Thursday, February 19, 2009

Slumdog with the Oscars

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The red carpet is about to be rolled out in 2 days and the Oscar is just around the corner. Let me just rewind my grey cells, some years before there was movie came called “Titanic” which became an instant hit in US. It was released in my home town, which is in the southern part of India where only 4 out of 10 people can read or write English. The movie “Titanic” ran for packed house for almost 50 to 60 days, some of my town mates who cannot understand beyond “What is your name?” in English enjoyed the movie not once but twice and thrice.
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Come 2009, “Slumdog Millionaire”, one of my team member at the work place was speaking with an American customer,

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Customer : Did you watch “Slumdog Millionaire”?
Team member : Yes, have you seen it? How do you like?
Customer : Yes, I have seen it and its best romantic movie ever told!!
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The conversation continued for an hour and the customer was immersed in the pit of joy about the film. Romance doesn’t need a language. It’s the love which carried the “Slumdog” rather than the slum itself.

In the same Titanic movie “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion was a hit not only in US but also in India, a favorite number at that time, the songs reached to an extend that it was used as a sound while a car was in reverse gear or most of them used as their ringtones. “Jai Ho” splashed into the screen when the credit starts to scroll in “Slumdog”, again here it’s the love that matters than the slum.

Front\Nixon can be riveting, Benjamin Button can be fascinating, Milk can be absorbing, but for sure this dog has bitten the right people to get its due, you cannot ignore the dog.



Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Waltz with Bashir



Waltz with Bashir, a film by a Israeli director Ari Folman. The film is a very rare genre "animated documentary". The movie is nominated for the "Best Foreign Language" film category for this year' Academy Awards. By reading the reviews before watching this film, i thought it will be a boring one. The reason is it says about a person ( A soldier) who is affected war and trauma to overcome it and moreover it is said in an animation movie. The belief and what we have seen is animation is used only with fish or rat speaks. Those are fun,  like a talking donkey, fighting cats, but this film deals with a serious point and told with the canvas which was used to create fun and frolic.


The Fact - The story of the film can be said here, because some research for this movie will get us the story which are actual events, Middle East conflict and massacre of Palestines in the war camp by Lebanese militia where Isreal goverment failed to stop the massacre and turned deaf ears to it.

The Movie - Its interesting from the start, the first thing that captivates one is the color, bright yellow with dark colors. The next be the music and some little dark comedy and good story telling.

A good watch for movie goers, for people who like history and for who like Psychology.