Hail Slumdog

‘ Slumdog Millionaire’ , you may love it or hate it ,but one thing for sure, you can’t ignore it. I went to see it purely out of curiosity. Just wanted to know of the ways in which India is projected as an intensely poverty stricken third world country. I just can’t help it. There is enough proof that the only art of India the ‘goras’ appreciate is the art of degrading India. The enormous appreciation earned by Aravind Adiga for his book ‘White Tiger’ is the best example. I would rate it as the most disgusting book I have ever read. I could feel my blood boil reading his mortifying portrayal of India as a massive garbage dump. I felt that ‘Slumdog’ would provoke the same reaction from me. Surprisingly, I liked it.

‘Slumdog’ has come across a lot of criticism in India. But I felt that the movie was well made & the focus was more on the ‘rags to riches’ story of the protagonist than the Indian poverty. The harsh realities are depicted in a more subtle manner. The high point of the film is the excellent work done by the child actors’ .They bring about an innocence in whichever sequence they are a part of, which might be otherwise disgusting. I firmly feel that our Bollywood filmwallas must learn a lesson or two in editing from their Hollywood counterparts. The film is crisp and maintains its pace till the end and that made it thoroughly enjoyable, well at least for me.

All said and done, I feel that the only reason it garnered so much publicity and awards is because of the colour of the director’s skin. If the same movie would have been made by an Indian it would have not been acknowledged. Indian film industry is one of the biggest film industries in the world. I fail to understand why Indians are so crazy about Oscars. Our films cater to a large population & are made according to their taste. So why do we need the Oscar Jury to judge us? ‘Slumdog’ was made by a foreigner for a foreign audience & incidentally the story was based in India. So, I don’t get the reason why we are so excited about the 10 Oscar nominations it received.

It is nice to hear that A.R Rahman’s work was appreciated by them. A.R Rahman is one of the best music composers of all time and he does not require an Oscar or a Golden Globe to certify that. In the words of Salim, in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘India is in the centre of the world’. I know that a time will come when the biggest Hollywood stars will vie for an Indian award.