Movie Police by The Indian Express

Introducing Pages from the Past: The Reluctant Princes

The Southern state of Travancore was one of the first among the princely states to refuse accession to the Indian union. It wanted to remain independent, but things changed after an assassination attempt on the dewan of the state, Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyer. In this episode, historian Manu Pillai and renowned painter and descendant of the Travancore royal family, Rukmini Varma join us to tell us more about the story of the state’s integration. Hosted by Adrija Roychowdhury and Damini Jaiman Edited by Damini Jaiman Mixed by Suresh Pawar Editorial Support: Shashank Bhargava Listen to all five episodes on the Indian Express://indianexpress.com/audio/pages-from-the-past/ Or download The Indian Express app: iOS link: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/indian-express-news-epaper/id506351833 [https://apps.apple.com/in/app/indian-express-news-epaper/id506351833] Android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.indianexpress.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US&pli=1 [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.indianexpress.android&hl=en_IN&gl=US&pli=1]

The panopticon experiment in 'Do Ankhen Barah Haath'

In this last episode of Movie Police, our hosts Rohan Naahar and Sampada Sharma bring us the 1950s "Do Aankhen Barah Haath" in which a jailer conducts an experiment on six prisoners. Our hosts talk about how the movie tried to address the prison system but failed to make the audience root for it due to its problematic storylines.

The high human and moral cost of 'Cheap Thrills'

In this episode hosts Rohan Naahar and Sampada Sharma bring us the black comedy horror "Cheap Thrills" by E. L. Katz. The film is about a rich couple pitting two down-in-luck friends against each other and giving them challenges. Whoever wins the challenge, gets handsomely rewarded by the couple. But where will the challenge take them? What happens when the rich couple's "cheap thrills" starts getting costlier and costlier and what does that say about morality, class question, and society as a whole?

'Fight Club: Members Only' is a film not worth fighting for

In this episode, our hosts Sampada Sharma and Rohan Naahar bring us the 2006 "Fight Club: Members Only". They talk about how the movie, starring Sohail Khan, Zayed Khan, Ashish Chaudhary, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sunil Shetty and others, is about a group of college-going men whose egos are as fragile as their punches.

You probably don't know about this Alia Bhatt film (and that's a good thing)

In this episode hosts Rohan Naahar and Sampada Sharma bring us Mahesh Bhatt’s 2020 film “Sadak 2” starring Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, and Aditya Roy Kapoor. Our hosts discuss how the film tried to continue Sanjay Dutt's journey from the first "Sadak" but failed miserably. They also point out how the director, Mahesh Bhatt, forgot his own daughter to make space for Dutt who wasn't even part of the main storyline.