Well, all those who are so vehemently accusing Nair of showing a dirty India..they all need to do a reality check ..I mean , the very director who gave us a 'Salaam Bombay'( and thank God for that.. I got to see abt my own backyard for the first time), also gave us a very different-look-on-India 'Monsoon Wedding' and how can you forget ( unless u aint aware at all) abt 'Mississippi Masala', a look on the sort of lives Indians live in not-so-rich suburbs of small towns of America. And ya, some one was mentioning about Manoj night Shyamalan.. well ..what can I say.. the guy who has steadily gone down his career graph making inane "Hollywood" cheap flicks isnt worth being compared to the great Nair.
Inspired by so many awards availbale and great demand for these we have set up an awards academy.The wards and the ceremony are arranegd on cost basis only.Interested persons may contact me.Don't have envy or jealousy with Meera Nair.You too can get award in India or abroad.Alterantively peoplec an get together and give award to each other.
I think people are over reacting to the sex scenes in movie. She is a good director and those scenes are in the movie to show the intensity of emotion between too people and most of the time they tie in very nicely with her story. What about those random item numbers they are doing in Indian movies like Guru? That is vulgar. Do not you see emotional scenes between 2 people in English movies ? She has put Indian movies on the world map. People in west look at other races like objects. She is showing them we have inner lives like them. An artist is not bound by nationalism or race. They are there to tell a story and make it as real to life as possible. You guys are upset because this award is given to a woman and not a man. Let us face the truth. No society is perfect. In west they are making movies against Vietnam and Iraq war. Does that mean they do not love their country ? She is doing good job so let her be.
Selecting Mira Nair as the IA Person of the Year reflects a very poor judgement & disgraceful mentality by India Abroad! What an ultimate moral/cultural degradation that a person who degrades/disowns the true Indian Heritage, Culture & Values thru her vulgar, stereotyped movies like Kamsutra for an easy buck & who often takes/reflects anti-India positions is going to represent we Indians abroad! What an utter shame & disgrace! She definitely does not & cannot represent me & millions others proud sons & daughters of India, or what the true spirit of India stands for.....Jai Hind
RE:Mira Nair - Very Poor Choice
by Tathagata Mukherjee on Mar 30, 2008 06:23 AM
Mira nair is the right choice. Rediff has done a gr8 job.The whole world has accepted Mira as a great director. Who cares if some sick minds in India cannot accept her .No one cares for these sick chaps.
RE:Mira Nair - Very Poor Choice
by Jaleel on Mar 30, 2008 07:48 AM
Dev Chaudhari, I have visited Khajuraho and Konark temple as a tourist in Orrisa. It is very very vulgar and is it OUR HERITAGE. Any doubts ?
RE:Mira Nair - Very Poor Choice
by Nostra Damus on Mar 31, 2008 02:29 PM
Deb: you are a small minded man with a very narrow vision. See Mira Nair's pics again and again, maybe you will grow a brain.
Mira who..there are so many great Indians living abroad and u choose someone like Mira nair who makes movies which show India in bad light..move on to some hot shot Silicon Valley CEO or a well deserved scientist..
RE:What non sense..?
by jatin kapoor on Mar 30, 2008 10:23 AM
Did u ever watch monsoon wedding or The namesake or any of her movies.........she is very versatile.She has a eye of detailing...if she wasn't what u claim she is...she should have got the offer to direct Harry Potter series,nor would top actresses like Resse Witherspoon,Hillary Swank or Natalie Portman would agree to work for her.... Do ur homework first and then come here to commment..
RE:RE:What non sense..?
by anirban bandyopadhyay on Mar 30, 2008 01:18 PM
Jatin you need homework too. Fourth grade corepgraphy, incoherent scenes, bad dialogues reminds cheap hindi movies done in most unprofessional ways. Learn parameters to judge movies first, then come and talk.
RE:RE:What non sense..?
by Nostra Damus on Mar 31, 2008 02:33 PM
this may madden you anirbon, but satyajit ray is not a patch on mira nair. mira nair is versatile and shows the ugly indian as well as his strengths. that takes intelligence and courage. Her 'missippi masal' show the racist mentality of indians even when they are whining about racism when practiced against them. her namesake on the other hand, shows the inherent strength of our family life and traditions.
Mira Nair makes sexually depraved movies like Kamasutra that shows Indian culture as hedonistic and depraved...she projects western perverted stereotypes on Indian backdrop. The same Mira acts as an apologist for terrorists and complains of US profiling Pakistanis. Mira is a media manipulator, self flagellating Indian and Islamic apologist. Wrong choice, both for merit and being Indian.
RE:Wrong choice
by Nostra Damus on Mar 31, 2008 02:35 PM
you mean 'Kamasutra' is depraved ? If sex is depravity, you would not be born, you moron. Grow up.
RE:Wrong choice
by Tathagata Mukherjee on Mar 30, 2008 06:29 AM
Recent statistics show that more than 90% of indian males browse net and watch pornography.But these chaps outwardly act like they will run away from people like Mira.If U ask them they will say they do not even the meaning of the word' sex'.So they r the ones practicing what is called self flagellation .lol
RE:RE:Wrong choice
by deepak on Mar 30, 2008 06:53 AM
If those people are browsing for pornography they are not claimants to "indian of the year'....most of Mira's films have been to create a negative stereotype of Indians..prbbly her Islamist husband has something to do with it.
RE:who is mira nair in the damn photo
by Nostra Damus on Mar 31, 2008 02:37 PM
what is 'sexually distorted' in a photo ? Get some psychiatric help, anirban
RE:who is mira nair in the damn photo
by Blueboy on Mar 30, 2008 09:37 AM
What? Lol? This is so Funny. Try to guess who is sexually distorter? This sounds like people opposing Mira Nair are gay. And what does that Imply? hahaha. I am even typing it else my msg wil get moderated.
This lady seem to have gone places with patronizing ability rather than talent. If you want movies with quality made by Indians abroad, watch Shekar Kapur's movies or Manoj Shyamalan's Signs, Sixth Sense. Or recently released, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, made by Bharat Nalluri. Mira Nair's movies consist of poor quality cinematography, editing and production values, less coherence between various actors of the movie and the whole movie is sick to watch for the money paid. If not for the social messages, that too showing only the bad things about India, her movies will have difficult time getting their money back.
RE:Mira Nair
by ann on Mar 30, 2008 12:01 AM
She does not make commercialized movies. Every movie that is made with dollar signs instead of an artist can not be close to truth. It can be entertaining for common people and can do wonders at box office but one can not call them art. Some of the independent movies that are made in different countries about common people and about their day to day lives are far better in my opinion and they are made on very little budget. "ONce" is an example of that movie which was shot with ordinare video camera.
RE:RE:Mira Nair
by anirban bandyopadhyay on Mar 30, 2008 05:22 AM
What is the definition of a good movie? It should have a light of sunlight from the dark cloud. She does not have it.
And if she wants to pick social problems, she must demonstrate several aspects of the problem as explicitly identifying "other side of the truth". She does not know her movies are like having one straight line to the problem, the wellknown media catchy facts. No insight no vision.
Dear Ann, why dont you comment on her cinematography, poor editing and lack of coherence between different events in the movie. The story is like giving measurements of garments to a tailor, see this movie has talked about this, this and this parameters.
Comment on her originality in presentation style, there is none, most of the shots are so poorly taken, never she had given second thought on revealing the sense of the situation.
Distorting the fact is also her dishonesty, misinterpretation of statistics, knowingly and unknowingly.
NRIs are not god gifted Judhisthir, they do not return because of their greed, but blended with fine tune of great ideology, I am an NRI, and I have not seen a single person including me in abroad staying not for greed, but for ideology, doing something that he/she really deserves to. They could go back.... So these are other side of truth, and many more.... Did Mira started looking for these issues one by one adding dimension to her film....
RE:Mira Nair
by Deepak on Mar 30, 2008 12:08 AM
Once is way beyond the standards of what Mira Nair makes. It is highly entertaining. Movie at the end of the day, should be a Movie that takes into account different arts inculcated in a Movie and fine tunes them to provide a enriching experience. Once did it in a simple way. Mira Nair makes poor quality movies.
RE:Mira Nair
by ann on Mar 30, 2008 12:17 AM
I think she did an excellent job with Salam Bombay and Namesake. Lot of credit goes to Tabu and Irfan Khan. Namesake is the movie lot of Indian women can relate to living in foreign countries and are scared of getting old and dying there. But that is just my opinion.
RE:Mira Nair
by Anonymous on Mar 30, 2008 12:19 AM
Well, seeing that she gets nominated for awards, SOMEBODY seems to like her films...
and regarding the bit about her saying bad things about india or indians, well perhaps we can do better ourselves, like making classsy films showing how perfect indians are, or reforming everyone in india so that every indian becomes a paragon of virtue........... or maybe we could just lighten up...
RE:Mira Nair
by ann on Mar 30, 2008 12:29 AM
I find your comments very amusing. you are absolutely right. There is nothing wrong in showing ugly issues on the screen and confronting them. Why are people taking it personally?
RE:RE:Mira Nair
by anirban bandyopadhyay on Mar 30, 2008 05:32 AM
This is because I know personally several foreigners saying that they go to india to see how dirty is it.
Because of my job I had to take foreign delegates to india for the development of co-operation. They went and in front of me continuously taking pictures of subjects that was utterly discomfortable for me. I was trying to draw their attention to something completely different. But the mindset was different.
Apparently from outside they say many good words, but not from inside. They love the dirt, naked boys moving through streets, womens not wearing clothes properly.
Mira Nair like people provides a fantastic piece of bread to these particular set of peoples. And we do not want that.
If all indians talk about their good thing we will become good.
Ann, people like you never read great indian philosophers. There was one half-naked person named Ramakrisha. He said, more you speak out your good more good you become, more you speak about your bad more bad you become.
We want to be good and we will become. These Mira Nair like people are cancer of our society.
RE:Mira Nair
by Dev chaudhari on Mar 30, 2008 06:12 AM
Annonymous & Ann: Why don't you practice what you both preach - Based on the brave thoughts you expressed w/o using your real names or identity, I am sure you will feel great washing your personal or family's dirty linens in public. Do you do that? Everybody has some dirty linens! Who gave this (devious?) Mira Nair authority to represent me or my India that is very different than hers? Western audiences may love Nair's one-sided, distorted "reality"! There are so many "wonderful but ugly realities" everywhere - in the West, in Chritianity, in Islam, in Europe, in Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan, etc. etc..Why does not she use her "unique" talent in exploring/exploiting all these! Or, is it very easy to get away with defaming Indian Culture/Values?? Like what M. F. Hussain has been doing & getting away with it(in hiding)? Any of you folks for ugly reality/truth???? You can start that very easily with you, your own family, clan, religion, etc. Then let us see how you feel & enjoy those realities...Please send the IA Readers its copies too! Fun is great at some one else's expense - What a hypocracy!
RE:Mira Nair
by Anonymous on Mar 30, 2008 09:44 PM
To Dev chaudhari
You may not have noticed that we are supposed to be a free country, where opinions are (supposedly) protected by the most basic of our laws. If Mira Nair has shown something that distresses you, like the existence of CSWs in a large indian city, she is within her rights.
There are several ways you can deal with it, like go on a moral crusade and eradicate the social evils that exist here; or you can think about it and do your own little bit not to perpetuate the problem; you could consider that people who live lives different from the posters on this message board are real people, who lead real lives.
It is all the more important because in a democracy, all of us are supposed to look out for each other; To take a simple ,and common example, a blocked drain or road overflowing with rubbish is not something that exists just to make india bad in front of foreigners, it is an injustice to other indians who are compelled to live and work there, and don't have anywhere else to go.
The wrong way to deal with bad things being documented about india is to immerse one's head in the largest pile of silicon dioxide available , and make outraged noises out of your nether orifice. Pointing out instances where India needs to do better is NOT a crime against India; getting all emotional and refusing to acknowledge such happenings is a crime against Indians - thinking that one's love for the first should make one indifferent to the latter is not real patriotism.
RE:Mira Nair
by ann on Mar 30, 2008 09:14 AM
In every society there is good and bad and ugly. In west too they make movies and confront the ugliness of society. If you want that India should be shown in perfect light all the time then you should fight to eradicate ugliness from grass roots like class system, exploiting women, corruption and narrow mindedness. I think lot of men are upset that this award is given to a woman but not a man. Boby Jindal the clown what are his accomplishments ?
RE:Mira Nair
by Nostra Damus on Mar 31, 2008 02:41 PM
It is no use Ann. You can wake a sleeping man, but you cannot make a frog in the well understand different points of view. Just be grateful you were born with ability to appreciate art.
