Well again it has been a case of so near, yet so far for India with Lagaan failing to win the coveted Oscar for Best Foreign movie losing out to the Bosnian entry No Man´s Land. So how do we look at it? One way is to take the sniggering I told you so attitude about how Indian movies are just not good enough for international standards and there was no chance for a blatantly commercial movie like Lagaan. An attitude predominant among the intellectual elite, learned critics and their ilk. If only an arty movie like Monsoon Wedding were allowed, India would have got her first Oscar for Best movie, and so would go all those predictable sniggers. The other school of thought would endlessly crib about how racist those white Hollywood chaps are, that Indians are not noticed enough by Hollywood, they are too snobbish. So what if Lagaan didn´t win an Oscar, Gandhi didn´t get the Nobel Peace Prize either, taking on a holier than thou stance. The truth though lies somewhere in between. But the above two reactions epitomize how Indians take to failure. Either we go into bouts of self-flagellation calling ourselves the most useless nation in the world and demoralize ourselves. Else we adopt a holier than thou attitude and make endless excuses about how the world is against us, and how Indians are being denied their right due by the racist imperialist West. But rarely is there a honest analysis of why we failed and what we can learn from failure. That is the case not only with Indian movies but every field in India. Of course that would constitute another chapter altogether.

Anyway now coming back to Lagaan, I think and many do think that it is one of the finest Indian movies and deserved the Oscar nomination. Many people point out to the cricket match as being a stumbling block, but if Chariots of Fire which centered around Olympic running could win a Best Picture Oscar why not Lagaan then? Some might say it is because of the songs, but then musicals like Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and An American in Paris have all walked away with the best Picture awards. Too long, but then so are Ben Hur, Titanic, Forrest Gump and that didn´t prevent them from bagging the Oscar. Maybe it’s too Bollywood in style but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was as “un-Hollywood” as possible. A movie is not just a series of images and stills; it also reflects the ethos and character of a nation. Watch a Hollywood movie, and their tendency for grandeur, large sets, larger than life characters, reflects the go getting nature of Americans who love to do anything on a grand scale. In contrast the British movies concentrate on character development, relationships that showcases the British tendency for family and relationships. The French movies would concentrate on complex characters that reveal the nature of the average French person who loves to think deep. And a Bollywood movie would contain songs and dances but then that´s a part of the Indian nautanki tradition which believes in telling a story through song and dance. Great directors like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, and Mani Ratnam effectively interspersed songs into their movie and Lagaan had that same quality; the songs didn´t hinder the flow of the movie they went along with the movie. So what prevented it from walking away with the Oscar?

It might be very easy to give in and blame all those racist white Hollywood buggers. But nothing could be farther than the truth. Mind you this time blacks won the Best Actor and Best Actress for the first time in Oscar history. And one of the greatest actors of all time, a black, Sidney Poitier won an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award. Also 2 nominees for Best Actor this year were black, Will Smith (Ali) and Denzel Washington (Training Day). Will Smith was nominated for playing a character that fought against racism, refused to fight the Vietnam War and later converted to Islam. And mind you both the winners Denzel Washington (Training Day) and Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball) were not some politically correct choices to please the so-called Black lobby (if such a one exists). Denzel Washington is one of the finest actors in Hollywood and he brings intelligence and dignity to his portrayals. He speaks with far more intelligence and wisdom than many of our Bollywood brats. He already won the Best Supporting Actor award for Glory. Hale Berry familiar to Indian viewers in movies like X-Men and Swordfish was known more for her sexy roles, but in Monster´s Ball she showed that there was more to her than just skin. And yes before the Bollywood fraternity accuses Hollywood of racism, some sobering thoughts. Denzel Washington would have never been accepted as a hero by Bollywood and they would typecast him as a villain. For that matter barring an Ajay Devgan or a Bipasha Basu, Bollywood has never taken too kindly to dark skinned heroes or heroines and its fetish for fair skin is too well known. As for a Southern film hero making it in Bollywood, forget it. So it’s time Bollywood stops adopting a holier than thou stance about racism and look at it´s own record.

So what happened at the final stage? Why did Lagaan falter there? Ok let me bring out a very simple analogy. One of the most popular athletics’ events is the 100m sprint. Now in India a timing of 10 seconds is considered to be good enough at an Indian level. But when you compete at an international level, the competition is more intense and a timing of 10 seconds won’t even get you into the final stage. And if you do go to the final stage, you have to beat the world record, which is say 8 seconds. So that means unless you decrease your time by a good 2 seconds you don´t have a chance to come anywhere close. And mind you all those athletes who come there have come with the same objective in mind. What I want to emphasize is while you might be good within your country, it’s only when you prove your mettle against the world you are taken as one of the best. Now along with Lagaan 4 other movies were nominated for the Best Foreign Movie Oscar, Amelie (France), Son of the Bride (Argentina) and No Man´s Land (Bosnia). It was sure as hell that the makers of those movies hadn´t come to Los Angeles to do some sight seeing. They were as much bent on promoting their movies, as we were intent on promoting Lagaan. So it was very obvious that they would put in their best also and they wouldn´t be sitting twiddling their thumbs. Now when you have 5 top players vying for the same prize it´s obvious that only one of them would win, and the other 4 would lose. Now just because the other 4 players have lost it doesn´t mean they are not good enough, it’s just that the winner was better than them. Take the Oscar just because Russel Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) lost out to Denzel Washington doesn´t mean he is a lesser actor than Denzel is; it’s just that Denzel put in a better performance. So there is no shame in losing to a better person. By all accounts though I haven´t seen the movie, No Man´s Land is a really good movie, taking a bittersweet look at the Bosnian war through the eyes of a Serb and a Bosnian Muslim. It´s a wonderful tale beautifully told and if Lagaan loses to such a movie, there is no need to feel bad about that. There is no disgrace in losing to the better person, but one can learn a lot from the loss.

Failure and success are as much a part of life, as joy and sorrow. But it’s how we cope with failure that determines where we will be. Now there are 3 ways to look at failure. One way is to go into depression think you are not worthy enough and throw in the towel. That´s an option to be ruled out straight away, because the only thing it would do is to make you feel worthless. The second way is to adopt a false bravado, blame everything from the weather to the dog, except yourself, and go ahead for another try. Not a good approach either because the only thing you would be doing is throwing stones in the dark and getting nowhere. The second approach is what most Bollywood filmmakers indulge in and they have been only throwing stones in the dark. The 3rd one is to make an honest analysis of why you have failed and what you can do to succeed the next time. That´s some thing, which Bollywood should be doing but never does, save for a few good men (or women). For that matter that´s some thing which most Indians never do either. My contention is neither Aamir Khan or Ashutosh Gowariker should lose heart over this. Judging by their sporting response of giving an ovation to the winner, its clear that they have more sense in their heads than most of the Bollywood denizens. I am sure there are an equal number of sensible and talented filmmakers in Bollywood who would now come to make better movies. And as for Aamir and Ashutosh this should spur them on to making even better movies than Lagaan. There are no limits for excellence in life except your own imagination.

And now one big lesson, which Bollywood should learn, but judging by it´s past track record, I really don´t have hopes of, is appreciate talent, and I mean real genuine talent. Watch the Oscar awards and our own Filmfare awards. When a person wins the award the other members including the losers rise to applaud the winner sportingly. The fact is Hollywood for all it´s faults recognizes genuine talent when it sees one. When Sidney Poitier won the Lifetime Achievement Award he first of all thanked all those visionary directors like Stanley Kramer who had the vision and courage to take a stand. About how many of our Bollywood directors can that are sincerely said. Most of our directors and producers are only interested in self-aggrandizement and very few have the courage or vision or ability to stand out. Contrast this behavior with our Bollywood fraternity when they find that some one else has won the award. They sulk, scowl and crib, and if they do applaud, it’s so halfhearted that one feels they are forced to applaud. One could clearly see the way that over rated guy called Karan Johar sulked when his movie K3G failed to win any major awards. I shudder to think that the future of Bollywood is in the hands of such people. And yes please there is a difference between an award winning movie and a popular movie. All that dazzling effects, costumes, lavishness made sure Lord of the Rings and Moulin Rouge took all the technical awards, but when it came to the crunch it was the Beautiful Mind´s and Monster Ball´s that took away them. It proves that Hollywood for all its lavishness still looks for mind over matters as far as awards are concerned. But then again I guess that would be asking too much from Bollywood most of whose denizens have an IQ lower than that of a high school kid.

Again it reflects very poorly on Bollywood that Aamir had to fight a lone battle in Los Angeles to promote his movie. But he really put in his best effort and even though Lagaan didn´t win the Oscar, Aamir has done India really proud with his effort. But then it would be impossible to expect one man to make a difference to a film industry that is chaotic and unprofessional to the core.

The truth is Bollywood just cannot survive with its old ways of working. The 2 biggest hits last year Lagaan and Gadar were movies that followed the Hollywood style of professionalism. Gadar set a record of being the first Indian movie where the entire crew, including the spot boys, were paid by cheque. And Lagaan set new records in professionalism and marketing, where Aamir showed that anything is possible by an Indian provided we have the right attitude. For that matter even Asoka, though a flop, was well promoted at all international venues, and the battle scenes were excellent in that movie. But a couple of few efforts won’t help Bollywood to make it stand out in the international arena where the competition is fierce. It has to be a coordinated team effort from every one. Otherwise we would be just like the Indian cricket team, a collection of brilliant individuals who can´t function as a team. One hopes that Lagaan won´t demoralize our folks, but spur them on to better filmmaking.