Insecured, are we?

The recent backlash against Slumdog Millionaire's portrayal of India did not come as a surprise. The same overtones were heard when Arvind Adiga won the booker last year.

Why are we so distressed when being discussed? Is it an insecurity that stems from being subdued for many years? Or is it simply a lack of competitive spirit? Why do we get angry if someone shows us the mirror and more so if the person is not an Indian? Getting back to the movie, can anyone say that the portrayal was incorrect? So why crib saying that it did not depict the complete India, modern India, etc. The fact remains that Mumbai hosts both Lokandwala and Dharavi. The sooner we turn honest the better for us.

Slumdog was all about story telling and the only point is garnering maximum audience.
Boyle took an Indian's book and converted it to a motion picture and he did it brilliantly.
I have no second opinion about it. I am not even perturbed that he showcased India, rather Mumbai, thru slums and beggars. That's a truth about my country and I want to change it not deny it.

In my review blog I had accepted that I did not think Rahman's music for the movie to be his best but that does not mean I am not happy at his Golden Globe win. Neither do I want to think why doesn't any other movie, with a better Rahman music win the coveted prize! For me, the music is great and I am glad it's recognized even if it's not his best.

I personally feel that people all over the world connect to the concept of hope triumphing over odds. Have you seen the 2004 Hollywood film Crash? If not, pick a DVD. The movie clearly shows the racial discrimination issue in the US. Didn't that movie dent the image of our so called Big Brother. No, it does not! It showcases a fact about a country in the form a story and ends it with a warm feel good climax. That's what movies should do. They should end on an optimistic note. It makes you feel good.

Aren't we as a country changing every minute? We are no longer the land of snakes and elephants. We are a country that's elected women to the two highest offices of our country. We are a country that's built an IT sector strong enough to have the firangs crying hoarse. I know we have our set of problems but we will solve them.

Let's not bother why the jury chose the movie. They may have their own logic, their own prejudices too! Lets just rejoice for an Indian(for god's sake 80% of the film was Indian, the cast, story, music, etc) movie making us proud. Let's not raise fingers or question their intentions. Let's just be confident and accept the accolades as they keep coming.

As Eleanor Roosevelt rightly said - Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire, the latest flick making waves, deserves every bit of praise it seems to be accumulating with every passing second.

The last time I saw such superlative performances and meticulous direction, was in 'The Dark Knight'. Not to forget, Rahman's music. Do I need to even say anything about a man who just lets his music speak for him. I personally didn't think that the music was awesome, but come on folks, I think so because when you compare Rahman, you compare him against himself. The westerners aren't used to this wide range of instrumentation (not a music expert but just my take) and probably thats why they are finding it awesome. For me, I think its fantastic but not his best.

The story is the life of 2 brothers, Jamal and Salim depicted in three distinct phases. Each phase is enacted by 3 set of actors and my personal vote goes for the first phase. The kids were amazing and not at all loud. They were precisely what they should have been - kids.

Jamal goes on to win a game show and every question in the show unfolds his life for the audience. A life which has probably seen every single human emotion. And these everyday emotions (as Pratik pointed) is what appeals the most.

Watch the movie folks and if you have the patience wait for the theatrical release on 23rd Jan. I am sure you will enjoy every moment.

Happy New Year!

As I stand on the brink of starting a fresh year I cant help but look back at things/events/people which made the year the way it was. I will jot down 5 things that come to my mind immediately as I write -


1)I learnt a new sport and my backhand has improved considerably. Yeah! I can confidently say I am a decent TT player.
2)I took efforts to cling to friends I thought I had lost and its paying slowly :)
3)I learnt that whenever you say 'Never ever', you probably would soon end up contradicting it. There is nothing thats forever - good or bad.
4)I still pause, rewind and listen to the lyrics of many songs.
5)I learnt to deal with stocks and mutual funds although the former is still in its infancy.

Wishing everyone a grand year with everything and everyone they hope :)
“Life is unsure ...have your desserts first!”

Damn!!!

Damn!!!! I yelled as I clicked on the delete partition option. Following the Murphy's law as soon as I had messed up my laptop, that instant, I realized what a moron I am. (I mean what I realized after clicking the button, had I realized a few seconds earlier it would have saved me my Sunday and you guys this blog)

For the uninitiated or the confused I deleted a logical windows partition after installing Fedora 9 on my laptop. And no sooner had I done it than I realized that my system is gone and I would have to install everything again. Simply because th grub refuses to load any system if you alter the configurations later.

I have done this so many times that I should probably be given an award for repeating this mistake so consistently. But the time frame between these mistakes is long and so I forgive myself every time (Not that i have any other choice)

So here I am, wasting a Sunday's sleep to get my laptop work properly again :(

:)

During one of my outings using the public transport I remember this incident. The conductor and one of the comuters had a very serious argument about something and the whole atmosphere in the bus was pretty tensed (almost ready to explode). Under such circumstances there happened to be this conversation between a 40 something uncle and the conductor - (The convo is in Marathi, so the fun would be if you understand the language. Translation will minimize the effect hence I would avoid it)

Uncle: "Hi gaadi coporation la jail ka?"
Conductor: "Nahin, Baal Gandharva la utrun ja...tithun jawal aahe"
Uncle: Jawal aahe na? Mag tumhich ghya ki gaadi tithun firwuun. Aaaho aamhi 10 loka aahot..kuthe chalat basnaar. Tumhich ghya ki gaadi tithun.
Conductor (laughing inspite of himself): Aaaho kaka, hi PMT aahe tumchi swatachi gaadi navha....
Uncle: Bhadakta kashya pai...stop aala ki saanga, aamhi utru. Aaamchya gavakade asa chalta...mhanun vicharlela bara.....

The simplicity of the man's expectation and his innocence charmed everyone including the angry conductor.

Homecoming

Yeah that's precisely what this blog is :) I mean I have hosted 2 blogs on blogspot but it took me umpteen requests (just being nice and mot using the actual vocab) to move my personal blog over here.


360 was driving me nuts and I had been loyal for quite some time, giving them too many chances to sorten out the mess thay have created. That was the first place i started jabbering so I kind of stuck with it for long, without being too demanding


Another reason for moving - Amit was talking about how irritated he was with the 360 page, when all of a sudden I came up with title of this blog. And I know myself, if I fall for anything first glance, I never give it up (I wish I was this precise at many other things ;))



So here I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!