this and that---ASK'AR' and beyond

a little while ago,i switched on the tv to find out about the oscars.yes,slumdog has finally made it and rahman,gulzar and pookutty have won the awards too for their work on music.now i have every reason to cherish or thats what most of u think or i may ve wanted to do too.no doubt,thers so much pride in me that an indian has finally got to hold something that until today remained an unlikely thing.but on the other hand,you are made to think whether the recognition that we are busy celebrating is truly an honor the indian film fraternity and we indians at large.

i am in no way underestimating the genius in rahman,gulzar and pookutty but something tells me that the western audience isnt still fancy about accepting indian style of music and cinema and we shudnt be crazy about making them accept.they ll never accept it anyway.if they do,then they arent distinguishing themselves from the art styles of a third world country which me and you are a part of.had it been an indian director for the same movie,its tough to say if the story wud ve been same.you never know.

i ve always believed cinema is geo-specific.i.e.cinema should always reflect the cultural identity of the local people.there has to be things that they can relate with easily.we ve grown up listening to songs and they still remain the dominating factor in all public functions.rahman himself has given birth to scores of wonderful music.we have witnessed it and they still keep ringing in our ears.the western world has always laughed at us criticizing our cinema.they say"oh indian movie??is it like 8 hrs with a dozen songs and dancing around trees and stuff?"

taare zameen par to me was a much better film than slumdog millionaire.tzp brought about a change in parenting across the nation and showed dyslexic children in a new light.that may not necessarily fancy western audiences.bcoz the film was based on indian parents and their attitude towards their children.indian parents want nothing less than 1st place for their kid.i wonder where the country would go if all fight for that 1st place.

i m reminded of a joke that was a part of a stand up comedy show in london.crewberry is a dull girl.an american teacher asks her"what is 2+3,little kid?".she replies"hmm....i think...i think...tis RED".the american teacher says"oh my god!!that was not what i was expecting.but i should tell you this.you have a very good creative mind!!!".the same girl goes to an indian teacher and all she gets for her answer is a slap!!.jokes apart.now lets be straight.we are not like them and thats the reason we could easily relate to tzp.pookutty himself feels that his work for SM was not his best.he liked his work for the movie"gandhi,my father".

a movie on gay rights may not be appreciated in india but may be doing good somewhere else.all this means...there are loads and loads of better movies and music that may havent gone to the oscars but are definitely more sensible to the indian audience.i want to say about naan kadavul,a movie which i saw last week.a terrific movie with such a heavy concept and songs that make you cry.it was about a life of an aghori and also threw light upon the dirty beggar mafia that runs in this country.an incredible movie.

this country which we beleive is soon going to overthrow developed countries,movies like this jus pinch us reminding we have a long way to go to make this great country which we both love a better place to live.let us learn to accept and applaud realistic movies.let us all change.yes we can(see again...we need an american to tell us this!!)

congrats to rahman,gulzar and pookutty

balaji