Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Is that your final answer?

Who wants to be a superpower?



Q: Are you angry or "protesting" at
Suketu Mehta for writing Maximum City?

A: No.

Q: Then why are you upset and defensive at Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire?

The other part was protesting.... wildly protesting.
I hated Boyle's portrayal of Mumbai .... felt protective, felt betrayed.... but also felt the truth. Which is why it hurt.

A: --I will answer that for you. Because Boyle is a foreigner.

Next question:

Q: Why doesn't Hollywood "recognize" any Indian filmmakers besides Satyajit Ray and possibly Deepa Mehta?

A: Because they are big and mean and prejudiced against us!!!!!

Sorry, wrong answer.

It's because by Hollywood standards, most other Indian films are no good. The same reason Bombay does not give awards to American films - they don't meet the standard. They have different production values. Ray and Mehta made films western film critics can relate to.

The fact that a billion-plus people like Bollywood does not oblige Hollywood to "acknowledge" it.

Okay, we're done now.
Thanks for playing.

6 comments:

Linda-Sama said...

I saw Slumdog twice already, and loved it both times. I've heard that some Indians here (and I can only speak for Chicago) don't like it because it's too honest and gritty -- the beggar kids, the blinding of the boy to beg, the crime boss, etc etc etc.

to them I say "get over it"

Unknown said...

bravo-well said. wish i could write like that. simple, direct & profound.

i loved maximum city.
i loved slumdog
i even loved shantaram
and i especially love bollywood.

Vikas Gupta said...

Very true Feringhee!

http://vikasgupta.wordpress.com

P.S.: You have disabled options through which I could have commented from open IDs like on wordpress! You may enable this option (while retaining your option of disabling anonymous comments).

Sirensongs said...

@Linda, Bindifry and Vikas:

Thanks!!

@Vikas: Sorry, I had no idea ! hmmm...guess I need to go to Control....

Unknown said...

Agreed Slumdog is realistic and good movie and S. Ray was a gem but Deepa Mehta is a wolf in sheeps clothing. She has made every movie criticizing India, though she is a lesbian living in Canada. She only does these movies because they sell in the West. Every culture has its sore points but to make a lifelong of criticizing it to astonish western audiences is dispicable.

Slogan Murugan said...

Rudyard Kipling had something to say about this.