I wanted to write this post for so long,ever since i watched the movie, Juno, prompted by its Oscar nomination.

So its clear from the title that i dint like Juno. I liked the “witty” humor, Miss Ellen Page’s acting,but Juno as a movie on the whole gets a thumbs down from me.

Juno taught me why a movie like Taare Zameen Par (TZP) can get get ratings which are low by its standard (respecting opinions of all) Earlier i used to wonder why a movie deserving between 8-10 was getting ratings like 0,1 and 2! Ofcourse we have lobbyists who work tirelessly to bring movie of their fav actor’s competitor down and could not digest TZP in IMDB Top 250 list and brought it down. Apart from it, US voters only gave it 5.8 on an avergae as opposed to 8.5 by non-US (mostly Indians and Bollywood lovers as this is a bollywood movie).

As it shows, American audience dint like the movie and is the major reason behind its exit from Top 250 list. Reason? They could not digest that such things (pressuring kids for better grades, physical abuse) exists even today. They dont agree with the truth of Indian society. Thats the very reason which helped me understand why i dint like Juno and why western people disliked TZP, a pathbreaking movie for most Indians. I also could not associate myself with the society wherein a 16 year old girl, speaks to her parents about her accidental just like that. She had “aready by herself” decided that she is going to give birth to her child and has even decided the couple to which she is going to give her baby. I mean i understand that she is not entitled to be tortured, made feel guilty or isolated, but parents should have some say in this all important matter (at that point of time when she was pregnant) of whether she should or should not give birth to the baby. The parents know much better how much the body of a 16 year old can bear while giving birth. Giving birth to a baby is not safe for neither the baby nor the mother. Parents should have advised her atleast,if not stop her. Everyone was like very okay with it.

But on thinking deeply, i find that i do not dislike the movie, but i dislike the society which is reflected in Juno. A movie is a mirror of the society and Juno is a common story in America with muber of teenage pregnancies getting higher year after year. So i guess, I ratify the movie because it shows true picture of the society and on that front, Juno scores a bulls eye.

Now i get why TZP was rated so low by western audience (my rating for TZP is 9/10), and thats the reson i gave Juno a 6/10 initially, but later when i realised this fact, i changed it to a 8!

So it is not the movies in focus, Juno and TZP which are at fault, its the society they reflect. People can not  relate to them and find it difficult to digest them.

Hats of to both movies,their cast and crew.