Notebook: 2009

The attached shows the opinion of mr Mk Harikumar on Hariharan ,the Indian Gazal,playback singer.Here is my take on it.

Mr Harikumar's first and foremost problem is that he is one of those typical "Yesudasnokiyandrams" who is too blind to see the good of the other singers.He blames Hariharan of not rendering the song "Parayan maranna" without emotions !Nonsence!!!I personally think Hariharan has rendered this song superbly with all the emotions that the song required.Ofcourse there are some minor pronunciation problems ,but pronunciation I feel,when weighed against the emotions hariharan has given through the exact expression of the raaga(Jog, in this case),is ignorable.Music does not need words to express the emotions. I rememebr crying after listening to one of Ilayaraja's instrumental tune from the album ,"Nothing but Wind".I remember back in late 80s listening to the Song ,"Ghar chod ke bhee zindagi " by Hariharan and becoming emotional despite the fact that Urdu was Greek to me that time!
I usually ignore such gibberish from peurile critics ,but this man,Harikumar has taken up the task of maligning such greats musicians like Hariharan, Ilayaraja,Sharath etc.and I feel if not reacted ,the silence would be taken for granted. I sent emails to him but is still unanswered! I sent letter to the editor,Kalakaumudi ,but is still unpublished!Hence this note.

What is so great about Slumdog Millionaire that it made it to the Oscars? Nothing ! For me this is just an average Bollywood movie directed by a Gora. I was so happy that a movie with Indian background made it to the Oscars ,but when I saw the movie ,I was really disappointed and also intrigued by the question why such an average movie would get such accolades. Indians have made better movies before, but none of them got the attention of the westerners .We had a beautiful movie last year named “Tare Zameen Par” which was rejected by them ,still the movie SDM with a topsy-turvy vision of India made it to the Oscars !!

Shobha De wrote a novel called 'Superstar India',but in the same year Arvind Adiga receives the Booker Prize for a novel that tarnishes the Indian spirit and portrays India negatively altogether. Hm ,,Can't you smell something fishy here ?Who is the slumdog here ? Is it the protagonist of the movie Jamal or the nation called India?
It does not take an Einstein's brain to understand the analogy.

Ok ,lets leave the biases of the movie makers aside , lets look at this movie as an entertainment element or from a cinematic perspective. I agree that this is an entertainer ,so are some of our larger than life Bollywood movies. But there is some serious bad scripting,charecterisation etc here; look at the scene where the two brothers fall from the train and suddenly we see them infront of Taj ,speaking fluent English !Look at the accent of the hereo ,Jamal- its pakka British ..Dont know if Jamal was taken by the underworld rackets for a special course in pronunciation to England!!
Also look at the character of Anil Kapoor ,such a rude ,megalomaniac who suffers from multiple personality disorder !The guy has no qualms in making fun of the Chai-walla and at the same time dancing on all fours when Jamal wins the price !!...Why he arranged the cops to arrest Jamal? ,what was his problem ??How could Jamal go back to the contest after the not so bad treatment received from Mumbai cops ( even electrocution was a part of it !!) No answers !!!

Now ,when Mr Bachan complained that this movie shows whole of India as a slum ,I thought it was just the gibberish of an unreasonably nationalist old man …But now I’m with Mr Bachan,he was right ! Lets look at some scenes from the movie .

One of the questions on the Millionaire show was about 'Satyameva Jayade' and Jamal was not able to answer the question and he was asked by the police officer why he did not know such a simple answer. Jamal retorts and asks the policeman if he knew the price of Bhel Puri on Juhu beach !!…the meaning ?- The national motto of India is a hollow slogan! Also I have no idea why the director showed an angry looking small boy dressed up as Lord Ram (vengeful) during the Hindu –Muslim riot scene.. I’ am still hitting my head on the wall!! Is it that the Hindus are all Muslim- killers and they are instigated by Ram and their scriptures ? Phew…..

Look at the scene near TajMahal….the boy disguised as a guide tells the American tourist that Taj was actually a hotel ,and the history is written by Indian Beggars !!!Hmmm…
The director intentionally makes one American tourist some sort of a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and makes him slip a 100 note bill into Jamal’s hand after Jamal was brutally spanked by the Indian driver ….and what does the American say while he was doing this act?? -”Here is a bit of real America for you son “…..!

Now ,don’t think that I’m a blind nationalist who is oblivious to the problems of India. The issue here is that ,this movie is the mirror on which the outside world sees India ,and the makers of the movie deliberately makes these image vulgar . This is not a sincere depiction of reality,this is deliberate maligning. If there is anything good about this movie its AR’s music and Rasool’s sound editing.