All the media went ga ga over the runaway success of the film at the oscars. What they have not understood was that the film got so many awards because it was directed and produced by westerners though it was set in Indian backdrop. I doubt whether it would have so many awards had it been produced and directed by an Indian. As for ARR , though I am a great fan of him , I don't think this is his best. He had more superior works to his credit. Our media never gives such wide coverage for our national awards. I don't understand why do we alaways want accolades form the west for whatever we do. Even ARR ( The Hindu) has told that, Anjelina Jolie, Spielberg and Penelope Cruz congratulated him and treated him as their equal. Why should he have this comlex? He is much more talented. Unless we believe that, we are second to none, ae will always have this sort of complex.
Re: oscar awards
by True Muslim on Feb 25, 2009 06:50 PM
It looks like some Indians and some pretending to be indians get great pleasure in licking WHITE as . We should not deprive them of this kind of pleasure. Let the enjoy. Slum dog millionire is another trash movie which actually would have gone to trash in INDIA ( not in west because they love India bashing) had it not been for ARR who gave some dignity to it. So Let Manu t enjoy!!!!!!
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Re: Re: If an Indian Film Academy gave awards to a British or US by True Muslim on Feb 25, 2009 01:29 PM Permalink Films like harry potter etc, just another mindless fantasy. Just imagine same type of films made in hindi and people like MANU T will say , oh waht a "bundal" story. Manu be sincere , your lines are very partisan. Chandrayan went to moon unmanned , that too to the darker part , with absolute control from earth. Even Mr. Obama commented why we cannot do it! hope you have come to senses.
Re: Was SDM better than Tare Zaamen Par
by Babu CS on Feb 26, 2009 12:08 AM
TZP is a good movie.But the problem with TZP is that it was nominated in the best foreign language movie category(the only category where non-English movies can compete in Oscars). And also Americans have seen too many Hollywood movies with the same theme and it did not grab their attention.
First of all the term dog is not really derogatory, it implies the intensity of a lifestyle, somebody can be called a topdog and it may be a compliment. How many people who are criticizing the content of the movie have actually visited Dharavi, let me tell you it is not an ordinary slum but a zone of industry and hope, where the optimist thrives through industry that is not shackled by red tape. Dharavi embodies the spirit of the poor whose spirit has not been defeated by patronising and hypocritical crusaders. Let people know what Dharavi is all about, that hope and aspirations may be ignited in the poorest of the poor.
Re: Slum Dog Millionaire
by Malai Peda on Feb 25, 2009 05:53 PM
Very true. The average Rediff reader has only a superficial understanding of English, leave alone cultural meanings and usage. May I add for example that the term 'seadog' is often used to describe a tough and experienced sailor. Call any English navy chap a seadog and he will take it as a compliment. Slumdog really means a person from the slums who overcomes all odds, a survivor.
Also, wild dogs and wolves are pack animals that follow a strict hierarchy within their pack - the term 'topdog' refers to the leader of the pack who gets to eat first, whereas 'underdog' refers to the lowest rank who generally gets only the leftovers. However the underdog eventually moves up the hierarchy and may even get a chance to be the topdog. Hence the idiom, 'Every dog has its day'. In this context too, the slumdog has overcome the odds against him and achieved success (become a millionaire).
The term 'slumdog' however does not retain the original context while translating into Hindi and could have been avoided altogether in the title of the Hindi version. This is so since dogs are looked down upon here (possibly due to the influence of Islam), this has got reflected in our popular Hindi film dialogues (kuttey, kaminey!!!), where the many positive qualities of dogs have unfortunately been ignored.
Re: Re: Slum Dog Millionaire
by Tom Cruise on Feb 26, 2009 09:58 AM
I love the way you have put it Malai..you need to enlighten rediff readers even more..good job
Re: Re: Slum Dog Millionaire
by Babu CS on Feb 26, 2009 12:26 AM
May I also add that an average Rediff reader(or for that matter an average Indian who has lot of bandwidth to browse Rediff and the Web)lives in an elitist bubble; thinks India is a country where people earn an average wage of Rs. 2000 per day instead of Rs. 20 per day; no poverty exist; no slums exist; no police torture exist;no child abuse exist; Bollywood movies show reality; all that is ailing India is caused by Muslims and Britishers. They do not have time for etymology or profound thinking.
Re: Slumdog
by Neutral on Feb 25, 2009 03:23 PM
these oscars u do not desrve like this! these r begged and got up! these r thrown to u as a piece of bone and nothing else! this would never ever hapened if this film wud made by an indian director! understand the fact and reality before shouting! here it's a matter of ur prestige ! don't club it with ur narrow and non-understable mentality!
Re: Slumdog
by sourav daga on Feb 25, 2009 03:15 PM
Slumdog Millionaire child actors Azharuddin Ismail and Rubina Rafiq can now leave the squalor of their slum homes, courtesy the Maharashtra government which announced that both would be given a flat each.
Azharuddin Ismail Shaikh Usman and Rubina Rafiq Asghar Ali Qureshi are residents of Garib Nagar slum in Bandra East, Mumbai. They played the youngest version of the lead characters in the Oscar-winning film and were flown to the US for Hollywood's biggest award ceremony.
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan announced gifting the two a flat each from the chief minister's quota.
Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars at the 81st annual Academy Awards -- almost following the fairytale journey of its hero in the movie.
The Mumbai unit of the Congress party had approached Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on the matter. Rubina's father Rafiq is a casual carpenter while Azharuddin's father Ismail trades in old furniture.
Re: Re: Slumdog
by sourav daga on Feb 25, 2009 03:16 PM
As much as the Oscar voters loved Slumdog Millionaire [Images], the film could not have won eight Oscars including the best picture and best director nods had it not been a consistent box-office performer, Hollywood insiders say.
While the media ran a number of stories about the backlash at the film in India and a section of the British press, the audiences saw it as anything but an uplifting film filled with a beautiful romantic story. The Oscar voters just could not overlook a film that had stayed among the top 10 films of the week for more than six weeks in a row, experts said.
There was also no shortage of Indians abroad, notably best-selling novelist Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who defended the film and argued that filmmakers had the liberty to go to India and make a film on a subject that some Indians think should not be discussed in the West.
'Success spawns uproar. Great success spawns great uproar. This has certainly been the case with the film Slumdog Millionaire,' she wrote in an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. 'It may or may not win the Oscar for best picture, but it's already carried away the prize as the most hotly debated film of the season.'
Divakaruni, whose own novels including The Mistress of the Spices have upset some Indians who say that she should not wash the Indian community's dirty linen in public, is also a board member of Pratham, which does exemplary work with destitute children in India.
Re: Slumdog
by neeraj seth on Feb 25, 2009 03:36 PM
what a stupid reply! its not about noth and south...grow and and stop writing India IN BOLD. IF YOU DONT KNOW THE MEANING OF BEING DEMOCRATIC.
Re: Re: Slumdog
by Sensible Indian on Feb 25, 2009 03:56 PM
INDIA bold likhne mein kya problem hai bhai? And your whole sentence is in bold letters !!!
For indian viewers, it is a big task to find the 'oscar' in the film, as if we take an ordinary stone and concentrate at it for many days, to feel its detail and wonder it is exceptional!
