The Other Banana

Written by: The Other Banana
  • Summary

  • A generation of impostors brought up on cinema. The Other Banana podcast is primarily Deepauk M(@complicateur), Aditya(@gradwolf), Anantha(@anantha), and Ashoka(@ABVan). We discuss films – mostly Indian – and analyse them in turn, roughly on a bi-weekly basis.
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Episodes
  • Episode 139: Director Series - Bala's Sethu
    Feb 12 2025

    A new Director Series at The Other Banana

    We have long debated a series on director Bala. You could say that Bala is not Bala anymore and his films are increasingly becoming difficult to meaningfully engage with but, the Bala 1999-2010 was something else.


    A new voice broke out in Tamil cinema in 1999 with Sethu. One of the several assistants of Balu Mahendra who will go on to make a mark in the following years, Bala ushered in an auterist sensibility with unique technique, point of view, characters and settings. The Bala universe was instantly recognizable.


    In the first of the series, we begin with his debut in 1999 which not only kickstarted his career but also redeemed Vikram's career and pushed him into stardom. With one film, a new star actor as well as a star director were born. Listen on.


    Participants


    Aditya


    Anantha

    Hari


    Edited by Anantha

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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • Episode 138: Meiyazhagan with C Prem Kumar
    Oct 7 2024

    We are returning after a while but with a biggie! Director and cinematographer C Prem Kumar joins us to talk about his latest film Meiyazhagan starring Karthi, Arvind Swamy, Sri Divya and others.

    The film has been warmly received by the audiences and is a breath of fresh air for Tamil cinema. Films with strong writing, a slice-of-life genre with male characters written as gentle and vulnerable have become rare. There is such a homogeneity of genre dominated by action, masala and violence that a Meiyazhagan deserves to be celebrated not just for how good it is but also for the mere fact that it exists.

    Prem Kumar joins Aditya and Subha Rao to talk about the writing decisions, what was cut from the opening scene, music and lyrics, the characters of Arul and Mei, the trimming decisions by distributors and the importance of the small and mid budget film, and more. Listen on.

    Edited by Deepauk.

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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Episode 137: On Kalki 2898 AD, Hanu-Man & Hindu Epics
    Aug 8 2024

    In this episode writer Aditya Mani Jha joins Deepauk and Aditya to talk about two 2024 films, both Telugu originals, and adapted-inspired from two Hindu epics - Mahabharata and Ramayana.

    One is Nag Ashwin's Kalki 2898 AD and the other is Prasanth Varma's Hanu-Man. One has a stellar pan-Indian star cast with the likes of Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone et al while the other has Teja Sajja, Amritha Aiyar, Vinay Rai among others. One has big budget and larger scope. The other has a big heart and novel ideas.

    We talk about what the films get right, what they do not and which Hindu epic is more interesting, adaptable and more. Listen on.

    Participants:

    Aditya

    Deepauk

    Aditya Mani Jha

    Edited by Anantha.

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    1 hr and 8 mins

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