The Oscar Night...
Everyone is waiting with held breaths .. will it or will it not be ...the year of the "Slumdog!". Hmm .. I was brimming with happiness , joy and excitement ... wow .. an Indian movie ... amazing concept , Indian actors .. AR Rehman ... AWESOME!!!
Until i saw the movie ! truly ..
The movie is ... at best OK . Also figured its not really an Indian movie , rags to riches in not really a new concept in Hindi cinema (frankly as someone mentioned ... "it has been perfected in Hindi cinema")... not all Indian actors ...and Rehman .. as much as I love him and love "Jai ho" this is certainly not among his best compositions.
An Indian in America ... watching this movie in an American theater .. slightly embarrassing. Its not that the atrocities that are shown in the 1st half of the movie don't happen in India .. I know they do happen ... But India is just not only made up of these things that happen . Strangely the movies with an Indian background that really "work" in the western world , either show India's poverty , prostitution , corruption or the violent factions . I wish they would like to see the sophistication , progress and development,the cultural sights and sounds of India instead.
Slumdog Millionaire seems like to me part documentary , part bollywood , part cross over.. in short its neither in its entirety . I don't wanna criticize the movie all the way .. cause its a good film .. but being an Indian..... lots of stuff was disturbing . How could it have been made better ???... simple .. a quick crash course could have been achieved by watching a bunch of bollywood movies .
Lets talk about A.R. Rehman
Arguably the most passionate and involved musician of our times, AR Rehman is the Golden boy of the great Tradition of Indian Music and fittingly he is now a Golden globe awardee. (also BAFTA awardee now)
This recognition is more of a recognition to our country India rather than AR. Rehman . In his own words , rehman says how he was terrified on letting down 1billion people had he not received the Golden Globe award.( wonder what he must be going thru now that he is nominated for the Oscars). But like I said earlier .. Rehman's compositions are completely divine . Truly unique and mind blowing .. in everyway ... No doubt Slumdog's music is good . But is this his best? .. Certainly not ! The Oscar committee should listen to Roja , Bombay or more recently RDB . He should have received the Oscar way long back . But will I be rooting for him ... ABSOLUTELY!!
For SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE! .. I can only say this , ironically Slumdog .. has lived its own story ... Danny Boyle was supposed to send the movie directly to the DVD .. when walt disney .. (or MGM not sure) stepped in and decided to play on a few screen in North America ... what happened after that .. all of us know .. a low budget movie which was expected to make less than $20 million is now grossing over $100 million and still counting ...
To conclude i just want to say have I seen better movies? .. ofcourse . Do I think it should have been nominated for the Oscars ?... NO . But will i be rooting for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ?..
ABSOLUTELY!!
why? Weirdly despite all its flaws, for the 1 billion people of India its called National Pride !
Everyone is waiting with held breaths .. will it or will it not be ...the year of the "Slumdog!". Hmm .. I was brimming with happiness , joy and excitement ... wow .. an Indian movie ... amazing concept , Indian actors .. AR Rehman ... AWESOME!!!
Until i saw the movie ! truly ..
The movie is ... at best OK . Also figured its not really an Indian movie , rags to riches in not really a new concept in Hindi cinema (frankly as someone mentioned ... "it has been perfected in Hindi cinema")... not all Indian actors ...and Rehman .. as much as I love him and love "Jai ho" this is certainly not among his best compositions.
An Indian in America ... watching this movie in an American theater .. slightly embarrassing. Its not that the atrocities that are shown in the 1st half of the movie don't happen in India .. I know they do happen ... But India is just not only made up of these things that happen . Strangely the movies with an Indian background that really "work" in the western world , either show India's poverty , prostitution , corruption or the violent factions . I wish they would like to see the sophistication , progress and development,the cultural sights and sounds of India instead.
Slumdog Millionaire seems like to me part documentary , part bollywood , part cross over.. in short its neither in its entirety . I don't wanna criticize the movie all the way .. cause its a good film .. but being an Indian..... lots of stuff was disturbing . How could it have been made better ???... simple .. a quick crash course could have been achieved by watching a bunch of bollywood movies .
Lets talk about A.R. Rehman
Arguably the most passionate and involved musician of our times, AR Rehman is the Golden boy of the great Tradition of Indian Music and fittingly he is now a Golden globe awardee. (also BAFTA awardee now)
This recognition is more of a recognition to our country India rather than AR. Rehman . In his own words , rehman says how he was terrified on letting down 1billion people had he not received the Golden Globe award.( wonder what he must be going thru now that he is nominated for the Oscars). But like I said earlier .. Rehman's compositions are completely divine . Truly unique and mind blowing .. in everyway ... No doubt Slumdog's music is good . But is this his best? .. Certainly not ! The Oscar committee should listen to Roja , Bombay or more recently RDB . He should have received the Oscar way long back . But will I be rooting for him ... ABSOLUTELY!!
For SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE! .. I can only say this , ironically Slumdog .. has lived its own story ... Danny Boyle was supposed to send the movie directly to the DVD .. when walt disney .. (or MGM not sure) stepped in and decided to play on a few screen in North America ... what happened after that .. all of us know .. a low budget movie which was expected to make less than $20 million is now grossing over $100 million and still counting ...
To conclude i just want to say have I seen better movies? .. ofcourse . Do I think it should have been nominated for the Oscars ?... NO . But will i be rooting for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ?..
ABSOLUTELY!!
why? Weirdly despite all its flaws, for the 1 billion people of India its called National Pride !
