Bombay bonanza!

The Oscars have been celebrated and the Brits have done very well. It takes the mind off the depressing aspects of the recession. However, two things were a little off putting. The first was that the winners' list was leaked and Kate Winslett was spending the weekend trying not to sound like a person who had been told Santa Claus had hung up his boots. The second was that the Bombay urchins who were deemed to be the real thing and therefore necessary to the success of Slumdog Millionaire have been returned to the slums without the generous payoff they were offered. Apparently the producers say it is all hogwash and nobody has been left without the financial settlements they agreed to.

I think it is a pity that the press publish all kinds of tittle tattle without appreciating the results of their actions. Kate Winslett won an Oscar. That's great news, but I'd prefer to hear it from the personality tearing the envelope open rather than a front page scoop designed to spoil. Equally, the biggest publicity night Bombay has had since the bombings and the gilt is sliced off the gingerbread in a cunning way.

Spoilsports is a term that comes to mind.

Mollywood Movies

Every so often a film comes along that everyone raves about. This time it is Slumdog Millionaire, which is about a boy winning big on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?". He comes out of the slums of Bombay to win the coveted prize, then arouses suspicions and so on. Slight memories of the cheating major, etc.

The thing that interests me here, or things actually, is that this is not an Indian film as such, although it is filmed in India and the cast is almost exclusively Indian. It is a British film done in India. Bollywood films (Hollywood in Bombay) are seen as being in the cultural ownership of Indians. Very few people other than Indians watch them. However, these films make money and are seen by many people so that Bollywood has all the infrastructure and technical knowhow to take on Hollywood. This film, Slumdog, may well tip the Indian film industry into the world of "crossover" movies. Those that have an international audience. Then Hollywood would get real competition. With American actors playing in Oscar-nominated movies, the Indians could do very well indeed.

However, these new movies could not be Bollywood ones as they conjure up a very particular cultural ethos. Far better to move with the current name changing mania. I suggest Mollywood Movies made in Mumbai! After all Bollywood was Bombay's answer to imported cinematography. Mollywood will be the exported version that the whole world can enjoy.