Students' Association - CMC Vellore

The view from the window in my Mumbai apartment is wonderful, especially at night when the city glows like a showpiece behind a shop window. The buildings lie in the horizon all lit up... each tiny box of light offering a microscopic view into the life of the rich and the super rich soboites. I chuckle to myself when that absurd nickname comes to my mouth. SOBO stands for South Bombay...the residence of the rich and the snobbish. Mumbai's elite. Clustered in their high rise apartments living out their dreary lives with their regular visits to clubs and malls. Their lives are filled with colour, only the most expensive will do and I believe that it effectively paints over the black and the white that lies beneath. People living in small areas of space separated by their possessions, obsessed with their image. Life for them is one long dreary party where the drinks are expensive and the cost doesnt matter.Is this the reality of their life? I might never know. I wish I could become invisible and flit in through one of those boxes of light and see things for myself and decide...will I see a drunk husband who beats his wife up every night only to mend things with a gold chain for her the next day..their marriage saved probably by that fragile thread of gold? Or maybe I will be offered the view of a bored wife who neither works in an office nor at home(being amply supplied with house help...)Or maybe a heartwarming view of an old couple living their lives out alone after a lifetime of work, happy and contented to live simply though they may have it all...for now however, that mystery remains veiled and I must content myself with the view.Just below the buildings lies a dark, murky crescent of water. Hidden from my view is the Hadji Ali Mosque...one landmark among the many that make up this city. Though I cannot see the mosque I can make out its namesake, the juice centre...a brilliantly coloured(somewhat garish sign). The juice centre is crowded and remains crowded through the night. I find it amusing to wonder who in their right minds would stop for a juice in the middle of the night and what keeps them out of their houses (be it a furnished house in SOBO (chuckle) or a chawl in dharavi). Mumbai, however, is not for the right minded...everyone is a little mad and they have to be more than a little mad to survive in this city...Beyond this marvellous edifice to the mumbaiaites addiction to fast food (at any time of the day) lies the sea. The backwaters are still and tiny waves on the surface coalesce to form rings that spread outward at this distance. Maybe the tremors caused by the trains as they rattle and crisscross the city are responsible for this...I dont know. There are other structures along the way near the juice centre, a petrol pump, maybe a shop or two but nothing more. All that can be seen beyond, encircling the sea and curving towards the left to disappear beyond my vision is the chain of lights popularly known as the queens necklace...it lights up at night and few things man made are as beautiful as the sight...The rest of my view is dominated by the road. The traffic in this city is mind numbing and on sunny days or rainy the junction(or chaurastha in hindi) is full to bursting with it. It stretches backwards as far as the eye can see. Suddenly, the signal comes to life and the traffic rushes past...this is a fleeting moment that brings to mind the bursting of a dam and the sudden, powerful rush of its floodwaters. These waters are, however, stopped only too soon by another dam, another signal.The streets are unchanged at night. The traffic rushes on till the hours or early morning and stops for a little over two hours, then the incessant rush starts and the cycle begins again...endless and renewing itself with each dawning day...

Labels: City, General, Mumbai, Night

First things first... Let me wish everyone here a belated Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year as well... Hope the hols were as fulfilling and relaxing as they were supposed to be!

Coming to the topic, Slumdog Millionaire, one of the movies that's getting rave reviews all over the world, is a guaranteed must-see according to me... It's one of the best movies this year without a doubt! I hadn't heard of this movie until I was going through the Golden Globe nominations and noticed A.R.Rahman's nomination for Outstanding Score for the movie... Well.... Then I noticed that SDM ;-) had been nominated for Best Movie, Director and Screenplay as well... I couldn't help getting more intrigued and so I went and bought the DVD. (...which isn't out yet? so you guys know what i actually did...)


Not wanting to spoil the movie for you guys, a heavily micro-sized synopsis for now... The story's based in India, mainly aamchi Mumbai, about how a street urchin who's barely educated, gets on the "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" contest (KBC!), and seems to know all the answers somehow... The story evolves over the various back stories of how he got to know each answer (through the trying experiences of his life obviously...) and about how and why he got on the show in the first place... The narrative's got it's moments and you just can't but help being happy for the hero in the end...

I was quite moved by the story telling which was both subtle and in-your-face at the same time... And the acting of the children especially, the colours, camerawork and Rahman's background score all added to the excitement, the athos and the pathos that is everyday India and Mumbai in particular... I dunno what it is about people using third world (Just generalizing... India's not Third World anymore...) country backgrounds for movies (maybe it's for the awards season), but it works... Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Millions, 28 Days Later) and co-director Loveleen Tandan have made a movie that targets the worldwide audience as such. The stories are stories we've heard, stories that we know, stories that we've seen and stories that we've experienced and understand. and thus thanks to Simon Beaufoy (screenplay) and Vikas Swarup for the novel Q&A on which this movie was based... The movie's got quite a few familiar actors from Bollywood, each doing their parts quite well, except when they have to say things in English which were better said in Hindi... Dev Patel does a good job for his first movie... Apparently he's a Brit Indian... And Frieda Pinto looks beautiful and acts quite well too.

It's a movie that uses the age-old adage that fate and destiny make the world go round... And I think the movie works because of that. It's not groundbreaking or that different, but it's still a breath of fresh air.... Watch it. Tell us what you think!

See you guys!!!

Luv,
Nelson

P.S.
Q. So finally how does he know the answers?
A. Well, finally because... "It Is Written..."

To read more about the movie... Imdb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia...

Other Movies to watch if you've missed them this year.... The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Kung Fu Panda, Wanted, Hellboy 2, Quantum of Solace, Transporter 3, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, In Bruges, Vicky Christina Barcelona, etc etc
and the rest which the editor will help me out with...

Labels: A.R.Rahman, Danny Boyle, Golden Globes, Mumbai, nominations, Slumdog Millionaire