Tuesday, February 24, 2009

3 Cheers for India!

I was very happy yesterday, and very proud.
After all, A R Rahman won two Oscars for his work in Slumdog Millionnaire!
Sharing the glory wree Gulzar for his lyrics, (finally!) and Pokutty for Sound mixing.
And not to forget Smile Pinki, a documentary on a 5 yr old girl from a village, born with a cleft lip, who finally gets it corrected and gets her smile!

However, at the same time I cant help but think...
Jai Ho is not Rahman's best work... Its foot-tapping and full of energy, but it would not even feature in my Rahman top ten! Nevertheless, he is a genuis, and sooner or later he was bound to get international recognition at this level. And I am so proud of him.

I also feel a tad sad for Gulzar and Pokutty. Not much bhaav is being given to these 2 people, though they also got Oscars for India.
Even though I dont understand all of Gulzar's lyrics, and admittedly it was the first time I heard of Pokutty, I think they deserve equal limelight and praise!

As for Slumdog, Im happy for the team that they won 8 out of 10 Oscars. Ive seen the movie, and I think its great. But honestly I dont see what the fuss is all about. I mean the movie is good and all, much better than the usual crap we see these days, but i dont think it was THAT great. I mean 8 oscar winning. IMHO, the movie was OVER HYPED. The funny thing is, the book on which it is based, has a completely different story, and a much better one at that.
Kudos to Danny Boyle for not copying the story word for word, and adding his own imagination to teh script, but I thought the book was better. And no one is even asking about the INDIAN authot Vikas swarup who wrote that book. I think he deserved a lot of praise as well for conceptualising the amazing story!!

A lot has been said about foreign directors making moolah out of the poverty and misery of India. But in spite of being directed by a foreigner and all that, I am truly happy and proud of the Oscar Smile Pinki got. A simple story of a ordinary girl, yet extraordinary. Pinki got her smile and put one on the lips of millions of Indians too.

Anywho, in spite of my reservations, all in all I am a happy Indian, proud of all those who made this dream com true for us, including Danny Boyle and Megan Mylan. Thanks to you all!!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

6th Sense?

The past couple of nights, I have had dreams that my brother is in trouble, and people are out to get him and beat him or worse, kill him.

The first time I had the dream, I got up, worried like hell for him. For a second my hand reached towards the cellphone to call and ask him if he’s ok, but then retracted. I did not want to trouble him unnecessarily and ruin his mood.

I called him the next day and told him about my dream casually, and asked him to take care. He asked me not to worry, that he was fine. But when similar dreams came back again, I told him to be careful. Not that I dream the future, but I was generally concerned.

That was when he told me… “Aditi, I did not tell u this before, because you would have completely freaked out, but the night you had the first dream, I indeed got into trouble!”

Apparently his friend got drunk and created a mess in a pub, fought with the manager, and got thrown out after getting beaten up. Still not satisfied, he broke the pub window and ran away, and unfortunately my brother got caught and beaten up!

He is fine now, not badly hurt, back to the usual routine, but knowing this really shook me up!! I am still wondering how I ended up sensing danger to my brother, and repeatedly dreamt about it for 3 days!

Anyway if nothing else, I think it at least proves the bond we share. From not being able to tolerate the presence of each other during teenage, to dreaming like this, us brother-sister duo have certainly come a long way!