The Underdog

People vouch for the underdog. People speak for the underdog, and when the underdog wins - well, people LOVE it when the underdog wins - but that is only until the underdog remains the underdog.

Almost a week ago, when more than half of people who can't stop going about Slumdog Millionaire now(!) were oblivious to the movie - it had come a long way from being a movie of mostly unknowns about the unknowns that had to struggle from the lack of distributors (to begin with) to being one of the major contenders at one of the MOST prestigious and recognised awards in the world. And the unlikely happened - amidst big-budget star-studded blockbusters, Slumdog swept all the major awards it was nominated for.


And the pattern unfolds - every news channel, almost every ardent blogger who has seen the movie, ( not to forget the stars who would've thought it a million times over had they been approached) are talking about it. Now, I can't really say that every response to the news has been positive - there still is the usual yakking (i must say that it is the most appropriate word at the moment) about how the movie glamourises poverty, that how the west only thrives on such romantic depictions - yada, yada, yada.

But people have sit up and taken notice, all the same. Not more than half of an hour ago, the nominations for Oscar were announced. Slumdog was nominated for the 10 major categories including Best Motion Picture and the Best Director. Rahman recieves 3 nominations for his AWESOME music (I can't help it, if you have heard it, I'm sure you will concede).

Sur sa partie, the rewards were well deserved. A simple rags-to-riches fairy tale, the film stays true to its subject sans ANY artistic liberties, which has to be the strongest points of the film. It never falters, staying fresh from scene to scene as the transistion between years and stories happen in rapid cut scenes. What has to be appreciated most is the fact that despite everything, the story comes out clean and clear to everyone.

There are funny moments, there are moments when your heart reaches out the mostly-stranded Jamal - but the humor and light heartedness stays put despite all that. It is amazing how the subject has been handled so sensetively by a FOREIGN film-maker, without the usual bystander i-am-superior snobbery... I feel the sentence is best ended with a standing ovation to Danny. But then, coming from the director who gave us the memorable and hard-hitting Trainspotting, one could not have expected any less.

The mixed cast of actors in the movie fit into their characters and I must hand it to them for adding to sparking up the atmosphere of realism with their radical performances. When I speak, I have in my mind, most of all, Dev Patel - the British actor of Indian origin who dominates through most of the film as the 18-year old Jamal Mallik who tries to win back the love of his life through the game show "Who wants to be a Millionaire"-the story is his journey to the show, through the show and in between. As Loveleen Tandon pointed out, he brought the vulnerability and the air of strong willed resilience as he is tortured, pushed and humiliated by others at a position of advantage over him.

This is not to say that his performence overshadowed others'. The film gives the characters enough space to make an impact yet stay out of the plot's way so that it cruises smoothly.

Ending the post here, without even a mention of Rahman's music in the movie, won't be a fair deal. Rahman's only trademark is that he is always different. AND that he delivers at it everytime. The tracks are unobtrusive, fitting to the mood. The best track HAS to be "Jai Ho"-the one that won him the Golden Globe (and hopefully the Oscar now). The movie signs off with this track as Jamal re-unites with Latika and then, the true to Bollywood-style dance number follows as they both dance to the tune with a crew of dancers as credits roll.

Should you watch it? Definitely, it is going to be one of the most fulfilling experiences at a time where honest storylines are a rare (almost accidental) occurrences.

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of the underdog who works his way to winning the ultimate prize of love and luck. And it is written - as the movie quotes. Will the movie do the same? It will, if it is written.

I think I'll finish it later....

I do a full-stretch regime in my chair and stare at the challenge in front of me. The chair feels warm and my ears buzz with the sounds of rubber leveling the road; the sound of a casual conversations from a not-so-distant corner of the room adds to the atmosphere. I stare at the screen. Three and a half lines of boredom recorded stare back at me. 

I tap my fingers, scratch my head, and swallow the lump in my throat. I raise my hands up in the air and do a full stretch of my arms and my jaw and a vocal expression of my condition causes the little boys sitting next to me giggle . I lay low... lest I be discovered. Amused glances only aid my foe. My hand supports my chin, while my fingers tap to the rhythm of the flashing of the text bar.

I stare at the screen.

Three minutes pass, I'm on YouTube. Think about procrastinators. I see my blogger window open and come back here. This video will make a nice share.

 

Hehe.. this guy is funny.

Scratch my head, go to www.icanhascheezburger.com. You gotta love the kitties there. I check for some downloads and get back it again. I stare at the screen.

The length of the post looks decent enough, besides, I've forgotten what I actually wanted to write about. Will come back when I remember and write about it then. You guys keep posting :)

An Elegy in Prose

He loves her dearly, but she does not. He is her best friend and she is his greatest love. They know what is in each other's hearts but still cant grow apart. They fight a lot on petty things but make up when this comes up. She knows love isnt a priority and he insists that it is his first. There isnt a moment's peace and it poisons them from inside as time goes. He says that she doesnt understand, and she says he never will. He stays up all night and she can't work. They grow indifferemt amd secretly hate each other more everyday but none tells the other. He annoys her and she disappoints him at everything.

It is a mask of smiles they put up for one another. Yet it is a burden of lies they carry underneath everyday.

I haz a HAPPEEE!!!

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What can be better than the idea of moving to a beautiful city with glorious beaches and AMAZING sea side restaurants than MOVING to a beautiful city with glorious beaches and AMAZING sea side restaurants!! Yes people! I am moving to Vishakapatnam in a week... and I cant wait for a day longer!! Its like the time Cartman had to wait for the Nintendo Wii to come out!!! It is a relief to be getting out a lazy, small town with barely a swimming pool in it (I say barely coz it remains dry for most time) to a place with endless strips of virgin beaches. Ahh! ~Heaven~

The Great Gatsby

"The Great Gatsby", even better known as "The Great American Novel" had to wait for fifteen more years and the author's demise before it first got the recognition it enjoys now. Written during the "Jazz Age" (as Fitzgerald put it), it spoke about the economical surge of the 1920s after the WWI and the lack of morality and organized crime that followed after the ban on alcohol. The book was an instant hit with the intellectuals, with E. Hemingway, who was a close friend of Fitzgerald's, quoting - "If he could write a novel as fine as 'The Great Gatsby', I was sure he could write an even better one". Don Birnam, the protagonist of Charles Jackson's The Lost Weekend, says to himself, referring to The Great Gatsby, "There's no such thing...as a flawless novel. But if there is, this is it."

Unfortunately for Fitzgerald, he never got to see for himself the peak that the book conquered. The constant drinking from depression led to a heart attack, and he passed away in 1940. Then, the Great depression soon followed with the WWII and the book spent a great lot of its time in obscurity before making a major comeback in the early 1950s. Since then, "The Great Gatsby" has become the standard text of schools and universities throughout America.

The novel is a first person narrative by Nick Carraway, a young man of aristocratic blood, reminiscing first of what advice his father would give him in their rare conversations together. According to him, he tries his best to stick to the advice, however he finds it - of not judging people of their character - and tells how he almost broke his resolution of staying true to his father's word one summer on his visit to the West Egg, a community in New York, where he first met Gatsby.

The West Egg is the newer addition to the city, where all the newly-rich folk from the recent economic boom have settled - most of them, through unscruplous means. The West Egg is a loud, garish, flamboyant place; much to Nick's dislike, but he stays there nonetheless. The East Egg, in opposition, is the area where the "real aristocracy" resides, i.e, the people with inherited fortunes and old family businesses. Nick's cousin Daisy, along with her husband and three year old daughter live there in an opulent mansion. Nick sees through the dysfunctional family and Tom's arrogance, who he was earlier remotely acquainted to at Yale. That is where he also meets Jordan Baker, a female golfer and friend of Daisy's, with whom he gets involved with. She informs Nick that Tom has a mistress at the city, for which he has an apartment at the city, where Nick is invited to visit by Tom. This only instigates further digust within him after watching the drunken party ending in a brawl.

The novel takes a major turn when Nick is invited to on of his mysterious neighbour's lavish parties, where he finds only more superficiality, but at the same time, can't help noticiing how detached the host himself is, even to care about the number of people who have come in without being invited. From there, Nick and Gatsby form a strong friendship, mostly because Nick finds himself drawn into Gatsby's influence.

Later, as Jordan reveals, Gatsby was once in love with Daisy, who chose to marry the rich, but arrogant Tom, mostly because of his social position. Since then, Gatsby, who originally was James Gatz, the son of a poor farmer and a soldier in the army, put everything he had into making wealth so that he could win Daisy back. Nick mediates the communication between Gatsby and Daisy, who, after a rather awkward get together at Gatsby's house, commence their affair. Unfortunately, Tom finds out about them soon enough and confronts Daisy and Gatsby, an then Daisy abandons Gtasby despite knowing of Tom's affair. Tom and Daisy take Gatsby's car and on their way back, hit Tom's mistress, Myrtle, who rushes out after a fight with with her husband. Myrtle's husband, aggrieved over her death, is told by Tom that it was Gatsby who hit her. He sets out with a gun, and shoots Gatsby down in his mansion, when Gatsby was in the pool, thinking about the futility of his pursuit.

In the end, apart from Gatsby's servants, only three other people attend Gatsby's funeral, including Nick. It is where he reminiscences about the "great" Gatsby. Who was so great because of his power of turning his dreams into reality, and was, in the end, an ordinary person, who perished like others upon realising the futility of his driving force.

To sum everything up, "The Great Gatsby" is a novel of desires that once fulfiled, appear pointless, the human failings and its greatest strengths, and most of all, "The Great American Dream".

Blankets - A Craig Thompson Graphic Novel

They say that the best stories come from life. Reading Craig Thompson's "Blankets" is an example of how good it can only get. Much more than just a memoir, it is Craig's journey through his childhood, growing up in a conservative period and environment, battling his faith, and finally, his coming out as a self dependent individual. The book is divided into nine chapters, each encompassing his different stages of life and his process of growing up through them.

An overall, no frills kind of story, this would not excite you, scare you or even leave you with a ridiculed feeling. Instead, it will, throughout its 600 pages of simplicity, take you on a ride of nostalgia about the time when you had a walk with your sibling, or when you held hands and kissed your love for the first time.

Okay... i admit.. i failed

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I remember the post before the last where i swore that I'd be more persistent with my writing. But it was not meant to be. Okay, I admit it was not a freak electric rainstorm that transported me back to a time where there was no internet.. but, never mind. One cannot help being lazy at times... Anyhow, has anyone watched the movie "The Dark Knight"?? I have spent my past 4 days only hearing about it. I hope I will be going out to watch it pretty soon... Till then, if anyone has any reviews for me to read. Do tell me.. :D