India And Slumdog Millionaire article

"Satyajit Ray showed us poverty in all its starkness in “Pather Panchali”. But he celebrated life, not distress and deprivation. The master’s cinema focussed on the enduring human spirit. Boyle transports us to the underworld and raises a toast to deception, deceit, wile and penury. And succeeds in making us believe that this is India. Or, he almost does."

It's not fair to compare Boyle to Ray. Boyle's film could have been set up anywhere in the world. It would have been equally authentic in Brazil or Mexico or even US. It's cinema of poverty in search of subjects and thankfully it's us this time, so lets enjoy the Oscar night!

The opening chapter of the book is the same as the torture scene in the movie, we can excuse boyle and beaufoy from creating their own indian world. Boyle's movie had always had a sense of style, but one cannot rule out the substance totally. Yes, it is not indian because , we couldnt appreciate the book or the script before a britisher did it. But, one should appreciate the world class cinematography, and some really great music that fits the scenes(O Saya isnt the best song of rahman for sure, the song definitely made that scene the best). Let us not shy away from appreciating art because of nationalism.Best of our movies had been a portrayal of the poor or the criminals, be it Madhur Bhandarkar's or RGV's. But what we liked them for is the art of film making. Let it be that way :) and, yes, lets enjoy the oscars as a World Cinema Fan and Indian Music Lover :)

It is highly unlikely that anything like this can ever be true. - Mr. Bhaskaran, now you do agree that this does not matter at all?

Boyle has really done a good job with this movie. While the movie deals with the gory details of the underbelly of Mumbai, it doesnt really leave you with a sick feeling. The story feels like a commentary and at the end you just feel good about the whole movie. Very well done I must say.

The music score by Rehman is amazing, the actors who played junior Jamal and Salim were the real stars. They were simply too good.

I thought Freida Pinto was overhyped. I think she had just 15 mins of screen presence in the whole movie.

Hi Gautaman.

I agee with you regarding the host in the movoe, played by Anil Kapoor. I found him to be intimidating and thats probably because they were all given the impression that "Jamaal" had known the answers before. But if you look at the reality side of it, then in real life, the host of the show whether he is English, (Chris Tarrant, host of the show in the UK), Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan (hosts of the show in India), are always making the contestants feel at ease. Regarding the possibility of cheating, then such contestants may not even be allowed on the show and the questions would be changed I would have thought.

Also lets not forget that Lovleen Tandon, who was also a director in this film, is Indian and even though the cast is Indian, I have mentioned this in the forum, under "Bollywood," that this is purely a British - American copropration (work) and can't be considered as a foreign film. If it could be then we should also consider Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" being Indian because it had some Indian cast such as Alok Nath, Om Puri, Amrish Puri and Rohini Hattangandy and the music score by Pandit Ravi Shankar. The direction also involved Govind Nihlani and was almost entirely filmed in India. And also it was based on "Bapu's" life. But it cannot be considered as foreign film, because, again it was British - American corporation

But what I will say is that we Indians should be proud that our people are capable of achieving such honours as A.R. Rehman has done and that this should be an encouragement to others as well.

You make several excellent points, but I find this victim complex as fascinating and amusing as the euphoria over Slumdog Millionaire. What on earth makes you and so many other people think that what the "white man" wants to see is a picture of India that is filthy and hopeless? What about when American films portray the filth, squalor, and hopelessness of their country, and even celebrate it? Finally it's about whether a film is good or not. This one, frankly, does not seem to be particularly good - I admit I haven't watched it so I can't really say, but I'm already weary of the hype and skeptical based on what I've seen of the promos. Go ahead and trash the film by all means, but please, get a hold of yourself. The world is not out to get us.

Also, regarding your point about Shahrukh Khan - I find it a bit hard to believe that the man who advertises for fairness cream turned down Slumdog Millionaire because he had moral objections to it.

The kid knows about amitabh and then jumps into shithole. So whats the point of the scene,other than show it as some kind of reality? he knew the answers abt amitabh anyway?"The guy with the colt 45" is worse than any ramsay movie dialogue. The police torture is talibanese almost. The film is about white guys idea of india. A mishmash of old deewar and fast action with moving camera like in bourne series. The problem is this white guys india becomes real india in the eyes of the rest of the world when it wins an oscar. thats bad for india. On a film scale, its an good to okay movie. It brings a refreshing mishmash of hollywood and our parinda/Deewar story. I would prefer deewar anyday.

Here is where I will draw the line,..
I am an indian too,.. Why are you so sensitive to how you are projected to the western world ?... So what ?... Its a movie for god's sake... and it is the director's choice to narrate the story how he wants ... If you feel offended , don't watch the film.... What I don't like is the fact that India goes GAGA over something remotely indian that gets global attention... Come on admit it,.. who knew kalpana chawla before the actual space shutting blew up ?.. Noarah jones is idiolised just because shes half indian .. ! We are always "HOPING" bollywood thespians like Mrs Rai can act and live up to a hollywood film..... ! For pete's sakes , we are the only country to have a term called "NRI" ... you dont find .. "NON RESIDENTIAL IRISH"... or NON RESIDENTIAL AFRICANS...

SlumDog Millionaire is a good film,.. with a British director and foreign production house,.. if you feel offended by the film's portrayal of India... (WHICH IN MANY WAYS IS VERY TRUE)... too bad,,.. you can sit and sulk... while there is nothing you can do from stopping the film from being watched everywhere.... if you have the time,.. go outside hollywood theater and stick fliers explaining that this is not HOW INDIANS ARE.... ! whilst in reality ,.. groups like ram sena and shiv sena dictate moral rules in india... ! sheesh !

JAI HO?????????!!!!!!!
So here we are, guys. Nation of >one billion going gaga over an Oscar(Well, 3 Oscars to be precise).

Now Indian news channels have something for next 15-20 days to take the people for ride(They are still trying to keep the TRPs up by devoting many hours daily to Mumbai attacks-latest topic of discussion seems to be –whether we should hand over Kasab to Pakistan or not and obvious gratitude is palpable for Pakistani diplomats for letting us keep him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think our starting position was that we have all our options ,including military options, open and Pakistan should hand over all terrorists responsible for attacks to India. Thanks to our politicians and focussed news channels ,we are obliged to feel obliged that Pakistan are letting us keep Kasab here and have even allowed his trial !!!!!!!!! I don’t think anywhere else in the whole universe can media make fun of collective intelligence of an entire nation so brazenly. Their prime time presentations are so much below standard that I find watching these a direct insult to common men’s intelligence. Between 8 to 12 PM many channels are showing totally irresponsible, violent, sexually explicit and offensive, misleading trash in the name of news and when government tries to say you can’t do that, they all collectively cry foul. Even renowned names can be seen interviewing IRRELEVANT PERSONALITIES repeatedly and regularly. Trivialisation of important events, undue emphasis on non-events, creating news where there is no news and provoking people to behave irresponsibly to get some bytes has become a routine for many .Most common question that a journalist can think of asking a dead persons’ relatives is –How are you feeling? Now how is one expected to answer that!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I am feeling sort of high after all these interviews or better still just ask the jerk how should one feel?
Coming back to the original topic.A.R.Rahman gets 2 Oscars for Slumdog music. As far as I can understand that says nothing about his genius and our being so ecstatic about it is a bit belittling for this maestro. It is as if had he not got these Oscars ,there would have been some doubts about his creativity, as if Oscars have made him more AR Rahman than he already was. I feel that any awards ,however great their perceived value might be, redeem their own prestige by being bestowed upon people like Rahman and Gulzar. Artists like them do not need all these awards to establish their place in contemporary art history. As to why is this his first Oscar or why did no other Indian get the Oscar or BAFTA for music, direction, sound editing ,etc…etc… is as stupid as asking why any American movie could never figure in the list of Filmfare Awards or Indian National Film Awards. BAFTA is British Academy Of Film and Television Awards and Golden Globe and Academy awards are American awards for predominantly American/English Movies ,so much so that all foreign feature length films are competing for a single award-Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. So how can any Indian or any other non-English national Movie/ personality be awarded an Oscar when Oscars are simply not for them.
Coming back to AR Rahman again, like most Indians I’m also very happy that he got more international recognition ,that he won a big award, (that too with Hindi songs and maintaining his signature style),that a movie with predominantly Indian cast and totally Indian theme could sweep the Oscars. I’m disappointed, not because of how India is portrayed(If such exists ,let such be shown) ,I’m disappointed because what is shown ,might actually be near reality. Let us not belittle the movie, it seems to be an above average presentation (only problem being with the intent and content of the movie), but it got all these awards because it is an English movie, made by English Producer/directors .Had that not been the case, it would not be even short-listed and why should any Indian movie be short-listed for predominantly American/British awards, whatever the intrinsic qualities of the movie might be. After all, we do not nominate Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List for our national awards just because these are very good movies. We do not get Oscars simply because Oscars are not meant for us exactly the same way as our awards are not meant for Foreign language movies. Media creates unnecessary and ill-informed hype and most of the times most of us are carried away.
Rahman’s music is definitely beyond all the awards and though Jai Ho is a very good song with beautiful lyrics by Gulzar Sahib and equally soulful rendition by Sukhwinder, getting all these awards does not make it Rahman’s best. In fact his slower compositions(Masakkali,Gendaphool,Kahna hi kya,Chhoti si asha,Bin tere kya jina etc…etc..the list is endless) and songs with Sufi touch (Khwaja mere Khwaja,Maula)and semi prose(Dil Se re,Ma Tujhe Salam)are much better though they carry the same force and energy levels(and this is typical of him –slow songs with boundless energy and such enriching soulfulness that you become mesmerised by the overall effect).
So, these awards are a welcome tribute to theses great artists but even before these awards they have given us many and much better masterpieces and let us not forget that these awards have only re-established the greatness of these artists and in doing so have re-emphasized their own value also. Because, awards or no awards Rahman and Gulzar will remain what they are and Sukhwinder will sing just as soulfully and anyways I do not think that European/British/American populations can ever be able to understand the meaning of Mora Gora Ang le le or Phir se aiyo Badra Bidesi or Chhoti si akhani se,wadiyon ke pani se. This mysticism is beyond them. So let them be happy with their Pretty woman and enjoy Masakkali and Sasural Gendaphool.

So much for the Oscars ,Indian media(specially news channels),AR Rahman and all.

Regards to all.