Jai Ho...!

Why the debate? It’s a given that we are definitely way far away from Hollywood…definitely their cinema is much more advanced n classy than ours… Howmuchsoever our very own Aamir keeps trying, it will still take us much more time to win that coveted something christened as ‘Oscar’.

But mahn, watched Slumdog Millionaire just sometime back and cudn’t stop myself write the title of the blog “Jai Ho” coz the words are still echoing in my ears as they will surely do when you will come out of the theaters watching this movie. I truly loved it and it purely touched my Indian heart.

Watching Slumdog was just like eating the delicious “Bombay ki bhelpuri” with a lot of masala which makes u relish its taste till the very last bite. The characters picked have acted so realistically and have been depicted so believably…u start feeling that u r actually watching some Jamaal’s life and that’s what makes this movie truly magical.

An Indian writer, an Indian setting, mostly Indian cast, the ace Indian music director, Indian co-director Loveleen…the complete package is truly a tribute to India from the creative filmmakers of Hollywood. It is definitely the style & portrayal where these Americans steal the show away from us. The screenplay and the depiction of their movies is always so mesmerizing which keeps their movies so much more engaging and mature… Even in this movie, the way Jamaal’s life unfolds with each question of KBC is truly loved by me as an amazing concept.

I wish to sight just one scene from this movie which every Indian will hate but still contemplate a lot about it. This is scene where “a bit of real India” is being compared with “a bit of real America” through an American tourist couple. I personally feel that they got a lill overboard with ths one! Not sharing the scene to avoid spoilers, but all of you who have seen the movie, any comments on this ;)?

There is no point why there is a debate going on about what’s been depicted in this movie. It’s a shame to slam the Slumdog by setting the thought that it depicts only the slums of our lovely country, if u have the balls to either remove this dark truth or depict the better part of our country to the world, then the world…an open stage…is waiting to get entertained, show them that we are much more than this. We have not been able to do that from past 50 years and when one foreigner comes down to depict his thought of entertainment, all we argumentative Indians can do is to slam them…it’s shameful. Guys, this movie uses the slums of our country as the setting coz a guy from slum can’t be shown living his life in a five star, please grow up at least in your thoughts. Fine, slums are a part of ours only whether it’s fractured or burnt, but it’s our body part…isn’t it?

May be Danny Boyle himself has to come down again sometime to shoot another movie which depicts the non-slum part of our country coz we still can’t do that…is that what we want to say…I mean how many times we have told the small kids that the movies are meant for entertainment and not to set debates and arguments…

Khair, chuck the debates…enuf of it…lemme “Jai-Ho” Slumdog Millionaire for the beautiful entertainer to the core which it is,

• Jai Ho…to the truly miraculous love story based on the premise of “Destiny”…being a true believer of destiny…I truly worship the words…“It is written” which sum up this movie for us.• Jai Ho…to India coz it is for our country and the existing slums of Mumbai which made this movie possible. We are a long way to go and for the love of our country it calls for a Jai Ho…

• Jai Ho…to the amazing original score by A R Rahman, I think his music has put in the life in the movie…and that calls for a celebration for India.

• Jai Ho…to the small kids who have played Jamaal and Salim, their innocent yet naughty faces can’t be forgotten for a long time even after watching this movie. Their acting was truly brilliant.

• Jai Ho…to Danny Boyle for making such a true to heart movie depicting India and a part of its Indianness.

• Jai Ho…to Anil Kapoor, Irfaan Khan, Mahesh Manjhrekar, Saurabh Shukla, Frieda Pinto and every Indian who got a chance to act this movie not for their presence but for their true blue acting making all characters appear for real.

• Jai Ho…to Dev Patel who has played the character of Jamaal, the guy’s expressions were flawless and the love in his eyes was so true.

• Jai Ho…especially to the Indianness which keeps us apart and which is also portrayed as a very true subject of the movie which says…”Never say die and always keep trying!” and so shall we.

I am truly waiting and still trying to make my destiny work for me so that even I can say with élan one day that, “It was written!”.