Jan 17, 2009

Jai Ho!


Rehman with wife Saira.

My brother (Abhishek Joshi) who's always ahead of times (a blogging Delphi), advised me not to post too often but once a week, so as to give enough time to all the readers, near and far. The irony is that 20 days down the line, i haven't been able to come across a topic substantial enough to be written about.

My mind is scanning whatever notable it had observed. i had completed a book called Disgrace by J M Coetzee. It was my second booker winner in the past 1 month. It was a good read and that's it. Having read The White Tiger and the book above, i think i know what the booker prize jury looks for. While Disgrace brings the dark scenario of South Africa into light; Adiga's Bangalorian protaganist happens to be from the Darkness too. An apt and delicate mix of facts and fiction is what gets you the booker. That would be using the medium of literature to raise and show issues where many others (the television mainly) have failed. That would be i guess the purpose why books/ literature were written in the first place. To inform and awake.

Someting similar is done by Slumdog Millionaire. In fact it was time a film came out with the Bombay Slums as its theme. Despite the picture of India which it has shown to the world, everybody is rejoicing and applauding. I rejoice too. However, I wonder why did they criticise at Ray the time of Pather Panchali. Are the parameters of sentiments any different now?

I have a gloomy mood today,
The humor's nagging from far away.
My writing reflects my seriousness,
Jai ho! the winners, May God Bless.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally someone believes in my words worth:)
As for Mr. Ray and the criticism he invited with his portrayal of India...I have always been of the notion that Mr. Ray is a luminary figure,over and above such remarks. As for Slumdog Millionaire,which remains one of the freshest gust of air from the erstwhile hollywood,drawing analogies in inevitable but then contemporary works of genius have evoked criticism in every age!

Indeed..JAI HO!!:) As for Rehman-the genius...Come home to the Oscars!

subbu said...

I love Coetzee!!

Actually, Satyajit Ray wasn't criticized at all(as far as I know) when Pather Panchali was released...... the lone(or first anyway) criticism came in the 80s from Nargis Dutt( speaking as a Rajya Sabha member, no less) in an attempt I think to politicize the issue. She came up with the now cliched "Marketing India's Poverty to the West" crap.

As for lager criticism of "poverty porn" allegedly shown in books and movies about India, to the extent that I know it didn't begin until the early 90s, with the rise of the middle class who had grandiose visions of India's present and future and were uncomfortable with any portrayal that conflicted with their vision and anything which showed what they thought they'd managed to block out of sight in their everyday lives.....

Having said that, I didn't really like Slumdog.... Salaam Bombay remains for me the best film set in Indian slums, SD'snarrative fell plain flat and the movie felt like a montage of vaguely disconnected scenes.... what hurts, as a friend said is that they're saying this is Rahman's/ Danny Boyle's best work..... nice movie, just don't call it a classic.... interesting article in the Hindu... http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/02/15/stories/2009021550180500.htm

udit joshi said...

Subbu! my dearest friend! having something said from you is like having an old friend come home for dinner(i hope it soon comes to be).