's really great trivia and. Yeah, so thanks for pointing that out. So let's go to you, Sal. Number 15, what do you have here? Or what would you like to put on the list here?
Number 15 is going to be Chapda Khejan for me. This is a little lower for me. But, you know, this was number 16 for me, I think. But, you know, we gotta work with the chips we're given. Japta ghet jaan is. This is a very sentimental film, I think, for all Yashopra stands. It was his last film. He passed away just before it came out. It's really hard to maintain any level of objectivity about this film because of those reasons. Because also, it really is the end of an era, right. In a certain way, because Yashopra is gone. No one's going to make a film with that sensibility anymore. So it's a little hard to be really hard on this film. When I see people, you know, sort of going at this film, you know, online, like, being like, oh, I hate this film, etcetera, it kind of hurts me, you know? And I think this film has a lot of virtues. I think it works on almost all levels except for two. And. But the two levels are pretty. They're pretty damn fatal, which is why it's this low. But I think the other part of it is, it's also because Yashopra movies, there's so many of them that achieve such a high level of excellence, especially at this point in his filmography. That's why it's this low. So with Jabtake Jan, the two things that really work against it, one of it. One of the things is the fact that Shahrukh Khan is playing 25 in this film, and he does not look 25. He does not act 25. All of that is embarrassing. It does not work. And I am willing to suspend disbelief in many, many ways. This is always going to be a tricky one for me. And I think that's also because of systemic, structural things, right. In the ways that film industries work. It's. You don't want to suspend disbelief in this one area because you're like, why should I have to? You're not going to let Madhuri Dixit play 25 in a movie. Like, he's playing 25, and, like, the heroine against him is still 25 years younger than him, right? Like, so it's annoying. But, yeah, the thing is, the film is an adaptation of the end of the affair, which is a great novel, but it's not a straight adaptation. It's end of the affair via Gossip Girl, for some reason. And Yash Chopra could have done a straight adaptation of the end of the affair and would have been excellent. He could have just had it be a mature person love story. And then when you see the 25 year olds and all the kind of weird little plot things, and you realize whose finger was in the pie, you realize, like, the Aditya Chopra of it, like, the smell of it coming off of the project. And that's where, like, all the trouble is. That's where the trouble lies. And the other thing is, again, it comes back to, like, yashubra plots really work when there's. When they're very kind of archetypal, when they're very uncluttered, when there's not much, like, when there's not a lot of machinery to them. This is a film where there's a lot of machinery for no reason. There's all these framing devices and things. There's, um. All of. All of these things happening that don't need to be happening. It feels like, um. Like it feels like a 50. Like a precocious 15 year old wrote. Wrote a screenplay. Like, the timelines are very. That, oh, she's the CEO of a company of a company at 26. You know, he. He was a. He was a waiter and then he went and became a bomb disposal expert. It's very, you know, it's like the kind of skits we used to make up when you were children. If you played a, you know, if you played movie, movie with your friends, these were the kinds of movies you made. But the filmmaking is lovely. You know, it's very nimble. It's one of my favorite Katrina performances. She's very alive, she's very present. I know there's like some talk of, like, you know, why Katrina? You know, we could have had a better last Yash Chopra heroine, but I think she's. I think she's really giving, you know, she talked about how Yash Chopra really got a performance out of her, really poached her very gently to get her through this film. And it really shows she's very present. She's very sensitive. SaaS is one of my favorite songs from a Yash Chopra film. I think this is one of the most consistently stunning Yash Chopra soundtracks. I am on record as saying that I don't enjoy the virus soundtrack because of whatever is happening with Lata Mangeshkar's voice. You know, sometimes we should just let our elders rest. So getting to hear, like, you know, Ar Rahman do a Yashobra soundtrack, that is a privilege and a pleasure. So just for that, I'm glad Jabta Khajaan exists. Guzar writing lyrics for a Yash Chopra film, again, a pleasure and a privilege. Right. Anil Mehta doing the lensing, there's so much that works. But I think just because of those little. Those bits that are so fundamental, though, like, you know, that's fundamental to the filmmaking. The writing is fundamental to the filmmaking that are so obnoxious that they kind of handicap the film in a very fatal way, which is why the film is so low in my list. I have to say, though, despite. Despite the writing, despite the fact that he shouldn't be playing the role or the role shouldn't be written as it is, Shah Rukh is very charming in this film. Like, he plays it very well and he's very handsome, as in the army portions, you know, with the short hair and the beard, I think that's. Yeah, it's one of the last times Shah Ruch looked really, really good on screen. Whereas as the bomb disposal, the bomb disposal expert, it's like, it cracks me up even saying it, but yeah.
Well, let's hear from nim. What are your thoughts on Jabta Khejan here at number 15.
So I had it at 16 as well. It's kind of in this range. So I'm happy with it being here. And I think, again, out of the rest of the filmography, like, this is one of the weaker kind of films for gastrophora, if only because of what Sal's already mentioned. Like, I think the biggest thing that bothered me was the shadow Khan and Katrina kind of pairing in a sense of, like, shadow actually looked quite a bit older than Katrina. And it's one of those things where it's like, you could start to see his age on screen, especially when you were, like, watching it on the big screen. And when you're having somebody trying to play, like, who's, like, in his, like, forties trying to pay somebody that's in their twenties, it just. It does not have that same kind of appeal. And it's just like we said, like earlier on, like, with Devanand and whatnot, it's like this whole, like, it almost feels like a character of that character. And it just. It was very, like, the first half of the movie was the hardest for me to get through. I think the second half I'm willing to forgive more because of the fact that they're supposed to be older, they're supposed to be more mature in certain ways. And so, like, you're. You're willing to overlook some of the flaws of it. The music, I love the music from here. You know, it was. It was like, I'm so glad that at least there's one film with, like, kiyash Chopra and Air rev on together like that. That was like, something. I was really excited when you saw that it was coming out. And so, yeah, to me, this movie being here, like, it's unfortunate that it ended up not being as big of a success as I'm sure that they probably wanted, given that it turned out to be his last film. But I think it was also perhaps, you know, he was in his eighties directing this film, and there was perhaps not that same kind of level of being on the same level as everyone else in society and everything. And there's a bit more of him looking back at the world in a sense of nostalgia and that kind of comes across in some of the scenes here. So, yeah, so I'm happy with it being at 15 here.
Okay, let's go to Yamini. What are your thoughts on Jabtake Jan here at number 15?
Pal, I love you. You are my favorite person ever. Honestly, I would have put Japta Khejaan at 17, if you hadn't let me, like, unsave fastly, because Japta Khejan is actually at 17 for on my list. And it's honestly for the same reasons that Sal said I had written it. I was like, I feel like we all tend to rage up this one higher because of the love we have for Yash Chopra and the sentimental value of this being his last film. But this film just frustrates me. And then I had written in my notes, I was like, how does the film 40 year old man become a disposal expert? And then I was rewatching bits of the film, literally, before we started this recording. And I was like, wait, he's 25 lols. Okay, Yashji. Sure, sure, Yashji. But it's. It's literally the same thing. Like, for me, it is doing that. Right? Like, where. Like, again, what Nim said, like, what we've been talking about Devanandori, talking about Rajesh Khanna. Like, that is exactly what's happening to Shahrukh over here. Because. And I think also what plays against it is that we've seen Yas Chopra work with Shahrukh as a hero when he was younger, in his peak. And then we see him doing this, and then I'm like, I understand Yashopra's love for Sharuk. And I think this also comes to the point where Sal said earlier, like, you know. You know when, like, Yas Chopra loves the hero more than the heroine, and Yas Chopra loves Shahrukh like, he's never loved anybody else. Like, I. I don't know how to explain it. Like, Shah Rukh is like, I feel bad for saying this, but I feel like Shahrukh is what he. Like, Shahrukh is a son to him. Like, he loves Shahrukh so much, and he wants to showcase Shahrukh in that way. But also, Shah Rukh in Japta Khejan is a 47 year old man. Like, there's just so much working against it, and there's just so much that, like, usually with Bollywood, like, I'm like, you know what? Like, we'll defy logic, fine. But I think it's just that the main part of the story, like. Like, even from the beginning, the moment he's, like, defusing the bomb in the beginning, where his introduction happens, and then everyone's like, oh, my God. Like, what? And I'm like, but you're all just standing behind him, watching him, talking like he's not scared of death. Okay, why are you guys. So callous. Like, I don't understand. And. And another thing that also pissed me off is, like, anushka's introduction, because she's doing these dares. How does she get to the rock in the middle of the lake? There is no boat. And then she falls into the water, and then she's about to drown. So she clearly couldn't have swam to the rock. How did she get there? The first time I watched that film, I just saw that scene, and I could not concentrate on the rest of the film because the rest of the film, I was thinking, how did Akira get to the rock in the middle of that lake in Ladakh?
Oh, right.
But, you know.
Sorry, is there anything else?
No, that's just me. But then also, there's another thing that I don't know if you guys agree with this. Maybe this might just be me. And I think in all of us, geographically speaking, from where we originate, I might be the furthest from Punjab. But I. I always feel like Sharab being, like, vocally Punjabi feels a bit unnatural, which is really weird because he's from Delhi, but it just doesn't. I don't know, maybe I could be wrong. Maybe. I don't know if you guys feel that way. But it just. There's just something that makes me cringe slightly whenever that happens.
Is that Punjabi? I will interject and say that, yes, it is very cringe. It is over the top. And it's just a. It does bother me to no end in the sense of, like, it's one of those things. It's a stereotype of punjabi people and the way. And he overemphasizes the words, like, I mean, as a Punjabi who speaks Hindi and Punjabi both back and forth. Like, I mean, there are differences and whatnot, but I think it's. It's never spoken with that level of harshness that they portray in Bollywood films. And this is why certain, you know, stereotypes keep getting perpetuated about punjabi people. And Shah Rukh does not help us with that is what I will say.
So.
Yeah, no, no, I totally agree.
I feel like Nim is going to have to be our, like, punjabi correspondent as we go through some of these movies.
Happy to be here for that.
All right, let's go to Aditya. What are your thoughts here on Jabtake Jan and number 15?
Yeah, like many have said already, this was pretty high up on my bottom nine list only. Well, a lot of the reason being a sentimental kind of appreciation for Yash Chopra's swan song, as it were, I think this film works because of its pretty ridiculous yet atmospheric bookending. You know, beginning with the bomb disposal and ending with the bomb disposal, works for me. I think the uses of silence, you know, starting a yash Chopra movie without sweeping mustard fields or these kind of gorgeous Swiss Alps, but instead in Kashmir, which has never been visualized in this way in a Yasht Chopra movie, but has always been quite a problematic, utopic kind of haven for North Indians. But seeing it as a conflict zone filled with a dense military is both refreshing, yet, you know, brings in its own sense of propaganda. I think Anil Mehta cinematography is stunning. You know, like the portions where he is, where the camera kind of pans or revolves along with characters gazes. For example, when Shahrukh, at the end of heer, which is one of my favorite songs, when Shahrukhdeh sees Katrina waiting outside of his house, the camera just kind of tricks us, you know, in a way, into not knowing what Shahrukh Khan is seeing and matching his eyeline. And similarly, this happens in the last scene when Shah Rukh is about to defuse the bomb and he sees Katrina in the white and the camera tilts again. So I think those moments were so, you know, really kind of. Kind of accented that swooning quality of his narratives. And just to add to that, there is such a. I think this is probably most. Yash Chopra's most extensively shot on location films, which is incredible, because a man in his eighties, kind of traversing with a crew of hundreds of people from Leila dark to other parts of Kashmir to London, UK, it all feels so ambitious. And yet they did manage to do it. However, the Aditya Chopra of it all, the conviction that this female protagonist has in the Jesus figure and the church being a very interesting kind of symbol in Aditya Chopra's narratives especially, wasn't quite convincing. And while I agree with Saleha that Katrina is very watchable throughout the film, I do think that she isn't as consistent in her reactions to Shah Rukh. And I kind of felt myself wanting a little more, you know, still maintaining a certain primness, but I found myself wanting a little more reactive quality in the heroine, Anushka's performance. You know, I feel like she plays it according to what's written, so she does do the assignment, but it is, again, grating for me. I do appreciate the Punjabiyat in this movie through, by way of Heeddeh and the nod to, you know, Mirza Sahiban and punjabi folk tales, but in a very kind of removed british urban context. And, you know, that song is just gorgeous. It's a beautiful soundtrack, as has been mentioned already. So, yeah, I mean, it was high up on my list, but I think a lot of that does come from an affection for it being his final film. I also agree with, you know, everyone's kind of grievance and complaints with Shahrukh's facial waxiness in the younger portions versus a very beautiful, dignified kind of handsomeness in the indian army portions. And what also killed me when Sal was talking about the music was, you know, the Lata mentioned sometimes we should let our elders rest. So. But, yeah, I'm okay with it being here.
You know, for me, I mean, I guess I can understand some of these criticisms. I don't know if I really care, honestly. Like, like this, to me, it's like an end of an era. So I feel like I, I guess I have that nostalgia, affection for it because I'm just like, we're never going to get a movie like this ever again. And I find it interesting because, like, I, I would consider this movie, to be honest, like one of Yashra Pras most, like, visually audacious films that he has made. And I think his collaboration with, as has been mentioned, is just like some of the compositions and the camera work and the blocking, I think, are something that, to me, feels like, wow, you're at this age and you're still kind of reinventing your own formula and really trying to elevate and experiment, you know? For example, the Ishkchava sequence, I think, is really quite stunning to look at in terms of just how it's really utilizing the camera and the space and the choreography and the extras and as well as the, in the second half, the sort of challah reprise, I think is really quite emotionally affecting because I think it's working on, you know, several different layers of emotion and character. And, yeah, I think that, for me, Yashraj, I think, has this one period, I just talked about this in the Mahdi Vichthat episode. It's like the Mahabharata Jabta Khejan era that twelve years. It's like, maybe it's because that's when I started getting to movies, and I was in high school and college around that time, but to me, it feels like that's such a crystallized moment. And Yashiraj kind of, you know, it lost some of its glamour for me once Yastropha passed away. And, you know, I think they, a lot of movies try to recreate that era or try to do something different. I mean, to me, this is the difference between ICTA Tiger, which I think is quite a tender, sweet romance, you know, that has a spy backdrop to, like, the spy universe now, which is so action and macho. And I like those movies, you know. Sure. You know, but I think that there's such a stark difference there, right? So, like, for me, Jepta khe Jan feels like such a milestone and such a, like, it's the hallmark of this era being ending. And it's not a perfect movie. I mean, I had it very similar on my list. It was number 14. So I'm not like, I'm not disagreeing with any of these criticisms, but for me, it's just like I can't care about them to the point of, like, not watching the movie. Like, I've seen the movie like a number of times and I find stuff to enjoy about it a lot. Now let's go to Aditya. What do you have for us here at number 14?
But yeah, I guess the other number 14, I would say, is Ittifak. Yeah. So, I mean, this was, you know, this is the classic outlier in Chopra's filmography. This is, you know, a film with no outfit changes. It happens over the course of one night. It's, you know, very genre, classic film noir. It is, one can call it a cabin horror home invasion thriller, maybe one that a kind of, you know, suspenseful hitchcockian flick that births films like Con, you know, another Barbara Stanwyck outing. Sorry, wrong number. Where, you know, the phone. The telephone is such a novelty and it's such a source of so much suspense in these films. And the woman in the telephone become this kind of enduring motif that was really interesting. Notably, this film was made during hiatus in the shooting of Adni Arun san, when Saira Banu felt sick and had to travel to London for a couple of months to, I guess, for some treatment for her health. And then Yas Chopra needed to, you know, use his crew for another movie. So he's like, how about we shoot this like really quick thriller which has no music. There's such stylish and provocative use of sound and camera angles. It almost feels like flagrant and almost anyyash Chopra like. But then you kind of see these stylistic elements in his other films. For example, the film begins with the point of view shot of, you know, hordes of men staring at Rajesh Khanna coming out of a room as a convict or as a fugitive. And it begins really, you know, provocatively as well, with him having quote, unquote, possibly murder his wife. You know, the. The kind of brooding artist, you know, obsessed with his, you know, passionate about his artwork more than his wife. Like, there was very thorny themes that this film hinted at. And it was a quite a taut thriller. So I think for its nerve and for its taut kind of cabin horror energy. This would be my next number 14.
Let's go to Sal. What's your thought of Itafak here at number 14?
Yeah, I think it was a little bit higher for me, but not much higher. I think it was eleven for me. But, like, I'm not. I'm not. It makes sense for it to be here. I think when I was growing up, what I'd hear about was about how, like, path working it was because it was one of the earliest and one of the few at that point, sort of mainstream hindi films without songs in it. The. The heroine turns out to be. Spoiler alert. The villain, Nanda herself, had a very kind of, like. She played these very saintly, kind of, like, sweet, beatific roles she had already in Yashopra's dholka pool. So that was. So she'd already had that reputation. She was subverting that. Rajesh Khan, I don't think, had become quite the sort of post aradhana heartthrop yet. Correct me if I'm wrong. So this was just like, on the cusp of that, maybe. But again, sort of a different sort of role for him. Not quite the, you know, romantic kind of, you know, the romantic kaka, necessarily. Yeah. Aditya has also mentioned that Yashupra was trying to cast rakhi which I realized when I was doing these rewatches that Rakhi is actually the quintessential Yash Chopra heroine. And his favorite heroine, she's the one who's done the most yash Chopra films as a heroine. So clearly his favorite. And also, according to Gossip, there was a buzz around the two of them on the sets of Kavikabi. So that was something I. But, yeah, so there's lots of, like, interesting stuff around it. The fact, I think, again, Yashopra is actually a very good director of thrills, if you remember that. Thrills by credit we used to get back in the day. Thrills by Sharafan. So I think, like, Yashopra does thrills very well. And he has this sense of atmosphere that's very strong and that comes through in this film. There's a sense of amorality that this film does well. Like, it doesn't feel very intensely like a morality play. I think one of the things that Aditya kind of alluded to is this is not something that is as much of an influence on mainstream hindi cinema anymore, but was in the period in Yashopra's Haiti when he was making the bulk of his cinema. Right. Which was like mass market paperbacks, pulp fiction, that sort of thing. Sidney Sheldon, all those writers, Judith France things, people like that. Like these directors were reading these novels where they were these big family sagas. Daddy Steele, you know, Hollywood was making these lavish mini series out of these books. That's where, you know, dynasty and Dallas and all those shows took their inspiration from. But on the other side, like writers like James Hadley Chase and people like that, like, you know, people just read constantly. People were reading a lot and a lot of, like, this kind of pulp fiction, mass market novels and things like that. You do see the influence of that side of things, like not the. Not the more kind of the glamorous sagas that you see as inspiration in something like Waktor Kabika B. But more that kind of the James Hardley Chasey kind of thing. And it's interesting. It's interesting to see him do more of a chamber piece here, do something that, that's very tightly. That's very tightly wound.
So, Sal. Oh, sorry. I don't mean to cut you off.
No, it's okay. Go ahead. I was gonna ask.
Well, do you want to use your veto here?
Oh, no, I don't want to use my veto here, but, yeah, I think it makes sense here. In general, I think I like it a little bit more than Aditya, but I think it makes sense here.
Okay, awesome. Let's go to nim. What are your thoughts on it? The Fac at number 14.
So I actually had it fac a lot higher, and I think that's because I am a bit more partial to these types of thrillers and the fact that it was a movie under 2 hours and it. It was a really well thought out drama like this. This keeps your attention. Like, you're like, what is happening throughout this? Like, you know, the. The hour that they're going back and forth and everything, and it doesn't come out right until the end of, like, what happens? And so, you know, I can understand why some other individuals may not appreciate it as much as I probably did, but I'm gonna leave it here just because there's a lot of other movies that I am going to be fighting over harder, I think, down the road. But. But it. I will say, like, it was a great film. I think everyone should watch it as Yash Chopra's, like, one off, like thriller, like psychological thriller. It is fantastic of a film. And it. The fact that it was, like, pretty much one single, like, you know, stage unit kind of a thing, like where they're just in this house and things are happening up and down and whatnot. And I think it was super, super well made. And that sari, that Nanda war man, I would like to have that color sari at some point, so I gotta look for it now.
Let's go to Yamuna. You have the final thoughts on our last film here. What's your thoughts here?
No, I'm just reading the comments and how everyone secured their vetoes and I was like, I don't want any vetoes for the first part. I just don't want that responsibility. And now I'm just sitting here like, oh, I don't have vetoes.
Which is fine, Dominique. So just to be clear, like, part two is a full refresh of.
Yeah, I know, I know. But I meant, like, to carry on to extra vetoes. But honestly, I don't think we're going to need it because I feel like a lot of us have. I think I feel like we've kind of somewhat aligned. Like, I think the next part is just going to be really, like, realigning it. But I think we all kind of, like, are sort of in the same space about the way the films are. For me, Itafaq is definitely higher. It's definitely in my top 13 one. I love murder mysteries. I love this genre. I obsessed with the fact that, like, yas Chopra made this film and also, like, I believe it was the first ever hindi film that didn't have an interval. So that was also really interesting. I mean, again, no songs, no interval. You have Rajesh Khanna playing this, like, quote unquote, like, you know, it's Rajkhan and Nanda. I love it when you have, like, the sweet little cutie, like, playing the actual murderer. Yeah. I think for me, Ittifaq, one thing that I really stood out to me was in the beginning when you have the bouquet kind of effect thing and then with the lights and with the way he playing with. It's not just, like, with the way it's shot, but, like, with different editing techniques to kind of, like, really lean into the murder mystery kind of, like, aesthetic. I I really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it. But, yeah, I mean, honestly, I. To be honest, I would put a ittafa Khayer just on the sole reason that, like, yas Chopra hasn't ever made something else even remotely like this. Yeah, like the, like, yeah, like I said, the editing is incredible. Like, it really does lean into that. I wouldn't say, like, hitchcockian kind of thing because it's not. I wouldn't say. I won't say it's inspired from it, but it's definitely, like, you can see the. You can see the intake of ideas. I wouldn't say that it is exactly what he was trying to do or what he wanted to do, but with the music as well, with. It was just. It was just a fun film to watch. Like, I. Again, like, as someone who doesn't particularly like Rajesh Khanna that much, I actually really liked the fuck, so. Yeah. And also, another thing also, like, we forget that Itafaq also is probably the only film that actually had, like, an official kind of, like, reboot. Like a re imagining retelling of it with Siddharth and Sonakshi, which I think was a dharma production. I might be wrong there, which, to be honest, I actually liked it, the reboot as well. Yeah.
So my thing with it, the thought is that I think it gets a lot of credit for being this taught single location thriller. But it's kind of not. Because for me, my concern with this movie, which is why it's not as high on the list, why it's in the bottom nine for me here, is that I feel like the beginning and the end are so much business of just, like, you know, he's here and then he's going to the asylum and then he escapes. You know, it's just a lot of, like, I don't know, there's just a lot of setup and a lot of, like, you know, I don't know, it just feels like a lot of. It's very busy. And then, like, the, you know, as, like, the twists come out. Like, yeah, Nanda is great, but I feel like her character really, actually kind of gets, like, sidelined at the end. And, like, I don't really get a sense, like, you know, we say, like, oh, she's the villain. But I'm like, I don't really get that sense because she kind of doesn't really talk much in the last, like, half hour of the movie. Or at least, like, I don't know, there's something missing there. But I love that central part where it's just the two of them in the house and, you know, as people come and go, you know, I kind of love that, you know, I love the scene when there, it's like this, like, kind of, like, dangerous little flirtation, you know? So I really like a lot of this movie. I actually don't like. Rajesh Khan has performance too much. I feel like he's too, like, histrionic and just. I'm just like, hey, what if you just, like, calm down? Like, okay. Like, I'm obviously whatever. The movie has to happen as it happens, but I'm like, maybe, like, it takes me out of it. When he's, like, strangling his sister in law, saying he didn't kill his wife, that's just, like, the stoop. Like, I can't get past that. I like this movie a lot. I mean, I think it's really clever. I think it's a really interesting kind of departure. I would love to have seen him do something similar later on, but, yeah, I mean, I'm happy with it here. Number 14. And I will. Yeah, we'll wrap up here. So let me just read off the list, and then we will be back in two weeks or part two. So parampara, number 22. Number 21. Vijay, number 20. Joshila, number 19. Admi Oren san, number 18. Dharamputra, number 17. Fastly, number 16. Mashal, number 15. Jabta Kejan. And finally, ittafat at number 14. So thanks to all the panelists, I'm really excited to see how the top 13 shakes out. Of course, there's, like, I don't know, there's all the movies that are eligible for the next half of the list are really exciting and amazing in their own right, so it'll be really cool to see the order. So you can, of course, follow Bollywood drafts on Twitter and also rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast. And, yeah, make sure you tune in for part to the top 13. And, yeah, let's kind of give. We'll go around, just do one last plug and kind of, maybe this, like, one sentence kind of thing, like, thought on the list and what's coming up for top 13. So we'll start with you, Aditya.
Yeah, so thank you, Manish, for having. Having me on again. This was really fun. Great to hear everyone's thoughts and meet Yamini and Nimrit and also, you know, be on the same podcast as Saleha. And. Yeah, yeah, my social media handle, my Twitter handle, istelladilly. So that's s t e l l a D I l l I. Yeah. And looking forward to top 13.
All right, thanks, Nim. Kind of last thought and plugged no.
It was a great conversation. I think we've pretty much been, like, pretty much on the same kind of vibe and wavelength with everything. And so, yeah, thank you for this opportunity, Manish. Can't wait for part two because that's where. That's where it's gonna get really fun. I think. I think we have some good, deep, deep conversations there.
All right, thank you.
And salons, the bat bun on Twitter. Last thoughts. Sara Banu saying at the edge of atv. Super excited for part two. Bye, folks.
All right, and finally, Yamini.
Yeah, I am yah. Minute on Instagram and popcharu on Twitter. And honestly, I'm just really excited for part two because I'm like, it could go either way. Either we're all like, oh, yeah, this is how we rate it, or we've all just got wildly different thoughts. But I think part two is going to be more difficult just because the quality of the cinema is just definitely incredible.
All right. With that, thanks to all of you and thanks to listeners. And, of course, thanks to the man himself. See you in two weeks.
Week.