Monday, March 02, 2009

The Slumdog Millionaire: A movie that Indians love to hate

Few weeks back, I was talking to Ashish, my husband, about a movie which was creating quite a stir in the creative world. It was before it won the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Awards and the greatest of the awards, an Oscars. We didn’t know then, that it is directed by an English director, financed by an American company and is based on a novel written by an Indian. All we knew was everyone was talking about it.
The movie magically and shockingly took us back to the city that we cherish so much...Mumbai or Bombay. The city of dreams, the city of humidity and sweat. The city that has taught hundreds of thousands of large families to live in one-bedroom apartment. The city which taught so many of us to struggle and to dream. A city with a sky full of stars in the darkness of night, and filled with human stars in the daytime blaze–a city of fashion, of film,  of a murky underworld, and decaying slums.
The slums runs through this amazing city like a big snake, shinning black, slithering and swallowing whatever beautiful which comes its way. When you fly into the heart of city, the first thing you see is slums, eating away the hills, the greenery, and the beauty of the city. The roads in the city act as dividing mediums with big malls on one side shouting loudly the slogan–India Shining. On the other side, silently, lie slums that people in Mumbai have trained themselves to ignore, thinking that if they close their eyes to the problem long enough it will somehow go away.
Most people, who live in the slums, left their huge homes in villages that provided clean water, clean air, and land that is pure and fertile. Ironically, Mumbai provides polluted air and long queues where people must stand in line for water to drink and oil for cooking. Then they carry these basic necessities to their shanties of less than 100 square feet that provides shelter for families as large as six or more members. They struggle every day to try to realize their dreams to “make it big,” like the few hundred before them who have miraculously managed to achieve the fantasy.
Is this why they could not accept this movie? Is it because it shows the reality instead showing some beautiful location in Switzerland with stars like Sharukh Khan dancing to senseless tunes? Is it because the movie shows how kids can lose fingers, hands, even eyesight, for the “crime” of begging in the streets? Is it because it shows how kids are taught to kill for money to become the next don?
People don’t like the title of the movie because they see “Slumdog” as a putdown for those who live in the slums, as though they are no better than dogs.  If words are supposed to insult what about the word “Millionaire” that is right next to it? People say they didn’t like the movie because it doesn’t show the "India Shinning" image. Instead the director chose a very dirty place, Slums of Mumbai, which according to them doesn’t exist. I see this divergence from fact as comparable to when a leader of a country like Iran says that he doesn’t believe the holocaust happened. Though I agree that this is not the only part of India yet the story was not about India it was about love in the streets of slums. How else can you show that without bringing in the slums?
The big actors in Bollywood don’t agree with this movie probably because they didn’t get a role in it. Some say the movie won only because a foreigner directed it. Maybe they have forgotten that the only other movie about India that managed to win international awards was Gandhi. Gandhi is shown religiously in India on every TV channel on Independence Day, Republic Day, and on the anniversary of his death. No one complains for this masterpiece though this movie is also directed by another foreigner - Richard Attenborough, an Englishman, and the role of Gandhi played by Ben Kingsley, an American.
Yet when the same movie managed to win the first ever Oscar for an Indian musician - A R Rahman, India is celebrating. Kids who acted in the movie were wholeheartedly welcomed back into the slums upon their return from the Oscar presentations. They are treated as famous actors and everyone is happy for them. The use of “dog” in the title of the movie is no longer an issue.  Every news channel and every internet site in India is talking about how great the movie is.
Frida Pinto has all of a sudden become a big celebrity. Before this movie no one even knew she existed. She is being talked in every gossip column. No seems to mind a barely covered Frida Pinto on the front page of Maxim and Vogue. She has even managed to get a role in Woody Allen’s new movie, a feat that the famous star, Ashwariya Rai, was unable to do till now.
My husband and I, like many people of our generation and background, love this movie for the hard and dirty truth it displays. We are probably few of those Indians who don’t cringe with the word “dog” in it, because we know that this city has always opened its arms for its citizens giving equal opportunities. This city has always cheered for its citizens whether they live in more affluent parts of the city or in the open-sewer slums.  
We rejoice when a movie about India gets an international platform because it breaks the mold that India has endured for ages. It dares to tell that there are no elephants roaming around in every city, there are no snake charmers walking on the roads and people don’t live in palaces and forts.
Someday, after all the current sensationalism about “Slumdog Millionaire” is over, somewhere in the narrow streets of the slums, an old man may be sitting under the only surviving tree visible for miles. He will tell awestruck kids about “Slumdog Millionaire” and how it managed to take a few children, just like them, across the seven oceans into a big city of dreams. He will not talk about how the movie showed only the slums and not the India of the Shining Image. He will tell about Frida Pinto who came from nowhere to become the most talked-about actress from India, and about A.R. Rahman, who became the first musician from India to win an Oscar. The movie and the people involved in it will be the shining images left for India to remember and commend forever.

11 comments:

ritika joshi said...

i think so u should give this article to newspaper..its really nice...i am proud of u didi...

Devoir Technologies said...

A perfect description, its so true we always crib for everything may be its a most appropiate saying for this which is "Angoor Khate hain"

Anonymous said...

The world of film is full of amazement. It isn't about calling evil good. It's about dreaming. ANd anyone who know that they want in film knows that they should do it training under film professionals at http://www.filmconnection.com

Savy said...

People have come out strongly about this movie as not very often... What I find strange is that the feelings always dont seem theirs...I'd say, just be honest in your feelings... If you love it or hate it, say so. But not just because that's whats other say about it...
I loved the movie for what it was... Not a perfect movie, but a great movie nonetheless... Did it deserve all the awards, I think so, but I wasnt in the jury (I saw this movie before it won all accolades)... But even without all those awards, it would have been what it is... a great piece of art...
It did not show the poor India, it showed the real life (these slums could have been anyplace in the world)... It showed the aspirations, hope and the spirit...

Nice article here...
-=Savy=-

Unknown said...

very nicely written n truely written ...these are the views of many people who think like u....

Anonymous said...

great read. i stumbled onto this blog on the web and it definitely seems like you've got a flair for writing.

Unknown said...

Hi dear. I have told you a million times that u r one g8 writer.

Make it your full time career. What say?

Unknown said...

very well written kitten... i so totally agree with you on this... and for the so called 'desi bollywood critics', they should go n watch Delhi6... i think the Indian director portrayed India in a much more negative n unrealistic way... but then 'the leading Bollywood star has his close one acting in it, so why would he see that !!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I do not agree with you. He used the indian slums for commercial gains. This guy is not going to stay here & improve things. Did you see the the scen where the kid jumps into shit just for a autograph. I thot that was in bad taste. Just another commercial movie. And I am sure ARR has given better music. I am sure he deserves an OScar for them but surely not for this movie. Sorry but this blog for typical of people who live in the white man's world. You got to agree with them else u r not them. I liek your blogs but not this one. Sorry!!

Reena Limmala said...

I was just chking ur blog and I really like it!!

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