The irony called Slumdog...

Yes its the OSCARS... n yes, the unlikely yet so inevitable has happened! Slumdog literally clean sweeps the men with the golden swords.... Should we be celebrating ?? well....

I saw Slumdog millionaire (hereby and already called 'Slumdog' 4 the sake of the much-needed brevity in my post ) when i first heard that it had won a few Golden Globe awards. And i was like "Huh...? WHAT !?! ... A movie based in mumbai, with Anil kapoor in it won the Golden Globes and that too FOUR of them !" I started to watch it like a dog expecting a sweeeet chewy bone after a fortnight of starvation.. (oh god..this 'dog' thing is getting to me ! ) After all, it had been ages since i had seen an Original, Creative movie with a bit of Indianness in it. Bollywood truly stinks with shameless plagiarism these days....

So i kept on expecting a truly memorable scene or an emotion or an aspect of the story that would look Oscar-Like and would stay with me long after i had seen the final credits..... It never came.
In fact.. there were a lot of loopholes in the way the film had been made.. Exempli gratia :
The movie just had to be made in English due to some reason i cant understand (maybe because that would tag it "Hollywood" and help it get the Golden Globes and the Oscars n all the glittering shit in the world... well-thought i must say, seeing the results!) and the consequence - a slum boy of mumbai switched from Hindi to English and left you with a "HUH ... What just happ.... ??" ... and talked so very fluently in ANGREJI (as a slum boy in mumbai would actually say it) that the foreign tourists featuring in a scene had no problems with their little con guide of the Taj Mahal. Now i wonder what Mr. Boyle was thinking there....
And guess what? The policewalas couldnt speak English as well as the chai-wala, thank god for the realism there. But wait... what about the "&*)^$@^" s ...?? Yup, all the "Galis" were in Hindi! Well done, Mr. Boyle... Looks like you had a tour to India with a Con guide yourself, who taught you nothing but the "@#$^**%"s in Hindi. (We love doing that 4 fun, don't we? Like we tell them u greet a person in India with ****..... ahem.... etcetra... lets not get into that)

So far so bad... i kept switching between seeing a bold bollywood movie with its Hindi abuses and an English Oscar prospect with its Fluent English and well... uhm... pretty good storytelling. There were other parts of the story that made me go - "What the... ??" like if it was actually possible that an overnight celebrity - a would-be-first-millionaire on the show could be swept off outside the studio and beaten up and tortured like a "nobody" the whole night without the media creating public outrage about it... and the part where suddenly, his brother leaves him bolted out and flees with the girl (whom he was leaving out till that part ) . To be honest, i never understood the character played by Mr. Brother, sometimes caring enough to save him from getting blinded, while at times, leaving him for years and running away with his beloved at gunpoint! AND doing an ANGEL at the Climax! Wow... i wonder if he suffered from MPD... anyways...

So why did Slumdog win it all?? Maybe it was a wonderful movie and i'm a complete sucker of a critic... maybe.... but hey, what if it was made in Hindi? would it ever make it to the Oscars? even get nominated? Maybe.. But there's only one potential slot there- "Foreign Language Film" category. So that means.. the only thing that took Slumdog from "Being nominated for ONE category" to "WINNING 8 " was ........ ....... ...
yup, u guessed it- the "Hollywood" tag... the fact that it wasnt a "Foreign Language" Film, that it was made in English, even though that made no sense at all with the script of a Mumbai Slum Boy's Life...

So all of this means - no matter how well made a movie it is, it has to be in English to make it that big at the Oscars. But bollywood is for the HINDI audience.. the Indian audience, majority of which have a single common language- HINDI! Then why do we keep sucking for an OSCAR every year! Why are they called the Ultimate Recognition of Cinema when the categories themselves limit the domain to movies in one language !

Now i know All of us have different taste buds when it comes to movies... but can anyone reading this, say- SlumDog was better than all the other Bollywood movies you've ever seen in your lifetime ! ? ! Yet it gets 8 where none other has got any.... WHY? Personally speaking, if concept and filmmaking is the first and most important critertia for the jury, BLACK was far better than SLUMDOG. Well... what about "Taare Zameen Par"? It never even got into the final line-up of the only category it could have got into! You may have your personal favourites with Bollywood, not necessarily including BLACK or TZP but i don't think many of you put SlumDog above all the Bollywood of your lifetime! Yet... the distinction when it comes to getting the "MAN WITH THE GOLDEN SWORD" ...

The only thing i'm very happy about with the turn of events this oscar night is - A.R.Rahman. Not because the music of Slumdog stands towering above the rest of his compositions. (In fact i would put it somewhere near the bottom of my playlist called "Best of A . R. Rahman ") But because if there is one man in Bollywood, who's always delivered well beyond expectations, surprised us with his creativity every damn time in an industry plagued with plagiarism and composed tunes that will last for a lifetime and beyond.. got what is considered "The Highest Honour" in cinema. I still cant figure out why that distinction w.r.t the title of the oscar but if its that way.. i'm glad the Best Music Composer of India got it...

(imagine somebody like Anu Malik composing for Slumdog.. Gosh...!!! given the hype, and the insanely flooding nominations and eventual awards for Slumdog, even Mr. Disgusting PhotoCopyist would have grabbed an Oscar... :0 )

Anyways , its happened and what its done on the positive side is - show a glimpse of India to the whole world, give a global recognition to the Master- A.R.Rahman's talent .... aaaand filled the whole Oscar-hungry nation with more hope of an Oscar for a truly Bollywood movie sometime in the future! (and taught the whole world some interesting "Ma- Behen ki" Galis too [:D] !)

What if...

Ok... look, i had resolved to myself i would not focus this blog on animal cruelty and my second post would be on something out-of-the-blue. But something SHOCKING has just come to my notice... and ITS VERY URGENT for u to sign the petition i mention here. Please take the pain to read this post and sign the petition and you'll end up saving thousands of lives. (The next blog wouldnt be on this topic.. i promise! :) )

Before i introduce u to one of the evilest, most inhumane annual practice by MAN, i feel like giving my imagination a jog... lets just think what would have happened if the Rat, yes the mortal hero of my 1st post, was a human. well, for one, i wouldnt have had to write about his death (read - MURDER) coz the news channels would be blaring out the atrocities caused to a human being. There would have been a CBI inquiry (as with every media-covered murder, the rest of the crimes can go take a f**k !). Then there would have been allegations of a political conspiracy by one of the parties , which one? well.. depending on what religion he was of course...! Then there would be flashing B-Grade movie dialogues on news channels with photos of the poor Man's Body and its bad plight. The media would scare the SHIT out of people assuming it was a serial killer on work and that every damn person watching the news was at life-threatening risk! Then there would be witnesses, cash remunerations for the family of the deceased , cases that would take decades and finally, some day we would hear of a SEVERE punishment to the accused , which again would be opposed by the HUMAN RIGHTS authorities! Again... human life would be Valued and the punishment reduced to something unanimously considered more HUMANE!

All this for a single Man's LIFE!! worth it? definitely... Well ... why not a rat then? AND what about the 330,000 baby seals killed every year in canada in the name of extra demand for fur. Now how many of u have even heard of that?? Has any news channel covered it even in the friggin' bottom-of-the-screen-slider !

Wanna know more ...? u guessed it... they arent just killed. They are clubbed to death! People bludgeon them to death by hitting their skulls with metal rods repeatedly... n wait.. their fun game is not over yet... the metal rod has a curved spike which they use, to drag the baby seals' bodies on the ice, while some unfortunate ones are still alive and subconscious... then they are skinned Alive! HOW WOULD IT FEEL TO GET URSELF STRIPPED OFF UR SKIN ?? Gettin goosebumps huh?? N all this happens, while the mothers of the seals cry in despair and pain watching their babies to a ruthless, EXTREMELY PAINFUL DEATH! i dont think i can or have to go any further on this...

If u people wanna help and prevent the thousands who are gonna be killed this way this year... sign this petition URGENTLY... and PLEASE let others know of this... Ask them to sign it too.

HERE'S THE LINK TO PETA's PETITION ::
http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/seal_hunt07

and here's some SHOCKING proof - ::
http://www.peta.org/feat-canadaSealHunt.asp

pl read the above article for facts and figures and... for all u bravehearts- there's a video ...

Who knows.. we might just save thousands of lives and avoid the bloody massacre, the brutal insane murders this time, with a simple act of signing a petition and spreading awareness about it. PLEASE... SIGN IT N MAKE OTHERS DO THE SAME. ITS THE LEAST WE CAN DO...

Its a pity to see the world degrade into what its become... When some hundreds of people died in Mumbai recently, it became a Global sensation! People started calling it India's 9/11 (i dont wanna get into how cheap that sounded- i mean- to compare it to another disaster to help it gain its merit on the global strata). There are talks of War when some hundreds of Humans lose their lives... people take out processions... even celebrities... People hold "SHANTI SABHA"s and pray for the souls of the hundreds!! What about these THOUSANDS killed in THE MOST INSANE WAYS EVERY YEAR ! Nobody cares... coz they arent humans huh? Are their lives any less significant? Are they anatomically any less sensitive to pain??

NO!! COZ they cant stand up for themselves.. or bcoz they cant come back at us. Coz they are HELPLESS! We as a species, are so LAME, to be doing these things to helpless, speechless life forms!

Just imagine human beings killed THIS way and in SUCH NUMBERS.. what would happen?? WORLD WAR III would be my guess... n it happens EVERY YEAR to helpless seals. The hypocrite called MAN.
Know what...? After i asked the question ( "do we deserve to live?") in the first post.. i think i've got an answer! i'l answer that Q with a comment posted by someone (who hates the homosapiens as much as i do) on youtube ::

"Every 3 seconds a Worthless human dies...

1.. 2... 3.... HORAY!

1..2... 3... HORAY!"

P.s. PLEASE DONT FORGET THE PETITION ... and if possible, find out other ways of standing up for these helpless creatures and others like them...

do WE deserve to live?

Well... i'd first thought of putting up a post introducing myself and my purpose of blogging here first up. But Then something happened today....
There are events that change your perception of life, people, your own self and life...Didn't i just say that? oh well.....
And one such event, a very insignificant (to most) event happened today....... a rat was killed in my office.

Yeah, well.. .i know - u would say- "Whoa! BIG SHIT huh!?!"
To be honest.. i don't even know the difference between a mouse and a rat and while i write this, it occurs to me that there just might not be one.. but that's not the point, what matters here is.. i know he had a life.. just like u n me... n that there was no reason to kill it... yet.....
We humans have come to a point in the evolution process that our brains have conquered the world and all its other forms of life.. and our desires have conquered the brain. Yes, it is sad that not many of us realize "what's wrong in killing a pestering rat?" or maybe think that "chickens were born to be fried and eaten". And it is extremely pathetic when someone (like my boss today) gets an immense amount of pleasure after ending an innocent little life (or even by getting it killed by an unwilling-but-scared-of-losing-his-job peon). After the disgusting act, He (the sadistic creature called my boss) hummed his favorite tune on his way out as happy as a lark, as proud as a valiant warrior after his brutal but victorious battle with the evil forces.. The event that disturbed me to the extent of feeling the rat's pain physically when he was swatted to death had just made my boss' day. There couldn't have been a better beginning to it for him. Why didn't i say anything? well.. i'm not the hypocrite kind.. I did.. In fact putting my job ( read no-stipend-training) at stake, i revolted.. and stopped him in his tracks... But he had a question to my "DON'T KILL IT"- he asked "well... what else do u do with it?" Then, he arranged for some unwilling office boys to be his allies in the murder. They cornered the poor thing which hid itself behind a fire extinguisher and tried to run out in different directions every now and then... all of the murderers tried to stomp the li'l thing to a painful death every time it tried to run for his life.... and a rat held no answer to its brutal encounter with the most powerful (and senseless) species on earth. The moment came... and all i could do was to run out of there in utter pain and disgust.

And as i write this, i can only imagine what a baby rat would have felt being crushed to death.. its inner organs pressing into each other, and finally giving in to the force, feeling his blood squirt out his veins, as if in slow motion... he would've screamed in pain and helplessness... but who was to hear a rat screeching in his death. A tear rolls out of my eye as i can go no further.. the pain is unbearable even in my thoughts....

Yes it was a baby rat... i could see the beautiful sense of life that prevailed in him while he hopped around, sprinted across the floor threatening to harm none of the selfish brutal humans around. But we, as a species, don't share that generosity with the other creatures on this earth. We think we ought to kill.... that there's nothing wrong in killing a rat if it sprints on the office floor even though we could easily spend 10 odd min catching it and putting it out of the area- ALIVE n Breathing....While the rat had sprinted in and out of my room all morning, i'd observed the wonderful life in him, the pattern in which it would visit places in the office rush back to the safe opening in the floor in my room. Needless to say, I let him be. As an animator, i observed the minutest of his actions, his run, his head turning to look at me to see if i intended any harm... the character he portrayed.... and then it struck me.. he would have the same fate. He would be killed... mercilessly and meaninglessly. Unfortunately humans lived upto their reputation once again.

Yes I am an Animator... and i am in a studio full of people - artists, who are thought to be able to see those aspects of life that go unnoticed to another human being. We observe walk cycles of people, animals, we notice their emotions.. their reactions.. their body movements.. their EVERYTHING to make our films as realistic as possible. Yet, nobody noticed the pain in the happening.. the absolute disrespect for life in the event. We toil for months and years to make an appealing movie, to make sure those 3 hours of entertainment make people laugh, cry, smile,.....but we cant afford those 10 min of discomfort that can be spent by the office boys to catch a pestering rat and leave him outside the premises of our leisure zones. Those 3 hours that we strive to make-perfect might touch some lives around the globe, maybe for a brief time... but those 10 min that we couldn't afford just ended a precious life forever. And this ... is just one of the millions of brutal tales that happen everyday!

The question is :: if we don't respect and care for lives around us... if we are so indifferent to life and proud of being so at the same time.... Do WE really deserve to live?


as i write this, i look down to watch out for the li'l thing as i did all morning to keep my feet from hurting the poor fellow... but there's no more life springing out of that opening in the floor... there is no innocent sprinting around. There are just cold, brutal humans all around who know nothing but their own tales of materialistic success and failure. I'm all alone.....