RDB over Omkara for Oscars!!!!
RDB over Omkara for Oscars!!!!
As I’m writing this article I’m listening to the title track of Omkara and wondering what Vishal Bhardwaj must be feeling when he heard this news. RDB selected over Omkara and other nominees (Krishh, Fanaa, KANK, Lage raho)
Much has been said about Omkara and yet I will afford to venture an opinion. Since I feel f***ing frustrated and stupid while writing this post. It only confirms what my close friend D from school used to say before he left for USA for Masters “India is a f***ed up country. It is a crime to be born here”
Satya-ignored criminally by Filmfare over Kuch kuch hota hai. Paanch/Black Friday still not released but Murder and Sins (yuck!!!) get amazing opening (pun intended). Water - a film on widows of Varanasi is ironically shot in Sri Lanka due to protests. Films by Maniratnam like Iruvar, Nayagan and Kannathil Muthamital are not sent.
Irfan’s performance in Haasil and in Maqbool, Tabu in Maqbool - zilch. Paheli sent for Oscars (why - it will always be a paheli for me).Anil Kapoor in Pukaar (Ha ha ha ) ; Raveena Tandon for Daman (laughing with tears in my eyes), Sending Jeans for Oscars in ‘94. Neglecting classics like Matrubhoomi and Hazaron khwahishein aisi; Irfaan’s performance in Warrior (which won him a BAFTA Award) - “What Warrior ???” ; Selecting Umrao Jaan (Rekha) over 36 Chowringee Lane (Jeneffir Kandel) - “Kaun hai bhai ??? Is she an Indian ??? “; And who can forget Saif’s award winning performance in Hum Tum ???? Nor Hum nor Tum !!!
Take off your shoes; hit them hard on your head until you are knocked off your senses. Go off and drink 3 hard pegs of Johnnie Walker. Choose to light candles at India Gate in protest (ironically - ala RDB). I have absolutely no idea what to do.
Mind you, I’m not against RDB. It is a good film. But honestly, honestly, do you expect to win an Oscar for a film in which the major characters are getting drunk and cracking stupid jokes without any forward movement in the screenplay. Yes the film is about Azadi and awakening of youth. The parallelism between the freedom fighters and today’s “Young Generation” (at 23 years of age, I think I qualify in that as well!!!). Yeah right dude, I get all of that. But how on earth could you compare it with Omkara??????
- The ‘coronation’ of Vivek oberoi
- Dam/bridge drinking scene of Saif and Rajju
- The fanaticism of Saif putting Qamarband on his head (as if coronating himself )
- Saif and Ajay’s brilliantly lit train sequence
- The master shot of O Saathi Re song (2 minute long sequence in and out of the house)
- The last shot of the film with Ajay on the ground and Kareena on the jhoola (meeting yet never meeting on the oscillating Jhoola)
- Kareena professing love to Ajay by putting the ring in the Tea
- The ‘MMS Scene’
- The amazing lighting in the scene where Saif walks out of the Hospital (immediately after Naseer is shot)
The dialogues, “shart ghodon par lagatey hain, sheron par nahin” , ” Jo apney baap ko thag sakti hai….” , “Ghodey key naal par jab keel thukey ….”, the women banter, Saif and Konkona’s dialogues (all of them !!!). How can you even compare them with RDB?????
The colors, the lighting, the ‘in character’ costumes, the music (even the theme song - Tragedy of Omkara is haunting), the editing with fade in fade out for maximal impact, the cinematography, the Art direction (maharasthra village was made to look like UP), the lyrics, the Screenplay……In almost every department (except Patriotism) Omkara scores over all the “blockbusters” of the year. The script is very much “Hollywoodean” - Use minimal dialogues and tell the story as much as possible in pictures (Less is more)
Omkara is such a near flawless adaptation of Othello that even Shakespeare would be smiling in his grave after seeing the film. The very tag of ‘Shakespeare‘ would be adequate enough to attract attention. Not that it is needed anyway; the film is mind-blowing in isolation.
But NO!!!! The script of KANK gets chosen at Oscars Library; KANK is selected for Toronto Film Festival over Omkara. And now RDB gets entry for Oscars. As if widespread media derision, rejection by the ‘KANK/Fanaa/Krish’ loving audience and even the so called intelligentsia/classes is not enough, here comes the news… as Shakespeare wld’ve said - “rubbing salt on VB’s wounds”. As an ardent VB fan, I don’t know what to do. I am literally speechless and numbed.
What example are we setting for young low budget film makers???? What about film makers whose passion and talent are unparalleled??Are we as a country mature enough for these films??? Who will put up money tomorrow in these off beat and brilliant films??? Are we going to send films that are only good for the society and have a social message??? If that was the case, films like Rashoman, Old Boy, A Clockwork orange, Tarantino’s films would never be heard or seen!!!! How long are we going to live in Utopia?? How long are we going to be like the proverbial Ostrich with head in the sand???
Yes my dear friend D, I completely agree with you. It is a crime to be born in India. More so if you are an artist who attempts to break the norms. More so if you are a Manirathnam, a Guru Dutt, a Satyajit Ray…a Vishal bhardwaj !!!!
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And we sent Devdas to the Oscars ….
This country sucks !!!!
i’m not really a big fan of awards. so i really don’t give a toss about what movies get selected and how they get selected…
imo, it’s just not worth crying about it.
I think the best solution for us cinema fanatics is to start ignoring these awards…..they are all rigged anyway.
Dont feel so bad buddy, people who appreciate good cinema will always do so….
Yeah … i think it is like Shakespeare would say - “Love’s Labour Lost” :((
Kya karein kya na karein yeh kaise mushkil hai :-??
I saw RDB but haven’t seen Omkara (and Maqbool too). But from what you have written, I am darned hooked to see it. Until then I can’t really comment. RDB as you said is a good film but from the plot Omkara looks to be touch of class. I love Akira for his shakespeare adaptations in ‘Throne of blood’ and ‘Ran’.
But I most definitely agree with the phrase ‘this country sucks’- The land where mediocrity is celebrated and talents are trashed. KANK is one crapfest I have seen :o. Oh GOD, Somebody must flush this country through a fucking toilet.
Yeah thilak.
I actually thank god (depsite the atheist that I am) that the film wallas didn’t send KANK for the entry.
I can actually imagine Karan Johar crying and SRK offering a shoulder to him !!!
Well for me both of them were good movies, but if i have to pick one FOR oscars than definitely RDB. I have my reasons, first the movie has a universal theme since in every country in the world, young generations are usually disillussioned and we all feel that there needs to be something to wake us up. We all have corrupt government or corrupt leaders (bush) and this goes back to the theme of RDB. The tying of historical story to current day story and both having the same solution shows not much have changed even with progression. With Omkara, the movie is brilliant but the shaskepeare theme has been done to death in US and since entry is for Oscar it doesn’t make sense to do send something similar. Also the dialogues for us were hardhitting but do you honestly think the translation to english with subtitles will have same impact. Third, Saif was brilliant but don’t you think we liked it more because we have always seen him in candyfloss stuff and suddenly seeing a great performance from none other than Saif from Hum Tum made us situp and realize it maybe something more. I felt the RDB cast in totality was just awesome, while Omkara didn’t match upto it. You had some great actors and then some, while in RDB everyone did well. I feel in todays time RDB will have bigger impact for the OScar crowd than Omkara. Just my 2 cents.
- Kunjesh, Excellent points. And very well put.
- Kartik, Your love for “Omkara” comes out right out of your article. Yes, it is a cut above the rest movie.
But I’m still puzzled over the panel members. As to your comment on DT (on the panel), Ved Rahi has been in the industry for many many years. Here’s his filmography - http://imdb.com/name/nm1339788/
@ Kunjesh
(I apologise in advance if I sound pissed off/stubborn)
Yes RDB has a universal theme.
What’s a better universal theme ???
KANK - Love will find a way
Krishhhh- Power should be used to help others !!!!
Have seen the subtitled movie in english and it is reasonably good. In fact I understood a little more.
Do we love omkara more because saif has been acting in it ???? We also love the old lady, konkona sen, Deepak daubriyal, Captain …..
It reminds me of sending Irfan pathan opening the innings since we need a pinch hitter rather than sending sachin, coz we need a quick asking rate !!!
(Once again apologies if I’m being rude but just couldn’t hold this back)
@ Oz
That’s exactly the point. You (and I) had to do an imdb for finding out who ved rahi is (I haven’t seen a single film of his) …
Tomorrow for all we know they will get Syed kirmani or Ajay jadeja in the jury (Both have starred in a hindi film after all) …
Awards are a joke in this country !!!
Once again i do apologise if i sounded personal …. but the intention is that the highest no of films producing country, and we have to rely more on the universality of a film to appeal to the jury, rather than the quality of the film ????
Films don’t get selected on the basis of quality, but whether it will ‘appeal’ more to them !!! And that is despicable… I think so …
By that logic any film with pamela anderson will ‘appeal’ more than a spielberg film.
kartik, you nailed it with this one.. “awards are a joke in this country”
ok, i admit i did attend the filmfare awards this year.. but only bc i got free tickets to it thru the editor of filmfare.. and well, bc i doubt i’ll ever go again in my life.
in a country where the same SRK with expressions 1-4 rules the best actor nominee list.. (he got 3 nominations.. veer-zaara, swades, and some horseshit called.. wait, i don’t even remember the name.. it just had a sensationally stunning schoolteacher sush in a sari.. like the alliteration?) right then.. what do you expect? the only thing gratifying about those awards was big willy’s presence.. and i was somewhat consoled by shiney’s award for HKA.. then again, the fact that mohit was even nominated for james tells you the meaning of these awards.
nothing but a joke.
by the way, i just watched omkara last night.. amazing movie. unfortunately the subtitles don’t do justice to the language.. and that might just be the clincher for the firangs when decision time rolls around.. they might not find the dialogues as powerful as we do.
i haven’t yet watched a KAlaNK named KANK and i don’t plan to.. as much as i love you rani, i just don’t see myself contributing to KJ’s bank balance. [-( there’s enough injustice in this world… (case in point, KJ and RR sending KANK and krissh to oscars).. and i don’t need to add to it. i’d rather contribute to the betelnut killers production money
Fool me once..shame on..
Fuck. No. Fuck. I can’t even go on.
After you’ve been fucked in the ass a 100 times, its kind of redundant to complain about being sore.
I would rather drink santorum before trusting people in Mumbai to do something right for once.
So why give importance to Oscars? Anyways RDB will be nominated in the Foreign Film Categories and that’s the farthest its going to go.
Karthik, all the films that you spoke about are much better if they stay within the confines of the informed/pseudo informed movie buffs so that they are atleast not degraded.
Its been a month in the US for me and I finally had a chance to watch all the memorable classics of Indian/World Cinema thanks to the stream of movies available here and all the Desi Dorm Mates look at me like a crazy creature when I watch Nishant/Ankur/Apu Trilogies over and over again.
I feel bad when they discard such movies as trash and now I want “great” movies for us to stay unmaligned.
Vishal, Anurag and co… are geniuses and I prefer to have them appreciated in the small group of loyal appreciative fans rather than the idiotic mainstream audience.
Now I know why your friend said those words… am begining to feel the same too…
- Ravi, Interesting point, thats been brought up and again. “Why the Oscars?” - you are right in your feeling that we don’t need any stamp of approval on “our” movies from “them”. But oscars open up the market wide open in terms of “our” movies being absorbed by the everyday middle class guy “here” in the US who most of times is not aware of or isn’t that inclined to watch a “foreign” movie (just like in India where the most we go out for a foreign movie is “hollywood”)… so yes an Oscar stamp in my view will work wonders for Bollywood to make inroads into the living rooms of the everyday guy/gal in America, Canada, South America and many other regions who will watch the Oscars but haven’t been exposed to Bollywood as yet.
That will be the “turning” point in terms of more and more experimentations being approved and financed by Bollywood producers and studios. It also means a more serious participation by Film financers and studios from the world over to come and seriously invest in Bollywood
… and you know my International trading experience got the better of me here (in viewing the Oscars as a venue for opening up more markets for our products)… so I did better sign off.
i hate to digress from the topic.. but i thought you all might be interested in this one.. i run the DC chapter of a nonprofit called SAAFA (refer to saafa.org for more) which caters to well.. people like us, who appreciate and enjoy independent talent. our upcoming event is a panel discussion with shibani bhatija, who wrote KANK and fanaa.. i know some of you would relish a chance to ask her questions, so for those who are interested, here are the dates for the discussion:
LA - oct 1st (time/location disclosed with RSVP to ritu@saafa.org)
NY - oct 7th from 11am-1pm at the Arts India Gallery on 5th ave & 25th street (RSVP to me, striker290@gmail.com)
again, apologies for digressing from the thread.. if i should follow a different protocol to let you all know about other such events, do let me know and i’ll do that in the future
- Striker, check your email… and no apologies required. Infact we are thankful to you for bringing in a wealth of information and knowledge for movie fanatics.
Striker, any registration required or is it just walkin. Will try for the NY thing… any other interesting events happening?
- Striker, for any guy named Ravptor, please collect a 6-pack of Heineikens on my behalf before you let him in for the meet.
hahahh.. ravptor, make that two 6-packs.. i’ll pass on your RSVP to the saafa folks in NY. last year i had a q&a with sudhir mishra, one of our bigger events. we were supposed to show hazaaron.. but the projector didn’t work and he only had the 35mm print at the time.. instead we showed dharavi.. for DC, i’m looking at having a screening of “karma, confessions and holi” with manish gupta, whose first film was an NRI romantic-comedy, “indian fish in american waters”. i’m also having a panel discussion on oct 22 with nanda anand who just directed manoj bajpai in “return to rajapur” and vivek wadhwa, a businessman/producer who produced “my bollywood bride” and writes columns in businessweek.. i’d encourage you all to join saafa@yahoogroups.com to be in the loop for all such events around the country
ravptor.. shoot me a quick email [striker290@gmail.com] so i have your name and email to pass onto the NY folks.. thanks
Kartik,
nice comments and no apologise needed. I think all of you would agree that we would all be more pissed off right now if they sent sKANK… so at least some of us will not have sleepless nites since RDB is sent…later.
Oz Bhai, i thought u were gonna be my host for a while before i settle in…
anyways, I am due a lot of gurudakshina to you so 6 pack to all the folks of PFC and the train… if they are in NY.
Striker, email coming up… and thanks for the info.
to be honest, RDB will be representing India in the first round of Oscar, and I don’t even think RDB will get any further than that. Come next year it won’t be featuring in any of the Oscar award categories. neither ‘Omkar’ would have been.
yes, both movies are good, but those movies don’t have a ‘wow’ factor, it’s nothing different, it has songs* and it is hindi.
* we don’t mind songs in hindi movies, but if you tell an outsider that this movie has songs, it is in hindi and immediately they will think the movie will be all rolly-polly or “Bollywood”. and that is - that impression has stuck with the outsider audience, so even before watching the movie they will have a bad impression about the movie.
this is just my view.
Then please explain how Lagaan got through the Oscar selection process.
Only reason Lagaan lost was backstage politics and oscar politics, I’ve seen the films that were nominated that year, Lagaan totally deserved a win.
Ah, i knew that was coming.
“Lagaan” was sort of a musical sport film - the songs were scenes rather than gimmicks. and people found it easy to connect with the movie.
Where as in Omkara (i love the soundtrack) songs are gimmicks. it would not go well with the judges. also the story/direction is a bit coherent.
RDB - only the ending is wow and a couple of scenes. the rest is just good flirting/light moments. that don’t win you an award.
(Don’t get me wrong, i like RDB - i have bought the dvd and roobaroo/khoon chala are my the favorite song. also like the music of Omkara and found the movie okay.)
But neither of the movies are masterpiece.
- From the lobbying perspective, I’m not sure what “behind-the-scenes” activity went on to get Lagaan into the final list, but this I can say is Aamir Khan worked his ass off to have as many people come and see the movie, cause he was confident the movie would speak for itself. I barely missed meeting him due to work related travel in that year, but he was staying at a friend’s place and it would have been awesome to meet him and pick his brains on cinema. Unfortunately DT or PFC didn’t exist back then.
But coming back to the point, yes, Aamir, did work hard by personally asking people at the preview shows to give some time to Lagaan.
If UTV has a game plan then, I think RDB stands a chance, ofcourse it all depends on who the other players are. I hear UTV is planning a mainstream re-realease of RDB through some major studios. That’s a step in the right direction, but a lot of money needs to be poured in for publicity.
Personal opinion: yes, RDB has the subject which could get it into the final list (not sure about the award though). There is something in RDB that hits the non-Indian crowd as well. Every American I’ve met who’s seen RDB has come out of the theater with a dropped jaw, completely bowled over by the movie.
Oh and don’t forget that Rakeysh Mehra (the director) spent much of this year showing RDB in universities and having discussions about it with the students. Let’s see how the Indian marketing team of UTV handles the heat on an international platform.
As much as I love the movie RDB - I don’t see it progressing any further than preliminary round, imo.
Anyway, did you think RDB was, erm, somewhat similar to Gulzar’s Mere Apne?
Guyz check this film “jesus de montreal” which was incidentally nominated for oscars in late 80s. Can we call it as inspiration of RDB? BTW I don’t care about oscars. They mostly award the undeserved. I would award the turkish movie “My father and son” hands down over RDB this year.
It’s a shame for us Indians to present movies like RDB (while we have better ones) before the Academy. This selection panel just defamed India and still trying to sell “bollywood” which would never happen as the members of the academy are not just a bunch of fools like in this panel.
Mani Ratnam, that man deserved an entry for Iruvar and Kannathil Muthamittaal. (Not for Naayakan, since it has exact frame copies from The Godfather).
Agree with u on all terms Jo, except that Naayagan does not have a frame to frame copy of Godfather….
Dave…
Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future…