The Awful & Awesome Entertainment Wrap

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri cover Aziz Ansari’s set (part of the Road to Nowhere show), Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota, the trailer of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Lisa Ray’s book Close to the Bone, and much more. Kicking off with Aziz Ansari’s stand up show, Rajyasree explains that this is Ansari’s comeback tour since claims of sexual harassment popped up against him. She remarks that the show is “not haha-laugh-out-loud, which would be odd”, and finds his decision to reference celebrities like R Kelly “interesting as a content choice”. Abhinandan thinks Ansari is “lazy” and the show was “pretty ordinary”. He ends his review with a PSA to the millennial audience: viewers come out to watch the performer and not “their fashion show”. The duo reviews the trailer of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, set in 1969 and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Abhinandan appreciates the “spectacularly cut trailer” and pegs Tarantino as the “finest filmmaker of his generation”. Rajyasree expresses her fear that the film will be heavily censored before its release in India. Even so, they both intend to catch the film when it hits theatres. Moving to the movie Mard ko Dard Nahi Hota, Abhinandan says he loved it, and his biggest regret is that he could not catch the movie in the theatre. He calls Abhimanyu Dasani a “great performer” and appreciates the plot for its nuances and pop culture references. Rajyasree appreciates the action sequences for being on par with international movies and thinks the film was excellent. They attribute the average performance of the movie to terrible distribution. Rajyasree reviews the book Close to the Bone written by actress Lisa Ray. While the book comes across as “well-written”, Rajyasree quips that Ray’s life is “not very interesting” to read about because it smacks of privilege. Abhinandan interjects that a non-dramatic story can be made interesting if one “can tell the story well”, citing the example of actor Pankaj Tripathi. For this and much more, tune in!