# Episode 060 - Chaplin, Bernstein & Pratt

An episode of [Are You Quizzing Me?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1663104901), 20 Mar 2024, 56 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/d7afa960/podcast/play/84289813/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-2-20%2F6bf88fbf-6597-d3a8-a7df-43ca764e6c96.mp3

Do you know in which category did Charlie Chaplin win his first and only competitive Oscar in 1972? Do you know what was so special about Leonard Bernstein's conduction of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984? Do you know what beloved game Anthony Pratt came up with when holed up in air raid shelters in Birmingham, England, during World War II? Tune in to find out!! You can reach us at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/areyouquizzingme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/areyouquizzingme Email: areyouquizzingme@gmail.com Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/areyouquizzingme

## Transcript

[0:00] Welcome to our you quizzing me. I am Vineet Nair with my Co host
[0:04] Aditya Kashyap. This is a quizzing trivia
[0:07] podcast show. Join us as we dive deep into
[0:10] history, science, pop culture and so much more.
[0:14] Let's get quizzing and we're back for episode #60.
[0:21] I am also back after my short time away.
[0:24] Thank you HK for filling in during my absence.
[0:27] That was a cracker of an episode.
[0:29] If you guys haven't listened to it, please go back and listen to
[0:31] the audio themed episode of Are You Quizzing Me?
[0:34] Which is episode #59. So before we get to our regular
[0:37] questions, I want to start off with an audience question.
[0:41] In 2020, after the untimely death of one particular actor,
[0:46] Malayalam actor Fahad Fazal penned a moving note for that
[0:49] actor, revealing how he owes his career to this actor X, who had
[0:53] passed away despite never having met him after having a failed
[0:56] acting debut at the age of 19, fad had quit films and gone to
[1:00] the US to study engineering. In the note that he penned, he
[1:03] recounted how when he and his friend would rent DVDs of Indian
[1:06] films, the one such film was Yu Hota to Kya Hota directed by
[1:11] Naseeruddin Shah. A few minutes into the film,
[1:14] when the character Saleem Rajbhali, played by the now
[1:17] deceased actor X, came on screen, he turned to his friend
[1:21] and asked who is this guy? I mean, there are actors who are
[1:23] intense, who are stylish and who are charming.
[1:25] In all honesty, this was the first time he has ever saw an
[1:28] actor who was original on screen and this was the actor X Fahad
[1:33] wrote. The actor added that amidst
[1:35] discovering X, he decided to drop out the engineering school
[1:37] and return to India to act in films.
[1:40] And for those who don't know, Fahad Fazal is now one of the
[1:43] best actors India has seen in not just in the Malayalam
[1:45] industry, he's also being seen in the Tamil in the Telugu
[1:48] industry as well. I wouldn't be surprised if you
[1:50] see him in Hindi very soon. So which actor, who passed away
[1:54] in May in 2020, was the reason that Fad Fazal decided to try
[1:58] his hand at acting a second time?
[2:00] So I'll reveal the answer to this question at the end of
[2:03] today's episode. And now there is the small
[2:07] matter of the question that Aditya had asked in episode #58,
[2:12] which he was waiting for me to come back to answer.
[2:16] So, Aditya. Oh, welcome back Vineet, and
[2:19] what better way to welcome you back then with one of my
[2:22] trademark answers. So the last time I asked, and
[2:26] that would be two episodes ago, I asked what would a current day
[2:30] goalkeeper do during a match that would be considered troll
[2:34] worthy or mocking worthy? Because it so happened that at
[2:38] the Berlin Olympics the Indian goalkeeper was busy signing
[2:42] autographs and that's when India conceded one of its only few
[2:46] goals. So what would somebody do today
[2:48] in 2024? That would be ridiculous.
[2:51] It's obvious because all they'd have to do is obviously create a
[2:56] reel or a TikTok. And the cherry on top would be
[3:00] if they tagged it with hashtag. Goals.
[3:07] Oh, that is so good. That is so good.
[3:09] That is so good. He releases a TikTok or a reels
[3:15] and hashtag. Goals in the background.
[3:17] Somebody's course. The goal.
[3:18] That would just be absolute perfection.
[3:21] OK, now we got that out of the way.
[3:23] Let me start off by going to film this cult classic comedy,
[3:28] which was released in the early 90s, didn't do well initially at
[3:32] the box office, but now has quite a following due to its
[3:35] ensemble cast in comedy. However, it's lesser known fact
[3:39] that the late veteran actor X was supposed to be a part of
[3:44] this film and was supposed to play the younger brother of his
[3:48] own character from another. Movie Y while Y.
[3:52] Was supposed to be an iconic villain.
[3:55] The character that X was supposed to play in this comedy
[3:58] movie was supposed to be its polar opposite, wearing white
[4:01] clothes and always serious. Never smiles, according to the
[4:04] director of this film. Eventually, because of the
[4:06] duration of the film and the dates, it couldn't work out and
[4:10] X did not appear in this cult classic comedy.
[4:14] So the character that X was supposed to play was replaced by
[4:19] this now very iconic comedic villain Z.
[4:23] So I want you to identify the veteran actor X, his original
[4:28] villain role, whose younger brother he was supposed to play
[4:31] Y, and the comedic villain who replaced the character that he
[4:36] was supposed to play. I have a couple of films that
[4:39] would fit the bill, but can I ask before I answer?
[4:43] When was this you mentioned? The early 90s.
[4:47] Indian film, right? I haven't mentioned whether it's
[4:50] an Indian or national film. OK, so I immediately jumped to
[4:53] Bollywood for some reason, but given the description of comedic
[4:58] villains and all of that, I would assume it's a Indian film,
[5:02] if not specifically a Bollywood film.
[5:03] So my first guess is going to be Andaz Apna Apna.
[5:08] OK, so if it is Andaz apna apna, oh, what are we talking about?
[5:14] South, we have two options for the villain.
[5:18] One could be Crime Master Gogo. What's his name?
[5:24] Yaar. OK, so Z, the character that
[5:30] replaced what X was supposed to play, is Crime Master Gogo,
[5:35] which was classic comedic villain like just laugh out loud
[5:39] funny. If you can remember one of the
[5:42] dialogues from the film, you can get the rest of the answers.
[5:45] Who X and who? Y.
[5:48] I believe he said he's Mogambo's nephew.
[5:53] OK, so so is Mogambo the character that we're talking
[5:57] about then? And if it's Mogambo, then who's
[5:59] the actor? There will be Amrish Puri.
[6:03] Yes. Let me just give you the full
[6:05] picture. By the way, the dialogue is
[6:07] crime master Gogo Mogambo Ka Bhatija Bhatija.
[6:12] Yes, right. OK, OK.
[6:20] So Amrishpuri was supposed to play a character called Zorambo
[6:24] who was supposed to be Mogambo's younger brother in this movie.
[6:28] The film was already quite long and because of the duration in
[6:30] the Namrishpuri's dates, they couldn't get him on board.
[6:33] So then they finally landed with Crime Master Go go.
[6:37] Nice couple of facts about Anda Sapna Now, like it's quite
[6:41] obvious now, but I think they already knew.
[6:44] I mean like the cast must already have known that this was
[6:46] going to be a great movie because while shooting Rajkumar
[6:50] Santoshi, the director had to call for a cut multiple times
[6:54] because the entire crew including the DOP, the director
[6:58] of photography, was laughing so hard that it shook the camera.
[7:05] OK. Do you know who the muhurat
[7:07] shot? Like the first shot of the
[7:08] movie, they usually bring somebody who's a celebrity or
[7:12] somebody senior in the film industry to take the first morat
[7:14] shot. So do you know who did the
[7:16] muhurat shot for? The Andaz, Apna.
[7:17] Apna. No idea.
[7:20] It was Sachin Tendulkar. Oh, OK.
[7:24] Nice. Yeah, and the screenplay was
[7:27] written by Santoshi along with Dilip Shukla, and they based the
[7:31] characters of a particular comic.
[7:33] Can you guess which one? No, I have no idea.
[7:36] I can't think of anybody. OK, so if I told you there are
[7:39] like two guys, right? And they're pursuing 2 girls and
[7:45] a classic comic that would be available in India in the 80s
[7:48] and the 90s. Oh, OK, like archies.
[7:53] Yes. So yeah, So the characters were
[7:54] modeled on Archie Comics. Oh, OK.
[7:57] Wow, so before Zoya did it and. Let me say Andas Apna is much
[8:05] better. And did you also know that there
[8:09] was supposed to be a 3D animated version called Andas Naya Naya
[8:13] which was supposed to be made, but thankfully shelved.
[8:16] Oh. Wow, it's one of my favorite
[8:19] movies. It is a lovely movie and that
[8:22] brings me to a little random piece of trivia, which isn't
[8:25] really trivia that everybody might know, but I think
[8:26] everybody should that there is a restaurant in Mumbai called Anda
[8:30] Apna Apna and they serve egg dishes little late in the night.
[8:36] They have Robert Matala Burji, They have Karishmai Egg Rocket.
[8:41] They have, they have Teja Double Egg Roll.
[8:46] They have Do Mastane Egg, Maggie Omar Egg Masala Fry.
[8:52] Oh God. You know, I do take offense on
[8:54] one fact that you have to mention it, the right
[8:57] pronunciation. Your pronunciation is wrong.
[8:59] It's not Robert. It's Robert.
[9:00] Robert. Robert.
[9:02] Robert Egg Masala. So your turn for a question.
[9:07] OK, Speaking of films, I'm going to give you a list of films.
[9:11] Tell me what's common between all of them.
[9:14] There is a 1964 film called Angorosh Angoraj.
[9:20] I don't know how it's pronounced, but it's a NG0R 0J
[9:25] and this was made in France and directed by Atelier Mahe.
[9:31] It's a one hour long movie approximately, and its story
[9:34] involves murder. It was thought to have been lost
[9:38] until the restoration emerged in 2010.
[9:41] There is another 1960s film, this one is called Incubus.
[9:44] This is from 1965. It's an American production.
[9:47] It's a low budget black and white horror film and this
[9:50] starred William Shatner. The other two films on this list
[9:55] are from 2000s, specifically 2006 film called Gerda Mala Peri
[10:01] and 2007 film called La Patro. And these were by a Brazilian
[10:07] production company. What is common between these
[10:10] four films? Is this an exhaustive list?
[10:15] Yes, as far as research has been able to uncover, these are the
[10:20] only four movies 4 feature length films that fit this
[10:25] particular criteria. OK, to be honest, I've never
[10:30] heard of any of these. The guess that kind of comes to
[10:33] mind are these like single shot movies.
[10:37] They've been shot in a single shot.
[10:40] Is it that no. OK, looking at your face?
[10:43] I don't think that is. So when you say single shot,
[10:46] there are obviously a lot of films which fit the criteria of
[10:49] appears to be a single shot, single continuous shot.
[10:53] Yeah, I'm not talking about 1917, which has a lot of hidden
[10:55] cuts. I'm talking about maybe they
[10:57] were actually shot like in a single shot.
[11:01] That would be a great guess, though I'd imagine in the 60s
[11:04] there wasn't enough film reel to go on for an whole hour to
[11:09] record a movie. And one of the examples that
[11:12] encountered this technical difficulty was Hitchcock's film.
[11:16] This was Hitchcock's film Rope, which was supposed to appear to
[11:20] be a single break film. There is invisible cuts are very
[11:22] obvious because he goes into a character's back and that's
[11:27] where you see the black screen appearing.
[11:29] And then he comes out from that character's back and that's
[11:31] where the cut happens, obviously.
[11:33] And the reason that he had to do it every whatever, 20 minutes,
[11:36] 25 minutes is because that was the maximum capacity of a film
[11:38] reel at that point of time. So the 1960s film, which is an
[11:43] hour long, would obviously not be a one hour long take because
[11:47] that was not physically possible back in the day.
[11:49] Yeah. Any other guesses?
[11:52] Am I in the ballpark? Is it like a technical
[11:55] achievement? Or is it something else related
[11:57] to the box office or something like that?
[12:01] Neither. I won't call it a technical
[12:03] achievement in the sense that there was something of a new
[12:06] technology that they adopted or they managed to use and it
[12:13] doesn't have anything to do with box office performance or any of
[12:16] that sort. OK, William Shatner horror film
[12:21] along with French and Brazilian films.
[12:23] I'm trying to see where they could connect because that was
[12:26] what I was thinking. Possibly is not an actor because
[12:29] they're of different movies and separated by so much time.
[12:32] And if they are from different industries then possibly it's
[12:36] some kind of quirk of the film making itself, which is what I
[12:40] was thinking going with the one or the one shot.
[12:42] But if it's not that, are they superlative like?
[12:46] Are they the 1st or the last of something?
[12:50] They are the only films of that kind.
[12:53] Well, I guess that's what it means when exhaustive list.
[12:54] So it isn't the 1st or the last of anything interesting that you
[12:58] went about thinking how would a French film be connected to a
[13:02] Brazilian film would be connected to an American film.
[13:05] Because that is sort of a hint. But let me try to give you
[13:08] another hint. This would have had a limited
[13:11] audience in terms of people who would be able to appreciate the
[13:15] film. Wait, are these like silent
[13:17] films? Silent films would be a lot
[13:20] more. Silent films post the period of
[13:23] talkies like since once we were able to record sound in
[13:27] conjunction with the video. Are these like the only silent
[13:31] films which completely silent I'm talking about or even music?
[13:35] I would imagine there would be more and these four definitely
[13:38] don't fall in that category. They specifically do not fall in
[13:42] that category because the sound part of it was important and
[13:45] you'll know why the audience for this film would be somewhat
[13:50] limited. So the potential audience would,
[13:52] by various estimates, come out to maybe a maximum of 2 million
[13:57] people. And that is all of the potential
[13:59] audience in the whole world who would be able to appreciate this
[14:02] film. Oh.
[14:02] OK, so OK, you've told me these are films by a French director
[14:07] and by a Brazilian director and starring William Shatner.
[14:10] But are they not of that language?
[14:12] Is this like something movies made in Esperanto or something
[14:14] like that? Well done.
[14:16] It is. Movies made in Esperanto.
[14:19] Shit. Seriously, these are the only
[14:23] four feature films known to have been shot exclusively in
[14:27] Esperanto. OK.
[14:30] I was just listening to an episode of Let's Learn
[14:33] Everything where they were talking about constructed
[14:35] languages and they were talking about Esperanto, the number of
[14:38] speakers. So then when you said something
[14:40] that I'm like, oh, OK, maybe it's a language thing.
[14:42] So thank you. Let's learn everything.
[14:46] Well, since we're giving podcast shout outs, the reason that I
[14:49] started digging into Esperanto was because I heard it on Stuff
[14:52] You Should Know, a Very Famous podcast.
[14:55] Just one more thing that I'd add and I mentioned perhaps the only
[14:58] name that is familiar to most people will be William Shatner,
[15:01] who starred in the American 1965 film Incubus that was also shot
[15:06] in Esperanto. Though the film was admired for
[15:09] its stark artistry, many Esperantists find that the actor
[15:14] spoke with poor pronunciation. That was a criticism that was
[15:18] levelled on the film. Why am I not surprised?
[15:20] This is William Shatner. He could not even speak in
[15:26] English properly. That's the worst William Shatner
[15:29] ever. But if you watch the original
[15:31] Star Trek series, you know what I'm talking about.
[15:34] Yeah, but well Cracked. That was much faster than I
[15:37] expected. Esperanto films.
[15:40] OK, thank you. Thank you.
[15:42] So an additional piece of trivia, did you know that
[15:43] William Shatner is an published author?
[15:47] And not only is he an author, his books have been adapted into
[15:50] ATV series. Now this goes back to the depths
[15:53] of the late 80s, in the mid 90s. So there was a series of books
[15:57] that William Shatner had written.
[15:59] Actually he had made the story, I think it was ghost written by
[16:03] somebody else. But the idea and the story was
[16:05] his. It was a series called Tech War.
[16:08] So then the series of books were called Tech War and there were
[16:10] two seasons of ATV show also called as Tech War which was
[16:14] released in the mid 90s. Lovely.
[16:18] I had no clue. That's a cool piece of trivia.
[16:21] OK, your question. So Charlie Chaplin has won only
[16:27] a single competitive Oscar, and that was in 1970.
[16:34] Two, I want you to tell me. What category he won for?
[16:38] So this is not an honorary Oscar.
[16:40] He's gotten Oscars in the past as well.
[16:43] My question is, which is this category in which he won his
[16:48] first and only competitive Oscar?
[16:50] And you mentioned this was in the 70s. 1972 Oscar is when he
[16:56] got it. Interesting.
[16:58] So this is after the time he has stopped acting I believe, which
[17:04] would mean that it isn't a Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor
[17:08] and I don't think he was directing.
[17:11] The movie for which the Oscar was one.
[17:14] I'm not talking about the category.
[17:15] The movie did star Charlie Chaplin.
[17:18] Oh wow. He was acting all the way till
[17:21] 70s. I have no clue.
[17:22] OK. Was it directed by him as well?
[17:27] Yes, it was directed by him. Oh wow.
[17:30] I I was just going to say it can't be a best director because
[17:32] I thought he stopped directing also.
[17:34] OK, OK. Clearly my Charlie Chaplin
[17:36] trivia isn't up to date. It was produced, written and
[17:40] directed by Charlie Chaplin. I genuinely was under the
[17:44] impression that he stopped in like the 60s.
[17:47] You would not be wrong. Wait, so this film was from the
[17:50] 60s? Actually farther back.
[17:53] Huh. Why was it being awarded in the
[17:57] 70s? Yes, and a competitive Oscar.
[17:59] Not an honorary Oscar. I'll give you a clue.
[18:01] The movie released in 1952. So now I'm confused because I
[18:05] thought the Academy Awards rules meant that you could only award
[18:09] films from the previous year in the competitive category.
[18:12] That is also true. Vineethiya just agree with
[18:16] everything that I'm saying and none of it adds up.
[18:18] I'm absolutely telling you that what you said is right.
[18:23] This movie did not release in 1972.
[18:25] It released in 1952. OK.
[18:29] And you're also right when you say that the Academy Awards do
[18:32] not consider movies released beyond that for its competitive
[18:35] categories. OK, so here's how I'm thinking,
[18:40] because I have no clue how else to approach this problem.
[18:43] I know you Vineet, so it definitely is not Best Actor,
[18:47] Best Director, Best Producer. If that was the case, then why
[18:50] would I ask this question? This question would be
[18:52] irrelevant. Vineet would not do that to me.
[18:55] OK, writing credit is possible. I don't think he was ever behind
[19:05] the camera in terms of cinematography.
[19:11] OK, I'm I'm thinking it has to be a writing credit then.
[19:14] He was the writer for this movie, but no, that's not the
[19:18] category in which he got the award.
[19:21] Is it cinematographer? No.
[19:25] Oh wow. He did something else apart from
[19:27] these things. Was he the music director?
[19:33] The composer. And you hit the nail on the
[19:36] head, yes. So he got it for best Dramatic
[19:38] Score. I think you're a bit too kind
[19:41] when you said I'd hit the nail on the head because I hit my
[19:43] thumb a few times before I hit the nail on the head.
[19:47] So now, can you solve me the puzzle of why this movie got an
[19:51] award in 1972? Actually in 73 March, but from
[19:55] the 72 year category when the movie originally released on
[19:58] 16th October 1952. Was it the McCarthy era?
[20:04] Yes, so now here's the story. So Charlie Chaplin released a
[20:09] movie called Limelight which was from 1952 and when the when he
[20:14] went to England to attend the premiere of Limelight in London,
[20:18] his reentry visa to the US was cancelled because he was
[20:22] supposed to have had communist affiliations.
[20:25] So he was one of Makarthi's targets.
[20:28] So because of that many distributors of movies in the US
[20:32] refused to show the film as well.
[20:35] So it was in 72 that it got a wide release in America and it
[20:39] was in that following year Academy Awards that this movie
[20:43] became eligible for consideration and he won the
[20:46] Academy Award for Dramatic Score.
[20:49] I personally believe, and this is my personal belief, I have
[20:52] nothing to back it up, that a star is born Aashiqui.
[20:54] They were all inspired from limelight.
[20:57] Tell me if the story seems familiar.
[20:59] OK there is a washed up completely like a drunk stage
[21:02] clown who was once very famous and he's in a slightly an older
[21:06] person. He saves a young dancer from
[21:09] committing suicide. He takes her under his wing, he
[21:14] brings her back to health and then he helps her get back into
[21:17] her dancing career. OK.
[21:20] And while she's doing that, he gains a little bit of confidence
[21:24] himself and starts to try and revive his own career as well.
[21:29] She falls in love with him and wants to marry him despite their
[21:34] age difference. So then he steps aside and
[21:38] becomes a street performer. She finds him, brings him back
[21:43] and they returned to stage for a final concert where he reunites
[21:47] with an old partner, which is Buster Keaton.
[21:50] OK. And at the end of it, he has a
[21:53] heart attack and dies. Interesting.
[21:56] OK. Wow.
[21:57] Does this story sound familiar to you?
[21:58] Do. You know it does, but Vineet,
[22:02] and I'm guessing you might have already known this, but I'll
[22:05] tell you that A Star is Born is not an original script from the
[22:09] 2018 film. It has been remade.
[22:12] Yeah, I know that there was a 70s movie with Barbra Streisand,
[22:15] right? Actually, Barbra Streisand movie
[22:19] was based on a 1954 film. Oh.
[22:21] OK or A Star is born which is based on 1937 film called A Star
[22:26] is Born. Oh, OK, so then this might
[22:29] actually be derivative of that? And Limelight might have taken
[22:33] inspiration. Here's a little piece of trivia
[22:36] since we were discussing Academy Awards and we brought up A Star
[22:39] Is Born, A Star is Born. The original 1937 film was the
[22:43] first color film to be nominated at the Academy Awards.
[22:47] Oh, nice, nice, nice. There is another piece of trivia
[22:52] which I found fascinating. So the actress in Limelight,
[22:56] Claire Bloom. OK, if you combine the careers
[23:00] of Chaplin and Claire Bloom together, they span 3 centuries
[23:05] of the Gregorian calendar. Oh, wow.
[23:09] So Chaplin started acting in 1898 in London at the age of
[23:13] nine, and Clare Bloom was acting as late as 2022.
[23:19] Wow. OK.
[23:22] So between the two of them, they've had acting careers which
[23:25] have spanned the 19th century, the 20th century and the 21st
[23:29] century. That is pretty cool, yeah.
[23:32] And the only time that Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were
[23:36] seen on screen together. That is one of those iconic
[23:42] moments. It's Heat moment.
[23:44] But for physical comic actors. Yeah, Lovely.
[23:51] OK. So your question.
[23:55] Speaking of iconic performances, Leonard Bernstein was recently
[24:02] being talked about because the film Maestro, starring Bradley
[24:06] Cooper from A Star is Born in his second directorial venture
[24:13] after Style Is Born, has been in the news.
[24:16] Leonard Bernstein. So what was iconic about one of
[24:21] Leonard Bernstein's Vienna Philharmonic performances that
[24:26] has never been done before and never been done since?
[24:31] This was a live concert in 1984 at the Vienna Musicaveron.
[24:39] Wow. So it recently gained popularity
[24:42] because Bradley Cooper said he watched a lot of videos while he
[24:46] was preparing for his role. And amongst these videos on
[24:49] YouTube, there is a video of this particular performance and
[24:52] I would encourage all of our listeners to go check it out.
[24:55] After you have had a go at this question, try to guess what was
[25:00] so iconic about this and so unique about this.
[25:03] That has never been done before and has never been done since.
[25:07] And it brings to light one of the most iconic quotes by
[25:13] Leonard Bernstein where he said technique is communication.
[25:16] The 2 words are synonymous in conductors.
[25:19] So there was something specific about the way.
[25:22] Did he do it blindfolded? You are in the ballpark.
[25:28] OK, maybe if he didn't do it blindfolded, did he have
[25:32] earplugs or something to make sure he wasn't hearing what
[25:35] earfolded? Earfolded.
[25:39] No, he was not blindfolded or dearfolded.
[25:43] I guess I don't know what the word for that is, but you are in
[25:48] the ballpark in the sense that there was something very
[25:51] specific that he was doing with while conducting it that would
[25:55] be almost unthinkable for most other conductors.
[25:59] For most other conductors. It's simply because of the level
[26:04] of scale I guess. I can't think of something that
[26:09] would be completely difficult for a conductor because a
[26:11] conductor mostly has to hear the music and then they have to
[26:14] conduct, they have to see the different sections of the
[26:17] orchestra and kind of wave their.
[26:19] It's not a wand, right? What is it?
[26:20] A baton? What?
[26:20] What do they call the conductors?
[26:22] A conductor's stick, I guess. I'm not sure.
[26:24] A baton. I think it has a baton.
[26:27] It must be a baton. So then they have to wave that
[26:29] around, right? So then apart from that, what?
[26:33] You're very close. You're very close with that
[26:36] chain of thought. You're very close with that
[26:37] chain of thought. OK, so he did not use a baton.
[26:42] Take it a step further. He didn't use his hands either,
[26:46] like he just tied his hands behind his back.
[26:49] He conducted that entire orchestra with the use of his
[26:52] eyebrows. How he conducted an orchestra
[26:58] with his eyebrows. He did not wave his hands
[27:01] around. He did not have a baton.
[27:03] He did the entire performance using just his eyebrows.
[27:07] And there is this news article that I was reading and it
[27:11] describes it in a literal eyebrow raising display of
[27:14] music. Oh, I really like that.
[27:17] Musicianship. Bernstein uses only his brow
[27:21] alongside the odd smile and grimace to give the orchestra
[27:25] all the information they need about tempo and dynamics that
[27:29] was iconic about this particular performance.
[27:33] Wow. I'm just trying to imagine the
[27:36] logistics of looking at one particular section.
[27:39] How do they know if he's looking at them?
[27:42] Like, how far back are these people?
[27:45] How do they see the eyebrows? Does he use, like, one eyebrow
[27:48] at a time? They does he do like a rock
[27:50] thing? For one section, the left
[27:53] eyebrow goes up. You do this, you do the right
[27:55] eyebrow, it goes somewhere else. Like, what was the point?
[27:58] Did he do it like for like charity?
[27:59] Or did he somebody dare him or something like that?
[28:04] I guess when you're Leonard Bernstein and you're at the top
[28:07] of your game, you just want to throw a challenge your own way
[28:09] once in a while, and that's probably what happened.
[28:13] OK, let's move away from the arts to something a little
[28:17] different. The Indo Pakistan War of 1971
[28:21] was a military war between India and Pakistan that occurred
[28:25] during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan.
[28:29] It ended in a complete unconditional surrender of
[28:32] Pakistani troops and the creation of the modern country
[28:35] of Bangladesh, right? This was like a massive turning
[28:39] point in India. Pakistan relationships, it was a
[28:41] huge thing, cemented Indira Gandhi's career.
[28:45] It cemented Sam Manik Shaw's brain as military tactical
[28:49] genius. But during the war, because the
[28:52] Pakistanis were supplied by the US, they had superior code
[28:56] breaking equipment than India at the time and this was a great
[29:00] threat to India's campaign. So they were able to intercept
[29:05] radio communications and they were able to break the codes and
[29:09] they were able to do so. India employed a very clever yet
[29:14] simple tactic to outfox the Pakistanis, something which is
[29:19] now being copied by China to be used against India, not to be
[29:24] used against India. They know that India did this
[29:26] once. So they are prepping their
[29:28] people to be able to make sure that if India does try it again
[29:31] they are not at a disadvantage. So what did India do that
[29:36] completely flummoxed the Pakistani counter intelligence
[29:41] and the court Breakers and what not?
[29:44] So I don't know where I get this from, but I have feeling that
[29:49] India did do something along the lines of pretend they were gonna
[29:54] attack West Pakistan. So the troops were mobilized in
[30:00] what is present day Pakistan. No, it wasn't that kind of a
[30:05] move. We're talking about
[30:07] communications. India did something very simple
[30:11] but clever tactic, which currently I would say that
[30:16] Pakistan would never be able to do.
[30:19] Very few countries would be able to do that.
[30:22] I think the only country which has done this successfully prior
[30:25] to India would be the US. That was actually going to be my
[30:30] clue. You know what?
[30:32] I'm going to guess that this has something to do with language,
[30:35] because it's had very few countries can do and.
[30:37] Yes, OK. So then, can you be a little
[30:39] more specific? Just use a language that would
[30:45] be very tough for Pakistan to find a translator for who's not
[30:50] Indian. So apply your logic a little
[30:54] further, you'll get to the answer.
[30:58] So am I supposed to guess which language Esperanto?
[31:02] No. No.
[31:05] Again, I think Sanskrit would be not that difficult to find a
[31:10] translator for. Because in Sanskrit is also a
[31:15] dead language, so communicating modern concepts in Sanskrit
[31:18] would be very very very difficult, sometimes impossible.
[31:23] True. So then I'd say because of
[31:26] geographical reasons, probably something like a Malayalam or a
[31:29] Tamil, because I imagine there are probably very few speakers
[31:33] of that language in Pakistan, if at all.
[31:35] You're right. It was a very simple tactic.
[31:38] Something that the Indian forces still use today is that they
[31:40] hired Malayali and Tamil radio operators who would converse
[31:44] exclusively in Malayalam or Tamil.
[31:47] Oh, lovely. That's where you know our
[31:51] cultural diversity comes to a rescue.
[31:53] There was an article a couple of years ago where intelligence
[31:56] forces have mentioned that Chinese wireless operators are
[32:00] learning Tamil and Malayalam to understand intercepts of the
[32:04] Indian Army. Oh, they are fighting and lost
[32:12] cause there they're going. It's very difficult if you're
[32:15] not a native speaker, it's very difficult to learn Dravidian
[32:18] languages. Yeah.
[32:20] And also native speakers speak at a speed which is.
[32:24] And the colloquialism, The nuances are very difficult to
[32:26] get. Also, by the way, how Indian
[32:31] women's hockey team won in Chakde?
[32:34] India. And they used Kanyakumari and
[32:39] Kashmir when they wanted to point where they wanted the ball
[32:42] to pass to. The best part in that was the
[32:44] Australian coaching. Who's DD?
[32:46] If there's no DD on the roster, who's DD?
[32:48] Who's DD? Yeah, India is also doing the
[32:53] same thing. Indian forces such as the Indo
[32:54] Tibetan Border Police, which guards the Indochina border, is
[32:57] also training its new troops in Mandarin.
[32:59] But given the prevalence of just something as simple as Google
[33:03] Translate, I wonder how much of an impediment it would be in.
[33:06] These kind of things are time bound right?
[33:09] So you wouldn't have the time to put it into Google Translate
[33:13] properly. True, true, given our Internet
[33:16] difficulties that we often face in recording a podcast, I had
[33:19] imagined. Yeah, in the Himalayas.
[33:21] Yeah, broadband. Forget broadband.
[33:23] They'll have 1G maybe over there. 1G.
[33:28] True. OK.
[33:29] So I had mentioned a clue that I was going to give you in case
[33:32] you of finding it difficult to reach that point, was going to
[33:34] ask you if you've watched the movie Oregon, read the book
[33:39] called The Wind Talkers. During World War 2, the US
[33:44] military forces used Navajo speakers.
[33:49] So Navajo is a band of indigenous people from the
[33:52] Americas. The Navajo Nation, yeah.
[33:54] Yeah, the Navajo Nation. So they are very, very few
[33:57] speakers. So they specifically hired
[33:59] people who speak Navajo and use them for radio communications
[34:03] during World War 2. And there's an excellent book
[34:06] and OK, OK movie based on it. So that was like a similar
[34:10] concept, but they used Navajo there.
[34:12] Here we used Malayalam and Tamil.
[34:15] That was a pretty cool question. Yeah.
[34:17] OK, so moving on from matters of global importance to something a
[34:25] lot more lighthearted. There is a French newspaper and
[34:31] I don't know why I do this to myself and butcher the French
[34:33] language each time, but I'm going to pronounce it.
[34:36] It is called La Boucher de Sapour.
[34:40] Can you spell that please? Yes, I should, I should, for
[34:44] everyone's benefit, La La Boucher being BOUGIE Bougie
[34:50] Bougie and Du du Sapour being SAPEUR.
[34:57] OK. This is a 20 page tabloid that
[35:01] came out recently and this was its 12th issue.
[35:08] It is priced at $4.90 EUR and had a print run of 200,000.
[35:17] What is so special about this particular newspaper that
[35:22] started in the 80s? I did study French for a couple
[35:29] of years in school, but I have never heard of bougie or sepia.
[35:40] I think that is the actual pronunciation.
[35:41] I am not, but I am. No, I have no clue.
[35:45] Bougie, the sepia. This is started in the 80s you
[35:49] said, right? Yes, this is a tabloid that was
[35:55] first published in the 80s. It's 12th edition came out very
[35:59] recently. Wait, what?
[36:01] The? You said it was published in the
[36:05] 80s. Yeah.
[36:08] And the 12th edition came out recently.
[36:11] Yes. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait,
[36:16] wait, wait. Wait.
[36:18] OK, this is published only on 29th of Feb.
[36:23] Every four years. You get one every four years.
[36:26] I was hoping I'll hide that clue somewhere in the description,
[36:30] but oh, nothing goes past Vineet.
[36:33] The other hand I was going to give you was going to be the
[36:35] newspaper's name, which translates to The Sapper's
[36:38] Candle refers to Chamom Bear, a Sapper in a comic created by
[36:45] Georges Colum in 1896. It's a famous comic.
[36:49] Yeah, the. Fictional character Chamomber
[36:51] was born on 29th February. OK, Sapas are like soldiers,
[36:57] right? I think Sam Mannixhaw was a
[37:00] Sapper at one point or something like that.
[37:02] Maybe Sapa is a combat engineer, basically.
[37:05] OK. OK, And he joined the army when
[37:07] he had celebrated his birthday only four times.
[37:10] So he was technically four years old.
[37:13] Yeah, he was technically four years old, and this newspaper is
[37:16] technically only 12 editions old, even though it started in
[37:19] 1980. To be specific, it just had its
[37:23] 12th edition hit the stands on 29th February 2024.
[37:28] So my question, I have multiple questions on this, or at least
[37:31] my brain is after watching too much Shark Tank, is it
[37:33] profitable you publish just 12 editions?
[37:37] Like I mentioned, it is priced at €4.98 and it is more than
[37:42] profitable. It more than meets its costs.
[37:45] So it is doing rather well, yeah.
[37:47] Nice. Nice.
[37:49] So that brings me to the end of my question.
[37:51] Go for yours, Vineet. OK.
[37:54] So you've heard of Buleshah, right?
[37:56] Yeah. Buleshah was an upper caste
[37:58] Muslim looking for a spiritual teacher.
[38:02] So he came across Sheikh Shah Inayat Qadri and was completely
[38:08] entranced by Inayat's intelligence and worldliness and
[38:14] whatnot. However, Inayat came from a
[38:17] caste of arraigns which was considered to be slightly on a
[38:20] lower caste than what Buleshah came from.
[38:23] Buleshah's family was furious and demanded that he should not
[38:27] be learning from or accepting Inayat Kadri as his teacher.
[38:32] So because of that, their teacher student bond was broken.
[38:36] But then after some time, Shah realized his mistake, repented
[38:41] Inayat Kadri refused to take him back as a disciple.
[38:45] So then Buleshah began to write poems, songs and performed
[38:50] dances to appease his teacher and to get under his wing again.
[38:56] Now the question is one of those poems is extremely famous today.
[39:06] Which poem and under what context?
[39:10] Oh boy, this is tough one for me because I'm I'm not very well
[39:15] versed with Indian poetry or poetry in general, but.
[39:19] You definitely know this one. You'd be surprised at my lack of
[39:23] knowledge of. You definitely know this one.
[39:26] Trust me, you definitely know this one.
[39:31] Oh, is it Bulleya? No, it's not Bulleya I.
[39:38] Kept hearing Bullesha and I was like.
[39:40] I can also go so far as to say that a lot of people around the
[39:44] world, non Indians also know this poem, or at least are aware
[39:48] of this poem. OK, so because I said openly,
[39:53] I'm going to ask, is it because this poem was used in a
[39:56] Bollywood film as a song? Not exclusively Bollywood.
[40:02] Oh, it has been used in multiple films Because this song has been
[40:06] featured in the past on our podcast, I'm going to venture a
[40:10] guess. Is it Chahaya Chahaya by any
[40:12] chance? So.
[40:15] Technically. You are right, but not right.
[40:19] Is it because Chaya Chaya but by a different name or something
[40:24] like Chaya Chaya uses it as an inspiration or something?
[40:26] That poem does not have the word chaya chaya in it.
[40:31] That I know, because I remember when I asked the Chaya Chaya
[40:33] question, and this was quite a few episodes ago.
[40:36] I remember reading up on the fact that Chaya Chaya is based
[40:39] off of a different song, which is which is a different name,
[40:42] and I'm forgetting what the name is now.
[40:43] OK? There's not going to drag this
[40:45] on, but you're right. The song you are talking about
[40:48] is the song from the famous Mani Ratnam movie called Dil SE,
[40:53] which is part of his terrorism trilogy series of movies which
[40:56] included Roja Bombay and Dil SE. The song itself which became
[41:01] famous is Chaiya Chaiya. It was based off this Bulesha
[41:04] poem. But surprisingly, this Bulesha
[41:07] poem, which I believe is from Punjabi, the original title was
[41:12] not used for the Hindi version of the song.
[41:14] The original title was used for the Tamil version of the song.
[41:18] OK. It is Thaiya.
[41:20] Thaiya. Yes, I remember Thaiya.
[41:23] Thaiya is the name. Yeah, yeah.
[41:25] And do you know why people around the world would know
[41:28] this? Because Chaiya Chai has been
[41:31] featured in multiple movies. Yes, specifically one Spike Lee
[41:35] movie called The Inside Man where Chaiya Chaiya plays over
[41:40] opening credits. A good movie and obviously a
[41:44] great song. So the poem goes something like
[41:47] this in my. I'm reading it from a
[41:48] transliteration, so please forgive any meaning, mistakes or
[41:52] pronunciation or whatever it goes.
[41:54] Tere ishq nachaya karke thaiya thaiya bulle Shah naun da menu
[41:59] inayat de buhe jisne menu pawai Chloe vawe de suhe jaan Mein
[42:05] madi aaye udi mil Pai hai paaya. Yeah, that's just horrible.
[42:10] Whatever that ribs is horrible. But yeah, that's the original
[42:13] poem. The words were thaiya thaiya.
[42:16] The Tamil version is called thaiya thaiya.
[42:18] The Hindi version is called chaiya chaiya.
[42:20] And it's from a famous poem by Bulesha.
[42:24] Lovely. OK, well moving from something
[42:28] that history gifted us back when to little bit more modern
[42:34] history and I'm going to tell you a little story.
[42:37] Tell me how is it relevant today?
[42:39] Anthony E Pratt, an English musician and factory worker
[42:44] during World War 2 when there were air raids happening in
[42:49] England over his home in Birmingham, was in his air raid
[42:52] shelters at that point of time. Out of boredom, ended up coming
[42:57] up with something along with his wife, which to date has left
[43:04] lasting mark on pop culture in various forms.
[43:08] OK, what is it that he devised? His wife's name, by the way,
[43:11] also should mention Elva Pratt. So Anthony E Pratt and Elva
[43:15] Pratt together came up with this.
[43:18] Do you have any clue as to what he could have done?
[43:21] I'm thinking some kind of game maybe?
[43:23] Did he devise some sort of game while he was in the air?
[43:26] 8 filter to pass the time. You are bang on target so far.
[43:31] Do you want to try to take a wild guess?
[43:33] I'll give you 3 guesses before I give you more hints, and you
[43:37] have no clue what it could be. I'll give you 3 guesses.
[43:42] So this is World War 2, right? Yeah.
[43:46] So if it's World War 2, then I can rule out Monopoly because I
[43:53] think Monopoly was older than that, right?
[43:55] Yes, it was. My first guess is going to be
[43:58] Scrabble. So Monopoly is the number one
[44:02] most popular board game in the world.
[44:04] OK, obviously not counting board games like chess and checkers,
[44:09] which are the top two. So I'm talking about something
[44:11] more modern. Monopoly is number 1, #2 is
[44:15] Scrabble. What is #3?
[44:21] OK. #3 is the answer for this question. #3 So you said this is
[44:30] Air raid shelter, so it's not an American invention, right?
[44:34] It'll be an English invention. Yes.
[44:40] He would have released it post the war.
[44:41] So we are talking in 1950s so we can rule out all the older board
[44:44] games. Risk, I think came out in the
[44:46] 1960s or 70s. Oh, way more popular than risk.
[44:52] Way, way more popular than risk. Purely English one.
[44:57] The only one that comes to mind is Clue.
[45:01] Vineet, you just blow me away. Clue is technically the American
[45:08] version. OK, Cluedo is the British
[45:11] version. Oh yes, yes.
[45:13] I owned a set which had the name Cluedo in it.
[45:16] And when I was a kid I thought it was, you know, like how we
[45:19] have Abibas and Rebook. I thought it was like, honestly
[45:23] thought it was a thing because everybody was telling me, have
[45:26] you played Clue? Have you played Clue?
[45:28] And I thought I had Cluedo, which was the thing.
[45:31] It was many years later that I realized that.
[45:32] OK, yeah, now I remember. Yeah.
[45:35] Do you know why Cluedo is called Cluedo, by the way?
[45:37] Why is it called Cluedo? Obviously you are searching for
[45:42] the murderer, right? So very specifically because
[45:47] obviously clue and the word Ludo.
[45:50] Why? Why Ludo?
[45:53] So it was just a pun on the game Ludo, because it was a popular
[45:56] game in England back then, and when it was being sold in
[46:02] America, they were worried that people there did not know Ludo,
[46:05] which is why it was renamed to Clue.
[46:07] Oh. They thought people would not
[46:09] get the little word play over there, and that's how Cluedo
[46:14] became Clue. In the US, it is the third most
[46:17] popular board game. Third most popular clue.
[46:20] Wow. After Monopoly and Scrabble,
[46:22] yeah, pretty insane. The number of pop culture
[46:26] artefacts it has inspired, #1 being obviously apart from the
[46:30] game being the movie. Movie The One of the multiple
[46:33] endings. Brilliant, brilliant movie.
[46:38] If you haven't watched it, please do.
[46:41] It is a very, very good film. Do you know this is very tough.
[46:47] So I'm. I'm just going to ask you if you
[46:49] know or not. If not, I'll tell you the
[46:51] answer. Do you know what house this was
[46:52] based on? This was based on an actual
[46:56] house. I'm just going to guess.
[46:58] Is it Bletchley Park? No.
[47:01] It's not that famous a place, so I can't imagine.
[47:03] Then I wouldn't know, but I wouldn't know.
[47:04] It is actually a hotel, so a 2 door close hotel and in early
[47:09] edition of the game were called Murder at 2 door close Tudor
[47:13] close, yeah. Clue is fantastic movie which
[47:18] you should watch. Its a perfect combination of
[47:21] just comedy and a fairly decent mystery.
[47:24] And there's this final rat race kind of solution where everybody
[47:28] where the solutions are being completely over the top.
[47:31] But just worth a watch. And I think the first series
[47:36] version which I which kind of reminded me of Clue, at least
[47:40] the movie. There are two movies which I
[47:42] would also recommend. One is Gosford Park.
[47:45] If you've not watched Gosford Park, it's a fantastic English
[47:49] mystery. And the second would.
[47:50] And I try to guess what the second one is.
[47:53] Is it knives out? Yeah.
[47:56] It is knives out. Yes, Gosford Park is one of
[47:59] those movies I keep recommending to people as it's a fantastic
[48:03] murder mystery. At the same time, such an
[48:06] engaging film like you just can't stop watching.
[48:08] If you love Downton Abbey, you'll definitely love Gosford
[48:11] Park. It's one of my favorite murder
[48:13] mystery movies. Interesting.
[48:16] I should check it out. I should check it out.
[48:18] Yeah, but I think that's all the time we have for today's
[48:22] episode. Aditya, what's your question for
[48:25] this week? So Cluedo was obviously a
[48:29] portmanteau on Clue and Ludo. If it was created in India, what
[48:34] would that have been called instead?
[48:37] OK, I really want to know what your brains going to cook up for
[48:41] this one, so we will wait till next week to find out.
[48:45] So I had asked an audience question at the beginning of
[48:47] today's episode. After the death of an iconic
[48:51] actor in 2020, Malayalam actor Fahad Fazal had penned a moving
[48:56] note revealing that after he had dropped acting at the age of 19,
[49:00] after having a failed acting debut at the age of 19, he had
[49:03] gone to the US for studies. There he had watched a movie
[49:06] called You Hota to Kya Hota, which was directed by Nasiri
[49:09] Dilshah. A few minutes into the film and
[49:11] the character of Salim Rajaballi, which was portrayed
[49:14] by X, came on screen. He turned to his friend and
[49:17] asked who is this guy? Because there are actors who are
[49:19] intense, who are stylish and who are charming.
[49:22] And this was the first time he had ever seen an actor who he's
[49:24] described as original on screen. After discovering this
[49:29] particular actor, Faad decided to drop out of engineering
[49:31] school, return to India and thankfully for everybody, he
[49:34] came back into films and he's now one of the finest actors in
[49:37] India. I would recommend There are a
[49:39] number of films, a lot of Malayalam films there is.
[49:41] He was also the bald cop in Pushpa.
[49:44] He was also one of the main three actors in Vikram.
[49:48] And apart from that, he has a huge selection of just amazing
[49:51] movies in Malayalam. So you can check out Faad Fazal,
[49:54] but the question is, who was this actor who inspired for to
[49:59] come back to India and start acting and who passed away in
[50:02] 2020? Aditya, do you have any idea who
[50:06] I'm talking about? Because you mentioned passed
[50:08] away in 2020, I would believe it is the phenomenal and Taken Too
[50:14] Soon actor Irrfan Khan. And you would be right, it is
[50:18] Irrfan Khan. So we have Irrfan Khan to thank
[50:21] for Fahad Fazal or Fafa as he's known.
[50:25] Well, Irfan Khan has inspired a bunch of actors, a generation of
[50:30] actors, and for good reason. He has been one of the finest
[50:33] talents this country has seen. Effortless Acting.
[50:36] Effortless. At no point during Irfan Khan's
[50:39] acting do you ever feel like he's trying too hard.
[50:43] Honestly, pick any film and he is going to be great in them.
[50:47] If you can overlook, and I know it's a bit difficult, but if you
[50:49] can overlook the slight language barrier that that he probably
[50:53] faced in doing the Hollywood films, his performances in those
[50:56] films are also pretty phenomenal And Life of Pi was beautiful for
[51:00] a lot of reasons. It was a pretty well made film,
[51:02] but Irrfan Khan was pretty great to watch in that as well.
[51:05] True. True.
[51:06] Very true. Yeah, and because I was
[51:09] researching or reading up on random old Bollywood stars, one
[51:12] of the piece of trivia that came up was Rajesh Khanna and his
[51:16] craze back in the day. Yeah, people used to throw
[51:19] underwear at him. Ladies used to throw underwear
[51:21] at him. I think that was the first
[51:24] episode of that ever happening in India.
[51:27] Probably, yeah. There have been lot of
[51:29] contemporary actors who have claimed that they can't even
[51:32] imagine reaching the level of fame that he had, including all
[51:35] your great Khans and stuff. And Irrfan Khan was a fan and
[51:39] when he moved to Mumbai, he worked as an air conditioner
[51:42] repairman and visited Rajesh Khanna's home.
[51:45] To repair his AC. Yeah, it was the acting
[51:48] inspiration. In 1984, he visited his house.
[51:51] Wow. That is a little piece of
[51:53] trivia. So watch out for our next
[51:56] episode. Episode #61 is going to be a
[51:59] food and drink special episode with all our questions relating
[52:03] to food in some way, shape or manner.
[52:06] Again, before I go, one last thing to do Aditya, what are
[52:09] your popular culture recommendations for this week?
[52:13] I will recommend the book that I'm currently reading, which is
[52:17] pretty funny and something that I haven't read before in the
[52:21] sense that it is from a country I've never read from before, The
[52:24] 100 year old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.
[52:27] It is an international bestseller, OK, and a really fun
[52:31] book. It is by the author Jonas Jonas,
[52:34] who is Swedish, so it's a Swedish book.
[52:36] It's the first time I've read for anything by a Swedish author
[52:39] and I would highly recommend checking it out.
[52:41] It is funny. It is interesting.
[52:43] It's intriguing. Just out of curiosity, the
[52:49] Millennium series by Stee Glasson.
[52:51] Wasn't that also Swedish? Oh yeah, It might have been,
[52:54] yeah. No, I just wanted to make sure.
[52:58] Yeah, so great recommendation this week.
[53:00] I too am actually going to recommend two sets of books
[53:03] which I had read recently. Both are very India focused, but
[53:08] for completely different reasons.
[53:10] So the one is the Malabar House series by author Wasim Khan.
[53:15] It's a period detective fiction series of novels featuring the
[53:22] first female IPS officer of India in the story universe.
[53:27] In real life, obviously, it was Kiran Bedi in the 1970s.
[53:30] This posits. What if we had a female IPS
[53:33] officer who was a Parsi by the name of Purses Wadia in the late
[53:37] 40s in India in Bombay and who's deputed to this police station
[53:42] called Malabar House, which is very similar to Slough House
[53:46] from Slow Horses, which is again another favorite series of mine
[53:49] by Mike Heron. You can definitely go read that
[53:52] as well. There's also fantastic TV series
[53:55] starring Gary Oldman about Slough House as well, which is
[53:59] called Slow Horses. So my first recommendation, just
[54:02] to be clear, is the Malabar House series of novels by Wasim
[54:05] Khan. My second recommendation,
[54:07] similarly, is a book called The Age of Wise.
[54:12] It's a fairly long novel, but just absolutely worth it.
[54:17] The author is called Deepti Kapoor and it was a New York
[54:19] Times bestseller. I got to it a little late, about
[54:22] a year late, but not a dollar short, and it's just a fantastic
[54:26] novel. It was completely different from
[54:29] what I was expecting. In many cases I felt like this
[54:33] is what Animal should have been, even though there isn't much to
[54:36] link the movie and this particular book, But in you have
[54:40] a similar kind of dynamic where you have a father and son who
[54:43] have a very dysfunctional relationship and but that's just
[54:46] a small part of this book itself.
[54:49] It's a fantastic read. It is an absolutely fantastic
[54:52] read. Deepti Kapoor's Age of Wise and
[54:55] Wasim Khan's The Malabar House series.
[54:57] These are two of my official recommendation.
[54:59] Lovely. Lots of things to catch up on
[55:02] then. That's the end of today's
[55:04] episode. That's all for this week.
[55:06] Thank you all for listening in. We hope you enjoyed the show.
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