 Well, we did it. We did. Some people didn't think we would. We bollywood boycotted the shit out of that. I just... So much bollywood, so much boycott. That's what, you were wondering why it took so long. Yeah. We just, we just, we wanted to join in the boycott for at least four days. Hey, welcome back to our Stupid Directions of Corbin. I'm Rick. And you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and all juicy content. And on Patreon, follow us through the accounts, subscribe to our channel. And Patreon, button! And you're like, oh, y'all are in a different place. Yeah, we're in my car! Yeah! We just, we just stepped out of Laos Thing Chadda. Chadda? Oh, just movie, you know that. Yeah, you know, that's all your hair. That's all your hair. Yeah. Yeah, Laos Thing Chadda. Chadda. Just stepped out. And it's a theater that's kind of a little more farther away than we normally go to. And it's like not on the way back home for each of us to kind of go back. So, sometimes we've done it a few times. You've seen this a couple times. So we are doing the review straight from our car. To get the freshest of thoughts. Fresh, really? Right, hot off the presses. And if you're wondering why we didn't get to it immediately. I got sick the day we were going to go to Laos Thing Chadda. I thought it was COVID. It wasn't. I'm all better now. Got a little bug or something like that. But abundance of caution. And then Rick was busy this weekend. And so, so we, we, it just had to be pushed a little. And so that's why you're just getting it now. We weren't actually boycotting. Yeah, no, if you think we were boycotting. You don't know us very well. You don't know us very well. But obviously we're doing a review of Laos Thing Chadda. So be a little non-spoiler. And then we'll get into some spoils as well. It is the official Indian remake, adaption-ish style thing of the American film Forrest Gump. And I have seen, not other, but I have seen, I think, I don't think I've seen any other Americans review this film. And so I think that's a particularly interesting place to come from. Yeah. Being that Forrest Gump is one of the most American films that you can think of. Yes. It is entrenched in American pop culture, history, at least more recent. Yeah. History than anything. It holds a special place in most Americans' hearts. Yes. Like, I, they know every plot point. They know, like, what's coming up as a kid, even though I probably shouldn't have watched it as a kid. I knew, I knew every word of this film. I love Forrest Gump. Yeah. You know, as do most Americans. Yeah, it's in the lexicon of everybody's cinematic understanding, along with films like The Godfather and Schindler's List and Platoon. And you just go down the list of, like, 150 films that would be great American movies. Forrest Gump is in most people's top 10s. Yeah. Easily. So we'll do a little non-spoiler and then we'll get into some spoils. But it'll be coming obviously from that perspective. But Rick, your initial thoughts, please. When the movie ended, I knew what I was going to say. And I was going to say, Mr. Amir Khan, how many times will you win my heart? That's a phrase that I've seen repeated over and over again whenever we have embraced or loved something or surprised stupid babies with things. Yeah. I, I, it surprised me. I was hoping it would be good. And it was better than I was hoping. And for the things that it didn't replicate from Forrest Gump, it made up for in the things that it created. Yeah. I thought. And I, I absolutely loved it. Yeah. I, I was, I was so skeptical going in, even though we've been looking forward to this film for so long. Long time. Yeah, I think since the beginning of the channel. Yeah. Like since we started watching Amir Khan and then we were like, what's he doing next? Yeah. Oh, he's doing Forrest Gumberman. Oh, that's awesome. I can't wait for that. And then pandemic happens. And then, so it's been so, so long waiting for this. So, and then I've, I've, you know, all the drama going up for stupid drama, by the way, very stupid drama for no reason. Really? Of people. And then I heard criticisms and all this kind of stuff. And even though I do have some criticisms that stuff I didn't love, overall, I, I really enjoyed the film. I, it was, I throughout the film, I thought they did a superb job of what I wanted them to do. Yeah. I, I didn't want an official remake, obviously. And you can't. We said it multiple times. No. Whenever we heard this was coming up, you cannot do a remake of Forrest Gump in India and make it the exact same way. It's impossible. It's impossible. Because it's so entrenched in American culture and pop culture and history. And so I was like, you literally have to do so many different kind of things. And also it's a very risque film. Yeah. And so they, that's the part that they did not do. Yeah. This one. There's a much more commercial Forrest Gump. Yes. The gritty, I would say original Forrest Gump. The grittier parts of the other Forrest Gump, which we can talk about that in the spoiler section. I, I, I, it, we knew when this was coming out, we said that at the outset. We're like, this is going to have to be, for lack of a better term, Indianized because that's why Forrest Gump is what it is. It's so Americanized. It's so rooted and ingrained that way, which actually we felt made it a really good possible film when you think about if it's done the right way. Yeah. There's so much that you could do. It could really be replicated if someone has a vision for it in any country. Oh yeah. And just insert the things of your country that would be as emblematic and historic. Absolutely. And, and that this atypical Carney man. Yeah. I would message, we've messaged each other on Instagram and I'm not on Instagram anymore, but that, that you wrote this in two weeks, man, is on freaking real. Yeah. I thought, I thought he did a really good job at all Carney of bring, because that was the thing I was looking forward to most. Like I said, the things that they're going to do differently that I, because obviously you can follow the plot points if you know the original Forrest Gump. Right. But there's stuff that they do that's very different. Right. Sometimes it's totally different. I loved it. Yeah. But I loved all the adaptions that they did. I loved, let's just get into the spoilers. Well, let me, one thing before we get into the spoilers, one of the most important things I was looking for, because in addition to, as part, not in addition, as part of the iconic nature of this film, one of the single most important parts of Forrest Gump is the score. That when you hear the main theme from Forrest Gump, you're instantly emotional because it brings back everything the movie means to you, how much emotion you felt watching the film. And that's one of the things I was looking for was how are they going to do that? Because that's a really, like the rest of the film, it's a high mark to try to have to obtain. And major, major kudos to the composer credited for this is Pritam Chakraborty. And, and I tip of the cap, you gave a nod to the original Forrest Gump theme by including some intervals that were very reminiscent without being plagiaristic at all, and created your own theme in exactly the same way that the film creates its own sense of self, where it takes from the original and then makes something of its own fingerprint on it. That's in my estimation, I mean, nothing will ever be better than Forrest Gump, but I don't know how you couldn't be happy with the film in terms of how high the expectations are and how closely they hit all the marks. Yeah. And a lot of the critiques that I've heard about this film are actually Amir Khan himself. Some people saying he overdoses it, right? And this is what I'll say. At times he made choices, they were bold choices, but I personally probably wouldn't have done, right? But I will give him this, that one, I think that's also only like 20, like if it's 80, 20, right? The other times you're gonna get Amir Khan and his great performance, right? The times that I'm pretty sure I can point to the parts that they think that are, you know, him kind of hamming it up, like this different kind of stuff, right? I think he was trying to do something totally different. I know he was. He could. I think it would have been completely and utterly worse if he would have seen her doing, like if you saw him doing an impersonation of Forrest Gump. Absolutely. I think that could have been a train wreck. And I actually, because Andrani saw it with us too, I leaned over and asked her, is he giving an affectation to the way he's speaking that is what Hanks did? And she said he is, but it's not the same. He's doing something with the way he's saying things that lets you know that he's got the same kind of a mental challenge that Forrest has in Forrest Gump. But he's not giving an affectation in the same way at all. It's his own thing. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's the critique I've heard the most, is actually critiquing him. But I think, once again, people are being very critical in thinking this film was supposed to be Forrest Gump. Right? In terms of like how intense and Forrest Gump was, how like sexual Forrest Gump was, and like they wanted him to give Hanks his performance. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's unfair. You should never expect that. No. That performance shouldn't have even worked, honestly. That's why they made fun of it in Tropic Thunder, like in all the people that, like, that's good. You never go full politically incorrect word. It would be like what are you going to do if you were doing another, you know, Pirates of the Caribbean? You're just going to impersonate Johnny Depp? No. That's going to be a train wreck. The lesson should have been learned. Everybody watched Joaquin Phoenix play the Joker. He didn't impersonate Heath Ledger. No. And so there are times that I personally probably would have asked him to maybe tone certain things down just a little bit. But there's, like I said, 80% of the time, there's multiple times he'll going to make you cry. I think he made you cry. Yes. I would have been, my throat was hurting, my nose was running and both Andrani and I were crying. And in the spots, spots I expected it, spots I didn't expect it. And I've said this about him over and over and over again. One of my favorite things about Amir Khan is his emotional availability. He is always emotionally available and I don't believe it's a contrivance. I believe he goes to places in his own personal life and uses things like substitution. He may not articulate it that way within the vernacular of the art form, but he absolutely shares his soul with his characters and you feel not just for but with his characters. Yeah. And it came through again. Yeah. And so I want to commend him for his performance even though I know he's facing criticisms for it. And I just, the whole drama behind this thing is so fucking stupid. And I hate it for him because obviously this is just where the Indian industry is right now in terms of the audience and what they're just wanting to boycott whatever. And so it sadly has nothing to do with artistry. No, absolutely nothing. It's really sad. But the other people I do want to talk about because I thought there were some really good performances in your first and foremost the... What's her name? The woman who replaced Sally Fields? Yeah, you wanted to know Forrest's mom. Because I agree. At one point when I was thinking it, which is usually from my O-positive wife, she leaned over and said to me she's doing an amazing job and I was going to tell her... Mona Singh? Yeah, Mona Singh. Yeah, Mona Singh. Magnificent performance. Because Sally Fields is obviously, I'm hoping as you know, an icon and a national treasure for America. Yeah. And she gave a great performance as Forrest's mom, iconic performance as Forrest's mom. I thought she did a fantastic job making it her own and also bringing the same emotion that she needed to. Like, I didn't cry, but I almost did at the... I don't want to say the moment, but it was towards the beginning, I think you know what I'm talking about at that moment. It was so gut-wrenching that moment. Right? I thought she and the kid, I thought did a great job. Great job. That's not easy. I actually thought he did better than Young Forrest and Forrest Gump. I'm going to be honest with you. I agree. He did. He was better than the Young Forrest and Forrest Gump. Yeah. And so, because it's hard for kids to play... It's easy. It's hard for adults to play mentally challenged people. Absolutely. So it's especially hard for a kid. I thought he did a masterful job at it. The guy who played Bubba, I think it was... Yeah. It was... Forgive any mispronunciation. Was it him, hold on? Yeah. Bala. Naga, Chattanya, Akineni, forgive me for any mispronunciation. I thought he did a really good job. And I also thought it was really interesting because he... You could see, like right when he did this thing with his jaw that Bubba did. And I was like, uh-oh. I was nervous for a second. I know. I was like, oh, don't go too hard. Don't do it! Don't do it! But I thought it was a nice homage. Me too. But it wasn't like a... It wasn't a caricature. It was an impersonation. No. It was just he brought that little trait and then it was this guy's character. I wonder if that was his call or if it was Amir's or his... The director. Yeah. Or a tool scripted it that way or whatever the choice was to justify it, it felt justified. Yeah. So I thought he did really well. And now, come on. The other person I was really impressed with. Karina Kapoor. Karina Kapoor. Yeah. I was slightly disappointed. Just not really because I knew they were going for more commercial. Just because Jenny is so... Get in the spoilers. Yeah, let's just get in the spoilers. We have to talk. If you haven't watched Jenny, we've got to get in the spoilers. If you haven't watched it, just stop listening to everybody else. Yes. And just please go watch it. Go see the movie. It's a very enjoyable, great adaption of Forrest Gump that they Indianized. And I thought you did a really, really good job. You should enjoy it. You should get the same feels you got, which is saying a lot. It's saying a lot. Like, having watched somebody pitch a no hitter and expect someone else to go out the next day on the same field and come close to doing it and buy a Dolly, this thing came really close, man. And so I would just go in. You're going to get an Indian, more commercial adaption. It's not like a Missala film. I'm not going to say this at all. It's more commercial than Forrest Gump. It's more accessible to a broader audience. Yeah. And so if you haven't watched it, please go watch it and then come back. Okay. So before, that would be my one disappointment with it. It was more that that character is so gritty and it's so intricate and she's so nuanced and she has so much going on behind her that I liked those things that they took out. Like, the things that they took out, I wish were in there. You wish were in. Because I think they add so much to her character. I get it. Yeah. But just on her performance though, this is my favorite performance of hers. She was absolutely fantastic. We've seen a ton of her and so we need to get into more of her. But this is my favorite performance of her. I thought she did a really good job playing a really tough character, a very interesting, nuanced, deep character. And very, very grounded, which is saying a lot. And it also says a lot about Amir Khan's performance. So for all of the people who had any problems with any of the things that they felt were clownish, it's a tremendous attribute to the... I felt that they were wonderfully compatible with each other. I really liked the continued through line. They kept the abuse at home. Although I didn't like... I did use something I didn't like. I didn't want her to go... I mean, when she went into... Once again, suppose... When she went in to get to the abuser, right? Yeah. I didn't need that. Because one of the things I really liked about Jenny is that all of her past stuff is really vague about what all went on that we didn't see. Yeah, she just throws the rocks at the house and you know it was bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just know it was bad. Right. And so it didn't ruin anything, but it was just... I didn't need that little affirmation. Oh, it's because she was abused. Yeah, that was a little... I agree. That would be a little bit spoon feeding as it were to an audience to make sure they connect the dots rather than just let them connect the dots. Yeah. So that would be my thing, but I do agree. What she brought her emotion availability in this. You could see so much going on behind her. I thought she did a really commendable job. Yeah. In a really tough role. Yeah. Jenny might be... I mean, obviously, Forrest is ridiculously hard because you're playing a mentally challenged person. Right. That brings it some things, but... The equally tough performance that... How am I forgetting her name? Karina. No, the original actress. Oh, I don't remember. No, it's... Fuck me. I see your face. No, it's Buttercup. I know. What's her fucking name? I know. It's Buttercup. Keep going. But anyway, she... I feel like in some respects, this Jenny that Karina portrayed is even harder in a certain respect because the fact that... Robin White. That's it. Robin White. The fact that this Jenny isn't as screwed up. She's not a drug addict. She has... There could have easily been and it's a tribute to the writing. You could have easily found moments in this where you were like, Why is Jenny wanting to kill herself? It's justified with the drug addiction because she's just strung out and she wants to end her life and she's just so unhappy. But I felt that I believed her. I believed when she stood up on that rail that she had a reason to do what she was doing and I loved the addition of the airplane. You liked that it was a mirror when she thought of a mirror's character? Yes. I don't know if I loved that part. I did. The romantic in me. It got me good. I love the Jenny character because you don't know what brought her down from that ledge. It doesn't actually tell you. Right. Those are the slight adaptations. I loved it. It's mostly... I'm a sap, baby. I know you are. I'm a sap. I know you are. I love it. But I thought she did a really good job. The one character that I was... I'm still a little confused as to why they changed it. I liked this so much. I liked it. Was Lieutenant Dan? Lieutenant Dan. I don't want to say Lieutenant... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get the actress. Because I thought the actor did a fine job. Yeah, he did. Manavj. Manavj. Who played Mohammad Pajaj. Yes. Once again, spoilers? I just... I don't get the change. Why? I mean, I understood the whole... Obviously, I'm going to tell them about my friends like you. Right. They led to a great line about religion causing malaria. Yeah, that religion causes malaria is a great, great line. Iconic line. I love that line. But I just don't understand the need for that full change. And also, I don't know how they didn't recognize that that was terrorist because he wasn't in an Indian uniform. Right. I mean, there's a little bit of a strained credulity there that somebody could have recognized who he was and went, oh, you're here? Seriously, yeah. Exactly. So the fact that the medics came and they too, like, forest, you know, they wanted to help him out. But I, the romantic in me, the sap, I liked that aspect of the enemy being somebody that is seen through the eyes of our protagonist and having a change where he recognizes that what he learned was from a young age to hate without ever experiencing the other side. And it makes him want to go back to teach in a, in a way, it, because I was wondering whether we're going to go with that because there was so many different things we did. I was like, you can't do the storm. Are you going to do an earthquake? Yeah. What are you going to do? I did miss the storm. Yeah. Because that's an iconic moment. And that moment, that's kind of non-replicatable unless you do it exact where Lieutenant Dan is swimming away. Yeah. It's an iconic moment. It's a fantastic moment. That would probably be my biggest gripe, I think, with the film. Not, not his performance, but the, they watered down his character a lot. Well, it got less time and less interaction. I, I, I would have probably preferred sticking with Lieutenant Dan and let it be the guy that was commanding him and said, you're a genius, you're a genius. And he says, I am. He says, yeah, do you know how long you've been a genius? I just found out right now. That made me laugh really hard. That was good. But then again, I like, I like the bravery of going in a completely different direction with it and saying, okay, we're not going to make it Lieutenant Dan. We're going to make it the enemy. I, I, I do give him a command command them for, for doing that change. Cause when that happened, I was like, oh, this is different. Yeah. I didn't, I did not like that one coming. They were like, we're going to make this our own. We don't need to. I thought he was just going to save the enemy. Right. But then that became Lieutenant Dan. Right. But the Lieutenant Dan is, he has some of the most iconic moments in all of Forest Gump. He has an absolute incredible arc through line. I don't guys, you may not know this, but Gary Sinise, who played Lieutenant Dan from that day till now has been so connected to the veterans of our nation. And they love Lieutenant Dan. He has a band that has the name Lieutenant Dan in it. Every single Memorial Day, he does a benefit concert for all of the veterans in the United States. I mean, like that movie transformed his life. So that's how big Lieutenant Dan is in Forest Gump. So to have the balls to go, we don't need Lieutenant Dan in our remake of Forest Gump. That's pretty fricking ballsy, man. That's really very ballsy. You got some scriptorial cojones. A lot of the other stuff that I did really enjoy was a lot of the moment that made me, I didn't cry, but it made me emotional was at the beginning when the mom and the kid and she started cutting his hair. Oh, that killed me. That knowing, obviously, what we know now about the Sikhs and the hair and the turban. The minute she started to undo it, I'm like, she's going to cut his hair. Yeah. And so, obviously, I love the interweaving of the history of that, obviously, and how they decided to do that. The first half is really incredible in the way they interwoven the history, like the American history in Forest Gump. I thought it was very masterful in how they did it. Yeah. I really did. But that moment in particular was really powerful. Agreed. And a really good job by the acting, the writing, the directing of all of it. And the two most important moments for me that have impacted me, I've even, you may remember it, in theater class, one of my favorite moments by an actor ever in cinema history is Tom's monologue at Jenny's grave. Yeah. And I've played clips of it in theater class before because when when Hanks says, I miss you, Jenny, it kills me every time. And that's if I was to ever meet him or work with him or talk with him or anything, I would want to know where can you share what you were? What was that? Was were you just so in the moment with the character? Or was it was it grandma for you? Who was that? Because every time he says, I miss you, Jenny, I believe him and I cry with him. So the graveyard scene was critical for me. I didn't need a replication of the script. I needed a replication of the power of the moment. Yeah. I got it. I was deeply, deeply emotionally connected and cried with Amir Khan at the grave. And then when he realizes it's his son. Yeah. Great moment for him. Great moment because in the movie, Hanks is so gorgeous in that moment when you see on his face, before he even says it, you see on his face when he says, is he smart? Because he's so scared. And the whole, did I do something wrong? I just felt like, for any criticism you may have about the 20% of what you felt was corny. Yeah. I personally loved it because anytime Amir Khan opens his eyes, I smile. So, but it was what I was looking for. I was being critical. It's like, don't give me PK. That's lazy. Yeah. Give me a fresh creation. You can't help your big eyes. That's who you are. But don't give me PK and he didn't give me PK. Oh, he definitely wasn't the character of PK at all. People just say that because obviously he opens his eyes wide. You can't help it. Like when we saw that skit, if you're going to impersonate Amir Khan, you have to open up your eyes nice and wide. He's got these gorgeous big eyes. So anyway. What else? Cinematography. Yeah. All the technical aspects I thought were fantastic. I love the train being the place rather than the bus station. Yeah. It makes sense, right? Yeah. I love that they, like it was multiple moments when we came in and slapped. And they added up. Cha! Every time. I was looking for moments. I was like, oh, yes, he's going to slap somebody. Cha! It was so fast and so violent. I agree. I thought it was really interesting how they woven. Once again, I just, I really liked the, the adaptations that they did. But how they woven, like as opposed to her singing nude on stage. It was the nude photos. The nude photos or stuff like that. And how Indian society reacted to that. Like they were protesting her outside the thing. Right. Or they would say, I think, what was the title on the newspaper? I don't remember. It was something like. Yeah. Something like she should be shamed or something like that. But it was, then when, after they had sex and she came back and they had sex and then they took her away in the police. It was like, what did she do? Yeah. I thought she killed him. Yeah. That's what they added for that sense of, because I had that thought. The minute they had, and I thought it was beautifully shot. It's just like in Forrest without being a complete replication. But they kept us in that beautiful home with the rain that night. And you know that they're having this intimate moment. And then I'm like, okay, so why is she going to leave? She's not a drug addict. She's not just going to have this guilt and need to get back to her, you know, her pimp and her lifestyle. What's the justice? And then they pulled up and like, oh, nice. Good writing. And for me, if a movie makes me want to bring my nearest and dearest with me to see it again, it's, what more could you want? This movie makes me want to go tell Ashley, Alexis and Micah and my mom, you want to see this because I think it's going to really surprise you. And even somebody who doesn't know anything about India, they'll be introduced to some things. And they're like, oh, why did they, why did they change that for the box of chocolates? Do you, do you think that, because obviously all the controversy aside, do you think Indian audiences aren't ready for a character in a film like Forrest? I think because their characters have always been heroes. Superhuman, bravest, strongest, whatever, what have you. Yeah, yeah. This is a person who has a mental illness. Do you think that is some of the disconnect some people have? Unfortunately, I think it's a multifaceted disconnect problem. And I think it depends on where you are in India. I think, sadly, you have some people disconnected from the film for reasons that are absolutely have nothing to do with the film. There are people that won't watch it because they don't like your Mekhan. There'll be people that won't watch it because they don't like a line that was said about a particular belief system. There'll be people who don't watch it because they don't, whatever. I would like to, there's a huge portion of the Hindi audience that isn't ready for films that don't have the stereotypical hero protagonist. Thankfully, I think that's changing. I do too. And thankfully, you have filmmakers like Amir Khan who will make the films they want to make, not just make the films they are expected to make. And I think it's going to take time. I hope at the very least, I hope at the very least, Amir Khan can not just make back what was invested into the film, but can make a nice profit from the film because it deserves it. I think it's going to have some legs on OTT once it gets there. And thank you, Amir Khan, for not putting it there quickly so that if people want to see it, they have to go to the movie theater. I agree with that. But yeah, I think it's in the hands of the filmmakers. I don't even know Forrest Gump was a hit when it came out. Was it? Like in terms of box office. A box office. This is what I'm talking about. Yeah. I mean, it was nominated for everything. Yeah, yeah. But I don't remember the box office. I have no clue if it was a box office. Obviously, we know it's a success in terms of how it's been perceived throughout history now. And I've paid so little attention except for that means more people have watched it. So I don't remember. I have zero clue if it was actually a box office. But I do. Based on the success of things we've seen on OTT and some of the other films, we're getting there. We're not fully there yet. And I bet there are some people who are like, well, if I'm not going to see a heroine, a bad guy, I don't want to watch it. I think there's sadly that's there. Yeah. But anyways, love us. Love us. Hate us. Those are our thoughts. And you can do whatever you want. I don't really care. Boycott us. Actually, whatever you do in the comments actually helps the algorithm. So just argue. Yeah, argue. Everybody talk. Do whatever you want. Doesn't matter. It helps the algorithm. Yeah. And accuse us. We're Bollywood bootlickers. Bring it on. We're American. I'll lick those sneakers. I thought everybody in the train actually did really well too. Yeah. I do want to say that. They did. I thought it was really sweet actually at the end when he went to go back and touch the elder's feet. I loved that. I thought that was really, really nice. Anyway, so let us know what you thought about the film. Why were idiots? Why were idiots? Why? What did you think? What would you think? Why would you think? Did you think for my mirror yet? For the... Sorry. I thought... I'll cut it. I'll cut it. Okay. Okay. He'll edit that out. I'll cut that part. It was like 200 lakhs though. Wow.