Much has been said about Slumdog Millionare already.
My two rupees:
The movie is entertaining, yes. But is it extraordinary enough to sweep the oscars? I don’t think so.
Part of the joy in the movie is in the expectation of what happens next, and you begin rooting for the slumdog as he keeps answering correctly and the viewer is engrossed in unraveling the links himself. That's possibly the biggest achievement of the screenplay. And of course some of the shots of Mumbai, slum-life and the kids are breathtaking. More on this here. However, from a superiority point-of-view, I don’t think the movie should be a huge oscar winner. Even ARR who’s got 2 nominations, has done much more brilliant works compared with the mediocare soundtrack (by ARR standards)
If we discount as creative-leeway, the too many horrific incidents coincidently happening to the same set of 3 kids, the screenplay and portrayal of the slum life was pretty much accurate. However, this seems to be a bit too extreme and would cause a lot of heartburn for proud Indians (like me) in the way the west rejoices at the sights of poverty in the developing world. Believe me, I have even seen ads for ‘Slum Tours’ in Mumbai, promising the curious foreigners a glance into the poverty thats so ingrained in Mumbai-life.
Yes, the movie thrives on stereotyping, but then many good successful movies have done so in the past. So maybe if it wins, I wouldn’t be surprised.
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5 comments:
i wanted to write something on the over hyped movie and its victory in oscar...you have penned all my thoughts so beautifully that i dont have to go thru the trouble of writing it...any one wants to know my views...they simply will be redirected to this post :) you echo my thoughts perfectly ...
Kumar your wife writes soooo much better than you...after reading thru her blogs i suddenly realized that you suck!!! and are needlessly overrated (:-D
(Aaj kumar ghar pe jaakar sharaab peeyega lol!!)
My 2 cents on your article - I think this is all a move to cater to a larger asian audience. Don't be surprised if a Chinglish movie wins the oscars next time. The popularity of the oscars within the united states has plummeted by double digits over the past few years. Oscars has realized that the key to success is to widen their reach. No wonder a bollywood film with Indian actors directed by a British Director and co-financed by some French guy won 8 oscars. And this is not something new business wise. Remember the time when suddenly in the mid 90s India became the hub for all beautiful women :-)) (Miss World and all!!)
Will you delete my comments too :-))
Anirab i agree with ur views and we had discussed over and over how and entry to all the cosmetic companies to india was by the sudden birth of beautiful women in india...
however in this case my only point is, if they want to gain indian viewership loyalty, they could give something to our movies...rather than a combination - mix and match of brit and india...why not a TZP in its category or something...or something else...that way they will be able to spread more hungama than what it is now...
Hi PK,
Thanks so much for the kind words! (Appreciate the compliments that you've written, compared to the sarcasm thrown in by my langotiya friend here :) )
And yes, TZP was one masterpiece which should have been there at the Oscars, but then these awards have never been truly fair. (one reason is TZP was a light-hearted comedy with a deep message, and the Academy just thrives on serious drama)
Anirban!
You cynical critic! #@$#@% (and I'll pass on the compliments to the missus)
Its true that the Oscars are widening their reach and it might just help the global movie industry.
PS: I dont usually moderate comments unless I really need to. ;)
TZP was a Hindi film. Couldn't have won in the mainstream category (since the film needs to be in engish)
Could have won under the foreign film category but then again jap, latino and french movies have always won in this category and the oscars doesnt really wants to ruin this relationship :-) Also, I have a feeling that if there was no slumdog this year, TZP could have won the foreign film...but who knows what the truth is...we can only speculate :-D
Kumar - Mention not dude!! anytime :-DD
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