Joglekar feels that podcasts are driven as much by the host’s personality as they are by the guest’s. While some invitees, he says, will offer direct, precise answers, others tend to take you down a rabbit hole. It is the host’s job then to intervene and steer the conversation back. “When I started, I had no training in doing interviews. So, I was just trying to have a conversation like I would with a friend. But what I have learnt is that the initial couple of questions tend to set the tone and the guest gets an idea of what you are looking for. It’s funny how they can reciprocate almost on the beat,” he remarks. It is never scripted, he points out. While he doesn’t share his questions beforehand, to ensure that it remains spontaneous, he does give them a sense of how it will flow once they start recording. What he is careful to avoid, however, are elaborate discussions of his interviewees’ personal journeys. “People are not interested in that as they have [already] heard or read [about them] somewhere. So, I get straight to the point,” he says.

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Joglekar, not surprisingly, grew up in a home where cinema’s influence ran deep. “I was just looking at some old pictures of my parents where they are posing as if they are in a Shakti Samanta film,” he laughs. As a child of the early ’90s, he remembers watching films on VHS tapes and cable. Hindi films, especially those of Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Shah Rukh Khan and by directors like Mukul Anand were his first preference even though Marathi was his mother tongue. It was, however, during college at Berkeley that his education in world cinema truly began as the Pacific Film Archive gave him access to the landmark French New Wave films, the cinema of the early silent period and Hollywood’s golden age. “That’s when I really fell in love with cinema,” he declares. The early 2000s is when he feels he turned into a true cinephile, thinking deeply about cinema, reading film literature and digging up old interviews by journalists like Charlie Rose. “Cinema is the only form of art that has the power of transforming you instantaneously. It’s almost like time travel,” he says, “[It] transports you, state-of-mind-wise.”

Joglekar had been a fan of the TV show Powder, which looked at the narcotics trade in Mumbai, and invited its director Atul Sabharwal on his first episode

Joglekar’s podcast as well as his Twitter threads reflect his interest in older cinema although he keeps up with the new releases too. “My philosophy has been that you [must] always talk about something you are passionate about,” he admits. While there are several podcasts that cover the newest films, Joglekar is happy with the more niche conversations around Indian film classics Love of Cinema holds. It is what helps him stand out in a virtual space increasingly overcrowded with podcasts.

Love of Cinema has invited film scholars, critics and directors to join conversations which have ranged from discussions of acclaimed films to efforts to bring attention to the lesser known works of actors like Kader Khan. Joglekar has had his share of being star-struck though. He recounts how during his episode with Sudhir Mishra, he found himself trembling as he began to speak and had to restart the recording.

Himanshu Joglekar

Currently, he is speaking to people who watched Amitabh Bachchan on the big screen in the ’70s and ’80s, and also developing a mini podcast series. What’s the one thing he loves the most about creating these episodes? “Getting to pick their brains,” he says. “Two years ago, I was just a person sitting in front of the TV watching these films. I’m still that person but now, once in a while, I get to talk to the people who made them and dig deep with them.”

The Podcasts This Podcaster Recommends

. Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This
. Bill Simmons’s The Rewatchables 
. The Team Deakins podcast which presents conversations between acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins and his collaborator James Deakins