Let's Talk About Talk Shows

Abhinav Kashyap is on a rampage. One can understand his angst. The first film he directed, Dabangg (2010), was not only a monster hit but also ushered in a wave of small-town cinema while making kitsch fashionable. His later career could not match the highs of that first outing. But he is now seeing a different kind of high.

- By Suveen Sinha, Editor, Forbes India, [e-mail]

Kashyap has been making a series of appearances on Bollywood Thikana, a podcast with which this writer was not familiar until the Kashyap bomb began to explode on it, firing a fusillade of allegations against some of the biggest names in the Hindi film industry.

Full marks to the podcast host for generally keeping a straight face and often asking reasonable questions in a measured manner. For whatever it is worth, these videos are getting impressive viewership numbers and comments.

The intention of this column is neither to extol Kashyap’s outpourings nor to examine their veracity. Just that it is impossible not to marvel at the mushrooming of podcasts that, one way or the other, have something to do with the film industry. Anywhere you look, there is someone talking to an actor, director, producer, music director, scriptwriter, lyricist, playback singer—the whole lot.