The Other Banana

Feb 12 2025 139 ep. 57 mins 63

The Other Banana Podcast artwork

A generation of impostors brought up on cinema. The Other Banana podcast is primarily Deepauk M(@complicateur), Aditya(@gradwolf), Anantha(@anantha), and Ashoka(@ABVan). We discuss films – mostly Indian – and analyse them in turn, roughly on a bi-weekly basis.

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Episode 139: Director Series - Bala's Sethu

Feb 12 2025 98 mins

A new Director Series at The Other BananaWe have long debated a series on director Bala. You could say that Bala is not Bala anymore and his films are increasingly becoming difficult to meaningfully engage with but, the Bala 1999-2010 was something else.A new voice broke out in Tamil cinema in 1999 with Sethu. One of the several assistants of Balu Mahendra who will go on to make a

Episode 138: Meiyazhagan with C Prem Kumar

Oct 06 2024 62 mins

We are returning after a while but with a biggie! Director and cinematographer C Prem Kumar joins us to talk about his latest film Meiyazhagan starring Karthi, Arvind Swamy, Sri Divya and others. The film has been warmly received by the audiences and is a breath of fresh air for Tamil cinema. Films with strong writing, a slice-of-life genre with male characters written as gentle a

Episode 137: On Kalki 2898 AD, Hanu-Man & Hindu Epics

Aug 08 2024 67 mins

In this episode writer Aditya Mani Jha joins Deepauk and Aditya to talk about two 2024 films, both Telugu originals, and adapted-inspired from two Hindu epics - Mahabharata and Ramayana. One is Nag Ashwin's Kalki 2898 AD and the other is Prasanth Varma's Hanu-Man. One has a stellar pan-Indian star cast with the likes of Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone et

Episode 136: On Nithilan Saminathan's Maharaja

Jul 05 2024 68 mins

Nithilan Saminathan returns after Kurangu Bommai with a bigger canvas and a bigger star. His talents are still visible, refined even, but his latest film with Vijay Sethupathi in and as Maharaja started a discourse about rape-revenge genre in cinema, gratuitous violence, depiction of sexual abuse, and the conspicuous choice of Vairamuthu as lyricist. Aditya joins Deepauk and regula

Episode 135: Films of Girish AD - Premalu, Super Sharanya & Thanneer Mathan Dinangal

May 05 2024 82 mins

We at The Other Banana believe that director Girish AD is doing something incredible with the genre of romantic comedy and coming of age. With the recent big hit Premalu, that awed audiences across south India, we decided to take a look at all his films that show steady progression in certain genre conventions as well as successful attempts at breaking them with memorable writing,

Episode 134: Ilaiyaraaja : A Musical Movement (10)

Apr 09 2024 76 mins

In this episode we dive into the atomic elements of composition that we can observe in Raaja's music. How does he use sentence structures and motifs in his compositions? Can we really tell apart where Carnatic ends and Western touches begin in his music. Briefly we also cover one stark difference between MSV and Raaja. Topics Covered: What are sentences and how have they bee

Episode 133: Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malaikottai Vaaliban

Mar 10 2024 73 mins

We couldn't ignore Malayalam cinema's great run in the first couple of months of 2024 so decided to talk about Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malaikottai Vaaliban which received a lukewarm to polarizing reception after huge expectations. Right after the universally feted Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, Malaikottai Vaaliban couldn't have been more different, a fantastical tale that eschews the

Episode 132: Sapta Saagaradaache Ello Side B with Hemanth M. Rao & Chaithra J. Achar

Jan 25 2024 63 mins

Sapta Saagaradaache Ello - Side B team is back and this time we have director Hemanth M. Rao and actor/singer Chaithra J. Achar joining us. She plays Surabhi in this follow up to SSE Side A. Side B looks at the life of Manu (Rakshit Shetty) and Priya (Rukmini Vasanth) a decade after their tragic love story seemingly ended. We travel with these star crossed characters as Manu grappl

On SU Arunkumar's Chithha, POCSO Act, Safety & More

Jan 01 2024 63 mins

Hello. In the latest episode we visit one of the best films of 2023, SU Arunkumar's Chithha starring Siddharth, Sahasra Shree, Aafiya Tasneem, Nimisha Sajayan, Anjali Nair and others. Some trigger warnings might apply and this is a spoiler filled discussion as the film deals with child sexual abuse. We have two special guests joining Aditya in this episode. S. Poorvaja is a journa

On Kannur Squad, Companion Films & Mammootty

Dec 06 2023 67 mins

Hello! In this episode, Deepauk, Anantha and Aditya talk about Roby Varghese Raj's Kannur Squad starring Mammootty, Rony David Raj, Azees Nedumangad, Kishore and others. The film is a thriller based on a real squad of police officers who are tasked with the toughest cases. The film is very similar to last year's Kuttavum Shikshayum directed by Rajeev Ravi and H Vinoth's Tamil film