What a day it has been for Indian Cinema, every body worth his little contribution can be proud to be a part of the celebration which reverberated so much across the nation. It was undoubtedly the most cherishing moment for the maestro AR Rahman and the crew of Slumdog Millionaire. It was history and it will take some time for us to really get back to normal. OSCARS whatever their structure may be, it has raised a lot of awareness for us and today the people will look at A R Rahman as a special talent unlike till they had notions about him two days back. All that has changed overnight, sorry over a few seconds to be precise.
As we celebrate the moment so realty thinking has been taking place except that our news short English media has been up in celebration and they were as if they were responsible for the event.
I am writing this to highlight some of the most intriguing things which happened after the event and also as a part of the acceptance speech.
I am sure you need that guts and tinge of pride when you say “I have mother” and more so when u say “Ellam pugazhum iraivanukke” in pure chaste Tamil.
The other man was Roosul Pookutty, who stole the hearts with his dedication of the award to his country and then he dedicated this as a Sivarathri present.
That was humbleness, and humility personified. Both of them if you remember stole the show as Indians and personified the best an Indian culture can be…
The best part is the people who thought it fit to say it was tamilian and malayali blah blah… I was at a loss to understand why a chief minister thought it fit to say he was from the minority community but ofcourse he would have to think twice because he is a so called rationalist and Rahman for all his glory was willing to submit to God, why not even the American President submits to God and God Save America. The other way round Resool Pookutty was a Muslim and he had the charm to present a Sivarathri present to his countrymen. All is well till such time some politician enters the scene.
Already UPA says it is the reason for the slumdog 8 Oscars, possibly Mr. Rahul should also wonder if they are the reason for having the biggest reality of slums in Dharavi like they were some forty years back…
So lets not let people to hijack this and make an issue, that way I should commend the words of Kamal Hassan when he said we need to admit it is America’ biggest Award and more so we have responsibility of making it big for Rahman every time we are associated with him.
The media should also be really looking at its role…of eradicating slums and make it worthwhile.
One thing which emerged was that Slumdog never was the underdog. The perfect way Rahman put it was it was an all Indian show and an All American audience.
Signing off
R Senthilkumar