Slumdog Millionaire storms Hollywood to take eight Oscars
Updated
Slumdog Million has hit the jackpot again. The British film, which is set in India's financial capital of Mumbai, has taken eight awards at the Oscars in Hollywood. That includes Best Film, Best Director, and a double Oscar for the Indian composer A.R. Rahman, who has been recognised for the best original score and the best song statuette. The feeling is that with Slumdog Millionaire now a success at the Oscars as well as at the box office this could be the start of a new era for Indian cinema.
Presenter: Zulfikar Abbany
Speakers: Tushar Dhingra, chief executive officer, Indian film company, Big Cinemas; Danny Boyle, film director, Slumdog Millionaire
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DHINGRA: I think it expands the platform that Indian films have ever got. If you look at the kind of attention that the film is getting people are kind of hoping up for Indian entertainment. A.R. Rahman's performance at the Oscar ceremony as a new I think genre of cinema will emerge out of this.
ABBANY: But you say a new kind of cinema emerged out of this, what sort of a new cinema?
DHINGRA: See what Crouching Tiger did to Chinese films is what I think Slumdog can do for Indian films. Until now there have been one off films which will come to the mainstream. But the kind of attention Slumdog has got universally across the world has woken a lot of people up.
ABBANY: But there are those people who say that the film, it takes some aspects of Bollywood but it is actually quite mono thematic in that Bollywood-esque style and that it sort of really only plays to western stereotypes of what it is to live in India. Do you think that's something that the Indian industry needs?
DHINGRA: No, I think the entertainment world is changing very fast and the geographical boundaries are collapsing so a new form of entertainment is emerging, so somebody who's sitting out of India would know about Japanese and Korean cinema and visa versa. So this amalgamation of various cultures, the ways of story telling is emerging, and will continue to do so. So I don't see it as a Bollywood-esque film or any other way. But the kind of attention the film is getting is going to expose new talent to India and visa versa.
ABBANY: Paint me a picture of what sort of films we might see. I mean, for outside audiences, we know Indian cinema to be very musical, very romantic and some people say there are lots of villains and that sort of thing, but give me an idea of what your production company for instance might be looking to produce now?
DHINGRA: I am responsible for this cinema company, so I cannot possibly speak about production part of the business. But for example Shantaram - if Shantaram gets done it will get that kind of attention, though right now I believe it is on hold.
ABBANY: Are you talking about Shantaram, as in, based on the Australian novel?
DHINGRA: Yes, Shantaram was supposed to be directed by Mira Nair, with Johnny Depp featuring in it. There is another announcement that Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan is going to be sharing a screen with Al Pacino. So, that is something that is going to be a co-production between India and Hollywood studio. That's being talked about. So, there are various developments that are happening. It will also give us a lot more options to put movies in mainstream locations in various parts of the world. In the last 24 months, there is Warner Bros, who have started local productions, Sony Pictures has started that. This is Foxstar's first film out of India and they're going to do to produce more films as well.
ABBANY: It is creating quite a lot of crossover, isn't it? We've seen in recent years a lot of Bollywood producers coming to Australia for instance, but I suppose what you're saying is that Indian producers will move around and of course A. R. Rahman who produced the score for Slumdog will move around as well, I presume?
DHINGRA: Yes, I agree and also our company, Reliance Entertainment, has investments in Dreamworks, and we're going to get a slew of Hollywood films that are going to come out. There will be a new form of cinema that shall emerge.
