Found your website thru BW?

I think Water was not a good movie, and the German movie “The Lives of Others” fully deserved the Oscar. It is miles ahead of Water in all aspects of film-making.

Cheers,
-AV

But I’d asked about the release dates for India and the UK.

I’ve been to two screenings and, aside from the visual beauty of the film, I found the acting to be damn solid and the whole film very moving. I guess, in part, that’s because my parents came to the U.S. also, and so many of the experiences of the Ganguli family are so familiar.

Given our discussion of Water, I’ll definitely be curious to hear how you find The Namesake.

I’m not a fan of Mira Nair movies, but I like all the actors in the movie, so I just might check it out, if it ever shows in India, which is doubtful, this again being a movie “about” Indians more than “for” them .

Yes, I realize my reasoning in my earlier comments was a bit all over the place.

And it’s probably easier to have a discussion like this verbally (well, at least if you tend to be as chatty as me!), otherwise carpal tunnel syndrome ensues!

I just got home from an event related to The Namesake at which Irfan Khan and Tabu were present…. are you planning to see it when it comes out? (You’re in India, yeah?)

BTW, comparing Oprah who’s being philanthropic (or however that’s spelled) with someone who made a movie showcasing India’s problems to the world is not valid, imho.

Thanks for sharing your feelings on RDB versus Water.

One last comment I’d throw in here is to say, and I sure as heck can’t speak for all Americans, especially since, as a New Yorker, I sometimes feel like we’re our own little country, but here’s a thought: just as with RDB, and the sentiments that it stirred in so any young people in India (and whether or not you want to draw parallels between it and their increase in activism about cases like Jessica Lal’s), I believe that part of this interest of people in watching movies (and TV) that shows someone struggle and overcome difficult or worse circumstances, is due to 2 things.

First, the success of the underdog in beating the odds. I think the average person in the US (or anywhere!) enjoys these stories because they give us hope that, heaven forbid, if I were in those circumstances, I might be able to survive and triumph too. I doubt that there are many people sitting smugly in their theater seats, or sofas at home, thinking “Phew, thank God I don’t live there! Those people look awful!”, though yes, and here’s the risk for the filmmaker, I’m sure there is something at a conscious or subconscious level, where those images of, say, grubby street urchins and the like will leave people with some “Ewww” factor. But there I would argue, some folks are small-minded and parochial, and that has existed in them before ever catching a glipse of India on film in the news or on film. But I can also understand people in India saying “Oh come on, not with the poverty and religion again! There’s more to the country than that!”

Second, I think people here have a tradition of believing in the ability of the individual (often through the power of the media) to affect change and seek justice. Full disclosure, I confess to being one of those glass-half-full kinda people who does firmly believe that…

More than films, the prime example which comes to mind is Oprah Winfrey and her daily TV show. So many of the stories she’s done are about people in the US who have suffered or endured awful circumstances, and she steps in to usually give that person some sort of financial reward (a home for a woman with 8 kids, some who are nephews & neices she kept out of foster care), or in other cases, like her recent campaign against child sexual predators, she uses her TV exposure to publicize the photos of men wanted by police around the USA, and has led to 5 or 6 being caught, and for that she also rewards the person who makes the call to the FBI.

Given her recent efforts in the last five years in South Africa to set up a secondary school for impoverished girls, I wonder if there is a parallel universe in the blogosphere where South Africans are saying “Who’s this interloper to come here and make us look bad”…….

Thanks, SP, for your thoughts. It’s definitely got me thinking about past films I’ve seen, and future ones that I’ll watch.

Sounds like more Indians being miserable, heh. I’m sure it’ll do well..

If RDB had made the final cut, I would be very happy. Whether it says negative things or not, it provides a self-reflective view from within, not an accusatory finger from abroad, especially by an ex-Indian who abandoned us and our problems.

And to get this out of the way, I’m not SP from the Mutiny . SP are my initials. I should probably pick a different nick.