My dear pseudo-intellectuals of India born and brought up on burgers and pizzas instead of rotis and parathas, May I take this opportunity to bring to your kind attention the headline on CNN right now.The front page story they have is about some slum dwellers in India. There are 3 photographs out of which 1 has around a 90 year old woman begging for mercy. The headline is “India razes slums, leaves poor homeless”. The bitter fact is that Danny Boyle made this movie because he knew that Indian slums sell like hot cakes. And to people who are loving this movie for highlighting the plight of the slums , my question is what has Danny Boyle done by making this film and earning huge sums of millions? Did he donate even a miniscule part of his earnings to the slum dwellers? In some ways, its also very disappointing to see such an overjoyed Anil Kapoor on hearing his name just once when Danny Boyle thanked all his cast and crew. It seemed as if all the adulation that he got from Indians for so many years was rendered meaningless and the only praise that Mr Kapoor cherished was that one line from Mr Boyle. SRK trying so hard to impress the Americans by offering to do a pelvic Indian dance, he himself brought to shame all his achievements so far. Its so sad to see them being so desperate to get some attention for a few minutes and bringing the entire nation to shame. I hope this mail helps you understand the facts better! Amen!
They must have sent superstar himesh reshmaiya's karrz to oscars .. Even if the movie did not get oscars atleast himesh hairstyle must have won an oscar for india ..
I think its Indians who are hypocrites. Just a couple of days ago "Slumdog Millionaire" won big at Golden Globe and every one started shouting as to how India has arrived on the world stage. Now TZP is out of oscar race so oscars dont matter any more? The fact is world doesn't care for Indian Masala movies (believe me TZP was very melodramatic for western standards). Grow up and accept the fact that not everything Indian is world class.
Indian films will win Oscars when we make "Hard Hitting Realistic" films on India's poverty, supression of women, widow ashrams etc...This is the only opinion and view the western world has about us. Slumdog Millionaire is a brilliant film but highlights the toilet habits of Dharavi kids, and it goes on to win 4 Golden globes. Taare zameen par only showed that India is capable of dealing with Dyslexia, but somehow that did not make an impact on the oscar panel.
The principal of a school was shocked that i spoke English, when we went to admit my daughter to school in USA. So that is their perception about us.
Re: Oskaar??????
by tapan on Jan 15, 2009 06:54 AM
well given that, you expect to win a oscar? why are we so crazy about "made in usa"? our awards are good too. and TZP is a excellent movie. why do we care what the world feels. be proud in what we have and do...but i guess i am talking to a wall:-)
Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by LA People on Jan 15, 2009 05:41 AM
Well Said Seema. I think westerners see India only as a poor country with slums and/or homeless people dying of hunger. Make a movie on these subjects, I bet the next Oscar for the Best Foreign Film category is an Indian Film.
Re: Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by sandeep mohapatra on Jan 15, 2009 06:06 AM
Very true....those hypocrites are just plain afraid of giving indian movies d deserved recognition... but unfortunately bad selections are rampant in India too. How else do u justify Sharukh winning more awards than Aamir????
Re: Re: Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by Truth BeTold on Jan 15, 2009 08:03 AM
I think its Indians who are hypocrites. Just a couple of days ago "Slumdog Millionaire" won big at Golden Globe and every one started shouting as to how India has arrived on the world stage. Now TZP is out of oscar race so oscars dont matter any more? The fact is world doesn't care for Indian Masala movies (believe me TZP was very melodramatic for western standards). Grow up and accept the fact that not everything Indian is world class.
Re: Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by Chohan on Jan 15, 2009 08:40 AM
Amir was out of sight for good 5 years from 1995 to 2001. SRK super success made him unemployed and then Farhan akhtar gave him Dil chata hai because hrithick refused. Amir stoped accepting awards way before unemployment period when he lost to anil kapoor (woh 10 din or something...)against his movie (Sungharsh or something . the movie on terrorism). SRK is rock solid earning the revenue for bollywood since last 20 years. Come on give SRK some credit. Akshay tanked for first 16 years and recently delivered few hits. Now you know why Golden Globe call SRK KING OF BOLLywood
Re: Re: Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by martin descent on Jan 15, 2009 09:42 AM
I am with you man.. SRK rocks n rocks n rocks..... no match for him in bollywood..
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by Indian on Jan 15, 2009 08:05 PM
Agreed........SRK Sucks man....Pathetic Body and more bad face,Looks like a Mummy from Egypt....Look his emotional scenes, looks comedy while doing emotions. He can only do films which have 3 heroiens.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Oskaar??????
by seema on Jan 15, 2009 10:35 AM
Trust a SRK fan to drag SRK into a totally unrelated topic.... And BTW Aamir was not "out of sight" from 1995-2001. He had Films like Rangeela (1995)Ishq & Raja hindustani(1997)Ghulam Sarfarosh(This was the movie on terrorism, not sunghursh) (1998), Earth (1999) LAGAAN (2001). He only stopped attending Awards ceremonies when Anil Kapoor rigged the awards and won for Beta.
90% of our films are aped from the west except for addition of songs and masala(Kaante, Ghajini,Partner(horible remake of Hitch and no ack to the original). Anyways thats what our masses like. Thats it. We shouldnt even send our films to Oscars. They can never understand our culture. I dont understand why we want Oscars Oscars are a stupidity. Personally I love only select Hindi/Tamil/Marathi/Kannada/Malayalam films. I havent watched much telegu or other language films. Some old Marathi movies were really good. Their themes where way ahead of their times
Every international film festival's promoted by the country that holds it, marketing the festival is half its success.Why have Chinese films won not only Oscars & festivals like Berlin,Venice? Because their films are poetic,the costumes, the culture the artistic taste is great.Bollywood films are pathetically predicatable.The costumes and sound track are similar.The dance and songs put people off distracting from the story that could be simple,but well portrayed.Lagan had that something extra.But we're talking about foreign voters,not Indian.We don’t care if our films don’t win,they have a bigger audience than any other film industry.But don’t forget that foreign film winning festivals have large backing,lobbists & that country promotes it in a big way.No one bothers with Indian films.Would the PM/President praise any Indian product when they're abroad?Never!That's why Indian products are tough to sell. Benigni's Italian film that Sofia Loren handed the Oscar to was about the Jews during the war,what could be more attractive to the super US Jewish lobby?It had enormous publicity for the entire year. Of course it won & Loren(this is marketing,made a big show giving the prize,it captured the imagination of the audience,success was ensured. Gomorrah too has been promoted to nausea by Italy all over the world.Italy keeps inventing Intl. awards & giving the author publicity.If we learn marketing & stop pretty actors imitating western fashion in foreign locations, we
Re: Oscar and Indian films
by athena greek on Jan 15, 2009 02:59 AM
Oh great Nadia sani mata, please emigrate to a "better" country, if you're not already writing from there. Sorry that India doesn't meet your requirements. Hope it doesn't shock your snooty brain to know that some Indians are still capable of taking the good with the bad.... warts and ALL and are proud to live here. Take care not to kick off the ladder you used to climb... or else... you know the rest!
Re: Oscar and Indian films
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 15, 2009 03:13 AM
Ms Nadia, you raised some interesting points about the lobbying factor in Oscars. We all know how average Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was , still it won an Oscar. I think our nation has more teething problems to address right now than lamenting why we didnt get approval from some whites in US.
The first thing I would like to say is that there is no need even to publish this news as Oscars are not for Hindi movies. They do have a foreign language category but that in no way makes them above National Awards(India) or even Filmfare Awards for that matter.
The only movie released last year which could have been nominated in the top five was "Aamir" as it is brilliantly made. Theme of TZP was dyslexia which is nothing for the Western world, not even worth making a movie, though it's very important to highlight that in India.
"Aamir's" theme was terrorism and specifically very detailed analysis of the psych of terrorists and innocents who are made terrorists. That would have definitely clicked with the Western judges.
But in know way that means that TZP was not a brilliant movie. It was made for India and not West.
Re: Re: Not worth!
by bhangipeth on Jan 15, 2009 05:56 AM
QuotaDoc Millionare by DrRameshBhange(Pune)- a real life portrait of quota crimnials found every corner these days!!Excellent Soul searTHis gives you a clear insight in to these quota criminals'mind.These Quota Criminals wont get higher caste girl to marry or even to be grilfreind.so these middle aged 50ish quota doctors working in prestigious hospitals uses young or middle aged women COMING TO HIM as there pray! Most of quota doctors are smokers,habitual druncard or drug addict.Clearly it will knock down there virility for sure but problem is not that.Problem lies in THE Head!! By sxually abusing higheR caste women and/or childern,These quota crimianls will satisfy there EGO that they abused one or more highre caste woman and/or childern.This is pretty common psychological backwash when they feel fustated by competition from younger,competenet,more civilised and better looking merit doctor in the same hospitals.they have been taught to belive that they are margnialsed by higher caste professional which is clearly a myth as without QUOTA benefits,these criminals will be driving auto for sure!!
Why are we so keen on getting an Oscar? Each nation has different sensibilities and what is popular in the US will never be popular amongst the masses in India. We are nobody to make judgements on who is right and who is not. Each person is entitled to his own opinion and watch movies of his choice. I have no shame in admitting that our movies are amongst the best in the world(Swades, Lagaan, DCH, A Wednesday). If the Western jury isnt able to appreciate our cinema, it in no way undermines our achievements. Not all Hollywood movies are like Shawshank Redemption, some utterly pathetic movies like Terminator, Rambo series too earn 100s of millions of dollars despite repeating the same nonsense in each of the movie of the series. Its immaterial whether TZP got an Oscar or not, as long as we Indians enjoyed watching it, it will always be our darling. O my fella countrymen, come out of this "wannabe" and "mental slavery" mindset.
Re: How does it matter?
by athena greek on Jan 14, 2009 10:58 PM
Well said Bharatwasi. We need to stop craving for a second opinion to our choice of lifestyle and culture. We need to appreciate ourselves and not wait to feel good until someone else says so. But people like Abhishek Dwivedi seem incapable of crawling out of this craven mentality. Pity.
Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 14, 2009 11:43 PM
Your name doesnt seems to be indian??why so??hy using a borrowed name??what dress r u wearing??Pant shirt??Which language r u typing in??English or hindi??I feel more pity on you. And pls grow up.Grow up enough to understand that I am not "not appriciating" our things.I but i saying whatelse is good in this world.Definitely there r few things in this world better than we have.and we shud accept this.That will need a better and open mind.I feel pity on you.
Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 14, 2009 10:19 PM
Dont know if my attempt gives away any answer to ur question or not, but i will try to write few words. Oscar matters because it is most prestigious award in film making.And my personal opinion is that they have maintained there good work by really judging the right people and films. Unlike our film fare, where most popular film and actor gets the award.And to highlight this there is another award called Critics Award(What the hell is that, who else is judging rest of them???).Films like Devdas sweeps the award ceremony and a well made film like Company hardly gets an award. I suggest you to go to Oscar's site and start watching one by one the winners of best picture award. I am sure you will love their selection.Same can not be said about filmfare and movies like Devdas and Raja Hindustani.
Re: Re: How does it matter?
by athena greek on Jan 14, 2009 11:03 PM
@abhishek
Ah, you answered your own quesiton. Your opinion about the Oscars is just that, your personal opinion. It's not the popular opinion of the Indians. You are welcome to your taste. But just because you didn't think Raja Hindustani and Devdas were good movies, doesn't mean the rest of the country has the same opinion. In my view, they were excellent movies made for a desi audience. Now the director cannot please every two bit guy who develops taste for foreign movies! So you're free to fawn over Oscar nominees, while we continue to enjoy our desi palate. If you cannot help being an elitist, atleast learn to be tolerant of others' tastes.
Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 14, 2009 11:20 PM
Yo got me wrong.Its not about hollywood. Its abt good movies.A good movie is a good movie whatever language it is in.People watch a movie in language they dont understand for the taste of movie.I wont say any thing abt Raja H or DeD as u might take it as a personal comment.I like good movies only and my first preference is always hindi.But unfortuanetly Hindii movies dont have enough count of good movies to satisfy my appetite.I am not taking about movies like Rambo or Terminator, but there r really some great movies made in hollywood at regular period, very unlike to our films where great moview r just occasional. And why so hatered abt their movies or towards them, its a age of globalisation.You love their burgures, pizzas, cokes, their shirt and pant then whats wrong if u like their movies too???please be rational.dont see more into this that it actually is.there is nothing desi or videshi abt it.we want foreighers to invest in our economy and infrastructure and dnot want to praise their movies because there we have a competetion??? and pls, dont take anything perosnally.sorry if i said anything that u dont feel good abt.
Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by athena greek on Jan 15, 2009 02:53 AM
Oh please now don't bring in the phony "globalization" argument into this. I am not advocating a ban on all things foreign including movies. sheesh. Why do you veer from one extreme to the other? Either we have to wear Khadi Kurta or we have to shut up and like all oscar nominated movies while frothing at the mouth? We have a thriving bollywood industry which caters to the Indian palate. It is not necessary for us to crave for approval from Hollywood. The judges there can never understand our culture or appreciate it the way we do. They may be curious about it and tolerate it to a great extent. But why should we hold up OUR movies to their standards?? This is just a simple case of you being very insecure about your country's culture and its movies.
You were fuming at how Filmfare recognizes "popular" movies for awards (in your own words) but not offbeat movies like Company. Hellooo??!!! Are you saying we should give awards to Unpopular movies that only appealed to a snobbish section who think they are smarter than the common man??
Re: Re: How does it matter?
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 14, 2009 10:22 PM
As if I have never seen an Oscar movie!! Anyway, I am sorry to disappoint you, you didnt answer my question. This is because you didnt understand my question. I had said that it doesnt matter whether TZP won an Oscar or not because the fact is that we enjoyed watching the movie and that matters the most. We should be least concerned whether it won an Oscar or not.
Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 14, 2009 10:35 PM
May be I did not, but my point was, there are few things(or peple) which makes a news anyways. Peple like SRK,Rahul Gandhi or Sachin, even if sneezes makes a news.Oscar is one such thing.People wants to hear a news related to that.So an entry or an exit is a news.Thats why u have this article above.I also am not concerned about if TZP wins or not, what I am happy with that standard of film making is going up with new people taking the charge.(I am sick of chopra's and johar's movie) :) But I would have been much happier if TZP wins an oscar, as this will get more international viewers to Indian cinema and so more growth to one of our industry(FILM). So, in order to flourish, indian films need more international welcome. :) I know u must be watching hollywood movies a lot, i just said like that.
Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 14, 2009 10:42 PM
Agreed to some of the points you mentioned, cheers!! But, we should in no way lose heart because it didnt win Oscar. I am not sure how long you have stayed in the west, but there is a concept of glass ceiling here. Its very difficult for an entirely Indian effort to win an Oscar, there are some very powerful people with extremely biased views who dominate plenty of decisions in the US. Just because they look good physically doesnt mean that their heart is also pure. We should rejoice in what we have of our own. Our population explosion which at one time was our biggest worry is now our biggest strength, you have Taj Mahal topping the list of the seven wonders, you have Bollywood movies popular across the globe. We should never be complacent, but always strive towards making ourselves better. However, we should in no way lose heart for not being appreciated by others who never truly understand our country.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 14, 2009 11:25 PM
I am not losing heart...but this segment is for foreign movies and they have to give away it to any foriegnlanguage movie only, however bad their heart is.Do u think they like chinese or frnch more than Indians?? And their heart defenitly dont have love for us, so what about our hearts??dont we discriminate too? do we love the rest of the world same way as we do to ourselves?? Everybody love themselves more then they do to others. Yes, thats what I am trying to say.We shud always try to get better and bring a time when Filmfare is as big as Oscar.But that will need quality, not just by bad mouthing oscar or hollywood. (nothing persoanl)
Re: Re: How does it matter?
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 14, 2009 10:33 PM
I must further add that movies such as :No country for old men,The Queen, Good night and good luck,Finding Neverland, Aviator,Chicago, Moulin Rouge,Traffic, which have been nominated amongst the top 5 movies for Oscars are in no way better than our own Lagaan,Swades type movies. You have to understand that we dont need to seek approval for everything that we do from the whites and if you do, then I pity your slave mentality. We need to have a sense of pride in what we are and should respect what is good in us, definitely being critical of our shortcomings, but in no way undermining our achievements just because some 10 odd whites sitting in Beverly Hills didnt like our efforts.
Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 14, 2009 10:38 PM
You r thinking way too much into it. And totally in wrong direction.It was u who was thinking about slave mentality. And if you want to stay of urself stop wearing foriegn dresses and start wearing Dhoti Kurta. Pls read my answer above.
Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by shivendra pandey on Jan 15, 2009 02:49 AM
@Abhishek.. I dunno how old are you but you are definitely among those "wannabes" who try to adapt western culture but actually they are not.. We are INDIANS we have indian accent and we'll remain Indians. Another thing is Yes Racism is still there.. Slumdog is one "Mediocre" movie made a by a westener that is why it got Golden Globe. If the same movie was made by an Indian then nobody had cared and not even watched once... Our so called modern society has made us a slave (u r included too and i am no different). We wear western clothes because we are being brought up like that.. We are currently living in a country where ppl wont join army but will go for "ROADIES" audition like a jerk.. So grow up man!!! Dont rely on foreigners for everything otherwise no Abdul Kalaam , Sachin Tendulkar or Aamir Khan will born ever!!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 15, 2009 04:15 AM
Shivendra BHai...I m no wannabe...and to tell u i m no less indian than u anybody else.if u know me u will say the same thing and i dont need claim my indianness.any way.Smehow my comments got misinterpretted.I am no indian bashers.I am among the one who will like it to be at the top in the world.And thats why it doesnt please me when i see a sub-standard indian movie or a hollywood rip-off.Unless u accept who is better than u, u r restricting urselves for growth.I accept that they have a better film industry and system.Ours is more money mincing industry, where few people are making the same kind of movie since years, they never try to give something new.Unless u try some new food u dont know what other foods r better than what u have been eating.There is no try for betterment in our film industry. I will give u one example.Our indian cricket team is doing better and better these days.They learnt few lessions form Aus team and now trying to outdo them with sucess as well.So was it bad to accept that Aus team was way ahead and learn few things from them?? "Dhoti Kurta" is just a metaphore.We should accept the things that r good. And we dont wear Shirt-pants because we have been brought up with that, rather its a is a better choice when day to day life is concerned.Also, can u fight on border in dhoti kurta?I know I will draw more comments but fine, bring them on. Open up ur mind, try new things, welcome new ideas and see how the world changes in your perpestive.........
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 15, 2009 04:15 AM
......And trust me, u will still be equally Indian.
one more example came to my mind...cricket is brought by foreigners but dont we play than and try to outdo them???We praise Sachin for outdoing them. Similarly I will praise RGV for Satya, COmpany Raju Hirani for Munna Bhai and Rakesh Mehra for Rang De Basanti(all originally indian to the core and great movies too).If there r more people like them, we will have more great original indian movies.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by surendra nath on Jan 15, 2009 04:41 AM
@Abhishek,
Abhishek.. I totally understand where you are coming from and I agree with you..
I simply want to say to all these "anti - white" people ... READ COMPLETELY WHAT I AM WRITE, then comment.. I am an indian .. I am proud of being an Indian and will always remain an Indian by heart, culture, values, moral etc etc etc.. But as an Indian I want India to go out in ALL THE FIELDS and excel .. DOMINATE .. Earlier West was considered the technological hub, today we Indians are the most technical minded people .. we excel.. In sports, rather cricket itself .. We are excelling today.. Why not in entertainment industry??
China had been making kung-fu movies for ages .. they got popular in west only after the movies started getting here dubbed in English and now Chinese collaboration movies are made and are successful. Mainstream chinese actors are part of hollywood. Why cant we do it??
"Slumdog Millionaire" might be "Mediocre" movie made by a white .. BUT WITH INDIAN ACTORS .. could we not have done it?? So why didn't we??
The whole "we dont need Oscar" thing is ABSOLUTELY right, but the voice with which it is portrayed here makes it sound more like "grapes are sour".
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 15, 2009 04:54 AM
Thanks Surendra Bhai..u r right. Could we have been successfull in IT as much as we did, by restricting ourselves to serving indian clients? You put my thoughs in diff words, hope that will make people understand what I am saying.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 15, 2009 06:01 AM
Haha, you yourself lost your stand. Now you are asking me not to criticize foreign movies!! My stand was that we dont need approval from outside to appreciate TZP. Its a great movie, we Indians loved it, we dont give a damn whether it won an Oscar or not!!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 15, 2009 06:06 AM
If an Indian director had made this movie, nobody would have even pissed on this movie. Do you really think that SM was better than Lagaan or A Wednesday or Aamir? If your answer is yes, then I am sorry to say this: You are an incorrigible intellectually handicapped slave. Besides, to answer Abhishek that we would have never been successful by serving Indian clients in IT is completely irrelevant and an out of context argument. I no way deny that we need to be open to new ideas, but we dont need to be ashamed of our achievements if an outsider doesnt acknowledge them. I myself have been working in IT and although I may have earned crores in my life so far, I still dont think we can call ourselves successful in IT, we are still backend and backoffice persons who simply maintain some software applications, infact we are software operators rather than software engineers and despite earning just 100k per annum we think we are doing great!!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 15, 2009 07:27 AM
have u taken contract of misunderstanding my points?When did i say that there is no good thing here or no good indian move??Read my entire writing and see if i have praised SM(i havent seen it though) or i wrote down lagaan or Wednesday? The point abt IT is not completely out of context, and u showed the signs that u too want to be a leader in IT not just a service firm. Thats what i wish any indian industry to be, including films and sports. Now calling me a mentally slave u r showing ur levels and where do u belong to. No point furthure arguing with a mindset like you. I wont write any more comments.Its entirely useless.
Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by asli bharatwasi on Jan 15, 2009 02:37 AM
Bhai mere , i never asked u to wear langoti , nor did i ask u to stop eating pizza burger. But pls dont stop eating your roti if an angrej tells u that it is not good. Hope you got my point now!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How does it matter?
by abhishek dwivedi on Jan 15, 2009 04:17 AM
bhai..i dont ask u to listen to them....but use ur own judgement.they dont tell me which is good movie and which is not.I like them on their face value.All I am asking is to not use ur judgement only for foreign movies, use them against indian movies and u will know what i m saying.
Why is there always such a hue and cry about the Oscars? Indian movies get enough exposure around the world, which is increasing. Oscars are not the beginning and ending of awards. I have seen several times over the years the Oscars going to individuals and movies that would make one raise his eyebrows, thinking how the hell did this movie or actor/actress deserve this award, leading me to believe that the process is very much tainted at times. To hell with such awards. TZP is a beautifully made film, and doesnt need to prove that it is one by just winning an Oscar.
