Monday, February 23, 2009

Jai Ho !

Ultimately, Slumdog Millionaire was a millionaire at the Oscars also. It had to. And, Rahman, A. R. Rahman, bagged two of the Oscars! Pinky also smiled. In all nine Oscars mean a lot. Is it recognition of India's might in the film world? Is it the strength of Indian poverty on film that the world is relishing in highlighting? Is it a sadist award ceremony organised with such a hype?
We heard many disgruntled voices during the building up of Slumdog Millionaire story. It was reported that Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan had refused doing the role Anil Kapoor finally did. Then we heard Mr. Bachchan himself deriding that foreigners come and shoot the poverty of the country and highlight the negative image on films to serve to the sadist appetite of the world. We also had Ms. Shilpa Shetty, all with her megalomania, criticising the same thing in the same way. Ms. Shetty so much as decided to act in a foreign film that would highlight the positive side of India, the Shining India.
What great people. True prodigies of the country. But are they true at heart. I smell something burning somewhere when they open their mouth. Yesterday saw Mr. Bachchan praying for Rahman. What a volte face.
If one wishes to see something common in the two Indian films that won, the positivity is the answer. Slumdog is the story of a slum boy becoming millionaire through a TV show. He knows the answers through his experiences, both good and bad, both sweet and bitter.
Is it the story of deprivation? No way. I feel it is the story of struggle, of hope and perseverance, of denial of defeat, of learning by experience.
Ditto for Pinky Smiles. A small time village girl smiles after some people take up her case. Community living, and sense of oneness? Yes. And a big YESS.
There was some hullabaloo on the term Slumdog. It was not the address of the slum dwellers by the foreigner producers of the film, it is the attitude of our very own resident foreigners. The socio-economic higher strata of India recognises the lower strata by this name.
The nine Oscar Awards to Slumdog Millionaire and Pinky Smiles is the recognition of India's strength, and the strength of its people. We have been proverbial slumdogs and have overcome all odds to snatch from the world a place of honour, place of strength. It is the recognition of India's perseverance.
Jai Ho !