The Anti-Indian at the Oscars!

On International television, at the premier Oscar Awards Ceremony:

 

Interviewer: “I will give you thirty seconds… What message do you have for the Indians? What do you have to say to the audience back home?”

 

Anil Kapoor: “We love you all, we love Mumbai, we loveMaharashtra!”

 

My response: What the heck?!

 

Amidst the pride that Rahman and Pookutty have brought upon India, there we have Our Hero, from Amchi Mumbai- proclaiming his undying love for Mumbai residents and those in Maharashtra!!

 

America brought to the tables a brand new term… ROW- Rest Of the World. Anil Kapoor has clearly indicated his contribution to this new phenomena- ROI - Rest of India! As a representative of 1.3 Billion strong population, Our Hero goes on to say He loves Maharashtra! What does India mean to him?

 

Next question for a Million Dollars: Amongst all the categories of people who divide the Nation, who is the most dangerous?

1. Politicians
2. Ram Sena/Shiv Sena
3. Forefathers, when they divided the States, in 1947
4. Terrorists

 

Answer: None of the above!  The most dangerous are the insensitive idiots vested with the power of changing minds of others, like Our Hero, Anil Kapoor, and the other is the Common Man err.. Not to antagonise any group.. Common Man/Woman.

 

Are we one hundred percent sure of the answer? Oh yes!

 

Here is why: I was standing there, watching television, all goose-bumpy having heard Rahman bagged two Oscars and Pookutty bagged one, when Our Hero, Anil Kapoor came up with that brilliant message for “Indians”!! Er… I wonder if that message was incomplete… It talked about Indians in Mumbai first, then mentioned Indians inMaharashtra. What happened to ROI?!

 

That was Our Hero. Now I will address the Common Man/Woman.

 

When the awards were announced, I was overwhelmed and immensely proud… Two Indians finally bagged the much coveted and perennially evasive Oscar Statuettes. It took a couple of minutes to register… Indians at the Oscar… not as audience, not just as Nominees, as the Winners! Wow, that is making History. India witnessed History being made. And just when I was beaming with joy and pride seeing Rahman and Pookutty being aired on every channel, my Mera Bharat Mahan dream comes crashing with a comment one of my colleagues makes.

 

“Pookutty is a Mallu. He’s from Kerala! In fact, he is from Kollam!” Er… what?! So, he’s a Keralite, now what? Has Rahman ever been looked at as a Tamilian? He is the face of brilliant music. He is the Guru of Bollywood, Tollywood, you name it. He took India to the the World. He took India to the Oscars. To many, he simply stands forIndia! Pookutty has done us equally proud. He brought glory to India. A glory of the kind that has never been seen. India’s first Oscar this season. First Oscar for background mixing. Pookutty has made as much history as Rahman has, atleast in terms of Oscar, for honestly, I don’t know him that well. But what shattered my dream is not that he is little known (Not many knew him till Slumdog Millionaire happened). What broke my dream was the regionalism that came with that comment. Ok, he’s from some place. So what?! It has come to a low ebb now. What I imagined were two Indians winning 3 Oscars has turned out to be A Malayali winning one Oscar and a Half Tamil-Half Malayali winning two Oscars! How sad can it get?!

 

And here we are thinking that it is our politicians and the Government and miscreants and Shiv Sena and God knows who else who are creating the unseen divide in the Nation. It is disheartening to see that it is the highly respected, reputed and popular figures like Our Hero Anil Kapoor, and the well read, experienced, soon-to-be-Global Managers  who create the dividing lines.

 

I really think it is time we stop cribbing. It is time we changed. Not as far as how India should grow and change; let us begin at home- let us begin with us.

Jai Hind!