Who Wants a Piece of SlumdogM

The euphoria of Oscars in India is still there as a lingering hangover. Everyone is basking in reflected glory – even me. I had predicted two Oscars for AR Rahman in my review of Slumdog Millionaire (see comment dated 8th Feb 09). So there… but the one that takes the cake is the ruling party in India taking credit for the Oscars. I kind of partly support their claim to fame. They are certainly responsible for our slums and the millionaire politicians.

 The book (originally published as Q&A) by Vikas Swarup has now been renamed as Slumdog Millionaire and the sales are shooting up. Did Vikas feel that he missed the Oscars by a whisker when Simon Beaufoy got it for adapting his book… I wonder.

Slumdog Millionaire sits squarely in all best seller lists.

The Deccan Chronicle in its Sunday 22 Feb 09 listing of top books has

1. The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga

2. The Associate – John Grisham

3. Slumdog M – Vikas Swarup

4. Married But Available

The Hindu dated 14 Feb 09 lists the top 5 fiction books as

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer – Atom Rs. 299

2. Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup – Black Swan Rs. 268

3. The Associate by John Grisham – Arrow Rs. 229

4. Married but Available by Abhijit Bhaduri – Harper Rs. 195

5. The Diary Of A Social Butterfly by Moni Mohsin – Random House Rs. 195

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1. Married But Available and The Hindu And so, Bhaduri’s hero, Abbey passes out of IIM, Jamshedpur, gets into Balwanpur Industries, works at the township, chafes at the fishbowl existence he has to live there out of necessity, marries, gets estranged from, romances a woman or two, and slowly climbs up the corporate ladder. There is no discernible line of wit in the book; at best it is a collection of puerile jokes; the IIM gang comprises the usual suspects; the career climb is predictable, the women all coalesce into one another, come and go without leaving much impact. So what is the leavening factor in this ‘MBA’, a tenuous title at best? It’s lessons learned on the job which Abbey/Bhaduri imparts in a chatty tone that loses no relevance in the telling. Human Resource/Human Capital Practice/Personnel Management, whatever the term du jour is, it’s a fast moving track, creative and exciting, a track where you think as you run. To that extent, Bhaduri’s case histories with their solutions, make for interesting reading. The way Abbey handles the enforced VRS scheme initiated by the MNC that takes over Balwanpur Industries, is both informative and entertaining....
2. Netting Numbers BOOKS by young non-professional writers are selling in numbers too big to ignore. They might have a tough time with critics, and established authors may have issues in making space for these writers among their ranks. However, there is no doubt that their books sell, and they have a special place among readers who respond to them through the Internet via websites, and blogs....
3. New Inspiration for Bollywood Scripts Is Bollywood finally waking up to realize that it helps to have a good script to make a good movie? I don't know if we can apply that broad brush to paint all directors in the same color. Livemint.com in its issue dated 20 Dec 2008 has a piece that talks about the growing desire of directors to pick a bestseller since it has all the ingredients - gripping narrative, pre-soaked audience and of course name recall. ...