Stealing Obama’s thunder, with 3 Golden Globe awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score and 10 Oscar nominations, the movie is definitely history in the making. But the only one I appreciate is the nomination for Achievement in Music by the one and only, Allah Rakha Rehman.
He has done India proud by hoisting a flag on much eluded plains, not only by arresting every ‘gora’ household but kids selling flags at signals too are singing ‘Jai Ho’ instead of ‘Jai Hind’
However, in my logs, Danny Boy’s success falls into grey areas. The movie, I thought, had large tones of clichéd ness. I’m not against the exposure of poverty; we all know the dirt beneath the bed. We lay clean sheets above and turn a blind eye, but we know. What we don’t know is, why is a standing ovation being given to some foreign director whose fitted cameras into the slums of Bombay?
In the past, many Indian movies have mirrored the same but disappeared like the morning dew. Unnoticed. Is it cause the lead protagonist was not a slum dweller with a British accent?
Danny very correctly pointed out “everyone loves the underdog” but isn’t it time India was recognized besides solely for being one. Please explain why you’d want to make a movie on Indian slums but import the lead from abroad. We not good enough for ya?
I’m happy for talent but not for hype. The choreography of the last song sums up Danny’s understanding of India and its cinema. Let’s throw in a song on the platform, get 50 synchronized feet and voila!
The only other gentlemen who deserve to share my blog space with the meastro are Anthony Dod Mantle and Chris Dickens for their Oscar nominations- Achievement in Cinematography & Achievement in Film Editing respectively.
So here’s keeping everyone in a knot and hoping it’s homecoming for the Oscars.
I seem to disagree...
ReplyDeleteWho said slums are bad they are brilliant for:
1. I believe we are loosing a great marketing opportunity... are you aware that in Brazil they have a walking tour of the biggest slum they have.... Imagine Dharavi becoming the biggest tourist attraction.
2. Do you know the average buisness generated in Dharavi per month is close to 200 Crore Rs. So do we look at how it looks or what it produces.... Its like saying women should never have kids cos they look fat when they are pregnant....
3. As for the movie... their will always be an underdog... I am proud India is an underdog cos if not we would be in as bad a shape as the Big Daddy America is.... At the turn of the year i would like to see how many slumdogs does US produce.
They only thing i am not proud about is the fact that we do not have the courage or the intent to market whats unique about us.
cheers
For starters nobody said portrayal of slums was bad, i think you're points are valid but not for this post cause:
ReplyDelete1. I believe we are loosing a great marketing opportunity... Imagine Dharavi becoming the biggest tourist attraction...-
there are Dharavi tours designed for tourists as well, but the debate was whether this movie set benchmarks and thus deserved oscar nominations. did we see something like never before?
was frieda pinto's character award winning?
2. .... Its like saying women should never have kids cos they look fat when they are pregnant....-
what?!!!absolutely irrelevant, you make no sense!
3. As for the movie... I am proud India is an underdog cos .. i would like to see how many slumdogs does US produce... -
you seem to have read other reviews and still being caught up in the whole 'slum talk' you've responded to my review. in terms of movie quality, US has produced that have been nominated for Oscars etc.
The world has expressed surprise at anything good coming out of India for too long now! it's like saying such great music is not expected from a third world country. isn't it time to move on from that stuff?
4.we do not have the courage or the intent to market whats unique about us... -
when you talk about India's uniqueness the only thing you want courage to market are the slums?!