The other day I watched the film Slumdog millionaire.
Irrespective of its 8 Oscars, it is not a kind of film you can rub your seat off and walk away and forget before the popcorn digests out. It asks some compelling questions, particularly if you are an Indian, even so if you are presently living in the land of the film's director. I was watching from both those perspectives, which was an interesting and a precarious one.
Against much nationalist cry of portraying India negatively, the truth is that there does exist a slum as portrayed in the film. The film was not made in an erected-set, but real-life slums and roads, amidst the squalor and wretchedness of places which our fellow-brothers and sisters call 'home'. There are other ways to explain away the slums, but that is a debate for another day.
The film is a climax to a stage in India's growth where "India is at the centre of the world" (direct quote from a character in the film). Westerners view this fast-changing India with as much intrigue as chagrin. After about 115 minutes of the movie, when you reflect on what the movie actually wanted to say - "hope" is what clamours above many other close contenders.
From the sidelines of the movie, I unearthed an artiste called MIA who is my today's epitome of hope. MIA is the stage name of a Srilankan singer called Mathangi Arulpragasam. She incidentally was nominated for the Oscar for 'O..saya' with AR Rahman, making it a தமிழ் sweep of some sorts, which few people would have noticed. 'Paper planes' is another song from Slumdog Millionaire which is rarely talked about compared to 'O..saya' and 'Jai Ho'. That song is a MIA song which AR Rahman has used in this movie and also remixed. All this bloomed on me only when I saw the film and heard the songs in the context (typical of ARR songs!). When I read about Mathangi's life I couldnt find a better epitome of hope. Technically, a refugee - who went on to become a global rap and hip-hop star. More and more incidents like these are etching that strong belief in me so deeply that, you dont have to BE anybody to achieve anything. Anybody can achieve anything. The moral of the story is "It doesnt matter where you start from, but it does matter where you are going and where you reach". This theme is of course,more glamorously paraphrased by Silambarasan in one of his movies.
Unknowingly like a dog returning to its drinking bowl, this theme seems to recur again and again in my blog. Maybe years of pessimism needed this spell to instill some hope in me. While I am saying this, I need to recognise that we should continue doing the ordinary stuff, however boring - for the extra-ordinary to occur. Susan Boyle became extra-ordinary, because for more than 30 years she was doing the ordinary job of singing in clubs and pubs. While I have become more or less convinced of the pronounced role of luck in people's lives - both the presence or absence of it - luck by definition requires a basic degree of perseverance, I guess. We could say Frieda Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire, is very very lucky to reach there. But she had to have a basic requirement of being a model (the ordinary) to get noticed to catapult her into the extraordinary (of a Hollywood star). That motivates me. What I do today, may seem boring, repetitive and monotonous. But I have to continue doing this consistently and better every other time - for something extraordinary to occur, if at all!
For the record - Danny Boyle has been directing and producing films for the past thirty years!!! Were the 8 Oscars pure luck or a gift to somebody's perseverance? Difficult question, eh! Likewise AR Rahman wins an Oscar for what I would say is a Kindergarten rhyme by his standards, when so many of his masterpieces did not reach those heights at all.
I am now learning that those 'ordinary' masterpieces were needed to lead him to that 'extraordinary' Kindergarten rhyme, promptly titled 'Jai Ho'!!!
Irrespective of its 8 Oscars, it is not a kind of film you can rub your seat off and walk away and forget before the popcorn digests out. It asks some compelling questions, particularly if you are an Indian, even so if you are presently living in the land of the film's director. I was watching from both those perspectives, which was an interesting and a precarious one.
Against much nationalist cry of portraying India negatively, the truth is that there does exist a slum as portrayed in the film. The film was not made in an erected-set, but real-life slums and roads, amidst the squalor and wretchedness of places which our fellow-brothers and sisters call 'home'. There are other ways to explain away the slums, but that is a debate for another day.
The film is a climax to a stage in India's growth where "India is at the centre of the world" (direct quote from a character in the film). Westerners view this fast-changing India with as much intrigue as chagrin. After about 115 minutes of the movie, when you reflect on what the movie actually wanted to say - "hope" is what clamours above many other close contenders.
From the sidelines of the movie, I unearthed an artiste called MIA who is my today's epitome of hope. MIA is the stage name of a Srilankan singer called Mathangi Arulpragasam. She incidentally was nominated for the Oscar for 'O..saya' with AR Rahman, making it a தமிழ் sweep of some sorts, which few people would have noticed. 'Paper planes' is another song from Slumdog Millionaire which is rarely talked about compared to 'O..saya' and 'Jai Ho'. That song is a MIA song which AR Rahman has used in this movie and also remixed. All this bloomed on me only when I saw the film and heard the songs in the context (typical of ARR songs!). When I read about Mathangi's life I couldnt find a better epitome of hope. Technically, a refugee - who went on to become a global rap and hip-hop star. More and more incidents like these are etching that strong belief in me so deeply that, you dont have to BE anybody to achieve anything. Anybody can achieve anything. The moral of the story is "It doesnt matter where you start from, but it does matter where you are going and where you reach". This theme is of course,more glamorously paraphrased by Silambarasan in one of his movies.
Unknowingly like a dog returning to its drinking bowl, this theme seems to recur again and again in my blog. Maybe years of pessimism needed this spell to instill some hope in me. While I am saying this, I need to recognise that we should continue doing the ordinary stuff, however boring - for the extra-ordinary to occur. Susan Boyle became extra-ordinary, because for more than 30 years she was doing the ordinary job of singing in clubs and pubs. While I have become more or less convinced of the pronounced role of luck in people's lives - both the presence or absence of it - luck by definition requires a basic degree of perseverance, I guess. We could say Frieda Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire, is very very lucky to reach there. But she had to have a basic requirement of being a model (the ordinary) to get noticed to catapult her into the extraordinary (of a Hollywood star). That motivates me. What I do today, may seem boring, repetitive and monotonous. But I have to continue doing this consistently and better every other time - for something extraordinary to occur, if at all!
For the record - Danny Boyle has been directing and producing films for the past thirty years!!! Were the 8 Oscars pure luck or a gift to somebody's perseverance? Difficult question, eh! Likewise AR Rahman wins an Oscar for what I would say is a Kindergarten rhyme by his standards, when so many of his masterpieces did not reach those heights at all.
I am now learning that those 'ordinary' masterpieces were needed to lead him to that 'extraordinary' Kindergarten rhyme, promptly titled 'Jai Ho'!!!
Thanks Rex.......I just think it needed to come at some time.....and I'm happy u wrote.....Thank You....Keep persevering....!!
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