Is Slumdog Millionaire Golden? YES, YES, YES, YES!

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I can’t contain myself, I HAVE to live-blog the Golden Globes. That statement itself might be a spoiler, I know. If you’re on PST, have this isht on DVR or otherwise loathe learning something before you’re supposed to, don’t go past the jump.

[And if you are a Wesssssider, then come on. You’re used to this, so no need to complain…I’m from there, I remember the feeling, but there’s nothing to be done. Except move here. Which is what I did. ;)]

If you’re on the right coast and feel like gettin’ your Mutiny on…party over here!Simon Beaufoy just accepted a Golden Globe award for “Best Screenplay”, for Slumdog Millionaire.

My hasty attempt to transcribe his remarks:

“Thank you very much, Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It’s an absolute honor. We really weren’t expecting to be here in America at all at one time, so it’s just amazing to be standing here. It started with Vikas Swarup who wrote the novel “Q+A” that amazing book about Mumbai, it went to Tessa Ross (?) the cleverest film woman in Britain, who gave it to me, who sent it to a man called Christian Colson, who produced the film and it went through many many other peoples hands, too many to say thank you to, but to all of them, thank you. And finally it got to Danny, there are some people…there are some directors who shoot a screenwriter’s script and there are once-in-a-blue-moon a director who comes along to make it fly and I don’t need to tell you that he made it fly. Thank you Danny, Thank you to Jane, my wife and my children.”

Felicitations to Freida Pinto, who is beautiful– and elated. Sweetly dorky Dev Patel looks dashing in a cutaway collar and I want to kiss him for it– that table is always sadly ignored at my local Thomas Pink. Then again he’s from England, so they’re not terrified of them over there.

Aside: am I hallucinating or are non-brownz wearing desi clothes? I rushed home but missed the first hour, so I did not get to see the red carpet, and thus, no full-length views to confirm. Haven’t seen Freida’s entire dress, either.

Totally unrelated aside: Renee…fire your makeup artist AND your stylist. Ugh, ugh, utterly fug.

::

Annnnd…A.R. Rahman, who is up for “Best Score”, gets his name mangled by Kate Beckinsale/Puffy. A.R. Roomin’? Like, I’m roomin’ with a total slob? Awesome.

I shall overlook such stupidity, however, because I get to transcribe an ACCEPTANCE SPEECH! 馃榾

“Unbelievable. Uh, I’ve got this long list I thought I won’t win so anyways thanks to the almighty God for bringing me here, Danny Boyle, Kristin from Cellar Door (?), Fox pictures, all my musicians in Chennai, Mumbai, Samuel Long, Karan Grover, M.I.A. for the collaboration Sam Schwartz (?), Allison and the billion people from India. Thanks for all your prayers.”

I’ve never seen him live, so this is mad exciting for me. His happiness and nervous energy are cute. I like his tux, but a mutineer who is here says the tie reminds him of an undertaker’s. That same mutineer is another ABD of Tamizzhrl extraction, who is now mocking me for my inability to understand some of what A.R. ROOMIN’ was saying.

He actually had to translate for me, especially after he heard me mutter, “Karen WHO?” when Karan Grover was what had been uttered. I didn’t even understand M.I.A. the first time I heard it (Em, em, eye, eye, ay, ay…MIA. zomg. Me. Her stalker. I should give back my CDs.)

I am shame spiraling accordingly. Said spiral commenced after hearing, “look at who thinks she’s a gully South Indian, who can’t understand what my Tamil compatriot is saying…”. Oy. Pwned.

Uh, David Duchovny, thanks but no thanks for your INACCURATE clarification?!

“Um, a slight correction, the gentleman who just won the last award his name is A.R. ROOMIN’, I’m told, so…thank you.”

Wtf?

::

Mutineer apsara77 points us to the High Heel Confidential blog, which is currently featuring this picture:

ThankYouHighHeelConfidential.jpg

Hrm. Freida’s dress looks okay from that angle, but I’m not a fan of its view straight-on. Decking those hips with boughs of…chartreuce silk? Why?

::

DANNY BOYLE!!! Well at least they pronounced HIS name correctly. :p

I’ll try and transcribe his thank-you speech soon, but my helpful, remote-control-pausin’-friend ran off to get Five Guys and I can’t do it on my own. No woman is an island. Especially when she’s craving a grilled-cheese with peppers and tomatoes. Live-blogging makes me hungry!

“Listen, thanks ever so much, Golden Globes or the GGs as we very affectionately refer to them. Your mad, pulsating affection for our film is much-appreciated. Really deeply appreciate it. Um, I have to thank Tessa Ross, who has been thanked before and there’s a reason for that, she’s an extraordinary person. I have to thank uh, Peter Rice, from Fox Searchlight, without whom I wouldn’t be here, standing here, absolutely, I have to thank Cellar Door, I have to thank Pathay (?), um there’s so many people to thank, which I know everybody goes on about. I’ve got to thank my agent, Robert Newman, again, without whom I wouldn’t be here. Um, making a film is a family affair obviously, and the people in Mumbai, who are all watching by the way, big shout of love to them and particularly Loveleen Tandon…?…?…and our three musketeers, Tabrez, Pervesh and Sanjay (?) and finally, and most appropriately in this house, to the actors, particularly Anil, Dev and Freida and Madhur (?) and the six, the six young actors who played the other parts in the movie, who were fantastic. Um, I just want to finish by thanking my kids, Grace, Gabriel and Galen and Gail who is their mom and anyway thanks ever so much. Bye-bye.”

I have had to sit here (while starving) smelling fresh, hot cajun fries while typing all that. Never question the sacrifices bloggers make for you. Never. 馃槈

::

Lesson learned. Never leave a Five Guys grilled cheese to sweat in foil while typing furiously. I was so sad about my mushy sandwich, until I looked up at the screen. Wait. Could it be? Was such a thing even possible?

Was Shah Rukh Khan wearing a sequined tie under his shirt?

Wow.

Maybe wearing it under his shirt is better than over, come to think of it.

::

Wot’s this? An even BETTER distraction from my soggy sandwich?

BEST PICTURE!!!

A standing ovation for the other SM, Slumdog Millionaire. 馃檪 Christian Colson accepts the award:

“Come on guys, get up here…Dev. Uh wow, thanks so much to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, that’s quite hard to say after a few martinis. It’s an enormous honor for me to be collecting this on behalf of everyone involved in making this film. Um, I’d like to say a few very big thank yous to a few very big cheeses, first of all, Peter Rice of Fox Searchlight, Jeff Robinoff at Warner Brothers…uh…Paul Smith at Cellar Door films, Tessa Ross at Film Four…uh…???…we couldn’t have had a smarter or more supportive bunch of partners watching over us as we made this film so thanks to all of them. Um, we had the great privilege of working for a fantastic cast and crew in Mumbai who will be going nuts as they watch this tonight, they will be going absolutely mental, so Hello to all of them and we’ll see you next week when we come out for the opening of the film in India next Thursday…uh…and that’s going to be some party, I think. Um, our fantastic cast, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal and everyone else, all our young cast, Anil and Irfan, Simon Beaufoy who gave us all an incredible opportunity by writing an extraordinary screenplay and the great Danny Boyle, who brought it so miraculously to life. My mum, my dad, my girlfriend for only dumping me once. Thank you very much. Good night.”

Again, I may not have caught every word of the speech, but that should be most of it. FOUR! They won FOUR! Who’s ready to party in the bunker?

::

I love how wiki is already updated with the news. Here’s the list of trophies won:

* Won: Best Motion Picture – Drama
* Won: Best Director – Motion Picture – Danny Boyle
* Won: Best Screenplay – Simon Beaufoy
* Won: Best Original Score – A. R. Rahman
[wiki]

::

I think it’s safe to update the title at this point. So I did.

223 thoughts on “Is Slumdog Millionaire Golden? YES, YES, YES, YES!”

  3. lol….David D trying to be all suave and cosmo by correcting ARR’s pronunciation and botching it up even more…..idiot…

    good job ARR ,I really liked your music after a long long time in this movie……(or was it because if the movie,i dot know)…in any case,it was refreshing….and please make a habit of practsing for acceptance speeches,you might have a few more to deliver…

  5. I think the other two people in desi wear are Tony Shalhoub (aka “Monk”) and, I’m guessing, his wife. No pictures found yet.

  9. I think the other two people in desi wear are Tony Shalhoub (aka “Monk”) and, I’m guessing, his wife. No pictures found yet. just saw it here :http://www.highheelconfidential.com/tony-shalhoub-golden-globes-indian-jacket . tony shalhoub is looking quite good in his bandhgala. really curious to see what shah rukh khan will be wearing.

    great to hear about the arr win – it was one of the few highlights of the film (to that extent – i really wish the actor playing the youngest version of the protagonist – ayush mahesh khekdekar – had been nominated for something. his was, by far, the best performance in the film.)

    1. Anil Kapoor ruined our rep, jumping up and down after Danny Boyle won the Best Director Award. He should have been more composed.

    2. Hated the a-hole who came on after A. R. Rahman’s win and call him Ruman.

    3. I wish AR had said something in Tamizh.

  15. hope shah rukh corrects the mispronunciation of AR’s name. also, this was a very good, entertaining movie – but not superlative – but deserving nonetheless. however, i feel the true stars — the young children who played the youngest (especially) and the middle salim, jamal and latika — should have been there. to me, they really made the movie – along with dev patel and irfan khan.

    i’d hate to see what anil kapoor does if the movie wins (he overacted in the movie but still thought he was pretty good). wish all the winners would keep it short and sweet like ar rahman and witty like the brits (too bad hugh laurie missed out, his speeches are always good).

  16. 14 脗路 arul said

    1. Anil Kapoor ruined our rep, jumping up and down after Danny Boyle won the Best Director Award. He should have been more composed. 2. Hated the a-hole who came on after A. R. Rahman’s win and call him Ruman. 3. I wish AR had said something in Tamizh.

    huh? to (1): Like Roberto Benigni ruined the Italy’s rep? Oh, c’mon…he was fun. And kinda in character, too :-p

  18. Nice to see Loveleen Tandan credited. She did a lot to make this movie work. And because she is the co-director after all, why not award her a globe?

  20. SRK ddidn’t look good. Dark circles under eyes…..age catching up, or late night partying along with jet lag.

  24. Lets see, India makes more films a year than any other country yet the only two films about India that have received such high honors, “Gandhi” and this one, were produced and directed by englishman. That says a lot about the abysmal quality of indian film-making.

  26. I am so glad that Slumdog won pretty much all the awards it was nominated for..hopefully it will win at the Oscars as well..apparently Gauri Khan (SRK’s wife) and Karan Johar were also at the globes..it felt like a mixture of filmfare and the globes with all the bollywood celebs there!

  27. 25 脗路 Gopa said

    yet the only two films about India that have received such high honors

    i don’t see a single british film ever having won the filmfare awards, so we’re even.

    That says a lot about the abysmal quality of indian film-making.

    i blame anil kapoor for this too.

  28. I’m feeling bad for Irfan. He’s really getting cut out of all the shots and spotlight. And what is with Anil Kapoor cornering Tom Cruise?

    good night everyone!

  29. Anil Kapoor is the biggest jackass of all time. He practically body checked the other cast members to get on the stage. Poor Dev Patel had to stand all the way at the end in the back. Then as the show ended Kapoor body checked the others again just to shake Tom Cruise’s hand. Have some pride man!

  30. Can anybody please explain to why is Rahman wearing those black sunglasses/goggles in that photograph ?

  32. “That says a lot about the abysmal quality of indian film-making.”

    no it says that perhaps india doesn’t submit the right films for the oscars. true, indian filmmaking could improve (so could hollywood), but judging india by others’ view of india is silly, especially judging oneself by hollywood’s standards. hollynot all movies that win the oscar or are submitted for it are that great either. oh well, slumdog should enjoy its attention now. don’t have much hopes for it come oscar time – as richard corliss says, americans probably not too happy about outshone by brits, aussies, indians, irish etc.

  33. w00t, my FAVORITE TELEVISION show “Mad Men” won! And bravo to Joan Holloway/Christina Hendricks, for straining fabric as far as it will go. Her fiance is half-brown you know, so troll on that before someone screams about topicality.

    And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to update this post with happy news!! 馃榾

  34. why do they allow kate winslet to hyperventilate overly long and colin farrell to go on endlessly (but he was more interesting) and then cut off mickey rourke (far more interesting personal life story), mad men and slumdog? truly is a “class” system at these awards and oscars.

  36. the real stars of slumdog were those kids. i don’t think i would have enjoyed the film without them. i was hoping someone would give them a shout-out, or maybe i missed it.

  37. I really thought Anil display was genuine excitement and with Tom Cruise on stage was like an awestruck fan. Arul number 14, you are the only one who can spoil you rep and Anil had nothing to do with it.

  38. the real stars of slumdog were those kids. i don’t think i would have enjoyed the film without them. i was hoping someone would give them a shout-out, or maybe i missed it.

    Totally agree……..the movie was good on many fronts but the kids’ roles and their screen presence to me was the soul of the movie……

  39. Was SRK wearing a sequined tie?

    I don’t think it was a tie – i thought his shirt was unbuttoned. It looked like a sequined tank, probably out of his bollywood costume closet.

    would also apprecaite if someone can upload the first two awards for slumdog. Btw folks, I didn’t get to watch, but it really is hard to say Rahman (just like Ahmad, which I tried to coach a friend to do and it’s baffling but she didn’t get it).

  40. 37 脗路 sunzari said

    i was hoping someone would give them a shout-out, or maybe i missed it.

    Danny Boyle and Christian Colson both did. 馃檪 The kids were mentioned in the last two speeches/quotes in my post.

  46. 45 脗路 Kush Tandon said

    Jai Ho

    I think this has to be by far the most anemic Bollywood-like song and dance number I’ve ever seen. I guess that fits in well with the poverty porn lite the rest of the movie was peddling. It did it with excellent cinematography and editing though, which papered over the by-the-numberscliches script and story. Pretty sure that this movie will not have staying critical power, once the sensory high wears off.

  48. 47 脗路 million nair said

    45 脗路 Kush Tandon said I think this has to be by far the most anemic Bollywood-like song and dance number I’ve ever seen. I guess that fits in well with the poverty porn lite the rest of the movie was peddling. It did it with excellent cinematography and editing though, which papered over the by-the-numberscliches script and story. Pretty sure that this movie will not have staying critical power, once the sensory high wears off.

    Man, I’m happy Slumdog won and I like Slumdog as an idea (A.R. Rahman + MIA! Anil Kapoor goes international arthouse!), but – million nair – you said it harshly, but you said it right. I think a lot of the hype around this movie is even a little Orientalist – like, Danny Boyle’s always enjoyable sensory overload + exotic locales = happy Western hipsters!

  49. Best way to woo western audiences. Make a movie about India’s poverty, add a dash of culture with references to Saris and Spices, pour in a little nostalgia about British Raj, show a panned shot over some slums (favorite is Dharavi) and finally garnish with sex, caste or anything seemingly shocking like bride burning, child molestation etc.

    Mira Nair perfected this technique and now this movie Slumdog Millionaire, which starts off well but finally seems like a story mixing all the above elements into a weak story. And now all the hype will give it a few Oscar wins, Indians will feel proud and the movie makers will reap millions !!

    And if anyone thinks the movie is great, think about the childish sequences. A boy covered with faeces is able to get Amitabh’s autograph easily while a whole crowd is just looking ? A gang of toughs cannot run faster than a bunch of kids running after a train ?

    A – Wednesday is million times better than this movie.

  50. Does anyone know where the young kids from the movie are? I know that they were actually from the slums in the city–I am curious to know whether they have homes, have been adopted, or anything like that? In many ways, their real lives are like that of Jamal–fantastic (at being picked to star in an award winning movie) and brutal (realities of poverty).