The Oscars - 2009

Every time I watch the Oscars my heart soars with a kind of creative energy that is difficult to explain. The Oscars have always been a celebration of cinema from all over the world and this year was no different.

The talented and charming Hugh Jackman sang and danced his way through a memorable opening number showcasing this year's celebrated films. As a "Dark Knight"-themed prop was wheeled out in the middle of the performance, he wondered what it would take a comic book movie to receive the coveted "Best Picture" nod—my feelings exactly. Rarely have I found a movie so perfect and so eerie as The Dark Knight. Though Heath Ledger gave a performance of his lifetime—a performance every actor ever born will be proud of—and deservingly received his "Actor in a Supporting Role" Oscar posthumously—the film as a whole got a raw deal.

However, loss for The Dark Knight was gain for Slumdog Millionaire. Congratulations to Danny Boyle for putting together a multi-cultural team and creating an extraordinary movie that eventually won the Oscars for "Best Picture". Unfortunately, the movie did not inspire me enough and I find it difficult to place it in the same league as other "Best Picture" movies like Dances With Wolves, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, American Beauty, Crash and so on. Nevertheless, it made me extremely happy to see A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty receive the Oscars and to see the joy in the face of the actors, especially the child actors, when they gathered on stage to receive the "Best Picture" award.

To conclude, I must say that though the Oscars may not go to the best of films made, they surely make us believe no matter where we come from it is up to us to define where we'll go from here. Ask Jamal if in doubt.