Slumdog Millionaire: Is it worth the noise?

Slumdog Millionaire. I am tired of hearing/ reading about it. The movie has done business around 100$ million as compared to 1$ billion of the sacrosanct DARK KNIGHT. 10 oscar nominations if I am quoting Aaj Tak right. But should we forget everything and start dancing as if all our miseries are over? The movie is good but is PURE FICTION and no doubt has some glaring errors. The biggest of those is that the game show is televised LIVE which is not the case with television. There are takes and many retakes. This movie has appealed to the West as it shows us as a third world country which is what they relish to see. Also a britisher, Danny Boyle behind the project is not a bad name for such a project. But no doubt the music is awesome with A R Rehman at his best. Dev Patel, the protagonist is good and has Indian roots but is not Indian. But thi doesn’t stop us from being gung-ho about his Indian connection.

This is were I hate the Indian mentality. Why does recognition from the west matter so much to our society? Why are we running after an Oscar or a redundant post in Obama’s cabinet. Whoever gets that post is not expected to show favours to Indians as that would mean that he/she is not doing his job. Is our Indian pride so shaky that we need such awards and posts to lift it up? Heard of a foreigner being proud of doing something great in India? Al Gore or Peter Jackson rejoicing a Filmfare award in the best foreign film category (I don’t have any idea whether this category exists or not). Even Amitabh through his blog has been critical of this and I second his opinion.

BAN THEM

Any thing in excess is bad, same goes for reality shows. It all started with Kaun banega Crorepati hosted by Amitabh Bachchan which got a rousing welcome from the viewers and was more of a gettogether time for families. Then came Indian Idol season 1 when the whole country waited with bated breath to know who gets eliminated as if it was a question of life and death. But soon every other day there was some new show getting on air with themes ranging from singing, dancing, acting, losing weight or even to the extent of seeing what a bunch of losers do to pass their time in a home fitted with cameras everywhere. This became an everyday affair with eliminations followed by bucketful of tears, celebrities posing as judge walking out in protest and vowing never to come back, but being there at the very next episode. To maintain public’s interest and TRP’s, channels began to make the whole thing scripted hence leaving out the very essence of the show, REALITY. Same story, same content, same tears, same drama have made them boring and monotonous and worth no value of public interest hence it is time for them to get their act together or get off air. To be frank, I prefer the latter.