January 25 2009
A tale of two Indian movies from 2008. Similar themes. Money. Love. Parents.
One of the movies is brilliant, nuanced, and fascinating. The other is crass, trite and an eye-rolling rollerama.
Guess which one is raking in the buck$?
Amal follows an eponymous Autoricksahw driver (inspiringly acted by Rupindar Nagra) in New Delhi. He drives an eccentric man one day, who turns out to be wealthy. The man dies. He leaves Amal a fortune. Meanwhile there is a woman Amal loves. Complications ensue.
Slumdog Millionaire, as you probably know by now, is th story of Jamal. He has a vicious time in his youth. Born in the slums of Mumbai, he endures challenges and privations that would kill many others. He survives, gets on a TV show, and wins 25 million rupees. And he gets the girl of his dreams.
I was angry and Slumdog. I can't believe I fell for the hype. It is unimaginative. It substitutes surface slick for substance. The dialogue was already washed out in the 1930's. The unconvincing plot points must have been picked from those Mumbai dump heaps, having been left to rot there decades ago.
Where Amal is restrained and effective, Slumdog whacks you over the head. Where Amal is intelligent, Slumdog is Archie comics' I.Q. level. Where Amal has merit, Slumdog has bluster.
Yet who is the millionare? Who is raking in the awards, and the buzz? Woof woof: Slumdog.
Goodness gracious me.
I won't launch into an attack on popular taste and its tastelessness. I won't sniff at the popular appeal of Slumdog. I don't want to build by tearing down others?
What juxtaposing the two films does make me realize, though, is that success has no necessary connection to merit. More art went into Amal than into Slumdog. That is clear. And so, more effort went into Amal. And the gorgeous results show.
If merit and talent were really measures of anything, Amal would be on every movie-lover's lips. And Slumdog would be on DVD only now.
The moral of this all: If you want to make art, hope highly for success but keep your expectations low. If you want success, keep the art low, and the expectations high.
And so, I will keep on making my music, without mass appeal, but plenty of conviction and love. I've succeeded on my terms. And as it is for the heroes of both Amal and Slumdog, that is enough for me. The rest is gravy, with naan to dip into it.
Namas te.
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