Sana Mirza, the Geo TV Anchor, to the MQM leader Saleem Shehzad on the subject of Geo’s transmission being blocked in various parts of the country: ‘kiya kisi bhoot ne aake channel ki nashriyat band kardeen?’
[Translation: Did a ghost come and stop the channel's transmission?]
It may have been predicted, the odds may have heavily been in their favor, but seeing Slumdog Millionaire’s crew picking up a slew of golden statuettes at the Oscars was worth staying up all night for. The show too, was one of the best ones I’ve seen so far. A. R. Rahman, especially, deserves the recognition he’s received so far, although I do feel he’s made better music for previous films in India.
Punjab da puttar makes a very valid observation about whether Slumdog is an Indian film, or a film about India, which you can read in full here, I’m just going to post up my favorite excerpt:
Instead of claiming something not quite ours, it’s high time we look at ourselves in the mirror and within ourselves. We should question ourselves that why is it that the ‘Largest Institute of the Imaginary’ in the world or the largest active film industry today has had just three films making it to the final Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Film – Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay (1988) and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) in its long history of filmmaking. What is it about our films that they fail to break barriers at the International level? And coming back to the Oscars, we have to remember our previous Oscar winners were either for projects that were predominantly British (Bhanu Athaiya for Gandhi (1982)) or a lifetime achievement given by the West (Satyajit Ray).
Maybe Indian cinema needs an eleventh commandment – Thou shall make better films and not covet another country’s film.
Random thoughts on Oscars: I abhor Sarah Jessica Parker, and her irritating smile made me want to throw rocks at my TV. Where was the color on the red carpet? WHERE!? And +10 to Sean Penn for his Oscar acceptance speech.
Geo News -The Great Debate: Ahmad Raza Kasuri
After Wasi Zafar, another fine example of the great legal minds assisting the government. As a reminder, Ahmed Raza Kasuri is partly responsible for sending Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to the gallows.
‘Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.’
-The Beatles
Judgment day has come and gone, and a farce of a presidential election is a few days away. We are left sniffing tear gas and looking on in horror as journalists and lawyers are manhandled live on television, while the Information Minister smirks as he sees clouds of tear gas envelop the crowd outside. Not that this hasn’t happened in the past – midnight arrests, bans, gag orders and more have been a ritual with each government, but now even the thought of what tomorrow will bring makes me want to drown my sorrows in explosive cocktails. Tomorrow will be a better day..gah, tomorrow will be worse than today…because each day’s excesses makes the government think they can get away with just a little bit more than before.
And the saddest part is, they actually do.
AlJazeera – F E Chaudry and the birth of Pakistan
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