So slumdog millionaire wins AR Rahman his first Oscar. Matter of fact, slumdog has won pretty much everything it was nominated for.
This proves one thing - the Oscar committee does not really understand Bombay/Mumbai; most people who've stayed in Bombay would agree the film is extremely superficial in its treatment of fairly realistic issues. It just didn't feel right.
Is this a good film? Well, sort of. Is this anywhere close to Trainspotting? No. Has Rahman made better music? Yes.
But, the white boys and girls have decided this worthy of their prize, and as in Frost/Nixon "there is no success like success in America".
One positive offshoot of all of this is that maybe more people will start acknowledging Rahman as a music director. Not that he needs it, but the massive ignorance of anything east of Europe will (should?) decrease.
5 comments:
I don't claim to understand Bombay, but I thought the movie was quite good. It makes the shocking poverty and violence palatable using the fantasy storyline. It's much cleverer than you think. And it really isn't some white boy's story: the novel was written by an Indian.
Even the Hindu liked it!
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/13/stories/2009011355330800.htm
(But of course, one man's meat...)
First, this is the golden globe award, not the Oscar. Oops
Yes, I know it is written by an Indian. I've read the book. I don't think I said this is a white boy/girl-fascinated-by-poverty story in any case.
What I am saying is the movie - the movie, not the book! (which incidentally I thought was a bit overblown) - felt superficial.
All the non-indians who have seen it in my department love it, most of the desi crowd is divided in its opinion.
And that dancing thing in the end...i mean, come on....you don't need to have people dancing just because its a bollywood movie.
I guess they were going for a cliched ending in the spirit of lets have a good laugh, shall we? But it didn't work. Was it funny? Compare for instance to jaane tu ya jaane na, which made much better use of a cliche for an ending.
I thought the first half of the movie was nice (the part where the kids get thrown out of the train and yells at the guard "tere baap ka train hai kya?" was genuine) Turns out this bit was directed by an Indian. Now I did not know any of this before going to see the movie, so this cannot be evidence of bias.
You won't see Oye Lucky winning any awards although the treatment there is much, much more genuine. That is unfortunate.
I don't know. Most Bollywood movies are a bit stiff, with highly stilted dialogue. This one has an easy feel to it, and the cinematography, direction and editing were brilliant.
In any case, it's hard to complain about a Western production winning a Western award, isn't it?
But all the Indians I know loved the movie. I really don't think it divides along East-West lines. I think it's more a question of whether you like Bollywood's style, which in general, I don't. It was also a refreshing change from the sheer soul-crushing depression of movies like "Salaam Bombay". Not everything that avoids moroseness is automatically superficial.
Hmmm... They haven't released the movie here yet. Probably waiting till they get a few more awards, so that people will go ga-ga over the fact that it's 'internationally acclaimed'. I'm trying to figure out if I ought to download it or not.
I thought the book had an interesting premise, although Vikas Swarup's writing needed to be polished up a bit. The music is ok. The cool thing about the movie I guess is the spectacle - all the colour and stuff.
Whatever. Frida Pinto is Hot!
umm...maybe you should watch the movies i'm referencing before lumping it all together in one group.
they were certainly not stiff with stilted dialogue...i mean, seriously!
forgive me, but your comment appears a bit foolish.
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