SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE REVIEW

The biggest problem with this movie is that it has won the Oscars and it is directed by a well known director from Hollywood. After seeing the movie I have come to the conclusion that if it was made by a Bollywood director with no firang connection at all, it would have hardly won, one or two awards in the filmfare that too after facing stiff competition from a Karan Johar or a Ramgopal Verma movie. If one has seen the other movies in contention for this year like ‘The curious case of Benjamin Button’ or ‘The Reader’, you cannot blame them for believing that the Oscars this year was horribly rigged. Trust me, I haven’t missed too many Oscar winning movies till date and this one was the biggest disappointment ever. After carefully considering all the prejudices that I have as an Indian audience, I still cannot digest the fact that it has actually swept the Oscars. It’s me who is either insane or the Oscars jury is. Either I am too naïve or ignorant to understand the greatness of the movie, or being painfully defensive who gets offended by anything that does not show my country in a positive light.

Let’s start with the target audience and the commercial aspect of the film. Well, one has to give credit to Boyle for this. He was spot on in choosing the mass audience. He made a gem of a movie to please his western counterparts just like Karan Johar or the Chopras does to please the college going spoilt brats. It seems that he knew well in advance the requirements of the Oscar committee this time around. The protagonist of the film, well his name is Jamal, a Muslim, lost his mother in a riot and guess what; you can actually see a glimpse of saffron cladded rioters in the background. If you are done with the predictability of this scene, then take this. A kid dressed as Lord Rama painted in blue with a bow and arrow in his hand stands as the sentinel of doom in the midst of the riot and manages to leave an indelible impression on Jamal’s young mind. If BJP comes into power don’t be surprised Mr.Boyle if you see a desi version of the film with young Jesus standing in the same manner in the midst of the Kandhamal riot. I agree with you Mr.Boyle that things like Rape, child prostitution, forced begging, slums and of course call centers are realities in India but the manner in which you have forced all of these into poor Jamal’s life makes me believe that you were trying to conform to the preconceived notions of your fellow countrymen .Now if this was not enough, why do you have to make the host of the show heartlessly mocking at Jamal for being a chaiwala.Ok I have to accept it as your tool for heightening the dramatic aspect of the movie. I have to accept that a 12 year old blind boy who begs for a living knows that a 100 dollar note has a picture of Benjamin Franklin on it. I have to also accept that Jamal with his background and upbringing knows who Samuel Colt is. I accept all of these with ease because I have also accepted that Sunny Deol can single handedly take on the Pakistan army, that Rajnikant can fight with a mob of 500 people with a towel in his hand. I am used to all these improbabilities that exist in the down-market Bollywood and Tollywood movies but I never knew that it is contagious, that one day it can infect Hollywood with such audacity. And guess what Simon Beaufoy gets the Oscars for best adapted screenplay, 2009, Incredible!!

Let’s come down to the casting of the film.Dev Patel as Jamal Malik was a little hard to digest, too British to portray a character from the Mumbai slums.Freida Pinto, too frigid to portray any emotions, Anil Kapoor too dramatic. The only saving grace was Irfan Khan as usual and the slum childrens.Now the music of the film and A.R.Rahman.Well I am sure Rahman must have laughed his heart out when he got the news of receiving the Oscar. For years he has created some incredible magic for the Indian audience and we still had the time and patience to listen to Anu Malik.And now just when he threw some garbage from his basket to the western world, look what they have done to it. The only uniqueness of the film was the usage of the game show device. It worked and it worked well for the film but come to think about it, any day Amitabh Bacchan and Siddharth Basu would have walked away with the Academy Award if there was a separate category for game shows in the Oscars.

8 x 10 tasveer a disappointment

After a long time I went to the theatre to watch 8 x10 tasveer. I am not a great fan of Akshay but I still admire him for his ability to cut a niche market for himself especially with the Khans around. Moreover it was Kukoonoor venturing into a new genre. Not that I was not sceptical with the outcome, I still expected something special. Many a times I have been fooled by Bollywood before and sadly this time was no exception. What baffled me is that Kukoonoor has also been credited for the story of the film. The subject was acceptable, but the treatment was highly appalling especially towards the end. To succeed in the genre that Nagesh has chosen, one has to hold the interest till the last minute and that is exactly where he has failed. The concept is interesting although I am not sure whether its original.Akshay is a forest ranger in Canada possessing some supernatural power. He can travel backwards to the past and his medium is the photograph. He uses his supernatural power to unravel the mystery of his father’s death. Now the script demanded unmasking the identity of the killer at the end.Nagesh did that with élan but the reasons that compelled the murderer to commit the crimes were far fetched and seems like being borrowed from a cheap paperback regional thriller that is usually available in railway stations.Akshay's performance was sincere, Ayesha-natural as usual and Sharmila graceful. But the high point of the film was Javed Jaffrey. I sincerely feel that he is an actor who is highly under rated. With Bollywood getting mature by the day and new directors with a fresh mind and fresh subjects coming in, this actor if exploited properly can go miles. The cinematography with its exotic locales in Canada and South Africa was breathtaking but all in all come to think of the climax, it was extremely disappointing.

How it all began

The idea was always there. I needed a medium to appreciate perhaps the greatest form of expression that can appeal to the widest range of viewers. Yes I am talking about cinema. Since childhood I have always been fascinated by this cultural objet d'art in motion. The sheer magnanimity of the actors, performers, the stories, the sets, the costumes, the directors, the scores and not to mention all the men behind the scenes has enthralled me. I have often asked myself ‘what is that one thing that attracts me about cinema? Is it just because of the entertainment, if yes what is that thing in this medium that entertains me. Is it just that I get to see these larger than life pictures, or is it the story with which I can identify myself, or is it the portrayal of a character at its best, or just that I enjoy to see things on screen that I cannot actually do in real life. The answer to this is no because it’s not just one thing that captivates my senses and yes as it is a combination of all the things mentioned. These questions have baffled me for a long time and yet I continued to watch what I loved the most – cinema. I firmly believe that to appreciate cinema, one does not have to be essentially , from the film fraternity. I am a plain and simple admirer of good cinema. Now this is again, a very debatable issue. What do I mean by good cinema? How do I define it? My perception of a good cinema is entirely mine and you do not have to necessarily agree with me and there lies the power of disagreement and dialogue, the essence of living with diversity in thinking. The whole purpose of creating this blog is just that!! So start firing on all cylinders folks!!!