Thursday, January 29, 2009

Slumdog...A bitter pill

Watched Slumdog Millionaire recently.Had to see what Danny Boyle had done to get 10 Oscar nominations with an Indian cast and a Mumbai based theme that we have not been able to achieve for long.Must say it’s a good one but at heart I believe there have been many a better movie made in Bollywood before.

Slumdog has made the reality stand right in front of our eyes and shown us the stark side of India.It has started a debate over here,as to whether the poverty of India has been sold and depiction of our country has been made in a very poor light.Even people like Amitabh Bachchan and Arindam Chaudhari have been a part of this debate.Yes,we have slums,yes some people are rouge but to say that this is the “Real India” is I would say taking it too far,as the movie has shown.Can't but help the feeling that if this movie had an Indian name behind it instead of a British, it would not have been recognized the way it has been now.

A positive..Thanks to Slumdog,the world has woken up to the genius of AR Rehman.He has been weaving magic since long :)
Finally, Danny Boyle and the team have done a superb job,but I would say a Taare Zameen Par(not even nominated) deserves an Oscar much more than a Slumdog Millionaire.

6 comments:

Taran said...

i didnt like it either..nor does tzp deserves an oscar in my pov.

Unknown said...

i guess you are right in some regards. Slumdog is good. its going for an oscar for its original script thats what matters at first place. and secondly on one talks about real india. i mean we have watched movies like vaastav. thats also not real india. U cant search real india in a script like this. Why dont we welcome the way danny has put things. he has just shown that u dont need a great script to make a great movie. u need a great director with regular actors and a great screenplay to make the movie great.
And in one way whatever he has shown is a part of india and we cant ignore that.
But i also agree that there have been great movies in india. but if u have to do something ask the people who select the indian nominations for oscars. THEY SUCK. we saw with paheli and black and it has happened many times.
And for Taare Zameen Par. i guess that movie didnt deserved an oscar because u pick any movie which has won a oscar and u show me even one concept that has ever been repeated. Oscar committee doesnt buys copied stuff. so not even a chance.
anyways slumdog will bring the first oscar to india with AR Rehman. im pretty sure of that.

Anonymous said...

Slumdog was without doubt a good movie.Now whether it is worth an Oscar.. I am not quite sure.
There have been better.

Good thing was the influx of foreign movie makers and production houses in the Indian film industry.I hope it will diversify the scope with which people look at Indian cinema and that directors here in India take cue from Danny Boyle.He has exhibited his skills wonderfully well.

Coming to the point of showing India in a bad light,the movie is being made a target of criticism probably because it has turned out to be such a huge success.The movie did what it had to present the theme/story and I see no problem with that.People world over I assume are sane enough to realize that there is more..much more to India than just slums.They would not form opinions on basis of one movie which shows a part of an Indian city.

If anything,the word Slumdog is arguable.It was used to show the contrast alright,but it is a little too derogatory for my liking.

Oh by the way,the kid playing the youngest Jamal has done well apart from other people involved.Needless to say,AR Rehman is a gem and would get the Oscar in all probability.

anshulgoel16 said...

imemodiYaar, what you think is right but v can`t ignore the slums... we can take it the another way also.
It can be seen as the versatility ( or Struggle) in the life of the slum children`s through which they were able to experience many parts of life.
From this only they gain knowledge, what you must have seen in the movie. This versatility in their life is caused by the time 2 time problem they used to face in their life.
I consider it to be the Direct slap on the face of the politicians who gives bouquet of promises during elections to those slum people for better education and living and after election they are the persons who uses them for their benefit.

A child in a movie knows who is printed on 100 Dollar note but he does not knows about 100 Rupees note.

hope my english is ok. please ignore grammatrical errors,

Samir Maggo said...

@ Taran,Rahul,Sharad and Anshul

Really appreciate your views guys.Hope that AR Rehman makes it and that someday an Indian movie gets an oscar! :)

Vipul Grover said...

well finally he made it..so kudos 2 him.. nd regarding ur 'real india' statement, you r definitely spot on. If slums and villages are real india, thn so are I.T. companies and multiplexes.. nd yeah nice to see u blogging too..