I made it in and out of India on a quick trip this last week in February. We had a launch in Mumbai and I had meetings in Mumbai and Delhi. Slumdog Millionaire had just grabbed eight Oscars the night before and Mumbai was on a high. I spoke with the flight attendants returning with me to Europe from the flight that had brought some of the Slumdog crew back from Los Angeles and I could feel their excitement from having personally met the cast and touched the Oscars on the flight the night before. Its amazing how pervasive and universal the Oscars have now become. What was also interesting for me is the change in some emotions around the movie once the Oscars were bagged. On previous discussions I had always found my friends elsewhere in the world to have really enjoyed the movie, whilst those in India mostly hadn’t enjoyed it – perhaps because of concerns that it reflected negatively on the environment that is home. Not any more, everyone I know in India now loves it, perhaps because emotions have shifted from denial to pride. All is well – as they say – that ends well. I took this photograph of blue pool and azure skies off my hotel - captures the peace in the chaos of Mumbai perfectly.
