My name is Khan!

SRK’s detention at Newark airport in NJ, USA, has primarily generated two, but very different, reactions. The first one, as always, is that how the US in the past few years has become so much paranoid for it’s security and that how most Muslims entering the US, or even for that matter many brown people, are humiliated at the US immigration due to racial profiling. The second reaction, again an expected one, is that how we should not make a big deal out of this and that how each person is equal in the eyes of US immigration & therefore has to go through the same set of security measures; no matter even if that person is India’s biggest star Shah Rukh Khan. Both reactions, in my opinion, need to be qualified.

Vassup! I’m Sacha Baron Cohen.

Sacha Baron Cohen is one person whose company, I suspect, most people wont enjoy much; especially when he is masquerading as Borat, an uncouth Kazakh or Bruno, an aggressive Austrian gay fashion designer. He manages to insult every group he could: gay and straight, black and white, Kazakhs and Americans, Jews and Christian evangelists, New-yorkers and Southerns, celebrities and middle America, stage parents and terrorists. But even after he insults us so much, I still believe we really need him. Not just because he is supremely talented- perhaps the best comedian of our times- but more because we do need somebody really courageous who pushes all limits and holds a mirror for us to see our not so beautiful face.

The New Sardars of Bollywood

Since early days, Bollywood or Hindi film industry has been dominated by Punjabis. Many producers, directors, writers and especially heroes of the past were Punjabis. Quite a few among those Punjabis were either Sikhs or came from mixed Hindu-Sikh Punjabi families. But still the Sikh characters in Hindi films during those days were mostly reduced to stereotypes. Either they were there to provide a comic angle or to play an over the top super nice/super brave character. I guess the reason that in spite of the presence of many Punjabis at the helm of affairs during those days, we still didnt ever see a full Sardar as a hero was that both producers and the directors thought that a turbaned Sikh with a beard wont find much takers among the masses. Also, remember that those were the times when even some Muslim actors and actresses changed their names to more North Indian sounding Hindu names. I guess most people wanted to play safe in the still nascent Bombay film industry of the 50’s and the 60’s.

Election Mania

India Trip…

This post is dedicated to my dear Purnima who wants me to write about my thoughts after my recent trip to India. Thanks Purnima for encouraging me to write this post.

Well, to begin with, I hardly spent much time in India. My visit was short and also hectic (owing to a wedding in the family). So, it’s kind of difficult and also perhaps unfair to give a very definite view on changes seen and witnessed in India. Therefore, I will try to highlight some broader issues as seen by me.

Change is always painfully slow and it takes ages before any concrete changes at the foundation level happen. I was in India after mere 3.5 years, so I was not really expecting to see or experience something radically different. But, it’s also true that, in certain ways, India has been changing very fast in the recent years. And, of course, that change was evident to me.

Woody Allen sings Jai ho Pinto….

It seems as if Woody Allen has finally connected with India. Of the 40+ movies he has made, mostly based in New York city (melting pot of the world), I don’t remember a sub plot or even a single character involving Indian angle or person of Indian origin. Yes, there were references to Indian culture, Indian food, Hindu philosophy, Mahatma Gandhi etc, but never an important Indian character in any of his films. There is a scene in his “Everybody Says I love you“, the only musical he made, where two of the main characters are inside a taxi and a romantic song is played in the background. The taxi driver is a Sikh who then sings a Hindi song for few minutes. That was the maximum footage an Indian character got in a Woody Allen film.

So, when I read that Freida Pinto has been cast in the next Allen film to be shot this summer, I wondered if Pinto really realizes how damn lucky and blessed she is. Not only is she the first Indian actor/actress who has caught the fancy of legendary Allen, but also by appearing in an Allen film, her career in Hollywood has already gotten on a flying start. Superstars such as Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow, Sean Penn, Julia Roberts, Madonna, Scarlett Johansson and many other present and past stars owe a significant part of their success to Allen who cast them in important roles early on in their careers. Also, Allen’s actresses, especially in the supporting role category, have always been favorite of academy members for the Oscar in that category (Dianne Wiest, Mira Sorvino, Penelope Cruz etc). So, who knows that Pinto might now even fetch an Oscar nomination next year!

The glorious case of A.R. Rahman

A.R. Rahman made Indians across the world proud by his double feat at Oscars. My heartiest Congratulations to him. He is a genius and deserves every award, including the Oscars. Today in the morning, when everybody in my office was talking about the awards last night,  one of my non-Indian co-workers asked me what I think of Rahman’s speech after he won the Oscar for best Music. I said to her that I think he gave a decent speech and I asked her why she is asking me that. She said that she found Rahman’s reaction bit strange as he seemed very nervous and sort of ran away from the podium after receiving the award. I tried to explain to her that Rahman is a terribly shy person and infact his response yesterday was much better than what we Indians are used to and expected to see from this reclusive and shy genius.

What you say-and how you behave- at Oscars in those few seconds is remembered by the world for decades. People still vividly remember Marlon Brando joking about the weight of Oscar trophy while receiving his Oscar for “On the waterfront” more than half a century ago or Jack Nicholsan’s humorous dig at Academy members while receiving his Oscar for Cuckoos’s nest more than 30 years ago or Michael Moore blasting George Bush after receiving Oscar for his documentary or Russell Crowe’s very effective and humble speech after receiving his award for Beautiful Mind or who can forget emotional outburst of Halle Barry some years back.

My Predictions for the Oscars tommorow

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Nominees:
	Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The  Frost/Nixon  (Havent seen) Milk  Reader, The ( Slumdog Millionaire

My personal favorite: The Curious case of Benjamin Button

Most likely winner: Slumdog Millionaire

Dark Horse : Milk

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Nominees:
	Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The (2008) – Brad Pitt Frost/Nixon (2008) – Frank Langella Milk (2008/I) – Sean Penn (I) Visitor, The (2007/I) – Richard Jenkins (I) Wrestler, The (2008) – Mickey Rourke

My personal favorite: Sean Penn for Milk

Most likely winner: Mickey Rourke for Wrestler

Dark Horse : Sean Penn for Milk

The politics of Slumdog Millionaire and Shekhar Kapur

Slumdog Millionaire is essentially about protagonist Jamaal Malik’s triumph in achieving love of his life, Latika, against all odds. There are two antagonists in the story, one in the present (Anil Kapoor as a game show host) and another in past flashbacks (Jamaal’s older brother), and both create hurdles in Jamaal’s physical and mental worlds before he triumphs over them, both literally and symbolically. He triumphs not necessarily because of sheer hard work or any inborn skill but rather because ”it was written”. And, through his journey, we meet many characters, mostly evil, and witness various horrors of the society he lives in. The drama in the story is intense and most people will enjoy the film. Performances are well extracted and big credit for that goes to flawless casting. Technically too, the film triumphs; editing is crisp & effective and cinematography is dazzling.

I saw the film almost three weeks back and have been talking about it with various people. Although I found the film bit over the top and over dramatic at few points to suit the story, overall I did like the film as evident from my short review above. But, it was not the film’s merit which I was discussing with people, rather this time I was more talking about the political questions which crossed my mind after watching the film.

Mera Joota hai Iraqi