JAI HO! JAI HO! JAI HO!
Jai Ho to what??
India - our great country portrayed as a slum - dog? or we Indians dancing to the tune and proud and happy of our great slum heritage as if that's all we have - I would say we have come a long way from depicting India - land of snakes and elephants to land of slums, hoodlums, shit..... JAI HO to westener's who made an OSCAR....BAFTA....CANNES from it!!
So why are we clapping and exultant? Some would say - its an India based movie - India has indirectly made news through the gallis - dirt - cows - dons - riots. How about putting our country in news for the right things for a change - rich culture - heritage - history - science - medicine - worldwide influence with vedas or even kamasutra.
Others say - 3 Indians got to Oscars - kudos to their talent but went to Osacrs again for wrong reasons - songs like cholli ke pecche sound alike!!! I wonder why didn't Rahman make it to Oscars with one of his great origional scores!!
But does Indians know we once made it not only to Oscars but its highest award - Lifetime Achievement for the very right reason - Satyajit Ray - how many clap to that? His movies are specially archieved in Hollywood and different other parts of the world as a rich glory and art.
I would not be surprised if the whole 'firangee' crew of Slumdog(together with Dev the actor who doesnot know the name of our Prime Minister) is slyly laughing on our sheer ignorance and stupidity of being proudly part of a masala block buster like any other B-Grade Bollywood movie with all gory scenes from the dark lanes of Mumbai.
I also wonder - what message did the Oscar guys give us? The award which has gone to greats like Ben Hur - Titanic is sharing the space with Slumdog with 9 nominations!!!
A big thought to ponder......
JAI HO! JAI HO!
6 comments:
Totally agree with you Diya! Overhyped innecessarily. Did we need a Danny Boyle to remind us of our slums...Its a reality we Indian will with.
ARR has composed much better music - jai ho is hardly mediocre. Unfortunately the rest of the world has not heard his other compositions.
i agree with u..Though i don't doubt the cinematic expression or talent of the cast and crew; still the hooplah around this one single movie, from BAFTA to Oscar do calls for your attention to ponder more deeply.
Neither I deny the dark slum-ridden reality of our country and feel irritated just because someone has made it the central point of a 2-hours long 70MM.
Even Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali invited sharp criticism for more or less same reasons.
However, i felt another point. In today's consumerist society, nothing comes for free. Not even a Oscar I guess.
It seems to be another nexus of promoting good ties between India-US, or India as the desired destination.
Remember the time when suddenly for consecutive years India reigned in beauty pageants,
it was sensed that the FMCG and consumer goods giant from West wanted to penetrate Indian markets
and what other good way to do that.
Again, with due respect to the hardwork and talent of the crew, still can't get over an unease of sensing overzealous effort to promote this slumdog as an underdog.
This is the first time an Indian 'Musician' is recognized by international audience and a panel of international critics... Jai Ho to that...
Jai Ho to the Man who managed to win 2 Oscars, considering the fact that he once used to rent musical instruments on a daily basis to bring up his family and feed them their bread and butter...
Jai Ho to the true slumdog millionaire(in the context of rising from rags to riches) to have managed to win one of the most prestigious awards that every artist would dream of...
Jai Ho!
Why are we so shy of who we are. R we afraid and ashamed of our poverty.
Blast that. This is a defining moment for Tamil/Indian music. As Maverick says, its symbolic of what ARR and many other countless, nameless Indians have gone through.
This movie announces that we have arrived, despite the heavy odds.
Lets rejoice for that.
Agree with you. And I sometimes feel like Shoma if there is any keen politics to promote indian market to the world.
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