Winning 8 Oscars has put Slumdog Millionaire in the annals of movie history as a remarkable story of passion, hope and survival.
Very funnily, as Delhi figures prominently in many of our recent local releases, Mumbai seems to have redefined itself and moved onto the world stage. From Rab ne bana di jodi, Oye Lucky-Lucky Oye , Chandi Chowk to China , Delhi-6 to Dev-D, movies in the last 2-3 months had got in a distinctive Chandni Chowk and Pahargunj flavor. Mumbai's crumbling infrastructure, abject poverty and instant fame trapped in film by Boyle and certified by the Oscars, has in a sense freezed Mumbai into a city the world will watch for, if not a world city.
Maybe, being a world city is the next step as real capital moves in, scripts of movies begin to be based here and hollywood studios open offices here.
In a FICCI frames discussion recently, Pritish Nandy, put up the question on 'Whats indian cinema' up for debate. Is it bengali, tamil , telugu or hindi ? Are the sensibilities of regional languages different from hindi? Does a bengali understand tamil emotions, if there is something called a tamil emotion that is?
I think just as we understand a polish drama called ' My name is Justine' , we cry with Rose on the Titanic raft as Jack drowns or want Erin Bronkovich to win, the world will want to see our culture wrapped in our emotion. And Slumdog has done just that. Jill Gwen, the hoplessly excited Fox searchlight executive on the panel emphatically conteded that the movie could connect with any audience - in a sense of universal appeal.
She's right. I mean if one were to substitute all characters with Chinese or Brazilian ones it would still make for a compelling tale. Though the story is an Indian original, Vikas Swarups canvas was pretty universal. Rags to riches is after all a very universal story- a universal desire and therefore has a post-linguistic, post-cultural appeal.
What this win surely means that Rehman deservingly is a global composer now, Indianness is the next big thing and maybe many more movie houses will land on our doorstep with scripts that will use us to tell another universal tale.
Jai Ho !
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