We're back after a brief break, and we fanboy over Aaron Sorkin for 100 minutes. We discuss Sorkin's latest venture The Trial of The Chicago Seven, featuring a stellar ensemble cast. We first discuss why we are such big fans of Sorkin and how he creates drama through dialogue. We then delve into how Sorkin managed to escalate his drama through his …

We venture into challenging territory and talk about Shyam Benegal's first film --- Ankur! Ankur is a 1974 film that is said to have heralded in the era of alternative cinema in the Hindi film industry. It stars Shabana Azmi and Anant Nag in lead roles. It tells the story of Lakshmi, a dalit woman who works at the house of Surya, an upper-caste, co…

We discuss Coen Brothers' 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis, starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, a cat and others! Inside Llewyn Davis tells the story of a struggling musician in search of work. We talk about the how the cinematography and the editing of the film grant the film and sombre tone and pace. We also discuss the themes o…

On the eve of Bhagat Singh and Gandhi's birth anniversaries, we discuss Rang De Basanti! Rang De Basanti is a 2006 film written by Kamlesh Pandey and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, starring Siddharth, Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Alice Patten, R Madhavan and others. We discuss how the structure of the…

On this guest episode, we venture into new territory -- non-fiction films! We are joined by national-award winning filmmaker Samarth Mahajan, director of films like The Unreserved, Kazwa, and the in-making 'Borderlands'. We talk about Samarth's film school and how he got into making non-fiction films. We also take a deep-dive into some technical as…

This episode is the one we enjoyed recording the most! We talk about Capernaum, a 2018 Lebanese Arabic language film co-written and directed by Nadine Labaki, with the other writers being Jihad Hojeilly and Michelle Keserwany in collaboration with Georges Khabbaz and Khaled Mouzanar. Mouzanar also produced the film and did the background score. It …

We talk about the 2008 heist caper Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, written by Urmi Juvekar and co-written, directed by Dibakar Banerjee! We discuss Dibakar's filmography in some detail and also our controversial opinions about his films. We opine that though the film captures the pulse of the city and uses some interesting filmmaking choices, the screenplay…

We invite our friend Vamika over to discuss comedian Bo Burnham's writing-directing debut -- Eighth Grade! Eighth Grade stars Elsie Fisher as an early teen on the verge of entering high school, and the trials and tribulations in her life caused by the invisible hand of social media. We discuss various things -- from our experiences as teens to our …

In what is our most rambly episode to date, we discuss Before Sunrise, a 1995 film written by Richard Linklater and Kim Krazin and directed by Linklater. It stars Ethan Hawke, julie Delpy and the city of Vienna. Before Sunrise is also the first film in Linklater's Before Trilogy. We try to answer the question whether this movie has any structure to…

We invited Prasad Deshmukh, a friend and cinemaholic, to discuss what is (was?) his favourite film -- Gulaal! Gulaal is a 2009 film written by Raj Singh Chaudhary and co-written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. It stars Raj Singh Chaudhary, Ayesha Mohan, Jesse Randhawa, Aditya Srivastava, Mahie Gill, Deepak Dobriyal and Piyush Mishra. We start by di…

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is a 2017 film written and directed by Martin McDonagh, which also earned its actors Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell Academy awards. It also stars Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges and others. We talk how McDonagh does not shy away from taking strong writing decisions, and also is not scared t…

Monsoon Wedding is that one brilliant film you’ve probably heard about but not watched. Monsoon Wedding is written by Sabrina Dhawan and directed by Mira Nair. We delve into why Mira Nair’s bootstrap brand of filmmaking is so powerful and inspiring. We also discuss how the film manages to tell multiple stories even in its measly run time of under t…

Delhi Belly proved that potty jokes can be made artsy! We talk about Delhi Belly, a 2011 film written by Akshat Verma and directed by Abhinay Deo. We talk how the film broke so many stereotypes in the Indian context and still managed to be extremely entertaining! We also discuss specific scenes and how moving images are used to tell the story. This…

This is the second in a two-part conversation on Chintu ka Birthday. Please make sure to listen to Episode 6.1 before you dive in! Welcome to our first guest episode! We discuss Chintu ka Birthday with the co-writer-director of the film Satyanshu Singh! Satyanshu Sir tells us about his "film school", and talks about the technical and artistic aspec…

Welcome to our first guest episode! We discuss Chintu ka Birthday with the co-writer-director of the film Satyanshu Singh! Satyanshu Sir tells us about his "film school", and talks about the technical and artistic aspects of the film. We deep-dive into a few scenes from the film and also how backstories are important in storytelling. This, and much…

Black Swan is Devansh's most favourite film ever! In our discussion on Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky, we discuss the theme of surrealism present across Aronofsky's filmography. We also discuss the shooting and editing techniques used in the film. Towards the end, we get to know each other's opinions about the romanticization of pain in ci…

Our fourth episode was in fact recorded along with our first episode on Portrait of a Lady on Fire. We discuss Sonchiriya, written by Sudip Sharma and co-written and directed by Abhishek Chaubey. We talk about the storytelling element of foreshadowing which is used as an effective tool in this film, as well as the editing and sound design. We also …

Baby Driver is what you get when you combine fast cars and good old adrenaline-inducing action sequences with a highly original visual style of an auteur! In this episode we discuss Baby Driver, written and directed by Edgar Wright. We talk about how the medium of film has its own grammar, how Edgar Wright's filmography is a perfect example of the …

zindagī kyā hai anāsir meñ zuhūr-e-tartīb maut kyā hai inhīñ ajzā kā pareshāñ honā ~ Brij Narayan 'Chakbast' In this episode, we dive into one of our favourite Hindi films - Masaan. Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover, Masaan won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Prix de l'Avenir at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. We discuss how this fil…

Welcome to Cut to Scene! In our premiere episode, we discuss the Palme d'Or nominated French historical drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire, written and directed by Céline Sciamma and starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. We take a deep-dive into the shot-taking, colours and music among other things. SPOILER ALERT - This podcast contains a lot of …