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Ravi Shankar won another Grammy

Topic started by arav (@ 143.117.36.245) on Mon Mar 4 16:54:52 EST 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

It is another milestone for India. Ravi shankar won another grammy at the age of 81
http://grammy.aol.com/awards/grammy/

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: a (@ 192.19.194.27) on: Sun Mar 10 04:04:09 EST 2002
  
  yes....MGR surely deserve Bharat Ratna......
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Sun Mar 10 11:30:08 EST 2002
  
  FYI:
  India already has an Oscar winner --- Bhanu Attaiya won an Oscar for Costume Design - Film :Gandhi.
  
  OISG - It is a sad comment indeed when one is short of yardsticks...But an exemplary artiste's true award is the appreciation of a connoisseur. What is more telling is this slow turn of the Awards - from Merit to Marketing. Be it Hollywood or Bollywood or Kollywood - it is the Box Office which calls the shots. Merit has been turned into a form of "concession" or a "patronising" gesture. An Award here and there goes to a truly inspired performance (acting/singing/directing) - but the BIG winner (in the last decade, at least) has been Marketing (think Gladiator....wasn't that just a costume drama with some computer gimmicks?).
  So - it is lamentable indeed that there is no barometer to measure true merit and excellence. But one has to call a commercially rotted yardstick a commercially rotted yardstick. That would merely be a statement of fact, illaiya?
  
  
• From: AVR (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Sun Mar 10 23:20:35 EST 2002
  
  O_IS_G:
  
  I dont know anything about that album called Planet Drum.
  
  Anyway thanks for the info on MGR. Maybe what you say IS true.
  
  Thanks,
  AVR
  
  
• From: AVR (@ 143.127.3.10) on: Sun Mar 10 23:21:51 EST 2002
  
  Naaz ... no fan is actually trying to make the same point you are...only that he is referring to ravi Shankar in the negative sense for that.
  
  
• From: S (@ 128.107.253.44) on: Mon Mar 11 03:32:22 EST 2002
  
  O_IS_G,
  don't quote a great piece of work CTHD to substantiate ur claim...the question here is not
  a good movie getting an oscar or not, but a lousy movie bagging the award.
  
  
• From: No Fan (@ 210.212.160.34) on: Mon Mar 11 04:23:52 EST 2002
  
  Friends
  My point about RS is not that his artistic achievments have to be linked to his personal life - I am talking about professional ethics/principles -
  
  Pt.Jasraj is not one to accuse anyone just like that - in fact, he is known to be a very genial person and a genius vocalist - that he came out to vehemently criticise RS was become there was indeed something more to it than what met the eye
  
  Let me also add : when Satyajit Ray got the BR, no one cribbed, but when RS did, not one several raised eyebrows - it is not that RS did not deserve the BR - maybe he did, but RS is the sort of a man whose professional ethics leave a lot to ponder about -
  
  Give RS some more time, he will get several more Grammy(s) - anyway, maybe I am old-fashioned - a Kannadasan was a womaniser ( I even confessed that such attitudes are common among naturally talented people the world over), but KD has never manipulated to get himself some coveted award -
  
  I am talking about attitudes in one's profession - if you are good enough and a genius, you would get the recognition - but to indulge in cheap machinations to get big titles is, in my opinion, cheap stuff
  
  If our own IR had to indulge in such things, imagine the number of titles/awards they wud have been showered with
  
  
  
• From: no fan (@ 210.212.160.34) on: Mon Mar 11 04:26:51 EST 2002
  
  TYPO
  read "they would have been" as "he would have been"
  
  
  
• From: suresh (@ 202.88.155.34) on: Mon Mar 11 05:19:46 EST 2002
  
  O_IS_G
  Didn't you know that it was Kamaraj who introduced the Noon Meal Scheme in TN schools? MGR was only reintroducing it after a hiatus, but true to film tradition, overhyped by a fawning media and fandom.. If it had anything to do with governance, Rajaji and C Subramaniam have much stellar claims to the BR, IMO of course:)
  
  
• From: O_IS_G (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Mon Mar 11 07:57:06 EST 2002
  
  Last 3 decades ....Suresh.... Last 3 decades.I very well know that Kamaraj was the one who introduced the noon meal scheme.I never mentioned governance.
  
  Kamaraj's brain introduced but it was MGR's heart which gave it the necessary impetus.We do have overhyped politicians ,Actors,Sports persons with fantastic mass following even now.but those men and women build their own resorts ,kalyana mandapams,bowling centres etc.
  
  VendAm Suresh,MGR patri city-bred makkalukku evaaluvu sonnalum puriyathu.Avargalellam Rajathanthiram,governance,strategy,political wisedom endru periya varthaigalai sollikkondu oru vattathai pottukondu atharkul iruppavargal
  
  (DIG)
  
  RS kku kodutha en Vilayat khan kku kodukkavillai endruthan sandai podugirom.Grammy ..Oscar..Globe..ethellam Egathipathya,Mudhalali thathuva nadugaludya sadhi endru odhukki vaithuviduvome!!! Ange nermayinmai thalai virithadugirathu...Namakku en..athellam?
  
  PS : Moondram pirai padathukku Kamal kku award koduthuttanga,Sridevi kku than kidaichirukkanum!!
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Mar 11 09:45:50 EST 2002
  
  Behind the scene machinations are beyond our control. We can only judge by the track record and consistency of an artiste if s/he deserves the recognition (of an award) or not. The nature of awards is arbitrary. Some do and some don't - and there can be any number of reasons for this (including the subjectivity of the jury, and pressure campaigns of the lobbyists.)
  
  Professional ethics and politics are a whole different aspect. While RS might have stepped on a few toes and may have overlooked some of his obligations (who can claim that they haven't done so at some point in their life/career?)the fact remains that within and outside of India RS have become synonymous with Indian Classical Music - particularly the Sitar. How this came to be? This question can have all sorts of answers and many subjective/objective sources. However, it is nevertheless irrefuteable that RS has put Indian music on the world map for nearly six decades (or more). A third grammy may not signify anything as much as it signifies this: RS is a certified living lengend. We can take potshots and criticise him (for real and imagined grievances) till the Raagas comes home - but that will not change this fact - not now, not forever.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Mar 11 09:47:55 EST 2002
  
  Last line in the last post: "not now, not ever" - sorry for the hasty post!
  
  
• From: O_IS_G (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Mon Mar 11 10:35:03 EST 2002
  
  Which maxim should the academy (awards) follow?
  
  10 Crap movies may walk away with the awards but one good movie should not be left out!
  
  OR
  
  10 good movies may not get the award but no bad movie should get one!
  
  I think the acedemy,over the years,is trying to balance it out between Popular movies and Good movies.This has to happen.The popular verdict is one big black hole this is where we end up arguing.
  
  On Gladiator - Costume Drama .. Yes.But Crowe has really done a wonderful job.The problem comes when you try to match it with Charlton Heston's Benhur.Our yardsticks for evaluations have often been inconsistent and subjective.Either we try to match CTHD with "Seven Samurai" or "Snake in the monkeys shadow".
  
  A panel of jury has to take a balanced view ,has to be consistent and above all must refine and improve the judgement process with every passing year.
  
  On Rs - as Naaz pointed out ,RS was instrumental in putting Indian music on the bigger canvas.Let his grammy III make the west to listen to Sitar with more interest.
  
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Mar 11 12:41:31 EST 2002
  
  Digression:
  I will not even attempt to compare Gladiator with Benhur. They were both costume dramas, crammed with archetypes. The latter just lacked all the computer wizardry. Otherwise, it was merely a propogation of maschismo and bad roman history. I must also disagree: Russel Crowe gave a far more searing performance in The Insider (critically far more praised and touted than the role for which he won) and also L.A. Confidential. The one thing that worked in Gladiator's favour was this: Being a "Costume" drama (say,like Raja Raja Cholan or Veera Pandiya Kattabomman, Vanjikottai Valiban or Mughal-e-Aazam) it transcended "cultural" specificity and became an "universal" epic which could be dubbed in any world language. Even without dubbing - it still works - as the emotions, action and resolution are all "enacted" - like in a parable or purana kadhai. But in Gladiator's case - it was the involved of TWO hollywood studios. And they wanted to get their investment - and a lot more - back.
  
  
• From: arun_uk (@ 195.99.125.204) on: Mon Mar 11 12:46:37 EST 2002
  
  Great comments Naaz.
  
  You sum it up nicely when you say - "it is lamentable indeed that there is no barometer to measure true merit and excellence. But one has to call a commercially rotted yardstick a commercially rotted yardstick"
  
  It's a bit sad isn't it?
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Mar 11 19:19:21 EST 2002
  
  Thanks for your appreciation, arun_uk. Where have you been lately?? Good to see a post from you here!
  
  
• From: O_IS_G (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Tue Mar 12 10:36:12 EST 2002
  
  Naaz
  
  Do you really mean to say that a movie can make it by just employing the best lobbying firm?
  
  I am asking .. is the scene that bad and ugly in the US?
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Tue Mar 12 12:14:38 EST 2002
  
  The scene in the US - if you are talking "motion pictures" and hollywood - then yes, it is a huge bandwagon of lobbyists...Then you add the big studios to the mix - the kinds that produce (or pour money into) the Galdiators, Beautiful Minds, English Patients, Moulin Rouges....and you have an even more determined and lubricated machinery in place. The studios want returns - plus + plus. Around the time of the LA awards (golden globes and oscars) there is something called the "press junket" that takes place. All the scribes who love champagne, glamour and freebe computers and software (for free in their press kit!!) show up at exotic locales like Palm Springs and Malibu for "schmooze fests." Big, full page ads begin appearing in Variety and LA times and Hollywood reporter etc. Every film is a "must see" a "tour de force" "an event in movie-making" - the critics and cronies all agree - and the blurbs saying so push the margins of the ad. - into ad nauseum.
  As I said earlier - merit or a new, inspired effort gets the nod occasionally (this year that might be In the Bedroom - the movie) but look out for Lord oof the Rings and Beautiful Mind walking away with at least 4 trophies each. Usually the best supporting actress Oscar is "meritorious" and so is "original" screenplay. Other than that, it is all above who the latest hollywood favorite is (Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner,Tom Hanks, Spielberg...have all had their share of glory and then GONE days) - these days it seems to be Russell Crowe (if you believe the hype)...DVD/Video/International Screening Rights...The Oscars are about money. As the character in Jerry Mcguire says (another oscar nominated movies): "Show me the Money". Yep, OISG, the show is the MONEY!(or vice versa)
  
  
• From: O_IS_G (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Wed Mar 13 00:26:48 EST 2002
  
  Naaz
  
  This is really decadent.(certainly the myth is shaken and crumbling)
  
  I know you are not one of those Castros.But why the Original screen play and supporting actress category are left out?
  
  Spielberg ..I thought ,before Schindlers list,his name never featured in the prime cats.
  
  
  Thanks for the information.
  
  (*DIG*) I want some info on Hans Zimmer (hope i have spelt correctly).Is he a specialist of sorts for "Period/War " movies.(Pearl HArbour /thin Red line).Also on Jerry Goldsmith... Their Oscars ..
  from the BGM point of view...etc..
  
  I know the other guys joining the discussion will finally link them up to TFM .(*DIG*)
  
  
  

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