 How are you doing? Pretty good. Wow. Hey, welcome back to our Stupid Reactions, you idiots. I'm Corbin. I'm Rick. And today we are with the Jimmy Cage channel, which includes Jimmy Cage, and Dennis the Buddymeister, I believe, is what you are lovingly referred to as, correct? I love it, yes. And this is our third time with him. If you haven't checked out their channel, go check them out. I'll link their channel in the description below. They do Indian, and I think you do Indian, Hollywood, and just everything, right? German, I think. Yes, sometimes European cinema as well, whatever I like, whatever is coming to theater in Vienna. Yeah, absolutely. So if you haven't checked them out, I'll link their channel in the description below. We've done two other reviews with them. Padosen was the first one, then we did Tadapathy with Rajnikanth, and now we have watched Safrosh, the 1999 Hindi action drama starring Amir Khan and Nassaruddin Shah and Sonnali Ben-Bendri, I think. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. And then directed by John Matthew, I wanted to say Manhattan, Mathen, and also produced by him as well. If you haven't seen this film, go watch it, because this is going to be 100 Spence for All Over the View because it came out in 1999, so I'm assuming most of you have seen it already. So let's start with you, Jimmy. Please, what were your initial thoughts of the film? I would say mixed. I kind of enjoyed it. I think it's a decent action movie. I think you have to keep in mind that it's already over 20 years old, and I don't think it aged that well in some regards, especially when it comes to the action. I enjoyed it fine. I think I enjoyed parts of it more than the movie as a whole. For example, I really enjoyed the performance by Nassaruddin Shah. I think he was probably the highlight for me in the movie. I think the music is great, the songs are great, even though I don't think they are really integrated that well into the whole narrative. But overall, I had an okay time with it, but a little bit underwhelmed after all the praise. Dennis? Yeah, I could say the same. It's an okay movie, it's alright. I liked a few things, but I think I didn't like a lot of things. I think it's alright, it's too long, but I think it's a bit silly at times, and I also agree that it didn't age that well. You can see the structure, this Bollywood mass-entertaining structure. You can see it every minute of this movie. It's a bit distracting how the movie is structured. Love, action, love, then we get a song. I was not really in the movie, but it's alright. I would still recommend it if you're an Amir Khan fan, or especially if you're a Nassaruddin Shah fan. But you have to be in the mood for this kind of 90s Bollywood action entertainer. Rick? I'm going to be accused of an Amir Khan bias picture, because I went from liking it. I went from liking it, and I agree. It's long, but if you know that going in, if you know this is going to be a long movie, it's like when you go into Lagann, you know you're going to be here a long time. But I went from liking it to the last act of it I really liked. So this is actually some of the classics we've seen. This is when I actually like a lot more than some of the other ones. Yeah, I'm probably in between a lot of you. There were parts that I just didn't understand even why. I didn't think they were actually needed. But my favorite part was actually the last scene, which with Nasseridin Shah and Amir Khan, that whole standoff thing. I thought Nasseridin really shined in that scene. He showed why he's such a legendary actor in that scene. And I loved his whole character throughout Nasseridin's character. And I actually enjoyed, if they would have stuck to mostly the cop stuff, I think I would have praised it more. I didn't actually understand why the love interest was even there. Well, I know why it was there. It was 90s Bollywood. I know why it was there. It didn't further the story for me though. The whole love interest, it could have not been in there. And I think it would have been actually an even better film. Even though I enjoyed the songs, we've reacted to I think three of the songs in this film. And they're all really nice songs. But the whole love interest, I didn't care about it. I thought it was kind of in there just because they needed it for the 90s Bollywood. But I liked the rest of the cop stuff. I thought even though the action was a little cheesy, but for the 90s, I thought they were pushing some boundaries sometimes. Maybe a little Indiana Jones-esque with some of the kills that I really enjoyed like when the guy got pushed into the back, into the spikes. I enjoyed that. So yeah, I would overall say I definitely enjoyed the film. But there was stuff that I think if it was made today, I don't think they would have either they would have done it better or they would have not included it just because you needed it for the time. But let's talk about the acting. I want to talk about Nasseridin Shah. Because I think we all can agree he was fantastic in this, right? Yeah. Okay, good. I wanted to make sure I didn't have to kick somebody off here. Nasseridin Shah. This is I think the first villain role Rick and I have seen him in. And even though he's not playing like a stereotypical villain, but I love that. I love that he had a lot of nuances to this character. And you kind of find out, I don't know, maybe an hour in that he is the one that's kind of controlling everything and he's the mastermind behind it all. I thought he played it very subtly. And that last scene was just so powerful with him. And him just, you know, trying to not get caught. But then when he figures out that he is caught, trying not to die by the other person's hand. And then I thought it was absolute brilliant. So I don't know what you thought, Jimmy. Yeah, I would agree. I think it was maybe until halfway in that we finally get to know that he's the villain. Unfortunately, I was already spoiled because I read somewhere that he's a terrorist or that he's working for them. So I was spoiled. But the scene in which it is revealed is actually quite nice. It's the one with the little lamb, with the little animal. And it's quite shocking what he's doing, because if someone isn't doing his job right, then there will be a punishment. And even with the little lamb, there's some punishment. And you can feel the tension when the lamb is coming in and he's just performing his music. And then there's this loud noises. And you are afraid for the lamb. And then when it's revealed what he has done to it, I was really kind of shocked. I have to say I was also the beginning of the movie. I really liked the montage in the beginning, where we see the gun trafficking. And then of course the terrorist attack. I was really positively surprised how violent the movie was. I mean, I'm always a fan if there are some... I think it's called squibs when there are these gunshots. I'm always in for that. But Nazir Rudensha, for me the highlight of the movie, I think he has such a great presence on the stage when we first see him, when he's performing his music. And then I like that they have this kind of duel between Amika and Nazir Rudensha. But it's not like a big action shootout duel. But there are two guys who are on different sides of the law, but only find out later. And now they have to deal with it. And I like that a lot. It's cool that he's such a restrained villain, who is very calm and quiet. And of course also that they kind of build up this friendship, this friendship with the music and all. So that we really want a showdown between the two of them. It's really nice that it's so subtle. And I gotta say, he has never looked better and he almost made me want to grow a beard. That was one sexy looking beard and haircut, man. He looked so good and he does never... He's one of the actors in Indian cinema that just never gives a bad performance. And talk about Amir Khan, Rick? Yeah, I love Amir's emotional availability. And we talk about a lot of the actors. And there's obviously a very special place in my heart because when we started to watch Indian cinema, he was the first star that we really got to know and watch and appreciate. And I thought, it says a lot about him, that he held his own completely up against truly one of the great actors in cinema. In that last scene between the two of them, when they're going back and forth, I thought was, to me, the best part of the film for me was watching those two and the script that was given to them for those lines. I just felt like that was really, really strong. Dennis and Jim, if you guys want to talk about... Amir or any other actors as well? Just go ahead. Yeah, well, I'm sorry. I also always liked when they are both on screen, but I have to give a shout out to Makrant Despan, who plays Shiva, he's the right hand. He's the one who gets pushed into the spikes. We also know him from Satya. I think when Satya, he kind of played the same role. He's the henchman. And I like him very much. This movie reminded me a bit of Satya. If you really had pulled all this love stuff out, like you said, Corbin, it would have been a little bit like Satya. Not as good as Satya, but it had this vibe. And it also speaks for Makrant Despan's character that he gets such a cool death scene. It's always kind of an honor for a character if he has to go in a cool way. And I liked him very much. So he had this threatening feel to him when he's on a motorcycle and riding over Amir Khan's leg or stabbing the other guy through the neck in the car on the street. It's also a very, very cool scene. Amir Khan's unindurable leg. That thing got either ran over or shattered multiple times. And the next scene, he would just walk it off like a champ. It's also great that the doctor in the hospital says that he lost so much blood. They can be happy that he lived. And I was asking myself, where are you from? It was this mixture of kind of gritty and I mean, there's a very serious topic with the tensions between India and Pakistan. And it has shades of being kind of a realistic movie. But then there's so much genre, action, maybe even schlock in there. And some of it I enjoyed, but some of it I was just baffled by. And I was constantly on board and then it was too ridiculous for me. And I think a lot of the action, there's this action scene in the middle of the movie that I think was actually nice. It was the one where the motorcycle is running over his leg in the end. I think that scene was all right. But some of the action felt kind of unintentionally funny to me. I mean, I think a big reason are the sound effects. There are so many sound effects that are really over the top. And when people are falling down, there's this flat sound. And at the very end, when Nazir Rahim Shah's character commits suicide, it's a tragic scene, but then he falls to the ground and it's... And I don't know it. It took me out of the movie several times. But on the other hand, some of it I enjoyed when Amir Khan in the hospital is kind of, no, you don't tell me what to do and he's just jumping up and tries to fight the guy even though he is in a guest. Yeah. I love the standard Foley sound for feet. It doesn't matter if they're on sand, wood, brass. It's that standard. They didn't even do Foley work. They just took recorded Foley sounds of feet. Yeah. You always get the screeching tires of the cars. Yeah. Yeah, that's one of the places in the film that definitely I think showed the date of the film is the Foley work was very evident. And either the screams, the punching sounds for everything, the kind of pew-pew sounds for the guns, and the walking, like you guys said. I think that was the part of the film that definitely showed its date the most. And I agree there were some times that I was just like, oh my word. In this film, I don't know if you would call it a Masala, but it definitely had a bunch of different genres in it. I think if Amir was making this film now, he wouldn't do that. Because I know this is kind of like the film that kind of catapulted him into what he likes to do now. Like one film at a time, usually stuff that has like a message. And I think, I don't know if it was this one or Earth, that he only did sync sound after. So I can't remember if this is before or after Earth. But I think if it was done now, it might have been a little different. I don't know how you guys felt. Jimmy and Dennis, how did you feel about the songs and the love interest, Rick? Well, first of all, Sonali I think is beautiful and adorable. And just I believed in the chemistry that they had. I like the songs. It's what I anticipated from this time in Indian cinema. So if I was measuring it by today's standards, it would seem a little bit odd to me. It would be like, why did you even put that in there? But I agree with you that you could remove it and still have an intact story. I don't think that their love story was a required element. But I liked their love story being in it. Yeah, for me it was a little bit like watching two movies and they didn't always blend together. But it was also, of course, completely reasonable because of the time and commercial requirements. But she's also the one that brings a lot of comedy into the movie because otherwise I don't think there is much comedy. But whenever she's there, there is some funny dialogue. And I really... When she's finding out that he's actually a police officer and I think we lost... Yeah, hold on, we lost Rick. Welcome back. I'm taking everything back after the movie. We didn't talk about... You were saying something, Jimmy, go ahead. I was just saying I really enjoyed the part where she's finding out that he's actually a police inspector and he's just beating up this guy on the street. It was really, really funny. Her character also helps in the way that we see Amerkan doing the hard-boiled cop but also the lovable guy. So it shows his two sides so he can be charming and nice. But also this... And this film did, obviously, especially for the time, almost an important message to the mainstream of, one, the India-Pakistan but also the Muslims in India and how they're viewed. And I know that was like... This film was big for that reason as well. It was kind of almost... That subject matter wasn't touched upon a lot, at least in a mainstream film. That's what I was told. Also, did you enjoy our cameo from our Dost? Sure did. No. Nawaz. Nawaz and Tadiki. It took me a second but then I made a screenshot and it's directly to Jimmy telling him, hey, that's his first role. His first role also... Apparently, Amer didn't know it was Nawaz. When he apparently met Nawaz on Tailash and I think Nawaz was like, thank you so much for hiring me again. What? And apparently I read that he was... Yeah, you probably read it Jimmy, say it. I read that he was only in the movie because the other guy who was supposed to play the role didn't show up and so it was his chance. Yeah. Well, I did see that scene was actually added, a couple other scenes, that scene and like two others because apparently when audiences first saw this, the test screenings, they were like, I thought it was a cop movie and they didn't... They were like, where's... where are all the cops? And Amer's like, what are you talking about? There's like... The cops are throughout this entire film and so apparently they didn't... To the audiences at that time, they didn't pick up on that these were cops somehow. I have no idea how. But yeah, but I did... Jimmy, any other thoughts on the film before we... I think we should also mention Mukesh Harishi. He's playing Inspector Salim. I think up until that point, he was only playing villain roles. I read on MDB and I actually like this kind of... It wasn't really a body cop movie, but there were hints of that in there because he was, in the past, he was the superior to Amer Khan's character, I think. And now because he got his partners killed when he was going after Sultan, which was really, really clumsy in my opinion. And he thinks, of course, because he's a Muslim, that he got off the case. And I think it's a little bit heavy-handed, his reaction to the whole thing, but I like the... Maybe I like the idea more than the execution in the movie. Yeah. But he grew on me, the character grew on me. Yeah, absolutely. Dennis, anything else that you wanna... Well, I think... I kind of liked how the city of Mumbai or the streets were also incorporated in the movie. There are a lot of chase sequences in the streets and through the houses. And you see the... Sometimes you see the camera up from a ceiling, looking down into the streets. I liked the way the city was integrated. We don't see that much, but it's kind of cool. It gives this movie this gritty feel. Again, it felt like Satya in a way. The whole movie reminded me of Satya mixed with a Mani Ratnam movie. We also had all those movies that thematically were about Pakistan and India. And it always reminded me of this mixing of the two. But yeah, I liked how the city was integrated. Yeah. Rick? Yeah, some of my favorite takeaways from it. You had mentioned this earlier, Corbin. I appreciated and wasn't expecting the gruesomeness of the violence that was involved. It was pretty brutal for the day for a Bollywood kind of film. And I really liked the message that was at the end, which again is an Amir Khan thing that I adore. There's always this moral to the story. And one of the big takeaways at the end was, among the many reasons for partition, the British wanted to weaken that region of the world when they left and make sure that they couldn't compete. And I loved that conversation they had about, we shouldn't be doing this to each other. I think that's probably my favorite thing about the film is that message that it had within it. And again, as much as the Foley work was bad on some of the stuff, I appreciated, there were some good stairfalls by the stunt team. I mean, there were some pretty cheesy sound effects, but there was some pretty good stunt work by the stunt team. So all in all, I probably liked it the most of everybody, but I've got it undeniable. Well, we've probably seen a good 12 Amir Khan films. How many of you guys seen? Good question, but maybe also in the region. About 12. Over 10 for sure. Yeah. They are 300s, PK, Lagann. What would be your favorite Amir Khan and where would this rank? Go ahead, Jimmy, you go first. For me, unfortunately, it's pretty low, I think, because I don't remember having seen a bad Amir Khan movie. I think my favorite is probably PK, because I really thought that the approach to religion in that movie was really bold and interesting. And it was really funny. The songs were fantastic. This whole idea with the alien coming to Earth and finding out about the different religions, I really enjoyed that. So I think PK is my favorite. And I have to think if I've seen any Amir Khan movie that I didn't like, not sure. Dennis? I think if I remember correctly, I liked Tare Zamin Par very much. He's the teacher and he teaches this kid about following your dreams. It's a bit cheesy at times, but I remember that I liked it very much and I liked him in that role, because everything that he stands for, he puts into this character that he plays in this role. And I liked that very much, yeah. Rick? Yeah, you know me, Corbin. It's still and may always be PK. I love PK. I'm with you, Jimmy. I have yet to see an Amir Khan film that I don't like. Yeah. Mine is probably either Lagann or Rang de Basanti. One, I like the difference of Rang de Basanti for Amir Khan. I liked that twist on the normal. Even though his performance in Dongle was great. I loved his performance in Dongle. But yeah, it's probably one of those two. Lagann is a film. I obviously just really, really enjoy it. But I think my favorite performance is probably... Yeah, it's probably Rang de Basanti, just because of how different it was in comparison to everything else. Because I think PK, three idiots, and there's like one other, are very, very similar, but those are the first ones we've seen. But I love those films. Those films are absolutely fantastic. So it speaks to the fact that we've all seen like 12 and none of them are bad. Even this one, if you didn't like it, I don't think you can call it a bad film. Definitely not. But it's, even if it's lower, it's just, they're all good films. And I'm sure he's done, I mean, he's done Duhum films. So I haven't seen those. I don't know how those are. Oh no, I know he's done the... Dugs of Hindustan. I haven't seen that one. We neither. We had the opportunity to watch it in the theater, but we didn't go. I have not heard good things about that film. So let us know what the next Amir Khan film we should watch is, and the next film that we should all review together is. And once again, go subscribe to Jimmy Cage's channel. It's in the description below.