Latest / Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast / E27: Chhichhore Should Be An Adult Film. The Characters Are Why It Isn’t

Transcript

E27: Chhichhore Should Be An Adult Film. The Characters Are Why It Isn’t · Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast

• Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: how we can make every line horny in some way Ananya: no way you're going to meet a pretty girl here. Cut to pretty girl Akshay: Cattu Ananya: walking in. Akshay: this whole film is essentially this technique. Like Ananya: ⁓ Yeah. bhola tha aur acid aaga gola tha. because you've set them up as two opposites you now want the characters to meet Akshay: all this humor works is because it's not highly intellectual humor, they call his dick Bunty, good way of comedy writing is like assigning like trait to an inanimate object, Ananya: Curiosity is essential in your opening scene Akshay: the way they ended the scene was the setup of the entire theme of the movie, Ananya: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Breakdown Besties podcast. I'm Ananya. Akshay: I'm Akshay. Ananya: And we are your Breakdown Besties. Together we have more than 14 years of combined experience writing for shows like Mismatched, Wedding.con, Ishq in the Air, Rana Naidu, Inside Edge, Grahan and a host of others that have gotten stuck in development hell but will hopefully see the light of day one day. With the Breakdown Besties podcast, ⁓ our goal is to give you a film school experience where we look at some of the most iconic Bollywood films, understand the mechanics and the tactics and the tricks that make them work, break them down and then apply them into our own scripts so that we can write our own iconic phenomenal Bollywood films ourselves. And today the film that we are going to be breaking down is ⁓ 2019's ⁓ Chhichhore written by Nitesh Tiwari, Nikhil Mehrotra and Piyush Gupta. So I laughed a lot watching this film. Akshay: Yeah, I think it was like a great time in terms of like jokes. Like, you know, like joke after joke after joke, gag after gag after gag. And I think Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: it resonated a lot with people who had like a hostel life, especially the ⁓ IIT / BITS Pilani college life, you know? So I think it was a good watch. It was a sweet film, yeah. Ananya: Without further ado, let us get into it by going into the logline. What is your logline? Logline is your film's guiding light. Whenever you're stuck writing your screenplay or on page 54 and you're writing a scene, a dialogue and you're like, but why am I even writing this? Film ka mudda kya hai? To find that mudda, you have to go into your logline. Because it will guide you and it show you what is the most important thing about this film that you writing and tell you to focus on that instead of all the other bits and bobs that are clamouring for your attention. Now why is the logline so effective at doing this? Because it contains four essential elements. They are first your need, flaw, block or wound. This is essentially something within your character, a trait or a characteristic or a limitation as a result of who they are, where they come from, which is holding them back in life and which is stopping them from achieving element number 2, which is your goal. Your goal is the whole reason you're watching the film. You're like, hey, this character is going to go on this journey to achieve this thing. Will they achieve it or not? Come along for the ride. Then you have 3, which is your conflict. Conflict is basically an external manifestation of your internal need, flaw, block or wound. For example, if you're a coward, that is your limitation or flaw, then you will constantly be faced by a lion outside as your conflict. And as you face that lion over and over, you will get over your cowardice and turn it into bravery. And that bravery helps you achieve your goal. And finally, you have the last element, which is stakes. Stakes are what your character will lose should they not achieve their goal. It is not simply not achieving their goal. It is taking it one level lower. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Great! So let me read out my logline of Chhichhore to you. A group of loser college kids decide to win the college sports competition to rid themselves of the loser tag. Akshay: Yeah, sweet. Yeah, simple, Ananya: Simple, right? Akshay: huh? Ananya: Yeah. I mean, we have all the initial bits of ⁓ Sushant Singh Rajput's kid trying to commit suicide, all of that, but that's just a framing device for the actual story, which is his college experience, right? So Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, correct. Ananya: I'm going to leave that out of the discussion here and only bring it in if and when pertinent. Yeah, great. ⁓ It's Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: true. Okay, so first you have your flaw / limitation. Which is that they are loser college kids. So they are considered less than, are considered nikamme as they say in the movie. And then their goal is decide to win the college sports competition. So that is the conflict, decide to win the college sports competition. Because the goal is to clear themselves of the loser tag. Yeah. Akshay: The names. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Ananya: So the conflict, the... vehicle through which they will clear their name ⁓ is the sports competition. And the reason this is the conflict is because these losers are also physically inept and the sports competition demands all of their physicality, which they do not have. So it is a challenge. It's constantly challenging them throughout the way. The goal, as we said, is clear themselves off the loser tag. Now the stakes as we've discussed in many movies like Fashion is not apparent because there's no like if they lose this, they're not going to go one level lower externally in any way. They will still be known as losers forever. But the stakes are internal in the sense that if they don't then it will be confirmed for them in their head that they are losers for the rest of their lives and it's just not a random tag that has been assigned to them. It is in fact their truth and their reality. Akshay: Hmm. Correct. Yeah. I think the stake comes is very clearly defined that one scene with Sushant Singh and Shraddha Kapoor's character where he's sitting upset and she's like, What's the big deal? So he says, ⁓ So it's only because I Ananya: Hmm, you don't know. Yeah. Akshay: have this tag and I know if I don't clear it off, it will stay with me forever. Even after I leave this college Ananya: the rest of my life. Akshay: and I don't want that. Ananya: Yeah, yeah, exactly that. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: that. Great. Shall we move on to the hero's journey? Akshay: Let's do it. Ananya: Now what is your hero's journey? A hero's journey is a journey every character, every person, including you and I, go on when we set out to achieve something new that is outside our comfort zone. Usually we haven't done it so far, we haven't achieved what we want to achieve because much like our characters, even we have a flaw or a need or a block which is stopping us from going after our goal. But when we finally decide that no, we want this by hook or by crook or we're forced into achieving it for some reason, we go on a journey which is essentially of overcoming our need or our flaw, of becoming the person who can hold and achieve this goal. And as you go on this journey, there are certain elements or certain steps and turning points that you will meet by default. You will be called to take action. You will meet people who will help you. There will be challenges. There will be tests. You will feel like you're at your lowest. You don't know what to do. These are very organic turning points. The hero's journey simply codifies them into a process so that we can see it from a more zoomed out bird's eye view. And we know that as our character goes on this journey they have to, we have to kind of organically make them hit these points too so that it resonates with our audiences and they are able to feel and resonate with and relate to this journey going forward. So for the hero's journey of Chhichhore, I am going to be ignoring, as I said, the bookending devices and the whole almost B slash C plot of Sushant Singh's Rajput's son committing suicide. So your ordinary world, that's your first phase of the hero's journey. That is where your characters are shown in the world in which they are from. You establish the who, where, what, why and when of their world and you see their flaw or their limitation and why they haven't achieved the goal they want to achieve. Your ordinary world is Sushant Singh Rajput entering college and being assigned Hostel H4. This is a hostel of all the losers where sab nikammein hote hain, everyone's a good for nothing. Sushant Singh Rajput is initially hesitant ⁓ and he doesn't want to be part of this whole ⁓ world. So there you also have a mini call to action. And as we've discussed in several episodes, you sometimes don't just have one call to action. You're called to action several times, you refuse it several times until you finally cross the threshold into the new world. Akshay: Tight. Ananya: So what is your call to action? Your call to action is when the hero either internally or from externally ⁓ or from the outside feels the call that, okay, I need to go after my goal. I need to achieve this thing. So over here, Sushant Singh Rajput character wants to desperately get rid of the loser tag. He doesn't want to be surrounded by the losers. So first, he puts in an application for switching hostels. Akshay: That's Ananya: But as he waits for that application to go through, he actually, in his ordinary world of the loser hostel, becomes friends with everyone, gets to know them, finds a real sense of warmth in community. Akshay: Huh. Ananya: And then as he develops a sense of community, there is another call to action which comes Akshay: no. Ananya: from the guy who is the king bee? I don't know. There's no King Bee situation in the hive. ⁓ I was trying to play with Queen Bee. ⁓ Akshay: yeah I thought suddenly a rapper entered entered our conversation. I was like, hmm Ananya: ⁓ Okay, the cool kid. The cool kid. That's what I was looking for. Prateik Babbar's character. Raghav. Raggy. Yeah. Akshay: Huh. Pratic bubble character, right? Huh. Raggy. Ananya: ⁓ Enters the scene ⁓ and he is recruiting for Hostel H3 which is as they say, wo campus ka chehra hai aur campus uska chehra hamesha saaf rakhta hai. Chaka chak rakhta hai. So... He's like, okay, so Sushant Singh Rajput is good at sports, need to recruit him for our hostel. But Sushant Singh Rajput by this time has developed an affinity for his loser hostel for H4. So then we have the refusal to the call. Refusal to the call is when you say that, no, I am not going after this goal, not in the way it's being presented to me. I hesitate or I don't think it's for me. So over here he says, no, I am not going to join your hostel. ⁓ Then you have meeting the mentor. Meeting the mentor is the next phase of your hero's journey where you meet someone who has been on the same path that you are possibly going to go on to achieve this goal. They say if your goal is to slay the dragon, ⁓ I will hand you the sword. And over here he meets Derek. Derek was also a guy who was really good at sports and ⁓ the H3 people had attempted to recruit him. But he had also said no and he was now in H4 and this was his final year of college. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: And over there tells him that listen we are known as losers not just because of who we are but because we are terrible at sports. And we have been losing the general championships or competition, whatever it is, for the last 15 years. Not only have we been losing, we've been coming last for the last 15 Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Coming last. Yeah. Ananya: years. So and now Sushant Singh Rajput being the naive fresher is just like, okay, let's win this. So that's another call to action there that let's go after this. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: And ⁓ Derek is like, no, no, we're not doing that. That is another refusal of the call. From the mentor itself. But then as they get mocked by some of the people from H3, Derek ka gussa bahar aa jaata hai and he's like, no, okay, let's do this. So then they finally have crossing the threshold. Crossing the threshold is when you take a step into your new world and you take an action that takes you to a point of no return and you say, there's no going back from this. I am yes or yes going after my goal. This is when they have a little mini conference of all the H4 dwellers ⁓ and they're trying to get everyone revved up that let's do Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: this, let's do this ⁓ and people are like what are you talking about we are losers ⁓ and then finally Sexa's character ⁓ bribes him bribes everyone in the hostel with milkshake ⁓ and they're like yes let's Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: do this and everyone is committed to the cause of winning general championships. Then you have test allies and enemies. This is the longest phase in this movie's hero's journey, right? ⁓ Never ending, yeah. ⁓ Akshay: No, never ending. Akshay Jhunjhunwala: Hello bestie. Apku kyalaga. That this film breakdowns are the only thing we're gonna do for you. This is where you're wrong. formats coming. We have a bunch of cool stuff we're planning. But we need to know from you to help us understand what you need. and what are your screenwriting problems? Kya challenges are we've made a survey. link is in the description below. It's a very short survey. All MCQs. And we will get a more clear idea of what we should focus on more, what topics to cover, what other ways we can make this process better because As you know, screenwriting education in our country is so scattered that koi resource pool he ni as such. So yeah, don't waste your time, quickly fill that and watch out because we're gonna do a lot of stuff more. Go. Ananya: Tests, allies, and enemies is that phase when you actually get the lay of the land of this new world that you're in. You see what challenges you're going to face, who's going to support you, who your opponents are going to be, et cetera. This is a long phase where we see that okay, they're the worst in which ways are they actually bad? But we also see what their talents are. We're introduced to a bunch of characters like Bevda who's really good at chess and we see Sushant Singh Rajput is great at basketball. Derek Akshay: That's the whole Ananya: is great at track or relay. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: We see all these things, but you also see that they're still losing. So they resort to other pressure tactics like Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: other tactics like pressure tactics, distractions and all of that to Akshay: Yeah. Well. Ananya: win over, to win the competition and progress in the competition. Right? Then you have your approach to the innermost cave. Your approach to the innermost cave is if your goal is to slay the dragon and grab your bag of gold, this is where you approach the cave where the dragon is and attempt to take it. Now this is when they have the final padau you can say, that they have Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: to make it so that they go into competition with H3. Right? Akshay: Three. Yeah. Ananya: This is the getting into competition. Semi-final. Yeah, exactly. Akshay: Like the semi final of sorts almost like. Yeah. Ananya: Because we want to see the losers go against the cool guys. So if, right? So to get there, they have to first come into competition with them. So I don't know what you think, but I think this was when they realized that they're falling a little behind and they needed someone who could compete in the 42 kilos under 42 kilos car. weightlifting contest. Akshay: Yeah, sure. I don't know. Like like that felt like a smaller stake for an approach, you know, like well approach to most Ananya: Yeah, it did. Akshay: cave it feels almost like it has to be like something terribly has to like go wrong by the end of it. Dragon has to come after you. So what Ananya: Hmm, after you. Akshay: I felt maybe like what we could do is that Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: the moment in the film where you know like Their friend falls ill because you know they said that let's go on this journey. We Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: all will sacrifice something, like, you know, I'll stop abusing, I'll talk to stop talking to my mom. And he drops alcohol. But like that has serious repercussions, like, because he has major withdrawal essentially, and he gets admitted. And Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Akshay: and now they're like, we have to like approach this even like in a more strong way. Like they become all very serious. So ⁓ Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: the ordeal becomes how do they deal with the fact that now we can't go back to our ways. You know, like this is very important to us, not Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: just like for our whim or fancy, but now it has serious repercussions. And I felt like this is very weak again for me because like ⁓ Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: the dragon never came after them, right? You know, like Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: like if it was a situation like because or like now if like say half of the people are not able to play for some reason, like they have to go on like some educational trip or something, you know, like they they never felt cornered in a way. Yeah. Ananya: ⁓ Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Cornered. Yeah. So I've written ⁓ the ordeal as the bit when once they say that once in my approach that they get the second place after this guy, they find a really skinny guy to compete in the 42 kilos Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: competition, they win that. Now they're at second place and they need to win all three Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: competitions, the remaining Akshay: Matches, huh? Ananya: three matches to ⁓ win over H3. ⁓ But ⁓ now the ordeal is that, for example, they distract Bevda with a bottle of whiskey. They step on the shoes Akshay: huh. Ananya: of Derek with their cleats. So now he's injured. And Sushant Akshay: Hmm, hm mm Ananya: Singh Rajput is now facing ⁓ the pressure of the crowd. Akshay: Fair f hu Yeah yeah yeah. That also makes sense. Yeah, that also makes sense, yeah. So then the reward becomes Yeah, the reward becomes that Ananya: Because they got their bag of gold. Hmm. Akshay: they end up winning the first two matches, huh? Ananya: Yes, exactly, exactly. The reward is when you finally get a moment with your bag of gold, you're like, yes, I've done this, I've secured what I have to secure. And that is, Bevda actually winning the chess match and the relay also going well for Derek, and Acid. Then you have the way back. Your way back is now that you've gotten most of your stuff right, you're making your way back home to your old world. But Akshay: Mm. Ananya: there are still people coming after you. It's not 100 % in the bag. There are monsters chasing you. This is the last bit of the match of the basketball match between Sushant Singh Rajput's team, H4 and H3 and him versus Raghav. They're playing, they're playing and then he throws the ball. It looks like it's going to go in but it does not and they lose. ⁓ That is also part of your way back. And then you have your resurrection. Your resurrection is where after your characters at the lowest point, they rise from the ashes. So despite the fact that they've lost, Raghav, who is the asshole himself, comes and says, well played. And that is when Sushant Singh Rajput rises from the ashes, the entire H4 rises from the ashes and they're like, okay, we have done this, we're fine, we're good. And then you have the return with the elixir, which is when you return to your old world, but now you return with this elixir, which is your new knowledge of something as a new person because you're embodying this. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: And over here, they come back with the knowledge that losers are not those who have failed, but those who have never tried. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, sweet. Ananya: Let's go into theme next. What is your theme? Your theme as an artist is your perspective on the world. Why do we become artists? Because we have ideas in the way the world should be, in the way it works, what the rules are, what rules need to be broken. And we want to express that. And our art is nothing but a medium through which we express our view of the world. And the strongest way to do that, especially in a film, is to phrase it as a dramatic question. You phrase your dramatic question and ⁓ depending on how you answer that question, you express your view of the world. Right? But what does this look like in Chhichhore? In Chhichore I believe the question they've asked, which is very obvious because they literally say it out loud, is Akshay: Hm. Ananya: who is a loser? One who fights and fails or one who never tries? Right? ⁓ Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: And... Throughout the movie, it is believed that the loser is like one who fails, one who fails. But at the end, once they get their elixir, they actually say it out loud that no, a loser is actually one who fights and fails. No, it's Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: one who tries, vis-a-vis one who fights and fails. It is the effort that counts, that makes you a success. Right? Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: And that is the lesson that they want to teach the kid who has committed suicide too, who's attempted to commit suicide, that look, you tried something. You may have failed at it, but at least you gave it your all. And that means Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: you're not a loser people. Can't be known as that. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: nice simple theme in this. Akshay: Yeah. And again, like it's it's not even that in this case it's only answered in the end. Like, you know, subtly they keep answering like in different ways in the movie ⁓ also, right? Like when Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: the all the friends come back and you know, like he's ⁓ they see the kid like in this bad condition and they're like you know like so these are like subtle Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: subtler hints of like saying like, ⁓ this this pressure was too much, like it's like he shouldn't have never tried, you know. Like he should be like Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: be okay with the fact that he tried and failed, you know? Ananya: Exactly, exactly. Because your characters, these characters have already learned the lesson, right? They are adults. Akshay: Learnt lesson. Yeah. Correct. Exactly. Yeah. Ananya: Great. Let's go into scenes and sequences next. Akshay: Okay. Ananya: The first scene I want to talk about is the opening scene of the film, which is where you're just thrown right into the middle of action. It starts with a college campus. You see a guy in his underwear with a balti, like walking around, knocking on Sushant Singh Rajput's door. And I want to talk about the different elements that they've used in this scene. One is... they've established the campus right off the bat. So Akshay: Hm. Ananya: you immediately know that whatever world they take you in, you are going to return to this world because this is a college drama at its core. So they've met that expectation right off the bat. Then they've built curiosity. Curiosity is essential in your opening scene because that is what makes your audience want to watch more. So over here, they're like, what are they going to do with the balti? What's going to happen next? Then you have fun. Fun is an important element because again it is critical to the tone of this film. It is a fun film. So they have to Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: give me that expectation immediately. So you have the water fight with all the buckets, all of that. Akshay: Well so Ananya: And then finally there is competition. They sneak into H3 and there they go to war with each other. So that is also an essential element ⁓ of the movie going forward. So this is within this opening scene, they have established everything, they have foreshadowed everything that you are going to see going ahead. And this is critical in this film because after this you jump right into the present day which is Akshay: Mm-hmm. Ananya: when the suicide happens, all of that. And it really takes you out of the tone of the film ⁓ and Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: you wonder what ⁓ am I going to be watching actually. But because Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: you've had this strong opening scene set up your expectations you know that at some point I'm going to return to that and because it's a well crafted scene, it's a fun scene, you want that level of fun going forward so you will wait. Akshay: Yeah. And another important thing, the way they ended the scene was the setup of the entire theme of the movie, which is that Prateik Babbar's character Raggi calls this one bloody loser. So you Ananya: Mmm, yeah. Akshay: know this this is gonna be essentially the entire reason this film exists, right? Like because eventually like the son tries to attempt suicide because like he thought he was a loser. And then like this Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: father justifies that no, you're not a loser because we were all losers and it doesn't Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: matter. So it becomes like so important to the film. So it was great that they did it immediately in the opening scene. Yeah. Ananya: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Another technique I wanted to talk about was about exposition. Giving a character the information and giving the audience information because their character and the audience are at the same level. So when Sushant Singh Rajput enters your college, your H4, he Akshay: Cool. Ananya: is told that H4 is like a terrible hostel like the guy itself Akshay: So Ananya: who's assigning the hostel to him usko taras aata uspe Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: and Sushant Singh Rajput is like ⁓ why like you know so we as an audience are also wondering why why is h4 so bad but because we are at the same level ⁓ of information as Sushant Singh Rajput it doesn't count as exposition because he doesn't have that information either so he says Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: that okay the good for nothings are there etc Akshay: Who Ananya: So we receive that information at the same level as the audience, at the same level of the character. Akshay: Hmm. Right. Ananya: Then I want to talk about ⁓ range as a technique which they have used several times in several scenes over here. Right? Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Ananya: Contradiction & range to create humor. One of them is when ⁓ Shraddha Kapoor's character is introduced. Okay? Before that Sushant Singh Rajput was talking to his friend and his friend is like forget any model material here, they don't exist. Like Haley's Comet, only once in so many years do they Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: show up. There's no way you're going to meet a pretty girl here. Cut to pretty girl walking in. ⁓ Yeah. It's only because you've reduced the expectation that now it actually lands. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Exactly. Akshay: Cattu Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think this whole film is essentially this technique. Like then do not a hundred times I think Like it's just this. Yeah. Ananya: Exactly. And in that way, a few more examples are when they are going to steal like women's clothes from Shraddha Kapoor's hostel. Sushant Singh Akshay: Yeah, that's what I've noted, huh? Ananya: Shantink is like, confident, you have to be confident, you have to be confident. And Shraddha Kapoor comes in and he starts bumbling like an idiot. But the Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: bumbling is only funny because he Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: was first all, I'm going to be confident, I'm going to be confident. Right? Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ They make it even funnier because he like almost belittles the mummy character. He's like ⁓ this is the problem Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: of you small town boys. You don't know how to like talk to girls. And again, like that's what happens that he doesn't is he's not able to talk to her. Yeah. Ananya: Exactly. Know how to talk to girls. Exactly. Then they do this again with, we've written a phenomenal slogan like sab ki matlab phat jaayegi ye slogan sunke and then it's like east or west. H4 is the best. Akshay: Huh yeah, yeah, yeah. East or west Ananya: One, two, three, four, H4, H4. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: I laughed so much. The humor is... Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: 10/10. And then... Akshay: It's also like sometimes like all this humor works is because it's a little it's not highly intellectual humor, yeah right? Like so I think Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: like a little bit stupid humor is important to like elevate these kind of moments more. I was Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: reading reading I shouldn't say reading, it's we know it's Instagram ⁓ Ananya: you Akshay: where they were essentially breaking down that how like different levels of intelligence respond to different kinds of humor. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: there are three levels, and it's like the most stupid humor. Like there's all of this, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: right? ⁓ One is like the mid-level joke, which is like all your puns, wordplay, all this kind of stuff. And third is like a more layered sarcasm, ironic, sardonic humor. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: So they said like the most intelligent people actually love the most stupid humor. And the most intelligent humor because they can appreciate Ananya: Mmm. Akshay: the stupidity without feeling that, ⁓ you know, should I be laughing at this because this is stupid? ⁓ Ananya: Be right. Akshay: and but like they're saying the people who have mid intelligence, ⁓ they don't appreciate either the lower one or the higher one. ⁓ Ananya: Hahaha! Akshay: They gave an example of Conan O'Brien because Conan does a lot of like nonsensical jokes, like it's they're all stupid. So, like the fact that he can Ananya: Hmm... Yeah. Akshay: do that and really high-level comedy, like it just Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: shows that he's a very smart dude. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Ananya: Yeah, ⁓ I agree with that. Yeah, for sure. ⁓ Great. Then I wanted to talk about rule of three. ⁓ Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: And again, the rule of three is you do something three times to emphasize a certain quality, a certain reaction or to escalate. Over here, it is the farce of Sushant Singh Rajput meeting Shraddha Kapoor under the guise of mere seniors ne kaha hai I need to do this for you. So first it is, you know, going to the hostel. Then it is a coffee. He's like, my seniors have told me to get coffee for you. Then it's like, seniors have told me to go for the film with you. Right? Akshay: Hm, yeah. Ananya: And this, like, so you really know that he wants to go after her and he's gone after her three times. And in this, they've also married in the technique of a callback. A callback is something, as discussed before, where you have a line of dialogue between the characters and based on when it's repeated later on in the film, you know whether the relationship between the characters has changed or it has remained the same. Now over here it's always Sushant saying, ki acha my seniors have told you, my seniors have told me. And then Shraddha Kapoor comes back later and she's like, acha will you go out with me? This time my seniors have told me. So Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Ananya: now you know that because she is using this line, she is interested in him too. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah, yeah. Ananya: Then I also wanted to talk about ⁓ revealing a true character in face Akshay: Hm. Ananya: of conflict. So this is show versus tell and how characters are like human beings and respond to what actually moves them which is when we as humans really like to play it cool, right? So when Derek is talking to Sushant Singh Rajput, he's like, no, no, we can't win the general competition. Don't even try, blah, blah, blah. I'm so over it. It's his reaction. But then you have someone call out that, y'all are losers. Like, we whatever you are going to lose again. And then Derek instinctively is like, shut the fuck up. Like, what do you think of yourself? So there he is telling one thing, but he is showing another thing that I will react like this. So how can you use conflict as a way to reveal who your character really is? External Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: conflict. Because we all wear these defense mechanisms, these masks of I'm so cool, I'm so chilled out, right? Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: And I want to also tie this into one more thing which I saw within a scene, which is similar to this. Which is also that you are different in different circumstances as a character, as a person. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: So when we see sexa's introduction as an adult, he's in London, he's taking this meeting, he's talking very polished, blah blah blah, and then he gets a call from Sushant Singh Rajput. Akshay: Ha ha. Ananya: And immediately he goes into, you know, ⁓ ke arey, haaa, like that full college wala mode. He Akshay: Oi, come, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: starts yelling in Hindi, it's great. So which ties into the fact that as human beings, we are quite multi-faceted. So... Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: how we react in different circumstances and to different people is different. And Akshay: Hmm. Mm. Ananya: that is important to remember when you're especially dealing with two different kinds of characters. Akshay: Mm. Ananya: And that also ties into the contradiction technique because Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: he is again so poised, so proper with these businessmen and Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: then later he goes into full college boy mode. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: So it's a mix of scene technique, character creation technique all kind of rolled into one. But I thought it's important to highlight like show versus tell, who we are and contradictions Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Ananya: together. Akshay: Yeah. Very good observation. Ananya: Then I want to talk about the technique of conflict piling. Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Contract piling is when you make a situation worse and worse and worse for your character only to see how they're going to react as they're being pushed against a wall. Now in this, I want to talk about the scene where Bevda is introduced to us as a character and we see Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: that he really likes drinking alcohol. So when he has long train journeys, he'll put vodka into his water bottle and start drinking it. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Okay, so we see the train, he's drinking it. Then first conflict is a kid who's thirsty. He's just like, please give me some water. And he's just like, no. Akshay: No. Yeah. Ananya: Then you have the parents saying, give him some water. And he's like, no, I can't. It's okay. Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Give him. No, no, no. I can't. And then you have everyone on the train staring at them and being like, give the boy water. He's not giving it. And then the parents start yelling and screaming that kaise ho, how can you be like this, blah blah blah. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: And Bevda is really pushed against the wall. But Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: in this situation, he can't do anything. ⁓ Akshay: Anything. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Then I want to talk about using melodrama to create humor. Okay. Because, ⁓ you know, Akshay: Hmm. Mm. Again, very important in this movie. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: in this movie exactly like we have the sequence where you know everything is being taken away from them right like where they're Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: really committing to the cause so sushant rajput won't see shraddha kapoor, Sexa won't like jerk off, mummy won't call his mom Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: and the reactions to that are so melodramatic that you end up laughing but Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: why does that work? why does the melodrama over here work? It is because initially in the film they have established how important these things are to the character. Like Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: for mummy calling his mummy is like he's calling her ⁓ all the bloody time. So there Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: is an abnormal amount of love in that situation. And Akshay: Mm. Ananya: because that abnormal amount of love is being taken away Akshay: Taken. Ananya: later, they have to put it away, then the dramatic reaction actually lands because you know Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: how much it means to the character. Akshay: It will have an abnormal effect if it's taken away. Yeah. Hmm. Ananya: Exactly, exactly. So melodrama can only work if ⁓ it has prior been established as something really important. You can't just create melodrama as a payoff without having a setup Akshay: Yeah. I think because we're talking about this scene, I want to talk about another technique which they've Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: used in this one, which is that disarm your audience with comedy before the drama hits you. In this they've established that all of these guys are having these abnormal reactions. And one of them, which is Bevda's character, is also having these abnormal reactions, right? Which is like Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: he's holding a stomach and he's like, well literally tada's cheese killier. But only to realise Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: that others were melodramatic, his situation is actually bad. So Ananya: to, yeah. Akshay: ⁓ what they've done is they've ⁓ used the element of comedy to bring in like your audience's Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: attention, to bring audience buy-in, and then Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: escalated to drama under this disguise. Because if it was just Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: focused on him, then you would immediately feel bad. Like, okay, stop it, you know, like just don't Ananya: Hmm, yeah. Akshay: do this. But it was unexpected and it was hidden under the garb of comedy. I think it worked better Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: and it landed. Ananya: Yeah, yeah, beautiful. Very well noted. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Nice. Hmm. Then I want to talk about setting up the plan. And usually we talk about the technique of setting up the plan for the plan to fail, right? That you Akshay: Hmm, mm. Ananya: set up a plan, but ⁓ you only set it up so that you know that this, this and this has to go right. So obviously this, this and this will go wrong. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: But over here what they do when they are establishing the tikkadam for example Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: of you know we are going to put pressure on them, we are going to distract them they first set up the plan but then those plans actually succeed yet you enjoy watching them as an audience you enjoy Akshay: Mm. Ananya: watching them succeed. Why does this work? Because you have seen them fail so many times that Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: now you want the emotional reaction of them actually passing you want the success. So you want the plan to actually work. It's a Hail Mary Pass. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: This ⁓ is the Akshay: Correct. Yeah. Ananya: end. So you want them to... You want to see the effort and you also Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: want to see the reward of the effort because the failure bit has already happened. So it's almost like an equation, you know, like if Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Hmm, yeah. Ananya: you think of it where you're playing with all the elements that plan, Akshay: Mm. Ananya: success, failure. So either Akshay: Mm-hmm. Ananya: failure then equals plan plus success. Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Ananya: Or plan plus success equals failure. You know, it's kind of like that Akshay: Failure, huh? Yeah. Ananya: equation where you're always playing with these three elements and you have to determine what comes first and what comes last. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: I also want to talk about ⁓ revealing something when it is most emotionally important or poignant. So Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: first we have this heckling where they're preparing a slogans and the slogans are terrible, right? Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: And then they're like Acid, think you're giving like, what would you say to all these professors who you hate? Akshay: Huh. Ananya: Right? And then he's like, I have something. It's phenomenal. but he doesn't say it right there. You Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: cut to the field and on the field you say it and based on your opponent's reaction, the person is supposed to get affected by it, you realise how strong it is. So over there Akshay: Hm. Ananya: you see them actually getting fazed by the slogans ka effect. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: So you realise, ⁓ that is why. So giving information when most emotionally pertinent. Akshay: Hmm, nice. Ananya: Then I also want to talk about the technique of misdirection. So there's one very obvious misdirection in the film where in the ordeal, Bevda is presented with a bottle of alcohol. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: And now it's like, okay, will he, won't he, will he, won't he? And then he comes for the next day in the chess competition, you think that, okay, he's drunk. But then later you realize that he wasn't drunk and his drunkenness was actually misdirecting, not just the player who he was competing against, but also the audience, both Akshay: Huh. Audience? Huh. Audience huh. Ananya: of them. But this only works because it's rooted in logic. So first you create suspense. It is entirely possible that Bevda relapses and drinks again. So that is logical. But it is also entirely possible that he will not do that because of the friends and community he has. And that is also kind of like a sub thematic choice, right? Like a moral Akshay: Hm Ananya: choice the character makes. Doing what is easy versus doing what is right. And you wouldn't fault him for doing what is easy, which would be drinking at that point because he has faced the consequences of not drinking. He's been in the hospital, he's had withdrawal syndrome. But he does what is right. So you create Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: a misdirection using a moral choice. Akshay: Yeah. And also like the way they staged it, right? Like like he arrived late. So Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: it's like no now again Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: questioning that ⁓ he's definitely drunk, right? Like so that misdirection works better Ananya: Hmm, yeah. Akshay: because additional effort has been put in staging that way. Ananya: Yeah, very nice. Yeah. Well noted. Akshay: wanna talk about subverting the expectation, especially during the climax of your films, right? Where Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: where take an example of say an action film, right? Like you you think that he's gonna punch from the left, but like something else happens. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: similarly, like in a film like this, it's important to because again a lot of the film is set in patterns, right? Like A happens, B happens, and C will happen. Again, like another Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: sequence, A happens, B happens, C will happen. Like we spoke about the heckling sequence, right? Like they had three three tikdams and all of them worked. So you've established a pattern. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Now, when it comes to the climax of this film, where there are three competitions going Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: on simultaneously: one is the chess competition, one is the basketball, and one is the relay competition. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: then in the similar pattern, you see the chess competition is won, the relay is won. Now it's very obviously assumed that they are gonna win the basketball competition also. Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: And they make it seem more obvious when the basketball, like when it's gone to the hoop, it's like does the left, does the right, and does the right again? Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: Like that's again established in all the other sports films we have ever seen. That's exactly how the winning goal is achieved. Right? Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: But this time the ball doesn't go in the hoop. ⁓ Ananya: Mmm. Akshay: And you again as an audience are like, ⁓ like what just happened? Like, you know, Ananya: Hmmmm Akshay: they don't drop the engagement here also. Like you you might have Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: gotten relaxed for a little bit, but you're like, wait, what just happened? Because Ananya: That happened, yeah. Akshay: you subverted the expectation of the audience here. And Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: it's important here, especially in this sequence, because not only A, it will give you the thematic conclusion of the film, but establish a pattern to build an expectation and when you break that pattern you subvert the expectation. That's essentially yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Expectation. Exactly. And speaking of subversion, I also want to talk about subversion to create humour. Akshay: Hm. Ananya: So, when Mummy's character is introduced, okay, you have his father who's a tiny scrawny man and he meets Acid and Sexa. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: And they're both like, no, no, no, we won't rag him, don't worry about him. ⁓ And you'd expect the dad to be making that sort of request. But the dad is in fact like... No, no, usko rag karo because I need to toughen him up. Akshay: Carol. Ananya: So that is an expectation that you're subverting because you wouldn't expect a parent to say, rag my child. But Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: it also works because it's rooted in logic. He wants Akshay: Mm. Ananya: his kid to be toughened up and know, Indian parents and tough love- a story as old as time. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: ⁓ that really works in this case too to create humour. Akshay: Yeah. Because because we're talking about this scene, another it's not a technique, but they've what they've done here is they're closing a loop. Is where Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: in this scene the mummy's dad comes and says, like, you have to toughen him up, like, you know, he's like he's a big mumma's boy type of thing. And then they've closed this loop essentially when the Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: father comes back to the hostel and like he sees like his the son's like room is filled with ⁓ like porn magazines, alcohol, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: cigarettes, and the father is like, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: What's wrong? And then he says, you guys have overdelivered. Thank you so much. So, what I like about Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: these it's essentially bookending a character. For Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: especially these tertiary characters who don't have much presence in the film. Like it's two scenes. When Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Akshay: they're established and when they're payoff. And I see this Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: a lot happening with like parents or like just these characters who have like four lines in the movie. Like even in Chak De! Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: India when all of the girls were introduced, you had their parents equation somewhere. And then in the end of the film you close it again. So it just gives Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: you like a good setup and payoff and the loop is closed. Ananya: Yeah, it's a clean satisfying ending. Akshay: Another scene I wanna talk about is the opening shot ⁓ of SSR's character coming into the college. Which Ananya: Mm. Akshay: is where he's you know in a taxi or he's in a car and like you know he rolls the window down and you see his face emerging Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: from the car and like he's quite excited about the prospect of entering this new college. ⁓ And what they've done ⁓ what ⁓ technique they've employed here is the technique of mirroring. Much Ananya: Mm. Akshay: later on, this is the final scene of the film. That his own son, when he's finally going to the college, he has a similar setting, right? Like he Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: rolls the window down and puts his head out of the car and like he's excited about the prospect of college. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: what the importance of a mirroring technique is that you as an audience know that this is gonna evoke the same feeling for these characters. ⁓ Or Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: it'll establish a completely different feeling, right? Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: In this case, you are hopeful that the experiences Sushant Singh's character had, his son is probably going to have in the film. Because it's like you Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: just want that experience to have for this character because he's gone through such a hard time in the film, right? ⁓ Ananya: Far short. Akshay: And again, like the first question when he's ⁓ asked, you know, when he comes to college. It's like, do you masturbate? And like that was something Ananya: Hmmmm Akshay: which was asked previously to the previous students, right? So again, Ananya: Yeah Akshay: you know that, he's he's fine. Like he's gonna have a good time. Yeah. Ananya: Fine. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. It's like you've established an emotion and now it's doing the heavy lifting here again for you. Akshay: Yeah, correct. Yeah. Ananya: And I also want to talk about the technique of a gift. ⁓ Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: And a gift is a technique where you essentially thank your audience for coming to your ⁓ movie by giving them something that they can take home as a memory, as an extra piece of knowledge that they've learned, they can share with their friends. And over here, the gift is the porn sequence ⁓ in the film. ⁓ Because initially, they are Like, you know, obviously college kids watching porn is a very normal thing. But when we think about it, we think about people being stuck behind their laptops, right? Like watching porn. But Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: because this is set in what the late 80s, early 90s, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: the whole idea of this is they are showing you how they would have gone about satisfying this urge in that time period. So Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: first they show you magazines where everyone is trading magazines. Then you have communal TV. So instead of everyone being behind the laptop, they have like movie nights, but like porn nights where everyone Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: is watching it. And I fully believe that this happens in an engineering college, right? Yeah. Akshay: I'm sure, I'm sure, yeah. At least must have happened back in the day. I don't know if it's still today or not. Huh. Yeah, yeah. Ananya: back in the day. Haan abhi nahi, nahi nahi. Nowadays the kids are too sensitive also - be Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: judged for the kind of porn I watch ⁓ so ⁓ Akshay: Yeah, I don't think there was so much variety back then also. So like so I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: ⁓ Yeah, yeah, ⁓ exactly. mila abhi sab dekhlo hai re and has the same taste. It's like communist porn. Okay? ⁓ And then you have the auction of those magazines, of that porn, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: all of that. Which is like, what are kids up to? Like everyone wants like their hands on what's latest. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Ananya: So I thought this was an interesting like gift sort of situation where like, you know, what happened in a time that was not yours. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: How did this function? Let's go into character creation next. Now one technique I want to talk about is ⁓ establishing who characters are by essentially creating mirror scenes, how we talked about. By putting two characters in the same scene and seeing how they react, which tells you who they are as people. So they do this right off the bat with Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor's character, where they're talking about the son- will he pass or will he fail? Will he get his engineering seat or not? And immediately Sushant Singh Rajput is like this, overly optimistic. Of course, you're going to pass, like we'll celebrate with Daru, blah, blah. And Shraddha Kapoor is like, even if you don't pass, it's okay. So you automatically know that Sushant Singh Rajput is an optimist, an overzealous optimist, and she is a realist. So you know who these two characters are by using only one scene or one device. So it is very economical as a way of doing it. Another thing I wanna talk about is the gradual introduction of characters because this is essentially an ensemble film. But ensemble films are notoriously hard to write, especially if you have one scene which has to A, introduce all of them. We have to introduce their quirks, we have to introduce what their defining values are and what their path is going to be on the film. Moving forward. And B, once you've established that, what you also have to do is then take every character's subplot further with regularity, which is really difficult to do. So one very intelligent thing they've done in this film is introduce the character only when they become pertinent to the plot. So yes, first they introduce Sexa but then there's a gap. They let you spend time with Sexa, then Mummy is introduced, then Acid is introduced, then Derek is introduced. They're not introduced altogether. Bevda in fact comes only in the second half of the film. ⁓ But Akshay: Then, huh. Ananya: what this does is it keeps the film economical. You only get the information you need. There are no tracks you need to follow, which actually don't amount to anything. And B, every character gets their unique entry sequence. So you get to meet them independently as people before they're integrated into the plot. So I think Akshay: Right. Ananya: especially as new writers, writing an ensemble is very hard. But if you want to have several characters, this is a very efficient and easier way to introduce Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: them. Akshay: Yeah. And I think this was possible in this film because it's never like these six characters are important in the same scene. ⁓ Right? Like Ananya: Mmm. Akshay: if it's a murder mystery, you have to introduce all your characters at the same time. Right? They're Ananya: Yeah, yeah, because individually, like who has committed the murder? Yeah. Akshay: they're all important to the plot at the same time. Similarly, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: like in a Chak De! ⁓ the girls have to be introduced back to back because this is what your team is. Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: But I think this film's structure allowed that gapping so that you don't feel like overwhelmed, number one. Number two, you don't Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: have to feel that you need to catch up to all of them. And ⁓ I Ananya: Mm, yeah. Akshay: think because also these guys don't really have subplots in the film, like these characters. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: So I think it's easier also to sort of, like they're almost like sitcom characters, like they have this quirk and they're stuck Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: to that. So... And I think it's a little bit of a genre trope also for like movie like this which is like college or school based which is that a rag Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: tag team of misfits come together. So right like ⁓ my favorite Ananya: Yes, your favorite line. Akshay: line ⁓ and all these are given like extremely different quirks right like one Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: is like heavy alcoholic ⁓ one is heavy sex addict one is like heavy Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: like again but now the complete opposite of this is like somebody who loves his mom so much so he's almost like a Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: like a weasel almost right like ⁓ Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: and we don't have that anything for Sushant's character though because that's Ananya: No. Akshay: that's the sad part of ensemble is that your main character Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: has to have the pressure of carrying the plot so your side characters Ananya: plot. Akshay: become like more eccentric and more quirky and more interesting Ananya: Yeah, absolutely. Akshay: so yeah Ananya: Yeah, great. I want to talk about dialogue next. Okay, I want to talk about dialogue to set up character. Okay, I think when they're introducing acid and mummy's character, there's a line of dialogue which says, wo bhola tha aur acid aaga gola tha. Akshay: Huh. Ananya: So immediately what they've done within the dialogue now is employed contradiction as a technique. So what it does is A of course because these are descriptive words and adjectives said in a fun way, especially aag ka gola, you have set up who the character is. But because you've set them up as two opposites through this one dialogue, you now want the characters to meet because you know that when these two opposites meet, there is going to be friction. Akshay: Uh-uh. Ananya: So how can you use contradiction in dialogue to create anticipation and set up your characters? Which was very cool. And also I want to talk about having dialogue that is true to character to create texture in your film which may or may not lead to anything. So Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: when they're being told to get the clothes from the women's hostel, sex adds, arey kachha bhi leke ana na ⁓ Akshay: Huh. Ananya: and ⁓ that you almost don't expect it to go anywhere, it's a throw away then of course Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: it goes somewhere because they actually get like mummy's underwear and they play around with it but it is that little texture that is added because it is true to Sexa's character and he says Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: also arey koi harz hai kya try karne mein like even he is Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: not serious about it but because he is Sexa, he has to make these demands Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: and it reminds you that you're in the film that these characters are real and that while yes, I'm a big fan of things being super economical and you shouldn't Akshay: Foo. Ananya: have a single extraneous line of dialogue these remind you that these characters are also people which makes it more natural to the setting. Akshay: Yeah and I feel like in situations like these we've spoken about how there has to be a pass on each of these characters right like for Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Oh My God for Paresh Raval's character we had a businessman pass you know ⁓ Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: and similarly for like ⁓ Munna Bhai we had a Bhai pass I think for Sexa's Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: character they must have done that like you know how how we Ananya: None of it. Yeah. Akshay: can make every line horny in some way yeah yeah ⁓ Ananya: for sure, for sure. Definitely. Yeah, This script has gone through so many dialogue iterations. my God. Yeah. Akshay: Yeah, for sure, for sure. ⁓ And I think ⁓ one technique which they've used ⁓ to enhance Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Sexa's character ⁓ dialogue is like, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: you know, they call his dick Bunty, right? Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: So that's also another, not just relevant here, but in general, good way of like comedy writing is like assigning like a trait to an inanimate object, right? Like, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: it's like Sheldon's spot. So like that's like, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: that's his thing. ⁓ similarly, like this is Bunty. Like, so they can almost have like, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: whatever dialogues you can have, you can use this word and it will create like Ananya: Yeah Akshay: an almost ⁓ like a pun of sorts. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: ⁓ like my Bunty is sad today, whatever, you know, like what they've done in the film. So, Ananya: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Akshay: it's funny. So it's a good dialogue technique. Ananya: technique for sure and to add to that to what you're saying it's a technique I call trigger word. Okay, Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: like over here you have a whole scene for example and you establish a word to that scene and then Akshay: Mmm. Ananya: whenever you use that word again it evokes the same feeling without having Akshay: Hmm Ananya: to do the scene all over again. So over Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: here they've done that with the word loser. Initially they've Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: shown you what loser is like and they coin it as loser. And then every time they use the word loser, you know exactly what they're referring to without having to get into crafting a whole scene. It's like in Akshay: Hmm... Hmm... Ananya: Three Idiots with All Is Well. Once All Is Akshay: Mmm. Ananya: Well is done, every time he uses All Is Well, All Is Well, the emotion is created automatically. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: So trigger words to do the heavy lifting of a whole scene. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah good Ananya: Let's get into audience Q &A now. This movie was recommended to us by our viewer Zingur, who has also recommended Hum Tum in the past and Kartik Calling Kartik. We love breaking down films for you. So thank you for the recommendation. ⁓ And here we've got a couple of questions from Zingur, which Akshay is going to take us through. So take it away. Akshay: So Zingur's question is how do they manage to ⁓ sort of play with these two timelines, right? Like one is at the college time where all these people are like young students and now they have reunited as older successful men in their life. And like they're having this moment where they sort of have to be around for Sushant Singh's character's son who has like attempted to commit suicide, right? So what they've used a few techniques essentially to sort of intertwined the two timelines. And I think the one of the most important ways they've done is that the emotional point of each time timeline has been sort of interspersed with the other one. So Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: in some way, like we have dissected the hero's journey of the college life, right? But if Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: you just piece all of them together, the adult timeline, you'll also more or less find the similar beats. Right? Like ⁓ Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: whether you have like the initial setup so you know like what is Sushant's relationship with his son. So you know like sharing Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: the bottle like him feeling like having dinner like so all that is interspersed with the introduction of college. Right? Now Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: when each of the characters is coming in real life to meet Sushant at the hospital you sort of intercut that with how they met in college. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: when you had Sexa's character coming in you saw Sushant's introduction to Sexa in the past. Similarly, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: like when you had Derek's character coming in Timeline 2, you had Derek's character coming in Timeline 1 at the same time. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: And the moment before your final three matches, right, like the main climax sequence, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: they all have this moment where they're sort of waiting for what's come, what's to come next. And in Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Timeline 2, they're going to wait for his surgery. So Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: again, like essentially hitting the same emotional beats of Ananya: Yeah Akshay: both the timelines they have done it to intercut here. In a lot Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: of films, multiple timelines are handled in a different way where sometimes a contrasting emotion is used to Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: cut between timelines, right? Like one is like, we're feeling too happy here, but cut the timeline to be completely sad. So again, it creates Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: a range and again creates curiosity. So One is that way, but this film has essentially used the same emotional beat to do this. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Because I feel like they've done it because these two stories are so different, right? Like the only Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: way to unite them is to have the same emotion. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Like if, let's say he was also like a part of a sports competition where he failed, then it would be a slightly different way of cutting this. But because Ananya: Hmm. It's right. Yeah. Akshay: the setup is so different, they've only heavily relied on emotion to intertwine the two timelines. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: And another way which I've realized is that they try to do it sometimes thematically also, especially with the word associated loser. So in the opening sequence, they end the scene with the word loser and you cut to the second timeline. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: again, trying to create curiosity or you're like, he's loser, but let's see him in real life now. Like what, how is he Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: now? But you see him successful, you know, you see him like ⁓ driving Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: this fancy car. So, and again, when it goes back to like question that, you didn't ⁓ win that game, but like, did you feel like dying? So, Ananya: Hmmmm Akshay: so tying up again, these important thematic questions at the right time, like this dialogue wouldn't have made Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: sense ⁓ if it was set up earlier. But because Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: you had the moment where they narrate that they lost this game, the boy Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: in ICU had this realization, that you didn't feel like dying. So Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: very, they've tried to do emotionally and thematically. That's what I feel they have tried to do with intercutting between these two timelines. Ananya: Very well noted. Yes. Akshay: So. Ananya: And Zingur's second question was about world building, right? How have they gone about building this world? And I Akshay: Huh. Ananya: think it's lived experience and research. That Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: is it. It's ⁓ how people have lived, what their college experiences were. And this can go one of two ways if I were doing it. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. So Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: you must have heard the most outlandish of stories, which you have to take to the screen and actually temper down. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: or you have your lived experiences which are then you add mirch masala to it and bring it up to something which makes for a cinematic experience. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: this is all just very very lived experience driven I believe. Akshay: Yeah, this is fully lived experience, right? And so many of these conflicts, scenes, motivations in the film come from real life, right? Like a real life experience of engineering college especially, like the Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: sex ratio being 40s to 1s. So Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: there was a whole sequence in the film about that, right? Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: And that's essentially Shraddha Kapoor's character introduction. These are all Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: rich texturing because of it feels real ⁓ or it's researched. Like that's the only way Ananya: Do you? Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: to do about this. And this world movie again works heavily on the world, right? Like otherwise Ananya: world yeah Akshay: the film doesn't really hold up much. But I think the world building ⁓ is sort of contained to the tone of the film. ⁓ Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Akshay: In the sense that, you know, you could expect horrible bullying experiences also. And that's not unheard of in these colleges, right? But they never go there. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No. Akshay: ⁓ In fact, like you think the senior was gonna hit you but they come and hug you, you know? So Ananya: Thank you. Yeah. Akshay: it's very tonal choice the writers have made that yes, we want to incorporate real life world instances but keep Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: it intact with the tone of the film. Like it shouldn't go too dark. Yeah. Ananya: For sure. Yeah. Your tone is a very important constraint. Because Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: it defines genre, it colours the world. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: You can't shy away from it, you can't ignore it. Akshay: Yeah, exactly. Ananya: Cool, so that's all I have on Chichhore, how about you? Akshay: Yeah, that's all I have on Chichhore. Ananya: Great. So guys, you know the drill. Like, share, subscribe, comment, ask us any questions in the comments on our email, on our Instagram. And we will see you next Thursday on episode number 25 of the Breakdown Besties podcast. Can't believe we've made it so far. Oh my God. Akshay: Yeah Ananya: Yeah, I think we've completed more episodes than we've written scripts. On our own on our own self-motivated self-motivated scripts, Akshay: that on our own on our own yes ⁓ self-motivated yes Ananya: ⁓ yes great ⁓ cool so we will see you next Thursday bye Akshay Jhunjhunwala: Hi again, bestie. For our next week, we are breaking down the film Yejavani He Divani. Woohoo! please watch it before the episode comes out. any way, too. Otherwise it's a problem. I'm joking. Watch it before the episode comes out so that you exactly know what we're talking when you're watching our episode for the first time. if you have any questions, suggestions, recommendations, keep commenting, reach out to us via DMs, email, And again reminding you to fill that survey, the link is in the description below. bye, see you next week.