Receiving eight Oscars is the ultimate moment of happiness for makers of the movie and for many Indians too as Slumdog millionaire has broken many records today at the coveted 81st Oscar awards ceremony. The story about a Mumbai tea boy who rises from poverty and enters a television quiz show to win millions and find the love of his life, won eight Oscars of the nine categories in which it was nominated at the 81st Academy awards. The film is based on a novel,Q&A, by the Indian writer and diplomat Vikas Swarup and was adapted by Simon Beaufoy, the British screenwriter of The Full Monty.
Slumdog Millionaire is set in the city of Mumbai and depicts the poverty of the slum colony of Dharavi from where the hero hails. The movie revolves around the story of how a slum boy named Jamal(the lead character) gets a chance to participate in the famous television show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' and finally wins it. All questions asked in the show are related to the hardships faced by him in his life.The common Bollywood theme is escapism with songs and dance. So Slumdog Millionare deviates from the standard pattern of a Bollywood film. It's a bridge between a Hollywood and a Bollywood film as the starcast comprises of Indians, but has been produced and directed by Britishers.
Slumdog Millionaire has received bouquets in the west and brickbats in our country.Resulpokutty after receiving the Oscar was right when he said that he created history. He is the first Indian to receive it except of course for Satyajit Ray who received it honorarily. A.R.Rahman winning two Oscars is also the first Indian to receive two in a succession on the same dais. It was pleasure to watch him perform live singing Jai Ho before the western audience.
Cliched terminologies as 'rags to riches story','poor man's extraordinary journey' have been associated with the movie. It has also cropped up every time with a new controversy testing Danny Boyle's patience, who was even heard saying in one of his interviews "In India it wouldn't come as a surprise as anybody could protest against the film". We have a wide range of names cropping up from Amitabh Bachan to Shahrukh to Dharavi's slum dwellers, the latest in the list being Arundhati Roy either accusing or defending it. Some Indians found the word “slum dog” in the movie’s title to be insulting to slum-dwellers.
Arundhati has a different opinion on the movie."Poverty sells but the poor do not. The film gives false hope to the poor that they too could become millionaires one day. Watching Slumdog Millionaire was like speeding on a highway with lots of potholes".
Bachan said that "if SM projects India as [a] third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations."
Shahrukh Khan, slamming critics of Oscar nominated 'Slumdog Millionaire' has said that the film presents to the world a ''visually appealing'' India. Shahrukh, who has read the original book as well as the script said, "Isn't that (poverty and slums) a reality? If you (critics) have a problem with the word slumdog, why don't you look positively and see that there is a word millionaire or 'crorepati' also."
Whatever reactions it has faced (to each their own),it has succeeded in captivating audiences all over the world and has swept away the much awaited most coveted award 'THE OSCAR'. The feelings in all Indian hearts is understandable as so its a moment to cherish. So enjoy for its another occasion to feel proud to be an Indian.
Smile Pinki:Another movie shot in India (though a small 39 minute documentary)also received an Oscar. The documentary was made by distinguished film-maker Meg Mlyan. A real world fairy tale, which celebrates the work of the plastic surgeon Subodh Kumar Singh in providing free surgery to fix the cleft lip of poor young children, won the Oscar in the best documentary (short)category on Sunday night.The film shot entirely in Varanasi and villages of Uttar Pradesh focuses on Pinki Kumari whose life is transformed by the simple surgery.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My current read Soheir Khashoggi's "Nadia's Song"
Soheir was born in Alexandria, Egypt. Her first acclaimed novel,MIRAGE was published in 1996.
The cover page of this book reads ' A captivating story of triumph and tragedy- and a powerful but forbidden love'. I found it quite interesting. This is the second book I have read written by an Egyptian author, the first being Khalid Hosseini's "A thousand suns".It was a beautiful book read.
Soheir is the sister of Adnan Khashoggi(billionaire who was once connected to Jackie Kennedy/Onassis) and is Dodi Al Fayed's auntie. Her late sister Samira Khashoggi was Dodi's mother. She has produced 3 best sellers but the first titled Mirage is banned in Saudi Arabia. Soheir dedicated Nadia's Song to the memory of her dear nephew Dodi al Fayed(of late princess Diana fame).
Set against five decades of turbulent Middle Eastern history, from World War II to the first Gulf War, Nadia's Song is a moving saga of mothers and daughters and the unbreakable bond between them.
Karima,born to a humble servant working in cotton plantations owned by rich Britishers, her journey of life sees numerous upheavals. She falls in love with Charles, son of plantation owner and losses him in an accident. But by then she is an unwed mother and her own mother dies of an explosion. Her brother, Omar forcefully gets her married to an old man, who in few years dies in a fire outbreak at a hotel, wherein she gets separated from her eight year old daughter, Nadia.
She has been gifted with a beautiful voice and is called the Nightingale of Egypt. This expression reminds me of Lata Mangeshkar who is often addressed as the Nightingale of India. Nadia becomes one of the most accomplished singers of Egypt, but her songs carry the pain of her pining for her daughter.
Given a new name and identity, Karima's lost daughter grows up many miles away. It is only when an unexpected chain of events leads "Gaby" back to Egypt that she begins to unravel the mystery of her past and discover the happiness she longs for.
Egypt was an unknown territory to me in every aspect till I touched this book. Egypt for me meant the famous river Nile, its pyramids and its capital city, Cairo.
So this book is a real eye opener in the way it depicts about Egypt in its pristine glory during the rule of last pharaoh and it's successive waging of wars to claim control over Suez canal. The brutal loss it suffered in the hands of Italy and later its rise to glory under Anwar Sadat's rule. The city of Alexandria which is the scene of action has been beautifully narrated.
In a way it falls into the usual genre of a book authored by a woman and has two women Nadia and Karima as the central characters.One tends to compare it with other books written on women, "A thousand suns", " Not without my daughter". But this book stands out in its positive treatment of its female characters. It absorbs the readers interest and is definitely a good read.
The cover page of this book reads ' A captivating story of triumph and tragedy- and a powerful but forbidden love'. I found it quite interesting. This is the second book I have read written by an Egyptian author, the first being Khalid Hosseini's "A thousand suns".It was a beautiful book read.
Soheir is the sister of Adnan Khashoggi(billionaire who was once connected to Jackie Kennedy/Onassis) and is Dodi Al Fayed's auntie. Her late sister Samira Khashoggi was Dodi's mother. She has produced 3 best sellers but the first titled Mirage is banned in Saudi Arabia. Soheir dedicated Nadia's Song to the memory of her dear nephew Dodi al Fayed(of late princess Diana fame).
Set against five decades of turbulent Middle Eastern history, from World War II to the first Gulf War, Nadia's Song is a moving saga of mothers and daughters and the unbreakable bond between them.
Karima,born to a humble servant working in cotton plantations owned by rich Britishers, her journey of life sees numerous upheavals. She falls in love with Charles, son of plantation owner and losses him in an accident. But by then she is an unwed mother and her own mother dies of an explosion. Her brother, Omar forcefully gets her married to an old man, who in few years dies in a fire outbreak at a hotel, wherein she gets separated from her eight year old daughter, Nadia.
She has been gifted with a beautiful voice and is called the Nightingale of Egypt. This expression reminds me of Lata Mangeshkar who is often addressed as the Nightingale of India. Nadia becomes one of the most accomplished singers of Egypt, but her songs carry the pain of her pining for her daughter.
Given a new name and identity, Karima's lost daughter grows up many miles away. It is only when an unexpected chain of events leads "Gaby" back to Egypt that she begins to unravel the mystery of her past and discover the happiness she longs for.
Egypt was an unknown territory to me in every aspect till I touched this book. Egypt for me meant the famous river Nile, its pyramids and its capital city, Cairo.
So this book is a real eye opener in the way it depicts about Egypt in its pristine glory during the rule of last pharaoh and it's successive waging of wars to claim control over Suez canal. The brutal loss it suffered in the hands of Italy and later its rise to glory under Anwar Sadat's rule. The city of Alexandria which is the scene of action has been beautifully narrated.
In a way it falls into the usual genre of a book authored by a woman and has two women Nadia and Karima as the central characters.One tends to compare it with other books written on women, "A thousand suns", " Not without my daughter". But this book stands out in its positive treatment of its female characters. It absorbs the readers interest and is definitely a good read.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
I recently got into the habit of book reading. But I realised after few months of reading that I was forgetting names of books, authors and sometimes even the storyline. A casual discussion with my husband on the habit of book reading gave me good insights. He suggested that book reading as a habit is an excellent habit, but its a passive habit. To make it an active habit, one needs to put in effort to write down a few lines after finishing reading it. I really liked the suggestion but was feeling lazy to pen down a few lines.
I have read very few books as I ain't an avid book reader. Book reading recently caught my fancy, so let me recollect names of few books that I read. Biographies of Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama, JFK. The last one didn't sustain my interest for long. I try reading 2/3 books at a time, a mix of heavy and light reading. Some more names' Miss Prym', 'Veronica must die' by Paulo Coelho, John Grisham's ' The painted house', ' Stay hungry, Stay foolish'( a book about 25 IIM graduates who chucked away lucrative careers to start something on their own) , ' Not without my daughter' by Betty Mehmoody and William Hoffer'.
The one book which I just finished reading is 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom. This particular book really touched my heart. Its a beautiful story of the relationship between a student and his mentor. The student Mitch Albom adores his Professor of Sociology, Prof Morris Schwartz and becomes very close to him during his years in college. Mitch promises on the last day of college in the year 1974 to keep in touch with him after he finishes college, but fails to keep his promise. The story was later adapted by Thomas Rickman into a television movie (directed by Mick Jackson), which was aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Hank Azaria.
A causal channel flipping in the year 1995 and he sees his professor on TV, an old man shrunken counting his last days of death with a smile on his lips. Mitch feels terribly guilty and rushes to meet Morris. The book shares in depth the last few days spent with his Professor, who has been diagnosed with ALS,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease which has no cure. Mitch visits him every Tuesday during his last days of death. It is to keep up his tradition of attending to his lectures every Tuesday during his college days.
The Professor shares his beautiful secrets of life and good aphorisms which are learning lessons for one and all. When I finished reading the book I felt after Morris's death that I lost someone of my own. Mitch with his beautiful narrative style transports us live to Morris's house every Tuesday and hence the grief after reading weighs so heavily in every ones heart.
Some of Morrie's greatest insights are his views on how our culture plays into our lives. He spent his life creating his own culture, listening to his heart and doing what was right for him, versus what was right by society's standards. One problem he sees is that we tend to see each other as dissimilar rather than alike. We are taught to be independent and unique, but in reality we all have the same needs. He emphasizes investment in people, not things. When all is said and done, we will be remembered not by our bank accounts or stock portfolios, but by the time we spent listening to a friend or helping a family member
I personally feel the book deals with two stories simultaneously without the reader realizing it. One a superficial level its a story of a man and a disease. But when scratched it conveys a warm message of a professor of social psychology who has come to understand that life's complexities can be broken down into simple truths. Morrie speaks to every person because he is every person. He has led a simple yet meaningful life that inspires you to live yours to the fullest.
Perhaps his story is more powerful because one is not only taking in his wisdom, but as reader we are experiencing his death. In his words, he is fortunate enough to know he is dying, to take stock of his life as it comes to an end. He handles this with bravery and compassion, and when the final moment comes we feel as though we lost a dear friend.
A FEW MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THE BOOK CAPTURED IN MY BLOG FOREVER:
Here are few of my favourite quotes from the book.
" a man frozen inside his own flesh".
"I hope that one day you will think of me as your friend".
"Life is a series of pulls back and forth.You want to do one thing,but you are bound to do something else.Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted even when you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle".
"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves.And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it".
"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning".
"Dying is the only one thing to be sad over. Living unhappily is something else. "I am on the last great journey here- and people want me to tell them what to pack."
"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do"; "Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it"; Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others"; Don't assume that it's too late to get involved."
"All right I'll be your coach. And you can be my player. You can play all the lovely parts of life that I'm too old for now."
"Which side wins? Love always wins."
"If you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too-even when you are in the dark. Even when you are falling."
" A teacher affects eternity. He will never tell where his influence stops."
"Same for loneliness. you let go, let the tears flow, feel it completely-but eventually be able to say, " all right, that was my moment with loneliness. I ain't afraid of feeling lonely, but now I am going to put that loneliness aside and know that there are other emotions in the world, and I am going to experience them as well."
At seventy eight he was giving in as a adult and taking back as a child."
"Death ends a life, not a relationship".
"Be compassionate. And take responsibility for each other. If we learned these lessons, this world would be so much a better place."
"Love each other or die."
"What's wrong in being number two."
"Invest in human family. Invest in people. Build a community of those who love you and those you love.'
"In the beginning of life, we are infants, we need others to survive. At the end of our life, we need others to survive. BUT, HERE'S THE SECRET: ;IN BETWEEN, WE NEED OTHERS AS WELL."
" In marriage, you get tested.You find out who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate or don't."
There are few rules about love and marriage. "If you don't respect the other person, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. ?If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you cant talk openly about what goes on between you,you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you 're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike."
I have read very few books as I ain't an avid book reader. Book reading recently caught my fancy, so let me recollect names of few books that I read. Biographies of Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama, JFK. The last one didn't sustain my interest for long. I try reading 2/3 books at a time, a mix of heavy and light reading. Some more names' Miss Prym', 'Veronica must die' by Paulo Coelho, John Grisham's ' The painted house', ' Stay hungry, Stay foolish'( a book about 25 IIM graduates who chucked away lucrative careers to start something on their own) , ' Not without my daughter' by Betty Mehmoody and William Hoffer'.
The one book which I just finished reading is 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom. This particular book really touched my heart. Its a beautiful story of the relationship between a student and his mentor. The student Mitch Albom adores his Professor of Sociology, Prof Morris Schwartz and becomes very close to him during his years in college. Mitch promises on the last day of college in the year 1974 to keep in touch with him after he finishes college, but fails to keep his promise. The story was later adapted by Thomas Rickman into a television movie (directed by Mick Jackson), which was aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Hank Azaria.
A causal channel flipping in the year 1995 and he sees his professor on TV, an old man shrunken counting his last days of death with a smile on his lips. Mitch feels terribly guilty and rushes to meet Morris. The book shares in depth the last few days spent with his Professor, who has been diagnosed with ALS,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease which has no cure. Mitch visits him every Tuesday during his last days of death. It is to keep up his tradition of attending to his lectures every Tuesday during his college days.
The Professor shares his beautiful secrets of life and good aphorisms which are learning lessons for one and all. When I finished reading the book I felt after Morris's death that I lost someone of my own. Mitch with his beautiful narrative style transports us live to Morris's house every Tuesday and hence the grief after reading weighs so heavily in every ones heart.
Some of Morrie's greatest insights are his views on how our culture plays into our lives. He spent his life creating his own culture, listening to his heart and doing what was right for him, versus what was right by society's standards. One problem he sees is that we tend to see each other as dissimilar rather than alike. We are taught to be independent and unique, but in reality we all have the same needs. He emphasizes investment in people, not things. When all is said and done, we will be remembered not by our bank accounts or stock portfolios, but by the time we spent listening to a friend or helping a family member
I personally feel the book deals with two stories simultaneously without the reader realizing it. One a superficial level its a story of a man and a disease. But when scratched it conveys a warm message of a professor of social psychology who has come to understand that life's complexities can be broken down into simple truths. Morrie speaks to every person because he is every person. He has led a simple yet meaningful life that inspires you to live yours to the fullest.
Perhaps his story is more powerful because one is not only taking in his wisdom, but as reader we are experiencing his death. In his words, he is fortunate enough to know he is dying, to take stock of his life as it comes to an end. He handles this with bravery and compassion, and when the final moment comes we feel as though we lost a dear friend.
A FEW MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THE BOOK CAPTURED IN MY BLOG FOREVER:
Here are few of my favourite quotes from the book.
" a man frozen inside his own flesh".
"I hope that one day you will think of me as your friend".
"Life is a series of pulls back and forth.You want to do one thing,but you are bound to do something else.Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted even when you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle".
"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves.And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it".
"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning".
"Dying is the only one thing to be sad over. Living unhappily is something else. "I am on the last great journey here- and people want me to tell them what to pack."
"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do"; "Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it"; Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others"; Don't assume that it's too late to get involved."
"All right I'll be your coach. And you can be my player. You can play all the lovely parts of life that I'm too old for now."
"Which side wins? Love always wins."
"If you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too-even when you are in the dark. Even when you are falling."
" A teacher affects eternity. He will never tell where his influence stops."
"Same for loneliness. you let go, let the tears flow, feel it completely-but eventually be able to say, " all right, that was my moment with loneliness. I ain't afraid of feeling lonely, but now I am going to put that loneliness aside and know that there are other emotions in the world, and I am going to experience them as well."
At seventy eight he was giving in as a adult and taking back as a child."
"Death ends a life, not a relationship".
"Be compassionate. And take responsibility for each other. If we learned these lessons, this world would be so much a better place."
"Love each other or die."
"What's wrong in being number two."
"Invest in human family. Invest in people. Build a community of those who love you and those you love.'
"In the beginning of life, we are infants, we need others to survive. At the end of our life, we need others to survive. BUT, HERE'S THE SECRET: ;IN BETWEEN, WE NEED OTHERS AS WELL."
" In marriage, you get tested.You find out who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate or don't."
There are few rules about love and marriage. "If you don't respect the other person, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. ?If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you cant talk openly about what goes on between you,you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you 're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike."
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