Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Previously Dileep

Regarding the headline - it was a great name someone gave AR Rehman yesterday, I don't quite remember who it was mentioned it, but anyway, now for my daily rant...
I was complaining to a couple of senior editors about the massive reams of newsprint wasted on Slumdog coverage, even The Hindu went mad, possibly because Previously Dileep is from Chennai. Three of the eight Oscars the movie won are coming back to India and that is great. But the movie is a British movie created admittedly by a lot of great, highly professional technicians and film crew in India. The acting is rather ordinary, but I still believe that Danny Boyle takes on Bollywood quite well by using total unknowns instead of the sons and daughters brigade.
Back to the story, one editor told me that if relevance to India was a concern then rural poverty and agriculture would be on the front pages all the time. The sad thing is, he noted that the middle classes probably don't give a shit. Though we will when we get saddled with the casteist idjits that will be voted in shortly and we will ask why even though few of us will vote and because we wouldn't have read about the crisis we won't know why they voted the way they did. Anyway, I guess the Slumdog hype is partially because the movie was made in India using Indian crews and also because it is a happy story. And that story is made even happier in a time when the middle classes are getting hit. We don't care about the problems of the rural poor and rarely did even in the good times, but Slumdog coverage is like Bollywood. A state of denial. Something good has happened, lets report about that rather than the constant stream of bad news.
The media, print and television is for the large part taking the tried and tested method of Pakistani politicians - dig your head completely in the sand, and because you don't hear anything nothing is happening. Honestly, things aren't that rosy, and I'm not fear mongering. Good on Slumdog Millionaire, but the coverage today was far too over the top in times when I would want to know what else can go wrong.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

His name is not Pradip. His name is Dileep.

http://musicshaji.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post.html


“R K Sekhar was the son of Harikatha exponent Rajagopal Bhagavathar of Kizhanoor near Chennai and his full name reads Rajagopal KulaSekhar. He started his career in Tamilnadu Electricity Board as an Electrician. But he did not waste much time there before joining Malayalam film music industry as an assistant to composer Dakshinamurthy. R K Sekhar who learnt the grammar of music by and large on his own, garnered the framework of Carnatic music from Dakshinamurthy. It is said that even composers like S.D. Burman, recognizing his talent in arranging music, invited him to assist him in Hindi film music.
“At his age of 31, R.K. Sekhar, married 17 years old Kasthuri. Their wedding was conducted in Tiruppathi and they lived in Chennai. Kanchana, the daughter was their first child. Then came Dileep their only son, followed by the girls Bala and Rekha.”

Anonymous said...

It was a pleasant surprise to see you talking about rural poor and agriculture. I like your Blog for your style of writing and you write good english - otherwise, I think you are a spoilt brat - perhaps son of an upper middle class parents who could send you to elite school followed by elite collge (you keep mentioning about) - but i see a spark there in your writings. I would suggest, you increase your readings - especially about Indian History (even if you have studied history in college) - and perhaps Indian History of last hundered years - the struggle for independence and history even after independence. I would recommend "The Penguin Book of modern Indian Speeches : 1877 to the Present" and Ramachandra Guha's "India After Gandhi". I think you need to open your windows and should make a concious attempt to come out of shadow of the people.....you think that you don't care for them. But actually you do. Don't believe Rajnath Singh when he mentions Gandhi and his Hind Swaraj. Because he cannot afford to adore Gandhi for a long time. But you can perhaps think of reading about Gandhi also.

Anonymous said...

It was a pleasant surprise to see you talking about rural poor and agriculture. I like your Blog for your style of writing and you write good english - otherwise, I think you are a spoilt brat - perhaps son of an upper middle class parents who could send you to elite school followed by elite collge (you keep mentioning about) - but i see a spark there in your writings. I would suggest, you increase your readings - especially about Indian History (even if you have studied history in college) - and perhaps Indian History of last hundered years - the struggle for independence and history even after independence. I would recommend "The Penguin Book of modern Indian Speeches : 1877 to the Present" and Ramachandra Guha's "India After Gandhi". I think you need to open your windows and should make a concious attempt to come out of shadow of the people.....you think that you don't care for them. But actually you do. Don't believe Rajnath Singh when he mentions Gandhi and his Hind Swaraj. Because he cannot afford to adore Gandhi for a long time. But you can perhaps think of reading about Gandhi also.

Anonymous said...

Dude, what's this juvenile "previously Dileep" business? The actor Dilip Kumar also goes by the name of Yusuf Khan - but nobody calls him that anymore. Whoever gave you this epithet for ARR seems to have been acutely insecure about his own religious identity... perhaps you should have checked for saffron chaddi underneath. On a serious note, let's respect ARR's right to give himself a religion and a moniker of his choice.

Anonymous said...

The hype in Indian media over Slumdog Millionaire squarely belongs to the genre of self-appreciation wherein Kalpana Chawla and Bobby Jindal are seen to be Indian over-achievers too.

Also, while Slumdog was ready by February 2008, it was voted upon by the membes of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences only around February 2009. Crucially "26/11" had happened about 2-and-half months earlier, giving the stories of the terrorist assault on Mumbai and the supposed recovery/triumph of its supposedly robust spirit/psche/character to be played around India and the world. The Great American Psyche has been especially soft on such stories as part of its war-on-terror mindset. The chances of the voters of the Academy giving such a thumbs-up to Slumdog would have been negligible even in 2008; but now -- after 26/11 -- any sobs-to-happiness story on Mumbai would have found favour. I mean, Jai Ho is a very ordinary song, for rythym, tune, lyrics and every thing else.

Of course, the fact that Danny Boyle is one of the great pathbreaking directors of British cinema and his team have brought excellent technical skills has helped too.

Anonymous said...

Talking about Slumdog the movie is fashionable. Talking about the problems in slums is not.

After all, the audience of the english news channels and papers does not want to know about the gutters and filth everyday, it only wants to know about the oscars that 'India won' and came from the filth.

I suppose we have not only deprived the slum dwellers the right to basic necessities, we also deprive them of the credit for an Oscar. :-)

Anonymous said...

ramesh vinayak of india today has taken over as resident editor of ht in chandigarh from kanwar sandhu putting to rest many rumours on who is going to take over.

whether he is good, better, worse, dunno though.

Anonymous said...

Hats off to Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the Slumdog screenplay. Accepting the Nobel prize, he thanked the other two muskeeteers, Danny and Christian (the cameraman, who, too, won the Oscar). An exemplary example of the classic scathing British wit.... Subtly giving the britishers and only britishers the entire credit.
U will understand the context, if you see the movie.
No wonder, Beaufoy has such created some of the illustrious works. And what to say about the dumb indian media. cant even read between the lines... Jai ho!

Anonymous said...

just saw the comment on Sandhu quitting! Good riddance....