Sunday, April 5, 2009

OSCARS ARE RIGGED

Some of my classmates said they cried while seeing the slumdog.
I wondered why?
Was it upon seeing the abject poverty and deprivation of an average Indian projected in the movie?
Or
Was it upon seeing the clinically sharp intelligence of Jamal Malik?

I have two strong opinions here

1. The Oscars are biased towards the western producers and directors.

The reel life story of an imaginary character was indeed a good depiction of a person’s perseverance and luck but nowhere close to reality of the true - rural and urban India. But that’s beside the point.
So how could slumdog get 8 Oscars?
It wasn’t an ultimate statement of directorial calibre.
It wasn’t an ultimate statement of storytelling.
It wasn’t an ultimate statement of cinematography.
It wasn’t even a great mushy flick.
Danny ‘boy’ couldn't even use any pathetic fallacy to remind us of Shakespeare.

So would it be safe to assume that the most unusual scene of the boy jumping into the pool of shit got it the Oscars? Maybe.

I have always eagerly waited for the Oscar list each year to get an opportunity to watch the best pre-selected movies of the year that would save me the time effort and money.

I think I will have to make my own decisions from now on.

For those who might be inclined to disagree with me must watch
Mughal e azam
Charulata
Mera Naam Joker
Mother India
Salaam Bombay
Lagaan
Bandit Queen
Rang De Basanti
Tare Zameen Par

2. An unusual depiction and mutation of reality draws much more crowds than reality itself.

While watching the movie at the Warwick Arts Centre I was rather surprised to ‘hear’ people chuckle in absolute disgust. Why?

Well immediate thoughts that came to my mind were-
Innocent citizens are being shot dead by crazy lunatics in various parts of the world in stray shooting incidents.
How citizens behave in one’s own country during natural calamities is surprising.
How dictators are pushing their countries into the silos of hunger and chaos is no news to anyone.
And how the world has been brought to the brink of an economic collapse - we are all experiencing.

Yet a culturally diverse and rich country was depicted in a rather deplorable light.

1 comment:

  1. i agree with you
    some off the movies u have listed above were far better in terms of content and presentation
    but alas none were in english, made by a western director, and they all came in the foriegn film category, where a lot of good films compete,
    try watching some korean movies
    some r really great

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