The tale of two films

It is truly a celebration time for Indian film industry. A film made in India has been recognised by the world fraternity and how! Eight Oscars for a film made with an average budget of 15 million dollars, and with almost entirely an unknown cast, is not a joke. One has to give greater part of the credit to its genius of a director, Danny Boyle.

Fine. Slumdog Millionaire truly deserves days of celebration. But after all celebrations are done, one needs to ponder whether this film deserved all the glory it has won. May be! But many critics have said that Slumdog.. had no real opponents in the fray. Of course, a film with an unusual storyline, A curious case of Benjamin Button, was considered a front-runner till the end. However, anyone who saw that film would surely agree that the story was not very convincing and was out of the ordinary, to tell the least. So Slumdong.. had its share of luck, a fact no one can deny.

Let us consider another factor. Could the film have won had it been directed by an Indian director? It is another issue that if that was the case, the film itself would have been different. But let us not mince words. The film could make it to the top mainly because it had a British for a director who not only did a commendable job of designing it, but also made sure that it was marketed well. Not to forget, he also made certain that it gained enough media glare. He never missed a chance of giving an interview or attending a talk show when it had something to do with his film. So the film had already won before it could win at the Oscars. Ground work was done with a surgical precision that even if they wanted, perhaps, the critics at the Academy Awards could not refuse to crown Slumdog.. with glory. What famous film critic, Pete Haimond said days before the D day could well summarise the hype created by the media: “If Slumdog.. does not win at the Oscars, it would be the biggest disappointment in the Hisory of Academy Awards.”

Well, Danny Boyle’s work was that much easier, what with the media helping him to the top all the way.

It is not without reason that several critics would consider another film with a similar theme far superior than Slumdog.. It is Salaam Bombay directed by Mira Nair in 1988. It also was nominated for Oscars in 1989 in the Best Foreign Film category, but failed to make the final cut. The film is more powerful than Slumdog.. simply because the raw reality portrayed in it affects you deeply, unlike Slumdog.. where reality is sugarcoated with a touch of romance which lingers in your mind more than anything else. At the end of the film what remains in your mind is not the stark reality of communalism, begging mafia, underworld etc.’; but Jamal’s passionate longing for Lathika, the kiss on the railway platform and, of course, Jai Ho.

But in Salaam Bombay, Chaipau’s deep remorse for not having saved his friend Chillum, sadness for not being able to make 500 bucks to get back home, and his helplessness at not succeeding in winning the love of Sola Salisi will trouble you like never before for many days. This is simply because all these chilling moments come to you in an unsophisticated manner with no any tinge of romanticisation or melodrama. They are not given any filmy twists and turns, but made to embrace you as they are. Apart from all that, what will speak louder than all the dialogues in the entire film is the silence of Chola Salisi.

It is a pity that Salaam Bombay did not win any Oscars, even as Slumdog.. gobbled almost all of them.

Moral policing and media

“What would you choose as a press photographer if you were to decide between clicking a photograph and saving the life of a victim?” I had asked a press photographer in a seminar. The photographer, after a moment of hesitation, said, “I would rather click a photograph.”
Harsh as it may sound, thought the press photographer said the right thing. There is a case of a US photographer who won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in the best picture category. The photograph shows a malnourished skinny African boy crawling and a vulture behind him at a distance. The vulture is waiting for the boy to die so that it can feast on him. The photograph received rave reviews; however, the photographer was criticised for failing to carry out a humanitarian duty. Subsequently, it is said, the photographer went missing. Some even say that he committed suicide.
The recent pub attack in Mangalore, and the media role in it, brings to shore several such issues. It was alleged that the miscreants who attacked the hapless women in the pub took TV journalists along to cover the ‘moral policing’. Whole thing, it is alleged, was orchestrated with precision with cameramen waiting for the ‘action’ to begin.
Subsequently, though, the police accused the media for not informing them about this planned attack. According to police, the media should have alerted the police so that the whole incident could have been avoided. Yes, media could have informed the police and the police could have averted the incident. But the question is would such an action by the media serve purpose. Next time if the Ram Sene goes out to put ‘order’ in another pub, they may go quietly and inflict a greater blow. With no any media coverage, it is likely that the world will not see their hooliganism.
It is widely argued, at least in media circles, that but for the wide and constant reportage/broadcast by media channels, the Mangalore pub attack would have gone unnoticed. In a way, it is true. It was only after the national news channels beamed the story that the police and the government woke up to take some measures. Even now, the whole incident refuses to die down what with the Ram Sene being vindicated by the apparent lackluster response by the State government to take stringent action.
However, in the whole development there emerged another disturbing trend. It is reported, and quite convincingly, that certain local broadcast channels were party or at least part of the entire assault. In fact, it is alleged that the Sene members made sure that TV cameras were there with them when they went on a rampage. Perhaps, they wanted to show to the whole world their ‘chivalry’ of attacking helpless women and be proud of it. If it is true that TV cameras went along with the hooligans, then it could spell a depressing trend in the Indian media. Yes, journalists have to tell, show to the whole world, the reality as it is (well, as far as possible). For this they may have to be candid. They may, at times, have to cross boundaries even. However, the danger and temptation is to indulge in such endeavours purely for personal gains – to increase circulation, gain a few more TRPs etc. When that happens, medium will fail to be the message.