Talk of the nation - Slumdog

Thanx to the continous persistence of my bro, I landed up in the balcony of Sridhar Cinemas to watch the much acclaimed Indian(?) movie …. Slumdog Millionare.

I must admit I had a lovely time enjoying the movie . The brilliance showcased by the film’s creators in its visual, audio and technical craft is indeed commendable. The movie maintained an optimum pace all along, thus ensuring the full attention of its audience, throughout its length. The director was brilliantly successful in displaying his skills in the art of filmcraft. Since I don’t intend to convert the crux of this blog into a canvas of flattery, I would rather sum up my appreciation to the technical crew by giving credits to the director, script writer, music director, the young cast and others. However, I would be insulting my conscience if I don’t  make special mention of AR Rahman who gave out yet another best in the form of the background score, to the extend that  it made me think, if Indian directors were ever successful in extracting music out of him for BGM. As is believed that talents cannot be hidden for long, I firmly believe that AR will get his due credits very soon from the global arena. Mimicking Kollywood, which is famous for giving sobriquets to film personalities, the international media has started showering praise on AR with the catchphrase ‘Mozart of Madras’. I am sure he will live upto his reputation.

But I have a strange feeling after watching the movie- Is there a single Indian in the movie other than the hero and heroine, who is portrayed positively leave alone characters with zero negatives. ( those of you, who are good at numbers would definitely wonder at this usage ‘zero negatives’, but then I am reminded of a friends dialogue to me – this is how new usages are created-Well I just wanted to convert ‘nil traces of bad character’. ) How else could you explain the exaggerated negativity in all characters ranging from the school master to the TV Host played by Anil Kapoor.  Sans the kids from the slum, I challenge the reader to point out  a character with a positive tint, in the film.

 It may be a coincidence (although, I find it difficult to believe so) that all movies portraying India as a nation of mere slums, brothels, imperialist colony etc are magnanimously appreciated by the Oscar jury and other better ones don’t find a place, even in nominations. Or is it that Oscar jury is blind at large to the tons of masterpieces from the rest of the world outside the US boundaries, for fear of… (well  I don’t precisely know fear about what, since the Yankees are ridiculed to be fearful of anything and everything ).

As the grand evening at the Oscar venue is nearing, I am sure there will be greater visibility of the movie in the media … Lets keep our fingers crossed till Feb22nd….