Latest / Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast / E36: The Art of Audience Manipulation | How Andhadhun Keeps Fooling You
Transcript
- Akshay: The intent of the movie is to constantly fuck with the audience Ananya: This is not really a blind movie genre trope, but it kinda also is. Mostly because we've done Black. Akshay: If Sanjay Leela Bhansali watches Ananya: So Akshay: this, he might just go blind. Ananya: Like we are Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: here saying this should have been economic, this could have been more economic, but they're like, Yeah, bitch, we didn't do that on purpose. Akshay: favorite of all this Radha Apte's character Sophie gives him one big tight slap. Ananya: Ten on ten. Akshay: that he's the second half of the movie, the organ harvesting track, just blindsided me. Ananya: Both his kidneys are gonna go for a sum of like twenty lakhs something. Akshay: Two lakhs not even twenty lakhs. Ananya: Two lakhs. my kidneys are worth a lot more, bro. I'm very like hydrated as a human being. Akshay: Exact Ananya: But this is Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: me giving critical feedback to Sriram Raghavan and the writing Akshay: Ha ha ha ha. Ananya: team. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Breakdown Besties podcast. I'm Ananya. Akshay: I'm Akshay. Ananya: And we are your breakdown besties. Combined, we have more than 14 years of experience writing for shows like Mismatched, Wedding.con, Ishkq in the Air, Rana Naidu, Inside Edge, Grahan, and a host of others which 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 without the pricey ass price tag. So what does that mean? Essentially, we watch some of Bollywood's most iconic films and we pause and we try to understand what actually makes those films iconic. What are the tricks? What are the tips? What are the gears? What's the magic actually going on underneath all those scenes, sequences, dialogues, everything that brings your film together, and take them apart, examine them, study them, internalize them, and then use them to write our own phenomenal iconic Bollywood films. And today the one that we will be breaking down is the cult classic Andhadun, written by Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti, Yogesh Chandekar, and Hemant Rao. And I absolutely understand why it takes this like little army of writers to produce something of this caliber, right? Akshay: I agree. Because every plot point is brainstormed thousand times at least. Ananya: Yeah. Exactly. Akshay: The intent of the movie is to constantly fuck with the audience a little bit. So how can you keep doing that? Like Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: I don't think one mind is capable of like doing this consistently. So I think you need that like, what if we do this? What if we add on to this? What if we add on to this? What if Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: So hence you need so many writers to do this? I get it. Ananya: For sure, because one mind becomes predictable. So then you need someone to come in and break that. Yes. Akshay: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Ananya: Perfect. So let's dive in by getting into the log line. So what is your log line? Your log line is your film's guiding light or helicopter, as we've recently started calling it. Essentially, when you're writing your screenplay and you're stuck on page 56 and you don't know why you're writing this, what's going on, kya chal raha hai. That is when you defer to your log line. It helps you get out of the weeds of your scripts and see the forest for the trees by taking you essentially a million feet high so that you get a bird's eye view on all the elements that are essential to your script. You're like, so this was the broader idea. This is why I sat out to write this. And now you can go make sure that every scene, every sequence, every line of dialogue. Echoes that broader idea or is in service to furthering that idea and taking your audience where they need to go. Now, why is the log line so effective at doing this? Because it has four critical elements which make up your film. The first is your flaw block limitation or wound. Essentially, this is something within the character, it's either a limiting belief, a circumstance that has conditioned them into holding certain ideas on who they are, what they lack, maybe they've been brought up a certain way. Essentially, it is a flaw which has held them back from going after element number two, which is your goal. The goal is the whole reason your audience are in their seats. It is what your character is going to go on a journey of achieving. Your goal is a want which they are going to pursue either for themselves or for someone else within the scope of this film. Then you have element number three, which is your conflict. Your conflict is essentially the journey of achieving this goal. Why? Because it presents something which helps the character actually become the person needed to achieve the goal. It is an external manifestation of your character's internal wound block or flaw. For example, if your character is a coward and they have to go kill a lion. They are going to constantly have to face this lion, face the various obstacles, be chased by different packs, and overcome that fear so that they can't be hiding anymore, so that they come out. And then they are able to achieve the goal of killing the lion. And finally, you have stakes. Stakes are what your character will lose should they not achieve their goal. It is not simply not achieving their goal, it is going one level lower. Is losing something additional when they don't achieve their goal. Right? So I'll read out my log line of Antadun and we'll see how to take it from there. When a fake blind man inadvertently reports a murder he witnesses to the murderer himself, he must now escape the said murderers lest he lose his life. Akshay: Yeah. I had the same thing, almost similar, yeah. Ananya: Yeah. So over here, the flaw or limitation, I'd say, is that I'd say it's just that he's a man. Being fake blind in this situation Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: is not really that much of a flaw. Akshay: Huh. Ananya: Because at the end of the day, he's just a normal man, a liar Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: at best, who is put against murderers. So any of us normal people, if we are made to like face murderers. We'd be like Akshay: Yeah yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Right. So I don't think probably being fake blind is a flaw here. What I'd say being fake blind is and you know, witnessing a murder is the inciting incident. Being fake blind, right? Yeah. Akshay: I was just about to say that. Yeah. That in Bhavesh Joshi you said that the inciting incident forms part of your log line. And Ananya: It can, yeah. Akshay: it can, and I think here it is. Yeah. Ananya: It is. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Because if he'd not been faking to be blind, he wouldn't have actually witnessed the murder and the cover up and then he Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: wouldn't have gone to the police and reported it and the story wouldn't have started. It would have there would Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: nothing would exist, right? Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: So you also have the inciting incident. And what is an inciting incident? It is basically the incident which sets the rest of your story in motion. It opens up the story world and you say now onwards, this character is going to pursue the goal. The goal is to escape these murderers. The conflict is they are murderers. He witnesses Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: the murder himself and now he has to contend with these murderers, a normal man having to face murderers. How is he gonna do that? And the stakes are that should this go wrong, he will lose his life. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Great. Let's go into the hero's journey next. Akshay: Let's do it. Ananya: What is your hero's journey? Your hero's journey is the journey every character or every person, be it you and I or the character protagonist, antagonist in your film, goes on in order to achieve their goal. But this is not just a simple path they follow. Because in order to achieve this goal, they first have to become the person who has what it takes to achieve this goal. This is a journey of internal transformation, which they go through by meeting external obstacles which challenge them and allow them to grow, to overcome, and finally forge themselves into this person who is deserving of their goal. And that is the true win in a movie of a person, of anyone, that you become the person who can do this. Then at the end of the day, whether you get it or not. That's just a cherry on top. But the true fulfillment comes from becoming someone who can do something new, which they couldn't earlier. Now, as you go on this journey of transformation, you encounter various different things. You will encounter challenges, tests, you will meet allies who will help you out. You will meet mentors who will give you their medicine and their guidance as to this is what you can do. You'll doubt yourself. You'll be like, can I even do this? You'll want to go two steps back, one step forward. And in real life, we've all encountered this. And because in real life, our journey of change spans years. Like if you look at you between yesterday and today, there is no change. But between yesterday and three years ago, you might be a widely different person. Right? But in the film, you only get 90 minutes. So this needs to be done in a very cohesive and structured fashion. And the hero's journey essentially codifies these beats into a format such that one beat after the other flows with its emotional logic. It makes sense that after each step, the next step will obviously follow because that is what we expect of our lives and of films. Except that in films it actually happens, and in our lives we have to one of the major limitations we as humans have to overcome is dealing Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: with its non-linearity. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: But that's a meta conversation for another time. But yeah, that is one of our own heroes' journeys. Right. So essentially when you've written this film, your film, whatever you're writing, you wanna check whether your emotional journey and your external journey align with the hero's journey as mentioned by Joseph Campbell. Because this will ensure that your audience is getting that emotional hit every so often and you're actually making progress and you're not staying in the same place. A movie needs to keep moving forward, and this sort of path will make sure that you are covering all the steps and moving step by step into the right direction. Right? Great. So let's start with the first step of the hero's journey, which is your ordinary world. Your ordinary world is the world in which your hero exists. Before they've gone into the new world and started this journey. It's where we see their limitation, we see who they are, why they are the way they are, what is their wound, what led to their wound. We see when in their life this is happening, and we see everything around their circumstances that makes them into the person that's that they are right now. And we see what their goal is too. So over here we see Ayushman Khurana or Akash. His life. He is an artist. He is faking being blind so that he can bring focus to his art. And he is also, you know, making the most of his blindness in whatever way he can. You know, like getting Radhika Apte's character, hooking up with her, sympathy sex, not sympathy sex, whatever they want to call it. He's essentially reaping all the rewards of being a blind guy, getting a gig because people are like, my god, his music is so good, and we need to support support a cause. Or if a blind man touches this, I'll get luck. And so he knows how to work the system of being blind. Right? Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: Then you have the call to action. Your call to action is this part of your hero's journey where your hero has said, Come, come, let's go after your goal. Let's achieve your goal, something you haven't done so far. Right? And over here, Ayushman Khurana has essentially gotten a gig at a yesteryear actor Pramod Sinha's house to play for him and his to play for his wife. Surprise his wife on their anniversary. Now Ayushman Khurana goes to their house, enters, and starts playing when he notices a body. And that is his first call to action. Okay, report the murder. Say something about it. Say something about it. But he does not yet. And that is the refusal of the call. The refusal of the call is you're being called, come, come, take action, report this murder, do something about this, but you're like, I don't know whether I should do this, I can't do this, or someone else tells you, like, you can't do this. And over here, Ayushman Khurana is just caught, like, as any of us would be in the situation, like. I do not know how to react, and he does a brilliant job of not reacting, keeping your shit together in that situation and not letting your emotions get the better of you, staying within the act, when he goes into the bathroom and he runs into like the murderer, and he still has to pretend being blind. He doesn't say anything then. And as they stuff the body into the bag and they break the finger, he they're like, okay, act on this, act on this. no, no, I'm not gonna act, I'm not gonna act on this. And that is your refusals of the call and call to action. Your next step in your hero's journey is meeting the mentor. This is that step in your hero's journey where you meet someone who's walked the path that you're going to walk, and they're like, okay, if your goal is to slay the dragon, here, here's the sword, here's the map, everything else you need in order to go do that. I don't believe there's a mentor here, right? Akshay: No, no mentor. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. His own conscience takes the wheels and he goes to the police station and he reports the murder. But just as he is reporting the murder, you enter your next stage, which is crossing the threshold. Crossing the threshold is this stage of your hero's journey where you have taken a firm step into your new world and taken an action which cannot be reversed. The door behind you shuts, and there is no way you can go back. You have crossed the point of no return. Thing is, the moment Ayushman Khurana has said, I want to report a murder, he tells the first officer, and then he's like, Wait, I'll call my senior, and the officer comes out, and it turns out it is Manohar, who is the murderer himself, who was Tabu's lover. And he has seen Ayushman because he was in the house when Ayushman was playing the piano, and he thought Ayushman was blind. So he's like he has heard murder now. So he's like, mm, and Ayushman can't take that back. It has been heard. There is no way for him to go back from that. So he has firmly crossed the threshold. Right? Akshay: Yeah. He's crossed the threshold in the sense that now he will have to keep lying to prove his innocence and to keep escaping these people who now suspect him. Ananya: Absolutely, yeah. Because they are murderers, and if they figure out that he has seen the murder, he is also going to be done for. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Then you have tests, allies, and enemies. This is that phase of the hero's journey where you're getting a lay of the land of what this new world is actually like. You're gonna see what tests and challenges you're gonna face, who your friends and allies are gonna be, and who your enemies are going to be too. Right? So, over here, this is essentially Ayushman Khurana going to the funeral, giving a police report, him being threatened by Manohar, and trying to actually find out whether he is Whether he has been has seen the murder or not. Right. And the final challenge or test comes in when he goes in to speak to Tabu and he sees, or Tabu is not sure whether he sees or not, her character throw the old neighbor woman off the ledge of their building and kill her too, because the neighbor woman had also seen, Akshay: Suspected. Ananya: suspected that something was up there and that Tabu was cheating on Pramod Sinha. All of that. This leads us to the approach to the innermost cave. This is that part of the hero's journey where if your goal is to slay the dragon, you're now entering the cave and embarking on that final stage of your mission, the main part of your mission. Right. So this is when Tabu now comes to Ayushman Khurana's house to check whether he is actually blind or not. And in doing so, he manages to fake it for a very long time and prove that he is blind, he's not faking it. But when she puts poison in his chai and he drops the cup, Tabu is sure that he's faking it. And she catches him. He promises that listen, I won't tell anyone, nothing's gonna happen. But Tabu's like, okay, fine, sure, except that herein begins the ordeal. Your ordeal is now that you have confronted the dragon and you've tried to kill them and you've gotten their bag of gold, you're now escaping, and the dragon is flying after you, and all the king's horses and all the king's men are coming after you because there are consequences for going after your goals. And you have to face them because nothing goes unearned, right? You can't change without letting go of your old self and paying the price for it. And over here, the ordeal is that the pedas or the ladus or the kajukatlis, which whatever that Tabu had gotten for Ayushman Kurana, were laced with something she saw off the internet. I loved it, very convenient, perfect. Don't get into the logic. Yeah. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: And she had actually turned him blind. And now Ayushman Khurana's ordeal is that he's actually blind, that Radhika Apte's character realizes that he's not blind. She's told that he's not blind by that kid character who we'll talk about when we talk about scenes. And Manohar is coming after Avushman to kill him. And then he almost escapes Manohar. He has to now actually navigate the world as a blind person, which he doesn't know how to do. He's bumping against things, blah blah blah, he's falling and he passes out on the floor. He thinks he's escaped Manohar, only to realize that he has now been caught by an organ donation, organ harvesting scam ring. Akshay: Scam. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. And his organs are going to be harvested. Both his kidneys are gonna go for a sum of like twenty lakhs something. Akshay: Two lakhs not even twenty lakhs. Ananya: Two lakhs. terrible. That's not the my kidneys are worth a lot more, bro. I'm very like hydrated as a human being. Yeah. Akshay: Exact yeah. Ananya: so then over there you have your moment of reward. Your reward is when your character gets a moment of breathing room. They're like, okay, I've managed to escape all of this. Now I've left my ordeal behind me. I get a moment to be with my prize. This is when Ayushman Khurana says, listen, don't harvest my organs. I will get you one crore rupees. Fuck all this two lakh, whatever amount. we will like I know who you are, I recognize your voice, I know the tattoo, and you're that lady who sells lottery tickets, right? So I can get us one crore. That lady is shocked, and they're like, Okay, great. Akshay: Okay. Hmm. Ananya: Right? We are on this scheme with you. Then you have the way back. The way back is this part of your journey where now you've gotten your reward, but you still have to go back home. And in going back home, you're still gonna have robbers and thieves along the way who are gonna wanna steal your reward back from you. Over here, this is an elaborate and fairly unpredictable and confusing sequence of events where you really don't know what's going on. But they capture Tabu to get money from her. They also tell Manohar's wife that look, your husband has been cheating on you. They ask him to get money. And all sorts of things are going on in order to extract this money from them. And in doing so, you almost reach a low point where all these robbers and attackers come to you with such force that you're like, I don't think I'm gonna make it. I don't think I have what it takes, right? But then you decide to rise from the ashes and you're like, no, I will give it one final push. That is your resurrection. Over here it happens when Ayushman Kurana is trapped with Tabu's character. He helps her, she helps, he removes the patta from her eyes, and he's like, Both of us will escape, you know, so we are free of these crazy organ harvester people. But then Tabu comes at him, and then together he's like. Almost screwed when the doctor character comes, helps him out, and you have a longer resurrection sequence where Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: they take tabu and then they manage to trap her. And then they sing the doctor says, Look, why don't you take Tabu's corneas? We'll actually fix your eyes and we'll take her liver, give it to someone else, we'll make a lot of money. Who cares about her? She's a murderess anyway. her life is worth nothing. So Ayushman Khurana like, No, no, we should save her, etc., should let her go. In trying to do that, Tabu kills the doctor also, and she lets Ayushman Khurana's character go. And that is when he resurrects, because moments later she is killed in a car crash. Right? And he has escaped scot-free for the most part. And then you have the return with the elixir. This is when you have now come as a new person back into your old world. You've learned the lessons, you have transformed. And you will never be or go back to being the person with the flaw or the limitation that you were. Over here the elixir is that he is actually blind, possibly, maybe, I think he still is. And he is now living the life of a blind musician, knowing what it's like to live that life. Akshay: I thought he is not blind because he kicks the can in the end. Ananya: You don't think so? Yeah, but I thought the way it was done was so ambiguous and thematically I feel like what the movie's saying, based on that, he would be blind. Akshay: I think just because of the genre of the film, which is that they would really want to keep like you second guessing all the time. Ananya: Yeah. Of course. Akshay: I think like because he said because the way Radhika says that, why did you let's just let her go? Why did you let her go? You could have taken her corner, Ananya: Hm. Akshay: you could have had your eyes. And just after that Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: he kicks the can. So that made me think that, maybe he is not. Because it was a very Ananya: Mm-hmm. Not Akshay: odd reaction from her also that after all of this, she focused on just this, like not nothing Ananya: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Akshay: else. but so it made me think that this was to serve a plot point, essentially, or give some more Ananya: Mm. Yeah. Akshay: information. So that's the thing, but he could be blind. We never know. Ananya: It is it is what you want it to be, right? That's the beauty of this film. there is never be an answer. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Great. Anything to add on Heroes Journey? Akshay: No, pretty pretty clear for most part of it. My Ananya: Definitely. Akshay: problem with the structure of this movie is while I was rewatching it was there at the first time watch also, which was that the second half of the movie, the organ donation track, the organ harvesting track, just blindsided me. Like I Ananya: No. Akshay: did not see it coming and it the movie became a little too random for me from there. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: the first half was Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: so focused, so contained, so Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: delicately pieced, and so like every aspect is properly thought of. The second half just became bigger in a way which didn't demand that, you know? Like I thought Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: the first conflict was enough to carry the whole movie. But then you have these new characters whom we've never seen before, or just we've seen them once before. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: So that became a structural problem overall for me, even though the hero's journey more or less tracks. And hence one of the reasons we have is this because a lot of the sequences of the hero's journey are longer than they generally are. Ananya: Need to be. Yeah. Akshay: Because you have to cover so much ground now suddenly. the Ananya: Ground. Yeah. Akshay: goal now changes. The goal first was to escape the murderers. Now the goal is to escape these people also. So so suddenly Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Akshay: it becomes too much. But Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: fairly enjoyable again. no complaints with the movie. It's just that Ananya: Yeah. No, no. Akshay: the way you said you don't know what was happening. Yeah, that feeling. Ananya: Exactly. And I understood why they chose organ donation or organ Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: harvesting as the next sort of world to open up. Was because, you know, they have this whole idea of blindness, going blind, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: you know, killing someone. So very bodily things are happening, right? So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: that had to be the next piece, obviously. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: But the problem is that they hadn't seeded it in initially. What they should have done is had it as a case. Which was going on. This organ donation ring is some is this Manohar, the police character, is trying to catch them. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: that should have been there because I'm sure this was a third act problem, right? And Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: you only have a third act problem if you have a first act problem. So if you've not seeded in enough elements in your first act to ensure that they pay off in the third act, you're gonna have a thing of how do I open up this world now? Like I'm out of Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: things. Because If you go see the scene where Manohar confronts Ayushman Khurana and then where Tabu's character confronts Ayushman Kurana, they're both essentially the same scenes. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Right? They're both testing that if we do something surprising, if he sees it, he will flinch. Right? So they were also, as writers, running out of how do we explore this world more? We've done it all. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: So they're like Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: what is adjacent and can be thematically and logically woven into this world. So it Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: was this, but instead of adding it in act three, it needed to be added in act one. Akshay: Yeah, and I like that idea of Manohar solving this case or something I to even think even this Pramod Sinna himself was involved in this racket would be so cool. Because they're anyway so like Ananya: Yeah, yeah, so. Akshay: morally dirty characters anyway. So why not? Ananya: Why not? Exactly. Yeah. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Sure. Let's go into the theme next. What is your theme? It is the whole reason you're a screenwriter, filmmaker, an artist. It's because you have a point of view on the world and you use your art as a medium to inform the world of your point of view to make this particular point. But you can't just scream this point out loud. This is my belief on the world, listen to me. You have to use your movie as a court case. So essentially, this is framed as a dramatic question where you pose the question of is this okay or not? And then you answer it. Now, what does this look like? Let's use this Andhadun's example. Over here, I believe the theme is very simple. It is, do actions have consequences? Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Do negative actions have consequences? Right? And they have proven it very simply. Ayushman Khurana fakes being blind. He is at the ordeal point. He goes blind. He's actually blind. Akshay: Becomes blind. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Then Tabu's character kills someone. At the end of the day, she dies. She is also killed. The doctor character has presumably in his past taken many people's organs about to kill Tabu to do that too. He is killed in the process of doing that. Then another of the characters, the little side characters of Maushi, Maushi's compadre in this, he also is in this, he ends up also losing his life. Where they even make the point of saying, but you can donate his organs. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: they're not subtle about this. This film has a very certain point of view that if you do something wrong, you will face the consequences of it. Right? Akshay: Yeah. Two more characters that come that sorry, two more characters. Ananya: So that is why I was hmm. Akshay: when Manohar is stuck in the lift, he shoots the gun and I think the bullet ricochets and hit hits him only when it's dark. So that and Ananya: It's him only, yeah. Yeah. Akshay: I my favorite of all this my favorite of all this is the kid getting slapped. It's that he's he's Ananya: Ten on ten. Yeah. Akshay: like because he has been so nosy in other people's business, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Radha Apte's character Sophie gives him one big tight slap. I remember in Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: the theatre everybody going, Woo! because Ananya: Mm, yeah. Akshay: everybody truly felt it. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Hated that kid. It's the opposite of save the cat, pet the dog, is that. So we'll get into that. And even Sophie. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So great karmic justice of for all of them, huh? Ananya: Yeah, Radhika Apte's character. She was nothing but nice to Ayushman Kurana. He screwed her over, kinda. And then at the end, she's the one who's in a happy relationship. Like she's Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: with that dude living her best French life. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: So it's really like everyone gets their comeuppance in this film. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: that's why, you know, when I we were saying that is he blind at the end or not? Thematically following all these threads, I want to believe that he is, that he Akshay: Hm. Ananya: did because of what this film, the point this film has made with all the other characters. But it could also, but did Ayushman Kurana get away with it? I don't know. My conscience doesn't let me believe that, but that's a tonal versus thematic. Akshay: Tell you my I'll tell you my argument exactly on this point, which is that Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: he essentially didn't do anything wrong which was gonna affect other people. he pretended to be blind, he faked being blind just for his own self. And he Ananya: Hm. Akshay: has at two points proven that he has a good conscience, which is that Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: when he witnesses the murder, he could have just run away, but no. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: He tries to do the right thing, goes to the police, tries to report, but can't. And in the end, when he's in the car with the doctor, Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: he again says that, I don't think we should kill her. So the fact that he tried to come clean, that maybe makes me tell that maybe he did not lose his eyesight in the end and he did get his eyesight back. But very rightly Ananya: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fair. Akshay: said, you said that because you're still pretending to be blind, for a brief moment in the film, you had to do this karmic justice that Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: you know what? Actually become blind and see what happens. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, no, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: I agree. I I buy your point that because he didn't hurt other people, his it was never his intention. Even when he's, Akshay: Hmm. Tough. Ananya: hooking up with Radhaka and stuff, he's never being like creepy, he's never a perv, none of that. Akshay: Huh. Yeah. Ananya: So I do yeah, you're right that maybe he didn't deserve the kind of justice that the other characters deserve. So maybe he isn't blind. Akshay: Yeah. Huh. Yeah. But again, hm. Who knows? Ananya: Yeah, I buy that. Who knows? Who knows? Exactly. Okay, let's go to genre tropes next. The first genre trope-- This is not really a blind movie genre trope, but it kinda also is. Akshay: Ha ha. Ananya: Mostly because we've done Black. Okay. But I noticed this. I had to bring it up 'cause our whole like podcast is pattern recognition, right? So Akshay: If Sanjay Leela Bhansali watches this, he might just go blind. After Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: No no. This is not bad. This is actually very minor. It's like in both films, if you see, the opening image is black. It is darkness. They hold Akshay: Mm. Ananya: on that for some time. And I believe that's because they want to draw you into the world of that blindness. So even though Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: later on they reveal fairly soon enough that Ayushman Khurana is not blind. But for the opening act, they want you to be immersed in that world. So they create Those three extra seconds of darkness, of pitch blackness. So the audience empathizes with the character. It is to create immersion and experiential Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: consumption, which would they also do in Black, so that you empathize a little more with Rani's character because you've gotten a little uncomfortable with dealing with that. So this is a blind movie trope. I have two reverse tropes. Okay. One is clumsiness, which you see in a lot of rom coms, where essentially you have the girl being a little manic pixie dream girl, very clumsy, very what's going on, blah blah blah. And over here they have reversed it with Ayushman Karana's character overplaying the clumsiness. Why? This character it especially works well because the whole reason, and you hear this in pop culture speak a lot on the internet, it's called weaponized incompetence, is when other character needs to come in and save you. So the other character A feels a bit like savior, like aha ha, I can come and help you. And B, it creates transgressive touch also, where touch is not earned, but because you have to hold them, stop them for falling over, that it creates the little electric sparks of touch, right? So over here, Ayushman Khurana is playing the blind guy, literally, and tripping over, being a little clumsy, being that. And here Radhika Apte is like, let me help you. And it puts her in a little bit of a position of power. So they've reversed that trope. Akshay: But I think this trope is both ways also, which is that while the situation is manic pixie for him, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: her character is more manic pixie than him. In the sense that she is the one who is like telling the guy, Hey, drive carefully, you'll cause an accident, etc but she herself like causes this accident. So again, this Ananya: Hmm. Yeah, yeah. Akshay: this over additional quirk. Which is that ki I'm right, how dare you ignore me. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Open the window. What all this is so extra, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: but and like and again like going and committing this small accident. Ananya: Yeah, that's your typical meet cute. Akshay: Yeah, correct. Ananya: Yeah, exactly. So since we're there, let's just talk about the meet cute too. This is a rom com trope where essentially your two characters who are going to fall in love meet. They have spark, there's something cute between them, but there is also conflict. They get off on the wrong foot and that shows you the amount of distance they have to cover in their relationship so that they have a journey to go on. Because if they immediately like each other, there is no point. Though obviously over here the rom com is not central to the plot. In fact I thought they could have not had the whole rom com angle too and Akshay: Hmm, hmm. Ananya: this story still would have worked because Pramod Sinha could have found him anywhere. They didn't need the love story track going on. Akshay: No, I think the moment he meets the girl, that's the first time he takes his lenses off. So huh. Ananya: Yeah, sure. But they could have shown it to us for huh any more no in fact I don't know, maybe this is not the right way to play it, but if you want to do it in a very economical way, you can essentially have played it as the whole he goes in, he witnesses the murder, but you don't know that he's not blind. And then when he Akshay: Huh. Ananya: goes to the police station you realize that, actually that That's when you realize and he says, So the same time Manohar realizes, you realize. So that could have also been an Akshay: Huh. Possibly. Ananya: interesting way, a very more economical way to play it. I don't know, Akshay: Hm. Ananya: but maybe they wanted the music and the songs and all of that. Akshay: Huh, the juice of that scene is that he has to pretend to be calm while he witnesses that that wouldn't have come through. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah, yeah. That yeah, exactly. And that is again, yeah. So it's a depending on how you want to play it. But that also being said, there is another they could have shown us that he's not blind in any other way. Like the rom com track Akshay: Hunt any other way, yeah. Ananya: was very matlab removed from the main story. Akshay: Yeah. Even if they would have said that this Simi is a yesteryear actress and he was wanted to see her so that that's the first time he takes off his blindfold, that could have worked, That would've been simple. But I think you have Ananya: Yeah. Exactly. Right. Akshay: to cover this two hour length movie, no? Because it's theatrical. So And plus it also Ananya: Maybe. Akshay: it also gives you an like expands the world. So it's nice. Yeah. Ananya: Well, yeah, yeah, exactly. There was good flavour. But again, coming back to our earlier point, I would say that use the use that real estate for improving on the organ harvesting track in Act One instead Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: of the rom com which didn't go anywhere. But this is Akshay: Exactly. Yeah. Ananya: me giving critical feedback to Sriram Raghavan and the writing Akshay: Ha ha ha ha. Ananya: team. Anyway Yeah. Akshay: Like what I like about the film that is that it's an imperfect film. So I think that's one of the reasons it works also because you're a little like anything can happen. So it all Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: of your guards come down. Like in the sense that they're making you say might it this might be a romance movie. No crime. So they're constantly changing Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: gears in the movie, and I think that's just the tonal choice these guys have taken. Yeah. Ananya: For sure, for sure. Yeah, yeah. And it requires one to be very aware of what they're doing, right? Like we are Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: here saying this should have been economic, this could have been more economic, but they're like, Yeah, bitch, we didn't do that on purpose. Like we wanted exactly what you're saying. We wanted Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: you to constantly wonder, okay, am I entering a rom com? Okay, am I entering a murder mystery? Okay, am entering like a thriller? we wanted to keep you on your toes. Yeah, Akshay: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Ananya: so nothing there was no Accident here. It was all very intentional. Definitely. Akshay: How yeah. Ananya: So, yeah, and because you're talking about the Meet Cute, real quick, I'll finish what I was saying. Is that this Meet Cute, there isn't that much conflict. she topples him over, but then they immediately resolve it because they also need to get them to get together really quickly. The rom com is not the central track, so the meet cute Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: resolves and they get together fairly easily in the film. Akshay: Hm, yeah. Ananya: Then another trope is the pervy glare trope. This is not a rom-com trope, obviously. This Akshay: Mm. Ananya: is a creepy movie Ranjhana type trope, stalker trope. Where you know the guy will pretend to like not look call what was I watching recently? Akshay: Haha Ananya: I was watching this really interesting film called I think What If or something. It's a Daniel Radcliffe film. And Zoe Kazan, I think. And even there, there's this one scene I was watching it recently, so I remember, where she gets stuck in her clothes in the trial room and he's just and she's like, help me out. But she's like, But close your eyes. But then he does Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: open for like logistical reasons, because he can't get her out with like closed eyes, but also wants to create that moment. But can be very pervy depending on how it's played. And that movie Akshay: Plead, huh? Ananya: with Daniel Radcliffe's character is played very well. Like there's a lot of innocence on his face. But here, because you know, Ayushman is a bit of a player, he's faking to be blind. You expect that when she's changing, he's gonna look at her. They've shot it with both of them in the frame, but he looks away. He doesn't look at her. He goes into the room and he starts changing like a normal dude. And that's when they reverse the trope where Radhika Apte comes in and she's looking at him. And Akshay: Trope. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: he turns around and he realizes that she's looking at him, so he starts putting on a show for her. He does it for her benefit. So they've Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: reversed that trope very well. Akshay: Yeah. Very nice. Ananya: Let's go into scenes and sequences next. I want to talk about the opening scene obviously because it has to be spoken about. Your opening scene over here essentially has to tell the audience what to expect. It either has to meet their expectations if they've come in expecting for example like we said in Bhavesh Joshi a superhero film. So they deliver that that you're going to get this and it's essential you deliver that especially if it's going to take some time to get to that idea of the film later on. in Go Goa Gone, it's they deliver a scare in the middle because the zombies take time to come. That is one way of doing it. Another thing you can do with your opening scene is set the tone of the film, set the expectations. If the audience has come in not being sure what to expect, you tonally do that for them. So over here, it opens with a lot of whimsy and it opens with bloodshed, not literal bloodshed, but it opens with a little bit of violence where you have a rabbit who's in a field and he's being hunted down with a gun. So that immediately tells you that this movie is going to have violence and because it's a rabbit and it's a very obviously animated rabbit for a reason they want you to suspend your disbelief that this is a world in which this happens. So they have the whimsy of that rabbit and they also have the violence. So the tone is set. The second thing they did really well was choosing a rabbit for this scene because rabbits are 90 % blind. So this was, they function through ears. So sound. So choosing a rabbit was also very symbolically done that this is going to be about blindness. This is going to be a main thematic thread that you're going to be following. And finally, the third bit was that, yes, while in the start of your film, you can set up something which you don't eventually pay off. This also happens to be a flash forward because later on it pays off where this is actually what is happens when the then Tabu is driving through that road and this rabbit chase is going on and the rabbit essentially jumps across the windscreen. This one was escaping the burger and that causes the car to swerve and Tabu rolls over and dies in a car crash and blast. So this Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: opening scene did a lot with very little. So, phenomenal things. Akshay: One more thing which I didn't notice in the film the first time. I only noticed this Ananya: Hmm? Akshay: now because I had this information read on the internet somewhere. Was that this rabbit which they focus on actually has only one eye. They have a they have a shot of the rabbit. Now I saw it this time, which is that the rabbit turns one side and the rabbit turns the other side. So on when he Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: turns one side, he properly has an eye which is white colored, and the other eye there is nothing. he doesn't have an eye. So it's again sort of foreshadowing a little bit, which is that Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: will our protagonist be able to see or not see? Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah, Nazi. Nice, nice. Fun. Gotta love them reddit rabbit holes. Rabbit holes. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Nice. I want to talk about one more way of playing a scene which is we also often talk about giving information such that it creates maximum emotional impact, maximum drama. So when we realize that Ayushman Khurana's character is not blind, it's because he removes his glasses to check out Radhika Apte. So that is done at a critical moment because you're establishing character also that okay, wants to check out this girl, he's just a normal dude, all of that. And you're also establishing, taking the plot forward by establishing that he's not blind. But what I love is... they don't hold on that moment at all. It is treated just in passing and you absorb that information. So this is when the audience is like, hold up, wait a minute, but your film keeps carrying on. So your Akshay: Mm. Ananya: audience has to move on from that emotion and digest it to keep up with the film because it's such a fast paced film. So you have helped them digest that information quickly. And also make sure they don't ask too many questions by making it happen in the flow of the movie. Essentially how you react is how your audience is going to react. So if you blow Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: it out of proportion, your audience will be like, my God, shock. But here, because you're moving on, your audience is forced to move on too. Akshay: Yeah, it's like you don't want to overwhelm your audience. if you don't Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: make a big deal out of it, they won't make a big deal out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Exactly, Akshay: One technique I want to talk about is foreshadowing. You subtly give hints or clues to the audience of what is to come. So that when it actually happens, you are not blindsided. You don't think this is completely out of the left field. And you sort of then you can clue then your mind can clue pieces together. Like the clues were always there. Now, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: In this film, one of the scenes they have done foreshadowing is when Tabu's character Simi is cooking for her husband Tramotana. And she's making this lobster. And in the end, and like when she's making the gravy, like her hands are full red because of full the spicy. In the end, when she hugs him, her hands are full red, and the close-up is actually on her hands when she's hugging him. So, which means that you know. Her hands will be red when she murders him. That was Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: one very small moment. But again, like you know, these are small visual seedings you have to do so that again your mind subtly registers this and when it actually happens, you're like, you can actually enjoy it rather than feeling Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: a shock. Ananya: Yeah, for sure. Akshay: that was one. the second thing a scene plays out because of one character technique actually, which is that what you say and what you actually end up doing, which is Radhika Abte's character, Sophie's character, her introduction scene, which is that she is on this bike and she's actually like telling this car driver that, you are not driving well, why like you have to be responsible, you have to drive well. Come on, talk to me. Why are you not answering your why are you not answering this window? And she immediately takes a right and she herself causes this accident. Which is that Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: you thought you were holier than thou with Ananya: Yeah Akshay: from somebody, but actually you're the same. You were not driving safe. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: So that that scene plays out well. One thing which I want to talk about in the film, and they've done this throughout the film and at multiple times. Which is that if one thing you're banking on will go wrong, you're constantly subverting expectations of the audience and of the character. And it is essentially done to keep giving your audience twist after twist after twist. Essentially. Once the first moment I witnessed this was when Ayushman's character Akash decides that, I want to really check out this girl. So I'm gonna take my lenses off. Because anyway, how will she come to know? I have my chasma on all the time. Now, what happens when he goes down to see her when she's come to pick up? A bird sits on his glasses. So now she has to take off the glasses and he has to pretend to be slightly lazy-eyed, Ananya: Yeah Akshay: which he never had to do, but now he has to. So every time you think that, I'm gonna do this and get away, you don't get away. it hits you back. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Again, he decides to go to this person's house pretending to be blind but actually not wearing lens. He witnesses a crime scene. Okay, you're fucked again. Okay, I'm gonna report to the police. But the police is actually the murderer. You're fucked again. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: It happens all like throughout the film with all the characters. the organ harvesting people, they think they can blindside him, they double cross him, but no, Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: they don't get away with it. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: so the constantly subverting expectation of your audience and your characters, you think, I will get away Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: with it, but you don't. Ananya: Don't. Exactly. Akshay: One small thing, it's not a big thing, which is that the party sequence of the movie, which is where Ayushman's character is playing the piano at Franco's and it becomes he starts getting popular and successful, and eventually there comes a moment in the in that party sequence where everybody in the restaurant decides to blindfold themselves and then they sort of keep dancing around with each other. It's essentially how can you make a party scene more edgy? Is a thing which you try and focus that how is it not a simple song and dance sequence from the other films? So how can you Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: make your party edgy? and I I think I remember a couple of other references which come to my mind, which is that in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil everybody decides to do a silent disco that they're all in a club. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: But you can't play the music out loud, so everybody wears headphones. So now you have a slightly different spin on your party sequence where Ananya: you Akshay: it's memorable. And it again in your this case it's actually true to character completely because they are Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: trying to see what the musician is feeling. Ananya: Exactly. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And one thing that also we discussed is an Om Shanti Om briefly, where we said Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: that, Om in his previous life, if he was, for example, he's the fan of Deepika Padukone in the next life, Deepika had to be his super fan, right? So over here too, you know, like I think it's the same idea which we briefly touched upon in theme where okay now Ayushman is pretending to be blind in the first half so he has to be blind in the second half. Tabu Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: makes him blind in the first half so she has a blindfold sequence in the second half where she's really uncomfortable Akshay: Mm. Ananya: being blind. So this reminded me of Om Shanti Om where you set these Akshay: Huh. Ananya: things up so the other half has to be the opposite of it. That's just the way the genre works. Akshay: Ha Hmm Interesting, yeah. Ananya: One more thing I want to talk about is conflict piling, which is one of our favorite techniques where you Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: throw one conflict after another, after another in a given scene at a character and the end you watch them wriggle their way out of it and you see who they are. It establishes who they are, what their modus operandi is and how far can they go. To protect themselves. Now, this is two very similar scenes. One is where Manohar comes to check whether Ayushman Khurana is actually blind and the second is when Tabu actually comes to check the same thing whether he is actually blind. So when Manohar comes, is first he is driving him home, talking to him, Akshay: Mm. Ananya: trying to understand his life. After that, it is he comes to his house and questions him. So he's like, okay, what's going on? And Ayushman Khurana like explains his life. He's trying to poke holes in the theory, kuch nahi mil raha hai. Then he hides and he's trying to guess whether Ayushman will guess that he's still in the house, not in the house, will he play? Ayushman plays along, pretends it. Then he throws a knife at him, which is the final, you know, shock him, surprise him, get a reaction out of it. But Ayushman manages to keep his calm, Akshay: Fail true. Ananya: keep his wits about him and he doesn't react. So Manohar is convinced that okay, maybe he is not a fraud. Then Tabu comes and does the same thing, where first she puts on a ghost wala mask. So there it's immediately to flinch, to get a reaction. So that's conflict number one. So where we left off with Manohar, because essentially you can't have two of the same scenes, though they are in principle the same scenes, they're trying to achieve the same thing. You have to escalate what is being done. So they pick it up there from the same shock element. The knife and the mask do the same thing, right? And when he doesn't react to the mask, the ghost wala mask, she then pours poison or something in the coffee. And after that, Ayushman Khurana has seen, now how he wriggled his way out of it because he has to drink the coffee. And even though he tries, he does the most obvious thing and breaks the cup. And Tabu is like, come on, I know you are not a blind. Akshay: The third thing she does is that when when he she puts she pulls out a gun. Ananya: gun yeah yeah so this Akshay: And immediately his reflex goes like this. Ananya: yeah Akshay: So what he she was trying to do is check his instinct if he can see. And he's now able to see. And this is again a fake gun, which she says fake blind. So fake gun. Ananya: Instinct. Yeah. Yeah. Fake gun. Fake gun. Yeah. And it also shows you what your character is willing to defend, right? At first, he is defending the lie. But then it Akshay: Mm-hmm. Ananya: comes to defending his life. So Akshay: Mm-hmm. Ananya: there he has to draw the line and he's like, okay, I will let the secret go in order to live. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: And what they do is they expand the scene by using another technique which is called creating safety. Because here he manages to talk his way into saying, I'll go away, I'll go to London, I'll never be a problem in your life again, let me go, let me go. Tabu is like, okay fine, let you go. And that's when something starts hitting him. And he's like, what was in the peda that you got me? And it's only because they have given you a sense of security that Tabu is now seemingly on his side. That... Now when he's actually hit by the peda, it lands. So you take your characters to a sense of safety to then take them into danger. It is the contrast of emotion that lands. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. I love the sequence in the movie. Ananya: Another technique I wanted to talk about was delaying information or gratification. Right? So over here, once Ayushman starts reacting to what's happening with the peda, you cut to an interval. Right? Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: And then you come back post interval and you go to Radhika Apte's character coming to the house. And you see Tabu open, she's undressed herself, she's pretending to have an affair with Ayushman Khurana and the two are having a confrontation as Ayushman Khurana is lying on bed flat and you Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: as an audience don't know yet that that whatever was in the peda had made him blind or has it killed him and because Akshay: Killed him. Hmm. Ananya: of the way he's not reacting and he's just there as they're having this argument about him you're like my god what has happened, what Akshay: Mm. Ananya: has happened, is he dead? Akshay: Mm. Ananya: And it is only later on once this whole confrontation has happened in the evening when he wakes up that he realizes that he's blind So your audience is forced to sit through this much like I think 10 minutes or something like that 5-7 minutes without Akshay: Mm. Mm. Ananya: that. So there's tension. So you create Akshay: Mm-hmm. Ananya: tension by holding on to the most relevant information and this is beautiful especially for Bollywood where you have this organic break of an interval to be able to use it to your favor to create more tension. Akshay: Hmm. Nice, yeah. Ananya: Then let's talk about our favorite slapping the kid, right? Akshay: Mm. Ananya: So now in most movies you have tropes which are you know save the cat, pet the dog, know like say hello to the baby, with the, like poo at the baby. This is all essentially to make your character more likeable and these are essentially elements which are innocent, Like cats, dogs, babies. You can't be mean to them. You have to show your character in a nice light. But if you want to do the Ulta, I don't think you can get away with it with a dog or cat unless you can't. But with a kid, if you want that slap to land, you have to establish that kid as very, very annoying from the get-go such that even you would want to slap them. So Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: this kid's first introduction is One, he's throwing that ball at Ayushman Khurrana. Then he seems to have a moment of remorse where he's like, okay, I'll get you a rickshaw. But he's like you have to pay me 10 rupees, 10 rupees. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: immediately you hate this kid. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Then you're like, he's constantly like filming Ayushman Khurrana, who you've already established empathy for. You like this character. So Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Ananya: you're like, don't you have a life of your own, idiot of a kid? You know, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: so that's why later on, when the slap lands, you have established that you hate this fucker. So, karo Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: laat maros. Akshay: And also he knows this guy is blind at the earlier but he still sets out a trap of a thread and he the Ayushman's character falls. I'm like, hello. Huh. So annoying this kid. Huh. Yeah. So annoy Ananya: yeah trap exactly that falls yeah that yeah i thought it was a ball he hit him with yeah that yeah okay one one Akshay: so annoying this kid was. So you truly feel like yes. When she slaps Ananya: Voi, voi. Exactly. And it also goes to say a lot about first impressions, right? That once you set up a first impression of a person, it is Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: very hard to beat it. So your opening scene, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: your character's introduction needs to be something solid or needs to be what you want your audience to believe because you're going to have a very hard time breaking that impression afterwards. Akshay: Yeah. And I think there there was also merit in Radhika Apte's character doing the slap because Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: it's very true to her character, which they have created in the film. And not just this moment, once she comes to know that this guy has betrayed her, sort of betrayed her, which is that Tabu opens the door undressed and she sees Ayushman's character undressed. And she assumes that they're having an affair, rather she's told that they're having an affair. She so much loses her plot that eventually, when the news comes out that Simi has committed suicide from the jumping off a bridge, her first reaction is like, the two of them eloped, huh? So you really need to push your characters, especially with this one, to such an extent that she has a mind of her own. She's fully whack essentially. Ananya: Yeah. Thank you. Akshay: So then when she does even if she does slap the kids, you kid, you don't hate her. And even when she Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: makes this assumption which is like, these two ran away. It's so out of the blue. But you love that moment because you have built her character like that. Ananya: Yeah, yeah Exactly your characters have an internal logic a way of viewing the world and that has to track that's what they've done Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: They've given a very specific point of view like this Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: one was always faking his blindness. Of course this is also a ploy if that was a ploy this is a ploy so Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: it tracks with the internal logic of the character. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Another technique I want to talk about is Hitchcock's bomb under the table. Which is essentially you have a family and they're sitting at a dining table. There's a bomb under the table. Your audiences know it, but the characters at the table don't know it. And the characters are getting up, coming back to the table, leisurely drinking their coffee, having their breakfast. And you see the timer on the bomb going, like ticking, counting down. And you're like, can you please leave? And it's creating tension. Will they leave? Will they not? Will they leave? The same thing they have done over here where Ayushman Khurana gets admitted to this hospital and at one point you see the cooling box and the audience puts it together, this is an organ harvesting ring but Ayushman Khurana as he is being taken to the table does not so the audience is like shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, tension is building, what's going to happen? No, please leave, escape and Ayushman is like innocently following them, he's like, no, no, means okay doctor, yes doctor, will you help me out doctor? So again, Akshay: Mm. Ananya: creates a sense of tension and what's going to happen next. Another scene I want to talk about is the bathroom scene when he is witnessing the murder, when Ayushman Khurana is witnessing the murder at Tabu's house. Right? So you play it where he says that, okay, I am going to go to the bathroom because he has just seen a body, right? So you think, okay, now he obviously is going to throw up, something's going to happen. But you see him behave normally, actually use the bathroom. So that is a moment of misdirection. You're like, okay, what happened? But that misdirection is only so that you can later reveal Manohar's character, who is the murderer, is standing there with the gun. So Ayushman is forced to play it cool, forced to play it normal. And what I really like about this scene is the gun because otherwise, if he didn't have that gun, Ayushman could have seen him, he could have revealed then and there that I'm not blind, I know what the fuck you've done and I'm going to report you. But him simply having a gun changes the whole power dynamic of the scene. So how can you add in one element and not even use the element but use it to change the power dynamics within the scene? And it Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: is also seeding in of the fact that Manohar can be a police officer. Because otherwise Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: if they later reveal to you that he's a police officer, sure it's a coincidence that makes your characters life worse so it's fine. But because you have seeded in that gun initially and also the way he's built, his body Akshay: Mm. Ananya: type, you believe it. You're like, this has not come completely out of the blue. So that Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: one gun is doing so many things at once. It Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: is even the reason Pramod Sinha got murdered, right? Because the gun was lying on the table. Akshay: Yeah, true, true that, yeah. The technique I wanna talk about now is contrast. and this is the scene where Ayushman has come to Tabu's house, Ramotsana's house, and he has to keep playing the piano while Tabu, Simi and Manohar keep disposing the body. Now Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: what they have done is juxtaposed him playing this melodious piano piece. Whereas they are doing this chaotic activity of disposing a body. these Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: are such two extreme ideas, but they've tried to put that in a scene. And the entire scene plays out from his perspective, which is that so we hear the sound and while he is seeing these this thing happen. It's a very delicious technique for this scene. Otherwise, what would have happened? Like you wouldn't get the comedy bang on. But the Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: fact that you're hearing this Very peaceful music, very sweet music, but seeing something so bizarre in front of you creates Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: this comedic tension. And I think this is my favorite sequence of the film so far, because it's just Ananya: Okay, yeah. Akshay: so surreal. It's like watching a silent movie now, you know, because and these Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Akshay: two have to be extremely silent because they know if Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: he hears a thing, he'll stop playing. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: So to not disturb him at all and doing this whole activity. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: while he is witnessing everything. So Ananya: Every. Akshay: love this. Ananya: Absolutely. Akshay: One more technique I wanna talk about is cinema logic. So corneas don't need to have they don't have blood vessels and you don't need a blood Ananya: Mmm. Akshay: sample match. But doesn't matter. Like don't explain this. you said Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Tabu says there are hundred ways on the internet to make him blind. Sure, do it. A lot Ananya: No. Akshay: of filmmakers spend time on unnecessary detail which takes Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: you out of the film and takes you out of the point of the film. The point of the film is not to make ten ways how one can go blind. Yeah. Ananya: scientifically correct. Akshay: Or you're not here to watch a thesis paper or like a you're not doing any Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: of those things. Just get the fuck on. And here it actually like The reason they needed to do this was because they also have to keep in track of the organ harvesting track so that when he says that her blood sample matches the one of the sheikh's daughter, I Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: can give her liver. So now for all of this to happen, you can't have multiple logics to this. It's simple. Ananya: you Akshay: We've to test her blood, if it matches, we can do it all- cornea transplant, liver transplant, everything. Keep it simple, it's accessible, your audience will not question it, and even if they do, it doesn't matter. Ananya: It doesn't matter exactly. Akshay: Yeah. And one more thing I wanna talk about. The scene of Akash in the police station where this is not the first time, the second time he's come to the police station because he now has to give his statement and now in front of him not only Manohar is there, but there's also Tabu sitting. Now he is being asked these many questions. It's almost like a pressure cooker scene, which is like mounting on him, mounting on him. And he suddenly goes and bursts out, By the way, you're the murderer, she's accomplice to this, everything happens. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: And he tells the daughter, like, these two are like together. And you suddenly go, like, shit, he confessed this. What the fuck? But you realize, this was what he was thinking. It's almost like a dream sequence or an imagination sequence. Ananya: Thank you. Yeah. Akshay: Two things this character does, as that the scene does, is that one, it explains the psyche of your character. He really does want to come clean. He really does want to expose these people. He really wants to no part of it. And the second thing is that it subverts the expectation at two times. First, when you enter the scene, you think okay, now he's gonna continue pretending again. But when he confesses, you're like shit, what did he do? So and so subverted expectation there, and but then you realize Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: this was in his mind, this was a dream sequence. Subverted expectation again there. So Ananya: Yeah, again, yeah. Akshay: again, constantly keeping unpredictable the film, and but at the same time, it's such a character delicious moment that it fully lands. It's not like just Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: done for the sake of it. You Ananya: No. Akshay: already had set it set up the fact that he does want to report and he does want to do this. Ananya: Yeah. Yeah, but I also think you need to use it quite sparingly and very smartly, Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Ananya: right? Because otherwise, like when they did this because of the way they treated it, okay, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: where I for a moment thought that he actually told them that I've seen everything. Akshay: Yeah, same, yeah. Ananya: Right? But because this is the way the filmmakers have treated the film, right? They're fucking with the audience a little bit, which like first it's a rom-com, now it's this and it's a thriller. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: So it's okay, it's within the world of the film. the filmmakers have put themselves a little bit above the audience that we are messing with you, tum log dekhlo Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: apna. So it works in this film. But otherwise if you keep doing this, it's like the same problems your flashbacks have, right? Where you're like, why am I going into this past? why do I have to see what your dream sequences? I hate dream sequences. I hate them as much as Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: I hate flashbacks. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. And one last thing I wanna talk about is having an unreliable narrator. your film reaches a point where you see these two have gone like in the end, these people have gone in a car and you don't know what's happened and you cut to two years later. When Radhika Apte meets Ayushman Khurana's character, he narrates to the her that what all has happened. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: So you pick up from where it started. And now going forward, it's his account of what really happened. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: And it fully tracks because in the end, we don't know if he did does have his eyesight or not. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: so now you s almost start thinking, what all happened? Like How unreliable is this narrator? Because if she asks, he could have taken her cornea, okay. But now if he can see, did she really die? Because you saw her fully explode. So this thing Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Akshay: I think it's important for a film like this to have this unreliable narrator. So that Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: your audience is constantly like second guessing, like, shit, what Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: what did it really happen? And I think Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: having an unreliable narrator and a thriller is paramount almost, which is that even in a film like Gone Girl, the first half of the film is just her writing diaries where she's fully the victim of circumstances. But Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: just at the midpoint you flip the script. And Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: so then you realize, you were cheated all along. This narrator was unreliable. So Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: interesting choice for the film. Ananya: Absolutely, bang on. And again it works because they've built so much trust with his character up to that point that at Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: the end if it's subverted a little bit and if he fucks with you, you'll be like, okay, fine. And that's within his character too to fuck with you. Akshay: P Cap. Hm. Ananya: Because at the end of Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: the day he was lying about his blindness so... Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: It's done very well because they've set up both elements. They've built trust and set up the Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: fact that he has this side of fucking with other people, thoda, for his own benefit, over there. So it works Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: very well. Akshay: Very well, yeah. So yeah, that's all I have. Ananya: Great! That's all I have on Andhadhun as well. So I hope you guys enjoyed it and the drill. Leave any recommendations, questions, comments, suggestions all down there in the comments and we will see you next week on another episode of the Breakdown Besties podcast. Bye! Akshay: Bye.