Meera Syal (The Revenge Club / The Kumars At No. 42 / Goodness Gracious Me) • #383

Summary

Podcast Summary: Films To Be Buried With #383

Guest: Meera Syal
Host: Brett Goldstein
Date: January 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Films To Be Buried With, Brett Goldstein is joined by the multi-hyphenate British icon Meera Syal (Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars At No. 42, The Revenge Club). The conversation traverses Meera’s creative journey, her philosophy on life and death, personal anecdotes, and the films that have shaped her. With warmth, wit, and vulnerability, Meera explores topics of art, mortality, heritage, and the enduring power of cinema.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Creative Process & Artistic Choices

• Choosing Projects (04:20):

  • Mira emphasizes passion over practicality:

    "With acting, it's all about script first. You read something and you go, oh, boy. Even if it's just two scenes, if they're brilliantly written... I'm up for that." (04:41, Syal)

  • On writing:

    "I lay one egg and I sit on it for about six years... but I find it quite hard to write unless I'm really moved to write something. The story really wants to come out..." (05:03, Syal)

• Methods for Writing

  • Brett and Meera discuss the magic of the first draft and the "ghosts" of writing:

    "When it's my kind of... the way that I write is I do the first draft really quickly, deliberately, really, really quickly, because I want to let magic happen." (07:36, Goldstein)

Partnership & Creativity

• On her marriage to Sanjeev Bhaskar and creative support:

  "Whenever anyone, either of us, gets a job, we go, hooray. The bills are getting paid… It’s not envy… I think it's just missing the thing that you love." (09:00, Syal)
  "If you're an actor... you don't want to be a sad twat in front of your mirror with a hairbrush, do you? You need to be in a room with people..." (09:20, Syal)

Reflections on Death & Legacy

• How She'd Like to Die (12:03):

  • Meera reflects on witnessing her parents’ final moments and wishes for a loving, open goodbye.

    "There’s a beautiful poetry… they were there when I took my first breath, and I was there for their last." (13:47, Syal)

  • She wants “a painless disease… comes on quickly, has no symptoms, just switches you off like a light after about a week." (14:46, Syal)

• Thoughts on Afterlife (15:31–16:59):

  "I don't think we die, really. I think our bodies die. I think our energy, our soul, whatever you want to call it, becomes part of something bigger..." (15:31, Syal)
  "If you're a creative... we plug into something that's bigger than us when we are creative. You feel it when you get that magical moment on stage..." (16:23, Syal)

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Films That Shaped Meera Syal

First Cinema Memory

One Million Years B.C. (17:48)

• Saw it by accident at age four ("My mum thought she was taking me to Mary Poppins... so my overwhelming memory... is absolute terror!").
• Family history repetition: Her mom’s first film in England was Psycho—again, a misadventure in movie selection.

“A lady in a bikini made of fur and there are things flying... big scary monsters... it took quite a long time to erase that initial memory." (17:57, Syal)

Film That Scared Her Most

Don't Look Now (20:06)

• Syal bonds strongly with Brett over this selection, both calling it a masterpiece.
• She describes watching it alone in university and being too scared to turn off the TV.

“By the end I was so shitting myself, I couldn't get out of bed to switch the TV off because I was convinced there was somebody dressed in red under my bed waiting to kill me.” (20:18, Syal)

• Brett’s analysis of its emotional power:

  “Even in the sex scene, you’re also seeing them getting dressed... while they’re making love, he’s already sad that it’s going to be over...” (21:24, Goldstein)

Film That Made Her Cry

Cinema Paradiso (24:05)

• Speaks to the journey from innocence to the discovery of passion, and the emotional resonance of leaving home to realize potential.

“Apart from the fact it just looks gorgeous... that journey of the innocence of childhood and seeing someone discover their passion…” (24:05, Syal)

• Honors Alfredo’s role in enabling Toto’s (Salvatore’s) flight from the small town and the symbolic reel of all the film kisses.

“It's like a kaleidoscope of erotic love, but also a homage to cinema..." (27:20, Syal)

Film She Loves That Others Don’t

The Day After Tomorrow (27:27)

• Owns her love of apocalyptic popcorn movies.

“I'll die on this hill. I'm a sucker for end-of-the-world films… I just really enjoy the crappy spectacle of the whole thing.” (27:34, Syal)

Film That Doesn’t Hold Up (Changed Perspective)

The Party (Peter Sellers, 1968) (28:48)

• Finds the film still funny, but now sees the problem of brownface and the distorted reflection of her culture.

"It’s like looking in a distorted mirror. You go, oh my God. Is that how you see us?" (31:09, Syal)
"It does bad things to my head, The Party." (30:42, Syal)

• Encourages remaking with authentic representation—“I’ll just write how we are.” (31:09, Syal)

Film That Means the Most (Personal Impact)

Kes (32:10)

• Resonated with her as a child growing up in a mining village—Billy Casper’s longing for beauty mirrored her own aspirations.

“It just spoke to me… I don't want to be Billy. I want to fly like the hawk." (35:03, Syal)

Film She Most Relates To (Identity)

Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959) (35:37)

• Impacted by the theme of hiding one’s identity versus embracing difference.

"It is so easy to want to pass, to want to deny the thing that makes you different... But this is where it ends." (38:52, Syal)

• Powerful funeral scene and message: "Don’t hide." (38:53, Syal)

Sexiest Film (Subtle Eroticism)

Aparajito (“The Unvanquished”) (1956, Satyajit Ray) (39:23)

• Emphasizes repressed eroticism and romance through glances and implication rather than explicitness:

“A wet sari is so much more erotic than full frontal... eroticism comes from repression, from what you don’t show.” (41:26, Syal)

Troubling Attraction (Worrying Boners)

Galaxy Quest (41:44)

• Finds Tony Shalhoub’s character’s romance with an octopus-like alien, Sam Rockwell’s dweeby energy, and Alan Rickman “in a weird alien head” unexpectedly arousing.

“None of these things should turn me on, but they...” (42:46, Syal)

Greatest Film (Objective Pick)

Arrival (43:00)

• Lauds its artistry and its exploration of choosing love despite foreknowledge of grief.

"If you know you're going to have an experience that is going to end tragically, but you'll experience beauty on the way—would you choose to have it? That's the central question for being a human being." (43:43, Syal)

Film She Could Rewatch Forever

When Harry Met Sally (44:38)

• Effusive about Nora Ephron’s script, Rob Reiner’s direction, and the film’s authentic couples.

“The best rom com ever... It’s full of killer lines that I repeat endlessly.” (44:41, Syal) “There's nothing more moving than old love… and the central question is: can men and women just be friends?” (46:13, Syal)

Worst Film She’s Seen

Sex Lives of the Potato Men (2004) [46:35]

• Only watched it because it’s set in her hometown.

"You watch it and you go—no, no, this is going, this is postmodern and ironic, isn't it? No... It really is that bad." (46:49, Syal)

Funniest Film

Bridesmaids (47:55)

• Praises the authentic, riotous female humor and the genuine love between women.

"When the chips are down, your Bessies are there for you... also really funny. Melissa McCarthy pooing in a sink will stay with me forever." (48:34, Syal)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Legacy:

  "The first draft is only ever yours anyway, isn't it? Then everybody else gets involved after that. Does it have to have dinosaurs in it?... It is called Jurassic Park. They will be expecting some dinosaurs." (08:07, Syal + Goldstein)

• On Dying Well:

  “I don't know, I'm an old hippie, Brett… our soul becomes part of something bigger. Like it says in Ghost, the love goes on. Yeah, love goes on. You can't break that.” (15:31, Syal)

• On Representation:

  “I'll just write how we are. I'll write how we see us. I will give you the other version of this.” (31:09, Syal)

• On Female Friendships (Bridesmaids):

  "It's how women talk when they're unleashed... deep love that women have for each other...” (48:03, Syal)

• On Emotional Choices (Arrival):

  "Would you pay the price of Love, which is grief, when you lose someone? Would you do it? I just love that [question]." (44:21, Syal)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Creative Process – 04:20–08:13
• Marriage & Competition – 08:43–10:48
• Death & Legacy – 11:44–16:59
• First Film Memory – 17:48–19:10
• Scariest Film – 19:17–23:19
• Crying at Films – 23:50–27:20
• Unpopular Film Love – 27:27–28:38
• Worst Aged Film – 28:48–31:52
• Most Personally Meaningful Film – 32:10–35:12
• Most Relatable Film – 35:37–39:13
• Sexiest Film – 39:23–41:34
• Troubling Attractions – 41:44–42:51
• Greatest Film – 43:00–44:30
• Most Rewatched – 44:38–46:13
• Worst Film – 46:35–47:48
• Funniest Film – 47:55–49:03

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Takeaway: What Would Meera Syal Bring to Movie Night in the Afterlife?

• Selected Film: When Harry Met Sally

  "Because when you know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." (50:32, Syal)

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Upcoming Projects Mentioned

• On Now:
  • Tinseltown (Sky)
  • The Revenge Club (Paramount)
• Coming Soon:
  • Memoir, releasing in September

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Tone & Style

The episode is candid, philosophical, witty, and often poignant. Both Brett and Meera keep an easy rapport, mixing laughter with reflective depth, especially when discussing familial love, creative identity, mortality, and legacy through the lens of film.

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Summary prepared for listeners who want the heart and highlights of episode #383 without spoilers or advertisements.

Transcript

[Brett Goldstein]

Look out. It's only films to be buried with. Hello and welcome to Films to be Buried With. My name is Brett Goldstein. I'm a comedian, an actor, a writer, a director, an eyeball and I love films. As Dr. Seuss once said, think left and think right. Think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try. And have you seen the Long Walk? It's excellent. Oh, I do agree, Dr. Seuss. That's a good shout. One of the films of the year. Happy New Year, everyone. Every week I invite a special guest over. I tell them they've died. Then I get them to discuss their life through the films that meant the most to them. Previous guests include Barry Jenkins, Kevin Smith, Sharon Stone, and even Web Lambles. But this week we have comedian, actor, writer and national treasure. It's Mira Seow. You can still watch my film, all of you, which I made with Will Bridges and Imogen Poots on Apple tv. Thank you to everyone who's watched it and said such lovely things about it. You can watch it again at home if you'd like. We're very proud of this film and we hope you will like it. Other news, Shrinking Season 3 will premiere this month on Wednesday, January 28th, also on Apple TV. You can go to the [e-mail] BrettGoldstein where you get an extra 20 minutes with Mira. We talk beginnings and endings. She tells me a secret. You get the whole episode uncut ad free and as a video. Check it out. [e-mail] Brett Goldstein. One other piece of news. There's gonna be a bit of a change over here. I have been fighting it off as long as I can, but I'm afraid I'm a very busy boy. I do hope you understand, but for a while I'm going to be releasing new episodes every other week. They will be better than ever. And I have some cracking guests coming up. There will just be a few less. But if you still want a weekly fix, you can head over to the Patreon where we will release a rewind classic on the fallow week. Makes sense. I hope you understand and thank you so much for your continued support. It does mean the world. So Mira Sayal. You might know her as a comedian, a writer and actor from Goodness gracious Me, the Kumar's at number 42 and countless brilliant roles in British film and television. Mira and I met at a live Mark Comeau Live at the BFI gig only a few weeks ago and she was such a delight. I Said, come on the pod. She said, I'd love to. We recorded this on Zoom. It's one of the greats. She was so wonderful. I really think you're gonna love this one. So that is it for now. Happy New Year, everyone, and I very much hope you enjoy episode 383 of Films to be Buried With. Hello and welcome to Films to be Buried With. It is I, Brett Goldstein, and I'm joined today by an actor, a writer, a singer, a producer, a voice of an Angela, an MBeeer, a CBeeer, a BAFTA Fellowship, Lord of the Rings. I don't even know what these letters mean. I assume it means she's a lady and a lord and the Queen of England. She's also a national treasure. Can you believe she's here? Please welcome to the show, it's the brilliant Mira Sayel. Yay.

[Mira Syal]

So happy to be here. Thank you so much.

[Brett Goldstein]

Thanks for doing this, Mira. Lovely to see you.

[Mira Syal]

Well, thanks for having me on, because I basically forced you, didn't I?

[Brett Goldstein]

You did. You did help me at gunpoint and say, put me on your podcast. And I said, okay. Okay.

[Mira Syal]

We met in the green room at the BFI doing the same show, and I said, I love your podcast. Please can I be on it? And here I am. So thank you.

[Brett Goldstein]

Oh, you were very sweet. I was excited. I had no idea you even cared. So it was lovely. We did a Mark Comed live show at the BFI together, and you sang have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and it was beautiful.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, thank you. I love a bit of karaoke, me. It was slightly sprung on me, I have to say, but everyone joined in. It was like. It was very festive, wasn't it?

[Brett Goldstein]

It was lovely. It was lovely. How are you? Where are you? Happy New Year.

[Mira Syal]

Happy New Year. I am in my back garden in a shed slash recording studio, and it's really cold outside. It's very wintry here. There's snow and everything. So.

[Brett Goldstein]

Is there?

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's a bit of snow. Bit of snow on the ground. Came too late for Christmas.

[Brett Goldstein]

Tell me this, you. You've done a lot of stuff, you write a lot of stuff, you act a lot of stuff, you make a lot of stuff. How does it work for you? Do you have an idea? Like, what is. Like, when you choose your next thing, is it because you have an idea or is it because something gets, like, what pulls you towards your next thing? Do you know?

[Mira Syal]

Oh, in terms of writing or any of it?

[Brett Goldstein]

Any of, like.

[Mira Syal]

Well, I guess with acting, it's all about script first, isn't it? You know, you read something and you go, oh, boy. And even if it's just two scenes, if they're brilliantly written scenes with great people, you go, I'm up. I'm up for that. Because it's like a journey. Every. Every job's a learning experience and you learn from being with really good people. So I don't have a sort of. I have to have this many lines before I leave and read it.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

It's very much, who's in it, Let me see the script. And we take it from there, I suppose. In terms of writing, I mean, I'm like a very old hen. I have. I lay one egg and I sit on it for about six years. You know, I'm career. Yeah. I'm not a careerist writer. I've written three novels. They're all about seven years apart, which is commercially deaf, you know. But I find it quite hard to write unless I'm really moved to write something like the story really wants to come out and I have to take time of acting too. Right. So it's got to be something I really want to do. And not everything gets made. I mean, the majority of things don't get made, as you know.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

We can all paper our entire living rooms with rejections. But I think in order to sit and write, because it's so hard, you've got to really, really want to tell that story. So it can be a character, a story. It doesn't matter what kicks it off. But I've got. The passion's got to be there.

[Brett Goldstein]

When you write your novels, do you have them? I'm always fascinated by novel writing. Do you plan it out before you write it or are you just seeing where it goes? How does it work with you?

[Mira Syal]

I think I always know how it's going to end and I usually know how it's going to start, but I don't always know what the bits are in the middle. I think the characters tend to have a sort of vague arc. But there is a really lovely bit in the writing process where your characters start to speak to you.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

I mean, particularly in prose. And you go, oh, great, then go, go, go with that. Let's see where this goes. And sometimes you have to cut the thing and sometimes it leads you to a really great place. But that's the great thing about writing on a computer, because I remember the days when it used to be an electric typewriter and you'd have to cut and paste and get your tip eggs out and it actually made you really plan out everything before you sat down to write. Right. Because, you know, changing it was such a ball ache. But with a computer, you can have a stream of consciousness. You can go, yeah, and then read it back and go, that wasn't right. And you get rid of it. So I know some people are very purist about writing longhand or whatever, but I feel that having the instant feedback of a screen and your fingers is quite liberating for a scatterbrained mind like mine, you know?

[Brett Goldstein]

Do you know the comedian, writer, actor, Lucy Beaumont? You know her?

[Mira Syal]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

All right. So I had an interview with her and she said, I think about this all the time. She asked me, how do you write? And she said, blah, blah, blah. I set up, I do this, I do that. And she said, and then I sit down and get possessed by ghosts and write. And I. And they kind of laugh, but she's like, I'm serious. And I'm like, yeah, I know what you mean.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, it is. Do you feel that when you're writing, is that similar?

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, when it. When it's my kind of. Not secret, but the way that I write is I do the first draft really quickly, deliberately, really, really quickly, because I want to let magic happen. As in if I. If I'm writing so fast I can't think about it, some stuff will come out that I didn't plan or that I wasn't aware of. And that's when I go, oh, yeah, I guess it's just ghosts.

[Mira Syal]

It's great when that happens, though. Yeah, it's great then. Then you know, you've tapped into your unconscious bit of your brain.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah. And then you have to finesse it and edit it and make it better. But. But letting that first sort of magic bit happen.

[Mira Syal]

The first draft is only ever yours anyway, isn't it? Then everybody else gets involved after that. Does it have to have dinosaurs in it? It's kind of spout. Dinosaurs. Yes.

[Brett Goldstein]

It is called Jurassic Park. They will be expecting some dinosaurs. It just seems expensive.

[Mira Syal]

Seems expensive, yeah. Yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

Maybe dogs, big dogs.

[Mira Syal]

Jurassic park, the low budget version.

[Brett Goldstein]

What's it like? You are married to Sanjeev Bhaskar.

[Mira Syal]

I am.

[Brett Goldstein]

You're both very creative. You've done lots of work together. Is it ever, if I may ask, is it ever competitive between you two? Is it ever like. Or is it just lovely and you support each other and happy for each other and all that?

[Mira Syal]

Is it like, darling, I'm in the kitchen. Oh, can I be in it like that.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah,

[Mira Syal]

it's a funny one, isn't it? Because, I mean, I should say, first off, you know, it's all about teamwork. So, frankly, whenever. Whenever anyone either of us get a job, we go, hooray. The bills are getting paid and we're all good. I'm not denying that. Sometimes if one person's had a real run of stuff and because we try and take it in turns, of course, you know, job comes up, and if you were the one that did the job last time, then it's your turn. But it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes it's like one of you is on a roll and the other one is getting a little bit grumpy about it. And I think those are the times that it's more testing. But it's not envy because, I mean, I obviously couldn't play the part that he goes up for. I think it's just missing the thing that you love. And it's really hard. When you're an actor, if you're a writer, you can just write. And I often do turn to writing in those times. If you're a musician, you can compose. If you're an actor, you don't want to be a sad twat in front of your mirror with a hairbrush, do you? You need to be in a room with people. You need to be in the rehearsal room or on the set or. Because our job isn't what, you know, we do to make money. It's we do it because that's who we are. That is who we are. That's our authentic self. So when you don't get to do it, a little bit of you does die. And I think that's the hardest bit, actually, of being a creative is when you can't be creat.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, that makes sense. How long have you two been together?

[Mira Syal]

20 years. Married? Yeah, 23 years together.

[Brett Goldstein]

That's nice.

[Mira Syal]

It is quite nice. I recommend with the right person.

[Brett Goldstein]

You recommend marrying Sajid?

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, Everyone should try it. He's very generous.

[Brett Goldstein]

This episode is brought to you by Fandango. People say fans are too distracted these days, but the truth is, when a great movie hits the screen, you show up, you stay glued, invested, part of the story. And without fans like you, there'd be no cinema magic, no shared moments. So head to fandango.com to get tickets, stream or rent or buy top movies and series. Fandango loves fans.

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[Brett Goldstein]

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[Mira Syal]

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[Brett Goldstein]

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[Mira Syal]

Yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

I'll just say it and then we'll have to. We'll just. We'll be fine. Fine. But you've died. You're dead.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, no.

[Brett Goldstein]

Dead.

[Mira Syal]

Well, it had to happen.

[Brett Goldstein]

Shame, shame.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

How did you. How did you die?

[Mira Syal]

Well, firstly, it's a bit premature. Can I just say, there's a lot of things I wanted to do still.

[Brett Goldstein]

Agreed.

[Mira Syal]

How did I die? See, I'm torn between making the killer exit line in the performance of my life on the stage of the National Theatre.

[Brett Goldstein]

Lovely.

[Mira Syal]

Walking off to applause and then croaking in the wings really suddenly.

[Brett Goldstein]

That's nice.

[Mira Syal]

Still in my costum. Touching a prop.

[Brett Goldstein]

But you have finished. You finished the play? The play is finished.

[Mira Syal]

Yes. I've just done my curtain call.

[Brett Goldstein]

Great.

[Mira Syal]

But while that sounds really, you know, dramatic and fitting, it's really hard for the people left behind those sudden exits, you know, And I know many people that's. Yeah, them too.

[Brett Goldstein]

They're going to be haunted by.

[Mira Syal]

Except for my understudy, who might be quite pleased.

[Brett Goldstein]

I'm so sad. I dance when I'm sad.

[Mira Syal]

But, yeah, I think, you know, I'm now an orphan. You know, both my parents passed away and I was with both of them for their final breath. And I had the time to say goodbye and to say all the stuff I wanted to say, and that was very precious. So I think it will be a shame to deprive my family of the time to know what. She's on her way out. And let's prepare the lovely bed with the beauty, with the window overlooking the ocean strewn with jasmine. And everyone around the bedside, the grandkids and just like, have that moment. I mean, that would be the ideal. We all want to. I think probably most people wouldn't want that kind of exit.

[Brett Goldstein]

So when you're. So when your parents died, you got to say all the things. Did you feel complete? Like, did you feel. Did you feel like you closed the circle, as it were?

[Mira Syal]

Yes, in some ways there is, of course, there's a circularity because they were there when I took my first breath and I was there for their last. And I think there's a beautiful poetry in that. I mean, I was lucky enough to have a really good relationship with them, so I told them many, many times that I loved them and how much they meant to me. That doesn't mean it's not, of course, inconceivable and sad when it happens, but you also know it's the nature of things.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

And you have to go. They've had a good, long life. They've seen their children do well. They were very much in love. They had a wonderful marriage. It's time. Everyone has their time. And how nice that you had all of that in your lives that many people don't get. So, yeah, that's nice.

[Brett Goldstein]

So when you dive, you want everyone there, but what have you. What, like, why are you dying? What's happened? Because you want. You want to build up. You need. You want to say, hey, listen, I got a week left.

[Mira Syal]

It will be good to discover. I don't know if there is such a disease, but something that is painless. The painless disease comes on really quickly, has no symptoms and just switches you off like a light after about a week. I want that disease.

[Brett Goldstein]

That sounds pretty good.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah. I would like to choose that disease because I don't fancy the long, slow, lingering goodbye. No, I really don't want that. Nobody wants that.

[Brett Goldstein]

You want a sort of tight. A tight week.

[Mira Syal]

I'd like to be on a schedule.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

Can I please?

[Brett Goldstein]

That's good.

[Mira Syal]

Saturday at 3 o'. Clock. I'm off.

[Brett Goldstein]

I'm off. Say what you need to say. I will be receiving visitors at 2. Pack it in the hour.

[Mira Syal]

Exactly.

[Brett Goldstein]

Do you worry about death yourself?

[Mira Syal]

No, not really. I worry about, I suppose, how I'm going to die, but not actually death itself. No. I mean, if. If I had to croak tomorrow, I would be sad about the things I didn't get to do or see, but I would still have immense gratitude for what I've had, for sure. And I don't know, I mean, I'm an old hippie, Brett, you know, I don't think we die, really. I think our bodies die. I think our energy, our soul, whatever you want to call it, becomes part of something bigger, more collective. And I think. I know, like it says in Ghost, the love goes on. Yeah, love goes on. You can't break that. So that's still there.

[Brett Goldstein]

I love to hear this mirror because it's true. And I'm always shocked by people who come in here and say, I think it's nothing Afterwards I'm like, obviously it's not nothing afterwards. Obviously not.

[Mira Syal]

I know, but, I mean, I have some dear friends who are atheists and I absolutely believe that. And that's fine. I admire the scientific mind that just goes, that's what it is. But I think it's really hard to accept that if you're a creative, because I think we plug into something that's bigger than us when we are creative. You feel it when you get that magical moment on stage and you and the audience are all together, taking one breath and exhaling, and you can feel all of that coming back and you think, there is something bigger than me. And art touches it. Music touches it. Painting that makes you cry touches it. There's something there that's bigger than us.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, well, Meera, you're right about all of this. And there is a heaven and you're going to it, and they're very excited to see you and it's filled with your favorite thing. What's your favorite thing?

[Mira Syal]

Could I have a netball post, please?

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just want to be shooting the hoops.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah. I've been playing netball since I was 11. I'm still playing. I have one in my back garden.

[Brett Goldstein]

Nice.

[Mira Syal]

Is that really sad?

[Brett Goldstein]

No, that's really cool.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

All right. There's a netball stand and netball post.

[Mira Syal]

A netball post, Netball post.

[Brett Goldstein]

And a hoop.

[Mira Syal]

And a netball, obviously.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah. God, imagine we forgot the netball.

[Mira Syal]

That would be very bad.

[Brett Goldstein]

Everyone's very excited to see you. They want to talk to you about your life, but they want to talk about it through film. And the first question that they ask you is, what is the first film you remember seeing? Mira Sayel.

[Mira Syal]

Well, Brett Goldstein, this is a very odd one because it was a mistake. The first film I actually saw at cinema was One Million Years bc.

[Brett Goldstein]

Oh, wow.

[Mira Syal]

And I was about four and my mum thought she was taking me to Mary Poppins. She got the wrong time or the wrong cinema, I'm not sure. So my overwhelming memory of my first time in the cinema is absolute terror. I don't even remember the plot. I just thought, there's a lady in a bikini made a fur and there are things flying and they go to eater and there's big scary monsters. Why am I here? It took quite a long time to erase that initial memory. Mum felt really bad. I know. So that is actually. And that sort of slightly echoes the first film my mom ever saw in Britain when she moved from India in 1960. And the first film my dad took to see her, you know, Newly arrived was Psycho.

[Brett Goldstein]

Welcome. That's fine.

[Mira Syal]

My mum had never seen a horror film, never mind one like that. And he literally had to go to the toilet in the shower with her for like a month and she's like, what have you done to me? Why did you. And then history strangely repeated itself with 1 million years BC.

[Brett Goldstein]

This is why you brought up dinosaurs earlier, because you were traumatized.

[Mira Syal]

I think I did, yeah. I think I did.

[Brett Goldstein]

Speaking of horror, what is the film that scared you the most? Do you like being scared?

[Mira Syal]

Do you know, I used to hate it. And I'd never seen a horror film, apart from those sort of crappy ones that come on the telly at 11 o' clock at night, like way back when, like Dracula and Frankenstein. But I'd never seen like a full on horror film until I got to university and I was doing English and drama at Manchester and we were doing a film course and the first film we had to watch was Alien.

[Brett Goldstein]

Oh, wow.

[Mira Syal]

And I'd never seen a horror film and that was quite a birthing. But the weird thing is, I don't know if this is something to do with getting older. I'm really into them now and this is just interesting. Yeah. In the last. I think it's because my daughter's really into them and she's persuaded me to watch them with her. I won't watch them on my own, but I quite enjoy. I quite enjoy them in a way that I never did when I was younger. And the one that really stuck with me and scared the pants off me was Don't look now by Nick Rogue.

[Brett Goldstein]

You may not know this, I talk about it far too often. I think Don't look now is the greatest film ever made.

[Mira Syal]

Do you?

[Brett Goldstein]

I do.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, my God. Do you? I'm so glad we're bonding over this.

[Brett Goldstein]

I'm obsessed with it.

[Mira Syal]

It's extraordinary.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

And I saw it in my student attic room in Manchester. I mean, it was an old creaky house, so it couldn't have been a better setting on my little telly. And I didn't know what I was watching. I hadn't heard of it. I sort of thought, nick Rogue, he's great. And I started watching it and by the end I was so shitting myself, I couldn't get out of bed to switch the TV off because I was convinced there was somebody dressed in red under my bed waiting to kill me. Yeah, it's brilliant. And it's brilliant right from the first frame. It's just like an impressionist painting the Movement of time and the imagery and this creeping sense of dread. And it's all about grief and the things you imagine and what the tricks your mind plays on you. And that ending, I mean, we don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it's like the perfect synthesis. I mean, the film couldn't have ended any other way. And then you look back and you go, oh, my God. The signs of what was gonna happen were all there, really subtly. Why do you think it's brilliant? I'd love to hear it from your person.

[Brett Goldstein]

Oh, a million reasons that. I'll try and keep it short, because people are probably sick of me talking about it, but I think it is how we experience time is how the film is. Like the fact that a. I love them as a couple. It's my favorite performance. They seem such. Such a real couple and so lovely and real. And it's rare in a film to see a married couple that like each other, but there's something very real about the very, very natural that I love. And even in, like, the sex scene, the way that it's what I call. I don't know if it's a real word, pre nostalgia, which is that, like, that they're finally making love and it's really beautiful. And you're also seeing them getting dressed afterwards, and you're also going back to the sex scene and before the sex scene. And it's almost like while they're making love, he's already sad that it's going to be over. And you're seeing the missing of it as it's happening. And I know that feeling of really enjoying not just sex, but, you know, being with someone, having a lovely time and being like, it's sad that this is going to end. And I have it on films when you're making a film, like, I'm already sad that we're going to finish this film one day, you know?

[Mira Syal]

Yes.

[Brett Goldstein]

And so the way that it does time, I think, is really beautiful. And I think that it's, like, about. It's about intuition, really. And it is like.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

And he's ignoring what's there. And she has this experience with the psychic ladies and it frees her and her grief is kind of eased by it, but he doesn't want to. He's being kind of stiff upper lip about the whole thing and he won't let in his feelings and it ends up, you know, without spoiling it. Things happen because of that.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, yeah. Because he ignored his intuition.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

He Mainly has a premonition.

[Brett Goldstein]

He has.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

Anyway, that's why I think it's brilliant and kind of everything. Oh, I love it.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a brilliant film. And it's truly horrifying and dreadful in the way that, I mean, like, dread, but also beautiful. And it's quite rare that you can be scared. And also.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, it's so moving. It's so moving.

[Mira Syal]

So moving. Yeah.

[Brett Goldstein]

And the vent and Venice, the way it does Venice. I love it. It's perfect.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, it is perfect.

[Brett Goldstein]

Great answer. You get 20 points for that.

[Mira Syal]

Hooray.

[Brett Goldstein]

What's the film that made you cry the most? Do you like crying?

[Mira Syal]

Yeah. I'm a terrible crier. I cry at old people holding hands in the street and. Yeah, yeah, I'm one of those. It's ridiculous. It was a real close call between Coco and the one I finally chose, which is Cinema Paradiso.

[Brett Goldstein]

Oh, wow.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, wow.

[Brett Goldstein]

I mean, both killer. Coco. Fucking killer. Any Pixar film is a killer.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah. I mean, Coco I love. And I mean, that whole thing about no one's really dead if you don't forget them really resonated with me. And I was also living with a family member with Alzheimer's, and of course, the whole. The grandma character who's in a world of her own, and then suddenly, for a brief moment, she remembers. I mean. Oh, you know, if you're living through that, that's. That's tough. But Cinema Paradiso, I think. I don't know. It just. Apart from the fact it just looks gorgeous and it takes its time. And the music is by Marie Kone, is just stunning. To me, it was that journey of the innocence of childhood and seeing someone discover their passion. Toto, the little boy, you know that the film starts with Salvadore, he's called, and he's a very famous film director now and far away from his little Sicilian village. And he gets a call from someone back in his village that he hasn't seen, for he hasn't been back for years, saying, alfredo has died. And you see his whole face change. And he takes his journey back to the village. And then you go back in time and you meet him and you meet Alfredo. And Toto, as he was called, is this little ragamond, beautiful boy, barefoot, in this little village, and falls in love with cinema. And Alfredo is the local projectionist, and he becomes his little helper. He becomes the child that sits next to him in the booth. And Alfredo, because of the censorship at the time, has to cut out all the naughty bits from all these films that he's showing at this little village. And then has to stick them back in when the film goes to the next village and there's a terrible fire and the cinema's destroyed and Alfredo loses his sight. So after that, Otto has to take over being the projectionist. And that's where his love. Unless, you know, he falls in love with a local girl and she doesn't want him, and he goes to war. And you just see this. This young man who's full of potential, is kind of lost. And the most moving. One of the most moving bits is Alfredo saying to him, get out of here. Run. And don't look back, because you have something. And if you stay here, it will never flower into anything. And he's responsible for that flowering. And, boy, that really resonated with me because I grew up in a little mining village, you know, And I. I used to swing on the swings and see the horizon over the, you know, past the pit head of the mine and all of that, and think, oh, there's a really big world out there. Maybe I should. And get that little stirring of the world is bigger than this place. And that's what Alfredo says to him,

[Brett Goldstein]

like a Disney heroine.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah. Yeah. I want to be where the people are. And of course, the very famous end bit. And this is the bit which, you know, I think makes everybody cry, is he's been to Alfredo's funeral. And Alfredo has left him a reel, and he puts it on, and it is a collage of every single kiss from all of those films that he watched as a little boy. The clinches and the lingering, smoldering embraces. And it's like a kaleidoscope of erotic love, but also a homage to cinema. Oh, it's beautiful. And that music is playing and. Yeah, it's a tearjerker.

[Brett Goldstein]

It's a really good answer. What about the film that you love? People don't like it. Critics hate it. You love it unconditionally.

[Mira Syal]

Well, I love the Day After Tomorrow.

[Brett Goldstein]

That's a great answer. That's a great answer.

[Mira Syal]

And I'll die on this hill. I'm a sucker for end of the world films. I love them. And my favorite moment is always the five minutes before the end of the world is coming. Is, I think, in my head, I'm practicing for that.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

I just. Am I the person that runs around like a headless chicken? Or am I the person that's got the bunker ready? I don't know, but that moment where the world is on X axis and it's in a before and love it. And I just. You know, it starts with Dennis Quaid is playing this paleontologist and he's in the Arctic, and he bangs his hammer and a whole huge bit of the ice shelf breaks off. And it starts like all of those movies. A scientist telling everyone something bad's gonna happen and nobody believing in every single film. And then you just have these fantastic effects where you've got tornadoes in LA and hailstones in Delhi and this massive tsunami that covers New York City. I love it. It's proper popcorn.

[Brett Goldstein]

That's great.

[Mira Syal]

And I know it might not make sense and it's seen as a bit cheesy, but I don't know why. I really enjoy the crappy spectacle of the whole thing.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, I respect that. Why not? It's good. Find A Day After Tomorrow. What about a film that you used to love but you've watched recently and you've thought, I don't like this anymore

[Mira Syal]

because I've changed a film that doesn't hold up nowadays. Well, this one's quite easy. It's the Party, the Blake Edwards film from 1968, with Peter Sellers in brownface playing an Indian actor in Hollywood. Now, I should preface this with saying, I rewatched this recently and it's really bloody funny. I mean, it just is. And Peter Sellars is a fabulous actor, so it's really confusing because, of course, you just couldn't do this film now. But I have to say, he does a great job because he's such a gifted comedy actor. So I watch it with all these conflicted feelings, and I remember watching it when it came out, and my mom and dad watched it, and on the one hand, it was like, how lovely. There's a brown face on screen. And, oh, but. But it's not really, is it? But, oh, isn't he funny? And, oh, no, we really shouldn't be watching this. It's very confusing.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, that's so interesting.

[Mira Syal]

I think it's ripe for a remake. There are so many brilliant actors now that could do that. And I love the setup and the set, and it's very smart. It's a great satire about Hollywood. I mean, you see this Indian guy that's been brought over. It's not Indian, it's Peter Sellers brought over to be an extra in this really crappy sort of, you know, those colonial films that everybody was in at that time. That whole thing of, you know, somebody that wants to act and is from a completely different culture. So, you know, whatever he brings is not really going to be appreciated. He's always going to be the idiot brown man in the turban. And you see all of that. And I kind of, you know, I feel that. I feel like that was a really valid point to make.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

And also that his mannerisms. What Sellers caught was so accurate. The sort of wanting to fit in, an excessive politeness and being delighted by everybody. You know, it's. It's recognizable, and yet it's not us. It's a head fuck. It does bad things to my head. The party.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, that is fascinating, but let's do a remake.

[Mira Syal]

Let's do a remake. We should.

[Brett Goldstein]

Which white actor would you like to play in the remake?

[Mira Syal]

Well, Brett, I think you'd be really good.

[Brett Goldstein]

It's time. It's time. That's so interesting.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah, it's interesting. And it's difficult when it's a. It's a really good film.

[Brett Goldstein]

So when you saw it with your parents when you were young, you were just confused, like, enjoying it and thinking, this is weird.

[Mira Syal]

Yeah. And we used to feel that every time we'd see versions of ourselves, particularly the brown face, because on the one hand, you think, at least people know we're here. This is the first time I've seen anyone that vaguely looks like me on the telly. And yet it's like looking in a distorted mirror. You go, oh, my God. Is that how they. Is that how you see us? Is that how you see us? But, you know, I would say that it was all fuel for people of my generation to go, okay, I'll just write how we are. I'll write how we see us. I will give you the other version of this. So it's good. It's there. I'm not in favor of banning things because they're not to everyone's taste anymore. I think we should be allowed to see and make our own opinion and see it as a reflection of the time it was made in and understand why. I think it's better to have that debate.

[Brett Goldstein]

Fascinating. Great answer. I'm gonna give you 30 points for that.

[Mira Syal]

I'm getting points.

[Brett Goldstein]

You're getting so many points. What is the film that means the most to you? Not necessarily the film is good, but the experience you had seeing the film will always make it important and special and magical to you.

[Mira Syal]

Well, this has to be Kez.

[Brett Goldstein]

Jesus Christ.

[Mira Syal]

I know, I know. The amazing 1969 Ken Loach film about a little no hope, a boy called Billy Casper, who lives in a Mining village in Yorkshire. And Billy has no friends. He's literally Billy, no mates. He's terrible at school. He's disruptive. He's got quite an unhappy family life and really abusive older brother who works down the pit, and that's where Billy is obviously gonna go. And he finds or steals a kestrel chick and suddenly Billy's life has meaning. You know, the boy that people thought couldn't do anything steals a book from the library, learns how to train this beautiful bird. And Billy is an artist. Billy has sensitivity and beauty in his life and something that gives him purpose. And it's got a horrible ending. I mean, you can't spoil it, can we?

[Brett Goldstein]

I can't stand that ending.

[Mira Syal]

It's so bleak, man. I don't think we should give it away. But you've got to brace yourself for. It's Ken Loach, right?

[Brett Goldstein]

It's an insane ending. It's insane. It's a crazy. A crazy ending. It's so depressing.

[Mira Syal]

It's so depressing. And it's like, what are you saying? That anybody that reaches for beauty in the cruel world is going to end up like this? I don't want to hear that. Yeah, but the reason it spoke to me is I was a kid growing up in a little mining village and I didn't have access to, you know, supposed cultural events. You know, I went to the theater maybe twice in my life up until the age of 18, and one of those was a panto. I just didn't give the access. It little mining village. And then, you know, there wasn't a nearby theater. The nearest one really was Birmingham and Wolverhampton, but they cost money and it wasn't part of my upbringing. Right. But I knew because I was a voracious reader. Books spoke to me. Books made me cry. Books made me imagine. I knew when I watched a film that there was something in me that spoke to that whole process of storytelling. When I heard a piece of music, I thought, I don't know. That to me, is the. That's the music from the British Airways ad. I don't know. I don't know. I only found out years later. It was, you know, the Flower duet from Luck May. And it doesn't matter what it's called. It spoke to me. And it was. It was seeing, you know, this film was an angry cry about this whole generation of kids that were written off because they didn't fit into what academic meant. An assumption that working class kids are too stupid to appreciate beauty. They're not. They just are not Given access to it.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

And they may not be able to name what moves them, but they have all of those emotions and, you know, beauty and storytelling and culture is for everyone and there's no class about it and there's no judgment about it. And that's what really. It just spoke to me and it made me think. I don't want to be. I don't want to be Billy.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

I want to fly like the hawk.

[Brett Goldstein]

I don't want to end up stuffed in a bin.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, you've given it away. But I can't pair it.

[Brett Goldstein]

I think we would.

[Mira Syal]

Why is it so bleak?

[Brett Goldstein]

I don't know. He's, he's, he's, he's not happy. Bunny can like. I think he doesn't.

[Mira Syal]

But isn't it brilliant?

[Brett Goldstein]

It is brilliant. It is brilliant. The ending is just outrageous to me.

[Mira Syal]

What is another remake?

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah. What is the film you most relate to to that isn't Cares.

[Mira Syal]

Right. I related a lot to Cares because of the time I saw it as well. But I think the one I want to choose is Imitation of Life, Which. Yes, yes, 1959, one of those beautifully shot semi melodramas. And it's about an actress called Lana Turner who meets a black woman on a beach when her daughter gets lost and their two daughters end up becoming best friends. And then it's Juanita Moore that plays Annie Johnson. And Annie is a black woman who has a daughter called Sarah Jane. And Sarah Jane is really fair skinned, she's white passing. And Annie ends up working for the glamorous Lana Turner as her nanny housemaid, as it was in those days. And the two girls become great friends. And because Sarah Jane is white passing, they move around together, they play together, they're not treated any differently until people find out that Sarah Jane's mum is black. And there is a scene where Sarah Jane has forgotten her lunch and her mum turns up to the school and brings the lunch. And Sarah Jane is incandescent that her mother's turned up because now everybody knows she's got a black mum. And what she can't understand is that she's growing up next to a girl who has every privilege in the world and they look the same. And she could have that life, except when people find out where she's from and what does she do? She runs away. She denies her mother. She has a whole secret life. And. Oh, the end scene. Again, this is so full of spoilers. But shall I say what happens?

[Brett Goldstein]

You can say spoiler alert and then

[Mira Syal]

say it huge Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen An Imitation of Life. So Annie gets ill, and Sarah o' Jane has abandoned her and doesn't want to know her. And she manages to track her down. And she's dancing in a cabaret and she says, I just want to see my baby one more time. And Sarah Jane says, I don't want to see you again. You will ruin my life if people know who you are. And in fact, she's been beaten up really badly by a boyfriend who has found out that she had a black mother. It's so reflective of the times, right? Anyway, Annie dies without seeing Sarah Jane again. And there is this incredible funeral scene because she always wanted a big funeral, you know, white horses, crowds, because she was very loved. Mahalia Jackson singing the eulogy. Thank you very much. The most amazing. And scene. And then from the back of the crowd, you hear, Mama. Mama. And Sarah Jane. Oh, my God, I can't. I'm gonna cry. Sarah Jane pushes her way through the crowds and throws herself on her mum's coffin. And she says, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mama. So, you know, when I watched that as a little brown kid growing up, I thought, oh, my God, that could be me. It is so easy to want to pass, to want to deny the thing that makes you different because you want to fit in and you don't want to be treated differently. But this is where it ends. It's not you. It's not you taking pride in who you are and your journey and being brave enough to go, I am different. And if I have to fight for this space, I'll fight for it, but I'm not gonna hide. And Sarah Jane was the lesson. Don't hide. Don't carry that burden. Oh, man. Have you seen it? Because you.

[Brett Goldstein]

You're making me cry.

[Mira Syal]

I keep your tissues. But when I saw that, you know, in my teens, where, of course, when you're a teenager, all you wanna do is fit in and not be different, it really crystallized something for me. It. Great film to see, and I think it's. I think it's a classic.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

And it was so bold for its time about the issues it was talking about.

[Brett Goldstein]

Great answer. Mira on the. On it. On the other end of the scale, what's the sexiest film you've ever seen, Mira?

[Mira Syal]

Say sexy but troubling or just sexy.

[Brett Goldstein]

We do traveling next. Sexy first.

[Mira Syal]

So this is. This is a. This is an interesting one. So it's Apu Sansur, which is the second of the Satajit Ray. Apu Traji. So Apu. In the first one, Apu's a little boy in a Bengali village. I mean, they're. They're stunning movies. Stunning, black and white, slow, beautiful films. So the first part is about Apu's life in a rural village. And the second installment is. Apu is now a young man and he's trying to make a living as a writer. He's a graduate. He's overstuffed with degrees. But like all people who want to be writers, nobody wants to hire him. And he's struggling. And he's living in this little rented room. And his family are all like, what are your prospects? What are you doing? And, you know, to get away from the chatter, he goes to attend a cousin's wedding in a village. And the wedding is abandoned right at the last minute because it's found out that the cousin, who's the girl, the boy that she's going to marry, is actually really mentally unwell. And nobody told her. And the family say, you can't marry him, but, oh, my God, we're going to be disgraced. What are we going to do? And Apu steps in and marries her. This woman that he's never met before, who's literally about to be jilted and her entire reputation soiled. And all of that, you know, honorific nonsense that goes on, the misogynistic thing that surrounds this whole thing. And so he returns to his little rented room with this stranger. And then they fall in love against every single odds. And honestly, it is so sexy, the way it's shot. There is nothing full frontal about it. It's all about looks. About two strangers that suddenly look at each other and go, God, I actually think you're really beautiful. And then coming together and then finally consummating this marriage that was thrown on them. Because I. I don't know, it's probably the Indian bit of me. But, you know, in Indian films, people would always draw away from the kiss. You know, I think a wet sari is so much more erotic than full frontal. Right? Because eroticism comes from repression. It comes from what you don't show. And for me, this whole section where they fall in love is about the not showing, but it's about the undercurrents. And it's really. It's really gorgeous.

[Brett Goldstein]

Great answer. The subcategory is troubling Boners worrying. Why don'ts a film you found arousing that you weren't sure you should?

[Mira Syal]

Well, I'm sorry to say it is the alien love in Galaxy Quest.

[Brett Goldstein]

Oh, great answer, Great answer.

[Mira Syal]

So there's Fred Kwong. I know. It's one of my favorite movies. Anyway, I could quote it for Endless. I have three troubling but sexy bits in that film. It's the alien love. It's Tony Shalhoub, who's brilliant, falling in love with an alien. And every time they start snogging, she turns into an octopus. And it's really quite sexy. It's Sam Rockwell, hands down in the entire movie, who is this nerdy extra that suddenly finds himself in this ridiculous sort of adventure in space, is so afraid of being killed that he says, I don't have a last name. What's my last name? I know I'm gonna get killed. And he's so dweeby in it. And yet he's really sexy.

[Brett Goldstein]

He's a sexy guy.

[Mira Syal]

And then it's Alan Rickman in a weird alien head who's just sexy as hell. I mean, what's going on? None of these things.

[Brett Goldstein]

You're right. It's a sex film.

[Mira Syal]

Should turn me on. But they.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, really, really good answer.

[Mira Syal]

Great movie, though.

[Brett Goldstein]

Great movie. What is objectively the greatest film of all time? Might not be your favourite, but it's the pinnacle of cinema.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, now people are probably gonna throw things at their phone and it's an unusual choice, but I can only say this is the most subjective question, isn't it? It's all subjective. But I think this piece is a masterpiece. I've watched it several times and every time I watch it, I see something different in it, and that is arrival.

[Brett Goldstein]

Arrival is fucking brilliant. You can have that. You know what's interesting about Arrival? Given our conversation, Arrival is sci fi. Don't look now.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, my God. I suppose it is.

[Brett Goldstein]

It's about time, experiencing time. And she has the vision, she has the sixth sense, basically.

[Mira Syal]

It obviously is something that speaks deep to my psyche. But that central question, apart from the fact it's beautifully shot, I know it's based on a novel, but it's so beautifully realized. It's beautifully shot. The music's amazing, it's spare, it's full of imagery that stays with you. Is that central question if you know you're going to have an experience that is going to end tragically, but you will experience beauty on the way, would you choose to have it? I mean, I think that's a central question for just being a human being, isn't it? And it's about, are you afraid to live? Will you pay the price of Love, which is grief. When you lose someone, would you do it? I just love that.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

And that end section with that amazing Max Rixer soundtrack.

[Brett Goldstein]

It's a fucking.

[Mira Syal]

It's beautiful.

[Brett Goldstein]

Really good answer. 10 points. What is the film you could or have watched the most over and over again?

[Mira Syal]

Easy. When Harry Met Sally.

[Brett Goldstein]

Wonderful.

[Mira Syal]

When Harry Met Sally, directed by the amazing Rob Reiner, written by one of my favorite writers, Nora Ephron. Yes. The best rom com ever.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah. That's the third perfect film you've chosen. There's nothing wrong with Win Harrim at Sally.

[Mira Syal]

I mean, the construction of it, Right?

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

The genius of it. Apart from the fact it's full of killer lines that I repeat endlessly. Baby fish mouth. You made a woman meow. I mean, you're right, you're right. I know you're right.

[Brett Goldstein]

The baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation.

[Mira Syal]

Are you never gonna leave your wife? I know. I mean, so many. But apart from the killer script are these beautiful, beautiful little vignettes all the way through Harry and Sally's story of these couples. And I thought, how are they so beautifully observed? And apparently they're taken from real interviews that Rob Reiner did with real couples when they were doing all the research for this film. And so he's tried to capture. I mean, he used actors for the actual things, but he's using the transcripts of the couples that he met. And I think that's why they land so beautifully. That's why they feel so real. And so all the way through, you see an abundance of couples who met in the most unlikely circumstances and have lasted because there's nothing more moving than old love. Right. The love that's lasted. And then the central question is, can men and women just be friends? And Harry says, no, they can't. And these two best friends are meant for each other and we can see it, but they can't. And I love that. I love that deliciousness.

[Brett Goldstein]

It's so good. Oh, you know what I think those interviews are with the couples. They're a bit like the original Aardman animation. Where? The zoo. I forgot what it's called. Creature Comforts.

[Mira Syal]

Creature Comforts.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Mira Syal]

It's like that is. Yes, it is like that.

[Brett Goldstein]

What is the worst film you've ever seen? We don't like to be negative, so you can be quick.

[Mira Syal]

Well, I have to admit I didn't. I haven't seen it all the way through because it was so bad. But there was an ill conceived film in 2004 which is labeled A British sex comedy called the Sex Lives of the Potato Men.

[Brett Goldstein]

I've not seen this.

[Mira Syal]

I. Very few people have. And the only reason that I watched it was that it was set in my hometown of Walsall. And I thought, no one has ever set a film in Walsall, ever. And now we know why. Because it was. It's basically about these two guys who sell potatoes from the back of a van that drive around trying to pull women. I mean, that's about. That's it. And you watch it and you go, no, no, this is going. This is postmodern and ironic, isn't it? No, surely not. And then you go, oh, shit. It isn't. It really is that bad. And there's some amazing people in it. Julia Davis, Mark Gatis, they're all in it. I have to quote this because a critic said. Critic from the Telegraph. It's hard to know what to say to this. It's like finding the right words at a nasty accident.

[Brett Goldstein]

Horrible.

[Mira Syal]

So maybe I'm being unfair, Brett, because I didn't see the end of it, but I saw enough.

[Brett Goldstein]

Yeah, maybe it gets really good at the end. What's the. You're in comedy. You're very funny. What's the film that made you laugh the most?

[Mira Syal]

The film that still makes me howl is Bridesmaids.

[Brett Goldstein]

Fucking great. So funny. It's so funny.

[Mira Syal]

Oh, man. And it is how women are with each other when men aren't around. I mean, that's what I loved about it. It was the anarchy of it. It was the no holds barred knob jokes and poo jokes and jokes about your sons. And I've got so many hormonal sons, I have to crack a blanket in the morning. I mean, figure that one out yourself. I mean, it's how women talk when they're unleashed. But it was also about the deep love that women have for each other that goes beyond all of the politics and the rows and that when the chips are down, your Bessies are there for you.

[Brett Goldstein]

It.

[Mira Syal]

To me, it felt so authentic, but also really funny. I mean, there's amazing set pieces in it. The whole, you know, everyone getting diarrhea at the bridal boutique. I mean, Melissa McCarthy pooing in a sink will stay with me Forever. Melissa McCarthy in that film.

[Brett Goldstein]

I love her so much.

[Mira Syal]

I love her. And she's not afraid to just. I don't think you can have vanity if you want to be a great comedian, can you? You can't give a shit about what you look like. You just can't.

[Brett Goldstein]

She's got sort of genuine chaos about her. Like, there's a real sense of her where you go, like, danger, which I love. Like when she did SNL and she was Sean Spicer. Is that his name? And you're just like, she's fully unleashed. I think she's brilliant. Now, listen, Mira Sayel, you have been a delight, a joy, a wonder, very moving, very interesting, very fascinating. However, when you were diagnosed with a disease called quick, painless, lights off, you won't feel a thing. But you've got a week. And you told your family and friends, you said, Listen, Saturday, 3 o', clock, I'm off. If you want to gather round, I'm going to be in this bed looking out, this lovely view. They all came round, they all saw you, they all said all the things they needed to say. And then at 3 o', clock, they all said, I love you. You said, I love you. You closed your eyes and you died. That's actually very nice. I'm walking past with a coffin, you know what I'm like. And I go, what's all the commotion? What's all the wailing? They go, amira died. It was a very lovely thing, but we will miss her. I go, ah, yeah, that's a shame. I go, will you help me get her in this coffin? But because one of your legs is longer than the other, I've misjudged this coffin. You have to chop off one of your feet to get it in. We stuff you in the coffin, try and stuff the extra foot in it. Anyway, the coffin is jammed. There's no room in this coffin. There's only enough room for me to slip one DVD into the side for you to take across to the other side. And on the other side, it's movie night every night. What film are you taking to show the netball players in heaven when it is your movie night?

[Mira Syal]

It is When Harry Met Sally. Because when you know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

[Brett Goldstein]

Beautiful. Mira, is there anything people should be looking out for, listening to or reading of your own work? Coming soon.

[Mira Syal]

Well, there's a couple of things on right now because it's a festive season, so I'm in a lovely little film called Tinseltown on the sky and also a dark revenge comedy called the Revenge Club on Paramount.

[Brett Goldstein]

Fantastic.

[Mira Syal]

And my memoirs coming out in September.

[Brett Goldstein]

Okay, we will look out for that.

[Mira Syal]

Thank you.

[Brett Goldstein]

Mira, I'm so glad you did this. I very much enjoyed it. Thank you for your time. Thank you and your words. Have a good death. Good day to you.

[Mira Syal]

You too, Brett.

[Brett Goldstein]

So that was episode 383. Head over to the patreon at patreon.com forward slash. Brett Goldstein for the the extra 15 minutes of chat secrets and video with Mira, go to Apple podcast. Give us a five star rating. But write about the film that means the most to you and why. It's a lovely thing to read. It helps with numbers and it's very much appreciated. Thank you so much. You can still see our film, all of you on Apple TV. You can watch Shrinking on January 28th on Apple TV. Also, I've got some more live dates coming up. You can find them online somewhere. I don't know. You'll figure it out. Thank you so much to Mira for her time. Thanks to Scrubius Pip and the Distraction Pieces network work. Thanks to Buddy Peace for producing it. Thanks to Adam Richardson for the graphics and Lisa Lyden for the photography. Come and join me in a couple of weeks for an amazing episode with an incredible guest. Thank you very much for listening. Happy New Year everyone. That is it for now. Have a lovely week. And in the meantime, now more than ever, please be excellent to each other. Sam.

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