Slumdog Millionaire !! Yes - 4 Golden Globes and all that, and dare I say it, maybe even a few Oscars come February 22nd. Slumdog Millionaire - sweeping away every neighboring nomination in sight. Everybody’s been ga-ga over Slumdog. I don’t think I’ve come across a single bad review on RottenTomatoes.com. Now the Net is a huge, huge medium. You want to look for someone who doesn’t think much of The Godfather, you will find him - and more. And I’m talking about people besides Peter Griffin of Family Guy ( link ). On PFC alone, there are readers who think Slumdog is over-rated.
My biggest issue with Slumdog is the language. One, you want to reach out to the largest market possible, the English-speaking audience, without including too many subtitles. Two (as a result of One), you have actors who probably don’t speak Hindi, let alone English in an Indian accent. Three (probably, as a result of Two), you have characters who have learnt to speak English without much, if at all any, justification. Solution: let your characters speak English. And besides, there’s a reason why Slumdog has not been nominated in the Foreign Language category. Guess what? It does NOT speak a foreign language.
As an Indian movie watcher, it irks me. It irks me when Jamaal Malik, an orphan who’s supposed to have lived and grown up in Bombay (I still call it that) pronounces “Chaupati” like a native Kathiawaadi (Dev Patel is a Gujju after all) - “Cho-paati”. It irks me when Maman’s mouthing English dialogues as soon as the main characters have learnt angrezi. I mean I know it’s not a big deal. Ab ek shabd ki wajah se poori picture ki jaan loge kya? But when you’re in the theater and you’ve given all your attention to the big screen, you feel betrayed, for that little moment. Kuchh khatakta hai. Pata nahin kya. And then you look at every scene thereafter with suspicion. Waiting - waiting for that little blooper, that little fuck-up. It’s not the same movie anymore.
It’s also surprised me how India(n media) wasted no time in claiming custody of the film after it won all the accolades and praise. All of a sudden, Slumdog Millionaire was an Indian film!! Just like that. The film - that is based in India, on Indian characters, spoken in Hindi and mostly English, based on an English book written by an Indian diplomat, adapted to screenplay by a Britisher (who has a French-souding last name), directed by a Britisher, produced by a Britisher, distributed by an American company - is as British as it is Indian. So where was all this Indian love while it was in production?? While it was doing rounds of film festivals?? It’s just mean to steal well-deserved British thunder. Granted they ruled us 60 years back, but still …. saari mithaai akele hi kha jaaoge?
I’m looking forward to how the Indian audience will react to the English version of Slumdog Millionaire. Maybe the Golden Globes have sown enough seeds of optimistism when the audience enters the theater halls. Of course, there’s also the Hindi version to look forward to - Slumdog CROREPATI (dus gunaa zyaada)!! I have a gut feeling that the Hindi version will pack a bigger punch than the Angrejji one.
At the end of all this Slumdog award mania, I’m happy for one person. The recognition of his musical talents was long overdue. The world needs to stand up and take notice of AR Rahman. I somewhat feel that Slumdog was not one of his best works, but theek hai, it doesn’t matter. The man deserved all the attention long before now.
Source: http://passionforcinema.com/slumdog-millionaire-ggs-oscars-and-all-that/
My biggest issue with Slumdog is the language. One, you want to reach out to the largest market possible, the English-speaking audience, without including too many subtitles. Two (as a result of One), you have actors who probably don’t speak Hindi, let alone English in an Indian accent. Three (probably, as a result of Two), you have characters who have learnt to speak English without much, if at all any, justification. Solution: let your characters speak English. And besides, there’s a reason why Slumdog has not been nominated in the Foreign Language category. Guess what? It does NOT speak a foreign language.
As an Indian movie watcher, it irks me. It irks me when Jamaal Malik, an orphan who’s supposed to have lived and grown up in Bombay (I still call it that) pronounces “Chaupati” like a native Kathiawaadi (Dev Patel is a Gujju after all) - “Cho-paati”. It irks me when Maman’s mouthing English dialogues as soon as the main characters have learnt angrezi. I mean I know it’s not a big deal. Ab ek shabd ki wajah se poori picture ki jaan loge kya? But when you’re in the theater and you’ve given all your attention to the big screen, you feel betrayed, for that little moment. Kuchh khatakta hai. Pata nahin kya. And then you look at every scene thereafter with suspicion. Waiting - waiting for that little blooper, that little fuck-up. It’s not the same movie anymore.
It’s also surprised me how India(n media) wasted no time in claiming custody of the film after it won all the accolades and praise. All of a sudden, Slumdog Millionaire was an Indian film!! Just like that. The film - that is based in India, on Indian characters, spoken in Hindi and mostly English, based on an English book written by an Indian diplomat, adapted to screenplay by a Britisher (who has a French-souding last name), directed by a Britisher, produced by a Britisher, distributed by an American company - is as British as it is Indian. So where was all this Indian love while it was in production?? While it was doing rounds of film festivals?? It’s just mean to steal well-deserved British thunder. Granted they ruled us 60 years back, but still …. saari mithaai akele hi kha jaaoge?
I’m looking forward to how the Indian audience will react to the English version of Slumdog Millionaire. Maybe the Golden Globes have sown enough seeds of optimistism when the audience enters the theater halls. Of course, there’s also the Hindi version to look forward to - Slumdog CROREPATI (dus gunaa zyaada)!! I have a gut feeling that the Hindi version will pack a bigger punch than the Angrejji one.
At the end of all this Slumdog award mania, I’m happy for one person. The recognition of his musical talents was long overdue. The world needs to stand up and take notice of AR Rahman. I somewhat feel that Slumdog was not one of his best works, but theek hai, it doesn’t matter. The man deserved all the attention long before now.
Source: http://passionforcinema.com/slumdog-millionaire-ggs-oscars-and-all-that/
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