Slumdog Millionaire .....

I generally do not review any movie but this particular movie did attract me.

Before I had watched this movie, I heard lot of feedback about it; “A must watch”, “Sensational”, “You haven’t seen it yet!!” blah blah… I finally got it in my friend’s laptop and decided to see it.

I had mixed feelings after watching this piece of art. Well, the only praise I think I will give to this “over-hyped” movie is that it’s definitely a directional (only the concept of direction) piece of art. Besides that, they haven’t shown anything different. Especially, what I strongly did not like about it is that they have portrayed India in an obnoxious way; India is not about poverty, slums, cheating, dons and Mumbai is not about all these too. Numerous movies have been made in the recent past on this subject and now this subject seems monotonous. I am strongly against it being showcased internationally. It’s sending wrong image of our country.

When I say directional piece of art, I liked the way two parallel stories have been shown; the “Who wants to be a millionaire concept?” and how Jamal’s story is running in parallel. What was interesting and thought provoking was the realization that many times in our lives - we need not be just well-read to have knowledge of something. Our experiences make us very knowledgeable. Most of our Granny's are not literates but when they speak they enlighten us. They have knowledge of many things in life.

When it comes to “Who wants to be a millionaire?” (Popularly known in real India as “Kaun banega Crorepati?”), I don’t remember either Amitabh Bacchan or Shahrukh Khan ever mocking any contestant who hailed from humble or poor background unlike the host in the movie mocking Jamaal as “Chaiwala” or “Call Center Assistant”.

In real India even the literates and well-educated people prefer speaking in Hindi or their regional language other than obviously formal/ office environments. And we saw slum dwellers speaking in fluent, accented English!! When China and other countries can enter International Film Forum with their national language or any preferred language (with subtitles) why can’t India? Why is India still a slave of the British subconsciously? Why is Indian cinema trying to appease the jury by speaking in their language when we Indians can easily feel that what is being shown is not reality?

At one point in the movie an urchin (Jamal) is thrashed by the driver of American tourist, and Jamal asks the tourist “You wanted to see the real India, this is real India!!”. To that the American tourists give the urchin some good amount of dollars adding that now you’ll see some real America. What was the assistant director (an Indian) doing when such a nasty script was being directed? Is that the real India? That is India but not the real India. Atrocities towards the weak and poor are in all the countries. Is real India the largest “Dhobighaat” in Asia? Aren’t there better things to show in India? There definitely is. I get reminded of a shot in the movie “Munna Bhai MBBS” when “Circuit” scolds a Chinese tourist by saying that “Can you see only poverty in India?” when he says that he wants the picture of poor and famished Indians?”

AR Rehman got Golden Globe award for “Jai Ho…” I am sure even AR Rehman knows that he has composed better and more sensible music in the past. He got an award for this because this movie was produced by an International Production House and had a better international visibility. This number is definitely catchy but it’s not one of those that you can listen again and again unlike AR Rehman’s other creative wonders.

The song was so misplaced; this movie did not require a song. The choreography was utter piece of shit. How can slum guys pull off salsa/ jive steps? A realistic movie does not have a song after the last scene with a crowd dancing with the lead characters. And above all the crowd comprised of local train travelers. Who in Mumbai does this? Who has the time to dance on VT (CST) platform?

All in all, it can be watched once and you like the movie because direction is good, actors especially the kids have done wonderful job, and because there is lot of pathos and revelations about a section of society which is different than ours. It can be watched because it’s a story of hope, a story of realizing that it’s not just by proper education or literacy we can become rich or change our destiny by 180 degrees; we can do by just being aware, by being at the right place at the right time, by having focus, by working hard, by keeping your head at the right place even through adversities and by not going astray. We have many examples of such people in our country and elsewhere who were not educated (in term of having n number of degrees) but made it big in their lives.

Nonetheless, it’s not a movie which should be sent to international platform, appreciated or for that matter even awarded. I do not take pride in the fact that this movie has brought us awards or can bring us more. If we are getting international awards for such movies, we better not. We have seen better movies in the recent past like Wednesday, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Munna Bhai MBBS, Rang De Basanti to name a few.

Well I’ll end my review in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” style. :)
How did Slumdog Millionaire become an international hit?
A. Good Script/ Direction
B. Good Cast
C. Good Song/ Choreography/ Background score
D. Sheer Dumb Luck
I would say D. – Sheer Dumb Luck.

A smile for the unexpected ....

I was waiting nervously for the cameraman, aware that there were eyes scanning me head to toe; for they were curious to know who is the new "Bahu" of Sinha family. In this state of mind I was getting various instructions from behind. To wait or to move towards the podium where we were to have our "Jaimal" ceremony. Someone came and gave me a "Jaimal" in my hand and someone instructed me to walk and I started walking. Today when I look at the photos during this walk, I am amazed why I held the "Jaimal" like that; as if I was ready to bell my cat :). It's just our subconscious mind. I saw so many brides holding it that way so I did the same.

Well, this post is not a detailed description of my wedding; it's about few incidents - good ones - which I can never forget. Once such fond memory is of a moment when I started walking towards the podium. While I nervously started, instructed to walk slowly, I remotely heard a song starting to play too... "Jab se tere Naina .... Mere Naino Se... Laage Re..." I started concentrating on it.. and only on it. I was elated from inside.. The song created the perfect mood for the situation and made those few moments of my walk towards my destiny very memorable until my focus shifted from the song to Sudhanshu....

Later I was told by Sudhanshu that he had instructed the orchestra specially to play this song when I arrive. This small information made those few moments of walk even more special.

Another such exhilarating incident is very recent and I can visualize it every day since I am here in Pune; the last evening in Gurgaon before I came to Pune. Sudhanshu and I had a small scuffle and after that I went to market to finish off a few last moment tasks. Besides completing my work, I bought a Barbeque stand for Sudhanshu since he wanted to buy it for a very long time. I reached home and asked Sudhanshu to guess; he guessed it immediately and I still wonder how he did it. Anyways he was so happy and touched (it showed on his face) and got so excited that he immediately planned to go and get the marinated stuff... and do the barbeque tonight itself. I was happy to see the thrill and excited to execute it. We bought the marinated chicken.

On Jan 2nd 2009, it was extremely cold and we sat in the balcony of our apartment for the Barbeque. Although initially we struggled to light the coal but eventually sat in the comfort of the heat coming from coal and barbequed with lot of fun. We all had one of the loveliest chicken / kabab barbequed. It tasted so nice probably because of so many emotions around it.

Well, I wonder sometimes, why some incidents leave an impact on your conscious and subconscious mind!! It could be probably because of its "unexpected" or "unplanned" nature at a given situation or probably because of the mixture of emotions surrounding it. Nevertheless, they are special and always bring a smile.

When (Sports) Men Cry

It’s painful to see a man cry. As a child, I never saw my father or brother crying; brother obviously had cried in his teenage but hadn’t seen him crying after that. I grew up with the well-spread and well-known notion that men don’t cry, and then one day I saw my father shedding tears over a situation very close to his heart and I couldn’t believe my eyes for a very long time. I saw my pillar losing its strength. Some incidents in our lives made my brother cry uncontrollably one night. I still couldn’t generalize it to Men. Later, I left my home for good and met friends (that includes my husband as well) who were family away from family. We shared and cared for each other and it was then that I found that these male friends of mine were equally sentimental about many a things in their lives and shed tears. It thus sunk in: it’s a myth - Men Don’t Cry although it’s still always painful to see men cry.

Our society has shaped our minds so strongly that anything against it is kind of unbelievable.

Yet again, after loosing to Rafael Nadal in a long four and half hours match yesterday, Roger Federer gave-in to his emotions. I would not say it was unbelievable that he lost. He has lost many a titles this year and every time he played and lost, I could feel the amount of efforts he was putting to win against his opponent. It was like he was trying to gain back his undefeated position, but something was working in his psyche and he wasn’t living up to being Roger Federer. It pained me whenever I saw him loose. It showed in his body language that he knew that if he kept loosing like this, eventually he won’t be able to retain his No. 1 position. And his strive to preserve it failed this year; although this was also the year when he closed to Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams. But, yesterday, his dream of winning 14th Grand Slam shattered.

With his amazing performances and records and after being named the best Tennis Player in history, it’s not that he will not have chances in future…

Well, thought provoking point is that sportsmen are the strongest breed of men; they are ones with lot of attitude, style and charisma. But what I have come to realize - that’s their exterior. We tend to forget that internally, they are also humans with emotions and sentiments close to their passion – their sports. We common folks, kind of idolize them because sportsmen of Roger Federer’s caliber seem so perfect in what they are doing and what they are known for.

It was sad to see him fall every time and it was a disheartening to see him dethroned this year. And at moments like yesterday even sportsmen lose their “Sportsman Spirit” and cry like a baby, as if their toy - their trophy is being given away to someone else.