 It's kind of like me, I don't know, blaming Leland for not being able to stand up against five MMA fighters. Oh, he can. Oh, he can do it. Oh, fuck him up too. Hey, welcome back to our Stupid Rags Z. It's up Corbin. I'm Matt and I'm Rick. How are you doing? You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter for our juicy content. Thanks for some Patreon followers. Feel free to count me in the battle against the guy. Squad bang! Follow us on personal YouTube channels. The description below. It'd be nice to have a POTUS. It's... No. Anyway. Hi. I'm Rick Gold. And today we're doing a movie review. Did you end up watching a movie? Yes, I watched this really great movie, not when we're reviewing. Oh, okay. I just thought I'd like you to talk about this one and I just nod. Okay. I'll talk about Ranveer. Yeah, he was good. He was the best part about it. I agree. And then I'll just say negative stuff about South Indian films. Rick's gonna move today. It's a joke, guys. It's a joke. Based on prior... Anyway, nevermind. Today, we are doing a movie review of Shashank Redemption. What did we watch? Shashank Redemption? I didn't even know how to say this. Shusha. Shusha. Shusha. Shashank Redemption. It came out... I think last week. It came out last week. It's about... It's a true story. It's a true story of the... Private who was a captain. Yeah. Oh. Vikram... We're not gonna say Diddly Squat to spoil anything because it's a current. So, yeah. Yeah. Vikram Bhatra. Even though... I think you all know this story. He's... Yeah. We might be able to just go jump into it. I think everybody literally knows this story. Yeah. Except us. Probably. What? I'm looking up... There's a particular war movie I wanted to make reference to. That's... Go about your business. Anyways. But directed by... Say his name for me? Yeah. Directed by Vishnu Vardham. Forgive me if I mispronouncing that. And then... Starring... Let's see here. Where is he? Sirath Malhotra. And... Kiara Advani. Who... We've seen both of them but only in a few things. Her... She was there when Kabir sang... Yes. Him I think was... Kapooransans? Yes. Kapooransans. Yes. And a few other people. But obviously he is portraying this real-life person whom... I think all you know about... Not. Yes. So obviously our interpretation of this is going to be very different than yours. You probably knew what was coming. We outside of seeing Lakshya which was... This was an actual spectacular way because you had told me this was a battle that happened just after Lakshya. Yeah. And Lakshya obviously is kind of based on but not really. It's not a... Lots of similarities. Yeah. But films overall very similar. So your initial thoughts please. Love the trailer. And we say all the time don't judge a movie, buy its trailer. Our concern when we watch the trailer was with a true story are we going to get a real depiction or is it going to be uber heroized as it were. I'm going to say we haven't seen a lot of military films but we have seen a good handful. And of the military films we have seen this is my favorite. Really? Over Uri. Yep. Believe it or not. And that was my favorite until now. This one is my favorite primarily due to the fact that I felt it got better as it kept going. It started off really good. I thought I'll go into some of the things that I think merit it as being the one... Interesting. Over Uri. Like that. Interesting. Like that. Okay. And I'll explain why. So I think it's absolutely everybody should watch this. I think one of its best merits is that it kind of takes the baton that Uri handed off. And really does. Especially when it comes to script and visual effects and sound effects. We'll get into all that stuff. But I feel like this really takes military films in India to another level that like raises the bar and tells everybody else if you're going to make military movies this is the standard now. I think you need to watch Uri again. Because that film I think equally as good in terms of action and military in the way it does the military. Nothing wrong with Uri. I really like Uri. But this one I thought was a good not great film. So I don't put it in the same level as Uri to me. I still think it's good. I think everybody should see it. There was just some issues that I had with this that I did not have with Uri when I saw her. Cool. I did think it was great that we did see Lakshya literally just days before because there was a lot of scenarios that I was like I know exactly what they're talking about right now. And it's almost actually formatted very similar. Very similar. So I think this one took a lot of inspiration from Lakshya. Well and I think vice versa. Because the story that creators of Lakshya would have known. Even though this one was a true story that one was based off of certain events. It wouldn't surprise me if the certain events were this. It might be. Because it could have been. It's very true. So let's just get into this. Let's talk about him in first place. This is his most impressive performance at least to me. Oh. Because obviously the poor sons were like he did okay. We were eh. Yeah. And I know he started with Ali and like student of the year. Right. Like that's where he began. Began. I know he modeled. I can see that. But I think that's the only thing we saw him in right outside of. Yeah. I think that's right. It was the poor sons. He was a trainee assistant. I saw that. Trainee assistant director. Best part of my name is Kyle. What is that? I don't know. I never even seen that before. That's funny. Definitely his best performance. And the two that we've seen obviously. Yeah. I can't say much. But from what I've read as well other people have seen more of his work. Say this is also his best performance. Okay. But I thought he did a really good job. And it kind of. It's the same way at Lakshya. Even though I thought Lakshya was a good not great film. It's the same kind of issues I had when they did the flashbacks. It kind of. Not exactly the same way because he wasn't portraying a teenager. Right. In this like. Right. Rithik was trying to. But I think it helped a little more when you actually saw and that the guy he was playing. Was a very kind of almost a very outgoing bubbly kind of person. And so the normal stuff that I was like that's. That's a little weird what you're doing there was more of like I just didn't know the guy I think. Okay. But that's that was my least favorite part when it got to the military stuff. I loved all the military. So do you not is it in general that flashbacks just don't float your boat. I think general. Most of the time I prequels most of the time if like it's in a film. Not like a prequel like they're just telling a full on story. That's fine. Most of the time not always. I think it's a cop out. In the story. In the story. Okay. So it's it's it's usually just it bugs me a little bit. I get that. Don't not always. There's times that it absolutely works and it's amazing. More often than not. More often than not. It doesn't disappoint me. It disappoints me. But I thought he did a very very good job especially when he got into the middle of his military. I'm kind of like Rithik did. The military aspects are by far the best. The action in this and once again the sound was fan freaking tastic. They had some great military action scenes in this that I thought were phenomenal. I thought they were too. This this I would put this film like I did with Uri Uri when we saw that I thought wow I now have a film from another country that I would watch on Memorial Day because it's very typical for a lot of Americans. I do this. On Memorial Day weekend I watch war films to remember fallen so saving Private Ryan right at the top. Another film if you haven't seen it that this reminded me of a little bit because it's kind of similar in terms of an operation and I'm not going to give anything else away but there's a film called Lone Survivor and Mark Wahlberg is in it and it tells the true story of a Navy SEAL team led by Michael Murphy who's an American hero in very much the same vein that this man is a hero for India in a different respect but it happened in Afghanistan. Yeah. And it's brain free. It was. Yeah. Good grief. And the whole the whole region that's now uneasy because of the anyway. Just wanted to mention that. Yeah. Obviously. Big topic. I hope for some change anyway that movie Lone Survivor is an equally incredible story about a true American military hero. And I felt like this film did that. I felt like he not only was really believable in the military aspects as were his counterparts in the military maneuvers but in the script writing I was really appreciative of the fact that a couple of things first of all first of all there wasn't anything that didn't sound natural. Everything sounded natural. Everything sounded like it was meant to. I really loved the back and forth with the Pakistani soldier and he said if you give us Manduri Dixit we'll completely give everything over right now. Apparently that was true. Is that true? Like apparently I read some stuff. That's fantastic. Apparently a lot of what he said was either from firsthand accounts or stuff like what he really said. That's what I read. I don't know how true that is but I heard especially that part was apparently somebody said that that actually happened with one which I thought was hilarious and that's that's the thing I like about his portrayal and the script writing that supported it was the fact that it didn't do what I was afraid it would do. It didn't make him bigger than I think he really was in real life and the same way that lone survivor depict Michael Murphy the way he really was. This is a true hero. People might say oh it's not believable that he was running through the bullets that way. Yes it is. I know many stories of soldiers who have done things that are all of like Rambo. In absolute you read like I've gone down to the memorial grave site and you read some of the things for people who've received the Medal of Honor and it has the story of why they received the medal and you're like why isn't a movie made out of these guys. So what made me realize how much I really believed in like Tim? Spoiler now. So if you haven't seen this go see it. Give away spoilers. Was when she first of all we're going to talk about her. Effectively loved her. But when we're getting the flashbacks at his funeral. I realized oh I didn't realize how much I believed him and like to in this character. Did you cry? You bet I did. When she started to cry. I was fine because the one I got most attached to was her. So when she came down and started to cry I cried. I was mad. I was like really guys you just started without her for a while. I know right. Come on. And also there were people on Twitter that said this movie would make me it was nowhere near ever making me cry in this film. You? No. Oh I know. But when she came down to start crying I was done. I was wondering if you cared the most about her. Yeah. Let's talk about her. The first thing we ever saw her in was Kabir Singh and you guys know we loved Kabir Singh. And we loved her. And she was a great part of that. Huge contributor. That film. I thought she did such a good job in this as well. So I'd like to see a lot more of what she does. Gotta tell you India. It just seems like it's a non-stop flow. Kira. Our actresses. Let's say her name. Sorry. So people know who we're talking about. Yeah. Kiara Advani. Yeah. In the actresses in India is extraordinary because I can't rattle off a list of American actresses as fast as I can Indian actresses right now who I say are at the top of their game. British actresses. Yes. American actresses. No. I can rattle off 10 Indian actresses who are at the top of their game right now. And she's she's one of improving it. So I'm trying to think of American actresses. I can probably think of a good amount. But yeah. It was taking you a while to realize that. Well I was trying to do 10. I have to think about it with India too. I know Radhika. You know I love Radhika. We just Mimi. We just were so impressed. And what's her creedie right? Yeah. She did. She did a great job as well. Creedy. I mean I can rattle off. Majority Dixit. Yeah. Great line. Shrush Thika. Yes. Kalki. Anyways. Great job. I would love to see more of her work because she's really authentic in what she does. She has great expressive eyes. I believe she loved him. Absolutely. A complicated relationship. And it was super interesting. One of my issues with this film was the score behind dialogue. Especially in the flashbacks. Really? Yes. Not behind. There was actually some great score like when it was him against like four people. There was like some hardcore rock music going on. Yeah. Like Uri level. Yeah. I love that. No I'm talking like once when it was him and another guy they were in a car driving. And it was this big emotional score. Like I'm supposed to be feeling something deep. Wow. And it bothered the shit out of me. Wow. It was really... I have only praise for the team of... Did you see the credits? How many people were involved with the music? I loved also the end when they actually showed us all the real people as well. Some of the casting in this was actually incredible. And how similar they were. But yeah that was probably my biggest gripe. That's wild because the score for me was only good. I might be the only one because I did talk to the group. I was like did anybody else have a problem with the... Not the score. I'm not talking about the overall score. You mean moments. Moments where it was extremely overly emotional melodramatic behind something that I didn't get that at all. You probably shouldn't have music behind this right now. See we felt that with Drisham too. Yeah. A lot. I got some of that. See I got none of that in this. Not from the acting. From the choice of score. Choice of score in some parts. Interesting. It bothered me quite a bit. So that was probably my biggest gripe with this film. Okay. And I might be the only one because I'm the only one who's found currently that has that issue. So fuck me I guess. But yeah that's one of my bigger issues. But yeah I think the cinematography and the stunt work on this. Oh stunt team. I love talking because we don't get too often because obviously it's usually only in big action films or war films. We can talk about some of the stunt work. I thought it did a fantastic job. So did the visual effects team from Red Chili's man. Obviously. And we know that Red Chili's is the best in terms of VFX in India and partially the world. They do do outsourcing to Hollywood and all that. And that's Shahrukh Khan. Thank you sir for spending time on VFX. Yes. We really appreciate that. We do. This is what I think everyone should do if their film is VFX heavy. Spend the money. Take the time. So that we don't even notice that there are visual effects. I believe. I believe. And the everything. Like. And I love one of the things I loved in it. It was this was part of it was sound and visual effects. So we have at the beginning of the film. We don't know it at the time necessarily. But at the beginning of the film it's the final surge for what they think is going to be the very last point to capture. And they get ambushed from these guys that are hiding in secret. Right. And as they're hiding behind the rock the guys who have been shot are still getting help. I loved it. Not that I love that. But I love that they put that in there. I did too. And the sound and the visuals. Everything matched. Looked real. And it was that way throughout. And I loved how they seamlessly brought us back to that moment without heavy handedly going. We're back at the moment. Yeah. It was like we were in it and I went. This is the beginning. Yeah. Wow. This is where we were at the beginning. Yeah. And it also was so happy. Again. It reminds me so much of lone survivor. I felt like they didn't over glorify. Again. We're hoping you haven't like you've like seen it at this point. His martyrdom moment. When he sees the flag getting lifted up. I didn't like that. I thought even if that didn't happen. I appreciate the fact that they didn't over her. That's even a word. That moment. And I felt like his moment of seeing that wasn't overly dramatic. Wasn't overdone. It could have been so over dramatic and ruined it. And I felt like it did the exact opposite. I don't think it ruined it. I just didn't. I did not like that. I would have if I was doing I get it. Why I don't have a problem with obviously if you take a story of a real person or real event and you have to make it cinematic. I get that. Because the truth is they didn't take the top. Yeah. You happen. You have to. Because of him. And you have to make a film cinematic. It's there for entertainment. Regardless of if it's a gruesome story or a hard story. You have to make it cinematic. So I don't have a problem with that. It's just it was the fact that they he was he was dying. None of them stopped. Instead they went up there to show him the flag. It's just not how I would have done it. I would have preferred maybe a little. It's personal preference. It's fine if you liked it. Whatever. I would have preferred a little more subtlety in that. Like he would have seen it going up like somebody doing like a different. You would have preferred them to have hoisted it rather than held it. I guess I don't know what I would have preferred. It's just that's one of the ones that I was like. Okay. I like to get it. But it's not my taste. But yeah. I thought the visuals. The sound. The sound. VFX by Red Chili's. Thank you. Red Chili's. And the I think this film. I think he said it took him almost five years to complete this film that doesn't that doesn't surprise me. This is a really. It's one of the greatest things about cinema is it's such a collaborative effort that requires so many people doing so many things because in addition to all of that some of the most unsung heroes are always the film editors and the marriage between sound editing sound mixing and editing. Yeah. And when you consider all the things that can go wrong everything just everything just worked. Everything just worked on the action sequences in the military like all the songs and everything. I liked all of the songs. I felt like they I like the choice that's been made recently where they don't have an actual musical number but have a musical montage now. I also felt it was it was nice to see as well. This is just a little bit more of a pushing of the envelope as it were compared to the history of Indian cinema particularly Bollywood. I appreciated some subtle nuances they did with their relationship where they made it a little bit more dangerous and explicit without pushing it too far. They kissed a couple of times. They made it clear that they consummated their marriage and she went to they went to she went to sit on his lap and you got to see like her thigh which led the level of intimacy and but it made it still which I think was important for this film. It made it more accessible to a broader audience which for me is the larger point of this is the fact that this does again going back to loan survivor. The importance of loan survivor is the fact that what it does is commemorate so that you never forget the heroes and one hero in particular particular Michael Murphy. And that's what this film does is it solidifies and puts on celluloid forever the story of this man who needs to be remembered not only in India but I'm grateful that we got it and again I would put this in my list of films I'd watch every memorial then yeah yeah absolutely. So is there anything we always never fails even if we love a review hate a review there's always something we miss and people like you didn't talk about course anything we didn't talk about. There's probably a lot we didn't talk about. I mean think about all the other supporting players. I thought they all did really well. I thought they all did really well including like we didn't talk about some of the dynamics relationally and the just the real subtle I loved the way it was written directed and done by the man who plays her dad. Yeah I thought he did a great job when it was complex but also different from the other style that we've seen in Indian cinema. Yeah and did at first I was actually shocked because six are such an accepting people I was a little bit shocked that he wasn't as accepting but okay so he's not accepting that happens a lot yeah and I loved without even saying a word and that's the beauty of film and even in stage is that you can say a million things without ever saying a word the fact that he just says to her there's a call for you and when she gets on and she hears who it is she looks back at her dad who not only gives her the call but then gives her the privacy which is a 100% stamp of approval that says he approves of the relationship to her complete astonishment. I thought that was one of the best moments in the film. Yeah I thought he did a great job and I thought they did a good job with making it different from something it might be that I'm assuming it's what actually happened I also feel bad for her because she's still not married and I feel like now if she wanted to get married one day people would be upset with her. Yeah but I get the feeling if she's the way she is in the film she doesn't care she might not I don't know her she might never want to get married and I don't know I just felt bad. I think she very much could be like a lot of people are where it's like that was it for me that was it that was it yep it's very possible yep I don't know I don't know that was just something that it was like it would be sad because I feel like people if you wanted to people would give her grief. I'm so glad I remembered this what this movie did remember I mentioned with Laxia I said it's one of the films that would want people to start to study a little bit more about the whole situation with the cashmere right this one took me to the next level and I'm actually about a half hour 40 minutes into a two-hour documentary about Gemma when cashmere and all the way back from the moguls all the way up through everything and it's as you would expect it's very very complex but it's also pretty darn simple and it's a shame that this beautiful place with so many beautiful people has been put in the position it's been put in most especially what is price for the British but there but not just them not just them and I understand the level of patriotism in the sense of heroic appreciation for Indian soldiers who if you're just the little I'm learning about it I'm in no way claiming to even know a lot about it or be an expert by far but India from its inception when partition happened and everything India has not been an aggressor and that part of the world for a long long time was under sick control and it's just it's a shame that the partition happened which was the major contributor is to what was going on in that region and hopefully there's peace and that there isn't more bloodshed but man you Indians have you have to be extraordinarily proud of your servicemen and women that do everything they can to defend India absolutely so let us know what else we need to know please and also why we're idiots as you always do in the comments below and let us know what the next film we should watch is down below