My boss from the United States of Amrica had visited India during Christmas for vacation and official purposes. We went to buy some stationary for the office. The owner sitting at the counter quoted for every small item available in the store. He would think for a second and then quote a price. No price list. My boss took me to one side and asked me what if he quotes different price to different people! Can’t we buy these things online? I laughed off the suggestion. I said boss if you buy these things online, they will charge your credit card and never deliver the things! He said Wow what a mess.
I visited my local Gas Agency for New Gas connection. There is only one Gas Agency per area fixed by the Government. Also one Gas Bottle per house hold can be obtained. I was told (“Dhamki” in fact) that if I do not buy the accessories like Rice, Tea, and Gas Stove along with the Main Gas connection then he would not sell it. Even the local Newspaper had reported such misgivings. I told him that I am a lawyer and would not buy other stuff. He growled, I will see to it how you will get a new Gas connection. How can a household survive without Gas in the home even for a weak or for a day? I bought the other accessories as I did not have a choice (Internally I decided to fight this in court).
I applied for a Credit Card through Tata called Tata Card (“Tatacard.com”). I visited the place from where I had applied 4 times but there was no one to tell me what the status of the application was. I emailed the Tata Card website but they asked me for an application # which obviously I did not have.
Today Jan 24, 09 I visited a Tea Stall to have a cup of tea. I gave the money and told him to deliver it to my car as it was very dusty. The tea never came for 15 mins. I went back and told him (Almost shouted) that why you did not deliver tea? He said I forgot! I said that you did not forget to take money from me. He quietly gave the money back not listening to what I was saying (Read Shouting).
Phir Bhi Dil He Hindustani……..
There is something about this Country – India the Great. No matter what the shortcomings are we love this country, don’t we? There is also much to like about this country which could keep us going. Vikas Swaroop would surely have similar feelings. He is an Indian Diplomat (Indian Foreign Service) currently placed in Pretoria, South Africa. He wrote the novel “Q and A”. I visited few Book stores to buy the book. One of the store owner said that he gave the book back to his distributor as he could not even sale one book. The price of the book was Rs. 195 odd. After the global success of “SlumDog Millionaire” which is based on “Q and A”, this book is not available in market due to a different reason. It is a sell out. I could not even order online through Rediff.com. Vikas has re packaged the book giving the same title name as the movie and now is priced at around Rs. 300. Though more people in India will spend Rs. 200-300 on a movie ticket + popcorn then on such a world class book. The extremely pacy and touching movie SlumDog is based on this novel. At the end of the movie I almost stood up and started to clap.
The movie is nominated not for one, two but 10 Oscars. This movie has been able to garner global attention which is rare for movies made here. The script by Simon Beafouy is as good as it gets. I personally love thrillers and this movie is wonderfully scripted. The director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach starring Leonardo Caprio) was initially not that keen to make a movie based on this Reel Life “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. The script writer Simon Beafouy had before written the script of the successful and funny “Full Monty” (Story of Few Men who take on Striptease to earn money!). Danny then decided to take a look at the script and thankfully made the movie. This rag to riches story of the Slum man who loves his Girl Friend to death is more like a Bollywood movie made by an English Director (The scriptwriter Simon did see some of the Indian movies like Deewar, Satya to know more about Bollywood movies and Dark side of Mumbai). The Characterization is superbly done. Ram Gopal Verma had once said that movies are remembered for the characters for e.g. Gabbar, Mugambo etc. All the characters Salim, Jamaal itch on your mind even after the movie is over. The script is expertly written with each question on the show interwoven with the life and story of the central character Jamaal. I have a wish that the Indian Technicians who regularly learn how to shoot scenes, shots from “Foreign” (I have not used the word Hollywood because the director Danny Boyle and the script writer are English) counterparts should also take classes how to write scripts. Many of the scenes in the movie are memorable – 1) the young Jamaal stepping on Shit to take an Autograph of Amitabh Bachhan, 2) ……. Let me not be the party pooper. I know many of the readers have not seen the movie so let me not describe the scenes here. The referencing of “The Three Musketeeers” and Blind Poet Surdas (Thanks to my wife for drawing my attention) is exceptional. The editing is crisp and the cinematography top notch. The way director Danny Boyle has shot the movie, it seems like he has lived in Mumbai all his life. The underbelly of the city is beautifully captured. The slums, beggars and the entire city life (the other life of city which is non metro life) of Mumbai is shown like Real Life and not Reel Life. Often the transformation from book to movie is not very well done. My favorite book Da Vinci Code‘s movie adaptation was a disaster. Even Harry Potter movies are not up to the standard of its books. Though we also have some cracking examples like Lord of the Rings. Except for Devdas and few other novels, the Bollywood directors are not keen to base movies on books (They generally turn to Hollywood for ready made scripts).
Lovleen Tondon is the casting director of the movie. She also has been christened Co Director of the movie due to her active involvement. She was the Indian contact for the English Production house. She put forward each actor for all the characters. And how well she has done her job. Dev Patel (From the United Kingdom not India) as Jamaal has done a stunning job. The innocence of the character is beautifully captured by facial expressions which is difficult to get from trained actors. Irfan Khan, Freida Pinto as the heroine, Saurabh Shukla do their job efficiently. Danny the director was quizzed in an interview as to why Anil Kapoor was chosen as the Host of KBC (Who wants to be a Millionaire) and not SRK, Amitabh. He justified saying that the character of the host is bit Evil. He is not the gracious host and would have been difficult for the Indian audience to digest if SRK or Amitabh had played it. Anil Kapoor who has played the character very well adds some star value to the movie.
All the bouquets received by the movie, also come with quite a few Brickbats as well. Amitabh Bachhan in his blog has said that this movie is celebration of India’s poverty. Right from the Satyajit Ray days the movies based on India/made by Indians have come into limelight only which shows the dark side and problems of India – Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding, Bandit Queen to name a few. To a great extent it is true. All the Escapist cinema movies made by the Farhans, Johars, Bhansalis and the chopras would not be appreciated by the Western audience. Certainly the westerners do not see the Glossy Malls, Cars, Theatres (From personal experience – Most of the Indian Multiplexes are better looking than many of the U.S. movie theatres ). Most of the urban households in Indian cities have a car. In Ahmedabad, the city I live has a Toyota, Honda car parked in every street. If India is shown as a dark, poor, problematic country then it is called “Real” cinema and if you show great sets, dance moves then it is escapist cinema which does not impress the western audience. The movies that have been nominated at the Oscars have been Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan. Satyajit Ray has been given a life time achievement award by the Oscars! All the movies have celebrated India’s problems and not the progress.
The makers of the movie have disagreed with this argument. One way of looking at it is the movie is based on the novel. There was no eye brow raised on the novel! Now when the movie is doing well then the detractors are out on the prowl. If Madhur Bhandarkar makes a movie based on Beggars as Traffic Signal then it is not a problem, but if a foreign person shows Beggars then it is bad. The growth of the central character Jamaal from childhood to Adulthood of the movie is shown as coinciding with growth of the city. The character says “Bombay Mumbai ban Chuka Tha” with Fly overs, High Rises as the back drop of the scene. Every star has given his opinion on this point. The best analysis came from Arshad Warsi on the Premier of the movie. He said that even Westerners make movie on their own problems. Their problems are social in nature and not economical (though now in this era of “Mandi” this is not true). They make movies on Drugs, Child Crime, Mafia etc. which show their issues. Slums, Poverty, Hygiene, and Discipline are our problems.
Surely this movie could be celebration of Indian problems but this movie could push the Indian cinema into limelight. The Oscar jury would now know how crazy Indians are for Movies, Cricket and Amitabh Bachhan. A R Rehman the genius has been nominated for 3 Oscars. He has extremely good chance in the Best Song category as 2 of the 3 songs nominated are from this movie. Gulzar too has been nominated for lyrics. The sound engineer Resul Pookutty will have the chance to run in the race in the category of Sound Mixing. Not to forget the Best movie, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay categories at the Oscars. So the question is “Is this an Indian movie or British”??? Shekar Kapoor has firmly said that this movie is Indian movie. He argues that even Bandit Queen was sponsored by foreign money. This movie is based on the novel written by Indian diplomat. Most of the actors and technicians are Indian. Though it is true that this movie would not have obtained such world wide fame if had been made by a “Brown” Director. The credit must go to the “White” director to take the Indian cinema to the world!
This may not be the best ever movie to come out from India. The soundtrack by Rehman may not be the best EVER given by him. However consider this great movie to be the best celebration possible of Indian movies. The end titles of the movie end by the wonderful song “Jai Ho”. Let this movie be “Jai Ho” at the Oscars.
All Out For No Loss
Sau Me Se 80 Baimaan phir bhi mera Desh Mahaan (80/100 of the nationals are Cheaters but still my country is great) – Nana Patekar’s famous dialogue in his own style. One more dialogue from the actual movie “Allah Aur Raam Na Hote to Aaj Meri Maa Hote”.
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