Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Zari waale neele aasman ke tale...

It’s not an Indian movie, it’s a British movie. And we should stop coveting the Oscars, they are nothing but Hollywood’s version of Filmfare. I convinced myself.

Yet, I was up at 6.30 AM for the Oscars. 

             Slumdog Millionaire bagged almost all the awards and I was elated, to say the least.

     “This is not an award, but history being handed over to me!” Said Resul Pookutty. Though I still fail to understand the importance to the Oscars, I was proud of the fact that we were on the global stage.

A.R. Rehman was the star of the show and I loved his acceptance speech. Nothing over the top and no long winded list of people to thank, he accepted the award like a professional and like he always says at the end of every acceptance speech, he said, “Ellam Poghulam Iruvanke” (All praise is for the Lord.)

For me, I loved the movie and not for an instant found it to be an ugly portrayal of India. Every city has it’s underbelly and Mumbai is no exception. I hated Anil Kapoor in the movie and I guess that speaks volumes about his performance.

Anil Kapoor

SDGM

But the real stars of the movie are the three musketeers. Ayush Khedekar, as the young Jamal, is the most convincing among all. The young Salim (Mohammad Azharuddin) and the cutie pie, Latika (Rubina Qureshi) have delivered splendid performances. Latika was the cutest of the three and her role, albeit miniscule, was pretty powerful. Her silhouette haunts the movie. I wish someone recognises these three gems and felicitates them, their performance was so heart warming, yet almost unnoticed. 

rubiana

It was a British movie. But the formula was very much Indian. I felt that this movie was more Indian than Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi simply because of the brown starcast, the brown hero and that customary song at the end of the movie. I have seen better movies from Hollywood and heard better music by Rehman, yet why did Slumdog Millionaire win so many awards then?

I guess, it was written!! :D

OScars

4 Grumblings:

komal said...

very well said...bt i still belive ..its a british movie,,,nt indian..so y r we celebrating d oscars... i congratulate ab junior and priyanka for winning filfare dis year.....be desi..love desi

Ayyappan said...

@Komal
As I said before , this movie is more Indian than Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. We should celebrate because, AR Rehman was recognized globally and I would be lying if I said that I didn't jump for joy..!
I congratulate Priyanka for the filmfare.. but AB junior, well.. thanks !! :D :D

Meera's World said...

i loved the fact that,it won world wide recognition for india,rather than two individuals:).in the end when they showed that song and those two little kids dancing,i think thats what touched me the most.

Ayyappan said...

@Meera
Yeah, not for two individuals only.. but I loved hte recognition India got and I am proud of it. And yes, the scene was touching.. i can recall.. when, after the riots, Jamal calls Latika to come and sleep with them during the rains, I had a lump in my throat.. his innocence killed me..!