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A R RAHMAN & SRINIVAS NOMINATED FOR IIFAA 2002

Topic started by rajendran (@ 203.197.146.92) on Wed Mar 27 01:52:52 EST 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

hey guys
ar rahman and srinivas got nominated for iifaa 2002 awards.it is a gallop poll and you may click the following links to cast your votes.
http://server1.msn.co.in/iifaa2002/voting/vote.asp

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: (@ 165.122.129.69) on: Mon Apr 8 12:28:58 EDT 2002
  
  OISG, ;-))))
  
  
• From: Ramki (@ 161.150.2.250) on: Mon Apr 8 12:42:20 EDT 2002
  
  article from CNN
  
  http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/04/06/malaysia.india.movie.ap/index.html
  
  
  India's film industry, the most prolific in the world and affectionately known as Bollywood, produces nearly 800 movies a year
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Apr 8 12:48:38 EDT 2002
  
  OISG - That was hilarious! Pakdo Ek Shabaashi!! :-)
  
  
• From: Ganesh (@ 170.140.253.21) on: Mon Apr 8 15:51:43 EDT 2002
  
  Suresh,
  Very well written! Kudos!
  A year sgo, I had written a similar piece (well, my command over the language is limited) to ITC's Sangeet Research Academy
  (http://www.itcsra.org/) regarding their use of the term Indian music to refer only to Hindustani Sangeet. They have since sent me a response and have also corrected it recently in quite a few places on their site. Though they have now redesigned the site with more content, most of their corrections have been "Find Indian; replace with 'Hindustani" kind of chanegs. Many factual errors and other inaccuracies still remain in the site.
  Look at the way they trace the origin of Indian music... the way they casually question Matanga's South Indian origin...
  
  Anyway, at least they were open to suggestion and feedback, and made a few changes here and there, if not re-writing the content.
  We need more people like you to effectively communicate to these organizations.
  
  Naaz,
  I was the one who started the Ismayil Darbar thread. It's not just to make a point on our tolerance level or the celebration of diversity!
  The fact remains that, we are much more aware of, and are eager to learn about the happenings around us unlike our North Indian counterparts, who just do not bother!
  
  By appreciating other's work, we are not necessarily looking down upon our artists. In fact, as I stated in the thread, TFM has the best talent in film music today. But we also have mediocre MDs like Sirpi and SAR. It will only enrich TFM if some of the talented guys out there (There are hardly a couple of them in HFM) are invited!
  
  Two factors were responsible for the above thread:
  1. I listened to the score of Devdas
  2. The confusion caused by raaga.com by crediting Vishal Bharadwaj (of Maachis fame) to the score of Gemini!
  Cheers!
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Mon Apr 8 19:31:25 EDT 2002
  
  Ganesh, I appreciate the clarification. I was pointing out to Suresh that one can't have it both ways - Southern Cinema (Kollywood) can't complain of being disregarded, overlooked, or homogenised by Bollywood, at the same time, when southern audiences, time and again, have demonstrated their endless fascination/craze for every thing that comes the way of mumbai. Bollywood is always about Ownership/Sole credit. It is upto Kollywood to decide if it is content with the subsequent erasure or subservience. (I know that tamizhs are more welcoming than their northern parts will ever be - when it comes to talent/artistes.)
  My statement was not to discredit the apparent merits of Ismail Darbar or to fault you for your discussion thread.
  I hope this eases any hurt feelings. Thanks.
  
  
• From: OISG (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Tue Apr 9 01:47:21 EDT 2002
  
  What hurts you is the insensitivity of Bollywood and its indifference towards non-hindi speaking people and their cinema.
  
  Read Stardust or other film mags ... they still refer as "South" -no tamil-telugu-mal-kannada.
  
  They refuse to recognise two facts :
  1.The Tamil-Mal-Tel films have better scripts,acting and music and on the whole presented better.
  2.Hindi film still uses all outdated techniques of film making.
  
  Mediocrity ,like real class, exists on either side of Gulbarga.The difference is the patronage it gets in Bollywood.
  
  Still the Madrasi at mocked at in most of the Hindi films and even teleserials.I can tell you that no II generation Southie settled in Mumbai/Delhi speaks Hindi that way.
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Tue Apr 9 03:10:54 EDT 2002
  
  OISG - Yes, you are absolutely right. The patronising attitude - lumping distinct and rich cultures of the south into the label of "madarasi" is utterly contemptuous. The stereotypes of southerners is rampant and unchanging in Bollywood films. Why is making it in Hindi (for southern artistes) such a big deal? And why does the southern film industry not take a stand - instead of fawning on everything that has a Mumbai tag attached to it? I just find it all to be beyond comprehension, and infinitely baffling.
  
  
• From: S (@ 128.107.253.44) on: Tue Apr 9 04:03:38 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz,
  but the unfortunate part is,even the stalwarts of tamil filmdom (to take one) are after the hindi market !!
  Inspite of these guys being better than any of those fools, they succumb to the lucrative offers, and the dream of reaching a wider audience (what they don't understand is, if they try to satisfy those morons, they have to make mediocre stuff, and obviously that wud fail here).
  
  This doesn't exclude kamal, Rajnikant (who had to stoop down to the level of playing a third hero - and don't tell me the role was good enuf), Ajit ( any third rate hindi actor cud've donned the role of susima in asoka...doesn't take a star, definitely).
  
  don't we have mohanlals and mammotys who take up the roles ONLY when its really, really good ??
  
  Can't these guys too do the same ???
  
  Only when these guys know they are better off that their NI counterparts and ack the same, can they take a stand.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Tue Apr 9 11:25:12 EDT 2002
  
  S - It all boils down to self respect, dignity and pride in one's own culture and its riches. Not everything about Bollywood is crap either. But, it is only when tamizhs realise that they are on par (if not better) than their Mumbai counterparts, and set their own rules of engagement, will the situation change. For now, however, that seems like a distant pipe-dream. The first thing the southern film industry needs to address is the nascent "inferiority" (for lack of a better term, and even if negative, it is at the core of such Bambaai Pogalamadi Thangame syndrome) and do some necessary soul (sold?) searching. But who's to reason with a mindset that grovels for the akkarai's alms and sees honour where there is only humiliation?
  They say things have to get worse before they can get better. But when our (tamizh) capacity for worse is a bottomless pit, then better is not just late - it seems like never.
  
  
• From: suresh (@ 202.88.155.34) on: Tue Apr 9 14:58:30 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz, I'm puzzled by your repeated insinuations about thamizh 'inferiority'. Are u alluding to the thamizh fascination for fair-skinned heroines from the north? Then what would u make of the Vyjayathimala, Rekha, Sridevi brigade? Can a David Dhawan or Karan Johar command quite the attention here that Ram Gopal Verma or Maniratnam get in Mumbai? Can Anu Malik upstage ARR in Kodambakkam? Name any branch of filmmaking today - fact is, it is Bollywood that has an enduring fascination for the south talent.
  
  Even Directors that are one or few film wonders like Maharajan (Vallarasu), Athiyaman (SRK, Salman, Madhuri new film), Surya (Kushi), etc. command premium in the BW market, not to mention the iconic status that Santhosh Sivan, Priyadarshan (despite his monumental flops), Maniratnam, RamGopal Verma et al can lay claim to. From sound engineering to art direction to choreography, the south talent is the buzzword in Bollywood and are rewriting the rules of the game.
  As for male actors, just as Rajini or Kamal cannot make it big there, so too would the south be an impregnable fortress for the Khans or Roshan's to ever break in.
  
  The only field where these roles reverse would be playback singing, but this could be partly due to the enormous influence that ARR wielded which made this trend strike easy roots and led to a 'me-too' syndrome among fellow MDs.
  
  I can understand the thamizh (audience) fascination for things 'western' or 'english', but hindi/bollywood? I live in chennai, and if there's indeed such a trend, I've been oblivious to what's going around me. Let's take a simple test - how many Tamil/South movies are being remade in Hindi vis-a-vis Hindi into Tamil/South?
  
  And talking about stereotypes, I would say things are changing for the better from the 'mahmud' days. Surely, our movies also have not gotten beyond the 'punjabi' and 'marwadi' sterotypes, and the 'nambilki' kind of dialogues, have they?
  
  If ARR or Maniratnam decide to cast their ambitions beyond the Vindhyas, and indeed beyond India, I don't see where 'humiliation', 'grovelling' or 'inferiority' come in here. They're pretty much working on ther own stiff terms, and are kicking some serious northie butt in the process.
  
  While addressing one blunder (IIFA awards), let us not paint the parochialism and inferiority brush too widely..
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Tue Apr 9 16:12:31 EDT 2002
  
  These are not insinuations, Suresh. They are embedded, in more racial/ethnic ways than are immediately apparent.
  The fair-skinned heroines of the north making their way to the south is an interesting phenomenon. Here is an interesting lateral example about the "white" appeal: Did you know that the bleach filled Fair & Lovely cream has the largest market in South India, particularly tamilnadu, percentagewise? (even among men!)
  Bollywood's fascination for the "south" is always dependant of the bottomline: It has to suit THEIR needs and terms. Not the other way around. I admit the Sridevis, Jaya Pradas, Vyjayanthimalas and Hema Malinis were celebrated by Bollywood (of course, they were never allowed to look "dark" on the screen either.) But it is also a fact that these women who made it there, thought that to be the ultimate big-time and seldom returned to their home/cultural base for tamizh movies after Himmatwala, Nagina, Sangam, Johnny Mera Naam and Sargam. And if one or two from this list did oblige, they did so for unheard sums of money, and after a great number of petitions from their tamil/kannada/telegu mentors.
  All the directors you mention also believe that Bollywood is the place to be. A Satyajit Ray or Mrinal Sen or Basu Bhattacharya or Sai Paranjape, or Kumar Sahani - no less iconic, and no less talented, did not see Bollywood to be the beginning and end of success and creativity. Are they any less respected?
  The point about the Hindi-Tamil Tamil-Hindi remakes is an interesting one. If you are implying that southern films are remade/dubbed into Hindi more than the other way around - wouldn't it also be a good dip-stick to see how many southern faces from the original are retained in their Hindi avataars? Don't you have to a northie a la Anil Kapoor (Beta, Ishwar, Mann etc) or a Jeetendra (Dildaar, Tohfa, Himmatwala, Mera Saathi etc) or...I am sure you get my drift. Now let's work this the other way around:
  Simran (very southern looking) Manisha Koirala (ditto) Aishwarya Rai (ditto) Kajol (ditto) Preity Zinta (ditto)...wouldn't you consider this to be a telling intersection of both racism and sexism (promoted from within, not without - as most of these actresses were chosen by the Kamals, MRs, Rajiv Menons for their home productions.) Yes, this is inevitable in a male-dominated industry you say. I agree. But what's with the racism? Tamizhs are happy with the imports and our exports have to be painted (literally, I have watched this happen to Rekha during the making of Ek Hi Bhool - another remake of a tamizh film (but no Saritha) - where she was sprayed with "rose" foundation cream.)What gives? Are tamizhs ashamed of being dark? Was there a shortage of dark beauties in Southern India that Mr. Thangar Bachan had to go seek out a Nandita Das to be his Azhagi?
  
  While the south may be an impenetrable fortress for the Khans and Roshans - I think that misses the point: How badly do these guys want to be in a Tamizh film? And isn't it always their prerogative to do a tamizh film or not? Can we say the same for the Ajith and Co from the south? (your example above in an earlier post.)
  
  I am talking about inferiority in terms of hypocrisy and acquiesence. Why do tamizhs (audiences and director/MDs etc) not counter this selective, bottomline approach of Bollywood? And more importantly why don't they apply the same rules (or stick by their own cultural/racial/ethnic standards) when the buck comes around?
  
  If it were me I'd choose the parochialism brush any day. If nothing else, it is at least rooted in its cultural pride, however limited/ing it may be.
  
  Why cry erasure of identity when we are only too happy to let it be swallowed up, mangled and whitewashed?
  
  
  Out of curiosity: Do the tamizhs hold an equal fascination for African-American actors (particularly actresses?) Or do Tom Cruise/Mel G/Russel C/ C Diaz/J Roberts/ D Barrymore - get a chunkier share of the fascination?
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Tue Apr 9 17:31:44 EDT 2002
  
  My apologies, Suresh - I attribute the "Ajith &Co. " statement to you, thinking the post by S was yours. That was an oversight. Sorry.
  
  

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