February 23, 2009

OSCARS, Welcome to India.!!


Needless to say,it is a proud day today,for all Indians.After what seemed to be an endless wait,finally fate smiled at us,at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.The Oscars finally landed in our kitty.As Resul Kutty held the Oscar trophy in his hands,tiny droplets of tears must have welled up in thousands of Indian eyes round the globe.I too,was one among them!! The proud moment when Resul became the first Indian to receive this prestigious award,in the magnificient Kodak theatre,amidst a cacophony of the top actors,directors and producers of the world,moved me to heartfelt tears and laughter.The Indian Film Fraternity finally carved out its niche,at the Academy Awards.We had been waiting for this day with bated breath,ever since the Academy Awards came into existence in May 1929.Needless to say,these are the greatest and the most prestigious awards in the entire moviedom.


However,amidst the celebrations that followed the memorable award ceremony,what caught my attention was the unfair treatment meted out to Resul on the part of the Indian press and media.I was painfully disappointed to notice that A.R. Rehman was the sole eye candy,who hogged all the praise and attention.

But hey,hold on. Don't take this slight criticism on my part,in the wrong stride.All that I wish to point out is,the unequal treatment accorded by media,to all the winners,courtsey Slumdog Millionaire. After all,Rehman was not the only Indian who was bestowed upon with the Oscar statuette today.


Resul Kutty,Gulzar sahab,Little Pinky equally deserve the praise and applause for their significant contributions in their respective fields.How many of us were even aware about the short documentary film, Smile Pinky ,which was India's entry under the nominations of the Best Documentary(short subject) award???!!! Since the last few days,the entire media hype and wishes for the Oscars revolved around Rehman and Danny Boyle.None of the channels paid even the slightest bit of attention to the other aspiring winners,who also deserved our prayers and attention.They were also a significant part of the race,after all!! I don't care for others,but for me,all four of them: Rehman,Gulzar,Resul and Pinky deserve equal honour and applause.I feel proud to be their countrymen.

Three cheers for all of them!


And yes,for me Kutty and Pinky are as prominent as Rehman and Gulzar.They are all Masters in their respective fields.

Way to go,Indians.

14 comments:

  1. Good one Mohita!

    I loved Smile Pinky too!

    I don't understand one thing. People are all merry about Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire and their sweeping off the Oscars by winning 8 of them etc etc. They say India won an oscar. But I beg to differ here. It is Danny Boyle, and it was a Hollywood film made on an Indian subject which managed to catch the eyes of the audience. It was Rahman who won. The credit it for him to take. Maybe yeah we can say that Rahman won an Oscar for India. The only entry which went from India for commercial cinema was I think Taare Zameen Par which did not even make it to the nominations.

    I know people will have different things to say but think of Shekhar Kapur making a movie based in UK, which wins 8 awards. Still, we will say, India won 8 Oscars!

    Jai Ho. I am very happy nonetheless coz I loved Slumdog and I am doing in Rome as the Romans do :P India won 8 oscars yay!

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  2. Congrats to the deseving ones :)

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  3. Mohita that was so very true
    I was about to pen something on this
    U spoke my mind

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  4. Mohita & Ashrita , you have a point ;)

    Jai Ho! Jai Hind!!

    Its not that we are talented, just for this film but its been so for ages, only because this was foreign production and a foreign director with international sensibilities, we were able to connect to international audiences across the world.

    Hope one day a pure indian made and directed film reaches that level. But never the less it doesn't mean that we're lacking in quality movies,scripts, acting talent or music or any other department in movie making for the fact. We are a powerhouse and we will always be so, but sadly not in the international arena(times are changing though)

    Sometimes there is a sad feeling that we billions are so crazed about our indian movies winning oscars(that it becomes a prime time news and billion dollar question) and we tend to forget that a mere oscar doesnt mean that we're brilliant or whatsoever or neither it should be treated as ultimate goal.

    But in this materialistic world, it does open up umpteen oppurtunities abroad which otherwise would give a missing,which no sane person would want to definitely miss out.

    My final say is, Oscars should be treated in contention as a mere milestone and nothing more than that. People will find it difficult agreeing with me, but that is the truth.

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  5. Congrats to Slumdog Millionaire team! Hope a pure indian movie will win a Oscar soon !! :)

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  6. @Nan

    M glad you thought over it.It was sopredominant and pertinent in the media,,that it was difficult to ignore it.

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  7. @Prats,Kings

    Yes,heartiest congratulations to the deserving ones!!

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  8. @Hashan
    Lets hope for our dream to come true.

    Fingers crossed!!

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  9. seconding ashrita's comment ...its nt an indian movie but media is creating hype abt it....agreed that arr and pookutty won which makes us proud ...but still we have to wait and celebrate until a pure indian movie gets an oscar

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  10. well i soo happy A.R Rahman n Resul Pookutty got the oscars.. yaayy. surely a proud moment for india.. yaaayyy..

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  11. yipppeeeeeeeeee....raise a toast to ARR n Pookutty....n i agree with all above...lets keep fingers crossed for the day when an indian movie does all of us proud...and i am sure our lounge would live to see that day..n we will have mohita posting on it again with a link to this old post of hers ;-) ...earlier the better..he he...

    i loved Pookutty's speech more than Rahmans.... ;-)

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  12. Sandeep,I wish its happens soon!!
    Say,next year!!

    Me too,I think Pookutty's was more subtle and heartfelt.

    Three cheers for, WL..!!

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  13. Levitation towards foreign awards and demanding recognition from foreigners has been a great tragedy to the Indian mind.

    Why do we even feel the need to compete with people around the globe and win adulation and that too at an American Film Festival that has only been tweaked a bit to accept foreign films?

    Is India not enough for us? What happened to the people who once believed in the ideals of 'desireless action' as in the Gita? We must take care that in order to satisfy our beloved white masters and mistresses.. we do not get disconnected from people among whom we are raised.

    Slumdog did just that, at least for me. I will always take awards from foreigners to Indians with a bag of salt..

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