Did we need a "Slumdog ..." ?

I feel too strongly about this to remain quiet. I am reproducing excerpts of an article by Sandipan Deb (Indian Express critic, and would-be editor of the RPG Group's soon-to-be-launched current affairs and features magazine, 'Open').

"Frankly, I don't think Slumdog Millionaire deserved the Oscar for best film. And even more frankly, I don't think Resul Pookutty should have invoked "my country and my civilisation" in his acceptance speech for best sound mixing. India was not up there in the Kodak auditorium for approval. It was a British film financed by the indie subsidiary of an American studio which happened to be set in India and as a result they could not help but involve Indian actors (including Indian-origin Britishers) and shoot it in India. We crave too much for international recognition. A bit too much than is seemly. Even as all of us go around strutting, pretending to be a superpower.
...
...
Slumdog has won, and we should really rejoice for the six children who acted in it, for they are the real stars of the film. We should rejoice for AR Rahman, though the music he has got his two Oscars for is not even of his average quality, forget his sublime and exhilarating stuff. But the Academy has decided. But I really think it's a bit too much if we take this as a victory for Indian cinema. It's a non-Indian film which happened to have an all-Indian cast. We shoot entire films abroad nowadays, especially in the US, remember?"

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You can get the full article at http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20090224/1241/top-it-shouldn-t-have-won.html

While we may not agree with all of it, it's food for thought.

When Satyajit Ray made his films in the late 60's and 70's he was castigated by
many in the Bombay film industry for depicting India in a poor light, because his
films were based on semi-urban life or rural life in India. Yet, now, in the 21st
century - the century that is said to belong to India - we are going crazy, particularly
most of Mumbai, over a slum-based film, made largely by non-Indians, to get
international acclaim?

Is India so depleted of stories, or indigenous talent?

So now, "foreigners" will visit India not to see The Taj, or Khajuraho, or the
Tanjore temples, or the magnificent forts in Rajasthan, and the myriad sights in
Eastern India, but to see Dharavi ??

NDTV, CNN-IBN, and other channels who have demonstrated since November 26,
that they are shamelessly TRP-hungry, must have set up temporary offices or desks
in Dharavi for doing as many interviews as they can of slum kids! "Slum tourism" at
its peak ?!

Regional English

I have had the privilege of residing in different parts of India for varying periods of time: Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore. A fascinating aspect of this, is the different "forms" of English I have come across - I call it "Regional English"! In each of the four "original" metropolitan cities of India I have come across erudite people who have believed that the English spoken by them, with particular emphasis on pronunciation, is the "correct" English ! Such people were also not averse to ridiculing the English spoken in other regions of India.

My oldest memories go back to my schooldays in Kolkata when even teachers and parents of friends, would take a dig at "south Indian" English, about how it was "yum" and not "em" and so on, conveniently overlooking that in "Bengali English" a bird was the same as a bard ! Poets had wings, in a manner of speaking !! In Bengali English you could never make out which was what - the 'w' was just not there. It was "huitch" and hot, "you" was "jew" and "we" was "bhee" ! When the average Bengali spoke of "sleep" you could not be sure if he was talking of repose or a piece of paper (which most of us would call a "slip" - pun intended!).

When I moved to Delhi, for the first time in my life I heard of men with "good mammary" (the Delhi version of "memory") !! Of course for the biologically-challenged it would not make a difference! "Sport" had its own interpretation, and you would never be short of support (in fact a lot of people needed s'port in learning English!). They would often talk of "hair" which was neither here nor there !! "Cheers" often referred to contraptions that you sat in, and imagine the effect of someone saying on a hot afternoon in the zoo, "oh, look! beer!" !!

In Mumbai, of course, they do not speak any particular language ! "Aisa kya?" "Aisa-itch, mamu" ! It is also a good place to forget whatever Hindi you made the valiant effort to learn, in school !

In Chennai, the intelligentsia believed (as did their counterparts in Kolkata) that their English was the "correct" English. You would have difficulty, however, in distinguishing between the word "yes" and the letter "s" ? Did I mean "yes" ? "s" !!

What amuses me most, however, is the claim I hear some Bangaloreans make, that their English is the correct one ! You will rarely hear of what anyone said here - it is often "what I told?"!! There is also no dearth of people doing something only !! "Like that-aa?" "Like that only"!

Week ends ..and what begins ?

When I reflect on how my weekends have changed since marriage .. one fact stands out starkly : they are not "lazy" anymore! In fact, by the time half the weekend is through I long for the next week to commence!!

In the days of yore Saturdays meant the sheer delight of not having to jump out of bed when "the clock struck six", diffusing out of bed nebulously when the hour was close to eight, and pondering on how to begin the day while boiling the milk for morning coffee (if I had remembered to get milk the previous day - no milkman delivering milk in sachets!!).

Cut to the living room .. sitting in the sofa with a cup of hot coffee in hand, and a few biscuits to boot, switching from one inane news channel to another on the telly, unless one of the news readers looked appealing to the eye!

Breakfast merged with lunch ("brunch"!) used to happen anytime between noon and three, depending on what type of food I was in the mood for, or if any programme had been decided with any friends ! After brunch the rest of the day would unfold by itself, with the possibility of a good game or movie on TV, followed by a snack in lieu of dinner, a bit of a browse on the Net, and then it would be time for bed again ! Complete bliss !!