Bollywood icons have reservations on Oscar, Gulzar says Slumdog isn't a cult film anyway

The nation may be celebrating its bounty of Oscars, but two of Bollywood's titans — Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan — were muted in their praise.

While sending his warmest congratulations to AR Rahman and sound mixer Resul Pookutty, Bachchan expressed doubts about whether the Oscars "are the ultimate and final recognition for every film made in the world." He didn't seem to think that the Oscar "deserves the kind of attention that it does," given that it "is a film award ceremony conducted in the US."

Aamir Khan's doubts were more about the film than the Oscars themselves. While praising the Slumdog team for its victory, he expressed reservations about the film. "I have to be honest, the film didn't work for me. I find some things shown in the film are very over the top, but that's my personal response. But I am happy people are liking it."

Lyricist Gulzar, who got an Oscar along with Rahman in the best song category, didn't attend the ceremony. He credited Rahman for the 'Jai Ho' song's success and said that it was the musician who deserved the whole credit for the Oscar.

Gulzar had a sobering assessment of the film. "Let's be realistic in our approach. It will be an over-reaction to term it (the film's Oscar sweep) as revolutionary. This has happened before, where a film has won 11 Oscars. I would say this film is a milestone in the history of Indian cinema, but I would not use the term 'cult' film or something that might mark a revolution," he said.• Related reports p22

Team DNA/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication