MxMIndia

Tag: Danny Boyle

  • The British feel that Indians only feel welcome when they see other Indians. In this case it backfired – as cultural determinism normally does

    Ranjona Banerji: Honey, you stole the show!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    It’s hard to choose the biggest noosemaker of last week. Was it Danny Boyle for his quirky, funny and very British opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games? Was it Madhura Nagendra aka Madhura Honey for gate-crashing India’s flag march in the parade of nations and not being colour coordinated at the same time? Or was it our old friends, the various members of Team Anna in their fight against corruption and the people of India who support them?

     

    This Honey or Nagendra person, depending on how affectionate you feel about her, has got no affection from the people of India – even less than they have for Anna Hazare. She smiled as she stole the show from our athletes but since then she has apparently even cancelled her Facebook page. The crime was double-fold: walking in the parade as if she belonged there, smiling away and then wearing bright red and turquoise which clashed horrible with the yellow of the Indian team. This is a rule which all gate-crashers must follow – at least attempt to blend in.

     

    Her daddy in Bangalore has tried to defend her (daddies are vital for the defence of all those connected with Indian sport as we discovered in the Bhupathi-Paes face off, especially daddies from Bangalore) and so funnily enough has Lord Sebastian Coe of the London Olympics. Nagendra got “over-excited” he said. She was supposed to be a performer which is why she was lurking about, but was not eventually selected which is why she had no business lurking about. Then there’s the other suspicion (mine) of the British propensity for cultural determinism. Someone put her there to make the Indians athletes feel welcome as they entered the arena, it was hinted at somewhere. This is because the British feel that Indians only feel welcome when they see other Indians. In this case it backfired – as cultural determinism normally does.

     

    So where does it leave Danny Boyle? Probably wishing he had selected Honey-Nagendra. What is this Honey thing anyway? The Indian press applauded the opening ceremony as did most of the world. Most even forgot that there was some speculation about AR Rahman being part of the show -which he wasn’t and no one cared.

     

    Mumbai Mirror’s headline “Tepid London Boyle’s Over” upset firstpost.com which pointed out that the headline and the body copy did not match.

     

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    That leads us to the latest fast by Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption crusaders. Last year over one lakh people supported him in Delhi and that was a lot and this year 6,000 people supported him and that was a lot. In Mumbai last year when 5,000 turned up in Bandra that was too little, and this year 2,000 people in VT is a lot.

     

    Thus proving that even mathematics is relative: If only my maths teacher had bought that argument when I was in school.

     

  • Personally speaking, I am all ready for the future. I have decided to start a specialized scam ads shop. Which to me sounds like a really lucrative business

    Anil Thakraney: Cool Britannia!

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    To be honest, I couldn’t bring myself to keep awake all night to watch the London Olympics opener. One, because I really am not a huge fan of the games. Stuff like long jump, high jump, pole vault, rowing, archery, and so on bores me enormously. Second, I was simply being my lazy old self. But the opening ceremony I did want to view, especially after all the orgasming on Twitter. And the internet videos came to my rescue as usual.

     

    Yes, the opening ceremony was spectacular. I don’t know what Beijing had done, and knowing the way the Chinese operate, it must have been all about tech prowess. The Brit event was more about drama and emotion. Which is why asking Danny Boyle to put the opening ceremony together was a smart idea. He used the opportunity to do what he does best: tell stories. The show took us through the passage of time. The industrial revolution, James Bond, Paul McCartney, Rowan Atkinson, and a whole lot of other symbols that have defined Britain over the centuries. Plus the stunning fireworks and the dazzling lights.

     

    Thehigh point, of course, was the Queen being parachuted into the park. I thought this was a master stroke, and only Boyle could have pulled it off. The stunt wasn’t just totally unexpected, it told you two things: One, that Britain is changing, that while they value their history and culture, they also understand the word ‘cool’. And in that one single act, they brought the old and the new Britain together. Clever thinking. Only a movie director or an advertising creative director could have come up with this audacious idea.

     

    All in all, a super show.Britain should be proud of itself. This is going to be a tough act to follow. I have just one regret: Millions and millions of pounds were blown away in one single evening. And to think it’s the Games that really matter at the Olympics. Imagine the things that could have been done with all that dosh. An entire underground train network in Mumbai. Thousands and thousands of flyovers. Anyway, let’s not go down that road, there’s no end to my carping.

     

    Let’s just hope, after all this mega shor sharaba, our folks return with at least one medal.

     

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    PS: Surely the best London Olympics ad. From Durex. Perfect. This is what is called seamlessly attaching your brand to a global event. With no chance of needless ‘spill over’. 🙂

     

     

     

     

  • Wish you were at the West End, Covent Garden, Piccadilly,Oxford Street,KensingtonGardens,BuckinghamPalace, Tate Modern, instead of wherever you are, says Ranjona Banerji

    The Anchor: 6 things to watch out for in the 2012 London Games

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I hope everyone interested in having a good laugh has been watching Twenty Twelve on BBC Entertainment, a comedy series which follows “the deliverance committee” involved in making sure the 2012 London Games run smoothly. Everything from bureaucracy to PR to political correctness to politics to jargon to celebrity are satirised brilliantly and it all seems so real.

     

    However, it is also possible that you interested in the Games themselves. In which case, here’s what to watch out for.

     

    1. The Opening ceremony on Friday, that is 1am (Saturday morning technically) for India on ESPN, Star Sports. Directed by Danny Boyle, (yes, he of the Jai Ho and slums are fun fame) it is expected to be a massive extravaganza. He has to compete with the glorious, breathtaking performance put up by the Chinese in Beijing in 2008. I don’t actually quite remember it actually, but it was spectacular. Lots of firework dragons. Or was that the first Lord of the Rings movie? Whatever.

     

    2. The Indian medal chase. This is supposed to be our best chance “ever” (please substitute your own version of an American teenager’s twang here) of winning lots of medals. Boxing, tennis (oh, wait, in India sometimes there’re both the same thing), hockey, badminton, wrestling, shooting… In fact, anything except running and jumping which, of course, are what the Olympics started with in ancient Greece. No one expects us to run and jump, least of all, us.

     

    3. Badminton starts on Saturday (go Saina Nehwal!), which is why badminton players may not be at the Danny Boyle show. Actually, so does boxing, athletics, handball, judo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting and just about everything else. Football has already started. So maybe no one will be at that opening ceremony, so it’ll be all sparse and minimalist and New Age.

     

    4. London, the best city in the world. Apart of course from New York, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dubai, Delhi, well of course, of course, that’s a joke! If you can’t be there, you can watch it, especially that giant red squirly whirly steel thingie made by that famous Indian artist chappie Anish Kapoor (Indian! We are the greatest!). So wish you were at the West End, Covent Garden, Piccadilly,Oxford Street,Kensington Gardens, Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern, instead of wherever you are.

     

    5. Wimbledon! This one is for me. The Championships are over, but tennis is going back to the green (or re-greened) grass. Twice in one year is remarkable and unique. (I wrote Wimbledon! But I meant Roger Federer! Of course.)

     

    6. There’s a special Olympic sport that has been included just for India. It’s called: Where’s That Kalmadi? You can seek him here, seek him there as the former head honcho of sporty stuff and hmm, other stuff, Suresh Kalmadi, weaves and dodges his way around the Games, avoiding the media, the athletes, the police…