APM Studios
Millions of people around the world love to watch the magical, musical, dance-filled films from India. The industry is nicknamed Bollywood. And its roots go back over 100 years, to a silent, black and white movie made by a man named Dadasaheb Phalke. Join Joy and co-host Senna as they explore the life of this pioneering filmmaker, while excavating an ancient video rental store. Plus a binge-worthy First Things First!
Featured Experts:
Tejaswini Ganti is an Associate Professor at New York University and author of books like Bollywood: A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema and Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry.
Anupama Prabhala is Associate Professor of Film, TV and Media Studies at Loyola Marymount University. Her research focuses on Bollywood cinema.
Family friendly Bollywood film recommendations from Tejaswini Ganti:
Lagaan (2001)
Set in 1893, during the time when the British ruled India, this film tells the story of a group of farmers who challenge the British to a game of cricket. If they win, they won't have to pay unfair taxes. But here's the catch: these farmers know next to nothing about playing Cricket!
Jagga Jasoos (2017)
This fantastical adventure has the style of a Wes Anderson movie and the action of a Tintin comic. It follows a boy looking for his long lost father. The boy struggles to speak but can express himself clearly in song.
Mr. India (1987)
Part musical, part superhero story, this movie tells the story of a man who finds a machine that can make him invisible. With the help of a group of kids, he uses his power to stop crime and save all of India!
Koi... Mil Gaya (2003)
When a boy becomes friends with an alien, he gets super powers and starts the adventure of a lifetime.
Audio Transcript
Download transcript (PDF)
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING] JOY DOLO: Explorers log, Joy Dolo, captain of the Forever Ago here with my trusty companion, Senna. We're entering the ancient ruins of a long forgotten civilization.
[CREAKING]
[FOOTSTEPS]
SENNA: We're making this recording to share what we find on this dark and dangerous journey in case we don't return.
JOY DOLO: That's right. We've traveled long and far by plane, ship, rollerblade, pogo stick, hopscotch, bicycle, tricycle, unicycle-- did I mention roller blade? And two stops on the metro, all in search of this legendary location.
SENNA: Now that we've found it, we shall explore. Torches, blaze!
JOY DOLO: Actually, these are glow sticks.
SENNA: Stepping lightly so as not to disturb the shaky ground.
JOY DOLO: That's why I'm in my bunny slippers. Hop, hop hop.
SENNA: Pen in hand, taking notes of the ancient artifacts we find.
JOY DOLO: Oh, this isn't a pen. It's a Twizzler. Was I supposed to bring a pen? Sorry.
SENNA: Who knows what wonders we'll discover?
DOUG: Excuse me, lady with the bunny slippers and glow stick, no eating candy in here. You'll get the shelves sticky.
JOY DOLO: Egads! A citizen of this forgotten realm.
SENNA: And he's alive?
DOUG: Of course I'm alive. And this isn't some forgotten realm, ma'am. This is a video rental store.
JOY DOLO: Ah, yes, the ancient site known as a "vi-de-oh ren-ti-al" store. People would come to this establishment to borrow physical copies of movies and watch them at home. Truly, a wonder to behold. Oh, The Little Mermaid. I love this one!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm Joy Dolo here with my pal Senna.
SENNA: Hey.
JOY DOLO: And this is Forever Ago from APM Studios. We're a nonprofit public radio program.
SENNA: That means you keep us going.
JOY DOLO: You can do that by donating, joining Smarty Pass, or buying a shirt that has my face on it.
SENNA: Head over to foreverago.org and show your support. Thanks.
JOY DOLO: Now today, Senna and I are on an adventure.
SENNA: We're exploring the history of Bollywood cinema.
JOY DOLO: And the story of one man who helped bring it to life. His name was Dadasaheb Phalke.
SENNA: Bollywood is the nickname given to a giant movie industry in Bombay, India. It's a mashup of Hollywood--
JOY DOLO: That's the hub of moviemaking in the US.
SENNA: --and Bombay. Bombay plus Hollywood equals Bollywood.
JOY DOLO: Bombay is the old name of India's largest city. Today it's called Mumbai, but the name Bollywood lives on. Senna, do you watch Bollywood movies?
SENNA: I've watched a few clips from Bollywood movies. I also like the song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from the movie Dil Se.
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
I like it because it's like a train, and people are on top of the train dancing.
[LAUGHING]
JOY DOLO: Oh, yeah, that sounds pretty cool. Well, to help set a cinematic, movie-tastic mood, we're camped out in this dusty old "vi-de-oh ren-ti-al" store.
DOUG: Jeez, it's just a video rental store, not the lost kingdom of Atlantis. And it's not that dusty. I actually cleaned it last week. Or was that last year?
JOY DOLO: Oh, I almost forgot. That is our noble guide. His name is "Doog", guardian of the "di-vids".
DOUG: For the last time, my name is Doug. Doug! And they're pronounced DVDs. You know, the shiny little disks that play movies? By the way, Bollywood, that's in aisle six-- just past French New Wave and right before Korean drama.
JOY DOLO: Thank you, "Doog". So how do you define a Bollywood film anyway? Like, what makes it different from other movies?
TEJASWINI GANTI: I can help with that.
JOY DOLO: Whoa, where did you come from?
TEJASWINI GANTI: Oh, just behind that rack of movies. I'm just picking up a couple to watch this weekend
JOY DOLO: Oh, cool. And who are you?
TEJASWINI GANTI: I'm Tejaswini Ganti. I'm a professor at New York University, and I know all about Bollywood. I've even written some books about it.
SENNA: Oh, hi. My name is Senna and this is Joy. We'd love to pick your brain.
TEJASWINI GANTI: Sure.
SENNA: So what makes Bollywood films unique?
[BOLLYWOOD MUSIC PLAYING]
TEJASWINI GANTI: So there are certain defining features. One thing that I'm sure many people, especially in the US-- as soon as they think of Bollywood, they think of music. They think of song and dance.
JOY DOLO: That's right. You usually see big, flashy dance numbers, lots of people with colorful costumes, and super catchy songs.
SENNA: I love dance numbers. I'm actually taking lessons to learn Bollywood dance moves.
JOY DOLO: So what moves are you learning, Senna?
SENNA: I like the flower blooming step. It's kind of like a flower opening. You twist your hand so it's like a flower is opening.
JOY DOLO: Oh, cool, like a flower blooming dance. That's cool. Is there other moves that you like?
SENNA: I really like the glitter. It's like you shake your hands from side to side. It's like you're trying to get the glitter off your hands.
JOY DOLO: Oh, like you're shaking glitter off?
SENNA: Yeah, like from left to right or right to left.
JOY DOLO: Oh, I like that. Glitter. Oh, I'm going to work on that one. So Tejaswini, what about the stories? What kind of stories do you usually see in Bollywood films?
[BOLLYWOOD MUSIC PLAYING]
TEJASWINI GANTI: The stories are seen as epic. They're always larger than life struggles. It's often about love. Rich girl, poor boy; poor girl, rich boy. So a lot-- often about love across social boundaries. The other thing that's also distinctive is that all these films have an intermission.
SENNA: That means Bollywood movies usually have a break in the middle, so you can get more snacks or go to the bathroom.
JOY DOLO: Right. Because these movies are long, sometimes three or even four hours.
[BOLLYWOOD MUSIC PLAYING]
TEJASWINI GANTI: Well, nice chatting with you. I got my movies, so I got to run. Hey, Doug, put these on my tab. See ya.
[BELL CHIMING]
JOY DOLO: Let's see what Bollywood movies they have on the shelf here. Oh, this looks cool. It's called Mr. India, and it's from 1987.
SENNA: What's it about?
JOY DOLO: It says it's about a man. His father was an inventor who built a machine that can make the person who wears it invisible. The man finds the invisibility machine and uses it to fight crime and save all of India.
SENNA: Ooh, this looks great too. It's called Jagga Jasoos. It's from 2017. It's about a boy who goes on a wild adventure. He's looking for his long lost father. The boy struggles with words, but can express himself in song.
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
I got to see that. Grab these movies and let's watch them later.
JOY DOLO: Good call. OK, now that we know a little more about Bollywood movies, let's learn about the history.
SENNA: And the man who helped pioneer Indian filmmaking.
JOY DOLO: His name was Dadasaheb Phalke, and his story begins in the late 1800s.
SENNA: Back then, people mostly traveled by train or ship. Cars were still new and very rare.
JOY DOLO: Most homes didn't have electricity or radios or even telephones.
SENNA: People mostly got their news from newspapers or talking to their neighbors.
JOY DOLO: During this time, India was under British rule, which meant that the country was controlled by Great Britain. That means British people usually made the rules for the Indian people who lived there.
SENNA: Which was totally unfair. They made Indians pay them lots of taxes, and they took a lot of natural resources out of the country. Much of India was very poor back then too.
JOY DOLO: Dadasaheb Phalke was lucky, though. He grew up with a lot of opportunities. He was able to get a good education, and even went to art school.
SENNA: He picked up a ton of skills-- drawing, painting, printing, architecture, photography. He even did magic shows.
JOY DOLO: This guy picked up new skills like my sweater picks up cat hair. But Phalke didn't find his true calling until he was about 40 years old. That's when he saw his first movie.
[FILM REEL ROLLING]
SENNA: It was the year 1911. Movies were brand new technology at that time, and they were pretty different from today.
JOY DOLO: They were black and white, and they were silent, so they didn't have any talking or music. But sometimes, live musicians played along with the images. One of the first movies Phalke saw was a religious film called The Life of Christ. He was inspired by this new technology.
SENNA: He thought, what if you could use the same technology to show Hindu epics?
JOY DOLO: Hinduism was and is the biggest religion in India. It's full of incredible stories with gods and goddesses, daring heroes and demons.
SENNA: Phalke thought putting those tales on a movie screen would be the coolest.
JOY DOLO: Phalke became obsessed with movies. He started watching hours of them every day. He was skipping sleep. He had to make his own movies. But cameras were expensive. And buying film, hiring a cast, getting costumes and sets-- that was going to take a ton of money, which he didn't have.
SENNA: But like the hero of Bollywood film, Phalke would succeed against these incredible odds.
JOY DOLO: We'll tell you how in a minute. But first, let's hit pause and play a game of--
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
CHILDREN: First Things First!
[NOTES CHIMING]
JOY DOLO: That's the game where we put three things in the order they came in history. Today's things are movie milestones. We've got the first color movie-- so a full length film in color-- the first full length movie with talking in it, and the first full length animated or cartoon movie. Senna, which of these do you think came first, and which do you think came second and most recently in history?
SENNA: I think maybe animated came first.
JOY DOLO: Mm hm.
SENNA: Then color and then maybe talking? I'm not completely sure, though.
JOY DOLO: Animated, color, and then talking?
SENNA: I think so, maybe.
JOY DOLO: So why that order?
SENNA: I don't know, animated feels like it would be pretty easy. Just draw a bunch of animated pictures.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: And then talking sounds really hard to put on, and color too. You have to color a lot.
JOY DOLO: A lot of coloring. OK, so animated because it seems like it's easy to draw, color and sound talking because it seems like it's a little harder to lay over.
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Those are great guesses. Is that your final answer?
SENNA: Color and talking maybe switched around? I think animate is-- I think animated should stay there.
JOY DOLO: So it could be animated, color, talking or it could be animated, talking, color?
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Yes. All right. Well we'll hear the answers at the end of the show.
SENNA: So stick around.
JOY DOLO: We're working on an episode all about the Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts earn badges for gaining special skills like learning how to do first aid, or cooking a delicious meal, or even being a great friend. And we want to know if you could give a badge to an important person in your life, what badge would you give them and why? What about you, Senna? Is there someone in your life who deserves a badge for something?
SENNA: I would give a badge to my dance teacher, Vonnie, for teaching me all my dance moves.
JOY DOLO: That's cool. For me, I would give my dog King Louie a poop master badge because he's the poop master. Like, when he goes outside, he just does his business. There's no waiting around. It's Minnesota. It's freezing here. You don't have to wait in the snow in the cold. You just do the poopy and you head back in the housey. And that's why we give him the poop master badge. Listeners, we want to hear from you, too. Record yourself describing who you would give a badge to and what it would be for, and send it to us at foreverago.org/contact.
SENNA: You can also send us questions and fan art.
JOY DOLO: Yes, like a drawing of me and my pet elephant Hermie dancing to Bollywood music. Can't wait to see it.
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Forever Ago, you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.
[ROCKET ZOOMING THROUGH AIR]
ALIEN: Its alien exercise hour. Hi-yah! Hoo-ha! While I stretch my snootles and bounce on my trampoliney, I'll listen to a new podcast.
[LAUGHING]
[BUZZER BEEPING]
I'm going to try Brains On, the best science podcast ever.
[BEEPING AND WHIRRING]
WOMAN: It's starting, yay!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MAN: Hello and welcome to Pop Planet, the only show that gets you up close and personal with space. I'm your host, star--
[BEEPING]
ALIEN: Zorp! Come back here, podcast.
[BEEPING]
Must listen to Brains On now!
WOMAN: Listen to Brains On wherever you get your podcasts.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: Welcome back to Forever Ago. I'm Joy.
SENNA: And I'm Senna.
JOY DOLO: And we're telling the story of Dadasaheb Phalke, the man who helped launch the Bollywood film industry.
DOUG: And I'm Doug, and I work at this video store, and I'm just letting you know that we close in five minutes. Got that?
JOY DOLO: But we can't leave, Doug. We're not done telling the story. Plus, you have all these movie snacks for sale. You can't talk movie history without snacks.
DOUG: You know you have to pay for those.
JOY DOLO: I know, Doug. Here.
[CASH REGISTER DINGING]
Now, where were we?
SENNA: We're talking about Dadasaheb Phalke. He wanted to make a movie in India, but he didn't have a camera, or the skills, or anything really.
JOY DOLO: Right. But he did have one thing-- not giving up-ness.
SENNA: Or as most people call it, determination.
JOY DOLO: Phalke cobbled together some cash and traveled to London. There, he managed to meet up with a filmmaker named Cecil Hepworth.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Yes, Phalke literally went out of his way to get what he wanted.
SENNA: Oh, hello. Let me guess. You're looking for DVDs?
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Yes, I am.
SENNA: And you happen to be an expert on Bollywood cinema?
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Why, yes. My name is Anupama Prabhala. I am a professor of film, TV, and media studies at Loyola Marymount University. I write about and teach classes on the origins and history of Bombay cinema, also known as Bollywood.
JOY DOLO: Wow, what are the odds? So tell us more about Phalke's time in London.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: That's where he kind of learns the grammar of filmmaking-- what is a shot, how to cut, how long a shot should be, what films well in black and white. He learned some of these things in the Hepworth studio. But back in Bombay, he adapts the tricks he's learned to appeal to Indian audiences.
JOY DOLO: So he learns the basics of movie making while he's in London and manages to buy a camera. Then he heads back to India to make his first movie, but he quickly runs into another problem. He can't find a woman to star in the movie.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Women were supposed to play very traditional caregiving roles, cook for the family. And any woman who had a public life was seen as not respectable. And that's why women wouldn't act in front of the camera.
SENNA: So there was a lot of pressure from society on women. It made them feel like acting was a bad thing to do.
JOY DOLO: Even Phalke's own wife wouldn't be in his movie. So eventually, he found a man working at a restaurant and convinced him to play the leading lady role.
SENNA: Finally, in 1913, the movie was ready.
JOY DOLO: It was called Raja Harishchandra. It's a story about a noble king who has to give up his kingdom. But in the end, he makes the gods happy and they give it back to him.
SENNA: It was 40 minutes long, black and white, and silent.
JOY DOLO: Sometimes there would be a person there describing the action while the movie played, or live musicians playing along.
SENNA: The next challenge was getting people to see it.
JOY DOLO: Back then, movies were played by running long rolls of a thin, plasticky material called film through a big projector. The projector then shined a moving image on a screen.
SENNA: At the time, people watched plays for entertainment or went to concerts, but they had never seen a movie before. Movies were totally new. The idea of moving pictures was so strange that it was kind of scary.
JOY DOLO: But people had seen still photos before, so Phalke told people movies were just lots of photos combined together, right, Anupama?
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Exactly. So at one point, he was like-- you know, one minute of a film strip is like 3,750 images. And then he goes, that's 3,750 photographs.
SENNA: He used something they had seen before-- photos-- to make them feel more comfortable with something they hadn't seen before-- movies. And he tried to drum up interest by having his cast act out parts of the movie at busy places around town.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: So he does all of these things, and people at one point think he's mad. He's a maverick because he's experimenting so much.
SENNA: But Phalke wasn't just hustling to convince people to see his movies, he was hustling to show them to people, too.
JOY DOLO: Sometimes he had to literally carry those big reels of film in a cart all across town from show to show.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: And we can imagine how much of a family effort this was. Like, OK, his wife is helping him. And he's carrying this material to smaller parts around Bombay in order to get that new audience, right?
SENNA: But eventually, it pays off big time.
JOY DOLO: His movies were hits. Critics loved them.
SENNA: Soon, people were offering him big money deals to make more and more movies.
JOY DOLO: And he made new film fans left and right. After this, there was no going back. India became a country that loves movies.
SENNA: Of course, he wasn't the only one making films at the time, but he was one of the most successful of the silent era, and that helped build an audience.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Exactly. And-- oh, here's the movie I was looking for. I gotta head out now. Nice talking to you both. See you around. Doug?
DOUG: Yep-- on the tab. See ya.
[BELL CHIMING]
JOY DOLO: Wait, so what happened next? Doug, have you been listening this whole time?
DOUG: Yeah. I consider myself a film buff, but I didn't know any of this. Finish the story, please.
SENNA: But isn't it closing time?
DOUG: Eh, I'll stay open for you.
JOY DOLO: Awesome. Well, Phalke went on to make a lot more hit movies, and he even found women willing to act in his second film.
SENNA: In fact, by the 1930s, it became more common to see women on the screen in India.
JOY DOLO: Around that same time, movies with sound got popular. Song and dance became a key part of Indian cinema.
SENNA: Right. Live theater performances in India already featured a lot of singing and dancing, so it was a natural fit for the movies.
JOY DOLO: From there, movies got bigger and bigger, and so did the audiences. Today, Bollywood is a multi-billion dollar industry, and Phalke is still remembered. In fact, one of the top prizes for film in India is named after him.
DOUG: Wow, so cool. Consider me a Phalke fanatic.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
Now, I hear tell that you're looking to see one of these ancient films of Phalke.
JOY DOLO: Yes, that's exactly what we seek to find.
DOUG: I am here to tell you they are not on the format you call DVD. I have them on an even more ancient vessel, one called a "vee-hiss".
SENNA: Wait, you mean a VHS tape? The big blocky things people use to play movies on?
DOUG: Yeah, just kidding. They are called VHS. We can go watch them in the screening room. Come on.
JOY DOLO: One sec, just gotta grab a few more Twizzlers.
[BAG CRINKLING]
DOUG: Joy, again, you do have to pay for that.
JOY DOLO: Why does shopping always have to cost money?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Dadasaheb Phalke was a visionary who helped shape an entire film industry.
SENNA: Yeah, he not only had the dream of telling Indian stories on screen, he was creative enough to make those movies and smart enough to build an audience.
JOY DOLO: Even though Bollywood films today are pretty different from Phalke's silent movies, you can see his fingerprints all over the industry.
SENNA: And speaking of fingerprints, Joy, your candy covered fingers are leaving prints all over the DVDs we rented.
JOY DOLO: Don't tell Doug it was me! This episode was written by--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Sanden Totten.
JOY DOLO: It was produced by--
NICO GONZALEZ WISLER: Nico Gonzalez Wisler.
JOY DOLO: And--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ruby Guthrie.
JOY DOLO: It was edited by--
SHAHLA FARZAN: Shahla Farzan.
JOY DOLO: Fact checking by--
REBECCA RAND: Rebecca Rand.
JOY DOLO: Engineering help from Alex Simpson with sound design by--
RACHEL BREES: Rachel Brees.
JOY DOLO: Original theme music by--
MARC SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
JOY DOLO: We had additional production help from the rest of the Brains On Universe team.
MOLLY BLOOM: Molly Bloom.
ROSIE DUPONT: Rosie DuPont.
ANNA GOLDFIELD: Anna Goldfield.
LAUREN HUMBERT: Lauren Humbert.
JOSHUA RAY: Joshua Ray.
MARC SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
CHARLOTTE TRAVER: Charlotte Traver.
ANNA WEGGEL: Anna Weggel.
JOY DOLO: And--
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Aron Woldeslassie.
JOY DOLO: Beth Pearlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Tejaswini Ganti, Anupama Prabhala, Nicole Dobriyal, and Chirag Shetty, and Avni. OK, Senna, ready to hear the answers for First Things First?
SENNA: Definitely.
JOY DOLO: OK. As a reminder, we're putting these things in order-- the first color movie, first full length movie with talking in it, and the first full length animated or cartoon movie. And so you said-- one, animated, and then color and then talking. Right?
SENNA: Yeah, or talking and then color.
JOY DOLO: Or talking and then color. OK. Well, let's see what the first feature film that was in history.
[HUMMING FANFARE MUSIC]
All right. The first one was colored movies. Can you believe it?
SENNA: What?
JOY DOLO: Yeah! Yeah, that was invented in 1914. That's over 100 years ago.
SENNA: That's crazy.
JOY DOLO: I know. So the first movie credited as having natural color was called The World, the Flesh and the Devil, and it was filmed with red and green filters. So while it was definitely more colorful than previous movies, some shades like blue were missing. And before this, filmmakers would sometimes paint the film by hand to give a movie color. Could you imagine painting a movie by hand?
SENNA: That would take a long time.
JOY DOLO: And then second was cartoon movies. Isn't that something? And that was in 1917, so just a few years after the colored movie. So historians usually say the first full length animated movie was a political fantasy from Argentina. It was called El Apóstol. It's about the then president of Argentina having a dream where he climbs Mount Olympus and talks politics with the gods there. The animation was made with figures cut out of paper.
[LAUGHING]
That's a long way from SpongeBob the movie.
[LAUGHING]
So last but not least is talking movies, yeah. And that was 1927, which is, again, 10 years after that last one, which was crazy.
SENNA: That's crazy.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: It's like, boom, boom, boom.
JOY DOLO: Yeah, it was all back to back to back. It was like movies were invented, and then all these different kinds of movies came out afterwards.
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: So the first full movie with recorded dialogue was called The Jazz Singer, and it's about a young man who dreams of being a famous singer, even though this goes against his parents' wishes. The movie is credited as being the first talkie, a nickname for old films with talking in them. But it only had 281 words in it, which is hardly any talking. Still, most people say it marked the end of the silent film era. OK, that was a lot of information.
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Let's digest it. What do you think of that?
SENNA: My brain is blown.
JOY DOLO: Yeah. What's the coolest fact you heard there?
SENNA: It's really mind blowing that they made the first animated-- I don't know-- but cut out people out of paper.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: Like, that took a lot of hard work.
JOY DOLO: Would you ever do something like that? Like, make little papers and make a little movie?
SENNA: I don't think so.
[LAUGHING]
JOY DOLO: No, I wouldn't do it.
SENNA: Well, I am doing a stop motion. And me and my two friends who are doing it with me, we cut out the paper. But we didn't have that many like props.
JOY DOLO: Oh.
SENNA: So it's pretty easy. But--
JOY DOLO: So you cut out the paper yourselves and then make a story? Or is it, like--
SENNA: Yeah. It's about a farmer. So--
JOY DOLO: Oh.
SENNA: --cut out a farmer. You draw the farmer on the paper, and it's like stop motion. You have the things in place, you take a picture, and you move them the tiniest bit. And you do that over and over again. And then when you speed it up, it looks like it's moving.
JOY DOLO: Oh, that's-- OK, so you're making a movie?
SENNA: Sort of.
JOY DOLO: Yeah. So you're a movie maker, film star. OK, not a big deal. Dude, can I be in it? Can I be the farmer? Listen to my farmer voice. Hey, get off my crops, you kids! I changed my mind. I've changed my ways. That was my audition.
[LAUGHING]
SENNA: We're not going to have anyone speak for the farmer.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: But, like-- or the sheep. It's about a farmer trying to grow a rainbow grape, or a beautiful grape.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: He ends up growing a rainbow grape.
JOY DOLO: Oh!
SENNA: And then the sheep with concerningly long legs eats it.
JOY DOLO: The sheep with concerningly long legs.
SENNA: Yeah, and then it turns rainbow. And then wolves come and eat the sheep, and they turn rainbow.
[LAUGHING]
JOY DOLO: That's so cool! You know what you should do? You should add a rainbow dance, so then it could be like Bollywood with music and things. Join us next week for a new episode all about the Native Youth Olympics.
SENNA: Thanks for listening.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CREAKING]
[FOOTSTEPS]
SENNA: We're making this recording to share what we find on this dark and dangerous journey in case we don't return.
JOY DOLO: That's right. We've traveled long and far by plane, ship, rollerblade, pogo stick, hopscotch, bicycle, tricycle, unicycle-- did I mention roller blade? And two stops on the metro, all in search of this legendary location.
SENNA: Now that we've found it, we shall explore. Torches, blaze!
JOY DOLO: Actually, these are glow sticks.
SENNA: Stepping lightly so as not to disturb the shaky ground.
JOY DOLO: That's why I'm in my bunny slippers. Hop, hop hop.
SENNA: Pen in hand, taking notes of the ancient artifacts we find.
JOY DOLO: Oh, this isn't a pen. It's a Twizzler. Was I supposed to bring a pen? Sorry.
SENNA: Who knows what wonders we'll discover?
DOUG: Excuse me, lady with the bunny slippers and glow stick, no eating candy in here. You'll get the shelves sticky.
JOY DOLO: Egads! A citizen of this forgotten realm.
SENNA: And he's alive?
DOUG: Of course I'm alive. And this isn't some forgotten realm, ma'am. This is a video rental store.
JOY DOLO: Ah, yes, the ancient site known as a "vi-de-oh ren-ti-al" store. People would come to this establishment to borrow physical copies of movies and watch them at home. Truly, a wonder to behold. Oh, The Little Mermaid. I love this one!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm Joy Dolo here with my pal Senna.
SENNA: Hey.
JOY DOLO: And this is Forever Ago from APM Studios. We're a nonprofit public radio program.
SENNA: That means you keep us going.
JOY DOLO: You can do that by donating, joining Smarty Pass, or buying a shirt that has my face on it.
SENNA: Head over to foreverago.org and show your support. Thanks.
JOY DOLO: Now today, Senna and I are on an adventure.
SENNA: We're exploring the history of Bollywood cinema.
JOY DOLO: And the story of one man who helped bring it to life. His name was Dadasaheb Phalke.
SENNA: Bollywood is the nickname given to a giant movie industry in Bombay, India. It's a mashup of Hollywood--
JOY DOLO: That's the hub of moviemaking in the US.
SENNA: --and Bombay. Bombay plus Hollywood equals Bollywood.
JOY DOLO: Bombay is the old name of India's largest city. Today it's called Mumbai, but the name Bollywood lives on. Senna, do you watch Bollywood movies?
SENNA: I've watched a few clips from Bollywood movies. I also like the song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from the movie Dil Se.
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
I like it because it's like a train, and people are on top of the train dancing.
[LAUGHING]
JOY DOLO: Oh, yeah, that sounds pretty cool. Well, to help set a cinematic, movie-tastic mood, we're camped out in this dusty old "vi-de-oh ren-ti-al" store.
DOUG: Jeez, it's just a video rental store, not the lost kingdom of Atlantis. And it's not that dusty. I actually cleaned it last week. Or was that last year?
JOY DOLO: Oh, I almost forgot. That is our noble guide. His name is "Doog", guardian of the "di-vids".
DOUG: For the last time, my name is Doug. Doug! And they're pronounced DVDs. You know, the shiny little disks that play movies? By the way, Bollywood, that's in aisle six-- just past French New Wave and right before Korean drama.
JOY DOLO: Thank you, "Doog". So how do you define a Bollywood film anyway? Like, what makes it different from other movies?
TEJASWINI GANTI: I can help with that.
JOY DOLO: Whoa, where did you come from?
TEJASWINI GANTI: Oh, just behind that rack of movies. I'm just picking up a couple to watch this weekend
JOY DOLO: Oh, cool. And who are you?
TEJASWINI GANTI: I'm Tejaswini Ganti. I'm a professor at New York University, and I know all about Bollywood. I've even written some books about it.
SENNA: Oh, hi. My name is Senna and this is Joy. We'd love to pick your brain.
TEJASWINI GANTI: Sure.
SENNA: So what makes Bollywood films unique?
[BOLLYWOOD MUSIC PLAYING]
TEJASWINI GANTI: So there are certain defining features. One thing that I'm sure many people, especially in the US-- as soon as they think of Bollywood, they think of music. They think of song and dance.
JOY DOLO: That's right. You usually see big, flashy dance numbers, lots of people with colorful costumes, and super catchy songs.
SENNA: I love dance numbers. I'm actually taking lessons to learn Bollywood dance moves.
JOY DOLO: So what moves are you learning, Senna?
SENNA: I like the flower blooming step. It's kind of like a flower opening. You twist your hand so it's like a flower is opening.
JOY DOLO: Oh, cool, like a flower blooming dance. That's cool. Is there other moves that you like?
SENNA: I really like the glitter. It's like you shake your hands from side to side. It's like you're trying to get the glitter off your hands.
JOY DOLO: Oh, like you're shaking glitter off?
SENNA: Yeah, like from left to right or right to left.
JOY DOLO: Oh, I like that. Glitter. Oh, I'm going to work on that one. So Tejaswini, what about the stories? What kind of stories do you usually see in Bollywood films?
[BOLLYWOOD MUSIC PLAYING]
TEJASWINI GANTI: The stories are seen as epic. They're always larger than life struggles. It's often about love. Rich girl, poor boy; poor girl, rich boy. So a lot-- often about love across social boundaries. The other thing that's also distinctive is that all these films have an intermission.
SENNA: That means Bollywood movies usually have a break in the middle, so you can get more snacks or go to the bathroom.
JOY DOLO: Right. Because these movies are long, sometimes three or even four hours.
[BOLLYWOOD MUSIC PLAYING]
TEJASWINI GANTI: Well, nice chatting with you. I got my movies, so I got to run. Hey, Doug, put these on my tab. See ya.
[BELL CHIMING]
JOY DOLO: Let's see what Bollywood movies they have on the shelf here. Oh, this looks cool. It's called Mr. India, and it's from 1987.
SENNA: What's it about?
JOY DOLO: It says it's about a man. His father was an inventor who built a machine that can make the person who wears it invisible. The man finds the invisibility machine and uses it to fight crime and save all of India.
SENNA: Ooh, this looks great too. It's called Jagga Jasoos. It's from 2017. It's about a boy who goes on a wild adventure. He's looking for his long lost father. The boy struggles with words, but can express himself in song.
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
I got to see that. Grab these movies and let's watch them later.
JOY DOLO: Good call. OK, now that we know a little more about Bollywood movies, let's learn about the history.
SENNA: And the man who helped pioneer Indian filmmaking.
JOY DOLO: His name was Dadasaheb Phalke, and his story begins in the late 1800s.
SENNA: Back then, people mostly traveled by train or ship. Cars were still new and very rare.
JOY DOLO: Most homes didn't have electricity or radios or even telephones.
SENNA: People mostly got their news from newspapers or talking to their neighbors.
JOY DOLO: During this time, India was under British rule, which meant that the country was controlled by Great Britain. That means British people usually made the rules for the Indian people who lived there.
SENNA: Which was totally unfair. They made Indians pay them lots of taxes, and they took a lot of natural resources out of the country. Much of India was very poor back then too.
JOY DOLO: Dadasaheb Phalke was lucky, though. He grew up with a lot of opportunities. He was able to get a good education, and even went to art school.
SENNA: He picked up a ton of skills-- drawing, painting, printing, architecture, photography. He even did magic shows.
JOY DOLO: This guy picked up new skills like my sweater picks up cat hair. But Phalke didn't find his true calling until he was about 40 years old. That's when he saw his first movie.
[FILM REEL ROLLING]
SENNA: It was the year 1911. Movies were brand new technology at that time, and they were pretty different from today.
JOY DOLO: They were black and white, and they were silent, so they didn't have any talking or music. But sometimes, live musicians played along with the images. One of the first movies Phalke saw was a religious film called The Life of Christ. He was inspired by this new technology.
SENNA: He thought, what if you could use the same technology to show Hindu epics?
JOY DOLO: Hinduism was and is the biggest religion in India. It's full of incredible stories with gods and goddesses, daring heroes and demons.
SENNA: Phalke thought putting those tales on a movie screen would be the coolest.
JOY DOLO: Phalke became obsessed with movies. He started watching hours of them every day. He was skipping sleep. He had to make his own movies. But cameras were expensive. And buying film, hiring a cast, getting costumes and sets-- that was going to take a ton of money, which he didn't have.
SENNA: But like the hero of Bollywood film, Phalke would succeed against these incredible odds.
JOY DOLO: We'll tell you how in a minute. But first, let's hit pause and play a game of--
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
CHILDREN: First Things First!
[NOTES CHIMING]
JOY DOLO: That's the game where we put three things in the order they came in history. Today's things are movie milestones. We've got the first color movie-- so a full length film in color-- the first full length movie with talking in it, and the first full length animated or cartoon movie. Senna, which of these do you think came first, and which do you think came second and most recently in history?
SENNA: I think maybe animated came first.
JOY DOLO: Mm hm.
SENNA: Then color and then maybe talking? I'm not completely sure, though.
JOY DOLO: Animated, color, and then talking?
SENNA: I think so, maybe.
JOY DOLO: So why that order?
SENNA: I don't know, animated feels like it would be pretty easy. Just draw a bunch of animated pictures.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: And then talking sounds really hard to put on, and color too. You have to color a lot.
JOY DOLO: A lot of coloring. OK, so animated because it seems like it's easy to draw, color and sound talking because it seems like it's a little harder to lay over.
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Those are great guesses. Is that your final answer?
SENNA: Color and talking maybe switched around? I think animate is-- I think animated should stay there.
JOY DOLO: So it could be animated, color, talking or it could be animated, talking, color?
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Yes. All right. Well we'll hear the answers at the end of the show.
SENNA: So stick around.
JOY DOLO: We're working on an episode all about the Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts earn badges for gaining special skills like learning how to do first aid, or cooking a delicious meal, or even being a great friend. And we want to know if you could give a badge to an important person in your life, what badge would you give them and why? What about you, Senna? Is there someone in your life who deserves a badge for something?
SENNA: I would give a badge to my dance teacher, Vonnie, for teaching me all my dance moves.
JOY DOLO: That's cool. For me, I would give my dog King Louie a poop master badge because he's the poop master. Like, when he goes outside, he just does his business. There's no waiting around. It's Minnesota. It's freezing here. You don't have to wait in the snow in the cold. You just do the poopy and you head back in the housey. And that's why we give him the poop master badge. Listeners, we want to hear from you, too. Record yourself describing who you would give a badge to and what it would be for, and send it to us at foreverago.org/contact.
SENNA: You can also send us questions and fan art.
JOY DOLO: Yes, like a drawing of me and my pet elephant Hermie dancing to Bollywood music. Can't wait to see it.
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN: Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Forever Ago, you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.
[ROCKET ZOOMING THROUGH AIR]
ALIEN: Its alien exercise hour. Hi-yah! Hoo-ha! While I stretch my snootles and bounce on my trampoliney, I'll listen to a new podcast.
[LAUGHING]
[BUZZER BEEPING]
I'm going to try Brains On, the best science podcast ever.
[BEEPING AND WHIRRING]
WOMAN: It's starting, yay!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MAN: Hello and welcome to Pop Planet, the only show that gets you up close and personal with space. I'm your host, star--
[BEEPING]
ALIEN: Zorp! Come back here, podcast.
[BEEPING]
Must listen to Brains On now!
WOMAN: Listen to Brains On wherever you get your podcasts.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: Welcome back to Forever Ago. I'm Joy.
SENNA: And I'm Senna.
JOY DOLO: And we're telling the story of Dadasaheb Phalke, the man who helped launch the Bollywood film industry.
DOUG: And I'm Doug, and I work at this video store, and I'm just letting you know that we close in five minutes. Got that?
JOY DOLO: But we can't leave, Doug. We're not done telling the story. Plus, you have all these movie snacks for sale. You can't talk movie history without snacks.
DOUG: You know you have to pay for those.
JOY DOLO: I know, Doug. Here.
[CASH REGISTER DINGING]
Now, where were we?
SENNA: We're talking about Dadasaheb Phalke. He wanted to make a movie in India, but he didn't have a camera, or the skills, or anything really.
JOY DOLO: Right. But he did have one thing-- not giving up-ness.
SENNA: Or as most people call it, determination.
JOY DOLO: Phalke cobbled together some cash and traveled to London. There, he managed to meet up with a filmmaker named Cecil Hepworth.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Yes, Phalke literally went out of his way to get what he wanted.
SENNA: Oh, hello. Let me guess. You're looking for DVDs?
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Yes, I am.
SENNA: And you happen to be an expert on Bollywood cinema?
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Why, yes. My name is Anupama Prabhala. I am a professor of film, TV, and media studies at Loyola Marymount University. I write about and teach classes on the origins and history of Bombay cinema, also known as Bollywood.
JOY DOLO: Wow, what are the odds? So tell us more about Phalke's time in London.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: That's where he kind of learns the grammar of filmmaking-- what is a shot, how to cut, how long a shot should be, what films well in black and white. He learned some of these things in the Hepworth studio. But back in Bombay, he adapts the tricks he's learned to appeal to Indian audiences.
JOY DOLO: So he learns the basics of movie making while he's in London and manages to buy a camera. Then he heads back to India to make his first movie, but he quickly runs into another problem. He can't find a woman to star in the movie.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Women were supposed to play very traditional caregiving roles, cook for the family. And any woman who had a public life was seen as not respectable. And that's why women wouldn't act in front of the camera.
SENNA: So there was a lot of pressure from society on women. It made them feel like acting was a bad thing to do.
JOY DOLO: Even Phalke's own wife wouldn't be in his movie. So eventually, he found a man working at a restaurant and convinced him to play the leading lady role.
SENNA: Finally, in 1913, the movie was ready.
JOY DOLO: It was called Raja Harishchandra. It's a story about a noble king who has to give up his kingdom. But in the end, he makes the gods happy and they give it back to him.
SENNA: It was 40 minutes long, black and white, and silent.
JOY DOLO: Sometimes there would be a person there describing the action while the movie played, or live musicians playing along.
SENNA: The next challenge was getting people to see it.
JOY DOLO: Back then, movies were played by running long rolls of a thin, plasticky material called film through a big projector. The projector then shined a moving image on a screen.
SENNA: At the time, people watched plays for entertainment or went to concerts, but they had never seen a movie before. Movies were totally new. The idea of moving pictures was so strange that it was kind of scary.
JOY DOLO: But people had seen still photos before, so Phalke told people movies were just lots of photos combined together, right, Anupama?
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Exactly. So at one point, he was like-- you know, one minute of a film strip is like 3,750 images. And then he goes, that's 3,750 photographs.
SENNA: He used something they had seen before-- photos-- to make them feel more comfortable with something they hadn't seen before-- movies. And he tried to drum up interest by having his cast act out parts of the movie at busy places around town.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: So he does all of these things, and people at one point think he's mad. He's a maverick because he's experimenting so much.
SENNA: But Phalke wasn't just hustling to convince people to see his movies, he was hustling to show them to people, too.
JOY DOLO: Sometimes he had to literally carry those big reels of film in a cart all across town from show to show.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: And we can imagine how much of a family effort this was. Like, OK, his wife is helping him. And he's carrying this material to smaller parts around Bombay in order to get that new audience, right?
SENNA: But eventually, it pays off big time.
JOY DOLO: His movies were hits. Critics loved them.
SENNA: Soon, people were offering him big money deals to make more and more movies.
JOY DOLO: And he made new film fans left and right. After this, there was no going back. India became a country that loves movies.
SENNA: Of course, he wasn't the only one making films at the time, but he was one of the most successful of the silent era, and that helped build an audience.
ANUPAMA PRABHALA: Exactly. And-- oh, here's the movie I was looking for. I gotta head out now. Nice talking to you both. See you around. Doug?
DOUG: Yep-- on the tab. See ya.
[BELL CHIMING]
JOY DOLO: Wait, so what happened next? Doug, have you been listening this whole time?
DOUG: Yeah. I consider myself a film buff, but I didn't know any of this. Finish the story, please.
SENNA: But isn't it closing time?
DOUG: Eh, I'll stay open for you.
JOY DOLO: Awesome. Well, Phalke went on to make a lot more hit movies, and he even found women willing to act in his second film.
SENNA: In fact, by the 1930s, it became more common to see women on the screen in India.
JOY DOLO: Around that same time, movies with sound got popular. Song and dance became a key part of Indian cinema.
SENNA: Right. Live theater performances in India already featured a lot of singing and dancing, so it was a natural fit for the movies.
JOY DOLO: From there, movies got bigger and bigger, and so did the audiences. Today, Bollywood is a multi-billion dollar industry, and Phalke is still remembered. In fact, one of the top prizes for film in India is named after him.
DOUG: Wow, so cool. Consider me a Phalke fanatic.
[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
Now, I hear tell that you're looking to see one of these ancient films of Phalke.
JOY DOLO: Yes, that's exactly what we seek to find.
DOUG: I am here to tell you they are not on the format you call DVD. I have them on an even more ancient vessel, one called a "vee-hiss".
SENNA: Wait, you mean a VHS tape? The big blocky things people use to play movies on?
DOUG: Yeah, just kidding. They are called VHS. We can go watch them in the screening room. Come on.
JOY DOLO: One sec, just gotta grab a few more Twizzlers.
[BAG CRINKLING]
DOUG: Joy, again, you do have to pay for that.
JOY DOLO: Why does shopping always have to cost money?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Dadasaheb Phalke was a visionary who helped shape an entire film industry.
SENNA: Yeah, he not only had the dream of telling Indian stories on screen, he was creative enough to make those movies and smart enough to build an audience.
JOY DOLO: Even though Bollywood films today are pretty different from Phalke's silent movies, you can see his fingerprints all over the industry.
SENNA: And speaking of fingerprints, Joy, your candy covered fingers are leaving prints all over the DVDs we rented.
JOY DOLO: Don't tell Doug it was me! This episode was written by--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Sanden Totten.
JOY DOLO: It was produced by--
NICO GONZALEZ WISLER: Nico Gonzalez Wisler.
JOY DOLO: And--
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ruby Guthrie.
JOY DOLO: It was edited by--
SHAHLA FARZAN: Shahla Farzan.
JOY DOLO: Fact checking by--
REBECCA RAND: Rebecca Rand.
JOY DOLO: Engineering help from Alex Simpson with sound design by--
RACHEL BREES: Rachel Brees.
JOY DOLO: Original theme music by--
MARC SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
JOY DOLO: We had additional production help from the rest of the Brains On Universe team.
MOLLY BLOOM: Molly Bloom.
ROSIE DUPONT: Rosie DuPont.
ANNA GOLDFIELD: Anna Goldfield.
LAUREN HUMBERT: Lauren Humbert.
JOSHUA RAY: Joshua Ray.
MARC SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
CHARLOTTE TRAVER: Charlotte Traver.
ANNA WEGGEL: Anna Weggel.
JOY DOLO: And--
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Aron Woldeslassie.
JOY DOLO: Beth Pearlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Tejaswini Ganti, Anupama Prabhala, Nicole Dobriyal, and Chirag Shetty, and Avni. OK, Senna, ready to hear the answers for First Things First?
SENNA: Definitely.
JOY DOLO: OK. As a reminder, we're putting these things in order-- the first color movie, first full length movie with talking in it, and the first full length animated or cartoon movie. And so you said-- one, animated, and then color and then talking. Right?
SENNA: Yeah, or talking and then color.
JOY DOLO: Or talking and then color. OK. Well, let's see what the first feature film that was in history.
[HUMMING FANFARE MUSIC]
All right. The first one was colored movies. Can you believe it?
SENNA: What?
JOY DOLO: Yeah! Yeah, that was invented in 1914. That's over 100 years ago.
SENNA: That's crazy.
JOY DOLO: I know. So the first movie credited as having natural color was called The World, the Flesh and the Devil, and it was filmed with red and green filters. So while it was definitely more colorful than previous movies, some shades like blue were missing. And before this, filmmakers would sometimes paint the film by hand to give a movie color. Could you imagine painting a movie by hand?
SENNA: That would take a long time.
JOY DOLO: And then second was cartoon movies. Isn't that something? And that was in 1917, so just a few years after the colored movie. So historians usually say the first full length animated movie was a political fantasy from Argentina. It was called El Apóstol. It's about the then president of Argentina having a dream where he climbs Mount Olympus and talks politics with the gods there. The animation was made with figures cut out of paper.
[LAUGHING]
That's a long way from SpongeBob the movie.
[LAUGHING]
So last but not least is talking movies, yeah. And that was 1927, which is, again, 10 years after that last one, which was crazy.
SENNA: That's crazy.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: It's like, boom, boom, boom.
JOY DOLO: Yeah, it was all back to back to back. It was like movies were invented, and then all these different kinds of movies came out afterwards.
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: So the first full movie with recorded dialogue was called The Jazz Singer, and it's about a young man who dreams of being a famous singer, even though this goes against his parents' wishes. The movie is credited as being the first talkie, a nickname for old films with talking in them. But it only had 281 words in it, which is hardly any talking. Still, most people say it marked the end of the silent film era. OK, that was a lot of information.
SENNA: Yeah.
JOY DOLO: Let's digest it. What do you think of that?
SENNA: My brain is blown.
JOY DOLO: Yeah. What's the coolest fact you heard there?
SENNA: It's really mind blowing that they made the first animated-- I don't know-- but cut out people out of paper.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: Like, that took a lot of hard work.
JOY DOLO: Would you ever do something like that? Like, make little papers and make a little movie?
SENNA: I don't think so.
[LAUGHING]
JOY DOLO: No, I wouldn't do it.
SENNA: Well, I am doing a stop motion. And me and my two friends who are doing it with me, we cut out the paper. But we didn't have that many like props.
JOY DOLO: Oh.
SENNA: So it's pretty easy. But--
JOY DOLO: So you cut out the paper yourselves and then make a story? Or is it, like--
SENNA: Yeah. It's about a farmer. So--
JOY DOLO: Oh.
SENNA: --cut out a farmer. You draw the farmer on the paper, and it's like stop motion. You have the things in place, you take a picture, and you move them the tiniest bit. And you do that over and over again. And then when you speed it up, it looks like it's moving.
JOY DOLO: Oh, that's-- OK, so you're making a movie?
SENNA: Sort of.
JOY DOLO: Yeah. So you're a movie maker, film star. OK, not a big deal. Dude, can I be in it? Can I be the farmer? Listen to my farmer voice. Hey, get off my crops, you kids! I changed my mind. I've changed my ways. That was my audition.
[LAUGHING]
SENNA: We're not going to have anyone speak for the farmer.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: But, like-- or the sheep. It's about a farmer trying to grow a rainbow grape, or a beautiful grape.
JOY DOLO: Yeah.
SENNA: He ends up growing a rainbow grape.
JOY DOLO: Oh!
SENNA: And then the sheep with concerningly long legs eats it.
JOY DOLO: The sheep with concerningly long legs.
SENNA: Yeah, and then it turns rainbow. And then wolves come and eat the sheep, and they turn rainbow.
[LAUGHING]
JOY DOLO: That's so cool! You know what you should do? You should add a rainbow dance, so then it could be like Bollywood with music and things. Join us next week for a new episode all about the Native Youth Olympics.
SENNA: Thanks for listening.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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