I was very pleased to see "Slumdog Millionaire" sweep the Oscars. I was even more pleased to see Francesca coming out of the showing before us, at the Alamo. It touched on a dizzying array of India-specific realities. One of which lept out of the screen and into the laps of the film makers - the BBC reported that the boy and girl who played Salim and Latika still lived in the slums (one in a tarp under a bridge), and only recently were relocated to permanent houses.
The closing dance number in the train station (Jai Ho) was also ek dam pukka accha hai, although this one may beat it:
Didn't know he spoke Hindi? Now you do.
Actually, what got all this started today was being Facecrack-tagged for a list of 25 favorite albums of all time (not done yet). I included ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "Live in Paris," which got me thirsty for some tenor qawwali wajad, leading me in turn to create a Pandora station using his name, resulting (to my delighted bewilderment) in a series of club-DJ productions of Bollywood-style songs.
So that's my favorite new station. Amanpreet Kaur's Bhabi Meri Gut all day, baby.
