India is the flavor of the month. So I've got to make a film about it. And so now I, part of a new generation of Hollywood directors, am making my way to South Asia to make films “about India”. No, I don’t know any Indian filmmakers, have never watched Indian films, and really couldn’t name any Indian actors. But that doesn’t matter at all. You see, my film's really not going to be about India at all and most definitely not about Indians. They will just be somewhere in the background looking colorful and dancing Bollywood dances. Ultimately, my ‘India’ film will be a western film about western themes – you know, individualism and liberty and raw sex, and just coincidentally the setting will be in India. Because, you see India is the flavor of the month, and everyone just has to have made at least one film in India.
Update: Apologies are in order. I re-read the article to which I linked and now I'm sorry that I criticized the filmmaker. It seems to me that the reporter basically asked all sorts of leading questions about her interest in India, etc. and her responses were basically polite "yes, I'd like to do that" kind of replies. But like Danny Boyle, chances are the film will probably follow the format outlined above. And then, it will be the Slumdog Millionaire experience redux. Awards and hoopla in the west, and a deflating non-event in India. I can already see the director scratching her head and wondering, "Why the heck didn't Indians in India like my film?"
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Easter
It's a perfect spring day here. Brilliant sunshine, mild temperatures, crocuses and daffodils out in full strength (not mine, thanks to the deer, another post about that). And it's Easter Sunday. We are going to have a nice Easter brunch, eggs, bacon, hash browns, and the works. And since we don't go to church, it's going to be a restful day for the most part, I hope.
As it's K.'s "holiday" (sort of), he has to organize the festivities. We went to an Easter egg hunt yesterday and the kids had a blast, running around picking up their candy, their faces alive with excitement and happiness. Then a quick dinner at Senor Salsa in Fairfield and the day concluded most satisfactorily.
I am more attached to my Indian/Hindu traditions than is K. to his own religious ones. So on Durga Puja and Diwali, I do include the religious aspects of my culture. But more and more, keeping our respective traditions alive involves food. So Thanksgiving and Christmas are about preparing huge meals together and eating them with each other and with friends (besides the gifts for Christmas). The turkey, the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the tian, the pasta salad, etc. Diwali is all vegetarian, saag paneer, alu-gobi, dal makhani, baingan sabzi, and other yummy Indian stuff.
And now Easter too is about eating. But I like this tradition. We celebrate these occasions as a time for us all to come together as a family, as a group of friends, and be happy in each other's company. A full table brings us all around it to joke and laugh and chat (and for me to have some prosecco). And if this is what my children can take away from the meaning of holidays, Christian, Hindu or whatever, then I will have considered my job well done. Recently, I stumbled across some ultra-religious blogs - Christian, Muslim, Hindu - and I am just saddened at the meaning given to faith in those writings - the "this is the only truth" meaning, the "everyone else is damned" message, the "I'm so superior" attitude. I keep telling my kids that ethics and moral values are not related to piety. I can teach my kids perfectly well the difference between right and wrong, without dragging them to temple or church or mosque. And I also warn them repeatedly to never marry a religious fanatic (you can never start too early with the warnings!). And the best way to reinforce positive values is around a dining table full of good food cooked lovingly by one's mother and father, and joined by good friends. This I truly believe.
As it's K.'s "holiday" (sort of), he has to organize the festivities. We went to an Easter egg hunt yesterday and the kids had a blast, running around picking up their candy, their faces alive with excitement and happiness. Then a quick dinner at Senor Salsa in Fairfield and the day concluded most satisfactorily.
I am more attached to my Indian/Hindu traditions than is K. to his own religious ones. So on Durga Puja and Diwali, I do include the religious aspects of my culture. But more and more, keeping our respective traditions alive involves food. So Thanksgiving and Christmas are about preparing huge meals together and eating them with each other and with friends (besides the gifts for Christmas). The turkey, the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the tian, the pasta salad, etc. Diwali is all vegetarian, saag paneer, alu-gobi, dal makhani, baingan sabzi, and other yummy Indian stuff.
And now Easter too is about eating. But I like this tradition. We celebrate these occasions as a time for us all to come together as a family, as a group of friends, and be happy in each other's company. A full table brings us all around it to joke and laugh and chat (and for me to have some prosecco). And if this is what my children can take away from the meaning of holidays, Christian, Hindu or whatever, then I will have considered my job well done. Recently, I stumbled across some ultra-religious blogs - Christian, Muslim, Hindu - and I am just saddened at the meaning given to faith in those writings - the "this is the only truth" meaning, the "everyone else is damned" message, the "I'm so superior" attitude. I keep telling my kids that ethics and moral values are not related to piety. I can teach my kids perfectly well the difference between right and wrong, without dragging them to temple or church or mosque. And I also warn them repeatedly to never marry a religious fanatic (you can never start too early with the warnings!). And the best way to reinforce positive values is around a dining table full of good food cooked lovingly by one's mother and father, and joined by good friends. This I truly believe.
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