So it seems I am a bit late for my second part to the previous post. If you however see what I have to say, then you will realize that perhaps the delay has landed me up in a perfect timing for today’s ‘few lines of blog-a-doodly’ (yeah … that’s a term I coined and it has been ‘CopyLefted’)
So yet another major entertainment awards have been announced – the BAFTA. And Mickey Rourke went ahead to win the ‘Best Actor’ award for ‘The Wrestler’. I would indeed like to think that the jury did take my word for his performance after my last post – sadly though, not everything that you would like to happen does end up happening.
Take for instance the movie that has been rocking all of the major awards this year – ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. This movie is a perfect example of ‘not everything you want to happen does end up happening’ law of mine (well … not mine actually ... but whatever) stated above.
Now I must say that it was an absolute delight – the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed Danny Boyle’s work – just as much as I enjoyed watching what he did with ‘Trainspotting’. The movie had an enchanting storytelling brought to life by all the performances and the cleverly designed sequences. It is indeed a story about hope and spirit – and these themes do make for some wonderful stories. When I watched it, I did not feel that everyone else would like the movie just as much – and so when the awards juries started showing the movie all their attention, I have been kind of ecstatic in a way. Rehman might just go on to become another Indian to win an Oscar – he has bagged two prestigious awards already. The movie might go on to become an Academy Awards biggie – and it’s a movie that tells a story about India. I got to see Hindi entertainment industry people on screen, and I felt upbeat about Bollywood finally getting that slight attention from the awards juries and the critics. In as much as it is a Hollywood production – the elements of Bollywood in it are so evident, that I have a firm belief that had the movie been in Hindi, it would have been nothing short of a Bollywood blockbuster. There are critics who have already made similar statements about the movie as well. In all fairness, I believe the people behind the movie have done a stellar job in doing so many things together – showing that movies are still meant for absolute entertainment, giving people from the Hindi film industry a chance to work with a quality Hollywood production, allowing Bollywood to get it’s share of attention, and in being able to do whatever they had started out to do in such a brilliant manner.
In as much as it made me happy when I watched the movie in a theater here at Berkeley – I felt a strange reaction within me when a friend of mine, whom I had recommended the movie, asked me ‘Is this what India looks like?’
I didn’t know what to say. The movie has indeed done its job, but in the process has left an oddly constructed image of India in the minds of some of the global audience. Imagine one moment of the movie where you saw something really really upbeat about the country … and you will be left with only about one or two. I don’t see this as a problem. Frankly, our country does have these issues, and we need to deal with them – such depictions can only be all the more effective in pointing this out loud and clear. But at the same time, there have been other movies which have depicted other sides of the Indian Spirit and the ‘India-Story’. What happened to all of those? I choose to be realistic and practical – but for a few moments even I was driven in to believing that the world actually likes the ‘poor India’ depiction better than ‘strong and steady India’. That is however only the minor unhappiness.
The other, and probably the most important issue, that made me slightly unhappy is about the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ being at its core an entertaining narrative – much of which has been styled in a typical Bollywood fashion. However, this is not the first time the Indian entertainment style has been presented to the world. There have been so many quality and classy Indian movies which have been presented in front of the global audience and the award committees – and while the former did accept it with spirit, the latter have never quite found it so appealing. My question is, now that a Hollywood production house decided to package the same entertainment with English dialogues – doesn’t it seem a bit odd that all the awards juries are gaping at awe at it?
If you look at some of the modern day Bollywood productions – the so-called changing face of the industry – movies like Rang De Basanti, Swades, or Taare Zameen Par, you will kind of get what I am trying to hint at. My heart was filled with sadness when Rang De Basanti could not make it to at least the final round – I mean what a movie it was!! The movie, the message, and the performances – they all will affect you and make you feel so angry and disturbed when you watch it. Such a movie was not good enough for the Indian Film Industry to be noticed amongst the juries and critics in world entertainment. And now that you have a differently packaged ‘Bollywood flick’, everyone is amazed at the product. In my opinion movies like RDB and others deserve to get this attention – not because the Indian Industry is hungry for awards from international guilds, but because it is only from this that they will finally get the holistic exposure to the world entertainment spectrum that they need. This will definitely help improve the Industry, and provide for more entertainment for the world – because everyone knows that audiences all around the globe have been receiving the entertainment package we have to offer pretty well so far.
So much for opinions. Just as I said – everything that you wish could happen does not happen. I do wish ‘Slumdog’ gets the deserved awards and attention, but I do also wish India and Indian cinema get a lot more, and a lot different, reception from the world. Guess both won’t happen in one go – maybe one step at a time.
Till then … please God help Rehman and Slumdog… shine at the Academy Awards. The former is a genius who deserves nothing less, and the latter is a fine piece of work that deserves all the due accolades too.
No comments:
Post a Comment