The Slum Dog Idea
So far, all my friends from India here have disagreed that Slum Dog Millionaire deserved the Oscar. Everyone on this shore has expressed that A.R. Rehman has other music in score which could have been internationally recognized; plenty of other movies from Indian Directors that could be recognized for the direction, camera, cinematography. Jai Ho is definitely not THAT impressive a song, nor is the background score as brilliant as that of Satyajit Ray's Aparajito. Remember the scene where Appo's dad dies. There was only one pluck of the string that would make even a rock cry. Pandit Ravi Shankar's sitar had literally spoken the emotions beyond words in that great stunt of music and direction.
I sat through the movie, not totally able to appreciate everything. Cinematography was excellent, still not to world standards. There are other genuinely more creative movies for this year that cud grab the award. Then why Slum Dog?
I am oriented to think in these lines. Others might disagree. But its my thinking and am sharing here. Any offense or pun is only unintended. Don't read between the lines. There is nothing but blanks!
Let us wind the clock back a few years. Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen both deserved the Miss World and Miss Universe titles. But it was also used as an entry point for western FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) manufacturers to enter India.This was not the only entry port. There was HLL before too with a variety of soaps and facial creams. companies from Us and Europe need to tap the billion figure Indian population, both as cheap labor for manufacturing and more as consumers who can afford to buy these products. The words were phrased the other way though. To manufacture products affordable to the middle class and lower middle class of India. The idea was bought, rather celebrated.
Say, a beauty cream costs $8 in USA. It would have cost the manufacturer $4-$5 if manufactured in US. The population that would buy the product is less here and also not the majority of the middle income families can actually afford. These two factors play a major role here - total number of people (population) and the number of people who can afford to buy (high income, middle income, low income categories). Both the numbers are pretty low compared to the booming population in Asian countries. Now say, the same cream cud be manufactured for Rs.10 (I am just meaning it is lower compared to US; don't buy the exact dollar and rupee values here) and sold for Rs.25-Rs.30. The number of consumers buying this would be in millions or lakhs to the least . Hefty profits. The number of advertisements/commercials for FMCG and other style brands featuring Rai, Sen and other models actually increased tremendously after the beauty pageants were internationally recognized. This created more awareness among the folks - from teenage gals to mid-40-some aunties. Wanting to be like the silver screen idols, they naturally became consumers when the beauty products are so affordable.
Oscar for SDM is a similar case. Recognize the Bollywood to tap into the Indian diaspora for various reasons. A lot of software editing and designing is used in movie making these days. And what better place than English speaking Java typing India! The young adults and teen population is more in number than ever and more westernized than ever. With the internet giving access to all Hollywood movies, the western camera crew doesn't have to educate the audience to appreciate the efforts behind the camera and also the themes being shot.
All I am trying to say is that Movie making would be cheaper and movie watching by millions would be profitable. So, recognize them, reward them, give them the feeling (or is it instilling confidence - the words floating around are quite catchy) that a person from slum can go places in life. And and use those positive vibes to enter the market. The scene in Bombay/LA has to be watched more closely. Hollywood Bollywood interactions are bound to increase. More common man in India will start watching the Hollywood pictures, for reasons other than obscenity. More moolah for the movie makers of LA.
The stage is set. Start the show.
I sat through the movie, not totally able to appreciate everything. Cinematography was excellent, still not to world standards. There are other genuinely more creative movies for this year that cud grab the award. Then why Slum Dog?
I am oriented to think in these lines. Others might disagree. But its my thinking and am sharing here. Any offense or pun is only unintended. Don't read between the lines. There is nothing but blanks!
Let us wind the clock back a few years. Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen both deserved the Miss World and Miss Universe titles. But it was also used as an entry point for western FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) manufacturers to enter India.This was not the only entry port. There was HLL before too with a variety of soaps and facial creams. companies from Us and Europe need to tap the billion figure Indian population, both as cheap labor for manufacturing and more as consumers who can afford to buy these products. The words were phrased the other way though. To manufacture products affordable to the middle class and lower middle class of India. The idea was bought, rather celebrated.
Say, a beauty cream costs $8 in USA. It would have cost the manufacturer $4-$5 if manufactured in US. The population that would buy the product is less here and also not the majority of the middle income families can actually afford. These two factors play a major role here - total number of people (population) and the number of people who can afford to buy (high income, middle income, low income categories). Both the numbers are pretty low compared to the booming population in Asian countries. Now say, the same cream cud be manufactured for Rs.10 (I am just meaning it is lower compared to US; don't buy the exact dollar and rupee values here) and sold for Rs.25-Rs.30. The number of consumers buying this would be in millions or lakhs to the least . Hefty profits. The number of advertisements/commercials for FMCG and other style brands featuring Rai, Sen and other models actually increased tremendously after the beauty pageants were internationally recognized. This created more awareness among the folks - from teenage gals to mid-40-some aunties. Wanting to be like the silver screen idols, they naturally became consumers when the beauty products are so affordable.
Oscar for SDM is a similar case. Recognize the Bollywood to tap into the Indian diaspora for various reasons. A lot of software editing and designing is used in movie making these days. And what better place than English speaking Java typing India! The young adults and teen population is more in number than ever and more westernized than ever. With the internet giving access to all Hollywood movies, the western camera crew doesn't have to educate the audience to appreciate the efforts behind the camera and also the themes being shot.
All I am trying to say is that Movie making would be cheaper and movie watching by millions would be profitable. So, recognize them, reward them, give them the feeling (or is it instilling confidence - the words floating around are quite catchy) that a person from slum can go places in life. And and use those positive vibes to enter the market. The scene in Bombay/LA has to be watched more closely. Hollywood Bollywood interactions are bound to increase. More common man in India will start watching the Hollywood pictures, for reasons other than obscenity. More moolah for the movie makers of LA.
The stage is set. Start the show.
um.... I just though this was better of the nominated ones..:) plausible?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was an attempt to sully the indian image (against its growing dominance in the world stage)...wat say
ReplyDeleteVinod - That's another thought. Possible too. The whole idea of forcing the oscar looks fishy to me all the way.
ReplyDeleteBojanki - if nothing is deserving in a year, I wud say 'hang up' for that year ;-)