It’s very rare to be completely absorbed by an obtrusive YouTube advert in the middle of an entertaining video even with the option of ‘skipping’ the commercial right there, though the minute I saw Matt Damon I was keen to watch. In the past, I have lived in a neighbourhood that suffered from an acute shortage of water and it was a frustrating experience, and this ad with its emotional appeal brought me to tears. I relived that experience of surviving with a scarce supply of resources which taught me an important lesson about survivability and adaptability, although it’s nothing compared to what Matt describes the children in developing world who miss their education because they have to walk a fair distance to access water. This is simply an amazing commercial for a good cause!
Water
Does India Really Need the Oscars?
We have yet again failed to get a nomination for the OSCARs in the foreign film category. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti (Paint me Yellow), the new found mantra of the indian nextgen was rejected even before the final roll call. The last time an Indian movie made it to the five was Aamir’s Lagaan in 2001; a riveting account of a small village lad taking the British Raj up in a captivating cricket match. Before that, Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay and Mehboob Khan’s Mother India have graced the coveted final OSCAR nomination list. None of them won the award though. The chinese film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (CTHD) won 3 OSCARs at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony, giving the director Ang Lee a godlike status in the Hollywood precincts overnight. CTHD was masterfully made with martial art sequences at its best and a traditional chinese story which is expected from oriental directors. Years later, he made a comeback by winning the OSCARs again for his work in Brokeback Mountain at Hollywood.