AFC collaborated with an Australian brand founded by Nick
Murkovich and Alex Tomich to create a unique product inspired
by KFC's iconic 11 herbs and spices.
The product was described as biting into a hot, juicy piece
of KFC Original Recipe chicken, and it was marketed as full on
Flavour Takeover. Originally conceived as an April
Fool's prank for 2025, the real version of the product was
priced at $13 per item and quickly sold out after its
release. What product am I talking about?
That is the audience question for today's episode, which we
will answer at the end of it. So stay tuned to the very end to
know what the answer to this question was.
This is Are You Quizzing Me, your favorite quizzing and
trivia podcast show. And this is episode #126 our
year ender for the year 2025. Queue the music.
Welcome to our you quizzing me. I am Vineet Nair with my Co host
Aditya Kashyap. This is a quizzing trivia
podcast show. Join us as we dive deep into
history, science, pop culture and so much more.
Let's get quizzing. OK, Aditya, let's start off this
episode by spouting some inane conspiracy theory.
I was thinking of some kind of connection between 126 and 2025
or 2026. Do you know what I came up with?
The number 20. 60, no, that's it.
But it's 126 and 12026. We're going deeper, you know,
into the conspiracy of numerology.
Basically, we're going into numerology.
Do you know what do you get when you add 1 + 2 + 626?
You get 9. And how much is 2025 when you
add up all those? 9.
Coincidence. I think not.
OK, moving on. OK.
So as we mentioned, this is our third year running.
We are going to do a 2025 snapshot show.
All of the questions will be on snapshots from each month of the
year and we will have 12 questions.
So this will be a longer episode so trap in and enjoy the show.
So let's start off with January. OK, so like you and I were
discussing before we started recording that this year has had
Oh my God, so much terrible, just sad, sad news, terrible
news. It has been death, destruction,
trauma of wars, natural disasters, just so much of that.
And our entire episode is going to focus on a sort of like,
let's say, rewind, recap, snapshot, whatever of 2025.
In no way are we minimizing the pain of the people who have
suffered this year. Yeah.
The point is to find maybe some silver lining in the otherwise
cloudy year that was 2025 and celebrate those things.
So all the news, all the trivia, all the fun little things that
happened here and then it splattered in between is a
reason to sort of look back and smile.
Hopefully that's what you are doing at the end of this
episode. OK, disclaimer out of the way.
What better way to start January or this podcast episode than to
do it smiling with all the best comedies ever.
Vineet, have you watched Dumb and Dumber?
The original yes, many, many years ago.
Jeff Bridges and Jim Carrey. Perfect.
The 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber has a scene where Lloyd
Christmas, which is the name of the character played by Jim
Carrey. He asks his love interest what
the chances are that she would go out with him.
She replies and I'm quoting one in a million.
OK, what was Jim Carrey's response?
Oh dude I saw the movie. Like the last time I saw that
movie was like 15 years ago, 1520 years ago.
Sure. So in 2025, did he say something
like that? OK.
So a lot of my questions are basically going to connect
obviously to something that happened in this year and in
this case happened in January of 2025.
We'll get to that. But just I know it's been a
while and it's a movie more than 30 years ago.
So in in case you don't remember, nothing against you,
but let's say take a wild guess as to what he could have
responded. He was obviously a dib witted
character, somebody who who was not very smart and intelligent.
So what do you think he would have responded when his
girlfriend or the girl he liked rather said that chances of her
getting together with him were one in a million?
So I'm guessing because it's 1994, he was he.
And you're talking about January 2025.
I'm guessing when Donald Trump becomes president for the second
time or when Donald Trump becomes the president.
Oh, that would be really funny. No, it wasn't.
It wasn't anything to do with Donald Trump, OK?
It wasn't OK. He says something which you
would consider a ridiculous response in this scenario.
Yeah, something. Somebody Really clueless would
say that's that's the best hint I would give something clueless.
Somebody, some clueless, would say one in a million, right?
So I'm guessing he's going to not know how much millionaires
and going to make something of that sort.
It's more of the fact that he says there's one in a million
chance so. Dude, I do not remember this
movie that much. I cannot for the life of me
remember what this could be. OK, you know, this is this is
this is a very unfair question asking you to quote a movie
which is not even probably one of a favorite movies.
OK, I'll just tell you the answer, he says.
So you're telling me there's a chance that's his response?
OK. Oh, OK.
OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
yeah. That that's from video that
seems to. Video.
Yeah, it's a very commonly memed instance from a film, in this
case number number Jim Carrey and his Lloyd Christmas look
saying. So you're telling me there's a
chance for something which absolutely has basically no
chance? Yeah, I do remember this now,
yeah. Connect this to something that
happened on January of 16th, 2025.
OK, There is a January of 16th, yeah. 16th of January. 16th of
January, 2025. OK, so you want me to connect
the Jim Carrey dialogue? So is it the dialogue itself?
Is the line itself? Is it like a meme thing?
It's very specifically the line. So you're telling me there's a
chance? OK, So what is the connection
between? So you're telling me what is the
chance? And so there is a chance and
something that happened on January 16th and 2025, correct?
What could be the connect? I you'll have to give me a clue
here. I'm not OK.
I gave you the date January of 16th 2025.
January 16th, 2025. I'll give you a specific time, 7
O 373 AM. 73 AM. 3 minutes past 7:00 in the morning.
What happened on 73 AM on January 16th, 2025?
Let's finish that hint actually 3 minutes past seven in the
morning Eastern Time. So it's. 3 minutes past seven in
the morning Eastern Time on January 16, 2025 and something
happened. Eastern Time, in case somebody
is unfamiliar, is the time zone on the East Coast of the US.
You're giving me a very specific time. 703.
Like nothing happens that early in the morning.
I'm telling you a very specific time and I'm telling you a time
zone also. So it's not even something that
happened across the world, technically, it was specifically
that location, the eastern coast of the United States, of the
continental United States. OK, is it something to do with
Donald Trump and his treating it odd hours?
No, nothing at all to do with Donald Trump.
I am telling you I have stuck to mostly feel good stories and
most of Donald Trump's tweets aren't exactly feel good, so no.
Yeah, OK. No, I don't know.
I don't know this. I have no clue.
OK, this is a big hint they should take you there.
The location specifically was Florida, more specifically Cape
Canaveral. To the Space Flight, correct?
This is the Falcon 9. Oh, OK, maybe maybe you missed
this particular thing, but this was Blue Origin, basically their
launch of New Glen. OK, New Glen is a heavy lift
launch vehicle and it's a family of vehicles and the one that was
launched on January of 16th. What do you keep saying January
of 16th? January 16th.
Of January 2025 was nicknamed So you're telling me there's a
chance? Oh, OK.
Because it was the first time ever that they were sending one
out and they were hoping to planning to aiming to land it
back. Basically the the launcher, they
wanted to kind of get it back to Earth.
OK, nice. In the case of January 16th
launch, it didn't happen, it didn't go through.
But this is what the CEO had to say when he was asked about why.
Why this particular name? So the name of the CEO is Dave
Lim and he said no one has landed a reusable booster on the
first try yet. We are going for it.
So the nickname for the booster was.
So you did think this is? A base of this particular Jim
Carrey meme. Blue Origin, Not bad.
Yeah, very bad choices in rocket shapes, but otherwise not bad.
A company and somewhat regrettable choices in who this
end up I remember Katy Perry went up and became all
philosophical she was waxing philosophical about becoming,
you know, seeing the earth from. There, I think there were a lot
of memes about that as well. Yeah, I think what they did
recently take up a paraplegic woman to space.
I think that she became the first paraplegic person to go to
space. So good for that Lady.
Yes, so like yourself, I too was horribly depressed while trying
to make questions for this episode because everything was
quite depressing this year. So I have tried to find Nuggets
of at least feel good and if not just outright sad, you know,
bittersweet or something like that, or trying to find the
silver lining. So this is one of those
questions. Right.
In early 2025, most specifically somewhere in early February,
Shafiq Hashem, an Indian content creator, turned something most
people try to conceal into a short term commercial asset,
pricing it not per view or per click, but per surface area and
time. The idea involved no costumes,
no props and no post production tricks, only a permanent camera
facing feature that could not be skipped, blocked or
algorithmically downgraded. What began as a joke online
became credible when a company from an industry directly linked
to the trade itself formalize the agree arrangement, opting
for visibility over irony. What unusual advertising medium
did this Kerala based based Blogger offer for rent?
Oh, interesting. Yeah, some way of advertising
that he offered that was surface area and time related.
Yes, surface area and time. Surface area and time.
Maybe because I'm still thinking about the spacecraft.
My first thought was the moon. But then there is no company
associated to the moon, no. And I think the deal he got
would have been much more lucrative to the moon.
He got around ₹50,000 for three months.
OK, that's not the most lucrative deal in history, but
hey, good for him. Yeah, surface area and time.
And you said something about being unskipable as well.
You can't skip it, it cannot be algorithmically downloaded and
you can't block it like obviously somebody can block a
video, but. So this was a video of sorts or?
Yeah, so he no. So basically he's a content
creator, he's a Blogger, a YouTube Blogger.
OK, some way that you have to compulsorily see it.
Yeah, you can't avoid seeing it. Brain goes to like a safety
video in a plane. No, no, no.
OK, focus one point that probably may give you a clue or
at least two points from the question.
He turned something that most people try to conceal into a
short term commercial asset and he priced it per surface area.
What do people try to conceal? Something intimate?
Something private. No, this is not something
intimate or private. Them sinking in the bathroom.
No, no. It's a video, right?
Like you're saying, it's some sort of video on some.
No. So this happened.
This happened across multiple videos.
OK. Which is why he was paid 50,000
for three months. Yeah, this is a bunch of
interesting clues without really giving me too much right now.
No, I'll need something more. See if this helps you out.
The company is called LA Density.
Yeah, no, never heard of it. What kind of company will be the
last clue that I give you? Something that he was showing on
his video. But again, it's unskippable.
So it can't be like on a regular YouTube video.
It can't be like an Instagram ad.
I guess TV, but then TV ads. Also, technically you can just
change the channel I suppose. Like I mentioned, people try to
usually conceal this. He also thought of concealing
it, but then he decided instead of hiding it that he decided to
monetize it. No, I have no idea right now.
This is completely clueless. OK.
So I'm going to tell you what the company is and you can
probably then guess from that. So this is a practically A
giveaway. The company that inked the deal
with him was LA Density, a Cochin based hair transplant
company. His forehead.
I was genuinely going to say forehead space when you started
this question, but OK. Some space on his head, some
bald spot, some forehead. He's he's a bald guy.
OK, so his entire head. He shaved off whatever little
hair he had, and he rented out his bald head for
advertisements. The deal was for ₹50,000 for
three months, with companies getting prime placement on his
head while he records his YouTube content.
Oh my God. When he offered this, many
people laughed. But then LA Density came and
became the first to drink in a contract with him.
Their advertisement is now temporarily tattooed on Shafiq's
head. So basically it was temporarily
tattooed on his head for the duration that he was paid for,
ensuring brand visibility in every frame of his videos.
So you cannot, technically, if you're watching his video, you
are forced to see that ad. You cannot skip it.
It cannot be downgraded because there's an ad.
Yeah. And this unusual idea was born
when Shafiq himself considered getting a hair transplant.
But instead of hiding his baldness, he decided to monetize
it. When you first said this, like,
generally, And I was like, you know what, Let's not say it
because it's going to sound stupid.
And I don't want to increase the runtime of this episode
unnecessarily. This is a joke that has been
going around because I am a guy with a big forehead.
And this is a joke that has been going around since college days
where people have just been like, oh, why don't you rent out
your forehead as a billboard like I have.
The number of times I've heard this joke is just, yeah, way too
many. And.
I. Swear, when you said it, I was
like, but OK, let's not say it. And it turns out that was my
first instinct. It's usually it was a balding
man's problem. I see it.
I feel you. I feel you, Shafi.
I'm also probably going to have to use that in a few years, you
know, help people to get some real estate.
Let's not, let's not do this, OK?
We are, we are targeting, we are targeting a younger demographic.
Let's not do these mid 30s forties problems right now.
Let's let's be young and let's be excited, OK?
Yeah, yeah. So it's all about 6-7.
What the hell is that? I still don't understand what
6-7 is honestly. Speaking.
I read some explanations but the explanations did no sense.
That's because you're old. It's because you aren't young.
Yeah. You need to feel it.
Be 6-7 in your heart I guess. Yeah.
All right. Me.
Yeah. You were talking about somebody
who is South Indian, I guess. Yeah.
Well, I this particular guy is not South Indian, but he is
Indian. No, he came from India.
Deepak Pandya was an Indian American neuroanatomist best
known for his contributions to the understanding of cortical
and subcortical brain connectivity in the Maki monkey.
Mackie Mackay, Mackay Monkey. The monkey, the.
Mackay. Mackay.
I think that's us, yeah. He was born in Gujarat and then
eventually settled in Massachusetts.
He passed away a couple of years ago.
OK, on 16th. April or April of 16th I guess.
On 16th April 2007, his youngest child entered the Boston
Marathon and completed it in four hours and 24 minutes.
OK. Why was this historic?
Just guessing. His youngest child as in his
actual child or somebody he considered a child?
Not a monkey. No, no, no.
OK, that's what I was going to ask.
Maybe a fast monkey though. 4 hours and 24 minutes for a
marathon is very fast for a monkey.
Yeah, but no, this was a human child person.
OK, what is his name again? What is the scientist name?
The neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya.
So Deepak Pandya's youngest child ran the Boston Marathon,
correct in 2007. April 16th to answer, we haven't
gotten to the 2025 Connect yet. Oh, OK, OK, yes, youngest child,
was it like it's not the fastest, right?
4 hours? No, no, not even close.
They're obviously not the youngest person.
I don't think they'll be the youngest.
Not even at all. OK.
Can you try connecting it to 2025 so that I can probably kind
of reverse engineer the answer? That was the intention.
But before we get there, just to tell you that this was historic
because it was a historic first, OK?
And since then it has been done one more time, OK?
So this particular achievement has been achieved twice only so
far, OK. Now the connection to 2025 is
not nothing to do with that, with that historic record, the
historic first. It has got nothing to do with
that, but it has got to do with the youngest child.
And I'll again go with the hint of the date first.
OK, the date is March 18th, 2025, or by the way, March of
18th, 1 + 8. Also nine my.
God, something is a coincidence. March is also the third month. 3
^2 is also nine. OK, never mind.
The March 18th, 2025 event happened in Gulf of Mexico near
Tallahassee, FL. OK.
Or Gulf of America, I guess, for our American friends.
No, I refuse to call it the Gulf of America.
I refuse to call it the Gulf of America.
Something happened in the Gulf of Mexico, Yes, on March 18th,
2025. And it somehow links to
something that happened on March 16th of 2007, Yes.
Any other clues that you could possibly give me?
Ideally, March 18th, 2025 shouldn't have been.
March 18th, 2025. It should have been somewhere in
August of 2024. It was delayed massively.
Oh, this is this is a Boeing screwed up.
And Sunita Williams was in. Well, this is Sunita Williams.
Sunita Williams was in space. Longest thing ever.
And then she splashed down finally, after, you know, months
overdue in the industrial picture.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
This is Sunita Williams. Perfect, perfect.
You got that right. Sunita Williams and Butch
Wilmore, the two astronauts who were stuck way beyond their
mission parameters, were, which is initially supposed to be only
8 days. They went up in 24.
They came back nine months later.
March of March of. What is wrong with the 18th
March 2025? OK, OK.
To the audience, I think the reason that Aditya has been, you
know, butchering dates this way is I am fairly confident he's
been reading George RR Martin, who also suffers from the same
disease. For him, everything is of the
something, the hand of the king. Great.
It's never anything else. It's the hand of the King, the
this thing off, the something else and whatnot.
Which probably means that this episode will never end.
It'll keep going on for four hours or five hours.
So yeah. OK, cool.
Coming back to the coming back to the piece of trivia, can you
connect it now? I hope it'll be easy to connect
it to the piece of trivia that I mentioned about the marathon.
Yeah, so she she's his daughter. So she would have been the
youngest child. So she's the first astronaut to
win the Boston Marathon. She didn't win. 4 hours 24
minutes is not winning in that time.
Yeah, not a great time, but then she must have first astronaut to
complete. No.
The Boston Marathon. Not precisely.
OK, take another guess. You said it's it's happened once
before, right? Once after that.
OK. That was the first time it
happened. That was a Boston Marathon.
The second time it happened was a few years later.
It was a London Marathon. OK.
What do you think was that? Did she immediately go to space
the next day? So close, so close, so close.
She didn't go to space the next day.
She was. She was already in space.
She ran this aboard the ISS. She was part of the Boston
Marathon aboard the ISS. Oh, she ran it up.
OK. Hey, that's cheating.
You can't call it the Boston Marathon.
That's just a marathon. Sunita Williams was listed as an
entrant for the 2007 Boston Marathon.
No, no, no. I.
Was given a completion time of four hours 24 minutes.
No, this is this is just marketing bullshit.
This is marketing BS. I will let the Boston Marathon
people know. You can't call it the Boston
Marathon unless she's specifically on the Boston
Marathon in Boston. If the ISS were in
geosynchronous orbit, locked to the position of the Boston
Matter of Boston like directly above, I could still consider
it. But it's not, so I reject it.
I reject your premise. That implies that Boston is a
fixed point in space. Unfortunately, the frame of
reference that you're referring to is very localized.
If you're outside of Earth, Boston is a continuously moving
point in space, so who knows where Boston is technically.
You know what? I'm just wasting time now.
OK. So she was the first astronaut
ever, the first person ever to have run that.
OK, another man did it many years later, I'm forgetting the
exact here, but he ran the London Marathon a few years
later. And those are the only two
people who have ever run a marathon.
I call bullshit. OK, so moving on to April of
2025, this is a little bittersweet.
X was born on New Year's Eve and passed away on April 1st.
Birth and death happened on notable dates.
Death obviously happened on April 1st in 2025.
So I'm going to give you a bunch of trivia about this person and
you have to tell me who this person is.
He grew up riding horses on a ranch once owned by Roy Rogers,
which later became infamous at the site of the Manson Family
murders. He famously once broke his arm
when he jumped into a crowd in an attempt to crowd surf.
OK. Known as something of a
Casanova, his list of alleged romantic partners included
Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, Cindy Crawford, Daryl Hannah, Angelina
Jolie, Ellen Barkin, Carly Simon, among others.
He also dated actress Mayor Winningham.
Fun fact, he once dreamed that she was cheating on him, kissing
someone else to be exact. After he woke up, he borrowed
someone's car in order to drive at least 300 miles to find her.
He found her at her swimming club kissing someone else.
So it was a very prophetic dream.
X also had a legendary feud with Marlon Brando, who was this
legend of the 80s and 90s, who was Sean Spencer's idol and who
passed away in April of 2025. That was a pretty impressive is
not the politically correct word to use.
Somebody use some other word. There's a pretty notable list of
people that he has dated. I know Warren BT has a pretty
impressive list of dating history as well.
Yeah, you couldn't go by just the list because, you know,
there are a lot of people. Leonardo DiCaprio comes to mind.
And BT is, as far as I know, he's alive.
So yeah, somebody from the 70s and 80s who passed away this
year. I would ask you to focus on the
80s and 90s. They became famous in the 80s
and the 90s. OK, so he was also at some point
attempting to crowd surf, you said yes, broken arm.
Yes. Crowd surfing makes me think of
some sort of rock star, some sort of musician.
No. So then the other alternative is
an actor who dabbled in music, I guess.
Actually, I should clarify, Is it an actor?
Am I supposed to be looking at the acting?
Yes, it is an actor. It is an actor.
An actor, what do you say is also the inspiration for Sean?
Who? No.
No, he was Sean Spencer's idol. Okay.
That's a deep cut clue, you know.
If you know you don't, it doesn't mean anything to you.
Yeah, no, that that meant absolutely nothing to me.
Those who are who those who knows for Sean Spencer have
immediately blurted out the answer while listening to this
podcast, which is probably an audience of maybe like.
Two, you underestimate no. No, I even though I've
recommended the show multiple times on this podcast over the
past 125 something on episodes. I don't think many people have.
Actually gone and watched it so well.
People will take. Note after this question, you
said Sean Spencer, and the only person I could think of was Sean
Spicer, who was I think the the spokesperson for Trump in his
first term. Funny guy, but OK.
No, that's not who Sean Spencer obviously refers to.
Sean Spencer. OK, you know what?
Never mind that that rule doesn't lead me anywhere.
An actor from the 80s and 90s, Yeah.
You mean maybe something else? Maybe.
A genre of films or something? OK, so no.
He's who whose genre is wide and varied.
Oh wow. OK, so.
Let me just tell you this. The The incident where he broke
his arm while trying to crowd surf was because he was playing
a famous musician playing a famous.
Musician, yes. To the famous.
Musician and this I'm assuming. A biopic that I would have heard
of if not seen. You may not have seen the.
Biopic, but you definitely know who this is the actor and the
musician that he was portrayed got it he.
Broke his arm because he. Jumped into the crowd to crowd
surf but nobody caught him. This.
This is I think this is a scene. That Oh yeah, this is a Jack
Black seed in School of Rock. In the reopening of the film, he
does that. X had a legendary.
Feud with Marlon Brando, who once told X that his problem is
that he confuses his talent with the size of his paycheck.
Marlon Brando was. Not known to be the nicest of or
the kindest of people, at least in his later years.
Yeah. Did a musician.
OK, I'll give you a few other other.
Roles that he has played He has played a DC superhero, he has
played a multi actor franchise James Bond like character who
was once featured on a question in this podcast.
He has played a very one of the giants of music, and he was also
1/2 of the. Duo.
That defined 80s masculinity. It is.
Masculinity is. Sylvester Stallone and
Schwarzenegger both are very much alive.
No, no, not, not. OK, no, I maybe that was a
little overreaching too much. You can.
Say there's. This robust kind of masculinity
that was defined by Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
And then there's the kind of, you know, macho, lean, mean,
machine kind of masculinity. Very.
Specific. Shirtless scenes.
Jean Claude Van. Damme is alive.
No, no. OK, so this.
Scene. I mean like there is a very
specific scene that the reason I'm talking about this very
specific scene in a very famous movie.
This is a shirtless scene. Oh my God, you're talking about
Val Kilmer. Oh God, so you meant homoerotic
masculinity is what you meant in that yes.
What Top Gun was entirely yes, but then.
See. Come on, it's not.
Just that I mean, like it's it was a fantastic movie and very
memorable scene. Oh no, no, 100%.
I'm I I'm I like Top Gun. I like the sequel also.
And I loved the way they brought Val Kilber back also.
Yeah. So this is.
Val Kilber let me just put everything together.
The Casanova part doesn't need further explanation.
He basically played Jim Morrison in the Doors biopic.
The Doors film, yes. He played Batman.
In Batman Forever in DC, yeah, you mentioned OK.
DC superhero. And he played Simon Templar, the
Saint who was featured in a question in this podcast before.
Oh, yeah, yeah. I.
Remember his name coming up in that context?
Oh my God, I've forgotten again. Yeah, yes, and.
He has also he acted with Marlon Brando, the island of Doctor
Morrow, just where he had this big kerfuffle with him.
And Sean Spencer is the protagonist of the show Psych,
which I have mentioned a million times on the show.
OK. Val Kilmer is 1.
Of Sean Spencer's idols, he brings up Val Kilmer like 100
times throughout the series. During the series finale, Val
Kilmer makes like a blink and you miss it cameo.
OK, so yeah, so this was Val Kilmer.
He passed away quite tragically too early actually.
He was in his late 60s on April 1st.
And it was not an April Fool's joke, unfortunately.
Joke on us, I guess. Taking away a very talented man.
The first movie that I remember him from is none of these
classics, none of these these famous ones.
I remember him from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
One of my absolute favorite films.
Oh yeah, yes. But that's that's his 2000s.
That's after he kind of lost his motive prime.
He's not He's. Not in his leading man day
anymore. And yet, my God, he's so good
because Robert Downey Junior again, fantastic.
Not yet the. Iron.
Man fame, he's still kind of just come back from his recovery
from, from addiction and, you know, kind of making his
comeback and he's phenomenal in the film.
I I love RDJ in that film, but Valconvar is such a good, good,
just integral part of the film. I know you like the film as
well. Yeah.
And then of course, I went and saw the other films.
I saw your top guy and then whatnot.
So yeah, he's, he's quite the actor, actually.
New York Times did a lovely tribute to him when he passed
away and they were talking about his spiritual journey and stuff.
And he just sounded like a very interesting man to the point
where he was like, I think everything in life is good for.
You even this. Cancer is good for me or
something like that. Like he had a very interesting
philosophy on life, of course took a lot away from him the.
Obituary. That New York Times ran was
about talking about how he was very good looking and so people
typecast him as that, just a good looking guy.
But then he wanted to do serious roles.
So he was trying to fight that also at all points of time, also
trying to do these crazy indie films and some of them worked,
some of them didn't work. But he was obviously very
talented as an actor. Like genuinely.
Top Gun, yes, 100%. Tom Cruise, my God, amazing.
But Val Kilmer, when he's facing off against him in that scene,
when they're in the changing room and they're just standing
and he does the bite. Oh, God.
Like I, I get it. Two men, very hot men.
Just like this is a sexual tension between that.
I love it, okay? And just a pop culture
recommendation, I believe you watched Airplane, right?
I have, I have. There was a team of directors,
Jim Abrams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, who made multiple
such very kind of slapstick movies through the 70s and the
80s. There's included Airplane, the
Kentucky Fried Movie, Naked Gun was them.
Hotshots which featured Charlie Sheen, of course.
So these are the kind of ones that.
Are more famous. What many people don't know is
there's a movie they did with Val Kilmer called Top Secret The
Writer. Which is also.
Very funny. It spoofs mostly World War Two
kind of movies. OK, I.
Would definitely recommend. Go watch Top Secret, which start
very, very young. Val Kilmer.
Interesting. Yeah.
And generally the Top Gun Maverick, The cameo that he
played props to Tom Cruise or whoever the writer or director
were there was a creative person behind that choice was just the
perfect way to bring back that character and sort of give him
the the rightful space that he his his character deserved in
the sequel. That was very well done.
I really like that. Very well done.
Yes, I. Agree.
OK, on to you for I believe it is may we are in.
May, and specifically I'm going to give you the date to begin
itself, May of third, OK, it's the 3rd May.
On 3rd May. Lady Gaga hosted the biggest
ever concert that has ever been attended by a female artist. 2.1
million. There were some numbers which
suggested 2.5 as well, but let's go with the lower end of it. 2.1
million people were in attendance.
The question is very simple, where was this concert?
So. Lady.
Gaga's concert on May 3rd attended by 2.1 million people.
Where was this concert and the record being?
That's the biggest of a concert, the largest of our audience, by
a female artist I remember. Something about this but I can't
remember the location give me. A clue I'll.
Probably kind of. It will kind of jog my memory.
OK, so let. Me give you some some related
information. OK, the record is for the
highest number of concert attendees by the number.
You would have imagined that this is a free concert, ticketed
concert. The number is is much lower.
It's 485,000. So it's the fraction of the 2.1
million number. OK.
And that also, by the way, happened this year, 5th of July
2025. Yeah, but in this case, it's a
free concert. It is the highest ever
attendance by a female artist. This was on 3rd of May 2025 by
Lady Gaga. I have asked you what the
location is. The reason I mentioned that it's
a free concert is for a few reasons.
OK, Firstly, this place would be a little difficult to have a
ticketed concert at. I couldn't find any obviously
any source which said that no, definitively there has never
been a ticketed concert here. But I imagine that there has
probably been very few ticketed concerts, if at all, and it
would be very difficult to have a large ticketed concert at a
location like this. OK.
Next that I'm going to give you. Is that out of the top?
Five most attended. Concerts and all of these are
the free concerts or the top five most attended concerts.
This location has been featured 3 times on that list.
OK out of the top ten, this location has been featured five
times on that list and every other location is featured only
once. So you can imagine just how
popular this this location is for for concerts I guess.
Can you tell me who are the other?
Artists who are featured at the same location, sure.
So the. Highest ever attendance recorded
is apparently a tie between the two, but whatever.
Take a pick Rod Stewart at the same location and this is number
one spot is 3.5 million attendees.
OK and. Tied with him also.
At 3.5 I'm going off of Wikipedia by the way.
Tied with him 3.5 million Jean Michael Jarre OK, who had.
Not heard of but he's. A French composer, performer and
record producer and his was at Moscow State University.
OK, so that is 3.5 million as well.
Then coming to #3 would be also same location.
Jorge Ben, who is a. Brazilian Popular.
Musician has been performing since the 1980s, also at the
same location. 3 million people. This is in 1993 by the way.
Rod Stewart was 1994 same location.
Jorge Ben 1993 same location. Lady Gaga I already mentioned,
3rd of May, same location 2.52 point 1,000,000 Somewhere there
she broke the record of Madonna. Also same.
Location. Almost exactly a year before
that, which is the 4th of May 2020.
Four 1.6 million. When I said the highest ever
attendance for a female artist. Lady Gaga set the record this
year. The previous record was held by
Madonna, which was literally last year at 1.6 million, same
location. The Rolling Stones in 2006, 1.5
million, same location. I've told you 5 artists were
performed at the same location. The Rolling Stones thing kind.
Of rang a bell. So I'm going to go for it
because I'm kind of also buoyed by the fact that you mentioned
Jorge Ben, who's a Brazilian recording artist.
Go for it. Go for.
It crack it. Is it the?
Copacabana beach on in Rio. Oh good.
Lord, my man, he is on a roll. Copacabana.
Yes, Copacabana Beach. Which I assume is a difficult
location for a ticketed concert. Yeah, I don't think.
Any beach would be a difficult one.
Yeah, as I read the most. Number of free concert or
highest attended concert in the top ten list.
It's insane. At #1 at #3, at #5 #7 at #9 and
every other location is only featured once on that list, in
the top 10. So to me this is just bonkers.
The fact that Copacabana Beach has been so popular.
I was going to give you more hints.
And Copacabana Beach has also been the most popular location
of choice for a specific FIFA event.
The. Belongo.
No, no, no, literally. At what they call it the World
Cup, but it used to be called a world championship before FIFA
to Cova. It's basically beach, beach
football. Oh, OK, OK, so.
Copacabana Beach. Has been the most popular
location that is just. Insane.
Number of attendees for concerts 2.1 million people is.
Just blows my mind I. Remember.
Vaguely that there was a like. After the Soviet.
Union kind of reserved. There was a concert in Russia
somewhere which was attended by like some 2 million people.
It was, was it a Metallica or who?
Who was that? So there is a 1.6.
Million attendance by various artists.
This was in Moscow. This was in Tuscino airfield.
It was called the Monsters of Rock.
This was September 28th, 1991, so I'm assuming that's the one
you're talking about. Yeah.
OK. OK, OK.
OK, so maybe the because I remember something about
Metallica or somebody performing and maybe they were part of it.
I'm not. Sure, but that's the other one
in Moscow maybe. Yeah, no, just.
Going through this Wikipedia. Page I was just surprised going
to the ticketed concert list. Oh yes, I.
Did not recognize. Anybody in the top five?
And again, I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to
music, but tell me if you know these people, OK, And I might be
messing up the names, OK? Marco Perkovic, Thompson.
Prokovich. Probably a Prokovich.
Have you heard of this person? No Croatian guy.
OK. He performed in Zagreb with
close to half a million. This is ticketed concerts.
OK then. Vasco Rossi No.
Italian singer-songwriter. And Poet 225,000 People Modena
in Italy, Bhelo Dugeme, Bosnian rock band.
This was in Belgrade, 220,000. Yeah.
I'm just like, who are these? Like, it's so surprising to me.
These are the highest ever added concerts.
Wait, isn't there a Michael? Jackson on the list or a
Coldplay? I just came to number.
Three OK be hello to game. The 4th 1 is Glee.
Have you heard of Glee? Japanese rock band.
This was in 1999. Two 100,000 people attended it.
India Solari. Have you heard of India?
Solari No. Argentinian musician.
And singer, dear God. OK, so far there is not a.
Single English musician, English singer, English.
English band. Not not a single one in American
or English. English.
I mean language, yeah, Then. Comes finally.
Paul McCartney, One name I recognize.
Ah, yes. Paul himself.
Paul McCartney. Tina Turner, Frank Sinatra,
there in order. These are at least three people
I recognize the names of. I'm very surprised that.
There isn't a Michael Jackson on this list.
Let me just quickly. Read out the names.
Luciano Ligabue, who is an Italian singer.
Bruce Springsteen. Thank God.
Know that name? American.
OK, there's a Serbian singer by the name of Seka.
Keka. Seka.
How do you pronounce it again? Marko Perovich.
You too. You know that?
Yes. Yes.
You too. Yeah.
Roger Waters, English. Musician Kiss also know them.
American rock band. Yes, Yes, Robbie.
Williams, you would know. That English singer-songwriter.
Yes. Yes, let.
Me entertain you, Queen. Features on this at #17 and
there was at Sao Paulo in 1981, Helen Fisher, then Madonna.
Finally at #20 is The Rolling Stones, and #21 is Michael
Jackson #21 and #22 both yeah, and #24 as well.
There's the the Americans and the British singer.
Songwriters and musicians come way down on the list frequently.
But further down the list. Yeah, it perhaps.
Has to do. With the fact that their fanbase
is a lot more spread out, I guess I don't know.
I'm not sure. I don't know what the reason is,
but it's so surprising to the top five.
I had not even heard of these people and these are the most
attended concerts ever. Mind blowing, frankly.
Because I, I think it might be a cultural thing that, you know,
maybe the Latin American or the non-english Romance speaking
languages, people are more likely to go to concerts or
something like that. Maybe I.
Guess I don't know, but like, there is also a Japanese rock
band in it. Yeah, in terms.
Of Asian. Music.
I was more familiar with Korean or I've heard of a little bit of
Chinese pop, but that's probably because I was in Singapore, so I
was exposed to more of that. I did not know Japanese rock was
this big a deal that it's #4 on the list.
Do you want to know how you? Can beat this like easily.
You tell me, bring down somebody.
Like. Coldplay or the Backstreet Boys
or you to to Goa and have a free concert on the beach.
Oh, hundred. Percent this is there that's not
even going to but honestly, you know what?
If anybody from Coldplay is listening, don't do it, OK, just
just it's going to be a nightmare.
You know, nightmare for everybody attending is going to
nightmare for you. Just it's going to be the worst
thing that has ever happened, So don't do it.
But yes, and people will die of. Starvation while they wait for
the traffic to clear from the Baga Beach Rd.
Let's not even go to the. The possible genuine risks of
that, it's not even a joke at this point.
The genuine human risks of doing it eventually.
By the way, since that Coldplay. They are at #32 and 33, both at
Narendra Modi Stadium, both in January of this year.
Nice. Going on to a little more
serious note, moving to the month of June.
In a development that. Will go down in aviation
history. An Air India flight from Delhi
to Dubai witnessed A dramatic courtroom style execution.
With the official record. Stating the execution, it was by
being hanged till death. Who was the offender who was
executed? Somebody.
Was hung to death. On a flight, yeah, Delhi to.
Dubai. I'm assuming it's not a.
Person. I'm assuming this is some.
Some sort of? A creature because it's a
person. I want to skip this question.
I don't want to even answer this question.
It's too depressing. Yes, you're right, it's.
Not a person. This is Was there a snake on the
plane? Traumatic reenactment of the.
Film. OK, so is it some sort of an
animal, some sort of a creature? It is a creature, yes.
But it was not a monkey fighting snakes on a Monday to Friday
plane. Okay, it's not something in
fiction, right? We're just talking, still
talking about something that happened.
No, this is real. This is real.
This actually was reported in the Gulf News, but
strangulation. Especially for an animal.
Sounds rather gruesome. Yeah, the record says hang
tilted. Hang tilted sounds pretty
gruesome. Yeah, the only animal that I'm
OK imagining in that kind of situation is like maybe a
cockroach, I guess. So I'm going to guess like to
hang a cockroach that I don't know.
I don't know. What part of a cockroach would
you hang to death? Like which organ is supposed to
be hung? OK, now that sounds.
Really absurd. That sounds really absurd, but
it's true. It is a cockroach.
I love this piece of news. I love this piece of news.
OK, listen this, listen this so you know for every flight there
is a cabin defect logbook. OK, now those are usually filled
with boring notes about broken entertainment systems,
flickering lights. But this time it turned into a
true crime thriller when crew members recorded and I quote
Cockroach Found alive by guest hyphen Cockroach hang till
death. Passengers and netizens.
Alike were left equal parts horrified and entertained as the
insect's brief but turbulent journey aboard Air India flight
AI315 came to an abrupt, abrupt and legally binding end.
According to a Gulf News report, the incident took place in 2025
when a traveler spotted a live cockroach mid flight.
While pest sightings aren't unheard of, it's the airline's
decisive response had made headlines.
The maintenance engineer, evidently channelling both
Sholay and CSI, recorded the incident with impeccable flair.
The now viral entry declared that the case was conclusively
closed, adding a dramatic flourish, class Dubai style.
So the cockroach was. Doing the Dharander viral reel
before it was good. First year spy.
In the Middle East. Considering the amount.
Of just depressing airline news from this year and from last
year. And I'm glad you found something
which was lighthearted. Yeah.
Well chosen. So well chosen.
Thank you. Well, you gave me a perfect
segue because you were talking about a flight.
I'm going to talk about a flight as well.
In my case, though, this flight is from 1983.
OK. What is that with you today?
And like, just giving me something from the extreme past.
I love it. OK?
On the one hand, I was struggling to find good
interesting trivia, which is which is not related to sad
depressing news from this year. On the other hand, when you try
hard enough, such interesting trivia shows up, and this is a
perfect example. So cut 2.
OK, 1983 Air France flight from Charlotte.
There was a woman, Jane, on it, but Jane had a bunch of things
she was carrying, including diapers for her one year old
daughter, Lou Dolo. Lou Dolo, Lou Dolo just.
As a reference, Lou. Dolo is famous in and of her own
regard. She is now known as a French
British singer and actress. Yes.
But coming back to. The 1983 flight, so Jane was
with her daughter carrying a bunch of things, was annoyed at
the kind of mess that she had. She was also famously known to
carry a Wicker basket with her wherever she went, so in this
case, she was carrying her stuff in her Wicker basket.
However, there was too much of it, including the diapers, and
it was almost spilling out. It spilled out onto the
passenger sitting next to her next to Jane, and at that point
she started ranting to this person sitting next to her.
She mentioned how her favorite brand doesn't make bags, which
would be the right size for her. Either they're very small or or
they're extremely big. They're not the right size for a
woman like her, a mother, young mother like her and the needs
and and the kind of things that you'd be carrying.
Yeah. What did this?
Encounter and I feel like you've cracked this like 5 sentences
ago. What did this encounter lead to?
OK, so. The person in question that
you're talking about is Jane Birkin.
And when she was ranting to the person right next to her, she
was like, I will carry a bag when Hermes makes 1.
And that's when the gentleman sitting right there, Madam, I am
Hermes and that. Was.
The origin story behind the Hermes Birkin the bag.
Perfect. You got it absolutely right.
There are versions of the story, obviously this is the my
preferred version, but apparently, and this is based
off of what she has said in interviews, she knew she had
kind of figured out who this person was next to her and
that's why she was ranting to him specifically.
It wasn't like I'm just going to rant about her mess to this rant
of stranger, but as I prefer the version where she was ranting
about her mess to the CEO. And the CEO's name is Joe Louis
Duma. Yeah.
And he was the CEO of the luxury band A mess.
A mess used to make a smaller bag and that was not obviously
enough for needs. And then Hermes had bigger
suitcases and stuff and she was like, why does Hermes not make
this right bag size? So the CEO, the legend goes,
asked her to show him what the bag would look like.
So she took out one of those those vomit bags in the plane
and she drew it on it. She drew a prototype of what she
wanted and 1985. Two years later, Miss presented
Birkin with the prototype of her ideal bag as a gift.
But there was one request that the bag should bear her name.
She graciously agreed. And Birkin bags, For any fan of
luxury goods and fashion goods would know, Birkin bags are very
valuable are collectors items also.
And this was the first ever Birkin bag.
Now, keen listeners might realize that I have not really
mentioned 2025 yet. Vineet, you want to tell us how
is related to 2025? I have no clue you'll.
Have to give me a question to answer.
I have actually. Mentioned the link already in my
explanation just now. It's a collector.
'S item. Well, yes, yes it is.
A collector's item did a Birkin bag.
Sell for an outrageously high price in 2025 a Birkin.
Bag was auctioned for the most expensive handbag ever auction.
I guess whoever is keeping record though, specifically the
original Birkin bag that was given to Jane Birkin was
auctioned on 10th July 2025 for a cool €8.6 million or $10.1
million. Oh, 10.
Million. Dollar handbag, do you know?
What the name? Of that bag was please help me
it was. Bag worthy.
It is the original. Bagwati.
That is the original Bagwati. Yeah, Yeah, but you got.
That very, very accurately and just to kind of tie it with a
bow on top. Jane Birkin was the name and she
was an English actress, singer and designer.
She had a prolific career as an actress but was mostly in French
films. So maybe most of her English
speaking audience has not seen her work.
She passed away in 2023, so not that long ago and first ever
Birkin bag that was given to her was auctioned off.
She actually gave it off to charity many many years ago.
So it's probably been passed from person to person over the
years. And recently was part of an
auction where there was apparently a very heated ten way
bidding war. Like there are multiple people
interested and it went finally for 10.1 million U.S. dollars.
On 10th of July 2020. 5 that's that's.
A lot of money. That's a lot of money.
Hey, we finally did. 6-7 We are done with June.
July. Oh God, you were.
Waiting to say. That oh, OK, Moving on to 8.
This is August. OK, this is a.
Very easy question. Frankly speaking, because I
couldn't find anything good in August.
So Aditya, you're going to track this fairly quickly.
I'm far confident, but I'm going to ask it anyway because we have
to get through to August to get together once.
OK, this was. The first.
Netflix film to open at #1 at the box office, earning $18
million, it also. Became the.
Most watched movie on Netflix, and this was the first film
soundtrack in history to have 4 songs in the top ten of the
Billboard Hot 100, surpassing Saturday Night Fever and Waiting
to Exhale, each of which had three songs in the top 10
simultaneously. So which movie?
Wow, that is. Actually something I don't know,
I thought this will be cracked in like. 2 seconds flat Netflix
film. That was the biggest opening
ever, became the most watched. Movie on Netflix.
The previous record was held by Red Notice, which got 231
million views in the 1st 90 days of release. 231 million views.
This movie got 325 million views within the 1st 90 days.
That's a big number. Yeah, I wonder how Netflix.
Calculates. Its views by the way.
I'm curious like do they count it like you have to finish it
till the credits or something or like the 1st 10 minute or rather
maybe they'll just count. The entire viewing time of this
and then divide it by the length of the movie and they'll be
like, oh there's many views. I would be surprised.
If that is the case, I I I don't think because again based off of
what other social media platforms do like YouTube,
you're counted as view. If you have seen like the 1st 10
seconds of the video, some some serious number, yeah, that could
be an hour long video doesn't matter 10 seconds you've seen
it, you're a view. OK, anyways, for this biggest
film ever, I I definitely would know of it, even if I haven't
seen it. You would have heard of it.
You would have. Definitely heard of it, but I
think the reason it may not immediately pop to mind is
because you though you claim to run in a younger crowd, you
don't actually run with the same demographic as which kind of,
you know, this movie targets. Ouch.
I do. Not appreciate that.
That was very. Made of you.
Dude stop it man you you can't speak the Janafa lingo.
Maybe just embarrassing assaults.
Yeah. Yeah, OK.
Move on. This feels.
Like I know this. Because I remember reading that
it has surpassed the Red Notice. I was also surprised at the fact
that Red Notice was the previous record holder because I remember
thinking that that's a pretty bad movie.
Oh yeah. It's a bad movie.
No, Give me something else. OK, so I will.
Give you a couple of names from the cast list.
So that will probably maybe help you.
So there is Ken Jeong. Daniel Day Kim.
OK, Lisa. Koshi.
OK. Those are probably the only
names. You'd recognize on this list.
Wait, these are the. Most famous names on that cast.
I know the the. I think there are much more
famous people, but not people that we have heard of.
They have, they've been seen. There are a lot of famous people
that we've not heard of. Wow, no completely blank right
of. Kenji.
No. Wow, no idea at all.
It's a musical. Like I mentioned the soundtrack,
4 songs in the top 100, something that's not been done
by any movie. I was going to say like some.
BTS film you, you said. BTS so think along the same
lines. Oh my God, it's.
K pop demon hunters. Oh, of course, yes.
I'm trying to picture these. People I'm trying to picture oh
God, this is my problem like every time you say film I'm like
what's the visual of the OK makes sense because anime very
popular. I did not watch it, but I heard
good things. I definitely heard great things
about the soundtrack. The soundtrack was decent, Yeah.
I couldn't escape the. Soundtrack.
OK, my neighbor has twin. Girls and they are obsessed with
K pop demon hunters. No, I I like the soundtrack.
I. I was a final soundtrack.
I like some of this. I don't.
I think I heard like 2 of them. I like both of them but I didn't
watch the film. I have no idea what the film was
like, but I think brief period. Of time, anytime you open social
media or anything else, there'll be something related to these
songs, something related to this.
And then I've, I've seen the craze around like in kids my
son's age and slightly older, you know, they want everything
and anything related to K pop demon hunters.
It's hugely, hugely popular. I mean, it was no.
Nadania. Why?
Why would you do this? Why would you do this?
That's no, yeah. No, no, move on, Move on
quickly. Quickly before you get
cancelled. Cancel for mentioning Nadania.
Yes, you ought to be. Speaking of Indian.
Things. Let's come back to India for my
September question. Oh my God, we are at 9 Vineet 9.
Yes, yes. 99. 99. Don't.
No, don't do that. German Nazi.
Joke. Forget it.
No, no Nazi jokes. You're.
Keeping it light. OK, so I'm going to mention a
person. Chandrapuram.
Please tell me you've not cracked that question.
As soon as I've said the name, that's a person, OK?
Thank God. I was worried.
You'll crack it immediately. OK?
Chandrapuram was born on 4th May 1957.
Yet again, we go back to history.
Yes, 4th May 1950. Seven 4 + 5 is 9 again.
Chandrapuram. Was born on 4th May 1957 in
Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. OK, The story goes that he was
currently named after X OK X was very soon thereafter reelected
to a prestigious position. This happened on 13th May,
literally 9 days later, right? 4th May 1957.
Chandrapuram was born. 13th May X got that prestigious position
12th September 2025, quickly connecting it to 2025.
Twelfth September 2025. Chandrapuram would go on to
achieve the same thing as X. What am I talking about?
South. I'm guessing Chandrapuram is.
Not his full name. That's not his first name.
I'm guessing that's your abbreviating his name somehow.
So Chandrapuram. Is his, Yeah.
First part. Of his name, the being named
after X part. Obviously I'm not giving you the
name, OK? So someone named Chandrapuram
was elected to a prestigious position on 12th of September
this year, correct? No, you'll have to give me some
other clue. Well, interestingly.
There is a very strong connect to this person on another date
in September. You do realize that when?
People name certain people, especially in South India, the
initials are not always named. You tell me.
What the answer is don't, don't, don't give me all this random
stuff. Give me the answer you're
talking about Sarvepulli. Radhakrishnan.
Yes. Oh God.
My God, man. Chandrapuram isn't is not his
name Chandrapuram. Listen, listen, listen.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy. Radhakrishnan is his full name.
And of course, Chandrapuram is not his first given name.
He says that I can't give you Radhakrishnan now I can't give
you Radhakrishnan. It'll be too easy.
No, you could have given me Ponnusamy.
Oh, OK. Ponnusamy.
Is his first. Name Chandrapuram Ponnusamy
Radhakrishnan would literally mean Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan
from Chandrapuram. That makes more sense, yeah.
That makes a lot more sense. My bad.
Hey, listen, you don't have been targeted by by my South Indian
friends a little bit recently and very justifiably.
This is another black mark on my record.
Yeah, if. CP Radhakrishnan was.
Filling out a form which said usually it says first name,
middle name, last name, right? A first name, middle name,
surname. What would he put?
Vendor put Pulusami as the first.
Name. OK, OK.
And Radhakrishnan C would be put as the last name.
Radhakrishnan C Yeah, so C would be part of his.
Last name so I'm correct. I mean, OK, fine, OK.
It's not his. Name I'm not trying to explain.
Explains how the name conditions to a Mallu person.
I'm just saying for. A.
Broader understanding it for broader understanding.
Let me just clarify this. Right now in South India, we
have this thing of appending. Basically, we're just attaching
the name of the place or the name of the family or whatever.
Basically, those don't technically count as your name.
You can't categorize them as your first or last name.
They're initials, sure. When my dad went to.
Bahrain for the first time. When he went to Bahrain for the
first time, his boss Muhammad Ali was an out and out Arab who
said that I cannot pronounce your name.
He's like, I cannot pronounce pronounce the first three names,
so I'm going to call you by the last name.
So he was like Nair. From then on, for 25 years he
was known as Nair. Being called by a last name is
not. Uncommon, but then you realize.
That Nair is one of the most common surnames in Kerala.
We like calling a. Chinese person Lee just because
the last name is Lee. Yeah, exactly.
OK, we deviated. So hard, and I don't know how
much of this will end up in the final cut, but coming back to
the trivia. Chandrapuram Ponnuswamy.
Radhakrishan is the name that is mentioned on Wikipedia.
CEP Radhakrishan is the current Vice President of India.
He was elected to that position on 12th of September 2025.
Yes. The story goes that he was born.
4th May 1957 and when he was born, his parents CK Ponnuswami
and K Janaki Janaki. My bad.
K Janaki. From Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, they
decided that they're going to name them after S Radhakrishan
Sarva Pele. Radhakrishan Sarva Pele.
I'm going to be brutal to you now.
I said with play Radhakrishan. S Radhakrishan, You can make my
life easier. The First Vice President of
India, who was in that post for two consecutive terms, was in
the position for two consecutive terms from 13th of May 1952 to
12th May 1962. The next day he became the
President of India and he was in that position for five years.
So one of the most illustrious people from the early
independent Indian history. And I mentioned as a hint that
he's related to a day in September as Radhakrishnan's
birthday obviously is also Teachers Day in India,
celebrated as Teachers Day in their 5th September.
Yeah, yeah, as. Radhakrishnan.
Was the person that apparently CP Ravi Krishnan was named after
and CP Ravi Krishnan got to be or well deserved to be or
whatever he found his way to becoming the Vice President of
India in September of this year. And that is the Long story short
of it all. That was a.
Good question. I feel like I.
Just was put through a lesson. I don't think that felt like a
question anymore, you know? I appreciate being taught when
I'm wrong, it's just I don't think I learnt much in the
process. I'm still very confused.
Yeah. OK.
Let me move on. Move on.
Moving to October. In 2025, the same young
performer, or let's say a young performer, became a case study
in how social media, critical reception format and venue can
completely invert commercial outcomes.
In one instance she fronted a big budget studio film aimed at
a global audience, heavily marketed, digitally saturated
and tied to an iconic IP. Yet it collapsed theatrically,
becoming shorthand for modern day box office.
Within months. She achieved the opposite result
in a radically different medium, an old fashioned stage revival
mounted in a single historic London theatre where demand was
so high that performances sold out and ticket scarcity replaced
marketing spend. The production concluded it's
run in September 2025, but it's cultural afterlife extended
further when a live cast recording released weeks later
in October unexpectedly topped the UK Singles Chart, a rarity
for musical theatre in the streaming era.
Taken. Together the 2.
Outcomes sparked debate about star power, medium specificity
and the power of social media. Which stage?
Musical. Revival produced this chart
topping success. And which actress am I talking
about? It can't be wicked.
Because the film didn't do that badly.
No, no, the film did very well. Wicked did very well and you
mentioned the film did badly. Right in this case.
Oh really? Really.
Badly. And this is the same movie and.
Rather from the same source material, right?
No, the movie is a different. IP the but musical's a different
IP. When was the movie?
So the. Movie released on March 21st
earlier. This year, some.
Sort of a musical film that did badly, but again, let me
clarify. The musical theatre and this
movie. Two different IPS I mentioned.
That they're two different first materials?
No idea at all. OK, so the lead.
Actress The actress in question when it.
Came to the movie. That we're talking about, which
like I said, was a box office bomb.
There were a lot of controversies associated with
the movie way before it released, and one of it was
caused by the lead actress herself.
Like she said something or did. Something, this movie that we're
talking. About was a remake and the
actress openly criticized the original movie, so her comments
were condemned by many viewers who categorized her as shaming
anyone who liked the original film, while others described her
as a walking PR disaster. Very.
Good with life fingers. It's a live action film.
Was it animated film? Yes, it's a live action.
Film live action. Was it?
Was was that? The mermaid film you're on the
right. Let's say tall house or the
right castle. Right Castle.
OK, so it's a it's a Disney film.
Yeah. I feel like I've completely lost
track of Disney films. No, this was impossible.
To miss, there were a lot of things in the Internet, OK,
because I'll give you another clue.
The Israel conflict also played a role in this movie bombing.
Or was it some? Anti-Semitic or pro Palestinian
or anti Palestinian? Sort of like I mentioned, there
were two. Major actresses in the movie 1
obviously made problematic comments about the previous
movie on which it was based, and the other was roundly criticized
for her. Views on the.
Israel, Palestine, conflict. Well, to be honest.
Literally, you could be on either side and you'll probably
be criticized, especially in the US.
Yes, yes. Yeah, but in this case it was
because this person, and again this may be a giveaway, had
actually served in the IDF. Gal Gadot.
Yes, Oh yes, this is. Did Snow White?
Snow White? Was it Snow White?
Yes, it's snow. White.
Yes, yes. OK, so you've got Snow White out
of the way now. You have to tell me who the.
Actress was and which musical theatre performance are we
talking about? I can I can picture her.
Face, I can't remember her name. I'll give you the name.
It's. Rachel Ziegler, of course.
Yes. So which musical?
Which went. Viral, I mean.
Like the IT was sold out almost throughout its run and later
when it was released it topped the charts and whatnot.
I'm. Pretty sure I don't have.
No idea about this. You definitely know this.
The Musical is a song through musical with music by Andrew
Lloyd Webber. OK.
Yeah, it began. As a rock opera concept album in
1976, it's success led to productions in London's West
End. In 1978 it won the Laurence
Olivier Award for Best Musical and on Broadway a year later
where it was the first British musical to receive the Tony
Award. OK.
It's been followed. By a string of professional
tours and worldwide productions, numerous cast albums, as well as
a 1996 film adaptation, the musical was revived in London's
West End in 2006, 2014, 2017 and 2025.
I don't know why the first name that came.
To mind was Fiddler on the Roof. No, no it's not.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, I probably heard.
Of I've heard of it, but no I can't recall right now.
OK, I'll give you another clue. It's based.
On a real historical figure, Hamilton, of course.
No, I'm. Kidding.
No. No, no idea at all.
One last chance I. Told you there was a 1996 movie
adaptation. It won the Academy Award for
best original song. It won 3 Golden Globe Awards for
more Best picture, Best picture comedy, Musical, Best original
song, and Best Actress. OK.
The actress. Was Madonna OK and the.
Movie also. Starred Antonio Banderas oh.
My God, yes, I know this. This is a Latin American, some
South American person, right? That this based on a woman that
it is based on? Yes, yes.
Is it Brazilian?
Is it? Argentinian.
Yes, it is. It is.
Argentinian or the musical is Evita.
Oh my God. OK.
It's too late in the night. How would I not get that?
Yes, it is Evita. Evita.
Based on the life of Eva Peron. Eva Peron, Yeah.
Yes, yeah. I knew it took the Madonna.
Thing yeah, that's that's Mike. I don't think I've seen the film
or I know too much about the musical either, but I know of
course, of the person and I know that Madonna and Oscar for that
yeah. So it was sold out, Rachel.
Ziegler played the titular role of Eva Peron or Evita in the
musical revival in 2025, and it was sold out.
Like it was massive, massive crowds and massive performance,
but. Her.
Movie earlier in the year which she was partly responsible for
bobbing, apparently. If you can trust social media
and Reddit there. Were a lot of other factors
there. Was the whole Israeli
controversy with Gal Gadot? There was fact that there was a
lot of controversy about not choosing.
I think little people is the people who dwarfism.
Yeah, yeah, People who dwarfism. So instead of casting people
into office and they went with CGI with regular sized people.
Yeah, very problematic. Production, OK, now we move on
to the penultimate month of November.
OK, so. In the month of.
November. I don't have an exact date for
it, but somewhere in the month of November the United Nations
they released a list of the most populated cities.
No idea why they do this, what the reason we added it, but they
said they apparently changed some of the parameters or how
they kind of qualify and quantify populations in an urban
area like a city. So there was some reordering of
the ranking. Simple question.
Tokyo was #1 Previously, which city has overtaken Tokyo as the
most populated city as of 2025 November, based off of AUN study
which. Is the most.
Populated city according to the 2025 UN list, right?
Correct. Tokyo.
Used to be this is based on density or total population.
How? How are you looking at it?
Just total population? Just.
Total population, it's it's not Mumbai.
It's not Mumbai or Delhi. I wouldn't say New York either
because New York has a lesser population than Tokyo.
Just because you said these? Names.
I'm going to tell you very quickly, Delhi is at #4.
Mumbai is at number. 12 and New York is at #22.
So it's not the usual suspects. Tokyo is at #2 right now, in
fact. Yeah, I was just going to.
Say Tokyo in fact has not even slipped #2 but it's gone to
number 3. So which is number 2?
Can you tell me #2 you want to take a guess?
Oh well, actually you're still. Number one side out here, yeah
#2 is a neighboring country, Dhaka, yeah.
Dhaka is at #2. Right now.
OK, wild. Guests, is it?
Jakarta. You didn't even.
Let me get to my good hint, Yar. Jakarta.
OK, No, no, no. Now you can give me the hint.
I will listen patiently and look like I'm.
No, I I want to. Move on.
Even though that was a total. Guess I want to move on.
I don't like. You anymore?
No. OK, very well, yes.
Jakarta has been ranked number one by the UN list as of
November 2025, and the UN 2025 population estimate for Jakarta
is 41 million, close to 42,000,000 Actually 42,000,000
people in the city of Jakarta. Well, I don't know how.
Exactly they define it. Dhaka is at 36.5 million and
Tokyo is at 33.4. Million.
So they must have. Really changed the numbering
somehow because it has. I think there is geographical.
Limits of the city? Probably.
Administrative boundary and
whatnot. And every country, every place
defines it on their own. Do you want to take a guess as
to more because you also mentioned, just as a sidebar,
what is the most densely populated city?
It used to be the. World City.
Of Kowloon, right, Hong Kong has been a.
While, and again, I I guess I don't think if Kowloon
specifically counts as a city anymore, I think Hong Kong will
be counted as a city. OK, OK.
And don't ask me. Specifics.
OK, so is it Hong Kong this? Is a city that we know as a
city. I'm not, I'm not asking about
like a specific city within a city kind of situation.
And it's not Hong Kong, no, OK, this.
Is just side edition. Review No, no, I get it.
I get it. I.
Get any clues Used in Hong Kong and I.
Think I must have read that at some point, but I remember for
the longest time I reading that Dhaka is number one in terms of
population density. But but it's not Dhaka.
At least as of 2025. Dhaka is number 2 in the case of
density as well. OK, Dhaka is number. 2 is case
of density both the population. Total and population density
Dhaka number Southeast Asian. Southeast.
Asian, yes. Bangkok.
Is not that crowded over the density.
It's at #39 #39 yeah, no. But it is dense.
But I don't think it's enough for the much like Indonesia.
It is another archipelago nation, Philippines, Manila.
That's right, Manila is at. 41,000 people per square
kilometer. Talk about.
Cans of sardines. Dhaka is at. 30,000 And Karachi
is at #3 Indian cities #4 Kolkata #5 Mumbai.
Mumbai, OK. Asia is leading.
The pack, at least in this way, I think it's Mumbai.
Is more. Like you have concentrated areas
where the density is like really high, which is kind of adding to
the figure. But if you look at Mumbai as a
whole, it's not like like, is it that dense?
I mean if you ever been to Andheri.
Station in the evening, it does feel like it's very late.
No, I'm not going to. I'm not going to I'm.
Not going to argue the fact that we have a lot of people, but I
think like maybe you have a very large number of people focused
in certain areas like in Dharavi or in Matuga or something like
that. So then those kind of help.
Actually I would but. Technically Dharavi and stuff
might not be that much compared to the high rises right?
Just because of the number of people who are staying the same
area. Vertical.
Yeah, yeah, vertical. Is staying in the same?
Yes, a lot of skyscrapers. Which is why more people on the
same square footage and my God. Every Mumbai who's listening can
relate to this. There's just number of buildings
that are under redevelopment. So older buildings which are,
which have been taken over by builders and they're building
like skyscrapers there. Yeah, the whole.
City feels like. It's under siege at some point.
This is like no place to stay, OK, since you did not let me get
there, but I wanted to. And the reason I wanted to do
this was because I thought the etymology of Jakarta was kind of
fun. Do you know where the name comes
from? I'm guessing it'll have some
kind of. Sanskrit origin you are very
correct in. Thinking that it has a few other
names through history, but the most accepted theory of it
Jakarta. The word Jakarta comes from it
is derived from the word Jayakarta Jakarta rather which
is Sanskrit. Jaya being victory and Kart
being achieving. So achieving victory is the
etymology of it and Victoria's deed.
And this came from the Muslim rubes of Fathahila, OK, which
successfully defeated and. Drove the.
Portuguese away from the city in 1527, OK, and they eventually
renamed it to Jayakarta, Jayakarta, however you might
pronounce it. And that over time evolved to
Jakarta, OK. The name Jakarta.
Comes from this very interesting.
Piece of history that maybe. A lot of us are not aware of
that was a. Really good piece of trivia.
Jakarta, Manila. Who knew but Vineet because you
very. Quickly cracked this.
I'm not going to let you off the hook that easy.
OK, OK, I'm going to. Tie it back to my.
First question, and I'm going to ask you, OK, in the movie Star
Wars, OK, there's a. Very interesting scene.
And you probably know Star Wars better than you know dumb and
number. Very interesting scene where
C3PO, yeah, the Droid is trying to warn our swashbuckling hero
Han Solo about the near impossible chance of surviving
an asteroid field. OK, what does?
Han. Solo.
Say in response, he mentions an. Odd odds, right in that look at
you you. Do know your Star Wars?
I'll give it to you, he says. Never tell me.
The odds, yes, yeah, yeah. Never tell me the odds, Vineet.
How is? This connected to 2025 never.
Tell me the odds. Trump has to be Trump.
Nope, not Trump 13th, or rather November of 13th, 2025 at 8:55
PM Eastern Time. Ah, Vineet, take the most
obvious guess, given that I told you that this is related to the
first question, which was about a space rocket launch.
So never tell. Me the odds again.
A Blue Origin nickname. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding.
Correct. It is the name of the next
rocket that was launched in the next New Glen family rocket that
was launched. OK.
The second stage made it to orbit in January, but the first
stage was lost and it never landed back, which was the aim,
right. So after that failed attempt in
November, they managed to make that first stage land.
That was a successful landing. And that was the nickname given
in that case was never tell me the odds.
Tell me the odds. Yeah.
So in both cases. Referring to a film meme.
In the first case it was number number.
The second case it was Star Wars.
And I guess Star Wars Paid Off has never tell me the odds
worked for them technically. That scene was very
scientifically inaccurate because there are no asteroid
fields which are so populated that a small freighter can't
pass through it, interestingly. Enough if you actually look at
asteroid fields, what they don't show you is the the topography
of an asteroid field. It's it's amazing.
Like if you go watch videos, NASA videos I believe about
Saturn's rings, there are like mountains in the rings.
Like literally there are hundreds of meters, if not
kilometer long mountains in the rings.
And it's very tough to imagine it like this.
So I would encourage you to go look at YouTube videos of it.
But it's insane. How does it topography to rings?
And that is the last question for me for November.
I have tied it back to January. I handed to you Bring us home
with December. Boy, this is a long episode, OK?
So. Barsat Ki Raat is a movie from
1960. OK.
It was a defining romantic musical film directed by PL.
Santoshi. Produced by R Chandra, the film
starred Madhubala, Bharat Bhushan and Shyama.
Barsat Ki Raat became a blockbuster success, ranking as
the second highest running film of 1960 and the 20th highest
earner of the 1960s in the Indian box office.
The soundtrack composed by Roshan Lal of the Roshan family
was considered one of the finest in Indian cinema with particular
critical and audience praise The song Zindagi Bhar Nahi Bhulengi
from Say That Again. The song.
Zindagi bhar nahi bhulengi again you.
Non Hindi speaker try doing Hindi things right.
I'm just going to embarrass myself.
In this whole, yeah, let's go on.
Let's see. The song Zindagi Bhar.
Nahi Bhulegi was from the same film and it topped musical
charts that year. There is a beautiful qawwali in
the movie, which was sung by a veritable powerhouse ensemble of
singers Mohammad Rafi, Manna De Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra and
SD Batish. Aditya is smiling, so he
obviously knows the answer. But how did this song gain
renewed relevance in December 2025?
And since you're smiling, I want a very specific answer.
Just like you my. Social media has also been
flooded by Durander reels. We have spoken about the film.
You have watched it. I watched it, I also liked it.
And do you get to him in just the promotion of this film that
it was a trailer, it was a teaser and the high build and
the word of mouth spread and it is done through insane amount of
money at the box office right now.
I. Believe the song.
That you're referring to, which is the caravan to Karavan Ki
Talash hai. That qawwali was featured in the
trailer first is where I heard it, and of course it's in the
film also. Yeah, the music of the.
Movie is. Phenomenal, yes.
Shashat Sasdev. Has obviously done a phenomenal
job, but he has used these old songs, he has, he has remixed
them, he has made them funkier, made them more electronic or
dance, whatever different genres that he has incorporated.
And with this particular Qawwali also, I like when you hear the
original 1 which is in black and white and that's why I remember
people posting reads about it. And these names is where what
led me to the answer because I remember that they were all
these famous people in the Qawwali and the vibe is so
different but he has made that vibe fit so well for both the
trailer and the movie. Just just props the man for very
good marketing for his film or whoever did the marketing for,
funnily enough, the movie. Was criticized for not doing
enough marketing and people were speculating that it was they had
spent so much money on the movie itself that Jio Studios had
refused to give them any money for marketing that props.
To Jio Studio for not doing anything more than just that.
Because I think that's the problem recently, I think
everybody's just been doing the same thing into the marketing.
Just go up here or like a Kapil Sharma show or like do some, you
know, some YouTube specials or whatever.
Like it's just it's just become so predictable.
Do a Curly Tales interview, like everybody's doing the same
thing. And in this case, maybe because
Ranveer Singh admittedly is a loose cannon, does some very,
very few things. It is good to not let him.
Come out in the front and lead the marketing charge.
Let the movie and the art speak for itself.
It worked out for them. It's the highest grossing.
Indian film of 2025 right now. Which is interesting that for an
aerated. Film that.
It's doing so well you can't even take your kids to the film.
Yeah. So please come.
Back to the trivia. So you answered it correctly.
Yes, it is the NATO karva Ki talashe hai, nakoi humsaar ka
talashe hai. So this song is called Ishq
Jalakar. That's the title of the song
Ishq Jalakar. And the 2025 Dhurander
adaptation by composer Shashwat Sachdev honors this legacy by
integrating the lyrics of the original qawwali into a
contemporary composition. Rather than merely recreating
the classic, he recontextualized it into a modern musical
narrative about a spy's emotional journey.
Right, right, right. The soundtrack of Durander.
Features 11 Hindi songs and marks a historic achievement,
Durander became the first Bollywood film to have every
track from its soundtrack chart simultaneously within the
Spotify Global Top 200. Oh wow.
Global top 200 is impressive. Wow, OK, Global top 200 and.
This basically is the first time a Bollywood movie is done that
all 11 songs featuring simultaneously in the Spotify
Global Top 200, which is a fantastic achievement but well
deserve a. Great soundtrack, Sachdeva.
Has. Done a phenomenal job, yes, now
coming back. To our audience question which I
asked at the beginning of today's episode, which is also
related to something that happened this year.
KFC collaborated with an Australian brand founded by Nick
Murkovich and Alex Tomic to create a unique product inspired
by KF CS iconic 11 herbs and spices.
The product was described as like biting into a hot, juicy
piece of KFC Original Recipe chicken, and it is marketed as a
full on flavor takeover. Originally conceived as an April
Fools prank, the real version of the product was priced at $13
per item and quickly sold. Out after it's.
Release. What product am I talking about?
You said it was. Initially not meant to be real,
it was just just a marketing gimmick, I was supposed.
To make it a prank and then. Somebody was like, yeah, I think
we actually can make this, and they ended up actually making
it. Limited edition run priced at
$13 with an optional $59 accessory.
Was this in? Conjunction with another brand?
Was this like a promotion for some other thing or was it just
a KFC thing so they collaborated with another?
Brand because they themselves couldn't produce this product.
So then they collaborated with another brand, which is the one
I was talking about, founded by Nick Markovich and Alex Tomic.
Do you want the name of that brand?
So then that might help you get to the answer.
Yes, please. The brand high.
Smile also makes other products of the same type with flavors
such as chocolate, blue Raspberry, cotton candy, mango
sorbet. This can't be.
Vapes, right? I don't think KFC will do that.
That will be bad for its image. No, but.
AKFC. Flavored vape.
Wow Labooboo. No, it's not labooboo.
Edible Laboos. Edible.
Boulez. No, never mind.
OK, so I'll give you the answer. Believe it or not, this was AKFC
flavored toothpaste. Smiles.
OK, that makes sense. High smile.
Yeah. OK.
Toothpaste. High Smile is an Australian.
Oral Care brand founded in 2014 by Nick Markovich and Alex
Tomic, started as a teeth whitening kit company and then
gained popularity through influencer marketing innovative
products. With the flavours I mentioned,
the option of $59 accessory was an electric toothbrush.
This company is known for. Collaborations with major brands
like KFC and The Simpsons. OK, this happened in April.
So this was KFC flavour toothpaste.
Now tell me that doesn't sound like just imagine brushing your
teeth and instead of all that mint you're just getting KFC
flavour in your mouth, no. No, sorry, I don't know.
I'm. Very curious about that.
One yeah, no appeal for wear doubt so.
That's all the. Questions for this episode we
are ending 2025 with a bang or maybe a whimper, depending upon
whether you like the questions or not so.
Aditya, what are your? Pop culture recommendations for
this episode It's an interesting.
Year there have been a lot of sad and depressing things so I'm
going to recommend two things which were like you feel good.
I didn't plan it to be so, but it became that where Israel and
being Jewish and the idea of Zionism and all of those things
which are which are deeply, deeply political and and in some
cases very controversial. On the other hand, these two
shows which were so definitively Jewish, I thought were
interesting representation of a culture which perhaps if nothing
else is also misunderstood, right or are not very widely
understood. And these two shows I loved and
these two shows I watched recently, perhaps a little too
late. The first one probably a lot of
people have heard is nobody wants this.
I just saw both the seasons. Really good show, nice light
watch I've seen. Comparisons to when.
Harry Met Sally, and I get it. I get it.
It has that vibe to it. It's two attractive people
falling in love. It's just in this case, one of
the people happens to be a rabbi, The other person is, I
think, an atheist or agnostic, and then she's trying to figure
out if she fits. Into this.
World and this culture. Interesting show.
The other one I think so good. Long story short, same person
who's made Bojack Horseman. It is just funny funny and it's
by the way an animated series. It's so funny, so good.
The animation is also, it is reminiscent of, but it is
different and has its own identity.
If you loved. It you should definitely.
Watch this show as well. And this is also about Jewish
family and talks about being Jewish and and being I guess
family in general, family drama in general.
On both those counts, go watch these two shows.
Perhaps a good way? For us to understand.
About a culture we don't know too much about.
Great recommendations. Aditya, I am now going to
recommend my list of Malayalam movies of 2025 which it's been
a. Bumper year for.
Malayalam movies. We've had some really, really
amazing movies, many of which I have recommended in the podcast
before, since Aditya claims to also have watched Malayalam
movies. This could be a barometer we'll.
Just see how many of these movies Adidas actually watched.
OK so my top Malayalam movies of 2025.
First one I would recommend is Todarum which was basically a
family drama which was celebrating Mohanlal the actor.
So good. What a great.
Film. Wow.
Amazing. I just loved it.
No, I haven't seen it. Yeah, you have it, obviously.
A Loka Chapter 1 Chandra that became the highest grossing
female led movie in India of all time.
It's also one of the highest top ten highest grossing Indian
movies of 2025. I missed it in.
The theatre that I did not want to watch it on my TV, so I'm
waiting for maybe the second part to come and release of the
first part. I'll watch it in the theatres.
The third movie I would. Recommend.
Is Rekha Chitram. It's a gripping investigative
mystery thriller which blends both real events from a real
product movie production in the 1980s with this fictional story
and it's a it's an amazing, very well done blend.
Then there's a recently released movie called Avahedum, which is
a dark comedy exploring voyeurism and you know, small
town morality streaming right now so you can catch on
streaming ending was a little weak, but it's still worth a
watch. Dies array, which I've already
recommended. It's a psychological horror
thriller well worth watching because we don't rarely get
movies of that week in India, Rome this I'm not mentioned, but
I definitely it's one of the best police dramas.
But the ending is dark and when I mean dark, it is bleak and
just dark. So don't go into it if you're
not a fan of those kind of movies.
But it's a very realistic police drama.
Bunman again, I think I must have mentioned on it.
It's about a comedy drama featuring a blistering
performance by Basil Joseph Kalam Kaaval, which I recently
watched December released. It's Mammuti the legend playing
a serial killer and it's phenomenally acted.
Very well scripted movie, you can definitely check that out.
And finally 2 movies, Naiveta which is again a social crime
thriller and Eco with a mystery drama with a cracker of an
ending. It's the same people who created
Kishkinda Kante. Obviously there are much better
or more art house movies and things which don't feature on my
list or my best movies, but these are the ones I recommend
because I really enjoyed all of these movies as movies
themselves. I I will also.
Since we did recommend some things and I just remembered a
book I had read recently and because I guess we were talking
about these Jewish stories, it is a book.
By a Palestinian. Author it's called enter ghost.
It's it's a read that takes you through a journey and if you are
interested in knowing about a perspective that you are perhaps
again, similar to how I recommend the first two shows.
This isn't light, obviously. But yeah, check out Enter Ghost.
This is by a very celebrated author.
Her name is Isabella Hamad, Palestinian author.
So yeah, cultures that we are not so well aware of in India
and maybe other people who are listening to us.
Go check out these different sources and learn more.
Great. That's all the time we have for
episode. Little bit of housekeeping for
our regular listeners. We are posting quizzes every
Thursday on our Reddit subreddit, so please go check
out there. You can check out the question,
you can try answering it. I'll also be posting questions
of the day, which are one question every day on our
subreddit, so you can go and answer those questions as well.
Sounds good. Follow us on Instagram Follow.
Us on Spotify or wherever you listen to our podcast.
You can reach out to us on our socials or on our subreddit or
on our e-mail areyouquizzingme@gmail.com.
That's all the for this episode. And that's all for 2025.
See you guys next year.