About SLUMDOG wins...
While everyone is out rejoicing the win of Rahman and 'Slumdog Millionaire' (SM) at the Golden Globes, the journo within me, while happy, can't quite escape a sense of seething cynicism. I tried writing to the editorial pages of a few papers, but I guess I can't do justice to ALL my cynicisms in a short e-mail, so I'm using this convenient blogspace to vent and spew and not get cut-short by any gate-keepers although my reach would be small..but heck..I care not.
- SM is at heart a typical masala, bollywood movie with all the accompanying dhoom, dharaka, song and dance. The very thing that many 'firangis' make fun of in our desi movies. BUT it has Danny Boyle directing it, therein it has a naturally infused 'hollywood sensibility' and immediately qualifies for SO many awards. Leads me to wonder whether Aamir Khan's 'Lagaan' and presently his 'Taare Zameen Par' would have stood a better chance at the international awards if they too had a Danny Boyle or a Martin Scorcese in their crew.

- Also, the slumdog realities of India are suddenly exciting most of these firangi jury members. Arvind Adiga's 'White Tiger' dealt with the daily struggle in poverty striken India and it won a Booker, Danny Boyle's SM too looked at these Slumdog realities and voila! it's now contending for a Oscar...amazing huh? So I get it, people outside India are sick of its 'shining' story and want to show what filth really exists here..ya? So anything that satisfies this craving in a satisfactory way, wins an award..yay! I may have finally discovered a genuinely current, winning formula...(I may be writing a book about my deaf and mute jamaadar soon).

Adiga may be Indian but he emigrated to Australia and currently has an Australian/Indian citizenship. He came here for a few months, strolled the streets, spoke to a deluge of people, observed the more-than-obvious, glaring poverty and disparity between the rich and poor and penned a novel that made it to the booker...and Boyle, borrowed the 'Q&A' script by an Indian author, came here, had a (until recently low-profile) Loveleen Tandon do the casting, location hunting and co-directing of his film on India and it's slums and he may just win an Oscar....I maybe wrong, but I find that these people 'maybe' inspired by the idea of India, but they're certainly not part of it and in actual reality they're just profiteering from it's poverty.

If you don't agree with me but just feel that I'm spoiling the party like a grouch, forgive me. I'll own up if TZP wins a foriegn language Oscar or a book about our nation's inspiring idea like Nandan Nilekani's 'Imagining India' or past books like Pandit Nehru's 'The Discovery of India' or APJ Abdul Kalam's 'Ignited Minds' are ever nominated and win an internationally acclaimed award.

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