Straddlers: Actors of Parallel and Mainstream Cinema, part 1

Carla of Filmi Geek joins us to talk about actors past and present who have worked in parallel cinema as well as more mainstream films. And what a star cast it is! Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Shashi Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Sanjeev Kumar, Anupam Kher.... Points of discussion include:

• What would it take to tempt you to sign a movie that turned out to be Dance Dance or Toofan after you've done things that are decidedly not Dance Dance or Toofan?
  
  
  
• How to portray that certain kind of madness that results from Jeevan having stolen you away from your mother Indrani Mukherjee when you were just a wee baby.
  
• The sensation of recognizing the family features under very different exteriors, aka "That looks like a KapooOHMYGOD!!!"
• Does Shabana Azmi convince you she's a masala heroine in her early years?
  
  
• The relationship between Masoom and Main Hoon Na.
• Naseeruddin Shah shakes it in "Oye Oye" from Tridev
  
  before we get to his later...er...foibles of blue footie pajamas and the BOOM! of Asambhav (pleasingly by the same director as Tridev).
  
  

This episode is the first of a two-part conversation. You can listen to Masala Zindabad: Straddlers part 1 by clicking the player above, subscribing to our feed, on iTunes, or downloading here. Part 2 is now downloadable here.