Like every other net-savvy Indian I too was keeping track of what was going on in the 81st Academy Awards. And when the results came, one after another, I pumped my fists and ‘Yess-ed’ in joy, especially for the great A R Rehman and the legendary Gulzar Saab. They are not only my favourite music director and lyricist, I also feel they are the best ever in Hindi cinema and the present crop has a lot of catching up to do. It was only fitting that they have started a trend which hopefully goes a long way in future.
But after some time when the hormones settled down and brains took over I started questioning the importance given to the Oscars here in India. Those who have heard Rahman before would agree this was definitely not the best of his compositions. And for Gulzar, it was regular stuff. So, why are we celebrating as if Rahman and Gulzar have conquered the world? They are much better than the world (read Hollywood) will ever know and it is deriding for them to be judged by this Oscar.
As far as Bollywood goes, it still has a long way to go before it can claim that it is able to rub shoulders with its western counterparts. Of course, once in a decade we do make a good movie which we keep bragging about for the next two decades. Comments like 'the world is at Bollywood’s feet' (by Anil Kapoor) are simply ridiculous and portrays the veteran actor as an attention-grabbing-wannabe. Just like hiring a few Hollywood technicians and shooting a Hindi movie abroad doesn’t make it a foreign film, Slumdog is not an Indian movie and the awards it has won don’t speak anything for our cinema. Even if the same movie had been made by an Indian, do you honestly think it would win an Oscar? No way. Black, for example, I think was a better movie which didn’t even make it to the last five. My point is it is their awards and we should stop craving for their attention at the slightest pretext.
I would go even further by saying that Slumdog is not the best movie I have ever seen and doesn’t stand up to the other multiple Oscar-winning movies. The Americans are in a habit of portraying themselves as the ones who care for poverty, racism, gay rights and other issues and hence the movies which deal with these have a much better chance to win awards than entertainers like The Dark Knight. Fair enough. But what is not fair is that to them India is still a country of snake-charmers, elephants and now slums. They would only recognize movies which highlight these aspects; and that too, if it is made by one of their own people. Promoting and applauding movies like Slumdog give them a pleasure and satisfaction of having done their bit for 'third-world countries' like India. Hence the eight Oscars.
Of course I don’t want to play a spoilsport and even I am extremely happy for the two individuals having won the most popular awards of the world. It’s just that I don’t want to lose perspective by saying outrageous things like “now the world knows the potential of our artistes” or that “Bollywood is now getting its due”. They simply don’t care and neither should we act like all these years we were waiting for them to recognize our artistes so that we could respect them more. Gulzar and Rahman were legends before today and will remain so forever, Oscar or no Oscar.
But after some time when the hormones settled down and brains took over I started questioning the importance given to the Oscars here in India. Those who have heard Rahman before would agree this was definitely not the best of his compositions. And for Gulzar, it was regular stuff. So, why are we celebrating as if Rahman and Gulzar have conquered the world? They are much better than the world (read Hollywood) will ever know and it is deriding for them to be judged by this Oscar.
As far as Bollywood goes, it still has a long way to go before it can claim that it is able to rub shoulders with its western counterparts. Of course, once in a decade we do make a good movie which we keep bragging about for the next two decades. Comments like 'the world is at Bollywood’s feet' (by Anil Kapoor) are simply ridiculous and portrays the veteran actor as an attention-grabbing-wannabe. Just like hiring a few Hollywood technicians and shooting a Hindi movie abroad doesn’t make it a foreign film, Slumdog is not an Indian movie and the awards it has won don’t speak anything for our cinema. Even if the same movie had been made by an Indian, do you honestly think it would win an Oscar? No way. Black, for example, I think was a better movie which didn’t even make it to the last five. My point is it is their awards and we should stop craving for their attention at the slightest pretext.
I would go even further by saying that Slumdog is not the best movie I have ever seen and doesn’t stand up to the other multiple Oscar-winning movies. The Americans are in a habit of portraying themselves as the ones who care for poverty, racism, gay rights and other issues and hence the movies which deal with these have a much better chance to win awards than entertainers like The Dark Knight. Fair enough. But what is not fair is that to them India is still a country of snake-charmers, elephants and now slums. They would only recognize movies which highlight these aspects; and that too, if it is made by one of their own people. Promoting and applauding movies like Slumdog give them a pleasure and satisfaction of having done their bit for 'third-world countries' like India. Hence the eight Oscars.
Of course I don’t want to play a spoilsport and even I am extremely happy for the two individuals having won the most popular awards of the world. It’s just that I don’t want to lose perspective by saying outrageous things like “now the world knows the potential of our artistes” or that “Bollywood is now getting its due”. They simply don’t care and neither should we act like all these years we were waiting for them to recognize our artistes so that we could respect them more. Gulzar and Rahman were legends before today and will remain so forever, Oscar or no Oscar.
8 comments:
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“Bollywood is now getting its due"
hardy!
Not until a Bollywood Movie gets recognision.
Not until the Taare Zameen Par's and Black's and many others get a full house there. Not till they get the oscars. SDM was not made under a bollywood banner. Only a few actors happened to be common. and yes AR Rehman.
Not the lead actor was a bollywood star. The Only genuine person from bollywood was Anil Kapoor.
100% echo your sentiments :)
Nice one :)
nice to see a post after a long time :)
I agree about Slumdog not being as good as its been hyped up to be. I had this acrimonious debate yesterday with a housemate, who had opined that movies with messages are the ones that are good, and those that generally win Oscars. I don't really agree with this notion that a movie that preaches some obscure moral/ethical theory is necessarily better because of it One of the best movies I have seen recently is In Bruges, which, as far as I could tell, didn't really have any overriding message, and is probably much better than its contemporaries because of it.
And regarding the point that Western filmmakers usually exploit this whole poor-India-hungry-India aspect, I think that observation is spot on. Slumdog's greatest attribute is its vivid portrayal of slum-life, but I got the impression that Boyle got too stuck into only the negative aspects. While that is important, I think it sort of distracted people from the real story.
I watched this movie "The Darjeeling Limited", which I thought had a really beautiful portrayal of the quirks of life in India. There is some poor-India-hungry-India, but very tastefully done.
@KD, Satapathy and Shishir: Good to know that you share the same view
@Shishir: On the contrary, I don't quite like the movies which preach, they were meant to entertain in the first place, didn't they?
Completely agree with your line of thoughts.
Just read this on some other blog:
"Surely a movie/documentary made by non-Indians with India as the subject winning equates to India conquering the Oscars. Just like if the "March of the Penguins" would have swept the Academy Awards, it would have been a glorious achievement of Antarctica and a proud day for all penguins"
haan sahi bola.. Neither is Slumdog the best of movies, nor is ARR's music for slumdog is his best (I mean to say that he has composed much more compelling music than Jai Ho etc). But anyways, he got the recognition, now thats good, ain't it?
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