The Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire vindicate Winston Churchill’s prediction on the eve of Indian Independence that "India will be a country of filth, taxing air and water" (Rahmaniat, Mar 9). Now, after 60 years of Independence, the West is doing precisely that: celebrating Indian poverty and shit in the system.
B. Vivekanand, Tripura
My eyes turned moist when I saw slum children walk the red carpet in Los Angeles. It just shows that we have talent hidden in every nook and corner of this country, all we need to do is look. Bollywood too has to rise above dynasticism and give everyone a chance.
Akshay Dadhwal, Sunhet, Himachal Pradesh
Let’s keep aside the opinion of a vast majority of the people of India that Slumdog wouldn’t have met with the success it did had it not been for the perfect match of the movie’s visuals with decades-old stereotypes of India constructed in the Western conscience. One fact every Indian on this globe would vouch for is that Rahman more than deserved the Oscar not just in 2009, but way back from the 1990s. That recognition came now and not earlier is a testimony more to the power of the English language and the reach of Hollywood than to the wizardry of the Mozart of Madras.
Aneesh Joshi, Minneapolis
Rahman represents the new crop of music composers who could as well be called sound engineers. India has a very old and rich tradition of music and any list of greats in this field will be long and subjective. Rahman too can perhaps be counted as one by virtue of his ability to apply modern technology to music and enlarge the qualitative range of Indian music. However, I don’t think he has till date given us anything comparable to what Naushad gave in Mughal-e-Azam, Khayyam in Umrao Jaan, Jaidev in Hum Dono or Salil Choudhary in Madhumati.
Deepak Seth, on e-mail
When a mad dog bites you, you go to a doctor. When a slumdog bites an upstart nation, it goes mad. Agreed, our Madras Mozart is the finest—and most complete—film music composer of the post-RD era. I only hope I won’t have to live in a world where Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart, whom Tchaikovsky described as music’s Christ, will be known as the Rahman of Salzburg.
Manohar Parnerkar, Mumbai
I can’t understand Slumdog’s comparison with Satyajit Ray’s films. Danny Boyle’s film is pure commercial cinema. It has to be melodramatic for it to make money.
Ramesh Raghuvanshi, Pune
No doubt, Rahman has done good work but your cover story goes overboard in heaping praise upon him. The use of violin in Bombay or a slow version of a song in rdb can hardly be called innovation. Hollywood did it long before and we still can’t produce background scores of their quality.
Anshul Gupta, Bangalore
Though Rahman has won the Oscar for Slumdog, the music of Roja, Bombay, Dil Se, Taal, Lagaan, Swades and Jodhaa-Akbar was far superior.
Suhrud Javadekar, Pune
Indeed, we have seen God’s Rahmaniat (all-encompassing mercy) in being kind to a modest soul called A.R. Rahman who has devoted himself to Him. He truly deserves the Oscars he has won. He has chosen his movies well, and always let the music do the talking. More power to his and Resul Pookutty’s eloquence.
Milind Kher, on e-mail
I was amused at the Oscar given to Gulzar for lyrics. Do they even understand our lyrics in the first place to judge them? The Slumdog Oscar tamasha is nothing but a strategy to create hype in the time of recession. And our media’s jumped on to the ba ndwagon blindfolded, wholesale.
Pear, Mumbai
Vikas Swarup, who finished writing Q&A on an impulse five-and-a-half-years ago, paving the way for the downpour of golden statuettes on Slumdog, is nowhere to be heard of in all the accompanying hoopla. As if it wasn’t enough that the protagonist’s name was changed to Jamal from Ram Mohammed Thomas, the book is also no longer selling under its original title or cover. Looks like the written word has surrendered meekly to celluloid success.
J. Akshobhya, Mysore
I appreciate Vinod Mehta’s sentiments in A Slum is a Slum. Except that Slumdog has not tried to glorify slums, it has, in fact, shown Dharavi in all its ugliness. Some of the most shameful glorification of slums is coming from people opposing this movie. They are trying to portray Dharavi as a model of urban development and demanding that it not be called a slum. Blame should be given where blame is due.
Vikas Chowdhry, Madison, US
Instead of blaming the goras for showing things as they are, why can’t Indians do something to reduce poverty? The reality is: slums exist. And we should thank Danny Boyle and his team for issuing a reality check to those who would have India pose as a ‘developed’ country without all its citizens on board. If development was not exclusively centred around its cities, people from villages would not need migrate to these cities and live in slums.
Surya Sharma, Calcutta
VM is right. Rahman’s achievements and technical excellence apart, glossy tranquilisers like Slumdog should not make us oblivious to reality.
Kasim Sait, Chennai
Vinod Mehta has put into words what many of us felt while watching the Oscars rain on Slumdog. For a nation on the threshold of economic growth and all-round progress, there is nothing to be proud of in a film that is only projecting its ugly face. While the Oscars indeed did India proud, this film can never make Indians proud.
K.P. Rajan, Mumbai
Bravo Vinod, for begging to differ at a time when saying anything bad about Slumdog makes you an outcast.
Dinesh Kumar, Chandigarh
If I was up at 6.30 am to watch the Oscars, it was only for A.R. Rahman. I’m totally with Mr Mehta when he says he can’t understand the hullabaloo over Slumdog or its Oscars. These are nothing but the American Filmfare awards, chosen by an unknown jury, not even by the public as in our Filmfare awards. Anyway, why do our movies need Western certification to prove we too are good at movie-making?
Amon Anis, New Delhi
Slums are a disgrace anywhere. As an engineer, I am surprised that governments have not helped in providing decent, affordable housing for its people, or at least tried to do so.
B.A., on e-mail
If a fruit-seller named Yusuf Khan could become Dilip Kumar to overpower Bollywood, it’s only apt that another Dilip becomes Rahman to conquer the seven seas of melody (At Which Time Dilip Became Rahman). Long live this wonderful, all-encompassing land of ours where merit and quality transcend caste and religion, notwithstanding a few Arjun Singhs here and there.
Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai
Excellent article. I learned a lot of interesting facts about the man that is Rahman.
Prasanth G. Narahari, Chennai
Reading Rahman’s profile, it was brought home to me again: to prosper in India, you need the right contacts—like his father had in t he music industry.
Parthasarathy, Chennai
What is striking about Rahman is his sense of dedication and devotion to whatever he loves most—be it God or music.
Aditya Ganesh, Chennai
If religion alone could make us good human beings, we would be a nation of one billion virtuous souls. Rahman’s music has nothing to do with religion, so let’s not give it undue credit.
Narendra M. Apte, Mumbai
At a time when religion, especially Islam, has become an abuse and the faithful have to defend their opinions all the time, it is refreshing to see people like Rahman being inspired to do constructive things by their faith. Rahman’s religious devotion, humility and steadfastness are an inspiration to Muslims, Hindus and Christians alike. As for Sadanand Menon’s piece (Jingle-Jangle Morning), I find it a mug’s game to compare two musicians. I can’t understand why Ilaiyaraaja fans never miss an opportunity to convince themselves that somehow their master’s music is "superior" to that of Rahman. Perhaps they resent that Rahman’s popularity crossed boundaries that Ilaiyaraaja never could. I was an Ilaiyaraaja fan till Rahman came on to the scene. But it didn’t stop me from listening to Ilaiyaraaja.
Anand K., Santa Clara
Menon’s observation about finding ‘advertising’ traces in Rahman’s music is incredibly astute. Rahman’s music does seem to be built on the overriding advertising philosophy of making every piece of creative work dissimilar from any available precedence and ultimately use it to ‘impress’. Use of lesser known voices, new structures and arrangements, creating textures with a variety of instruments within one song, an eager eye for minute detailing and polish—they all seem to fit in. He owes to advertising much more than he’s ever admitted, if at all.
Sumant Bhattacharya, Gurgaon
While the entire nation is celebrating young Rahman’s achievement, one Sadanand Menon has to play spoilsport and sing an Ilaiyaraaja tune. To describe Rahman’s music as being ‘without cultural markers’ is nothing but a grudge. You can’t expect a butcher like Menon who dissects music to enjoy and appreciate Rahman’s music.
Anbunathan, on e-mail
I agree with Sadanand Menon that Ilaiyaraaja’s is the more serious music, while Rahman’s is a well-packaged medley of catchy jingles. Rahman has all along been lucky to be at the right place at the right time. If his first movie Roja hadn’t been a hit, first in Tamil and then in its Hindi-dubbed version, he, being from the south, would not have found it as easy to get into Bollywood. The fact that Rahman made his debut as a film composer, in the ’90s when India was opening up culturally, socially and economically, also helped his cause.
R.V. Iyengar, Hyderabad
Rahman’s Slumdog music may not be his best but he certainly deserved international recognition for the global appeal of his music. I remember a German tourist asking me in 1992 the name of the composer when he heard the Roja track somewhere. I sent him a tape. It’s only jealous supporters of Ilaiyaraaja who trash him. Nobody knows about Ilaiyaraaja outside South India.
Raj, Chicago
For Maulana Sufi Mohammed, "Democracy is a sin and nothing more than infidelity" (Mar 9). Such contempt for democracy by Islamic fundamentalists stems from our misuse of democratic ideals for narrow selfish gains. The fact that democracy was not allowed to flourish in Pakistan is the reason that Taliban hordes are now in the process of taking over that country. Instead of appeasing such enemies of democracy, we should mount a relentless attack on their perverted ideology.
A. Viswanathan, on e-mail
Maulana Sufi Mohammed needs to learn that major reforms are long overdue in his Shariat laws. He should start with rebuilding girls’ schools and allowing women complete freedom to pursue education and a career. Let women become teachers, doctors, nurses and lawyers. Let them have exactly the same status and rights in marriage and divorce as men. Let the government be a democratic one and minorities have full rights of citizenship.
Anwar Patel, Dallas
The intense debate going on in Congress circles about the need to fight it alone in the forthcoming elections to preserve the image and identity of the grand old party is good to hear (A Pricey Scrip, Mar 9). But looking at the results of the last few elections, you know that regional parties invariably call the shots in the formation of government. Given the Congress support base in various states, it is most likely to emerge as a major loser if it fails to forge the right alliances. Voters too are likely to choose a political party rather than an individual. Even in the case of an individual, it won’t be age but contribution to party and public life that will count. If the Congress can claim to have a battalion of young leaders led by its heir apparent Rahul Gandhi, there is a comparable galaxy of competent leaders in the opposite camp as well.
K.R. Srinivasan, on e-mail
An aircraft carrier is a platform to project force in the pursuit of national security objectives (Horizon Crosser, May 9). The number of aircraft carriers required depends upon what those objectives are and the navy’s assessment of the most cost-efficient means of implementing them.
Rahul Narang, San Francisco
Indians returning home should try utilising their experience abroad to set up productive developmental ventures in India with minimum profits-maximum employment as their objective (Welcome to the Flip Side, Mar 9).
V. Seshadri, Chennai
Ah, finally the walls of middle-class Mumbai homes will be straight and the roofs will not leak as badly in the monsoons. That is assuming, of course, that the reluctant returnees do not sulk and do a bad job on purpose.
S. Chakrabarti, Calcutta
Those who are forced to return are unfortunate. Only if you are 30 or thereabouts do you find a job in India.
Bharti Bhojkumari, Dubai
I can almost detect a sense of glee in the article The Next Flight Home. Rest assured, most people who’re coming back are sure to wing back abroad sooner or later as they know what the real world pays them compared to the corrupt Indian politician-led country.
Nandasena Maduwanwela, Edmonton, Canada
Advertising by government agencies has been happening for well over five months, and never so blatantly in the past (In Self-Praise, Mar 9). It has taken the media too long to discuss it, but I’m glad Outlook has done so despite its inability to see any fault in the Congress. It is impossible to read any Indian print publication without several advertisements from various ministries and state governments staring back at you. This was clearly a way to start the campaign early and circumvent the EC’s model code of conduct.
Nayanika Barat,
Toowoomba, Australia
I am so looking forward to this book by Sister Jesme (Glitterati, Mar 9). Will it be available in the United States? If not, where may I order a copy?
Victoria Martin, Long Beach
Sexual exploitation happens even in Hindu ashrams and needs to be condemned. The only way sexual crimes can be stopped in India is to punish them with a death sentence.
Ashok Krishnamoorthy, Columbia, US
What we are witnessing is the democratisation of the railways (Diva on Her Tracks, Mar 9). Replication of the Rajdhani and introduction of air-conditioned ‘Garib raths’ are spreading comfort to the masses. Increasing the speed of Rajdhani would have been the opposite.
Rajesh Chandra, Phoenix
India could do well to have many more trains running at 120 km per hour like the Rajdhani used to, and some special trains running at 200 km per hour or more. Progress in any field is two-fold: replication of what is best today, and an effort to get better.
Indranil, Calcutta
I don’t know what his qualifications are, but I was surprised at your diarist brushing the entire history of pre-digital photography under the table as worth nothing more than an exhibition of technical virtuosity (Madrid Diary, Mar 9)! Are you listening, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Bill Brandt, or even Trent Park of recent vintage? He should check his facts too, as Dayanita Singh’s black and white prints are all silver gelatine prints (by her own admission)!
Ranjit Mandal, on e-mail
