First comes the sick movie that took everyone by surprise or should I say everyone for a ride. And when people are just beginning to have enough of the movie comes them media overflowing with reports of slums and people in the slums in the newspapers, magazines, T.V, Radio the Internet and et all. I am afraid many people outside India and who know little about India are going to be misled by these "slum" reports.
As Yogananda Paramahansa writes in his books India was the richest country in the world till the 15'th century until the foreigners arrived via trade, conquests and later colonization. Even today India is a rich country considering how it feeds its over-one-billion human population and domestic animal population (including the world's biggest cow population) everyday, provides water for the essential activities of both man, animal and industry and manages the waste (human/animal/industrial) generated. Although there are many that live below the poverty line India is not a place full of slums.
Hardly a day passes when there is not a reference to the slum and its dwellers somewhere in the media these days. All because of some silly film that is going to do more damage to India than good. It has won Oscars, BAFTA's and other coveted awards for Indians who worked in the movie but what you see in "Slumdog Millionaire" is an exaggeration of the slums in India. The media had better stop their affinity with the slums. After all what good does it do to the slums anyway and to improve the life there.
Showing posts with label Slumdog millionaire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Slumdog millionaire. Show all posts
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Some others who share my opinion on "Slumdog Millionaire"
Popular writer Salman Rushdie has criticised "Slumdog Millionaire" saying it piles up impossibility upon impossibility. Here are others who share the same view as myself on "Slumdog Millionaire". Follow the links.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20090224/1241/top-it-shouldn-t-have-won.html
http://www.indiatime.com/2009/01/13/gandhi-and-slumdog/
http://www.indiatime.com/2009/01/12/a-r-rahman-stands-tall/
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20090224/1241/top-it-shouldn-t-have-won.html
http://www.indiatime.com/2009/01/13/gandhi-and-slumdog/
http://www.indiatime.com/2009/01/12/a-r-rahman-stands-tall/
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Hype and marketing success called Slumdog Millionaire
I finally watched "Slumdog Millionaire" yesterday and I am wondering how a movie as this is finally going to win multiple Oscars having taken both public and jury for a ride. Worst of all it may even win Best Picture. Imagine a movie as "Slumdog Millionaire" being in the same league as "Gandhi", "Titanic", "The Lord of the Rings", "Saving Private Ryan" and the host of other great Best Picture winners. Instead if it is going be snubbed by the Academy that would be justice to this mass-hype and marketing gimmick called "Slumdog Millionaire".
So how come the hype:
1. Catchy words - "Slumdog Millionaire", the first steps of good marketing, a catchy movie name. "Silence of the Lambs" is a good example. Considering the global recession a story as this is certainly a welcome break for the times. Reminds me of reports of how during the days of "great depression" in the U.S people would go and watch plays showing men and women coming out of their poverty and earning wealth. It was a way of satisfying themselves in the hard times. The rags to riches story of "Slumdog Millionaire" and its name could have been one such choice that the makers of the film made.
2. Nothing big about the story. Protagonist from extreme poor background winning a game of millions against all odds and emerging victorious in the end was anybody's guess. But what was ridiculously coincidental was the wild chances of every question being strongly associated with events in the main character's life. In the news it has already been reported that one of the Questions in the movie as to who sang "..Ganshyam.." does not actually have the right answer as shown in the movie.
3. Exaggerated visuals - a. The shit scene where the boy dives into the shit-pool was too much to take, though most of it is true. Where is the good side of developing India? There are homeless people, dirty people and things so bad and dirty in the U.S and other developed nations but how many Americans are showing these in Hollywood movies?
b) Children living atop train-tops by climbing on them using ropes? And again children doing trapeze-acts from these rooftops like dangling from a rope to steal food from the windows of passengers below? These are the concocted stuff of the directors/story tellers from the west about India. Having travelled a good portion of my life in trains in India and even witnessed all kinds of untoward events including a suicide, chain-pulling (to stop train), and almost a burglary and a watch-snatching, these things being shown in "Slumdog Millionaire" is pure crap. Like the famous rope-trick from India many of these things from India are nothing but myths made by people in the west.
It is not that the director was trying to capitalize on showing the scenes of poverty, squalor, dirt and the poor living conditions of this country but why exaggerate them for visual appeal instead of showing just the truth.
4. And where is the music man? A.R Rahman is great but the music of "Slumdog" hardly makes an impression considering his other works be that songs or scores.
5. Hindi or English? Either the movie could have been entirely in Hindi (in which case it would qualify for the Foreign Language category only) or in English. Starting in Hindi and then the kids suddenly speaking English and that too as guides in and around Taj Mahal was too much to take. And then dialogues about Mumtaz, Shah Jehan's wife, pregnant, died in a Traffic Jam etc was outrageously silly.
6. And finally I am not sure about the other movies running for this year's Oscar awards. Didn't any of the rest offer any competition. I must see them to compare with "Slumdog Millionaire".
Among the good things I liked were the photography and the other (and I wonder if all viewers got it) was the fact that besides all what happens (physically/emotionally) your love for someone is what matters and will endure all adversities.
In the end, "Slumdog Millionaire" is good for India, winning awards all over the world, giving up and rising stars like Freida Pinto and Dev Patel big breaks although it does keep India as a poverty stricken, dirty country in the minds of many viewers in the west and outside India who know little of India.
So is "Slumdog Millionaire" worth all this hype, awards and lauding? Certainly not.
So how come the hype:
1. Catchy words - "Slumdog Millionaire", the first steps of good marketing, a catchy movie name. "Silence of the Lambs" is a good example. Considering the global recession a story as this is certainly a welcome break for the times. Reminds me of reports of how during the days of "great depression" in the U.S people would go and watch plays showing men and women coming out of their poverty and earning wealth. It was a way of satisfying themselves in the hard times. The rags to riches story of "Slumdog Millionaire" and its name could have been one such choice that the makers of the film made.
2. Nothing big about the story. Protagonist from extreme poor background winning a game of millions against all odds and emerging victorious in the end was anybody's guess. But what was ridiculously coincidental was the wild chances of every question being strongly associated with events in the main character's life. In the news it has already been reported that one of the Questions in the movie as to who sang "..Ganshyam.." does not actually have the right answer as shown in the movie.
3. Exaggerated visuals - a. The shit scene where the boy dives into the shit-pool was too much to take, though most of it is true. Where is the good side of developing India? There are homeless people, dirty people and things so bad and dirty in the U.S and other developed nations but how many Americans are showing these in Hollywood movies?
b) Children living atop train-tops by climbing on them using ropes? And again children doing trapeze-acts from these rooftops like dangling from a rope to steal food from the windows of passengers below? These are the concocted stuff of the directors/story tellers from the west about India. Having travelled a good portion of my life in trains in India and even witnessed all kinds of untoward events including a suicide, chain-pulling (to stop train), and almost a burglary and a watch-snatching, these things being shown in "Slumdog Millionaire" is pure crap. Like the famous rope-trick from India many of these things from India are nothing but myths made by people in the west.
It is not that the director was trying to capitalize on showing the scenes of poverty, squalor, dirt and the poor living conditions of this country but why exaggerate them for visual appeal instead of showing just the truth.
4. And where is the music man? A.R Rahman is great but the music of "Slumdog" hardly makes an impression considering his other works be that songs or scores.
5. Hindi or English? Either the movie could have been entirely in Hindi (in which case it would qualify for the Foreign Language category only) or in English. Starting in Hindi and then the kids suddenly speaking English and that too as guides in and around Taj Mahal was too much to take. And then dialogues about Mumtaz, Shah Jehan's wife, pregnant, died in a Traffic Jam etc was outrageously silly.
6. And finally I am not sure about the other movies running for this year's Oscar awards. Didn't any of the rest offer any competition. I must see them to compare with "Slumdog Millionaire".
Among the good things I liked were the photography and the other (and I wonder if all viewers got it) was the fact that besides all what happens (physically/emotionally) your love for someone is what matters and will endure all adversities.
In the end, "Slumdog Millionaire" is good for India, winning awards all over the world, giving up and rising stars like Freida Pinto and Dev Patel big breaks although it does keep India as a poverty stricken, dirty country in the minds of many viewers in the west and outside India who know little of India.
So is "Slumdog Millionaire" worth all this hype, awards and lauding? Certainly not.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Two overly hyped movies
The first one, Slumdog Millionaire and the other Amir Khan's Ghajini.
Answer this question? Do Indian kids living in poverty dangle one another by their feet, from the rooftops of moving trains to snatch and steal food from passengers below through the windows and entrances of the trains? And when the dangling kids are grabbing the food others are fighting them off. We all know these kind of things never happen. Yet that is what one of the clips from the movie show. Preposterous! What was the director thinking of India? What research did he do to throw in such a scene?
A R Rahman has already been nominated for Slumdog Millionaire and I am beginning to get a feeling that he may eventually win for compositions that hardly mean anything. If A R wins a Golden Globe or an Oscar it is a good thing for India and for all of his fans but I only wished he wins for something that is worth winning for. His songs in Ghajini are not impressive either. In one of the songs Asin is doing a "koothu" kind of a dance in an elegant gown. Two of the songs, Guzarish and another a duet sung by Benny Dayal are impressive but they remind me heavily of other English songs. If I recollect them I will report. Songs in the original Ghajini are hard to beat and I don't know why Amir or Murugadoss roped in A R to do the score.
I had already written about the violence in the original film (check this post http://subashsworld.blogspot.com/2005/11/after-almost-decade-i-visit.html ) and from what I have been reading Ghajini isn't short of violence either.
Answer this question? Do Indian kids living in poverty dangle one another by their feet, from the rooftops of moving trains to snatch and steal food from passengers below through the windows and entrances of the trains? And when the dangling kids are grabbing the food others are fighting them off. We all know these kind of things never happen. Yet that is what one of the clips from the movie show. Preposterous! What was the director thinking of India? What research did he do to throw in such a scene?
A R Rahman has already been nominated for Slumdog Millionaire and I am beginning to get a feeling that he may eventually win for compositions that hardly mean anything. If A R wins a Golden Globe or an Oscar it is a good thing for India and for all of his fans but I only wished he wins for something that is worth winning for. His songs in Ghajini are not impressive either. In one of the songs Asin is doing a "koothu" kind of a dance in an elegant gown. Two of the songs, Guzarish and another a duet sung by Benny Dayal are impressive but they remind me heavily of other English songs. If I recollect them I will report. Songs in the original Ghajini are hard to beat and I don't know why Amir or Murugadoss roped in A R to do the score.
I had already written about the violence in the original film (check this post http://subashsworld.blogspot.com/2005/11/after-almost-decade-i-visit.html ) and from what I have been reading Ghajini isn't short of violence either.
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