Basking in Oscar Glory

So.. Here we are.! Screaming from rooftops about finally landing real Oscar Nominations - not just in Foreign Film category - but ones that really matter and even managing to win them. But can it be considered as India's win?? Is it an Indian Film in true sense??Why all this hue and cry?? Though the film is about an Indian slum dweller(albeit with an unjustified British twang) , it is an International film made by a British director. I personally feel that if the exact same film had been made by an Indian director, it would never have received all the fame, adulation and media coverage that "Slumdog Millionaire" has managed to garner, notwithstanding the Oscar nominations or even the awards. It would just have faded away in obscurity , hardly managing to run for even a week. Apart from painting a sordid picture of the slums and apparently giving rise to "Slum Tourism", the movie does little for us. The very fact that it has given rise to Slum Tourism- Western tourists paying for guided tours through the slums of Mumbai- is a cruel mockery of India. Now that the film has won the Oscars, more and more people from the west would watch it out of curiosity and be filled with totally-uncalled-for empathy towards an apparently third-world country, India, seaped in misery. It fails to portray the other side of the India- a rapidly developing, intellectual superpower.
The film is based on a book "Q&A" by Vikas Swarup but there is enormous difference in the way Danny has handled it. He has adopted only the central theme of the book - the rags-to-riches dream coming true but everything about the film, including the name of the protagonist is modified. This maks a huge difference, because the name itself in the book depicts that the boy has gone through a myriad of experiences in his life.However, most of the times, such as this, when a book is made into a film, we always seem to like the book better, because the film fails to reach our expectations and imaginations that have been etched in our minds while reading the book.
The only plausible reason for us to revel would be that our own "Mozart of Madras" A.R. Rahman has done us proud by bringing home the Oscars. He truly deserves it. But again, I feel that though as a musician, such an honour is justified, many of his other works have been a lot more superior than the music in Slumdog. The music is just average when compared to many of his earlier spectacular creations.
Ultimately, all I can say is Kudos to the marketing and publicity team of "Slumdog Millionaire" for having done an excellent job!!

Flagging Off....

This is my first post .. Infact i just created my blog. I have been reading through so many blogs and discussion forums for quite some time now. Out of the blue, it struck me " Why not my own blog???". Here i intend to publish my thoughts on current affairs and also my opinions or rather critiques on latest as well as not-so-latest movies and books. I am a self-confessed movie freak( English, Hindi , Tamil, Telugu and Kannada(rarely now)) as well as an ardent lover of US TV shows. So it dawned upon me that i could as well use my knowledge and interest to help others so that they wouldnt waste their "hard-earned" money on a movie which is not worth a multiplex visit. Hey funny coincidence that i happened to start my blog on my birthdate. So i hope it goes well and liked by Internet buffs. So long then.

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