Calcutta Arthouse

Greetings from the snowy North! To close out the year, we sat down to discuss Uri Zohar's Peeping Toms, a cult classic of questionale taste, and talk beach life, nihilism, French new wave, speedos, Mediterannean masculinities and of course...no, wait, we forgot the biscuits this time! CW: sexual assault, sexual harassment, scenes of adult nature.

We're BAAACK! After much delay, we're finally back with season 2 of Calcutta Arthouse. This season, we move from the tropic heat of West Bengal to the humid shores of the Mediterannean, for a deep - but still irreverent - dive into the films of Isreal. For our season opener, we sat down to watch Salah Shabati, and talk immigrtaion, integration, agricultural socialism, and of course, buiscuits. Join us for Tel-Aviv Maintream.

A special bonus episode! Just as we were about to despair, we found a copy of Choker Bali, the Aishwarya Rai Tagore movie, and so we sat down to discuss widowhood, tea, novelistic cinematography, and intertexuality. And of course, Pramit takes back any thing bad he ever said about Aishwarya Rai.

It's been a hot minutes, but we are back with the season 1 finale! Pramit and Ayelet discuss the most memorable moments of each film, our favorites and least favorites, big surprises, and sound effects! We also tease our next season, coming soon to your favorite podcast app!

A double-header, biscuit round-up, and Naxalites. This week has something for everyone. If you want to help the unfolding COVID crisis in India, here are some suggestions: Tribal Connect: https://www.facebook.com/Tribal-Connect-109831657511643 India Development and Relief Fund: https://www.idrf.org/get-involved/make-a-gift/ Direct Relief: https://secure.directrelief.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2924&mfc_pref=T&2924.donation=form1

Finally, a bit of comic relief! In this episode, we tackle West Bengal's beloved children's classic, Goopy Gyne Bhaga Byne, a tale of musicianship, adventure, and magic. We also take in the Mahabarata, funky outfits, experimental jazz, the Wizard of Oz, Alexander Lemtov (#LemtovForever), and of course, biscuit report!

Ayelet and Pramit sit down to discuss Charulata, probably our favorite movie so far. We take in wallpapers, politics, Hollywood glamour, the Bengal Renaissance, and get deep into triangles (so many triangles). We also bring a new - salacious! - biscuit, and digress into our newest obsession, Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga.

In today's episode, we discuss The Big City, get both feisty and political, plus a double biscuit feature! In a particularly irreverant departure, Ayelet demands a feminist remake starring Aishwarya Rai and Melissa McCarthy, and Pramit gets into class dynamics and very full episode synopses - and we both agree that the forgotten heroine of this film is in fact Edith. Oh, Edith.

We're excited to introduce a new feature: Pick Ups! An occasional series of mini episodes, Pick Ups is the place for all (well, some) the clever things we should have said but didn't. In this episode, we revisit fan-favorite Devi, to discuss names and tantric sacrifices. It's a slightly dark turn to our usual irreverence, but we hope you enjoy.

In today's episode, Ayelet and Pramit welcome a new director to Calcutta Arthouse, and despite not having a new buiscuit to report, we do discuss hipster glassess, the Uselessness of Man, and showboating in a saree. And also TB, because there is always a sting in the public health tail.

Overcoming many technical obstacles, Ayelet and Pramit start out frivolously discussing casting options (Aishwarya Rai v. Liam Hemsworth), and conclude seriously by talking about the Abused Goddesses Campaign, mental health, and domestic abuse. In amongst all this, we also manage to take in the biscuit of the week (alfajores), the T20 series, and Megahn Markle.

Just in time for SXSW, we sit down to discuss the intersection of music, class and art. In addition, Pramit explores alternative spellings, Ayelet is feeling judgy, and we have opinions about biscuits.

Back to normal programming, Ayelet and Pramit close out the Apu Trilogy with a robust discussion of colorization, cockroaches, flutes, and that Jimmy Anderson over. But especially flutes. Shownotes on our Twitter account: @ThatArthousePod.

This is a special bonus episode, in which we talk about what has been going on in Texas over the last week, and how we survived it with the kids. Our tone is lighthearted as usual, but the tragedy here in Texas is real. If you can and want to help, this is a good collection of suggestions: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/how-to-help-texans-recover-from-the-winter-disaster/ For more local help, Austin Mutual Aid has a gofundme page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kick-the-cold-austin-mutal-aid We'll be back to our regular programming next week.

In our second episode, we take on Aparajito (1956), the second instalment of the Apu trilogy. Join us as we discuss tea making, Lady Bird river, our mothers, and go on a very opinionated tangent about daal.

Kicking things off with the first of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, Ayelet and Pramit discuss color cinema, trains, poverty, gender, and, of course, Zootopia.

Welcome to Calcutta Arthouse, an irreverent and uniformed look at the Parallel Cinema of Bengal. Ayelet and Pramit discuss their movie viewing credentials (none), their plans for the podcast (many), their kids (feral), marxism (not really), and, of course, cricket.