Hi !
I have been wanting to start my own blog for a long, long time and finally I have done it!
There were lot of events that unfolded which gave me the itch to put pen to paper. First there was the Mangalore pub incident…… but so much has been said, written and done (or not done) about it that I prefer to write about the ‘Oscars’!
I have not seen most of the films that gained entry into the Oscars, but, like many curious fellow Indians, I too saw ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. No wonder they say curiosity kills! It killed any future curiosity that I might have developed over an ‘Indian’ film made by anyone beyond the Indus! Now that we know what they think about us, why bother? And, like everyone else who saw SDM I too have an opinion about the film …..
The film has won the Oscars for reasons beyond layman comprehension. But it must be said that it helped to reinstate the clichéd portrayal of India. I have had friends, in the Uk, who told me that they had the misfortune to watch ‘Slumdog’ with fellow audiences who generated noises reflecting dismay, disgust or disapproval in turns! Apparently, there was one man, among the movie-watchers, who even declared that he would never ever want to visit India! So much for Danny Boyle’s Oscar speech of dedicating the Oscar to Mumbai! But thanks to Boyle there is a mad rush, among foreign tourists of course, to imbibe the essence of the slums in Daravi, in Mumbai, where the film was shot!
‘Slumdog’ pretends to have exposed the grotesque underbelly of the most -happening nation in the world today ……..and guess what ? they have actually won an Oscar for it!! Earlier India was , in the eyes of the West, the land of snake charmers, pot -bellied children with runny noses, Gandhi, slums, yoga and the Himalayas! Now, defunct toilets, beggar mafia and Hindu-Muslim riots have been added to the dismal list!
Of course , the fact that A R Rahman, the ‘Mozart of Madras’, competed with some of the World’s best to win the Oscar is a cause for celebration!
Meanwhile, basking quietly in the spotlight of new-found glory was the India-based, true life documentary film ‘Smile Pinki’, which won an Oscar in the short film category. The protagonist of the film, Pinki Sonkar, whose life transformed magically from being an outcast with a cleft lip to a sought after child, symbolizes hope in futuristic India.
The charitable organization, ‘The Smile Train’, which has brought smiles on the faces of thousands of poor Indian children suffering from a cleft lip or a cleft palate has vowed to wipe out the deformity from India.
As long as the smile train keeps chugging there is reason for children like Pinki to smile.
Good going Pinky! And keep smiling!
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I happened to see the movie Slumdog Millionaire and I felt that the movie is about Optimism one needs to have to win and succeed. It is true that Indian slums are in pathetic situation and those people are always the target of police and drug dealers and for anything and everything. So I dont find any reason to say that the movie shows India in a bad shape. We Indians just dont want to agree that India and Indians live in different centuries at the same time and there is way huge economic disparity among the Indians and thats what is portrayed in the movie. I think the movie is really good, and honestly I did not find anything great in the music, something so different for an Oscar. Rehman scored much better music but those did not go for Oscar for music since there is no oscar for music in foreign films. So I am still happy that he got the oscars..
ReplyDeletethanks shyam for your comment.it is very much appreciated. but i beg to differ with you! as educated, modern day indians most of us do not deny the fact that India is a country that lives in different enturies all at the same time.In fact it is one of the salient feature of our country.
ReplyDeletebut danny boyle stuck to the 17th century i guess! or did he think that the crowded call centre portrayed the 21st century? and where is the optimism? the movie encourages people to believe in luck-by-chane!
besides, in his enthusiastic portrayal of the 'real'India boyle slipped a bit when his protagonist Jamal mallik did not remember Gandhi on the rupee but instantly remembered the figurehead on the American dollar! of course there was some mumbo jumbo by way of explanation, but........anybody buying it?
The debate on SD Millionaire's is everywhere...but, the bitter reality hits you hard when one has to watch scenes on the TV, like the little kid being slapped by his own dad for refusal of an interview. Violence starts at home and spreads to the streets, that has become a way of life in today's world.... In this context, I often relish what AR Rahman said while receiving the Oscars "All through my life I had a choice to choose between love and hate; and I chose to love" - this is apt for today's world to make it a better place...
ReplyDeleteCheers
Bagu
ONe scene that I did not like and felt too much of blowing up is the one where the character Jamal (kid) was beaten up by police when the other kids remove the benz tires and when he says that "if you want to see real India, this is real India" for which those Americans say that, "then see the Piece of America Son" which is totally shame because the same thing happens here in places to African Americans treated by white Americans. I dont know where their American generosity went during these times. Most of the Katrina victims who were benefited are whites and less of African Americans.
ReplyDelete