Glorification of Trash wins 8 Oscars.!!!

Slumdog Millionaire.....wow!! Red Carpet, Black Tux, glamor and the glitter and a movie which we have adopted as our own got awards after awards and missed out only in one nominated category...who cares what it was. For lot of Desi people, its Desi Victory of Videshi Award. The one we have seen the goras take for years. Some brown skin at the Kodak theater was what we needed to an otherwise recessionary time. And what we love the most, our Apna A.R.Rehman won the Oscars for a Track titled Jai Ho, which I am sure no Indian would regard as his best or even good work. Thats his average, the least we expect from him. But who cares, Rehman finally won. I agree, he deserved an Oscar in his life, but not for this track for sure. We would have forgotten Jai Ho in a month or sooner but for the Media bombarding us with how great the song is and how it has won awards and nominations, and now the great Oscar too. I just wanna say..come on..Roja, Bombay, Rangeela, Rang De Basanti and even the recently released Delhi 6 has a better soundtrack. ( N I m sure I have missed some of his best movies)

While we will tom tom the 8 Oscars delight, i would ask everyone who is proud what does cinematography, sound mixing and adapted screenplay mean, which are some of the categories this movie has won. And, what was so great about the film, Dev patel's suddenly found accent and language proficiency outside the Taj Mahal or his eternal love for his childhood sweetheart (God!! Hindi movies are full of it).

To give it to the movie, it is a good script (the book from which the movie was copied and which won nothing) and it is interesting to know how he knows the answer to the questions. But, the narrative would have not even touched one film award anywhere in the world had it not been for two things: 1) had it not been fried and Tadka marroed in the filth and poverty of our Desi Slums. Be it the protagonist jumping into shit, or the children having their eyes popped out, or living out of garbage dumps, it had it all 2) And had it not been backed by a hollywood big-wig like Fox Searchlight and a pre-dominantly foreign behind the camera crew.

I can understand some critical acclaim but cross your heart and say this is the best or amongst your best 50 Indian movies of all time and I would just sympathize with you for your bad taste in movies. The movie shows us in first half a part of our existence what we ignore everyday but one which we are completely aware about and want to do nothing about it. Second half has him chasing his own life and love, both of which have been the stuff Bollywood has done to death. None the less, it is interesting to know how he knows the answer to every question but not interesting enough for 8 Oscars and all the noise.

And Miss Frieda Pinto, you had 4 screen shots and 2 dialogs and you are acting and behaving as the movie was about you. Poor Dev Patel, missed out on the hype in our nation partly because he in not a native Indian and partly because unlike Freida he is not available to the media at the drop of a hat for an interview or a sound byte.

The movie is a perfect case of international media which was tired of hearing India-china success story catching this movie as a proof that its still all filthy and dirty, then tag it at as "Art" and go gung ho about the boldness and honesty of film making as their egos pleased to see all the dirt in the nation people talked in economic reports as a possible next superpower. International Media went hot on it, Fox Searchlight managed some great lobbying and our desi media, like always, picked up stories and blindly upheld something foreign media was promoting. Bombay being highlighted after 26/11 only added to the movie, as it was shot in the city which became red hot in international debate on terrorism. Indian media hyped it, got caught in their own hype and snow bowled the frigging movie into a blockbuster.

In all, it was a good story shot in an opportunistic way and did everything right to come on top. I give movie 8 on 10 on business sense ( I subtracted 2 as they released it too late in India, and everybody had already seen the DVD) . I will appreciate the business sense and lobbying of the production house and director but please give me a break, and don't call it a Great Indian Film which got my country 8 Oscars.