JAI HO - FOR WHOM?

By S R Ramanujan
We the Indians have the tendency to hype everything, whether the event is positive or negative in nature. Moderation is not one of our virtues nor is it in our DNA. Let it be anything. It could be like an issue of a violent event in a pub in a small district town. We make it as though it was just a terrible event warranting international attention. We demand a fundamental right to drink! There are lakhs of small and big churches and Christian institutions in the country. A small incident in some remote church is enough to paint a picture as if the minorities are persecuted. Coming to the positive development, it could be a victory in one day match. Look at the way we are idolising cricket and cricketers. Or, when an Indian gets just one gold medal in Olympics in comparison to dozens for another country of similar economic and political stature, you must have seen how India goes ecstatic on such occasions. The winner is ushered into Rashstrapati Bhavan, PM’s Office and there are announcements galore from both governmental and non-governmental agencies. The gifts could be prime land, or flat in a posh locality, signing-of for popular brands. He or she becomes a demi-God.
So, the celebration in India over the "Slumdog Millionaire" (SDM) getting eight Oscars has to be viewed in this context as it is keeping in tune with this mindset of ours. Let me confess. My knowledge of SDM is confined to reviews and write-ups of the film in the Indian media and the media hype over it. I don’t intend to see any slum dog or street dog or rabid dog. Let the Western creative mind revel in portraying out poverty and make millions. I don’t need to see it in the celluloid.
As some critics point out SDM was a film produced and directed by Westerner for Western audience just to showcase the underbelly of India. Western audience probably suffers from a complex and when it sees something negative about the developing countries, it wants to pat itself on its back. Though there was no global recession at the time of producing SDM, the timing of the release when the developed world was under throes of unprecedented meltdown in contrast to the not-so-worrisome situation in India, made the film click. There was vicarious pleasure to see the poverty in India when the nation was trying to emerge as an Asian tiger challenging the Chinese dragon.
Besides, what is so Indian about the film for the Indian media and politicians to go ga ga over it. Yes, A R Rehman and Resul Pookutty got the Oscar awards. They have not got the award for a non-Hollywood film category. Let us ask ourselves. Had the film not been produced by a Hollywood film maker and directed by a British, would it have stood a chance to come to the nomination stage atleast? "Salaam Bombay" was also a great film. Did it get the same recognition? What about Lagaan? It glorified Indian team spirit and did not show the "phirangies" in great colours. So, naturally, it was out of Oscar. Why? There was not a single film produced by India or Indians to reach the Oscar academy. "Gandhi" was again not an Indian film which won eight Oscar awards in 1982 though all the locales for the shoot were from India like SDM. Does this mean that only Hollywood personalities and "Whites" alone can produce Oscar award winning films?
It was only from the year 1956 films not produced in Hollywood were considered for the awards under the "foreign films" category. Since then, 34 Indian films were sent for Oscar nominations. And, so far, that is in 52 years, three films only could reach the nomination stage - They were "Mother India" (1957), "Salaam Bombay" (1988) and "Lagaan" (2001). "Swathi Muthyam" (Telugu - 1986), was the only Telugu movie sent to Oscar and among the Indian languages, next to Hindi, Tamil occupies the second place in terms of numbers with eight films including "Anjali" "Indian", "Jeans" and "He Ram". 21 Hindi films were sent and out of which only 3 could find place in the list of final nominations.
"Smile Pinki", focussing on cleft lip children, could get the award for Best documentary (short) for this year because it was directed by a Hollywood personality Megan Mylan. But "Thare Zameen Par", though it might come under different category, focussing on spastics did not reach even the nomination stage. Does this mean that Indians do not have the talent nor they failed to produce an Oscar-grade film? Far from it. But, they are not from the Western hemisphere of this planet. That’s why veteran actor Kamal Hasan said recently that instead of hankering after Oscar, we should create our own Oscar so that foreign producers and directors vie for recognition from such an institution.
Now, let us take Rehman himself? Is his music for "Jai Ho" the best that he has created? Music buffs in India concede that he had come out with more wonderful music, much much better than "Jai Ho". Was his music for "Roja" any less great? Probably, poor Rehman did not create it for the films produced by Hollywood film makers.
We need not bother about media hype. By now we got used to its silly build up for non-events. Shoulder surgery for Shahru Khan takes precedence over the interim budget, mind you. Pink chaddy campaign is its favourite. What takes the cake is the competitive credit taking venture of our politicians in this election year. First, it was the ailing Tamil Nadu chief minister who said it was a victory for Tamils. He could see Rehman only as a Tamil and not an Indian. It started with linguistic parochialism and extended to political opportunism. As a side show, extreme right wing forces starting tracing the Hindu background of Rehman who before his conversion into Islam was known as Dilip Kumar Mudaliar and his parentage of Shekhar and Kasturi. He was reported to be a non-believer after his father’s death and the miraculous recovery of his sister from deathbed, thanks to Peer Baba, made him to embrace Islam. Well, does this reduce his importance or diminish the greatness of his music?
Look at the Congress party for taking credit for SDM! According to its spokesperson, the success of SDM is due to UPA’s governance and the conducive atmosphere created by it provided the "solid bedrock for an Achieving India". Does this mean that his party government which has been ruling Maharashtra except for a short break did not do anything to remove either slums in Mumbai or poverty in general provided the "solid bedrock" for Director Danny Boyle to create an award winning film. There must be atleast a modicum of shame for these politicians.
What I shudder to think is this. For just one song and sound mixing, if we are making this kind of noise, how would our media and politicians behave if an Indian film or director wins an Oscar?