India At The Golden Globes, A Golden Day
Hi Folks,
It was indeed Golden for India at the Golden Globes last night. A.R. Rehman winning the best score and we can take pride in that he has stuck to his guns, rather than “adapting to the or from the, west,” and still winning the west over. Kudos to this home grown genius.
The 4 of 4 success of Slumdog Millionaire proves that we might have another “Gandhi” at the Oscar’s. What is it about the British? They love India. The last Oscar winner, Bhanu Athaiya got it for Best Costume in Gandhi, by “Brit” Richard Attenborough and now we might have AR win it for Slumdog Millionaire, by “Brit” Danny Boyle.
And in between all this are so called “Artsy” and “Arthouse” filmmakers, who take themselves a little too seriously have made nothing, but boring products, which even put the Academy to sleep, along with the Audience.
But Commercial cinema folks, don’t celebrate just yet, Slumdog has just broken a few myths:
Myth 1: You need a Khan or a Kumar to make a Blockbuster in the US.
Reality: Slumdog had a Patel and a strong and entertaining script and it has till date earned more in the US and UK than any Khan or Kumar product (yes there was a Anil Kapoor, but quite frankly nobody in the US, really cared about who played that character, it was the film script they bought into)
Myth 2: You need a star son/daughter/nephew, etc, to make a commercial impact.
Reality: The last I checked, I had no clue, whose relative the leading actors of Slumdog were, other than Anil being the son (or is it brother, who knows) of Surendar Kapoor, and no nobody knew that in the miltimillion audience that saw it in the theaters.
Myth 3: Ah but that is an exception, it is only films by the Johar’s and the Chopras that do well overseas (and no disrespect to either of these folks who make some fine films, am just making an observation here)
Reality: Ah yes. but this exception is now becoming a monthly phenomenon, Aamir, Welcome to Sajjanpur, A Wednesday, Mithya, Dadvidaniya, now Slumdog Millionaire, all making way more money than was spent on making it in the first place. In fact the “by the book commercial stuff” had a 17% success rate last year, so in my limited math, that seems to be the exception (along with the sleepless nights of spending a fortune on it)
Myth 4: You need to make a remake, a copy of a Korean/Philipino/French/etc film, a modern day take on a old “ghisa pita concept,” or straight another version of something already playing, to make a “classic”
Reality: Slumdog Millionaire, proves that sometimes an “outside perspective” of Mumbai and it’s basics such as the slums and fascination with Reality TV, is all it takes to make a classic, much to the chagring of “we are out to change Indian cinema by taking ourselves and our fake intelligence, a little too seriously” copycats in the guise of filmmakers.
Myth 5: Only Entertaining films sell and get audiences
Reality: This is one myth Slumdog did not break. While not perfectly scripted
http://www.indianentertainment.info/category/films/page/2
it was entertaining (not slapstick, not forced comedy, just seriously entertaining) and at the end of the day, a film can be anything (a doc, a short, a commerical or an arthouse product), if it keeps the audience engaged, it is entertaining, if not, it is not.
So congratualtions are in order to Slumdog Millionaire, and to the “Brits” for going where no Indian filmmaker seems to go off late….the land of the Oscars and the Golden Globes…here’s rooting for AR and Slumdog at the Academy Awards
And Congratulations to YOU, the new and intelligent Audience, who can’t be pleased by just “star offsprings” “controversial for the sake of controversy” or “heavily hyped or marketed film.” You want a well scripted and engaging film and you proved that with Slumdog Millionaire. Keep up the support.
Clearly I don’t expect to win any popularity contests after this scribe, but then, that was never the point of any of my scribes!!!
Vivek”seriously what is it about the Brits, that they make our Oscar and Superstars (Barry John and SRK), when our desis fall flat” Kumar
Tags: World Cinema
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Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
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D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
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Revathy
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Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
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Dude, what are you talking about? All these “myths” are mostly true for NRI audience in US/UK. I don’t think Slumdog has done particularly well among desis overseas. Slumdog is not marketed to NRIs, is not being shown in desi theaters in US. Your article doesn’t make any sense.
I really dont think myth # 1 really existed… khan or kapoor? Its more in India I think this is, that a big Khan must be there.
And I agree with Ankit (comment # 1), my desi friends had to go to new york city movie theatres because the movie wasnt in even the New Jersey theatres in the beginning. Just now coz of the popularity, NJ has shows.
Myth #3 only shows that the so-called “monthly phenomenon” these days would still hold true if the moviemakers made movies before you had time to create that myth.
I really think this is our mindset in India (this post and the myths), but I guess the NRIs think differently. Here desis go to movies even if they dont have Khans/Kapoors in it.
A bunch of desi friends and us saw the awards together, and it felt proud to see Rahman win, and the super-cheered-up Anil Kapoor was so cute and funny. Did you guys see, he jumped in his chair!?
anil came very close doing a backflip
he will probably do that in Oscars
@Amrita, given that I have been outside of “India” since 1990, in my definition that makes my mindset “NRI” as opposed to “India.” There is a reason why films like Aamir/Mithya go straight to dvd in “NRI land” and to theater in “RI land,” clearly indicating where it is going to be more popular theatrically. There is also a reason why the Khan/Kumar’s do their opening press conferences/shooting in “NRI land,” cause that is where they carry more clout.
@Ankit- At least in California (Northern and Southern)the NRI’s have loved the film and when I got the press invite to attend the screening at SF, it was to write a review from the NRI perspective and to the NRI audience (of course along with the RI perspective). Fox Searchlight hired a NRI publicist in Gitesh Pandya of NY, to reach out to the NRI audience, I don’t think too many RI’s know about Gitesh Pandya!!
I think some of the myths that you mentioned are overstated or oversimplified.
However, one myth that Slumdog Millionaire has busted is that a typical masala & (in many parts) unrealistic movie cannot appeal to the world audience.
Granted this is not an Indian / Bollywood movie because it was made or produced by Indians. However, the feel of the film is typical Bollywood. It does not take a stretch of imagination to see this having been made by an Indian director. The only difference is that if it had been the latter, it may not have got as big an audience as it did.
To that extent, I agree with Vivek – the best way to be accepted by the world is by playing to your strengths … offer them something they do not get elsewhere. After all, you wouldn’t expect anyone to visit an Indian restaurant to each Chinese/ Korean / Italian food, would you? Just give them good Indian food – those who like it will have & enjoy.
@ everyone above – I agree generally with the comment – Where I went to see it in London in fact most of the audience was NRI but I also know that most of my freinds from all over will be seeing this too (and ofcourse I have encouraged them to).
I dont think it is necc about which nationality the director or the audience is… it is about excellence in film making. About showing so much depth without bogging/preaching at the audience and yes a great script and concept- the kind that Ray could capture and Boyle has done with the most incredible sensitivity and acuteness. It’s not about serving a different kind of food – there is nothing different here, there is only commonality of story telling about a land and an effort for truth. That works everywhere in the world.
first thing that goes against this article is that this movie is produced for Western audience and not targeted to RIs whereas Khan/Kumar movies are for RI…there is sea change of difference in these two sensibilities…..I have been following this movie since it opened at Toronto film festival, the marketing has been very good by Fox to create the hype, so the hype factor is there…..I myself drove 100miles (it was on limited release at that time) to watch this movie and felt disappointed, but the audience were mesmerized and I thought it will be hard for this film to get a nominated for Oscars (as buzz was there from Nov08 itself as strong contender), but here again I know I will be proved wrong……..I really want to see how this movie fares with mainstream Indian audience.
“My friend is like, why don’t you write something inappropriate on the form like, ‘I hate chinks’ … I just filled out the form and I wrote ‘I love chinks’ — and who doesn’t?”
So joked comedian Sarah Silverman in her gag about trying to get out of jury duty on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Next day Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) came hissing looking for an apology in the same way American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) went after Ben Stiller’s Simple Jack gag in Tropic Thunder. Both cases seem to highlight the trouble with good satire, when its really good, no one finds it funny. Truth stings more than it tickles. Where the humorless morons at the MANAA saw a shock jock going too far for cheap publicity (irony!), in actuality was Silverman making an acute sociological observation ripping apart the thin paternalistic veil that political correctness has put on bigotry. In careful consideration, all that the four decades of liberal arts education and post-modernist gobbly goop has achieved in the West is that it has convinced self-righteous politically “correct” nincompoop yuppies that racism long died in the 50s. Even the most harmless mention of racially “offensive” words leads to automatic ringing of the alarm bells and clouding of the brains, and the offender is swiftly moved to the lower strata of humans that need to be pitied and ridiculed if they are Average Joe, and demanded of an apology if a celebrity. All this while, what is conveniently ignored is that racism is just as alive and kicking as it was in the days of Kunta Kinte and has just changed its form from open exclusion to one that is sanctimoniously cloaked behind layers of politically correct BS. In its macro- form it rears its ugly head as institutionalized disenfranchisement of the minorities and in its micro- version it leads to utterly insulting hogwash getting Academy Awards for Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy, Crash to name just a couple. So where does Slumdog Millionaire fit into the picture? It might be next on the list.
There is a scene somewhere in the middle passage of Slumdog Millionaire where our endearingly noble-savage protagonist cons an American couple out of their car while he gives them a hilariously (postscript: sarcasm doesn’t work in print) uninformed guide tour of Taj Mahal. Driver who catches on to it right away and punches his nose in, while the American couple pick him up and give him a bundle of American Dollars. I could not help but chuckle at this point, for this seemingly gullible American couple was exactly the film’s target audience. Y’know, the dollar-a-day crowd that wipes its tears of charity at the starving children with the big bellies, on their XXL “Made in Bangladesh” T-Shirts. Not that those tears are not well intentioned or something to be mocked (well, maybe the latter), but the shear ludicrousness of believing that somehow a film like Slumdog Millionaire should be watched and awarded because “its good for you” makes my stomach churn. You see how it is no different from the way Westerners used to tell their children to finish their dinner because children in India and China sleep on empty stomach? Its easy to love the poor just as long as you only have to wtach and not smell the shit-covered slumdog millionaire. Best Motion Picture of the year 2008, I say. Kudos for showing the real India! No longer the land of elephants, snake charmers, Maharajas and that Ghandi feller’. India, an elephant on the move, from slums to call centers, White Tigers and reality television. Add nausea according to taste.
So folks, save your money and go watch Oye Lucky Lucky Oye! instead, if you want an accurate picture of Indian class struggle and what it means to ask for “some more” gruel in India (”Kyun, main nahin kar sakta?”). Unless you are one of those crowd that love films so much you only watch the one that wins the Oscar and read the book that wins the Man Booker. Hey for what its woth it might start a trend and we won’t have to see those mediocre holocaust movies win Best Picture Oscars every couple of years. Maybe, just maybe, Poverty will become the new Holocaust (not that it isn’t already).
p.s. How ironic that its a Britisher who directed this movie depicting Hindu-Muslim riots in a Mumbai Slum!
“What is it about the British? They love India.”
I just had to repost in response to that. What is it with us Indians? Slumdog Millionaire at Oscars is like an SC/ST student at IIIM. I mean I only wrote about its paternalistic racism aspect but seriously, even in terms of quality, irrespective of how I feel about it… its not that good. I would say worse than Crash but that would be like saying its trashier than Rakhi Sawant. It is so grossly inaccurate at times, but no one gives a shit because the audience is just as ignorant about India as the filmmakers.
“What is it about the British? They love India.”
I won’t even grace that specifically with a response actually except for the fact that it made me feel like kicking your teeth in.
A R Rahman was decenet and modest in accepting the award and Anil Kapoor was a bit too exicted although he did not win anything. He acted like a monkey and it was a bit embarrasing to see him.
^^^ did u guys see david lettraman making fun of anil’s act
it was HILARIOUS
now thanks to his that act Anil is getting famous in international media
eryone is talking about him
Zerosummer what’s is wrong with that statement???
or are u still has that mentallity that british people are “evil” because they invaded ourcountry half a centuary ago!!!!!!!!
move on
@ Movie fan..any links of that letterman show?
Link of that letterman clip? :D
i watched it on TV not sure if it is availaible on net yet
On CBS online, you can watch full episodes.Do u know the date u watched it?
Sorry folks, overdid it a bit. And yes, I do think that anyone who thinks British love Indians is a poor sod suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. They raped us and now we are thanking them for the band-aid. The fact that the patronizing tone of the riots scene in SM didn’t make someone’s blood boil is an indication of the naukar mentality that we can’t seem to shake off as a civilization. They were the ones who created the divide in the first place and now we are savage barbarians who hack each other. This is not an Indian film and not for Indian people. This is a dollar-a-day commercial. Get over it.
Sa’ab humko eenam diya, poora Golden Globe!
@ ZeroSummer- Since you have taken on the mantle of “patriotism” for all the fellow Indians, one wonders what you are doing in Canada, where the word “Paki” is still used and how come you graduated from York University, when Mumbai University would have been the more “desh bhakt” thing to do and use “Bell Canada” as your internet provider, when “VSNL” would be the “tiranga” thing to do.
The point is despite the ills, there are a lot of positive things about Canada, and ditto for any place/group. What the Brit’s did to India was deplorable, but having an open mind, will also open one up to the positives that every nation/individual/group has done for humankind and for India, and that includes the British too, like it does any nationality. Time to separate the individual from a nation and an era which was bygone.
READ MY LIPS: This is a Danny Boyle (British Director) movie filmed in India!
It does NOT belong in the same classification with Lagaan, Rang de Basanti, Omkara, Om Shanti Om, Jodhaa Akbar, etc., etc.
IT IS NOT INDIAN CINEMA!
Actually I think this is an Indian/Bollywood film made by a British Director for the following reasons (not in any particular order of importance):
a) It is a story about Indians (Mumbaiites)
b) It is filmed in India
c) It is enacted by Indians
d) It has the quintessential song
e) It has the ultimate sacrifice of one brother for another (hence the emotional appeal)
f) It is the rags to riches story
g) The hero finds his heroine and all are happy at the end
h) There is a “Prem Choprish” villian, the kind you don’t see anymore in Indian cinema, more remnicent of the 80’s. The last time he played villian, the actor bombed all the people including the audience (Tashan), this time he is more cunning.
i) There is the feel good ending of beating the odds
j) There is the corrupt cop in a corrupt cop station
k) The sometimes forced and slapstick humour …the disgisting shitpot (one of the lowpoints of an otherwise entertaining film), which give it a very “desi Bollywood humour” look.
l) There is that fascination with AB by the character…again very Indian
To me all of these make it a very Indian film, just in an English language and directed by an Englishman.
Turning it around then Omkara is a British film, cause it is written originally by Shakespeare
Oh and the original writer (Swaroop) is also Indian as is the Co Director (Lovleen)
Don’t wanna get in middle of this, but I do want to apologize to you Vivek for my language earlier. I don’t think I was taking a “patriotic” or nationalistic stand, just an observational one.
@ALL – If GG was telecast on Sunday, doesn’t that leave like only Monday when David Letterman may have joked about Anil Kapoor? Hmm..food for thought anyone?
did see monday’s monologue….but didnt see any reference to Anil K…he did refer to GG though…couldnt catch the entire thing though
So turns out AB is not happy about Slumdog and is becoming all Indian, et all. Case of sour grapes for missing out on the role (remember rumour has it he was quite keen to do “firangi” Shantaram) or just peeved that it has done well and neither Jr, nor Sr, nor daughter in law, nor lawful wife is in it? Else the “Dolce and Gabana” adorned and “Mercedes” driving AB, may not have sounded so “mera bharat mahan.”
@Vivek Kumar (27),
You are relying on media reports and you have not read yourself what Amitabh Bachchan had written in reality.
Have you read the original?
hey Teresa Bracken….what would you call Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapoor..?? He is a Bombay director who revitalized British history by injecting it with some Bollywood ‘color’…
Is it a British film, an Indian film or an American film?
It seems to me that your reasoning lacks a coherent logic..
Got it Sir Ramesh, I will seek your permission going forward on when to celebrate ( given your megelomanic personality commands me to “…you may celebrate…”) and humbly seek your pardon for celebrating when it bothers you.
Did not realize PfC reaches to even Dictatorships. Good to know of it’s vast reach.
Also Sir, may I now return to Democratic ways? Only with your command that is?
@ramesh, thank you. People like Vivek are the ones who believe everything said by the media or by other idiots without checking back to the source.
Congrats to AR Rahman but I hope SDM does not win the Oscar for best picture since it is not award worthy. There are much better movies in contention.
Kumar:”Did not realize PfC reaches to even Dictatorships.”
Indeed PFC has a vast reach. But I would be worried about PFC’s reach to fools like you.
till now the WEST thought that India was all about snake charmers and Elephant rides, now they think India is one big SLUM with snake charmers and elephant rides. Thank you Danny (FOOL).
A.R. Rahman (Genius)