Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Jai Ho....!!!!!!

Many many congratulations to Mr. A.R. Rahman for attaining the distinction of being the only Indian to win 2 Oscars.And also heartiest congratulations to Mr. Danny Boyle and the cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire.

It is a befitting reply to those who slammed the movie as 'Poverty porn'... it was said that all the movies which portray Indian poverty get accolades abroad...it was also said that poverty is the only thing which"sells".....to all these pessimists, either they haven't seen the movie or are far divorced from reality. As A.R Rahman said in his acceptance speech, "the film's message was one of eternal optimism".... it portrays the struggle of three orphans and their struggle for existence...yes poverty does exist in India and it is also true that all the films that have managed to cut ice with the broader audience has been on that track. But let's not take away the credits for a well made film. It is our misfortune that we haven't been able to make a film which portrays India's rich heritage and culture with equal aplomb as we have managed to depict poverty and malnutrition, though we may say in all "these films' " defense that they have essentially shown human trials and tribulations with poverty as their background which leads us to the question, why there haven't been movies which show the same human elements but in a different context.

That is because, sadly, right from the time when Mother India was nominated in the Foreign Films Category in the year 1958, poverty has been a matter of "necessary evil" for us, though now in the post liberalized India it has become a matter of "selective ignorance"... it's indeed sad to see movies still using that theme and making big bucks with the overseas audience.

But if we are to lay the blame on why the movie makers are making such movies it's the case of "pot calling the kettle black"....we have poverty and if movie makers use this background to show life's trials, who can we blame but us....for letting such gruesome poverty exist....and slamming others if they manage to portray the reality.....we turn away from it squeamishly for the sole reason because we can't face it.....so for the moment let's leave the poverty behind and rejoice in the cinematic brilliance that's "Slumdog Millioniare"...
JaiHo !!!

Image Courtesy : www.wikipedia.org

Reflection muses...

Language is the basis for recapturing experience...

- Cyhthia Selfae