 John Wayne playing McBeth. Is this a tag or I see before me? He does. You're absolutely right. I'm Corbin. I am not John Wayne. Thank God. Uh, but... Please follow us on Instagram and Twitter. To see the content. And... I think we're supposed to make that. We do appreciate the support. If we were athletes, you would be athletic supporters. And, uh... Please follow us on official Twitter account. And today... We finally did it. It's only taken forever. We watched... McBool. Dun, dun, dun! We confused with... But it's a Vashal Bardwash film. Who's that? Have you ever seen one of his films? He's this no-name director. He's done one or two films in his life. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Sarkasm. Not to be confused with Sarkasm. So we watched Painter, obviously. Loved it. Yep. So then we found out that he did a whole series of these. And the first one was... This. McBool. In 2003. Which... You want to read this on outside? Yes. It is... The intro... Let's do this the proper way, shall we? The intrigue of the Shakespearean tragedy McBeth is transposed to the Mumbai underworld. Directed by... An incomparable Vashal Bardwash. Who also did the score. Who did the score. Yep. And... Did he write it, too? Yeah, he did. He was part of the screenplay with one of the writers. I think that's one of his writing partners. I believe he's done quite a few things. Abbas. Yeah. And then starring... A ton of people. Yes. Irfan Khan. Taboo. Naserdan Shah. And Om Puri. Yeah, Om Puri. Yep. Yes, that's who. And a couple of other people in there that we know. And a lot of other stuff that we just don't know their names. But we've seen them. Yes. But this is obviously an adaptation of McBeth, of course. Yes. The Shakespearean you were... Have you played in McBeth? I have not. I would love to. This is our third film of Vashals. Is it? Yes. Is it our third? I know. Well, we took to a little space because we watched, you know, Heder. And then we watched Seven Koon Muff. And then we did a bunch of trailer reactions. But I wanted to space them out. I don't like Tashars. That's wild. Because I want to, you know, soak in the juiciness. But I don't know what you thought about, because we haven't talked about it. We haven't talked about it? Holy cow. I loved it. Like, it was genius from the first frame. I don't know if you remember the first frame. But it was Naserdan Shah. And the window. And drawing it. One, the Shah was just brilliant. But also seeing Naserdan Shah in this completely different role that I had yet to see him in. Yep. Because we've seen him in the Deborah film. And Wednesday. And then we've seen him in a bunch of trailers, of course. Right. But the first opening shot just kind of just gripped me immediately. You immediately know you're watching art. Yes. Yeah. And like, oh man, I could go on and on. The watching of a Shah Bard wash film is similar but very different to watching a Quentin Tarantino film. That's who I equate him most. He's very different, so he's not the exact same. Very, very, very different. But it's the most I can equate him to here in America. Right. A director. Right. Because it's so unique, but the director is so brilliant and so different in how he approaches things. And the other thing you get from him is, what you get from Quentin is, I'm telling my film the way I want to tell my film and all that matters to me is me telling it the way I want to tell it. All I know is I have a vision and I want to communicate that vision. And yes, I would like it to be a box office success, but that's not what I'm interested in. He's interested in making art. The studios might like it, they might not like it, the audience may like it. I have to tell the story and this is how I want to tell it. Period. And I love that about it. And I can tell you multiple things in this, the best performance I've seen from, I think almost all the actors in this. Yeah, we have a lot to talk about. We're going to probably be here for three, four hours. You can start with, we're going to go back to Vishal because we'll talk about it in multiple aspects. He's part of all of it. Yeah, all of it. But this is the best performance I've seen here at FunCon Give. Okay, let's, can we talk about, what did I say? I don't have my phone. And this has been actually regarded at, a lot of people say like, some people might not agree, but I've heard a lot that this is like Vishal's best film. That's an interesting, I'd love to talk about that. And I think a lot of it has, because the only, we could talk about this for a second, the only flaw I could actually find in this film, and it's not even a flaw. It's the same flaw that Godfather has. It's trapped in, it's confined by its time. Uh-huh. And so like the quality of the, like the, the video, same thing with the Godfather. It's not really a flaw. Right. But like if, like he made it now, like with Hater, and he has these HD 4K cameras, and all that kind of stuff so he could get better shots, that's the only thing. And it's like I said, it's not even a flaw, because the Godfather was made the exact same way. And that's not really a flaw to the Godfather. It's just that that's what the Godfather is. Rick! What did I do? Um, and so, like, I don't know if you feel the same way, but that's the only, then like I said, it's not really a flaw. It's that he was trapped by the time, it was 2003, so they didn't have all the equipment that he would need to have like the 4K shots, and stuff like that. There's another thing that I find to be a beautiful flaw. Um, his, okay so let's talk about this and then we're going to get back into the actors here. But let's talk about his cinematography and editing and what you're talking about. Um, and I agree with you, and I don't even see that so much as a flaw. Yeah, that's what I said, it's not a flaw. That's the only thing I could find though. Right. Here's the other thing that to me is a quote unquote flaw. It's a dirty film, and here's, let me elaborate. It's dirty, remember what we've described, he's the Beethoven, and Sanjay's the Mozart. The visual aesthetic of a Sanjay film is flawless. Vishal doesn't care about it being flawless, like Beethoven. Like if you look at the original manuscripts of those people's work, Mozart doesn't make mistakes. That's one of the most extraordinary things about his works, is that you look at it and there's like no changes and no mistakes, it just comes out of him, perfect. Beethoven is fighting all the time to find the perfection. He's fighting all the time to find the perfection, and it's beautifully dirty. He doesn't care. He doesn't care, he takes his time for some shots, but there's some times where I see he does some shots and some edits that aren't really clean and aren't really aesthetically pretty, and I feel like he just doesn't care because it's like, I just want it to transition like that. That's how I want it to be right there. I don't care if you think it's aesthetically nice. I want that to be an ugly shot, and I might not even have a message with that shot. That's going to be an ugly shot. A really beautiful shot that they didn't intend that I love and glad they kept was when Irfan is standing outside the hospital room door with his face on the glass, and he pulls back and the sweat is dripping down the glass. It is from an editorial standpoint. It's not really clean, but I dig it. I feel that's how we intended it. We very much intended it for it to be, because it was supposed to be gritty, and I love the stylistic choice, especially since he didn't have the 4K cameras back then, so that was another way to kind of distract from that. Yeah, almost film school, right? Well, parts of it. No, I thought the rest of it was masterful. No, I mean that in terms of the raw grittiness, dirtiness of it. That sense of I have these constraints for budget and technology, but I don't care, I'm going to give the vision I want to give. Similar to Pulp Fiction? Yeah, very much. Hey, Quentin's first film, right? His first big... I think that was his first film. I think that is his first film. Yeah, because he's only made number nine. But it was the same thing. It was kind of constrained by its time, and if you watch his newer stuff and then go back to his old stuff, if you didn't see it originally, you'd be like, the quality is right, and it's not his fault. The technology had that. Exactly. But Irfan Khan, like I said, the best performance I've seen that guy give. And I've never seen him give a bad performance. Never. But this is one completely different from all of his other characters. Yes. And obviously Shakespeare lends itself to his amazing characters. Exactly. But the grittiness he gave, the humor that Vashal and Irfan brought to this, especially towards the beginning, was shooting and it was a bunch of blinds. And then they just started laughing and leave the room. And then they go... I agree. I totally agree. I died. I was laughing so hard. But then the beginning part with Niserdan Shah and that other gentleman. Om Puri. Om Puri. They were playing witches, correct? Correct. Which there's three. Let's talk about that. We're going to get back to Irfan and Taboo. This is going to be a long one. This is a long one. Yes. They play in Macbeth. It's the three witches. And the differences with this are that there's two versus three. And the witches in Macbeth don't play as involved a part of the story. They're much more just on the outskirts telling prophetic and spiritual, soothsaying things. Whereas these guys actually are connected and interacting with Macbeth in ways that it was brilliant. It was really brilliant. It's brilliant. There's a lot of things about Vashal. I mean, he has a thousand. But the way he can... Most people when they're redoing Macbeth, they usually keep it fairly similar. They'll put it in a different time, but they'll be like... Same thing with Hamlet. They'll just contemporize it that way. And I was waiting for it because I was like, you know, there's a famous line. Is this a dagger I see before me? And I was like, is he going to put this in there? Right. And he didn't. And I was like, that's ballsy. And he adds stuff to it that isn't anywhere remotely close to being in the original. Lady Macbeth didn't kill herself. Yes, she was married to somebody else. She gets pregnant. Yes. And all of those things added so much to the storytelling. And as I was watching this, I was realizing, and this is the place to say it, I was like, this is way above my pay grade. And what I mean by that is this man, this creator of film is at another level. Understanding Shakespeare. Yes. He's way above us in terms of his comprehension of Shakespeare. That's a severe understatement. He is... I would love to know from... I'd love to talk with him about Shakespeare. Well, I would love to know from people who have doctorates in... There are people who have studies where their pure focuses on Shakespearean works. I would like to know from somebody who's done that, who knows every little nuance of it, and get their opinion. Because he is so far above, and we've probably missed a thousand little things, because he's so much more familiar with everything about Shakespeare and everything about Shakespeare's works. And film, the man is just... If there's a word master for filmmaking, he's a master filmmaker. As good as anybody I've ever seen. Yep. He is. He's just a masterful... It's not just... When I tell people, like, when we talk about our favorite directors, he's in that conversation. And that's not just Indian directors. That's just directors. If they were to say who are your favorite directors of all time, I would say this, this, this, this, this, and I would include V. Scholl-Bardwasch, and I would say you have got to see. And we've only seen a few of his films. Yeah, just Header and this alone. I haven't seen anybody do an adaptation of Shakespeare that is as brilliant and original and dangerous and different and exacting. He's extraordinary because he'll be so exact to the original texts and be completely outside the box at the same time. Yeah, it's incredible. And he brings... It's very similar to Quentin in this way as well. He brings the best out of his actors. Okay, let's talk about that. Yeah, he brings... Quentin, every actor wants to work with Quentin because he will give you the best role of your life. Yes. And I feel that's the exact same thing with V. Scholl-Bardwasch. Both in his screenplay and then in the final product. Like Priyanka Chopra with Stephen Kulma and that amazing character. And then of course she's done other amazing work as well. But Shane Kapoor with Header and then everybody... Irfan Khan and Tabou in that film. But I feel like both of them, even in this film, I mean they had a much more prevalent role in this, of course. Yeah. But they both... Tabou's character was amazing for one. Let's talk the two of them together. When I was watching them, there was a point when I was watching the two of them. I think it was the moment when... And this was one shot that I'm pretty sure was specific. It's toward the end and he's holding her and she's crying and they're leaning against the mirror. Right? Well, first of all, from a directorial and cinematography thing, what I saw was who they are now versus who they were before and all that's happened. And then at that moment, seeing and thinking, what has happened to us? And I could see, as they were thinking about what has happened to us, what have we done? You were seeing them looking at their own reflection internally but also remembering who they used to be and he was giving us that visual with them just sitting against a mirror. But as I'm watching the two of these people work and it began from the earlier in one of their scenes together, there's really the height of watching beautiful acting at its finest is watching Irfan and Tabou in this film. In the serenade. Yeah, but the two of them working together, they're so natural. They're so believable. They're so honest. I just, they must, I can't imagine they just didn't love doing this work together and the freedom I feel they've got that he brings, I'm sure, to the project. That freedom of knowing whatever I do here, I can trust that when it's done I'm going to like what I see because that happens with a lot of actors where they do their best work and the director screws it up by editing stuff in a way that you look at it and it's like okay, not anything I was imagining. And I just, if you want to watch believable acting, just watch these two. Incredible. As good as it gets. And this film never lagged for me either. The shortest one, which I thought was strange for being its first and so many years before, it is the shortest of the trilogy. And you know what's interesting about that? It's also interestingly one of Shakespeare's shortest. Is it really? Uh-huh. In fact, it's like a third of Hamlet. Really? Yeah. It is so short that historians have thought that the final product we have maybe isn't really what he intended. It's that short. So the fact that he kept it that clipped is an homage to, I'm sure it was intentional. I want this thing to be, but I wouldn't be surprised at how quick this thing flies by. And there were a bunch of people, I think we saw this guy, he did a really good job as well. And we've seen him in a few things. Oh yeah. We've seen him in a lot of things. There were no weak links. No, in the ensemble. And it was very Godfather-y. Very. It was one shot and also the story that it kind of went through. Yeah. Very Godfather-y. And the main guy even had a voice. He really walked a fine line on that because it was very clear he was wanting to capture the essence of Vito Corleone because he captured that without it being an impersonation. Oh yeah. But it was close. It was close. Really close to stepping over and being a Brando impersonation. Yeah. But thankfully he kept it right where it needed to be. And let's talk about that because the original play from Shakespeare is a political story. It's about political... And it's a contemporary story because Shakespeare wrote that and it's really a telling of a true story that he twisted about his current scenario with the current king at the time. So Vishal did the exact same thing by turning it into something contemporarized and about the fight for power within the realms of the mafia and politics and even Bollywood and how they're intertwined in ways. I love that we were able to... They said specific director's names. I think Kara Jorah was in there from Coffee with Karam. Yes, yes. Yeah, he was in there. Yup. So I thought that was very interesting. But everyone in this was amazing. Naserdan Shah kept it from his first scene. The use of them as the witches was just genius. Brilliant. Genius. And he was one of my favorites because him and the other guy he kept sticking out his tongue. And I was like, oh my god. I love this. They were great together. Corks they gave them. Yes. They put them as the police. Yes. It was very interesting. And the way they talked was Shakespeare but it didn't feel Shakespeare. Like it didn't feel like they were doing like a... Right. Like crap like that. And so I thought that was genius. I thought Vishal's use of the blood, the shots and the use of it was genius. And the madness, the way they were both starting to slip. And he even held back some compared to what Macbeth is because Lady Macbeth just flat out loses it completely. Yeah. And everybody's like, she has lost her mind. You know, and she's trying to get the blood off of her hands and everybody's seeing her do it. Where he put it, just Irfan sees her wanting to get the blood off the walls. He made... Which I liked it. He made it much more realistic. It really, really did. Because what Shakespeare did is he made her insanity much more public. Yeah. And what Vishal did was turn the insanity as just a voyage between those two people that no one else really got a hold of. Yeah. And I didn't really push them over the edge so far that Shakespeare did. And I thought it was great. I also loved... It was really simple. But at the end, when Irfan goes by, and you're pretty sure this is how it's gonna end, and he gets shot, he gives you the POV of Irfan. Yeah, it was brilliant. Wasn't it? And I was wondering how he was gonna end it because he ended... Heather and Hamlet didn't die. Right. And so I was like, is Hamlet gonna... I mean... Yeah. That's gonna live? Exactly. And so I was... I was happy with the way it ended. But I was also like... Because I was almost hoping that he was gonna change it, but he already changed so much. Yes. He was like Lady Macbeth. Right. Killer shelf. Right. I mean, Macbeth actually killed her, really. Yeah. That's true. That's exactly right. He took her from the hospital, and then also they gave the baby away to just anybody who came to see it. Right. Right. And I thought it was like strange little strange. Oh, here's the baby. You can have it, I guess. But I also loved... I also loved to talk about this a second ago. I loved how he brought into it the tension and the challenge and the basic middle of the storyline of the fact that she was actually married to the head of the mafia and he was in love with her and they were having an affair. And then when she... I love that line, man. I didn't see it coming. I don't know if you did. When Irfan says... She says that she's gonna have... They're gonna have a baby and she's three months. And he says, when was the last time you were intimate? And you realize... Oh, no. And I thought, brilliant. Because that's not in Shakespeare's version at all. Do you think it was hers or do you think it was his? I mean, do you think it was Macbeth or do you think it was...? I don't think it was Macbeth's. Yeah, do I? Yeah. And I think it came out when she said we killed his father. Yes. And that's when he gets angry. Yeah. Which I can't stand, man. The two times he slapped her it's really, really hard for me to stomach that. Yeah. I hate seeing a man slap a woman. Well, it was brilliant. It was. And I hate it. Yeah. It just makes me sick to my stomach. But in the realm of the two we've seen that are from the Shakespeare trilogy, do you have... Are they equal for you? Do you have a preference between Header and Macbool? I don't know. I don't know. I could probably watch Header more because of how the shots are just... It's flawless. Yeah. It didn't have those constraints of not having the technology where it needs to be. And I love the dirtiness of Macbool. Yeah. Header to me is just... If this is Macbool and this is Header, Header to me is just a little... I don't know that... A rung above for me. I think that's the only thing though. Because even parts in this that I could say like the whole cast might even be better than what there was in Header. Like maybe. I could even say like as a whole the cast in this was incredible. Yeah. And I just... I also... And I'm not saying anything bad about the cast in Header. No, no, no. You know how we love that film. Yeah. For me and I... It's quite such a difficult question. The only thing I could say that I would definitively say is that since it's newer and you have the quality of the video quality it's easier for me to watch. Yeah. But it didn't... Just like if you watch The Godfather it's like I can't hold that against it. No, I agree. I just as a whole Header... And I agree I have a bias toward it because Hamlet is my favorite work of not just Shakespeare, of all theater, of all time. And for him to have done what he did with something that is so important to me and important to the world of theater and remember I told you I was watching it at one point going don't screw this up because what you're doing is perfection. I didn't... This was dirty. I don't consider this to be a film that is perfect. But I love that it's imperfect. Right? Because Header was so perfect it for me is just a notch above in terms of... But the only imperfection I could find between the two is the video quality. That's the only... And that's not Vishal's fault. No, I agree. And for me it's probably just a matter of aesthetic and my bias toward Hamlet. I loved the dirtiness of this. I did too. I 100% loved it. I did too. I couldn't get enough of it. And I was watching it like... I couldn't get enough of it. And I'm sure... I could have gone on even longer and I would have been completely happy with it because I just... Watching him and coming up with his creative shots is just... It's art. You're watching art. You're watching live art in front of you. And it's just so brilliant. Because some of the shots, like after they had sex and they kind of... It was through a... What is it? A sheer... Yeah, the lace thing hanging around the bed when he's praying and she's in bed. Yeah. And they had two shots before that and then after they had sex and they would kind of switched after that. But then also when she's cleaning the wall and they do another mirror shot you could see him on the bed seeing the wall through the mirror. Yes. It's such a brilliant shot and then the opening shot when they're... It's really just shadows that you could see and he's just staring at the shot and he's talking to this guy. And also his writing and of course the score. We haven't talked about the score yet. It's brilliant. It's such a brilliant... I don't know how this guy has so much talent in one body but the fact that he can direct as brilliant as he does and write but then also he does the score for the entire film and does it brilliant. Brilliant. I don't... Was he a... Was he a... composer first or was he a director first? Don't know. I don't know but he's clearly a Renaissance man who has the capabilities of being a complete filmmaker with... He's just... He's in the same league as the legends of film that we know in America. He is up there with Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese in Quentin Tarantino and Steven Spielberg and all of the people who have mastered the art form and have a capacity to not just master the art form but take it to other places that no one else can. He's that level and I can't wait to see Omkara because I'm sure it will be what all the stupid babies have told us that it is this trilogy that he put together that all go together because right now I put this and Header together and I would say you've got to watch both of these pieces to watch this man's mastery of Shakespearean works. When we watch Omkara I mean, it might have been smart of us to watch it in the reverse order. Right. So you wouldn't have that aspect that we've seen his work in Header with a video quality. Yeah, but at the bottom... There you go. I know it doesn't bother you. But I think that's how I would recommend it though. I'd recommend him to watch Omkara first. I would too. I would say watch Omkara and probably end it with Header. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Yeah, that's probably what I would do. Maybe that's why he did it this way because he did it in the years apart. Maybe he is the one that was closest to his heart was Hamlet. I would imagine it is because if he loved Shakespeare as much as he clearly does my guess is he was like, okay, it's going to build to Hamlet. I would love to talk to him. Just about... It doesn't even have to be about anything about Shakespeare but like even more so. Work with him. Yeah. That's the foregone. That's a little given. Sir, we'd like to do a film with you where we can work with you for at least 30 days just like a full month of work with you on a film. I'll be your PA for free. And then in between shooting days we'll just go eat dinner and talk about film and theater for that whole month. That would be amazing. Thank you. I appreciate you doing that. I would be your PA. That's how... For any great director I would be their PA. Of course. Just to appreciate them work. Yeah, I would just like to sit on set and watch them work. Just watch them visualize. Watch how he communicates with his actors. I would also love to watch Irfan or Taboo. Yeah, of course. Just watch them... And you know what else? As I was watching this I want to see this even more than... because the header doesn't work with what I'm about to say. This could be put on stage in its current form. You could do this on stage. You'd have to make a few little adjustments but you could take this script and you could turn this into a play. Could you imagine if we got to see this and Irfan and Taboo reprise these roles and it was on stage I would lose my freaking mind. I would love it if you would do a film. You can even do it with the same actors just in Hollywood. Just redo it in English. So people would watch it because sadly Americans are idiots and they don't watch stuff with subtitles. You couldn't do that with header because it's too intertwined with the Indian experience and Kashmir and Pakistan. And even this too because he really goes into the underbelly of stuff in sacred games. I just want people to know about and these actors and this story. I'm surprised that maybe people have asked to buy the property to the right so they could redo it but I'm sure Q's like no I'm going to have to have my hands on that of course. Of course. It's my baby. I agree with you. Yeah. But that's the selfish in me trying to... It is, yeah. You know we just eat more stupid babies in America. That's what we need. Yeah. And spread the word about all this beautiful content that we're supposed to do. Obviously A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, I was like Heather in a different way. And I'm so glad it lived up to it. Me too. That's how high expectations start going into it. Me too. So did I. Yep. I was, I was afraid I was like, I really hope this doesn't let us down. Because we'd be honest. Yeah. We tell you, we think it's a donkey. I'm so glad and so I'm very excited to watch Aum Khar. Aum Kar. Yeah.