http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090208/jsp/nation/story_10503280.jsp
Battle Bafta for Slumdog
AMIT ROY
London, Feb. 7: A.R. Rahman is reckoned to have an excellent chance of picking
up a Bafta tomorrow evening in London in a much-anticipated ceremony which
could point to Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar prospects in exactly a fortnight in
Los Angeles.
The setting for the red-carpet British Academy of Film and Television Arts
awards, for which Hollywood A-listers are turning up along with a hopeful
Indian contingent (Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Dev Patel and Irrfan Khan, along
with Slumdog Millionaire’s director Danny Boyle and screenplay writer Simon
Beaufoy), is the magnificent Royal Opera House — this is about a trillion light
years removed from the Mumbai slums where Vikas Swarup’s adapted novel is set.
The author of Q&A is not able to make it, because he was apparently “not
invited on time”. His friends are hoping he will attend the Oscars.
With 11 nominations, Slumdog Millionaire is expected to do well. Sharon Stone,
Daniel Craig and Emma Watson are among those who will hand out the prizes.
Boyle will be disappointed if he is not named Best Director and Beaufoy if he
does not pick up Best Adapted Screenplay, but in the Best Film category, their
movie is up against The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The latter also has 11
nominations.
Dev Patel, the 18-year-old British Indian actor, can scarcely believe how his
life has been transformed since he was plucked from nowhere to play the lead,
Jamal Malik, the chaiwallah from the slums who goes on to win Rs 20 million in
a TV contest.
He has been nominated for Best Actor but it will be a surprise if he wins for
he is up against very strong opposition — Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Sean
Penn (Milk), Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Mickey Rourke
(The Wrestler).
Freida Pinto, who is also making her debut as a film actress, may also have to
be content representing Indian beauty though she is nominated for Best
Supporting Actress — she is up against Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky
Cristina Barcelona), Tilda Swinton (Burn After Reading) and Marisa Tomei (The
Wrestler).
In the Best Actress category, Kate Winslet has been nominated twice, for The
Reader and Revolutionary Road.
Angelina Jolie has been picked, too, for the Clint Eastwood directed
Changeling. But this is more to ensure she consents to come to London, pause
with her husband, Brad Pitt, on the red carpet and lend Hollywood mystique to
the occasion.
Tomorrow night there will also be an occasion to assess whether the negative
campaign against Slumdog Millionaire mounted by some in Bollywood has had any
effect.
Recent interviews given by Boyle has been taken up with the director justifying
his stand that he has not exploited the child actors from the slums by
underpaying them.
Slumdog Millionaire is still heading the British box office, having taken
£14,216,466 by the week beginning January 30, while in the US, the revenue has
amounted to $67,193,169.
Today’s report in The Times, “Get ready for surprises”, notes that “the A-list
will be out in force at the Baftas tomorrow night; but predicting gongs isn’t
easy”.
It also makes the point that by staging the Baftas before the Oscars — it used
to be the other way round — the British ceremony has become much more
significant.
“It’s been nearly a decade of incremental transformations, but this pre-eminent
British awards ceremony now safely enjoys its status as one of the three major
movie bunfights — beginning with January’s Golden Globes and ending with the
Oscars on February 22 — that define the trophy season.”
