Monday, March 2, 2009

The Big Fight on NDTV - or is it?

I just saw 'The Big Fight' on NDTV about "Should India Really Be Celebrating Slumdog Oscars?". The panelists were Sudhir Mishra, Nafisa Ali, Simon Denyer (Reuters India), Arindam Chaudhary and Jug Suraiya. Now, I failed to understand exactly what was Arindam doing there? OK, he has has produced a handful of movies - which does NOT in any way mean that he understands movies. He went to prove that in the show clearly - thankyou Mr. Chaudhary. Thankyou for finally telling us how little you know about India and its people and what movies mean to Indians.
Now these people were at each others' throats debating whether Indians should be celebrating the Oscar success of SM or not? Just consider these facts about Jai Ho -

1. A sikh born in pre-partition Punjab writes a song.
2. A practicing sufi muslim based in Chennai composes the music.
3. Another sikh born in Amritsar sings the song.
4. A muslim born in a little village in Kerala engineers and mixes the sound.
5. It features a boy born in UK to Gujarati parents (who were born in Kenya!) and a Christian girl educated in Mumbai (and scores of other budding dancers.
6. And finally the song is picturized in one of our country's best-known landmarks.
This song goes on the win an Academy Award. Now, show me a better example of what Indians can do when we come together and then dare ask the question - should Indians be celebrating Slumdog Oscars?

And finally, some examples of Arindam Chaudhary's 'wisdom'.....

1. "I think it is a very negative feel-good film." Now, what does he exactly mean by that? How can anything that is feel-good be negative or positive?
2. "How many blind beggars have you really seen on the roads?" This clearly shows that one of the following must be true. And your options are.....

A. He never travels anywhere in India by road.
B. He never really bothers to look out of the window of the car when traveling.
C. He does not actually know what a blind beggar looks like.
D. All of the above.

This is not a question from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, because it is too simple. But please post your answers nevertheless. It will at least stop TV channels from calling him henceforth.

2 comments:

shubs said...

To introduce ourselves, we're the lost professionals serving the heart of corporate America...and we're disheartened by the way majority of the Indian Media goes about sniffing negativity and looking at the wrong end of the spectrum every 'F&*King" time.

A couple of things about this post & program:

1. Finally someone understands the essence of the movie and puts it across in simple words; making a strong point that collaboration deserves to be celebrated.

2.The moderator of this so-called debate had already reached his conclusion and seemed biased in his opinions and in our opinion, fails to understand the whole concept of moderating a DEBATE; to nurture a constructive and sensible argument. NET-NET, his hand coordination was distracting and his show of deep love and support for the verbal garbage served up by the self proclaimed and highly dubious Arindam Chaudary referred to as "Mr.Ponytail" from here onwards was simply shocking!!!

3. Bringing us to the final and perhaps the most significant observation that came through this not-so-debate like TV show, is that Mr.Ponytail should A. Be banned from being heard and seen on any kind of public forum given his limited understanding of cinema and in fact all subject matters.
His lack of sensitivity, appreciation and his choice of poor expressions only proves the point " that he is a brand who thrives on ignorance and has absolutely zero-understanding of the western world and audience and the overarching idea that drives a movie ". Plus for a man whose supported/produced candyfloss flop films should not be commenting on DANNY BOYLE!!!

No wonder India is on stinted growth thanks to narrow-minded people, baseless arguments and even more baseless media professionals. Thank you for reading this.

prem said...

Maybe Mr. Ponytail CANNOT see what is ON the road, because he is too busy sitting in his Porsche Cayenne with tinted glasses...?