After a long time, i read an article which seems to perfectly resonate my thoughts :)
"Notwithstanding the giant strides made over the past 18 years, Indian criticism of “Slumdog” also reveals the chasm between the country’s self-perception and projection and any reasonable measure of its achievements. India may boast homegrown programs in space exploration and nuclear power, but – as a first time visitor to India immediately notices and as the film mercilessly reveals – it also struggles to provide its people with electricity, sanitation and drinking water. About half of Indian women are illiterate, a higher percentage than in Laos, Cambodia or Myanmar. It is at number 122 – between Nepal and Lesotho – on the World Bank index that measures ease of doing business, and 85 on the global corruption index maintained by the anti-graft NGO Transparency International. To put it bluntly, the squalor of the slums depicted in “Slumdog” is closer to reality than an elaborately choreographed Bollywood dance sequence shot on location in Switzerland. " (LINK)
I think this is the real reason why many Indians cringe at seeing the portrayal of India in "Slumdog Millionare" and in "The White Tiger".
I watched "Slumdog Millionare". And my first thought was, it wasn't Oscar material! It's a perfect bollywood masala with a happy ending...Rahman's music is actually ok...Many of his other movies were much better than this. Still, he truly deserves an Oscar for his talent and i hope/wish he gets it.
Regarding the story, i liked it, it's a normal DVD worth watch. In the whole movie, i felt only one scene to be highly improbable...the scene where the kid jumps into the feces, gets up and runs to meet Amitabh Bachan.
Everything else seems plausible in India, including the cheating by Anil kapoor in the show! (maybe, this is the reason SRK turned down the role!!)
Feb 12, 2009
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5 comments:
No one denied the facts you mentioned.
As someone passionate about movies, why show the stereotypes all the time.
The facts about US as shown in 'American History X' and 'No Country for old men' and 'Sin City' are true. But dont we also see movies like 'Forrest Gump' and 'Pursuit of Happiness'?
Will the director make movies that show India in good state ? IF he makes ,will he ever get nominated for Oscars ? I doubt it very much.
On side note,its my _personal opinion_ that TGOST ,and The White Tiger won Booker because the first was against communism and second was about Class hierarchies..
In contrast to sujaiantony's comment, I was wondering instead of the stereotypes, why doesn't one show the truth? The reality is closest to the truth.
I don't think the oscars are a scale on which one measures good or even great movies. That really depends on the individual person. The person would differ on many scales and therefore, I think the oscars is a great award for a secluded movie goer but in reality we all know great movies are those that stick in our soul.
Sujai,
I think at the end of the day, it all boils down to marketability. In the current times,i highly doubt whether any feel good movie from India will be a huge hit in Western world let alone get nominated for oscars. But i am hopeful this will change in the next 10 years or so...
Anyway, i don't understand one point. Why are we guys so damn concerned about these projections? Why do we need to care for Western world or other country appreciations?
Geetha,
I agree with your point regarding oscar movies. Still, one feels happy when one's fav movie gets an oscar...probably for a selfish reason that one's thoughts are inline with a great standard for movies like oscars:)
btw, here's an interesting Economist perspective of correlation between Slumdog movie and recession...
Is it Time to name this recession?
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