SlumDog Millionaire – Those Foreign Aliens Are Taking Our Oscars Too!
// February 22nd, 2009 // Desi-Indian, DesiPundit
“It felt like an Indian movie awards function”
-Anil Kapoor, Indian actor
Jai Ho to Slumdog Millionaire! And Smile Pinky!
My Dad doesn’t do Oscar night. He says it is for the elitist, rich, snobby white people. But tonight he was pleasantly surprised.
A horde of Indian invaders and their British allies on tourist visas took home the coveted and prized Oscars as the world watched. One in particular, A R Rahman, dazzled and charmed everyone with his musical genius while also speaking sentences in Tamil. This is America, English-only!!
Obviously the title is a dig at nativists and xenophobes alike who are probably outraged at all the non-English singing and dancing at the Oscars, as well as the foreigners (brown people especially) getting awards. And they may not even be taxed!!
It totally deserved it! It’s like the little film that could…YAY!
- Lucy Ogbu
The Oscars are the ‘ultimate’ in terms of awards, and while that is as North-Atlantic-hegemony centric as it gets, when small movies like SlumDog Millionaire break into the big leagues, it is in a small way, counter-hegemonic for the entertainment world. It is a reply to Hollywood’s long rejection of Bollywood ‘musicals,’ as everyone seems to be dancing to Jai Ho.
Sure, it took a British director to make a movie on an ‘Indian subject’ to get Oscars for Indian technicians who have been doing superior work for decades (i.e. Gulzar, A R Rahman, Pookutty). Slumdog Millionaire is nowhere near the A-list of Bollywood movies given it’s simple tried-and-tested theme of love over money. And this isn’t A R Rahman or Gulzaar’s best work. At the same time, it is heartening to see these musical greats finally getting international recognition for what is ultimately an Indian movie. However, THAT should not be a marker for success. AR Rahman doesn’t need Hollywood; Hollywood needs him.
Real change would mean not leveraging the credibility of a movie or work of art on North Atlantic-centric, corporate award ceremonies. Why are the Oscars more noteworthy than the Filmfare Awards that are held by the biggest movie industry in the world?
Congratulations nonetheless, to Slumdog Millionaire and to every Indian that considers this their movie.
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12 Responses to “SlumDog Millionaire – Those Foreign Aliens Are Taking Our Oscars Too!”
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Yeah! It's a great feeling to see Indians being recognize at the international platforms. I only wish it was a Bollywood and not aHollywood flick. I quite agree with your point that it took a British Director to make a movie on Indian subject for us to get those Oscars. However, I wonder why movies like Parzania, A Wednesday, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer never get to go to the Oscars. Recently I saw the preview show of Barah Aana at the Pune Film Festival. If Slumdog speaks of real life situations, Barah Aana is definitely more real than that. It's a story about three commonplace characters and the twist and turns of their lives set in today's Mumbai. I think this is one of Naseeruddin Shah's best performances. With minimum dialogues, he has definitely proven 'action speaks louder than words'. Also commendable are the works by Vijay Raaz, Arjun Mathur and the entire cast. The plot is gripping. In fact you can check out the details of the movie at http://barah-aana-the-film.blogspot.com/ For every movie buff, this is the movie to watch out for. I don't know whether it'll make it to the Oscars or not, it's surely a masterpiece in my opinion.
Rahman's music…it's just amazing. I was good to see a new face among all the 'regulars'
“new face”
LOL …
Thanks for the movie suggestions. I have seen a few of those and will check our Barah Aana.
Naseerudin is surely a 'great.'
I don't think a movie needs to get an Oscar or Bollywood needs Hollywood recognition to deem itself successful. Obviously, we make amazing movies every year like My Brother Nikhil, 15 Park Avenue, A Wednesday that are above and beyond 'Slumdog.'
I just want to watch and see where we go from here. Is Hollywood going to try to hire more Indian technicians like Rahman? I certainly don't want a brain drain of musical genius from our movie industry just to mark the success of India on the world stage.
We know our music rocks. Don't need rich, white snobs at the Oscars to tell us that through awards.
YAY for Slumdog, I was jumping up and down in my seat when they announced this. I have always been proud to be indian but today I am more so.
Me too sis!!
You should change your item to Jai Ho …
sarcasm, honey, sarcasm
GREAT FILM, and today i might see it for the second time… hey girl and great review, i love it!
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