Slumming at the Golden Globes

[views_livemint]

Hey, Melissa here.

Perhaps I'm jumping the gun for my Indian readers, since India doesn't get to see Slumdog Millionaire for another week and a half (it's out Jan. 23, fyi), but in light of the glitzy award show this weekend, thought I would ask people a couple questions about the movie.

I watched Danny Boyle's flick over Christmas with my family

Comments

[grace_om]

We went to see it at Thanksgiving time, when it was only out on limited release. We all loved it :-D As a non-Indian, who's never been to India, I never for one moment confused it with reality. It's fiction. Most fiction portrays things that *might* happen, in order to reveal the essence of the characters experiencing those events, as well as to tell a larger story (or "truth," if you will).

[the_merope]

I like Dickensian dramas of places I don't know much about; there's nothing quite like Dickens for getting acquainted with Victorian London, after all. Plus, I'm unutterably curious about an English director's rendition of India's peculiar mix of pearls-in-dung-heaps, glitzy glamour, intense self-consciousness both internally and at a global level, near-obsession with 'tradition', and slick, almost careless absorption of multifarious 'cultural Newnesses'.

I don't think cliches about India are just simplifications of its nature as a nation; they are also what stands out, to the rest of the world. I want to see what makes it into the movie and what doesn't, and think about why. I think its important to know what India looks like from across the 'Development Divide', think about whether that's what we want it to look like, and maybe notice things we've become inured to, or take for granted

[oddnari]

Am sure no country or culture would like to be stereotyped especially in a medium as popular as cinema.

I would like to see it because I like movies but I am prepared to be deeply scathing about what I'd perceive as unreal. (Like you said, X AND Y AND Z...)

I demand a good reality quotient in my films and a better reason to willingly suspend my disbelief when the good reality quotient is unavailable, but then, that's just me. The hype surrounding the film after the awards will ensure a lot of people flock to the cinemas.

Out of the examples you mentioned, Monsoon Wedding was, again, realistic without being "real", you know? For instance, in Delhi, hardly anyone gets married during monsoons (too muggy, for one) so there's the reality quotient trashed already (excuse me, I am rather pedantic.) And then, the movie was a series of conflicts - bride's in love with someone else, bride's parents are stressed out of existence, the planner NEEDS must have a romantic understanding with the maid-servant, child sexual abuse... X and Y and Z,

slumdog

[korumanaia]

I felt that the movie depicts a portion of what the poor in Mumbai (or any 3rd world country) can experience in one’s lifetime minus the happy ending. To all 1st & 2nd world countries, be grateful that your life isn’t as bad.

Golden Globes

[fredsmilek]

The Golden Globes Award is a very important award to screen actors.

"Fred Smilek is the acting president of the Society to Save Endangered Species. It was founded two years ago by Fred Smilek along with his two best friends Charles and Jonathan. http://www.fredjsmilek.com"