Found in daugther Div's notebook - My bother's name is Dev. Hmm - children never lie. Big brother is a big bother mostly.
Dev has had another growth spurt and at 9 stands slightly higher than my shoulder. We were talking about how he was getter bigger and bigger. After a slight pause Div asked seriously "Is he going to burst?" and profferred an explanation "you know like the balloon gets bigger and bigger and bursts!"
Dev took the swimming survival test couple of weeks ago. About 20 kids set off to swim 8 laps in the olympic sized pool as part of the test. Dev started well - but began to lag even the tiniest of participants. Now I am a new age mom - I believe trying something is as important as the result and that it is important to give one's best to everything. So when he seemed to be struggling, with a firm resolve not to judge and only to encourage, I walked the lengths of the pool along with him, shouting out words of encouragement. I was heartened to note that my efforts were bearing fruit - I heard Dev say to himself "Don't Stop. Don't Stop".
I felt chuffed. What a wonderful mother I was. When Dev, an avid computer enthusiast, fulfils what, it seems to us, will be his destiny in something to do with IT - he will remark in his first major print interview, what a positive influence his mother had been on him. Thoughts such as these swirled in my head.
As he emerged out of the pool dead last, fifteen minutes after the kid before him, I went up to him. "Well done, Dev", I said, hoping he would make a mental note of how his mother had only sought to encourage not criticise; expecting I know not what, but some recognition for having walked the course with him. "So what's the plan for the day?" he asked. Just like that, no reference to the swimming. Coming from Dev, that question was shorthand for "when can I have my alloted hour of computer time." Hmm - a small disappointment. "We will talk about that later. But, did you like that Amma walked with you? Did it help you? I heard you say "dont stop, dont stop"? " I asked. Ok, my mom was not into new age stuff - results mattered to me!
He looked a little startled, waited a little and then said "Did you hear don't stop - I think I was saying Desk top."
Kids!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire - Part One : The Movie
Totally agree with HPBlog : which game show would go for a commercial break after the question has been revealed? But then, Indian cinema goers regularly check in their sense of disbelief at the ticket counter - actually all moviegovers do that (remember Dumb and Dumber?), to be collected on their way out of the cinemas. So it would be querulous to dwell on that point. Apart from that and a couple of minor complaints (which I will get to) - I enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire. It was a delightful love story.
It is always a problem when one watches a movie that has won multiple awards - very few actually live up to the hype. Slumdog had the additional distinction of igniting a burning debate on the portrayal of the slums. On both counts, I felt the movie fell short. While the movie was well made and extremely engaging it was not earth shattering in anyway. It did not define a new cinematic experience, the story did not make you reach out to dark recesses of your psyche or evaluate your values, the acting was ordinary - music was good - but will I remember it 10yrs later - like I remember some other rahman songs? Cinematography wise it captured the momentum and dynamism of Mumbai well I thought, but then again I am no expert on that aspect of filmmaking. I can only judge it by how it moved me and I felt the 2 hours that I spent in the cinema, I thoroughly enjoyed.
Minor complaints related to the sketch of the Sikh family denying the 2 boys some rotis on the train while the American tourists showered them with dollars. Middle class India is not heartless. Perhaps they would not have condoned the kids stealing, but they would certainly have not begrudged hungry children 2 rotis. Also not all tourists are bleeding hearts - some tourists come to India with suspicion and skepticism in their waist pouches together with their passports, thanks to unflattering reports in the media of some aspects of life in India. My own in-laws travelled to India in 1996 with mineral water bottles from Malaysia as they had seen a programme on CNN saying that mineral water bottles in India may be tampered with.
What I liked best was the editing that kept the story moving at a great pace, while not losing any of the emotional dimensions of the story (please Hindi movies, no 4 minute songs on judai, after hero and heroine have been separated.)
So the verdict on the awards is that it was over-hyped, probably more an emotional response to a story - rather than a commendation of the many aspects of the art of filmmaking. I remember walking out after watching Omkara, an Indian adaptation of Othello, stunned, happy, sad; with a great sense of being involved in a story that I had known every twist and turn of, even before I stepped into the cinema hall. That to me is powerful storytelling. I did not feel that awe about Slumdog. I will remember, years later, that the movie was a multiple Oscar winner - but are there individual scenes etched in my mind - like there are scenes from Gandhi? Not really.
Finally, I wish Anil Kapoor had been less of a monkey on the red carpet and more gracious at the stage.
It is always a problem when one watches a movie that has won multiple awards - very few actually live up to the hype. Slumdog had the additional distinction of igniting a burning debate on the portrayal of the slums. On both counts, I felt the movie fell short. While the movie was well made and extremely engaging it was not earth shattering in anyway. It did not define a new cinematic experience, the story did not make you reach out to dark recesses of your psyche or evaluate your values, the acting was ordinary - music was good - but will I remember it 10yrs later - like I remember some other rahman songs? Cinematography wise it captured the momentum and dynamism of Mumbai well I thought, but then again I am no expert on that aspect of filmmaking. I can only judge it by how it moved me and I felt the 2 hours that I spent in the cinema, I thoroughly enjoyed.
Minor complaints related to the sketch of the Sikh family denying the 2 boys some rotis on the train while the American tourists showered them with dollars. Middle class India is not heartless. Perhaps they would not have condoned the kids stealing, but they would certainly have not begrudged hungry children 2 rotis. Also not all tourists are bleeding hearts - some tourists come to India with suspicion and skepticism in their waist pouches together with their passports, thanks to unflattering reports in the media of some aspects of life in India. My own in-laws travelled to India in 1996 with mineral water bottles from Malaysia as they had seen a programme on CNN saying that mineral water bottles in India may be tampered with.
What I liked best was the editing that kept the story moving at a great pace, while not losing any of the emotional dimensions of the story (please Hindi movies, no 4 minute songs on judai, after hero and heroine have been separated.)
So the verdict on the awards is that it was over-hyped, probably more an emotional response to a story - rather than a commendation of the many aspects of the art of filmmaking. I remember walking out after watching Omkara, an Indian adaptation of Othello, stunned, happy, sad; with a great sense of being involved in a story that I had known every twist and turn of, even before I stepped into the cinema hall. That to me is powerful storytelling. I did not feel that awe about Slumdog. I will remember, years later, that the movie was a multiple Oscar winner - but are there individual scenes etched in my mind - like there are scenes from Gandhi? Not really.
Finally, I wish Anil Kapoor had been less of a monkey on the red carpet and more gracious at the stage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)