Why "Slumdog Millionaire", why not "Taare Zameen Par"

Why Slumdog Millionaire can win the oscar but Taare Zameen Par couldn't?

A. Slumdog's story is better and more inspiring.

B. It's a fluke.

C. Slumdog is not a bollywood movie.

D. The Slumdogs have successfully crossed the cultural barrier.

I cried after watching both the movies. I suggested people to watch both the movies. And I tag both the movies with "The movie you should watch before you die". I find both the stories larger than life.

And it's not alone I who was mesmerized by the performance of the casts, the directors and mostly the editors of both the movies. I say "editors" as you can't find a single moment in those movies when you find yourself bored. It is not only the stories which have to be good or outstanding for a movie to survive in the heart of the audience, but everything staring from actinng, costume, cinematography, music, sound, direction, editing have to be perfect, rather 'picture perfect'. 

There is a trend for the academy award winners. Historically they have been inspiring movies. The first and foremost criteria (not official though) of a movie to win the Oscar is that it has to have a happy ending. The judges of the academy awards clearly defy the line from Shelly's poem, "sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought". Though there are exceptions. But here exceptions do not prove the rule.

Slumdog Millionaire, the film tells the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on 'KaunBanega Crorepati?' But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions. Intrigued by Jamal’s story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show?When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out…

To me it is more of a thriller and adventure film than a romantic film. Different people will find different chemistry in this film. There have been only a few directors of bollywood who dared to show the killing of Innocent Muslims by the Hindu fundamentalists in India. Danny didn't have any problem to show that.

The real chemistry of the film, to me, was the English dialogs. People question the logic behind the accented dialogues from a slum dweller. Having had Hindi dialogues the film could not target the global audience. The director had to keep the English dialogues to make it reached to the maximum audience. Directed by an Englishman, funded by Europe, lead by a Hindi spoken Indian and the ending lying on an answer of a question based on a french novel is truly international in nature. The film crossed all the cultural barrier to reach the people of the world, not only the people of India. To me, this is the key to success of the film.

"Bizarrely Plausible!"

I can expect different line of thinking from the bollywood directors now onwards. This film is an eyeopener for them.

D. The Slumdogs have successfully crossed the cultural barrier.