Pyassa

A talented but indigent poet Vijay struggles for love and recognition in this selfish world

Austin Lugo: This week we are talking about Pyassa. I chose this. because I was watching a TV show, I can't remember what TV show it was, but they did a Bollywood spoof episode and I realized that I'd never really seen a Bollywood film before, or not even just a Bollywood film, really a film made in India. I've seen a couple of films from like British filmmakers who made a couple of films in India, but never a true Indian film.

So this is something that has long been off my list and. I just never got around to it, but boy am I glad that, uh, this was my first Indian film. Yeah, it's a

Andrew Harp: good movie. India has a very rich cinema culture and because of that I think it's, it's kind of a daunting task, you know, just cuz there's so many movies and there are new movies being made all the time and they're really long too, like all these guru du all these like guru dut movies.

If you look on Criterion, all these movies are like two and a half hours. You know, new movies are like three hours. Mostly because they just pack a lot of stuff in them. In this movie and in other Indian movies. I've seen a lot of stuff just happens.

Austin Lugo: Yeah. This film feels, which I, I don't think it is, but Andrew, correct me if I'm wrong here, it feels very biopic, but it's not.

I think it's

Andrew Harp: semi bio biographical. I think I read that like, um, guru. . It's based on like some of Guru does earlier experience

Austin Lugo: as an artist. Maybe it's just because of the length of it, or maybe it's just cuz of the way they tell the story. It feels as if a whole life is spent in this two and a half hours, even though you're only with him for a couple of years of his life.

Maybe not even that. Yeah, it's a like a couple years. Yeah. But for some reason it feels like whole lifetime, like, I mean, Poor Vik. He just, he has a rough, he just cannot catch a break. Did you

Andrew Harp: read the, uh, criterion like, um, description for the world of Guru Duck collection on here? It's like a, it says, um, hailed as the Orson Wells of Indian Cinema, cinema for his striking visual style and ability to weave deeply personal themes into mainstream entertainment.

Sounds about. Or Orson Wells is the guru dut of, uh, Hollywood,

Austin Lugo: I don't know, American Cinema

Andrew Harp: that shot too, where like, um, he's like at the, the funny like microphone, like when he is at like the, his, uh, university party, like, and he, uh, he says the poem to the audience. That shot reminded me of Orson Wells a little bit, the way that he looks like him at the microphone.

That shot reminded me of Oron Walls. Kind of looked like him.

Austin Lugo: Yeah, there's definitely some Orson Wells type, uh, camera movements, like in the way he, he loves to do like these long shots where you start like super wide and you kind of move in. I mean, maybe not to the extent of touch of Evil, but yeah, again, this is, uh, his, first of his films I've seen.

So that's not to say that in some of his other work, he doesn't do. , but the filmmaker that was actually most reminded of when watching this film was actually Imar Bergman. I guess part of it was because the opening image is very similar to an opening image to an Imar Bergman film, which I cannot remember the name of for the Life of Me, but I can see the images, which it's around the same time, and I think it's about.

Like a college professor and like the opening scene is like a, a man horn room, glasses laying in a like field of flowers. So it's, it's very similar imagery. It came out around the same time. Wild, wild strawberries. I think so. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Yeah. Wild strawberries and perhaps maybe like, just that initial image was just so similar that I, I kept making conclusions similar to Imar Bergman.

I think also much like Imark Berkman, uh, this is a director who's very interested in faces. Like a lot of the film is shot in closeups and very beautiful closeups, right? It's, it's a lot of just, uh, full face or kind of profile. Sometimes you'll see, you know, these kind of medium shots, but he's not someone who does like a lot of wide shots except for these kind of like, Passionate moments.

And if when there are wide shots like right, they're like a thousand extras, they're like these kind of very gigantic scenes. He seems to use the best of close up, medium and long shot, but I don't know it. It's got some Imar Bergman vibes and. Maybe part of it's also just the writing too. I mean, the writing's very poetic, which I guess is something you would want for a , a film about poetry.

But uh, it does kind of have some of those striking dialogue that you see in a lot of Bergman films where it feels as if everyone talks in PS and I think that's very beautiful. And then also just. Hindi language is a very, it's Hindi, right? Is that what they're speaking? Yes. Okay. . It's a very beautiful and sonic language.

I auditorily like, I don't know, it just sounds nice, I guess. ,

Andrew Harp: yeah, especially when they're singing, you know, the, the, the thing about the, the songs, they're probably, I, I won't even say they're songs, right? They're more like, uh, I don't know, chance, I guess, or something like that. There's probably another word for them, like a proper, proper word for it.

They're very repetitive. , but because of like the, I guess the nature of the Hindi language, um, I don't know, it kind of lulls me, um, in a good way sometimes. Like if I, if I watch a movie that has like a lot of music in it and has a lot of like, singing with like, people like singing in English, that gets really annoying in, for me, honestly, just cuz like, I don't know, like English is a language that I'm very familiar with.

Therefore I get kind of like annoyed if you're trying to like watching a movie and it has like a musical part in it that has like English lyrics. Kind of annoy you. You know, I think you're easily annoyed while in this movie I'm unfamiliar with a language. You don't even really have to read the subtitles, you know, after, I mean, you could read the first, for maybe the first minute, you could read the subtitles and then like it's, and then it repeats the lyrics, and after that it's like you could kind of chill, kind of like Lowell and kind of like yourself into kind of like the repetitiveness of it.

That's kind of like the main thing. for me that I take away from the, from the music and the singing of the movie.

Austin Lugo: I love the music in this film. I mean, I'm a huge musical fan, so whenever I hear music in any film, regardless of the language, I'm gonna be excited by it. And I wasn't sure going into this movie if it was gonna have music or not, even though it's a very famous Indian film, and Bollywood is famous for having a lot of song and dance numbers.

I just thought because of the vibes of this film, it might not have songs in it, but every time they broke down a song like it felt right, like it never just felt like people were breaking down a song to break down the song. I mean, they are right. They just, yeah, it's a musical, but. . It always just felt like the absolutely bright move for the moment.

And as you said, there is something hypnotic about their singing and it feels almost more like a chant than it does a song for whatever reason. And maybe it's just the unfamiliarity with the language. Maybe it's the repetitive nature of the songs, but. going for a while, which is great. I mean, I loved every song.

Like I said,

Andrew Harp: you can just kind of like sit back and just kind of like

Austin Lugo: chill. Yeah. And the images that go with each song are, are absolutely, you know, beautiful. Like, it really runs the gamut of like different kind of musical type numbers. I mean, you have your more traditional kind of song and dance kind of numbers.

Like the one where, uh, he dances with his, I think it's Mina, uh, when he is dancing like in the fog and you know, it's just the two of them dancing and Sina, or is it col?

Andrew Harp: I'm getting the names mixed up, but it's whoever the, his girlfriend was in,

Austin Lugo: um, school. I think that's Mina. Okay. I think it was her. And that's, you know, very like traditional, beautiful kind of, uh, Hollywood style, uh, sing in the ring kind of thing.

But then you have my favorite song, uh, head massage oil. Massage one. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Or it's just like a guy walking around singing and fucking with people's heads. I love that. It's

Andrew Harp: funny you mentioned that, you know, they have this world of Guru DU collection. I only watched one guru Dut movie, but they do have like a video on here called Where Mik, she's like a, a famous, I dunno if she's Indian or Indian American, but she's a, she's a filmmaker and she still makes movies and she's made tons of movies over the past several decades.

And, um, it's just like a 12 minute video where she's talking about guru, why he's. Kind of like some history about 'em. It was a good video. And she says that, that the, uh, head massage oil, like trap song is like, at least maybe when she was a kid. Uh, maybe not now, but I don't know. But it's a very popular song.

Like apparently it's like sung a lot, like in like Indian households and stuff like that. Like I said, you know, she's like older. I think she's probably one in her fifties or sixties, so maybe that's not the case anymore. Or maybe she's exaggerating. I don't really know, but I don't know. She said that like, it was like, it's a very like just well known.

Singing bit in

Austin Lugo: households. Is it well known because of the film or was it like already a, a well known song before the film and they just adapted it?

Andrew Harp: I, I think, I think it's original to the film.

Austin Lugo: Okay. Well, I love it. I, I mean, I think it's, An absolute blast. I mean, all the music is great in this, but that one is just, I don't know, there's just something about it like, it's like jazzy, but it's like also kinda like folksy and all the songs are very repetitive, but that's probably like the most repetitive one.

Like it's very just like, I mean there's only like six lines, the song, right? Yeah. ,

Andrew Harp: the song is him. Like a costing people to have like an oil, like hair massage thing. I

love

Austin Lugo: it. What's your favorite song in the film? I

Andrew Harp: like the one that he sings, um, near the. before he's like arrested? No, not before he is arrested.

Like, um, I'm trying to think. It's like the, it's like when he

Austin Lugo: is in the e auditorium, like at his death anniversary. I think

Andrew Harp: it's at his death anniversary. Yeah. Where he comes in and he is just like, fuck, it's his fuck you song . I love that. That sucks. By the way, I think like the singing in the movie, I believe all the singing is dubbed, like all the singing is different people, which you can kind of tell it, but it doesn't really matter anyway.

Yeah. Like the, the singing performance in that one in particular is very great and the content lyrically is also really great. And. It's, uh, quite, uh, an emotional explosive moment. I love that part where like, he's, um, singing and it's kind of like zoomed on him and everybody's kinda like grabbing him and it zooms out to the big crowd.

It's really great.

Austin Lugo: What a very powerful scene and just this beautiful moment, right? Cause we started on this close up of him singing this song with, uh, this beautiful silhouette light pouring in behind him. And we pull out and you see all just, I mean, hundreds of extras. Just like crowding around him and him, you know, being pulled away and like just people fucking going at each other, throwing fists every way and yeah, beautiful music just coming up behind it.

This is such a powerful moment after all of just this pain and suffering that Vijay has been going through for like two and a half. I will

Andrew Harp: say like, this movie's great because it kind of goes into a lot of like unexpected directions, especially in the last like maybe third of the movie where you're just like, whoa, okay.

Like this is crazy. Like it, it's really great. Like I said, like these Indian movies, they really pack a lot of stuff in there. They got music, drama, comedy. Like I said, they just like really, really like pack full of like stuff so that you really feel like even though it is a long movie, which. , honestly, like the majority of people, unfortunately, they see a movie that's like over two hours and then they're just like, no, I'm not doing it.

You know, like I can't do it. Like, but I mean, I don't know. It's a big investment. No, I know. I know. But, but at least when, if you watch this movie and probably maybe not every single Indian movie, but a lot of like the really great ones that are really long, you do get a lot out. Anyway, like this movie, it's, it's about a guy named Vijay as we discussed.

And I think the movie is all about kind of like making art in a market based kind of like society. That's, I think that's what the movie's kind of all about and kind of like the frustration and just kind of unfairness of it. And you know, Vijay, he's like a poet and he is really good. Like it's evident that he is really good and.

He's obviously poor. He's homeless. He goes home to like see his mom. His mom is like, here, have some food, have some money. His brothers hate him because they think he's a bum , like just like right from the beginning. I mean, he's just like getting kicked around a lot. But he also, he's also very proud as well, though.

Austin Lugo: There's the sense for some reason, Everyone just absolutely hates Fiji for no, like, particular reason. He didn't do, he's not a bad person.

Andrew Harp: He didn't do anything bad. They just think he's like lazy and like his brothers just think he's like a bomb and like not contributing anything.

Austin Lugo: I mean, he's, you know, he's working, he's, he's trying.

We learned that he tries to write these poems that are immediately thrown in the waist bin, and then of course he goes home and his brothers had sold his great poetry. For like Tin ans which I, I, whatever. I don't know what currency that is. Probably very little money. I'm again, , like a couple of pennies probably cuz they're like, we sold it for waste pepper.

And you know, he is gotta go around. He's exploring and that's when he meets, is that Mina that he meets that is working as a lady of the night. Did I get that right? Yes. She's a prostitute. Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought. I wasn't like a hundred percent on that, but I was pretty, I was pretty

Andrew Harp: sure. Yeah.

It's not his girlfriend from school. It's, uh, someone

Austin Lugo: else. Okay. Because there, there's a couple of different, like female, there's like two. . There's Gallub who he ends up with at the end, and there's Mina. Yeah. Who's

Andrew Harp: his girlfriend? I think from

Austin Lugo: school. Okay. Is it just the two of them? I thought there's, for some reason I thought there was a third person.

Maybe not. Who's the third person? I don't know. . Okay. . It's probably just the dome .

Andrew Harp: I can't think of any. I mean, there are other female characters, which by the way, the female, as Mi Ranier says in the movie. Guru DU has like a lot of like compassion and gives a lot of material to the female characters, and I think that's pretty consistent over his movies.

Austin Lugo: Yeah, I mean, honestly, most of the main characters in this, other than Vijay are female characters, and I guess the antagonist is. A male character cuz like the the mean guy, the, um, villain I guess of the film is, uh, he's basically just like the Indian version of Richard Burton. I mean, he is got the glasses, he's got the whole a scholarly look to him.

And he is like a, a publisher, I guess. Yeah, he's an evil publisher. He's an evil publisher and he, he hears one of the Jay's poems and hires him on as an assistant. I guess like his plan is like, to hire him on his assistant. So like he can somehow get control of his poems cuz he doesn't wanna publish them even though like, uh, the guy, Vijay is an assistant too, is like, these are like, this is.

Quality shit. Like these are good poems, but he's adamant about not publishing them because he's like, we only pu publish great poets. And I think that kind of goes back to the, uh, thematic ideas of this film. You know, as you were saying, kind of producing art in a commercial world and that sort of perpetuating sense where the famous poets Right, continue to be famous because they were famous before.

So it's just kind of like the. Six poets. Right.

Andrew Harp: Or it, it's, it's kind of like labels, like buying up all like the, um, recordings and stuff of like Bob Dylan and Neil Young , but they could have used that money to like further like support like new mm-hmm. and developing artists who have like new and interesting things to say.

Yeah. And I mean, I guess that's, it's kind of always been that way, right? Like it's too much of a risk. And I guess even in just like poetry publishing, it's still a risk. Do you say it's like he had a plan of taking control of, of uh, vijay's poetry? I don't think he had any plan at all. I think he just randomly hired him and then he got lucky.

He definitely

Austin Lugo: gets lucky in the like middle third or, I don't know, third quarter of the film. But I guess why then does he originally hire? Because like, he's gotta think cuz he hears his poem and he hires him. So he is gotta think like, Something there, because like he could hire anyone as an assistant.

He just needed

Andrew Harp: a new assistant and he saw a guy who's like a writer or a poet and he publishes poetry. So he is like, do you want a job? It doesn't make any sense, but I, I think it's just that simple. like, yeah, it's just kind of random, but I don't know. And he hates it. He hates a job. It's shitty. He gets kicked around.

He was thinking he was gonna get his poetry published, but he's just like working as an assistant.

Austin Lugo: I love that scene where like he. Walks into the office like after he is first hired. Cuz that's the assumption, right? That's, and they kind of play with that in the film too, right? Because you, as the viewer, assume, oh, he's hiring him on to like publish his content and he keeps going, yo, do you want me to read this?

Do you wanna read it? Like, he's going back and forth and the guy just like keeps talking over him. And of course like all of the scenes up to this point and continue on through most of this film, they're just there to kick Vijay while he is down. Like just, just fuck him. He's just poor assistant and his work is, is trash as, uh, I can't remember the exact, uh, phrasing that he uses, but like something about like novice trash or some, some shit like that.

Yeah. Right.

Andrew Harp: And of course he's wrong. It's evident that he's very good. Right As, as we see later in the movie, like you said, he, it is just like him being continually kicked , even though like he has, has basically nothing, there's never a moment where they're just like, he like becomes rich or like he, he's just basically throughout the whole movie, just kind of like the only thing he really wants to do is like create his work and then share it.

because it is evidently good, but as we discussed, like market forces that are just kind of unreasonable and are keeping it from being, uh, proliferated, even though once again, it's

Austin Lugo: evidently good. Yeah. Poor Vijay. I mean, every time you think he's, he's finally got done something with his life, right? Every time you think like he's finally like moved up the ladder, because of course, like in a traditional Hollywood film, right?

You, you start at the bottom and then you kind of slowly work your way up and then you know, you get to the top and you have this big celebratory moment. But this is sort of, the antithesis to that because he starts at the bottom, right? He, he's kicked out of his own home. He is homeless, he's sleeping on the streets, and you think, okay, you know, he's gonna get this job and then he is gonna get his poetry published and then, you know, everyone's gonna love him and all this stuff.

And yet, every single time, like every single step forward, it's two steps back every time. There's like the slightest advantage. Like someone finds his poetry and they're like, oh, this stuff is. Suddenly, you know, he's, he's kicked down, for example, the Mina relationship. He and Mina get into a thing, and of course the husband just happens to.

His employer.

Andrew Harp: So and as it's established many times in the movie, she just kind of cares about like comfort and money. Not really about love, which is like, not really like necessarily a bad thing, but you'll probably be kind of unhappy if that's all you're seeking. One other interesting about thing about VJ's poetry is that also it's kind of about poverty and destitution.

So I think also that keeps him from being like initially published because it's just like, because it's sad, right? It's

Austin Lugo: not, it's sad. Yeah. like that's what everyone keeps like telling him. It's like your poetry's too sad.

Andrew Harp: Yeah. At the party, right? Everybody's like, like you have like the famous poets there and all their poems are very, I don't know, like kind of pretty.

But vijay's poetry is very like dark . And, uh, you, like I said, kind of about poverty and destitution and

Austin Lugo: heartbreak. Oh, that's a, a wonderful scene. And for some reason, the first thing I thought of when I saw that scene was, uh, that scene from Coming to America where, uh, never seen the movie. You never seen Coming to America.

No. You should watch it. I mean, it's not like a great film, but I was surprised by how enjoyable the film is. But anyways, in coming to America, there's a scene. The prince, who of course wasn't right, he, he's working like in America and he's like a, working at like a, a minimum wage job. And his boss, the owner of this like McDonald's, like food chain, invites him to a party.

And he's like, yeah, I'd love to come to a party. And then he ends up being like a, he asks him to be like a servant at the party.

Andrew Harp: Yeah, that's exactly what happens here. I guess the only difference is that like right away he says like, you should come to the party and help me throw it. Like he doesn't invite him under false pretenses.

He doesn't invite him. He's like, you will come to my house. .

Austin Lugo: This is something you're doing. .

Andrew Harp: Yeah, . Like it's part of his job. Like Yeah. .

Austin Lugo: And I love that scene because, and this reminds me of, uh, that scene in the graduate. Right after the daughter learns that he's been sleeping with Mrs. Robinson and she's in the corner, but he starts singing a song and it starts as a close up of him, like scrunch in a corner.

And then it like slowly pulls back, uh, until you see the whole crowd and he sings his whole song and it's very beautiful and sad and. I don't know if it's comedic relief or, or how you would describe it, but right after he finishes a song, because after everyone finishes their poetry, uh, the whole group's like, oh, excellent work.

You know, they're all clapping and all that. And then, uh, when he finishes, like one person's like, oh, excellent. You

Andrew Harp: know, people are sheep, right? Like, yeah. , once again, it, it's evident that it's great and amazing and beautiful, but he's not a famous guy. It, it just kind of shows you that people, they'd rather bandwagon.

Then take their chances on someone who is up and coming, or not even up and coming, but completely

Austin Lugo: obscure. Yeah. It's, again, it's one of those moments, right, where you expect, like, because, uh, one of the other poets is like, oh, anyone could be a poet. Right? Servants could be a poet, everyone. And of course it shows the hypocrisy of these, you know, supposed great poets themselves because they're like, anyone can be a poet and we should let this guy talk because they're rich in assholes.

Yeah, right. , they're rich assholes. And they're like, oh. You know, not just the aristocrats can be poets, but then of course when they hear anyone who isn't them read poetry, like even though they quote unquote listen to 'em, like they immediately just like, fuck off.

Andrew Harp: it. It is funny. Yeah. When like they, they don't react it, it's good.

I, I like Guru du, I like Guru du as an actor. I think he's pretty good. He, he's like a handsome guy, but he's not like, not too handsome. He's not unrealistically handsome. I think he kinda, he's kinda like Orson Well. I hate to kind of like bring comparisons to him again, but just, you know, Orson Wells, I wouldn't say he's like extremely handsome, but he is quite handsome.

He's a good looking guy. Yeah, he's a good looking guy, but he, he kind of also, he seems normal, you know, he seems like a normal looking guy. I mean, maybe Orson Wells is the wrong person to compare him in terms of looks, because he does have a very unusual like face. That kind of makes him stand out Beu, that, you know, he has these like great eyes and he has a, he, I think he has good stage presence, kind of like Orson Wells, and I think he's, I think he's a good actor.

Austin Lugo: Yeah. I think, uh, all of the performances in this are incredible. Everyone really gives a hundred percent this, you know, whether they're going for comedic or dramatic, it always just feels right. And all these characters just feel so well defined. I mean, despite the fact that you. These very different characters doing these very different things, living these very different lives.

Everyone just feels so well established and I know we talk about how, you know, a lot of these Indian movies, they're really long and two and a half hours per movie, I think is long. And yet, as you were saying before, there's just so much packed into these films and it feels like we know these characters like so much more than so many other two and a half hour movies.

I mean, I feel like so many, two and a half hour movies, it's kind of, you know, you know a lot about one character, but you don't really, like everyone else is kind of just like, uh, I don't know. They're just sideshows, right? They're just there to elevate the main character. This, it feels like an entire world is established, like you really know a lot about all of these different characters and they.

Exist within this particular cinematic world. And they all have their own lives and they all have their own problems and issues. And I think that's something that is not easily done and I think should certainly be applauded because you know, you talk about any of these different characters in the film and you have like an exact idea of.

Who they are, you know, how they grew up, what their life is like, what like their ideals are in all these different ways. Not only they're related to Vijay, but you know how they exist in their own world. Yeah,

Andrew Harp: and I, I think it's also really evident with like the female characters. Like I said, I think both of them are really great.

You know, they have completely different perspectives and they are tragic and they're sad, and. Really well defined. And I think both of the actors, actors in those roles too are like very, very good. And you know, we learn a lot about them and kind of like their desires and yeah, I couldn't agree more.

Those two characters are, are very good. Just that trio characters is uh, sick. It's awesome.

Austin Lugo: I think, uh, Mina and GL are too, I don't know if I'm pronouncing guru's name right. Probably not. But I think the two of them are a very interesting juxtaposition and something that they explore a lot in this film is not only poverty, which of course is the, uh, theme of a lot of vijay's poetry.

But also in his life. . Yeah, . But also the, the steps we take to justify, right. A means to an end. And these ways in which perhaps from certain perspectives seem immoral, right? Only doing things for quote unquote, the money. , but as they kind of make evident a lot of times to a film, like it is, like money's not just about like having money, like it's different characters say throughout the film.

It's, you know, it's to defeat us, right? It, it's to house us. It's, you know, money is, is so much more than just pieces of paper or numbers in your bank account. It's, I think something that they make very evident in this film, which is like, you know, when you see rich people say, uh, you know, money doesn't matter, right?

No one needs money. Like, you know, I, I don't, uh, concern myself with. It's no coincidence that all these people are already extremely wealthy in their own right, because at a certain level, you know, once you have a certain amount of money, once you have a certain amount of luxuries, money doesn't matter.

But you know, if you're living on the streets money, most certainly does matter. And you know, even though Mina doesn't marry for love and she shouldn't necessarily be justified in marrying someone just for the money, she's not really punished or looked down upon. Necessarily for marrying someone for wealth.

Of course, Vijay, you know, has his frustrations with it, but she's not seen as, or portrayed as an evil person for doing it, like. It's understandable, even though she's not marrying for love and I mean, is not living her best life, like, it's not considered some like terrible wrong that she did what she did.

Like I think there's, you know, plenty of other films where when a character marries someone for money, like they're considered like, you know, the epitome of evil of themselves. Like they're the villain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this situation, that's not the case at all. Right. Mina's almost always on Vijay's side.

Ends up being one of the, the heroes of the film.

Andrew Harp: So that's kind of like one of the things that kind of like breaks with J Wright until the last third of the movie, right? There's a fact that. Like Mina's basically lost to him. Like it's, it's evident that he is not going to be with Mina ever again. Right.

And that on top of like, kind of the pain of like, I think he loses his job. I think he gets fired because, uh, the boss overhears him having a conversation about each other and all this shit. And his mom dies. Of course his fucking mom dies. So you have all these things and then he's at a party. Like that his friend is on and they give him and he like gets drunk.

And this is the ensuing incident that kind of goes into the next part of the movie where he gets drunk and he walks around and I think he tries to save a homeless person who's about to get hit by a train. Yeah. And there's like a weird mix up, I guess, where I'm guessing the homeless person died, right?

Yeah.

Austin Lugo: So basically what happens is Vijay gets super drunk, he's wandering around the streets of India at night. Very beautiful. And he wanders across as homeless person and he gives the homeless person his coat. And in that coat are a series of poems, right? Is like final poems and a couple of letters. And so Vijay's walking around and this homeless person starts following him for whatever reason, you know, maybe he wants more money or whatever.

And we go to the train tracks. And the way they shoot the train is also very, uh, brilliant. Cause they don't actually show the train, they just show a light in the darkness, which is a great way to get. Not being able to get an actual train . And it's sort of implied at first, like that Vijay is like gonna commit suicide, but then like you can see him like as he's walking across the tracks, he's not actually going to do that.

But the homeless man, because the train is coming, he gets caught in like the moving and the track's moving.

Andrew Harp: Yeah. .

Austin Lugo: And so Vijay tries to save him. And then, you know, we just kind of hear like the, the train come and you don't see anything else after that. And then in the very next scene you see, like he died, people reading in the paper that Vijay died and they couldn't identify the body.

And the only reason that they know it's Vijay is because of the letters in his pocket, which for me, that was. . Oh, you know, Vijay's not dead. It's the homeless

Andrew Harp: man set. Yeah. Vijay's definitely not

Austin Lugo: dead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. , it's pretty like, you quickly get it.

Andrew Harp: Yeah. It's not, you don't need to be a genius to, uh, like, figure it out, but, but everyone thinks that he's dead and because everyone thinks that he's dead gobo, right?

Yeah. She's like, look, I gotta get these poems published. They're good. And this will be the last he's gone, you know, we have to get him published. So I think she, she confronts right? The uh, m. And she's like, here are the fucking poems, please publish them. And she's like, okay. And they publish them and they're the, they're a big sensation

Austin Lugo: Everyone loves them.

Andrew Harp: Everyone loves them. It's so funny. , it's so funny, like of the scenes where they're in like some stores and they're like, we want them more. Like, they're like demanding to get more of his poetry. It's kind of funny, I guess like, you know, the fifties, you know, That's just how it is. But yeah, it's just so funny that they're like, we demand more of Vijay's poetry.

Please get more now , it's very funny. And yeah, he's a sensation. Everyone loves him. Uh, he's dead.

Austin Lugo: And you have to wonder cuz you see this a lot, and I guess the most famous example I can think of is back in the nineties. There was a senior named Jeff Buckley, who recorded a version of Hallelujah and he released his first album.

No one gives a shit, but a couple of weeks later he goes swimming and drowns. And suddenly this album, and specifically this song becomes like the, you know, most popular song right across the world. And there's certainly, and you know, this always been the case, whether you're talking about, you know, all the way back to Van Gogh or Monet or whoever this fetishization with these sort of poor starving.

Who, uh, commits suicide. And then suddenly, you know, their, their work is right at that point, right? Their work becomes great. And you certainly kind of see the hypocrisy and, and irony of this whole thing because as a viewer, like we're not a hundred percent yet that like Vijay is not dead, but we're like, we're pretty sure we don't know where Vijay is.

We don't know why he hasn't showed up yet. But you can see that like everyone suddenly loves Jay's work. And I guess maybe part of it's just cuz like no one saw it, which I guess is part of it. But I think. Like what he's suggesting is people fetishize kind of the poor starving artists and fetishize the sort of death of artists, which is an unfortunate, tragic reality of the way, uh, far too many people view art.

Andrew Harp: It's awfully convenient too, to have someone who is very talented die. It's inconvenient for a lot of people because if you're the publisher, as it's evident in the. You don't have to give that person any money, right? Like you don't have to give anyone a nickel so you can just like reap all the benefits and all the awards of the publication.

You don't have to like answer to the artist at all. It's extremely convenient. Or you know, if you are yourself an up and coming artist or you know, just whoever you can lie and say that you knew him and you can make up stories and stuff and he's not around to defend .

Austin Lugo: Yeah. And we certainly see that plenty of times.

And of course Vijay is, is finally awoke. By, uh, the reading of his own poetry, but unfortunately he happens to be, it's kind of funny

Andrew Harp: that he has like amnesia, like, I don't know, it's just kind of like . It's very, uh, it's very dramatic. .

Austin Lugo: Yeah. Yeah. What, what is that called? He's like in shock or something. Yeah, he's like in shock and like he, he doesn't talk or anything.

There's like a. He's stunned. Yeah, something like that. Anyways, but of course when they read his poetry right, he, he immediately snaps out of it and he's like, I'm Vijay. And everyone's like, oh, this guy's, this guy's clearly insane. Like Vijay is dead. So like their first move is just to move him to an asylum.

They're just like, this guy's

Andrew Harp: crazy, incredible stuff. Like, they don't even check or anything. They're just like, oh. They move him to a horrible asylum, which I think they established that he's there for a long time. Yeah,

Austin Lugo: it feels, it seems like it. Yeah. I think he's

Andrew Harp: supposed to be there for like a year or something like that, or like a long time, like several months.

Austin Lugo: Awful asylum is, is just like a, a cell with like a bunch of absolutely insane people. Doing just the most insane

Andrew Harp: shit. Yeah. It's kind of comical how everyone like acts and, yeah. . Yeah. This is the part of the movie where shit is like, oh my God, this movie is fucking crazy. . It's kind of off the rails. Just this part of the movie where he, he has amnesia.

He's like, oh, I'm a J. He's like, we don't believe you. And they throw him in and, and then of course people that he knows show up to the asylum, the publisher. and he doesn't reco and he doesn't say that it's Vijay. And then he meets the brothers who earlier demanded money, and he's like, okay, I'll give you money, but you have to say that you don't recognize your brother

Austin Lugo: And they're immediately like, yes.

Andrew Harp: They're like, yes. Okay. Awful . It's just like the most unfortunate circumstances of all time. But what, it's fine. I think it's apt in this movie. It's

Austin Lugo: great. I love it. I certainly did not expect the film to go in this direction. I mean, I knew it was sort of like, you know, things go downhill, but.

Nearly to the degree that they did, or just poor of a J. He's locked up in this mental asylum. Everyone's profiting off of him. How does he

Andrew Harp: get out? Oh, he slips

Austin Lugo: out, right? He gets out because he's like in the courtyard of this asylum. And his best friend Satar, the guy who does the head and oil massages, is like walking around.

And of course when he sees him, he thinks that Vijay's a ghost, which, uh, Satar is one of my favorite characters, like just a really just a comedic character. Like he doesn't have any, like, that actor too I

Andrew Harp: read was in hundreds of Indian movies and did like humorous roles a lot of the time. .

Austin Lugo: I love it. Good for him.

He's great in this. I think he's hilarious. Yeah, he is good. But he recognized Vijay and honestly is like the first person to actually like, even though he's kind of just like the silly comedic character, he's. Probably one of the kindest people in the entire film, like this is just like a genuinely good person.

Like he cares about Vijay, he's chill. Yeah. And he gets him outta prison. Like he goes inside and like distracts the guard. So Vijay can escape prison and for some reason the first thing he decides to do is go to his brothers, which I'm not sure why he thinks his brothers are gonna be helpful cuz his brothers have been shitty.

Like the entire felt like they fucking hate Vijay. Like they've never liked him. I don't know why he thinks like now's gonna be any different. Yeah. And like, I

Andrew Harp: think they say they don't recognize him to his face. Poor Vijay. Yeah. And I think he chills for a while, right?

Austin Lugo: I think after that is when he goes to, uh, the death anniversary.

Andrew Harp: Yeah, he's like on the bus too. And like someone is like, yep, I knew Vijay. We were friends. And then you walked past him and he is like, get the fuck outta of my way. fucking idiot. . I hate you. So yeah, I knew Vijay, he was my friend. Uh, . Yeah. But he gets to the death anniversary and like we talk about, he has this incredible moment where he sings basically his fuck you song where he is just like, I'm Vijay.

I'm epic. You all are hypocrites and evil and are greedy and don't really care about you only care about yourselves. And like you said, there's a big riot in the theater cuz everyone's like, I thought Vijay was dead. What the fuck? And there's this big giant, honestly, I will say, if there's one thing I gotta say about the movie that I think is that I feel like it should have just ended there.

The rest of the movie is a little inconsequential to me. , but it's okay. I think the ending the, the actual ending of the movie is good, but I feel like the ending there would've been really

Austin Lugo: cool. Upon initial watching. I did think that was going to be the ending because it writes this big climactic moment and you know, he is just saying like, fuck you.

And, but I think, you know, even though I did think this was collect moment, I think there is a certain. To those scenes after, because it is continuing to show the hypocrisy and also his own growth because, uh, after the scene, of course he is saved, quote unquote, but basically kidnapped by another publisher who's like, I'm gonna publish all of Vijay's work.

Right. And then you have like the guy who was with the original publisher who of course is just like in it for whoever has the money. So he's like trying to switch sides. Yeah. His friend, his so-called. . Yeah. His so-called friend and of course the Richard Burton villain likes to call everyone a scoundrel.

So yeah, there's another scoundrel and, uh, you know, the brothers try to get money outta the publisher, but of course, Vijay was there the whole time and he like sees them. And, and I, I enjoy not only that moment because, you know, you kind of expose the brothers, you expose the publisher for who he is. Right?

He doesn't care about the j like he doesn't care about poetry. He just wants, he just wants the money. Right. He just wants to make a shit to of mind, just like everyone else. And of course then there's the scene where Vijay like gets on stage and you know, people are like, this is Vijay, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I think that's a very powerful moment because Vijay, because typically what would happen in a film, or honestly, if most people, including myself, were in a situation, would be like, yep, I'm Vijay. Gimme all your money, fame, fortune. Right? Just live a happy life. Write my poetry. Do whatever. But instead, the Jay rejects all of that.

He says, you know, that's not who I am. Like, you've created a, like a, a false god, a false prophet, almost, uh, fetishizing again, this person who you think I am, and I'm not that person. And he just, he fucking steps away. And of course there's another riot, right? People start fucking picking up chairs. Yeah. He rejects.

Yeah.

Andrew Harp: He, he, he, he completely just kind of rejects, kind of like badass the, um, market based society that. The, the industry that has been built around him. Mm-hmm. , he'd rather say, you know, um, You know, he'd rather say that like, you know, I'm not the J and kind of like, basically like become not himself anymore because he's just completely, he, he, it just, I think it's just kind of evident, you know, in this kind of, in this kind of way.

I think it's like these people don't really deserve Vijay's work. You know what I mean? They don't deserve it. They're, you know, they're band wagoners, they're, uh, they're greedy, you know, all of his like family and like people that he thought, okay, where his friends are greedy. and, and like you said, like him being dead was kind of like a big part of like the mystique of it.

And I think he just is, just would rather stay dead rather than kind of like, like go through like these horrible experience of having to deal with all these just like fake people, .

Austin Lugo: And I love that final scene he has with Meina wearing his like, like, don't, don't throw all this away. Like, I don't understand why you're doing this.

And of course, right, this is, yeah, she freaks out. So representative of who Mina is as a person, again, not a bad person, but someone who sees the world that like, Like, they love your poetry. They love you. Like you can have the money, you can have the poetry, you can have it all. And yeah, if you're pissed at these people, like just fucking be pissed at them, right?

Throw them, throw them out in the water like, you know, fuck them. And just like continue to live this, you know, wonderful life that's been built for you. He's like, no, he needs to be rich. Fuck it. He's successful. He refuses. That's badass. Yeah.

Andrew Harp: Like, like I said, you know, it's just, they, they, they don't, yeah.

He's, he's a true, he is a true, uh, he truly sticks up to his convictions that they don't deserve. They don't deserve him. They don't deserve his work. He doesn't want. , the world that he is in is just one that is just full of not, that's not full of beauty. You know, people don't really care about beauty.

It's like more just about, uh, uh, uh, greed and, um, fame and, you know, he's completely uninterested in that and he kind of sticks to, to, uh, those convictions. Yeah. It's a very, uh,

Austin Lugo: powerful moment. And, and with this comes our, our final scene where, Right. He comes back to Lubo gl, uh, however you pronounce her name, and there's probably one of my favorite lines of all time, which I, I don't wanna misquote and I'm gonna say it wrong, but in essence, you know, he says that he's leaving and she's like, you know, where are you going?

And, uh, you know, he says, far away from here. And she says, you know, how far? And he is like, as far as I have to go, or something to that effect. Yeah. It, it's much more beautiful in the film. What, whatever the line is. Right, right. Right. It's, it's something like that. It, it's something very like wonderful and beautiful and I wish I, I could quote it at, at this moment, but unfortunately I cannot.

But it's, uh, it's this beautiful final moment and, you know, gls by his side, and of course they walk off into the extremely smoky distance. Very similar to, uh, the ending of Casablanca in that sense, I guess. But it's a wonderful ending. I love it.

Andrew Harp: Yeah, I think it's good. Like I said, I think the movie should have ended earlier than that.

The ending is still good. Like it's still a really good kind of fitting ending where Yeah, the two of them, they essentially are exiting society or exiting, you know, wherever they are. Cuz it's, it's too much, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's every, it's everything is like really fucked

Austin Lugo: up. . Well, do you wanna go first or should I go first?

You can go first. I came into this movie knowing that people really loved it. And when we were looking for a Indian, Indian, well

Andrew Harp: this is like, this is probably. I was just gonna say like, this movie is like completely random. Like you completely randomly picked this movie. We knew, we both knew nothing about it.

Probably the only movie where that we've done that, which

Austin Lugo: I, I think, uh, I mean it worked out. It certainly worked out in this instance, you know, we, I think it worked out. Yeah. Since neither of us knew really almost anything about Bollywood or Indian films. We kind of just like, we went to like, basically, you know, the letter box and a couple other sites and try to figure out like, oh, what are the ones people really.

This one seemed to be like it. It tend tended to be near the top of the list, but I knew pretty much absolutely nothing about the film, the director, anyone in it. I was completely, uh, coming into this film blind, and it was incredible. So I think I should, uh, preface this by saying that. When I watched this film yesterday, uh, I actually watched it in our movie theater, which is the first film I've ever watched in the movie theater.

And, uh, okay. Seeing this on the big screen, like in surround sound, is a truly magical experience. I, I think it's, it's, it's truly the best way to experience this film, and I loved every minute of it. I mean, the music is fantastic. The performances are. It is shot beautifully. The writing is poetic. The story and themes are so thoughtful and it goes in a lot of different directions that you would definitely not expect it to go in.

I thought the two and a half hour time was gonna. I kind of push my limits because especially for a film, this old, you know, films of this time, like 90 minutes, maybe two hours. I usually, I love a shorter film. If a, I can see a film in 90 minutes or less. I love it, but I wouldn't cut out a single frame of this film.

I understand why, feeling like the ending where he's at. The death anniversary, uh, would be a powerful moment, and I did think that was the original ending, but I still loved every minute after that, and I think every minute was necessary to this film and I would not cut a single shy out of it. Honestly.

One of my favorite films we have watched on this podcast, I mean it's probably top five, uh, films we've watched on the podcast and honestly, I mean, I'm in love with this film. I'm very excited to see more films by this director. I don't know what it is about this film necessarily that just makes it so incredible For me, it's, it's just one of those things, you know, when you, when you see a film and.

From like the first couple of frames, like, you know, that it's just gonna be a, there's just something different about it and it's not something you can really put your finger on As, as we've kind of talked about before, kind of the difference between what we often describe as a nine and a 10 really has nothing to do with the quality of the film, but it's just, it's more internal.

There's just something there that you can't really describe. And I think for me, this film just. Really hit that sweet spot. So I've only done this like two or three times on the podcast before, but I'm going to give this film a 10 out of 10. Wow.

Andrew Harp: Yeah, I mean, it's good. I, I, I'm feeling more like an eight out of 10 for me personally, but it's like a high eight out of 10.

I think it's, it's, it's, I don't think I had as big of an impression on me, um, as maybe other movies I've watched in my life, but it's undeniably good. I mean, you know, it's, It's a, it's a, like I said, you know, it just packed with a lot of stuff. It, there's a lot of stuff going on. It's engaging. It's, it's just a really powerful movie, like I said, about making art in a market-based, um, society.

And I think in itself that's very interesting and I think it's very astute and touching and it feels very genuine and very felt. Yeah. It's just, uh, yeah. I mean, you bring, you know, I think you hit the nail, you hit the nail in the head. It's just, uh, it's just an un I think it's just undeniably good. And, um, it's got everything you would want in kind of like a movie like this.

I.

Austin Lugo: All right y'all. Thank you for listening. You can find everything I do at Austin Lugo one 12.

Andrew Harp: Uh, I'm on Twitter at ad harp 24. I'm also on Letterboxed retro Andrew, r e t r

Austin Lugo: zero Andrew, and you find, and you can find this podcast wherever you find podcasts. You can also fan on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at Theater Free two.

And thank you all for listening. Thank you.