NL Hafta

This week’s Awful and Awesome episode ends the trauma of having “nothing good to watch or read”. Abhinandan’s favourite actress, Madhuri Dixit, takes the spotlight with the trailer of her upcoming Marathi film Bucket List. While Rajyasree says “she’s pretty much playing her age… her face moves”, Abhinandan comments on the issue of "dramatic" acting by “80s’ actresses when they act in 2018” and also says “this trailer is a really good trailer… although it seems like a regular, feel-good film, the plot seems interesting. There seem to be some really good humour points”. Rajyasree doesn't seem too impressed by Veere Di Wedding starring Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania. Abhinandan says “it seems like a more fun version of Angry Indian Goddesses”. He talks about the “first-half comedy and second-half tragedy” approach used in Bollywood. Rajyasree talks more about Bollywood “moving away from the stereotype of portraying leading women as ‘good girls’”. Rajyasree gushes over Saif Ali Khan in his upcoming Netflix TV series Sacred Games, based on the book by Vikram Chandra “Not from NDTV, to be clear”. The story revolves around the two characters from the Bombay underworld and the Maharashtra Police. Next on the agenda is the Rajkumar Rao-starrer Omerta, in which the actor plays the criminal mastermind behind several major terrorist attacks around the world - Omar Sheikh. Abhinandan praises the works of director Hansal Mehta and Anurag Kashyap, but says, “kept (the movie) me hooked… it was really flat but wouldn’t want anyone else making it". Rajyasree feels Omerta is worth watching simply because Sheikh's is an “interesting ‘life”. Avengers: Infinity Wars makes it to this episode, having clocked a billion dollars in its opening week. While the world is going crazy over the movie, Abhinandan says it's “not my favourite”. Moving on to the world of literature, Rajyasree discusses the sexual harassment charges against author Junot Diaz. Rajyasree talks about the #MeToo movement and how it has helped people gather the courage to speak up. Abhinandan comments on how the “Nobel Literature Prize will not be given this year because of similar reasons”. Finally, Priyanka Chopra makes the news of the day with her comments on the controversy around the character “Apu" from The Simpsons. The controversy was triggered by a documentary released by Hari Kondavola addressing the issue. Rajyasree says: “Priyanka Chopra is doing the rounds of the talk shows and so on” for her upcoming season of Quantico. She talks about the actress coming from a privileged background and feels “her trauma is something I have not been able to wrap my head around". Abhinandan dwells more on stereotypes reinforced in Bollywood and the extent of political correctness. And then comes the advice that everyone should take into consideration – “If you’re so offended by Apu, then get a life”.