The Oscars- The Slumdog Millionair - ummm haaa....

The Oscar Night...

Everyone is waiting with held breaths .. will it or will it not be ...the year of the "Slumdog!". Hmm .. I was brimming with happiness , joy and excitement ... wow .. an Indian movie ... amazing concept , Indian actors .. AR Rehman ... AWESOME!!!

Until i saw the movie ! truly ..
The movie is ... at best OK . Also figured its not really an Indian movie , rags to riches in not really a new concept in Hindi cinema (frankly as someone mentioned ... "it has been perfected in Hindi cinema")... not all Indian actors ...and Rehman .. as much as I love him and love "Jai ho" this is certainly not among his best compositions.

An Indian in America ... watching this movie in an American theater .. slightly embarrassing. Its not that the atrocities that are shown in the 1st half of the movie don't happen in India .. I know they do happen ... But India is just not only made up of these things that happen . Strangely the movies with an Indian background that really "work" in the western world , either show India's poverty , prostitution , corruption or the violent factions . I wish they would like to see the sophistication , progress and development,the cultural sights and sounds of India instead.

Slumdog Millionaire seems like to me part documentary , part bollywood , part cross over.. in short its neither in its entirety . I don't wanna criticize the movie all the way .. cause its a good film .. but being an Indian..... lots of stuff was disturbing . How could it have been made better ???... simple .. a quick crash course could have been achieved by watching a bunch of bollywood movies .

Lets talk about A.R. Rehman

Arguably the most passionate and involved musician of our times, AR Rehman is the Golden boy of the great Tradition of Indian Music and fittingly he is now a Golden globe awardee. (also BAFTA awardee now)

This recognition is more of a recognition to our country India rather than AR. Rehman . In his own words , rehman says how he was terrified on letting down 1billion people had he not received the Golden Globe award.( wonder what he must be going thru now that he is nominated for the Oscars). But like I said earlier .. Rehman's compositions are completely divine . Truly unique and mind blowing .. in everyway ... No doubt Slumdog's music is good . But is this his best? .. Certainly not ! The Oscar committee should listen to Roja , Bombay or more recently RDB . He should have received the Oscar way long back . But will I be rooting for him ... ABSOLUTELY!!

For SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE! .. I can only say this , ironically Slumdog .. has lived its own story ... Danny Boyle was supposed to send the movie directly to the DVD .. when walt disney .. (or MGM not sure) stepped in and decided to play on a few screen in North America ... what happened after that .. all of us know .. a low budget movie which was expected to make less than $20 million is now grossing over $100 million and still counting ...

To conclude i just want to say have I seen better movies? .. ofcourse . Do I think it should have been nominated for the Oscars ?... NO . But will i be rooting for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ?..

ABSOLUTELY!!

why? Weirdly despite all its flaws, for the 1 billion people of India its called National Pride !

One Nation One People - Proud to be an Indian

Much has been written of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai , that left almost 200 hundred people dead, over 300 hundred injured, broken and marred National treasures (heritage buildings), a beat -up police force, broken hearts, a pained city and an outraged Nation.

Watching news everyday its common to hear a bomb blast today , a firing yesterday , a gun battled tomorrow ... hmmm.. that is the stark reality of the world we live in today. But there are some heinous act that shake the core of Humanity , acts that bring chills , tears, anger, frustrations and despite their grossness they also evoke compassion and the best in people in times of grave adversity. 26 th Nov 2008 like 11th Sept 2001 will be one such moment in History. (Though we could truly have done without it )

I am an Indian , a Mumbaikar... I am not going to recount the chronological order of event of those 3/4 days .. we all know , we saw .. the world saw with us . I really want to talk about the extraordinary spirit to survive , to live on , to defeat and not be defeated that prevails at the end of extraordinary tragedies .

The bravery of those in uniform and those without them is unmatchable. And no measure of compensation is going to take even an ounce of the pain away. There was no one who was not touched by this incident. I remember speaking to my mom on Saturday . With a lump in her throat, she told me how she had been watching the telecast the whole day and that "today we can sleep in peace because those soldiers there are fighting it out with their own lives ". This is the same sentiment that is echoing throughout the country today .

But is this enough??? No , its not enough . Tolerance is one thing , but being taken for granted is completely different . We are a sovereign nation ,we have the right to protect ourselves , our leaders , our govt we have the right to hold them accountable. But wecan stake claim to this right only if we exercise it . We need to first hold ourselves accountable. Do we show pride in our country ? our armed forces ? our system ? our way of life ? Do we care or value the greatest right and priveledge given to us of Freedom and franchise?

In this time and age , we are global citizens and our destinies are shared . We cant blame wars wedged on ideologies, religion and economic power(we have our own differences), we cant blame the system for failures (we are the system), we cant question the cheap politics of our politicians(we are that politics) , we cannot just sit and watch our treasures , our countries and our peoples dignities plundered like this .

Though they may seem corny , but words of the Mahatma never rang more true,"We have to be the change we seek" . Its time we took pride in our country , our people , our economy , our institutions , our education, our system, our culture, our festivals, our lives and most of all our selves. Let us defeat the forces of terror and intimidation , with unity of our minds and actions and our defiance. Its time we let the world know that we will not sit quiet , we will not take this one , not this time not one more time . We will fiercely protect our freedom and our right to live . We will come together , we are One Nation , One people and in one voice lets be loud and clear ..PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

JAI HIND!!

"The Audacity Of Hope" - An immigrant view Of Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential election win

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", { This famous 1st line of Charles Dickens ,'The tale of two Cities' is the Absolute perfect way to describe}. And I had the good and bad fortune to be in It. The Year: 2008, the place : United States Of America . The best of economy in recession, the best of health care almost down the drain , The worst 2 wars ever being fought , cannot win cannot afford to lose. And Yet , And yet .. a great spirit of Unity, a hunger that "we shall over come", an eagerness to look forward and propel into the future, this is "The Audacity of Hope" .

A wave called "Barack Obama" has swept this nation . I am an Indian immigrant . I cannot help but wonder, how God placed me in a position like this, to have been born and brought up in the largest Democracy in the world { India } and to have lived through and seen the Greatest Democracy in Action . I would like to believe I was born to be a apart of this greatness .

On Nov 4th 2008 . at 11pm EST Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was declared the 44TH President (elect) of The United States of America. The Roar of Victory in Grant Park, Chicago was heard not only throughout the Country but throughout the world . It is a moment I will never forget ... The television presenters fell silent on all the networks .. it was as if everyone was taking the moment in .. missing a heart beat ....with moist eyes and shaky hands there were applauds. And then it did not matter if you were a Democrat or Republican , black , white , Hispanic or Asian , it did not even matter if you were an American or Not .

I remember 1st seeing The then Senator Barack Obama On CNN's American Morning , it was may be early year 2006 (I cant really remember) . He was being Interviewed by Soledad O'Brian. She asked him , if he had considered running for the President , Obama , with his ever beaming smile said 'No" He had not given it a thought . Even then there was something about him , I cannot say what it was , but it felt like, he was different, extraordinary and yet ordinary , brilliant and intelligent and yet not flamboyant and flashy . I remember telling Nikhil , My husband , " you should hear him speak , he is awesome " , and ever since that day I have routed for his victory, I cannot vote , but tried to convince others who could to vote for him (trust me it did not take much convincing though) . The rest of course is HISTORY !! LITERALLY !

From winning the first primary in Des Moines, Iowa , beating The mighty Hilary Clinton and finally taking a celebrated national hero, Senator John McCain. Obama showed , great caution, stability , respect and humility throughout the process. Against all odds of age, origin, religion and color he emerged victorious . I have never seen a victory speech so humble as his was for a victory that was so thumping and historic .

This commentary is not about, ideological divides, the politics of the United States or even Strategies of winning an elections this is simply note on, how a message of Hope and Change can inspire not one but many generations and change the face of this Nations politics, policies, and culture.

The Story of Barack Obama and his rise from obscurity to being the leader of the free world makes me ask myself , can this really be true ? Can I also make a difference ? Can I touch one life apart from my family and help make a dream come true? Can we love our parents and help their wishes come true, as they did for us when we were kids ? Can we as a people reawaken our conscience and try to work for the greater good ? Can we be inspired to do great things? Can we inspire other to reach great heights? Can we make I, Me and Mine and into We , Us and Ours. ?

YES WE CAN!!!