Making Movies with More Masala than Money ~ Cow Dung, Charli XCX, Kalki 2898AD - (A·B·C·D) Sn2 Ep 7

🎙️ ABCD Podcast #39: Cow Power & Lunar Lies! 🐮🌙
Join Sandeep & Omar as they navigate the wild world of Desi news! 🌶️🗞️
🤔 Did Omar fake the moon landing? 🚀🎬
💩 Can cow poop save the planet? 🌍💨
🎭 Is Bollywood going full Blade Runner? 🤖💰
🏏 Did Team USA just bowl over Pakistan? 🇺🇸🏆
❓ Pop Quiz: How well do you know Dr. Strangelove? 🎬🧠
💃 Desi Spotlight: Charli XCX's spicy revelation! 🎵🔥
🏀 NBA gets a Desi twist! Who sang the anthem? 🎤🇺🇸
🔮 Auntie vs Auntie 2024: The saga continues! 👵🏾vs👵🏽
(Probability now at 35% - place your bets! 💸)
🐉 DnD fans! Don't miss DesiQuest at Comic Con & Gen Con! 🎲🧙‍♂️
🎬 Help fund Sandeep's movie! Be a Patreon hero! 🦸‍♀️💰
🤣 LOL moments guaranteed or your rupees back! 💸😂
👇 Comment your fave moment & share for good karma! 🙏✨
📧 Got Qs? We've got As! Email us at abcdpodcastshow@gmail.com! 📬
🔔 Subscribe now or risk disappointing your ancestors! 👻🧓

Show Notes for the 39th Episode of ABCD:
Sandeep Parikh Linktree: https://linktr.ee/sandeepparikh
Omar Najam: https://twitter.com/OmarNajam
Omar Najam: https://www.instagram.com/omarnajamfilm/ 
DesiQuest: https://www.desiquest.com/

What's Got Us Confused #1:  
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c254ggrry45o

What's Got Us Confused #2: 
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/charli-xcx-brat/
https://vogue.sg/charli-xcx-cover-story/

What's Got Us Confused #3: 
https://variety.com/2024/film/asia/prabhas-amitabh-bachchan-kamal-haasan-deepika-padukone-kalki-2898-mumbai-launch-1236042896/
https://www.comingsoon.net/indian/news/1761652-kalki-2898-ad-budget-prabhas-movie-could-be-india-most-expensive-film

Auntie vs. Auntie Watch: 2024
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-biden-first-2024-debate-details.html
https://apnews.com/article/harris-biden-trump-vp-debate-2024-59689b09fdd5bc2b2cdd916500678bb1

Desi of the Week: 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/saurabh-netravalkar-leads-team-usa-t20-world-cup-oracle-career-rcna157248
https://www.essentiallysports.com/nba-active-basketball-news-who-is-singing-the-national-anthem-at-game-two-of-nba-finals-all-about-sheena-melwani-who-captivated-paul-pierce/


Producer: Anand Shah & Kaylin Mahoney
Technical Director & Sound Designer: Delvan Neville 
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
Editors: Kaylin Mahoney & Anand Shah 

#ABCD #charli #kalki2898ad #kubrick #filmmaker #indianamerican #charlixcxtypebeat #kamalaharris #nikkihaley #desioftheweek #effinfunny #comedy #indianamerican  #comedyinterview #desi #abcd #indian #desiquest #ttrpg #ttrpgnews #desi  #patreon #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #podcast

Chapters

• 0:00 ABCD Intro
• 1:54 Episode 39 Rundown
• 2:37 What is DesiQuest?
• 3:29 DesiQuest San Diego Comic Con & GenCon Announcement!
• 5:29 Thank you to our Patreons & EF Patreon Updates
• 7:33 What's Got Us Confused Story #1 - How much bullshit does it take to power a lightbulb?
• 9:46 What's Got Us Confused Story #2 - Charli XCX just released a new album, “Brat.”. Who is Charli XCX?
• 13:26 What's Got Us Confused Story #3 - How much did they spend to make Kalki 2898 AD?
• 16:36 Chakra Check-in: How are you feeling about the film industry and the movies that are getting made?
• 20:47 Where are you at in your filmmaking journey?
• 22:15 Do you feel encouraged or discouraged that movies are so IP driven?
• 23:34 Sandeep's next directing project written by Rekha Shankar
• 25:18 Omar getting inspired to create despite the need to make money
• 28:28 Sandeep is driven by the need to collaborate with other artists
• 31:50 Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson & A Few Good Men
• 33:16 Blessings to all the filmmakers keeping the dream alive
• 34:55 Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan or Into the Darkness?
• 35:55 Omar wraps it up with a dose of inspiration for collaboration
• 37:35 Auntie vs. Auntie Watch: 2024
• 42:24 Episode Game: A Dr. Strangelove Quiz Odyssey or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Kubrick Trivia
• 43:43 Round 1: What NYC based magazine did Kubrick work for before becoming a filmmaker?
• 44:34 Round 2: What was the name of Kubrick's directorial debut?
• 46:18 Round 3: Which famous actor fired Kubrick and directed the film himself?
• 47:48 Round 4: What category did Kubrick win his only Oscar in?
• 49:05 Round 5: What famous band discussed making the Lord of the Rings with Kubrick directing?
• 51:04 How would you cast LOTR with the band?
• 52:27 Sandeep's Oscar (Trivia) Concession Speech
• 54:25 Desi of the Week: Saurabh Netravalkar & US Men's Cricket Team
• 57:16 Desi of the Week Runner-Up: Sheena Melwani
• 58:23 Share the show & Send us Feedback!
• 59:32 Credits

Transcript

Sandeep Parikh: 0:00

Here we go. This is our 39th episode, Omar.

Omar Najam: 0:04

I can't believe it. 39 episodes young. Incredible.

Sandeep Parikh: 0:09

But speaking of the person I'm talking to, Omar, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce this person. He is the guy that filmed the fake lunar landing. Omar Najam.

Omar Najam: 0:23

that's right.

Sandeep Parikh: 0:23

My co host. Yeah.

Omar Najam: 0:25

We had a good time. I filmed it with Channing Tatum and now, and gosh, who else is in that movie? I'm trying

Sandeep Parikh: 0:31

to remember. Does it matter? Channing's so beautiful. Channing Tatum. Channing Tatum and Channing Tatum.

Omar Najam: 0:36

Yeah, two Channing Tatums. He's just so pretty. That's all you can ever see. the other voice you hear is a young gentleman, who, we're very lucky to have him because he spent all day today going out looking for f stops. That's right, it's Sandeep (Parikh)!

Sandeep Parikh: 0:47

Yeah, I was on the bus,

Omar Najam: 0:50

is this the f stop? is this the f stop? Did, has anyone pulled that prank on you when you were on set? Did anyone ever go grab us a bag of f stops? F stops.

Sandeep Parikh: 0:57

No. I, no.

Omar Najam: 0:59

God, it's funny. What's that prank?

Sandeep Parikh: 1:00

How does that go?

Omar Najam: 1:02

you tell, you shouldn't do it, but you tell someone, hey, go grab a bag of F stops. And then they go, okay, I'll go look for that. And then you go, and they go to camera department, they go, can I get a bag of F stops? And camera department goes, that's the aperture rating. You amateur. There's no physical F stop. Yeah. Got it. Got it. Got it. So it's a call out,

Sandeep Parikh: 1:20

like it's to make a PA uncomfortable. Exactly. It's a mean thing. Got it.

Omar Najam: 1:26

Bucket of steam was the Navy equivalent one. I need to go get me a bucket of steam.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:29

Oh, that's really good. Amazing. Hey everyone, crack open a can of steam and join us for our show, ABCD, American Born Chatty Desi's. This show is a podcast within a live stream within our two lives as two American born desis. It's a pod ducken. This is for anyone out there who like us, you're just navigating your cultural identities and just want to chat it out.

Omar Najam: 1:53

Hey, what's on tap for today? You ask? let me tell you, we've got"What's Got Us Confused". We'll talk about some fun stuff from the news. Then we're going to do a little bit of "Chakra Check-In" with each other about, movies, cinema, our experience in filmmaking, bags of F stop that we had to go get. Then we'll do a quick little "Auntie vs Auntie

Watch: 2:11

2024" update. Just a quick little brief one, and then we'll hop into our game. which should I reveal the game title right now? Why not? Sounds exciting. The game title is a "Dr. Strangelove Quiz Odyssey, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Kubrick Trivia". Nice. And then we'll hop into our "Desi of the Week" and that'll wrap us out.

Sandeep Parikh: 2:33

That's right first off though. We gotta shout out our sponsors. Let's do that our first of course is DesiQuest. That's right. It's the dungeons and dragons 5e campaign that stars me And Omar, as well as Rekha Shankar, Anjali Bhimani, and a collection of amazing guests. It's all set in an original South Asian mythological inspired world, from the brilliant mind of Jasmine,"thatbronzegirl", Bhullar, and, that girl, that birthday girl, she just had a birthday, belated birthday girl. If you do run into Jasmine on the streams anywhere, wish her a happy birthday for us. All the episodes of this show, DesiQuest, are out right now If you become a citizen of the DesiQuest world by signing up at patreon.com/DesiQuest, you can watch the whole thing ad free! That's exciting. As well as the, after show podcast that you and I did, and streams with our character artist, Voodoo Val, and so much more. So we're interrupting whatever you're doing right now to tell you a very, some very exciting news. You can, Join us at the DesiQuest Experience Panel down at San Diego Comic Con. Have you ever heard of that? The biggest Comic Con in the world. and that's gonna be Thursday, July 25th at 4 PM. So please and that's good. That's the Omni San Diego Hotel and the Omni Grand Ballroom The fourth floor.

Omar Najam: 3:54

We have a panel with the folks from DesiQuest moderated by one Incredible human being Aabria Iyengar. You do not want to miss this panel. So come check it out again That's July 25th at 4 PM At SDCC Omni Hotel level 4.

Sandeep Parikh: 4:08

Just need a badge. Just need a badge for that one Just need a badge. And of course, we're all gonna be there, Anjali, Rekha, Omar, and Michael Schaubach, our director, is gonna be on the panel, so we are missing Jasmine, sadly, love Jasmine, but we're gonna be doing our best to, showcase, how awesome, the world that she created was, so join us down there.

Omar Najam: 4:30

And then a bunch of Indians are heading over to Indiana for Gen Con, where we are going to be playing a live game. Is that correct, Sandeep? A live game?

Sandeep Parikh: 4:38

That is correct. So, stoked for this. We've done it before. We did it at PAX Unplugged last year. It was so fun, so we're bringing it back again. so you can see DesiQuest Live, and this will be with the full crew. Jasmine's gonna be DMing, a captivating storyline crafted specifically for Gen Con 2024, okay? Encounters, challenging puzzles, teamwork, heroism, chai, Desi's arguing about nothing, all the things that we love to do. It's gonna happen at Gen Con, so for that one, you need a badge, you also need a ticket, there is plenty of or I don't even know if plenty anymore, actually, because since it's been announced, tickets have been poppin so please jump over to the there's general admission seats. we'd love to see you out there for this for this, uh, performance. It's gonna be a good time. Heck yes. We'll see you at SCCC, we'll see you at Gen Con.

Omar Najam: 5:28

Can I talk about our second sponsor, Sandeep? Please. I would love that. Second sponsor is none other than the folks who support us on Patreon. Ain't that right? And did you, is there an update here? Is this correct? Can I read this out loud? Is that all right? You've just kickstarted the EffinFunny Movie Club to aid in your research of movie making as you embark on your mission to, get this folks, make a movie this year. A movie directed by Sandeep Parikh and it's written by our very good friend and brilliant mind, Rekha Shankar. It is gonna be so great. I actually got a little sneak preview, so I highly recommend it. And going through that journey is going to be so great. So head over to patreon.com/EffinFunny. Let me spell that out for you. That's E F F I N F U N N Y to join the movie club and get an inside look at Sandeep's directing process and his journey. There's also a ton of, tiers for your contribution with a handful of subscriber benefits, including your name listed in the credits of this very show. Yeah. Support a couple of desi's in the creative arts. Help us keep the ABCD lights on. Learn some stuff about movie making and film theory. Head over to patreon.com/EffinFunny. Yeah,

Sandeep Parikh: 6:36

thank you so much. Yes, it's very exciting. Omar, you did, you were at our table read of the script. The script's gotten even better. I'm so excited. We did a whole nother sort of Draft of it a little bit of a facelift some tightening it's actually my favorite part of the process and we can get into that maybe a little bit later in our film discussion. But it's very exciting. I'm really I'm manifesting this movie. And I'm so thankful to all the folks that are in patreon that jump in and jump in on my movie club. We just watched Palm Springs on Friday which is a lovely movie, great film and it's has some similarities or there's some things that I wanted to draw off of that movie, it's the Andy Samberg flick, fantastic film. So every other Friday we do, a watch of a film that's something that, I will note and, draw inspiration from. So you can join us for that, as well exciting stuff. Yes. should we get into our first story? Let's do it. Okay friends this story is coming in hot and steamy. It's a hot steamy pile it is, all about cow dung's key role in India's Energy industry that is right. Talking biogas. Okay. This is wild. So biogas production offers an alternative to expensive natural gas reducing costs and reliance on fossil fuels. It also repurposes cow dung, a readily available resource in rural India while mitigating pollution caused by burning agricultural waste Get those pooper scoopers out because you are gonna be able to run your Teslas off of them. There's around 6, 000 cows in the surrounding area. This city is a center of dairy production. But the dairy owners have been dumping waste straight into public sewers causing river pollution. So this is like the part that maybe has got us confused here about it. What are your thoughts here Omar?

Omar Najam: 8:29

I love this. I haven't been to India in a while, but like when I did go, there were a lot of folks repurposing a ton of animal, materials. And it was the kind of thing where I was like, this is how you are sustainable. We want everything to look like shiny buildings and everything's chrome and that for us is like sustainability. This is sustainability! And listen, I'm glad we're talking about it here because a week from now, some like Heather Graham. Type actor is going to go on Kimmel and be like, I'm doing this thing where I recycle like cow dung. And everyone's going to be like, that's amazing, you invented it. I'm glad that we're putting a flag in right now saying that no. South Asians are doing this right now.

Sandeep Parikh: 9:06

That's right. This is our thing. We are the ones saying, You could take yoga and chai lattes from us, from our cold dead hands. But you're not going to take repurposing cow dung and turning it into energy, goddammit.

Omar Najam: 9:15

no. How you feelin about this? How you feelin about Poo Punk?

Sandeep Parikh: 9:19

Hey, look, I think it's brilliant, The Indian government is promoting biogas production to reduce natural gas imports. so it's, led to the development of large scale biogas plants. I think any way that you can figure out how to use waste and turn it into something positive, as long as it's not, causing more harmful waste. I think that's the challenge right is figuring that piece out. We got to figure something out because the population is not really decreasing over there in India, no. Yeah, no.

Omar Najam: 9:43

But yeah, I give this thumbs up. I love this. I'm in. Do you mind if I, change gears a little bit over to music please? Charli XCX just released the new album Brat. Do you know who Charli XCX is?

Sandeep Parikh: 9:55

Yeah. let me ask this question. Uhhuh, who is Charli xx ? That's how old I am. I don't know. the, I don't know their music. I'm so sorry. I see. I'm that

Omar Najam: 10:06

guy. Charli XCX is a great, pop musician, incredible musician. And we just learned recently, that Charli XCX is actually half Desi. Okay. So now I have to learn who this, I got to start

Sandeep Parikh: 10:20

listening

Omar Najam: 10:20

to

Sandeep Parikh: 10:20

their music basically.

Omar Najam: 10:22

She's done music with Mike Snow. She's done music with, Troye Sivan as well as, many others. I actually saw Charli XCX in concert, at a Mike Snow Concert. Oh, you don't trust these? You don't trust

Sandeep Parikh: 10:33

no, it's not that I don't trust them, I just don't know any of this music. I'm so sorry. I love classic rock, that's me. Fleetwood Mac?

Omar Najam: 10:43

yeah. she's like Fleetwood Mac in the sense that Fleetwood Mac also does music? Does that help?

Sandeep Parikh: 10:48

Oh my god, that helps so much. Thank you for that comparison. I really needed that.

Omar Najam: 10:54

Charli grew up with an Indian mother and a white father, experiencing two distinct cultural worlds. She felt like she didn't fit into either her Indian or white cultural identity, and also faced a ton of jokes, like a lot of us have, when she went to corner shops because of, limited media representation of, South Asian characters. She was also bullied of course for a lot of her South Asian features, but she now embraces the features she was once teased for and celebrates her unique identity. This is rad. This is a huge win for us This is a huge win for us

Sandeep Parikh: 11:23

So this is like a recent discovery or just like she's just recently gotten popular and now we're... No she's been... Has been South Asian the whole time. Is that what?

Omar Najam: 11:36

Big update. No. she's been half South Asian the entire time, on her mother's side. And and her music's been blasted for a near, near a little decade here, Sandeep. A decade?

Sandeep Parikh: 11:45

Oh man. Yeah. This is

Omar Najam: 11:46

a good time for you to, this is a good time for you to hop on. You can start with maybe the song in 1999 if you so want.

Sandeep Parikh: 11:52

Chat's pretty excited. I'm sure, I've heard the songs. Are you? I just, I haven't, probably, I, I assume. They're played in like cool,

Omar Najam: 11:58

fun, popular places. Oh, cool places? So maybe you haven't.

Sandeep Parikh: 12:01

That's possible I haven't, yeah. Wait, do they play, do they blast them at Chuck E Cheese? I mean listen, I'm in L. A. So there are some like hip, places to bring five year olds. with a lot of hipster parents and stuff. Yeah. yeah, like I told you the story right of the time that we went to this Elves Fair in Pasadena And then like I was like, there's a bunch of bands playing on stage and at one point I was like wow It's a really good Imagine Dragons cover like that someone's doing and then another parent like tapped me on the shoulder was like "That's actually the lead singer from Imagine Dragons. His kid goes here" I was like, oh I live in LA. Yep, that makes sense That's so wild. anyway, so do you have any like personal connection to Charli other than, knowing Her music and being able to slam me. Yeah.

Omar Najam: 12:47

I won tickets to go see Mike Snow one time and then I, okay. I went and, Charli XCX just like hopped outta nowhere and my brain melted. I was so excited. oh, nice. I feel like she's a personal friend, not to stoke Parasocial.

Sandeep Parikh: 13:01

So you were already into her music? Yeah. are you then, now, did you know that she was part South Asian before this or is this like new to you? I didn't.

Omar Najam: 13:08

So I will be going to my cousin's wedding this summer and it's gonna yeah if I can if I have any influence in The playlist it's gonna be all Charli XCX

Sandeep Parikh: 13:18

Amazing.

Omar Najam: 13:19

That's my goal.

Sandeep Parikh: 13:19

Okay,

Omar Najam: 13:20

that's my goal Chicago family. I'm coming for you

Sandeep Parikh: 13:24

Pretty cool. All right. Now for our final story, how much did you spend to make that? Okay. So there is a movie that's coming out in India called Kalki 2898 AD.

Omar Najam: 13:37

Okay. And

Sandeep Parikh: 13:38

so can you, so this is one of the most expensive Indian films ever. Can you guess what its budget is without looking at the notes?

Omar Najam: 13:47

Okay. One of the most expensive Indian films, not looking at the notes. Could you give me a sense of what the second most expensive Indian film was, or would that be cheating? Okay,

Sandeep Parikh: 13:57

so, yeah. I think I can help you there. So, Triple

Omar Najam: 13:59

R.

Sandeep Parikh: 13:59

Saw, Triple R?

Omar Najam: 14:00

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah,

Sandeep Parikh: 14:02

yeah. was, up there. 65.8 million. Which honestly seems low to me. It's amazing that they made that movie for 65.

Omar Najam: 14:11

8 million dollars. They made that for 65.8 million dollars? Yeah, it's incredible. All those

Sandeep Parikh: 14:14

tigers? Yeah. Can you imagine all those tiger trainers? I know it was all CG. Okay. So what do you think?

Omar Najam: 14:23

They still have to train them. I'm gonna go with 68. 68 million dollars. 68 million dollars.

Sandeep Parikh: 14:30

Okay, close. It's estimated at 72 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive Indian films. yeah. So they're targeting international audiences, they're featuring these top actors, and they're just like going for broke. It's a big sci fi film. which is pretty exciting. it's it, a dystopian post catastrophic world with scarce resources type movie Which I think is like not something that and listen I'm not a Bollywood buff at all by any stretch of the imagination But feels like it's this is like newish territory for them to be tackling. It's like a

Omar Najam: 15:00

Walking

Sandeep Parikh: 15:01

Dead sort of situation? I guess? essentially, Kalki is the tenth incarnation of Vishnu. Okay. who appears at the end of these, cycles, the Kali Yuga. Which is supposed to be the darkest period in history. And, I think, so that, that happens. Basically, there's, one city that remains in this post catastrophic world. and there's, a wealthy class, the "Complex" they're called, who lives in a massive mega city structure above, above that city and those outside the city face these harsh realities and they're trying to get into the city kind of a thing. That's like the vibe of it. Okay So it's an Elysium yeah type thing situation Amitabh Bachchan is in it and it's playing Oh, this is crazy a character by the name of Ashwathama, which is Ash my character in DesiQuest was Ashwathama ash just me and Amitabh Bachchan. No big deal

Omar Najam: 15:57

Do you think we could maybe get like a sponsorship as like we were like viral marketing for this film

Sandeep Parikh: 16:02

I'm sure me and Amitabh can do like a collab Yeah. on Instagram. Yeah. to like, just to co-promote, like we can help them a little bit with our DesiQuest audience and you could

Omar Najam: 16:11

call

Sandeep Parikh: 16:12

ashes. I'm saying to

Omar Najam: 16:12

ashes, dust to dust.

Sandeep Parikh: 16:14

Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Perfect. I think, yeah. I'll DM them. I'll slide into his DMs.. Omar Najam: But So this is the highest budget Indian cinema movie. That's right.

Omar Najam: 16:29

That's right. I'll go see it.

Sandeep Parikh: 16:31

Yeah. I hope it rocks. We're looking forward to that and maybe that leads us right into our Chakra check in.

Omar Najam: 16:40

Today We are going to be talking about, blockbusters. It's, you're looking for a place with air conditioning. maybe it's, it's late and you want to watch some midnight movies or something like that. you're checking out the films, you're checking out the cinema and we are both involved, in the filmmaking industry And so we thought we would just chat with each other a little bit about it. Sandeep, let me do a little chakra check-in. And how are you feeling about movies these days?

Sandeep Parikh: 17:05

good question. I feel a little generally sad, I guess, about, the state of the film industry. I watched this like TikTok the other day where it was like one of those sketches where the same guy does both sides of the sketch. and he was like, Hey, I'm so excited about the movies this year, 2024. and he's Oh yeah, cause everything's a sequel and a prequel. Oh, what are you talking about? And he just starts to list every single movie that came out and is going to come out this year, decided to come out, and literally he's like sequel, prequel, sequel, remake, prequel, sequel, remake. And it is getting a little bit, tough to see something truly original out there. and hard to get excited about making it out to theaters for me personally. And, you're seeing it, I think, in the box office in general. Furiosa didn't do very well, but I think there was Had a little bit of a comeback, like Inside Out 2 I think did pretty well, or is doing well. Inside Out

Omar Najam: 17:56

2 is doing, yeah, is doing some numbers right now.

Sandeep Parikh: 17:58

But I was just, I don't know, I was reflecting on it because I was hanging out with my nephew who's, he's 29. Cool. which I consider very young. And, so he's seen some films, he's a lawyer now, and we were just like talking about lawyer movies, and I was like, oh, yeah, like Few Good Men's amazing, and he's oh, I haven't seen that, and I was like, oh my gosh, I have to show you A Few Good Men, this is my favorite thing about having a nephew that's we have a 15 year age gap, so like I watched Wayne's World with him again when he was like 12 or something, and he like freaking died laughing at every joke, which was just, it was fun to relive with, him and so same thing with A Few Good Men and I was reflecting on I believe it was number one in the box office the week that it came out And I'm like, there's no way they're making this movie right now there's no way that movie is getting a big release. Maybe getting made and put on a streamer, but I feel like I don't know Just it just made me wistful and nostalgic for a simpler time. Yeah! what do you think?

Omar Najam: 18:56

I feel very. Similarly, in the grand scheme of things, where I am like, and I, work on comic book stuff and everything. so I'm not here to be like down with all like popular media or anything like that in any way. But I really do miss that sense of you don't know what you're gonna get. I think this has been the biggest thing for me and, especially coming from like being a huge old nerd is I feel like there's been a shift where we come in with a preconceived notion of what something should be. And it's like arms crossed, impress us. And I think that Max, or, Fury Road, Mad Max Fury Road, even though it is a sequel, That, I think, was maybe Yes, a prequel?

Sandeep Parikh: 19:44

When's it Yeah, it's supposed to be When's it take place on a timeline? It's about Oh, no, sorry. You said Fury Road. Never mind. Oh,

Omar Najam: 19:49

yeah. I was

Sandeep Parikh: 19:50

thinking of Furiosa. Sorry.

Omar Najam: 19:51

that was one where, I It might be And I might be off. There might be another one that's come out recently, and I'm forgetting, and I apologize, but It was the last I think like everyone I talked to just went in when I have no idea what this is going to be. Yeah. And then had a great time.

Sandeep Parikh: 20:06

I went stoned and sat alone and sat in the front row and had the best time of my life.

Omar Najam: 20:11

What an absolute dream. Yeah. Yeah. Versus like, how's this going to connect to this? How's this going to do this? You're already thinking so much. And I feel like my favorite thing about going to the theater is, is you go in and it's like a pupa phase, like you you're this little caterpillar and you just become goo and you come out as a butterfly. And it's really nice to go in and just feel like immediately feel things in theater. And when it is a lot of connective prequels and sequels and all these franchise things, and how is this going to set up Dom Toretto to do something else? You're very conscious of everything happening. And I feel like it's not as enjoyable. And as from a filmmaking standpoint, I just want to do some weird stuff and I want to do like a clerks and I don't want people to be like, How many, 39 Easter eggs in this movie kind of thing. You're like, no, just have a good time with these scumbags a little bit, go back to that gritty 90s sort of vibe.

Sandeep Parikh: 21:00

So where are you at in your filmmaking journey? Cause I know. That was always the goal, right? Coming out here and directing.

Omar Najam: 21:10

okay. gloves off. Let's talk a little bit. I've gotten to direct a couple of music videos. I directed some short films along with friend of the show Kausar Mohammed. in, in one of them, they've gone down to festivals and stuff like that. I run a festival every year for 13 days, 13 shorts where people can submit their films. so I love filmmaking and I love doing shorts. For features. It's felt a little weird directing wise because. I feel like every time someone makes a movie that's really cool, except for Damien Chazelle, they're like, okay, great. Now you're going to go make Street Fighter. And you're like, Oh, but that person's so they just did such a creative, cool horror film. like what's the next, like what's the Jordan Peele kind of thing of what's their next weird little horror film.

Sandeep Parikh: 21:56

The age of the auteur is gone by somewhat the wayside. Jordan Peele may be one of the exceptions, in a way, nowadays, but

Omar Najam: 22:04

No, and I don't, I don't necessarily mean this in The auteur being like i'm the best i'm a god on set everyone respect me. But in terms of getting to have a body of like creative work that you're like, oh I just get to do this. Do you feel like encouraged that it's a lot of IPs in the mix? I personally feel discouraged because I feel like there's a black hole swirling that's going to pull anything you do into like "Okay, just go now do this studio project."

Sandeep Parikh: 22:29

Yeah. I dunno, that's to me, it seems like a, like a good problem to have in a weird way in terms of like my career, like I would be like, I'd love to be insulted by being offered Mortal Kombat or something,

Everyone: 22:42

or

Sandeep Parikh: 22:42

Thundercats. so I don't know. I think it's that doesn't necessarily discourage me specifically to see that, that's what they go on to do as opposed to. just like this, the state of investment in films is it's, it seems really challenging to try to get to raise anything to make your movie, is like more the scary part or the discouraging part is that you really do. It seems like maybe you have to go back to the days that, the Coen brothers, how they made their first film or Sam Raimi and how he made his first film just going to like dentists and like people like that are like, Hey, we still love movies, right? And you get like mission aligned on a thing that you really care about, Hey, this is a movie that means a lot to me and no one's making this thing. And I think it will mean a lot to you too, even though it might be more of a niche audience, whether it's like a South Asian film or something that like really speaks to you. And that's what, Rekha and I are trying to put together is this movie that speaks to us from a first generation point of view or First or second generation if we can ever agree on to what to call it, but sons and daughters of immigrants generation Yeah, and so it's like this, you know making something that feels like it's necessary for me to tell this story. I feel like the right person to help Rekha tell this story. If that makes sense. I'm like, just extremely excited about trying to make that happen. And I feel a conviction about that film in a way that I haven't felt about something in a long time. I'm not looking down the road beyond just trying to get this film made. to go back to your original question, I'm not thinking about oh, no, if this is successful, am I gonna be forced to make a bunch of schlock after this or something? I'm just like, let's just tell this story and make it great and then hopefully find the other folks out there that feel You know, the core emotion that we're trying to describe in this film, which is like somewhat alienated about our culture or like what, how to define our specific culture as first, second generation, humans. so I think that is what I'm trying to focus on and quieting the noise, of the impossibility of the task, to go out and raise that money to make the movie. is it discouraging to see that the only things that really then, it seems like the only path forward from there is to make, you know, you go from Jojo Rabbit to making like a Thor film that everyone shits on you for? Like, I almost in some way was like, yeah, I would be so lucky, I think.

Omar Najam: 25:17

I think that really resonates with me of we'll quiet that noise. Like all of that other discourse and discussion of who's selling what and what's Hasbro doing and, will this just be like, will your creative endeavors eventually just put you at, to make like a Transformers film, which financially great, but do you have stories to tell that whatever,

Sandeep Parikh: 25:34

You're always gonna have to satisfy the, capitalistic gods, out here, in some way, shape, or form. Yeah, whether it's, doing branded content, or, we got sponsors on this show, or, doing some, asking our fans to, unless our fans are gonna grow by the millions, which we hope, and then we don't have to answer to anybody else, but them, that's amazing that's the dream. That's the absolute dream and why we're pursuing it. But, I don't know that, that you can avoid it,

Omar Najam: 26:02

entirely. I think pushing that noise out is really great And it's also I do think that it is like, it is champagne problems to a certain extent because it's like, we're still, it's still revolutionary. That like you and Rehka are making a movie that's representing this viewpoint that's not like the cartoonish, like two thousands like South Asian movie. that's stereotypes and stuff and this is what it's like to be with this family. it's a very beautiful rooted emotional, personal story that like, yeah, it's got like a little

Sandeep Parikh: 26:32

sci-fi kind of twist to it, which I love. And you can do it your way, with film, or at least I still want to pursue doing it our way in that medium. Like that still is the like brass ring for me or, so I'm still gunning for it. Maybe that's crazy in a world where the film industry seems to be somewhat collapsing, but there is, someone in chat did mention that indie films are having a real renaissance right now that it's been gas this year as they, they put it. there's still great stuff that gets made, it's just I think you have to be really clever about how to pursue, so where are you at? you got something cooking, or

Omar Najam: 27:07

I have, some TV stuff going, so I feel like a lot of my feature stuff has been pushed to the side a little bit to focus on that, especially because it is we, like you said, we do need to like, make money. I love television. I love like in a room when everyone is like respecting each other and throwing out ideas and when everything falls apart at four o'clock and you're just like, we've got nothing on the board. And then an hour later, when you're wrapping at five, if you're in a room that, wraps at five, which is great. But if around five o'clock, it's just wait a second. I might have an idea that can wrap this all together and it's you've done the impossible and every day you do the Impossible and everyone's got each other's back. It's like my favorite parts of improv and so i've really been enjoying that and i'm excited to take that into film. But, having heard what you're saying, you know what, after this, let me pull up the old final draft and start typing out something that, I can, I've got a, I've got a Canon, I've got a Canon 60D, just jump into a car, make a little mockumentary that's got some heart to it, cut it together. And then, and then, see if we can rent out a theater or something for a couple bucks in LA somewhere and just show it, even just to have that theatrical fun experience, and where something is okay, everyone, we're going to put our phones away for an hour and, 20 minutes and watch this silly nonsense that we made and have some fun with it and maybe shed some tears along the way, if it's good.

Sandeep Parikh: 28:28

Yeah, man, I think, you spoke to a little bit about the collaborative nature. It may also just be timing for me, pandemic, the strikes, having a really, young kid, the first five years of his life. And I just terribly miss the, onset vibes. it got a little bit of it with Desi Quest, but it's been a while since I've run a show or. Or shot something really with the, a larger crew and, that energy. There's nothing like that, where there's 50 people, 50 artists, and buzzing entrepreneurs, coming together to try to make this singular art piece. Yeah. And then like your job as. As a director, is I think I see what the art piece wants to be, and so I'm just, my sole job is to try to communicate that to the actual artists, whether they're actors, set dressers, hair and makeup, the lighting professionals all along the way, This is what I think the art wants to be yeah, can you help me with your insane talents to actually produce that? Or even help me put it into words and so I can communicate it to everybody else too and that like constant dialogue about Every scene, every shot, but also the overarching story and keeping it all together is such a thrill for me. yeah, it's such a joy. And, so it's almost like I'm just chasing that even more than the like accolades or what comes after it. It's I just, So it's both. It's two things. It's one, it's the It is the story that I feel like is, hasn't been told as much as it needs to be. And then it's the, just for, selfishly, that experience of of being in, the man in the arena kind of vibe, like in the game. and, that's yeah. Chasing that hit.

Omar Najam: 30:24

There is a feeling if you've ever, had the pleasure of getting to work on a fun and respectful, production, there's a feeling. When you film something and then you're like, all right, let's watch it back really quickly and you all gather around, video village or the tiny viewfinder, you know, on the camcorder you're using, whatever level of production it is, and when you see that you all did, you Gather ye

Sandeep Parikh: 30:48

round my iPhone 14.

Omar Najam: 30:52

When you. Watch it back and it's exactly what you all wanted and whether that's like what you saw in your mind with quotation marks Or it's the feeling you're going for or there is a perfect like flutter from the you know The costume department's like god that cape caught the air exactly as I was hoping it would Or lighting or hair is just like this. This is exactly the thing that's communicating this emotion It's going to evoke this emotion in the audience. There is no Feeling like that How righteous it is. And for me as a director, I love when a spontaneous emotion is caught on camera and you just see like it's a little like twitch in the eye or just someone just not taking a breath because they're holding it in and they don't want to say what's on their mind. Something like that. There is no better feeling than that when you see it, when you're watching it back and everyone's around. And it's just this moment we get to turn to everybody and say, Hey everyone, you're very good. Everyone's very good. This is very good and you're

Sandeep Parikh: 31:49

all very good at

Omar Najam: 31:49

this.

Sandeep Parikh: 31:50

I'm gonna bring up a little few good men trivia right here.

Omar Najam: 31:53

here we go.

Sandeep Parikh: 31:54

Cause of course I just watched it and looked it up recently. There's a moment in the movie where, Tom Cruise's character, is, it's like right before the big final, speech from Jack, him and Jack Nicholson going toe to toe in the final scene, and he like, he's like talking about Jack Nicholson's character to his legal team, And he's we got to get this guy like he's up there with he's I sit 300 feet from, these Cubans who want to kill me. And like he does a Jack Nicholson impression in that moment. And it's just like funny moment. Apparently that was not intended. Like it was a moment where yeah. He had just improvised like the line was there but he had decided to do it in Jack Nicholson's voice and didn't tell anybody he's gonna do that and The actual reactions from like Demi Moore and Kevin Pollak His opposites like you could see them like almost break but also be surprised by it and it's this like cute thing and it's this real thing that that happened in that moment that we get to live and relive, as I've seen that movie 15 times, honestly, I love that film. and I love that shit. I love that shit. And I live for it. And it's I would rather get that than, the craziest CG battle, between, in, in GoBots 4, The bots finally go. Yeah. The bots went, I believe is the name of that, sequel. I don't know. I think, I, to all the filmmakers out there still pushing, still making it happen, I Thank God for you.

Omar Najam: 33:23

yeah, it is that dream and protecting that spark, which I feel like is not just locked to set. I feel like it's that spark that everyone talks about, when, when people are just like, this is my, you were saying this is a moment that affected you. It was an improvised moment and it was. Actors, and camera people, and, hair, and lighting, and sound, everyone kind of working together to, that had this spontaneous, fun little moment, and it's stuck with you so much. I feel like that's really important, so I would love to not just parrot what Sandeep just said, but also really underline it as deeply as I can. My dad did say one thing, which I think really stuck with me. And this is, I'm very much like money stuff, I don't, that's not a language I speak. I don't think that, value is tied to wealth. but my dad did say something, which if you were to say, take the money out of it and just say people buy tickets and tickets are attention and tickets are people leaving their house to go do something.

Sandeep Parikh: 34:19

Right.

Omar Najam: 34:20

Okay. He, one time said, there is no other industry where people make a billion dollars on a Friday night, regularly throughout the year. And that's, that does put it in perspective. I know we're talking about smaller projects and stuff, but if we're to say attention, there is no other industry. maybe games, I would say in terms of purchasing and downloads. like Games now, for sure. Yeah, games now, for sure. But games,

Sandeep Parikh: 34:47

the, I know I do love that concept. that certainly was definitely true when we were, maybe 15 ish, 20 years ago for sure. the one big blocks blockbuster movie I set, I got to visit was, star, the second Star Trek of the new, yeah. Yeah. The Chris Pine. Universe. The Wrath of Khan?

Omar Najam: 35:05

Yeah.

Sandeep Parikh: 35:06

And it was in, it was downtown LA, around Grand Street. that whole thing. area, and they just took this, 5x10 block grid and turned it into a tiny town. Yeah. And it was a, it was an absolute, working village with its own transpo stations throughout, where first team was shooting here, second team's shooting here, you can go get crafty over here, you can, this is where, whatever, the green room is, blah, blah, they're just Yeah. But it was, like, thr It just was a buzzing city within the city, and to shoot about 30 seconds of footage for a day, right? it was like, it was just incredible to witness. how many people have to come together to, to create these great cinematic moments. Yeah.

Omar Najam: 35:55

let's, if I may wrap it up, if I may conclude for myself personally, I started at a place at the top and also I would like to clarify, I do know that it's Star Trek Into the darkness, but it is Wrath of Khan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. if I may, I started off being like, I'm a little discouraged. I'm a little this... In this conversation. And I've said a couple of times, I am encouraged. And I would like to share that encouraged feeling, that optimism with everyone, go out there and make collaborative stories with people, we play a lot of D and D together. we do a lot of this kind of stuff, there's also like multiplayer games and everything. and I know, and tell stories together in whatever format and form you can. And I think that spontaneous collaborative art construction and sharing that immediate sense of sharing is so important. And. I am coming away from this conversation saying, I don't want to let people win by saying that's not what's important that it's the IP or this thing that's this unrelated to all the humans working on it together that like to me, this conversation has reminded me how important it is to just grab a camera. Go out into the woods with a couple friends and be like, Let's just make up a monster. And let's just do this because it's fun and it feels good and we like it. And this is a good time. I'm digging this conversation.

Sandeep Parikh: 37:21

Alright, you heard it here. Omar is, dedicating himself to making a movie. Yeah, GoBots in the Forest. Let's go. GoBots in the Forest. Awesome. Alright, I think that was a great place to land the Chakra check in. So let's, do a quick Auntie vs Auntie Watch: 2024. So here we are, this is our segment where we track the 2024 US presidential election, but in our own way, because we, here's what we care about. We want to see how close we are to achieving a presidential race between Democratic auntie. Kamala Harris and Republican auntie Nikki Haley, because reminder just like Charli XCXC XCXXX XCXC Okay, sorry now I totally now I'm a true uncle Anyway Okay, they're both part Indian so hence they are technically really aunties so We got the first presidential debate Of 2024 coming up this week. that's, I think, we'll see what happens there. how are you feeling? Are you excited? Are you gonna watch? Are you gonna be glued to your TV? Are you gonna watch live or are you gonna just try to catch clips afterwards? What's your,

Omar Najam: 38:37

No,

Sandeep Parikh: 38:38

I'll

Omar Najam: 38:38

I'll

Sandeep Parikh: 38:38

watch live. I'll watch live. How about you? You excited? Do you have any drinking games? what are you

Omar Najam: 38:44

I mean, it, yeah, I don't want to make any jokes on the internet about the drinking game that I play for the debate, but it, it would help. With the stress levels of watching the debate, I'll say that much.

Sandeep Parikh: 38:58

Gosh, I'm very anxious about it. I do feel like we'll have a better update number for maybe post that debate. If they both do as poorly as the other side guarantees that they will do, if that makes sense?

Omar Najam: 39:13

There's a chance that the debate will go so badly That America will say, you know what? ABCD is correct. We should just switch over to Auntie vs. Auntie Watch 2024.

Sandeep Parikh: 39:25

there's a world. Yeah. There's a world in which. so in Biden's camp they're saying the president will have less time for debate prep than four years ago, given his day job. Yeah. Being president. So prep will largely be confined to immediately prior. And then in Trump's camp, this is fun. He is not planning to hold a formal debate practice. Yes, and said he has reportedly held a series of quote policy discussions to refresh himself on the issues. So they're gonna just wing it Which I don't know I just I don't know.

Omar Najam: 39:57

Let me ask you a quick question. Donald Trump is known for his clever nicknames of people that Biden.

Sandeep Parikh: 40:05

I don't know. What's the new one? Oh, sorry. Jake Tapper

Omar Najam: 40:08

will be one of the moderators on the debate. What do you think Trump's nickname for Jake Tapper is? Oh, joke.

Sandeep Parikh: 40:17

Joke, tapper, or, that's pretty good. I some, sometimes he does like, he does like weird, like A to C ones, where he is? like tapper. Gore is tipper. Gore is you're just like, wait, what? Is that a, yeah. I don't know. What is

Omar Najam: 40:33

it? Tapper. Tapper, canoe two. Yeah. taper. Hardly

Sandeep Parikh: 40:36

even know her.

Omar Najam: 40:38

Yeah, that's really good. That stuff, that feels

Sandeep Parikh: 40:40

like it would be his, yeah.

Omar Najam: 40:44

How about, from Jake Tapper to Fake Tapper, how you feeling about that? Oh,

Sandeep Parikh: 40:49

I feel stupid that I didn't think of that. That's obvious. Oh god. So dumb. So dumb. Cause fake news. Yeah,

Omar Najam: 41:00

And Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted CBS, CBS News invitation to debate Trump's vice presidential pick.

Sandeep Parikh: 41:10

Is there a world in which it's still, Is Nikki Haley in her, her, recent, campaign to grovel to Trump working out in her favor towards, we,

Omar Najam: 41:22

I don't, I personally haven't seen, any updates. If anyone has anything to the contrary, let me know. I don't think, I've heard some other names floated that weren't Nikki Haley's, do you think Nikki Haley going up against Kamala Harris puts our Auntie vs. Auntie watch, and this is all hypothetical, we haven't given a number yet, but would that raise our numbers or would that lower them?

Sandeep Parikh: 41:41

Yeah, I think if you somehow, if, Nikki gets chosen as the vice president. Yeah for sure that raises numbers are our numbers are up on Auntie vs Auntie so maybe no change right now.

Omar Najam: 41:50

No, I think unchanged currently We're at 34%. Because it was to equal

Sandeep Parikh: 41:55

the number of the indictments. Remember? Yes. It was the number of indictments.

Omar Najam: 41:58

We matched that. It was a happy episode. The only update we have for all of you is that the two presidential candidates are not putting that much time into their debate. That's right. Should we

Sandeep Parikh: 42:09

go up 1%? 35?

Omar Najam: 42:12

Yeah, 35. 35%.

Sandeep Parikh: 42:15

Alright, Auntie vs. Auntie Watch is now complete. 35%. Alright, shall we jump into our ABCD game?

Omar Najam: 42:27

I think we should.

Delvan Neville: 42:28

Alright, the game this week is A Doctor Strangelove Quiz Odyssey, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Kubrick Trivia.

Sandeep Parikh: 42:36

are you do you know a lot of kubrick stuff? Are you am

Omar Najam: 42:39

I a fan of stan's work? Oh, sorry. We're on a first name basis. Wow me and stan kubrick my ass kicked Okay. yeah. Yeah, we'll see what I went to the LACMA exhibit. 17 years ago.

Sandeep Parikh: 42:50

I went to that too Okay

Omar Najam: 42:52

So we might be on equal footing.

Sandeep Parikh: 42:55

Okay. All right. That was I mean it was cool to see the notes You Yeah, like his notes written on like full metal jacket scripts and stuff And you're like and he's change it like, like crossing out dialogue and shit and you're just like that's cool

Omar Najam: 43:07

They got upset when I wrote my notes down on that script. I got kicked out

Sandeep Parikh: 43:12

Yeah, like I disagree stan. This would have been a better line Love omar

Delvan Neville: 43:19

All right, you're familiar with how this sort of thing works We're gonna have a number of trivia questions for you to answer and if you get it correct you get a point. Whoever has the most points when we're done, Wins, and becomes the host next episode. Great. The loser has to give a one minute Academy Award concession speech

Omar Najam: 43:35

a concession

Sandeep Parikh: 43:36

in Academy

Omar Najam: 43:37

concession speech,

Sandeep Parikh: 43:38

yeah,

Omar Najam: 43:39

Great

Delvan Neville: 43:41

all right first up. Prior to directing his iconic films Kubrick began work as a photographer in 1945 at age 17 yeah taking photos of New Yorkers and their everyday life What magazine did he work for?

Sandeep Parikh: 43:54

Your

Delvan Neville: 43:54

options are. Yeah. 1) Look. Okay. 2) Body + Soul. 3) Future Life. 4) Hound & Horn.

Omar Najam: 44:06

I'm gonna go with one, look. I think it's look two. We got two? Okay, I'll change. Correct answers.

Sandeep Parikh: 44:15

Oh! I think I fucking remember that from the exhibit.

Omar Najam: 44:17

I think I remember from the exhibit too.

Sandeep Parikh: 44:20

Alright, let's go, bring it on. Maybe I know more. This is what two

Omar Najam: 44:24

people trained exactly the same have to fight and they're just doing the same chop to each other. Do you know what I mean?

Delvan Neville: 44:32

Yep. Alright, next up, number two. Number two. Kubrick's directorial debut was an anti war film, with a production crew of only 15 individuals. Although the film is not about a particular conflict, it was made during the Korean War. Name the movie. Your options are 1. All Quiet on the Western Front 2. The Killing 3. Fear and Desire or 4. Johnny Got His Gun

Omar Najam: 45:02

I should know this. I feel like The Killing is in there, but I think that was All

Sandeep Parikh: 45:09

Quiet was him? Was that him? Wasn't that a new movie? Or is that a remake?

Omar Najam: 45:16

Oh god. there was a new, there was a new one with that title, I will say. Oh shit. I'm gonna say three. I'm gonna say number three. What was

Delvan Neville: 45:26

number three? Oh, I was going with three. Fear and Desire.

Omar Najam: 45:29

I think Fear and desire. So four is

Delvan Neville: 45:30

two.

Omar Najam: 45:31

Two is the

Delvan Neville: 45:32

killing.

Omar Najam: 45:33

God dammit. It might be the killing

Delvan Neville: 45:34

guy. You guys are just named the movie and I'll fill in number. The number four, you the important, he's getting movie, right?

Sandeep Parikh: 45:38

all right, what was your four? What was the fourth one?

Delvan Neville: 45:41

Four is Johnny Gut His Gun.

Sandeep Parikh: 45:44

I'll go with the killing. I'll go with Omar's first instinct. So if I'm right, it'll hurt his feelings.

Delvan Neville: 45:48

God dammit. Omar, you are correct. It is Fear and Desire.

Sandeep Parikh: 45:55

Way to throw me off. You know where I remember that from Sandeep,

Omar Najam: 46:01

the LACMA museum. I

Sandeep Parikh: 46:05

skipped that part. I had to go to the bathroom.

Omar Najam: 46:07

Oh, yeah, that's how that works.

Sandeep Parikh: 46:10

Yeah. Yep. I was like, not this part of the exhibit. I got to go pee. All right. What's next.

Delvan Neville: 46:17

All right. Number three is Kubrick was hired by paramount pictures to help direct One-Eyed Jacks. However, he was fired by what main director of the film, who also happened to be one of the world's most famous actors? Is it 1. Al Pacino 2. James Dean 3. Robert Duvall or 4. Marlon Brando?

Sandeep Parikh: 46:41

I don't know, man. I'll I'm gonna go I'm gonna go Marlon Brando.

Omar Najam: 46:47

I'm going Robert

Delvan Neville: 46:48

Duvall. Sandeep you are correct, it is Marlon Brando. Oh my god. Marlon Brando directed just one film. It was originally intended to be a Stanley Kubrick production. With Sam Peckinpah writing the screenplay.

Sandeep Parikh: 47:04

Sam Peckinpah

Delvan Neville: 47:05

wrote it.

Sandeep Parikh: 47:06

I just went for an older actor. I was like an older actor from that time period. Couldn't be James Dean cause I feel like he died too young. He did. He did. That's it. That's, that was my whole logic. Marlon Brando dismissed

Delvan Neville: 47:19

both Kubrick and Peckinpah in pre production. So neither of them actually were on there. It was just Marlon. Wow.

Omar Najam: 47:25

that explains it. Not, did you know that Marlon Brando had the lines from Superman, like on the baby when he's like lifting Kal El in the sky, like baby Kal El. And he's he just wrote the lines

Sandeep Parikh: 47:36

on the

Omar Najam: 47:36

baby. I think it's like, it was like on a cradle or something, but like the lines were near the baby, so he could look at the baby and just say the lines.

Sandeep Parikh: 47:43

Amazing.

Omar Najam: 47:44

Why not?

Sandeep Parikh: 47:46

All right, except for the Shining, all

Delvan Neville: 47:49

of Kubrick's films were nominated for an Oscar. However, only 2001, A Space Odyssey, won an Academy Award. What award did he win? Your options are 1. Best Picture. Got 2. Best visual effects 3. Best Director and 4. Best Adapted Screenplay

Sandeep Parikh: 48:10

Oh, I want to say okay. Oh, wow This is tough Delvan. I'm gonna go with best. I'm gonna go with best visual effects

Delvan Neville: 48:23

best visual effects for Sandeep I feel like I have

Sandeep Parikh: 48:25

that back then. No, I'm gonna take that back. I'm gonna go right

Omar Najam: 48:28

back in a way Best animated feature.

Sandeep Parikh: 48:34

Best animated short? fuck. I'm gonna go with, what are you gonna go with?

Omar Najam: 48:40

I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go adapted, I'm gonna go adapted screenplay. Interesting.

Sandeep Parikh: 48:46

I'll go director. Though I feel like he didn't win best director. I'm gonna go director.

Delvan Neville: 48:50

No. I'm sorry. It was in fact, It

Sandeep Parikh: 48:53

was visual effects? Best

Delvan Neville: 48:54

visual effects. Fuck. Yep.

Sandeep Parikh: 48:58

I'm so sorry. I overthought it. I overthought it.

Delvan Neville: 49:02

Alright, this is the last one we got for you, unless somehow you manage to tie it up and we have to go to overtime. Lord of the Rings? Wait, what is it right now? Is it

Omar Najam: 49:08

2 2? 2 2. Okay. As he would want it.

Delvan Neville: 49:13

if you can break it right now, it's game over, and if you can't break it, we have to go to overtime. Okay. And you don't want to do that. These only get worse if you go to overtime. Kubrick declined an invitation from what famed band? To direct a cinematic version of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels, in which the band would also appear. I absolutely know this. Shit. This seems like you have this. Is it 1. The Doors, 2. The Beatles, 3. The Who, or 4. The Rolling Stones?

Omar Najam: 49:45

Wait, I might not know this. I thought it was someone else. I thought it was Led Zeppelin. Is that your final answer Omar? Did I? No, hold on, no, because that wasn't one of the options. Because that wasn't one of the options. The who? The Beatles. This sounds like something

Delvan Neville: 50:00

the

Sandeep Parikh: 50:01

Beatles would do. The Doors? And what was the last one?

Delvan Neville: 50:05

The Rolling Stones.

Sandeep Parikh: 50:06

The Stones? Who the fuck? Which one of these bands would have had the rights to

Omar Najam: 50:17

I thought you'd have this in the bag. It's not a Charli XCX question, Sandeep.

Sandeep Parikh: 50:21

I know, it's about old things. I'm going Beatles. Not that old, that's the problem. I'm going Beatles. I don't know why for some reason I want to go the who, so I'm not

Omar Najam: 50:37

if you get this right, I'll be I think I'm wrong.

Delvan Neville: 50:38

Upset. Okay, so it's the who for Sandeep versus the Beatles for Omar. Final answers. Yeah. This is for everything in, I'm locked in.

Sandeep Parikh: 50:46

Yeah, let's just go.

Delvan Neville: 50:50

The correct answer is the Beatles. They told before the film rights in the 1960s.'cause they all loved the books as a kid and they wanted to stand to direct. They planned all star on the film. Let's see, we're all gonna star Frodo or something like that?

Sandeep Parikh: 51:05

Oh my gosh. We'll go to Goodfellow 3 and back to Mordor. Alright, so let's just really quickly cast it. Yeah. Alright, so Paul. So Paul's not Frodo. I feel like John's Frodo, right? Is John Frodo? Oh,

Omar Najam: 51:20

that's I would put John as Legolas, personally. John's

Sandeep Parikh: 51:23

Legolas? Okay. Yeah. I see that actually. Yeah. Or as Gandalf. I like,

Omar Najam: 51:28

Gandalf would also be good. Okay, I change it.

Sandeep Parikh: 51:31

Ringo's Sam, right? Ringo's a good Sam

Omar Najam: 51:37

wise.

Sandeep Parikh: 51:37

Yeah, I think Ringo's Sam. I was gonna put Ringo as Sauron. He shows up nice and early, just puts in his time, no drama. I see you.

Omar Najam: 51:47

okay.

Sandeep Parikh: 51:48

Who? Yeah. Okay. So George, who's George? George is Arwen.

Omar Najam: 51:56

Yeah. Yes. A hundred percent. Absolutely.

Sandeep Parikh: 51:59

George is Arwen makes a lot of sense

Omar Najam: 52:01

to me. And who are we missing? Who have we not cast yet?

Sandeep Parikh: 52:04

we, I didn't, we didn't say who Paul would be. I just said, not Frodo, but maybe he is Frodo. Yeah, he's Treebeard. No, that's not, that doesn't feel like Treebeard to me. No. He's more like Chipper and He's Tom Bombadil. He gets, he's on the cutting room

Omar Najam: 52:19

floor. Absolutely. He

Sandeep Parikh: 52:22

never makes the movie.

Omar Najam: 52:23

Absolutely.

Sandeep Parikh: 52:26

Alright, I just want to shout out to the winner, of this, Academy Award for, Best Trivia, guy, it's, I've been working at this my whole life, I went to the LACMA, some 19 years ago, and I thought I knew it all, I thought I studied as much as I could, and even my best wasn't good enough, yeah, I'd like to, Thank fucking nobody for my failure, i'd like to not thank my parents. I like to thank my parents for you know Half assing it, and blowing it for me. I'd like to, Who else do people often think? My agents, fuck you. I didn't win. you're fired, actually. This is the moment you're finding out you're fired. My manager, fired. to my lovely wife, What are you even doing with a loser like me? Um, I think, I think we should get a divorce. And I frankly think it's in your best interest. Like, why would you want to be with someone who lost an Academy Award? yeah. Omar, I hope you burn in hell. Thank you so much. You're welcome. You're welcome. after this commercial break. That would be great though if they did do, like just pick one of the losers to also have to give a speech. Whoever looks the

Delvan Neville: 53:44

most put back when like they're showing the shots of everybody in the audience when it gets picked. Whoever doesn't appear to be actually really celebrating the winner. yeah, nope. Sorry,

Omar Najam: 53:52

there was an award show, where it was Best Alien, and then it was a surprise win by French Stewart for Third Rock from the Sun, that upsetted the category because French Stewart was not nominated and just was a surprise win. And his acceptance speech was, Yeah. Get your butt shaped heads out of here as he yelled at the, aliens from Mars attacks as they left the auditorium. And I remember that as a kid and I went, this is television. This is

Sandeep Parikh: 54:19

art. That's insane. That's the game. Let's move on to"Desi of the Week". All right, our "Desi of the Week" is Saurabh Netravalkar and the US men's cricket team for upsetting Pakistan and pushing India in their group stage match. This is crazy, dude. This is crazy. Yes. They were, however, unfortunately, eliminated from the 2024 T20 World Cup after a 10 wicket loss to England in their final Super 8 match. But dude, I don't know if you caught any of the games. I was actually back home and I watched a couple of the games with my parents. It was so fun. Yes, so and the fact that the US team beat Pakistan is crazy. It's crazy

Omar Najam: 55:03

Bonkers, they stunned global powerhouse Pakistan in the t20 cricket World Cup beating them. Thanks to the Winning the super over tiebreaker Despite the disappointing end, of course, for the team in this, in, in the, tournament, it was historic because the USA qualified for the Super 8 stage in their first ever T20 World Cup appearance, and the team has already qualified for the T20 World Cup 2026 in India, and Sri Lanka due to their performance in this tournament. So USA. USA. Haha.

Sandeep Parikh: 55:34

That's right. this is cool. about Saurabh specifically, he's born in Mumbai. he represented India in the 2010 Under 19 World Cup, showcasing his talent on the international stage. And then he came over to, Cornell University. To, focus on academia, as our people do. and, but he rekindled his passion for cricket while in the US. Started playing again out here. And he was able to represent the US team. So he was trained technically in India. Okay, can't take full credit. Pretty cool.

Omar Najam: 56:05

this is an emotional match because, he's returning to India, his birth country, on the international stage. this is some of the best stuff that you can cook up, only in sports. It's very exciting. and despite, the loss, his bowling significantly impacted the game and dismissed two of India's top batsmen, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. it's Which is crazy. Bonkers. This is absolutely Just to let you know Such an

Sandeep Parikh: 56:27

upset. That's A part timer who comes back to strike out Stanton and Judge or something. Like it's like, a crazy thing. These are huge names. Or

Omar Najam: 56:40

like a level 2 wizard going up against Strahd.

Sandeep Parikh: 56:43

Yeah, for our nerds out there. Sorry, thank you for making it more relatable. I'm I apologize. Netravalkar's journey resonated with many folks on social media. One cricket fan tweeted after the USA India match, the Indian uncles were right this whole time. First get master's in US and become engineer beta and then you play cricket. And that's exactly what Sarurabh did. So it's an inspiration for aspiring athletes and a testament to, the global nature of this, of this sport now coming to the US. And that's pretty cool.

Omar Najam: 57:15

and we have a runner up Desi of the Week to celebrate as well, which is Sheena Melwani, who recently became the first Desi American to sing the national anthem at the NBA finals.

Everyone: 57:26

Yes. Sheena

Omar Najam: 57:26

Melwani sang the national anthem at game two of the NBA finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics, is, Melwani is a, which the Celtics won, sorry. I took, I did take that bullet from you and I knew that you would hop in, in between. I have, yeah, I'm very happy about this and

Sandeep Parikh: 57:41

it's all because of her. It's all because of Sheena setting the stage, emotionally, for my Celtics. Singing to Jaylen Brown's, Yeah,

Omar Najam: 57:53

I believe this was the second time that she sung for the Boston Celtics? yeah. and if you wanna check out her stuff, she's also got a huge following on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. where she also said a huge thank you to everyone for, the community support. Yeah. so this is very good. Suck it Charli.

Sandeep Parikh: 58:05

XCX

Omar Najam: 58:09

We're not doing that. We're not doing that. Charli XCX defends Taylor Swift in the concert and now we gonna have their own Sheena Melwani defending Charli XCX from you

Sandeep Parikh: 58:21

Alright, that is the show, my friends. As always, our one big ask is just find one person in your life that you think that would love this show and share it with them. That's it. Don't do anything, I don't even care if you comment or any of the other stuff, just one big share would be, to one person, would be awesome.

Omar Najam: 58:36

You know who I would love to have on a future episode of the podcast, Sandeep? Oh,

Sandeep Parikh: 58:41

Sheena Mawani?

Omar Najam: 58:42

Yes, actually that's that is for sure correct and in addition folks who watch the show and you can do that by sending a question Over to us that you want us to answer and we'll do that. We'll answer it poorly, but we will answer it on the show. You can write in or even send an audio file of the question to us To our email, which is abcdpodcastshow@gmail. com. And we will go ahead and hop, hop in that and see what we can do. It could be a cultural question. It could just be a lifestyle question. It could be completely unrelated. We will answer it to the best of our ability, which won't be. Much.

Sandeep Parikh: 59:18

But look at that fancy graphic that Delvan put on there. Oh my gosh. Look at this. We're moving up in the world. We're moving up in the world because of our Patreons and listeners. And as always, we got to shout out our Patreons who are at that level. Yes. So what do we got, Delvan? What did we get from chat as our genre to shout out our Patreon listeners?

Delvan Neville: 59:38

Your genre is in the style of Aragorn giving his speech, The Black Gate, the old. Courage of men fails speech, except you're reading the names. Okay.

Sandeep Parikh: 59:50

This is in the third one, right? This is the Gates of Mordor speech?

Delvan Neville: 59:54

Yeah, this is at the Black Gate. Yeah.

Sandeep Parikh: 59:56

In the third one. Okay. Okay. Alright. Alright. The day may come when the courage of Patreon will fail, but it's not today. Not today, thanks to Joshua O'Ryan, Talby M. Carlo, Benjamin Lowe.

Omar Najam: 1:00:15

Miranda Hollinger stood by me, shoulder to shoulder, as I fought alongside Michael Long, and we yelled into the breeze with Raelynn Fox about how Selina B. would destroy the Orc army.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:00:30

Nervous Wrecks Sarah H. and Varun in Moldy Vort. Mostly, what we consider to be useless hobbits. They came through in the end.

Omar Najam: 1:00:40

Yes, the Necromancer came for all of us, including Philip Dizon and Kathleen Schlegel. But I remember when Ducati rose up with that sword forged in the darkness and said to Reverend Cattino, We will honor you.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:00:57

That's right, Monroe Maxwell, when he rode that Oliphant, with the half corpses of Jeremy Schwartz, 8 Bit Deeds, Chris Simms, and Dan Walley. There was never a more rousing moment when he brought them to safety.

Omar Najam: 1:01:11

Yes, and Jeremy O'Brien. And Brendan Bradley, we sing songs about those who are no longer with us. They went to another field. They just went to the other one on the other side. We sing songs about them. Yes.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:01:25

They got really good jobs. And to our gods. Those wizards who wear different colors. robes, right? that's their thing. Mark Tuckle, the fuchsia. Hannah Lehman. The sort of light peach. James Gaffney. The orangutan brown. Scribbles and flapjacks. Yes. a nose hair black. And Vayden. it's like a moldy toad light green. All you wizards couldn't do without you.

Everyone: 1:02:01

You've roused the forces. Wow.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:02:08

Now I want to do a sketch about the 48th wizards. 48th through like 60th wizards who have the weird. Like, Home Depot colors.

Omar Najam: 1:02:18

Yeah. They weren't the first ones to show up on the day where they're handing out cloaks.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:02:23

Yeah. So all we got left is mountain mist. I don't even know what this is a greenish gray. All right. Anyway, that's our show. We did it.

Omar Najam: 1:02:36

Yes! The show's produced and edited by Anand Shah, The show's technical director and sound designer is Delvan Neville. The show's executive producers are Sandeep Parikh and Anand Shah. This has been an effin funny production.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:02:48

On behalf of our co host Omar Najam, I've been your host, Sandeep Parikh. May your chakras be aligned and smothered in chutney. We'll see you next time, friends.