Five for Slumdog, not eight!
Slumdog Millionaire won awards for Best Director, Best Motion Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Song, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. It does not deserve the first three awards because it failed to show Real India.
WAS IT the Best motion picture? It was not. Watch The Reader for which Kate Winslet won the award for Best Actress, many may not agree with me. Slumdog Millionaire – the rag to riches story has numerous reasons as to why we should not start singing praises for it.
The Tourism Ministry of India might have started thinking to change its punch line from Incredible India to Horrible India after watching Slumdog Millionaire, a famous movie directed by Danny Boyle. The movie’s story is based on a boy from one of the slums of Mumbai, a Slumdog, who becomes a millionaire after winning a game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The idea of the story has been taken from the novel Q&A written by Vikas Swarup, an Indian diplomat from Allahabad. The story moves around a boy Jamaal who enters and luckily wins the game show so as to get his lover back.
Slumdog Millionaire, which has won four Golden Globe awards, swept the BAFTA awards and also won the Oscar in eight categories this year, is based on a story, which is a mockery on India for entertainment of the first world countries and their populace. India has been shown in a bad light in this film. The movie shows the abusive police, filthy conditions of Indian slums and sub-human conditions of Mumbai slum-dwellers, communal violence, beggary, exploiting orphan children by maiming them and forcing them into beggary, flesh market of minor girls, underworld, and the common man cheating tourists, very big-hearted white people and above all copying the concept of western TV shows. Declining moral values of Indians has also been shown in the movie when an elder brother rapes the lover of his younger brother in a movie scene.
I am not saying that Boyle has lied to the world. I am not saying that we can deny the infant-beggary, prostitution, stealing of concepts from the west and our filthy slums. Yes, I accept that these things exist and prevail in few parts of the country. Don’t you think Mr Boyle, the issues are exaggerated for your vested interests and for satisfying your ‘We are Superior’ attitude. You need not be as objective as a news producer is, while making news reports you could have selected few things which could show the real idea of India even in those conditions, which you selected to show in the movie. I have watched Kaun Banega Crorepati several times but not even on a single show I found that Amitabh or for that matter, Shahrukh Khan mock any of the contestants in their shows as Anil Kapoor did in the movie by making fun of Jamaal, a Call-center tea-seller in the game shown in the movie. India is not only what has been shown in your movie but far beyond that. We are the largest democracy, oldest civilization, homeland of most of the scientists, engineers and doctors, having rich cultural and moral values and one of the fastest growing economies of the world. India is the country which has the largest number of billionaires in the world, even more than America, according to a report published in Forbes magazine. But Mr Boyle, you did not bother about it. Boyle said in an interview that the movie was meant to capture the Mumbai zest. I think that he must carry out an extensive research to know more about Mumbai and of course, India.
Amitabh Bachchan, a famous Bollywood actor has written in his blog, “If Slumdog Millionaire projects India as a third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations.” Bachhan’s statements are absolutely right and raise the question as to why they (the western audience) don’t love to watch their existing murky underbelly. It is very nice to see porn movies of others but dirt start hitting the roof when you get to see some one you know. The Times rightly reported in one of the articles written by famous columnist Alice Milles, Slumdog Millionaire is poverty porn.
India has been the leader in making maximum number of movies annually, but its record in Oscar is disappointing. I don’t understand the reason why movie depicting our poverty and backwardness attract the attention of the International audience and award givers. This trend is not new. We have won nominations in academy awards for three films – Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan. All of these movies are based on our backwardness and our struggle with life. Only one Indian director, Satyajit Ray had been given the honorary Oscar award for lifetime achievement in 1991. Most of his films project poverty of India and its populace. Whatever, he was a brilliant filmmaker. If we look at these facts then it is very hard to believe any justification. It cannot be mere coincidence. It is because of a preconceived stereotype idea of the West about Indians.
We, Indians, may be happy about the movie for a few reasons because it is getting international recognition and awards. We may be happy because India is being discussed on such big platforms. But it is valueless for me when my country is being maligned and misrepresented with exaggerated facts. There is only one thing good for us to be happy about that some handful Indians including AR Rahman and Gulzar are winning international awards and recognition for their good work in the movie. But don’t forget, this is not a Bollywood film at all. It is a purely Hollywood movie and the story idea is based somewhere in Mumbai slums. I doubt that if the same movie would have been made by an Indian it could win such big international awards. Indians should not be demoralised from this but should wake up from the slums and let the world know that India does not live only in slums or that we aren’t becoming rich by chance. Let the world know that All ‘rags to-riches’ stories are not about winning the Kaun Banega Crorepati or any other show. We have the talent and the attitude to prove them wrong. Let’s do it.
Jai Ho for Real India, for AR Rahman and not for Slumdog Millionaire.
I am not saying that Boyle has lied to the world. I am not saying that we can deny the infant-beggary, prostitution, stealing of concepts from the west and our filthy slums. Yes, I accept that these things exist and prevail in few parts of the country. Don’t you think Mr Boyle, the issues are exaggerated for your vested interests and for satisfying your ‘We are Superior’ attitude. You need not be as objective as a news producer is, while making news reports you could have selected few things which could show the real idea of India even in those conditions, which you selected to show in the movie. I have watched Kaun Banega Crorepati several times but not even on a single show I found that Amitabh or for that matter, Shahrukh Khan mock any of the contestants in their shows as Anil Kapoor did in the movie by making fun of Jamaal, a Call-center tea-seller in the game shown in the movie. India is not only what has been shown in your movie but far beyond that. We are the largest democracy, oldest civilization, homeland of most of the scientists, engineers and doctors, having rich cultural and moral values and one of the fastest growing economies of the world. India is the country which has the largest number of billionaires in the world, even more than America, according to a report published in Forbes magazine. But Mr Boyle, you did not bother about it. Boyle said in an interview that the movie was meant to capture the Mumbai zest. I think that he must carry out an extensive research to know more about Mumbai and of course, India.
Amitabh Bachchan, a famous Bollywood actor has written in his blog, “If Slumdog Millionaire projects India as a third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations.” Bachhan’s statements are absolutely right and raise the question as to why they (the western audience) don’t love to watch their existing murky underbelly. It is very nice to see porn movies of others but dirt start hitting the roof when you get to see some one you know. The Times rightly reported in one of the articles written by famous columnist Alice Milles, Slumdog Millionaire is poverty porn.
India has been the leader in making maximum number of movies annually, but its record in Oscar is disappointing. I don’t understand the reason why movie depicting our poverty and backwardness attract the attention of the International audience and award givers. This trend is not new. We have won nominations in academy awards for three films – Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan. All of these movies are based on our backwardness and our struggle with life. Only one Indian director, Satyajit Ray had been given the honorary Oscar award for lifetime achievement in 1991. Most of his films project poverty of India and its populace. Whatever, he was a brilliant filmmaker. If we look at these facts then it is very hard to believe any justification. It cannot be mere coincidence. It is because of a preconceived stereotype idea of the West about Indians.
We, Indians, may be happy about the movie for a few reasons because it is getting international recognition and awards. We may be happy because India is being discussed on such big platforms. But it is valueless for me when my country is being maligned and misrepresented with exaggerated facts. There is only one thing good for us to be happy about that some handful Indians including AR Rahman and Gulzar are winning international awards and recognition for their good work in the movie. But don’t forget, this is not a Bollywood film at all. It is a purely Hollywood movie and the story idea is based somewhere in Mumbai slums. I doubt that if the same movie would have been made by an Indian it could win such big international awards. Indians should not be demoralised from this but should wake up from the slums and let the world know that India does not live only in slums or that we aren’t becoming rich by chance. Let the world know that All ‘rags to-riches’ stories are not about winning the Kaun Banega Crorepati or any other show. We have the talent and the attitude to prove them wrong. Let’s do it.
Jai Ho for Real India, for AR Rahman and not for Slumdog Millionaire.
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.well done abhishek the article was really awesome
u are really a real hindustani...
.i soo agree.. i have also lambasted this film on my blog, as have many others.
My take is that these awards coincide with the entry of Hollywood studios into Indian filmmaking. Thats a neat economic coincidence, is it not?
.Wonderfully written post. I really agree with you Abhishek. We Indians really have tremendous amount of talent but I wonder why most of us run behind money and settling abroad! We should learn to stay in India and make it a better place to live in. We definitely have the power to do it. Your blog serves as a source of inspiration for me and millions of Indians like me. Bhaarat ki Jai Ho!
.Who said Boyles' movie failed to show real India? It vividly portrays Indians as what most of them are - morons. Indians are ever ready to fall at the feet of anyone who can bring a feel-good mood to them. Indian participation in Boyle's Oscar-winning movie, like in Attenborough's Gandhi earlier, was limited only to supplying the theme. It was a matter of prudent cost control to engage local labour wherever that did not hinder the project. Even the father of the lead 'Indian actor' in the movie was not an Indian! When he had to exit Britain's erstwhile East African colony, he preferred to settle in England and sent the son to London Theatre. He did not commit the blunder of going back to its erstwhile Asian colony, which his ancestral family had fled! The movie is a snapshot of the 'freedom' being enjoyed in its ghettos, particularly by Muslims, which Gandhi got them by driving away the British; they would otherwise have clung on to the ungovernable colony! The system of merciless exploitation by a large gang of "our own" masters will continue as long the typical Indian mindset remains moronic. And there could be another 'Indian achievement' in Oscars in 2030s!
.For one, Malle��s film threatened the middle classes, which Slumdog didn��t. He held India��s political class responsible, by suggestion, for the imminent harm the idyllic Toda community faced. Moreover, he shattered the illusion of Mrs Gandhi��s anti-poverty populism and questioned the axiom of the socialist, democratic republic of India. He turned the state virtually into a villain. Was he wrong? Well, today Indian newspapers are frequently replete with reports of how young tribal girls are being turned unwed mothers by the civilised half of India.
By contrast, there is no villain in Slumdog Millionaire. There are pimps and rogue policemen but no politically identifiable villain. This is a remarkable new trend in Indian movies, particularly those that create dreams popular among non-resident Indians.
These movies are mostly bereft of a political or a social context. There could be no better bargain for the ruling elite at home �� a treasure trove of coveted awards thanks to people living in dehumanised squalor with no aspersions cast or responsibility assigned for their hapless state. As a palliative, the film depicts the officially sanctioned collective dream to get rich quick, the only way, we are asked to believe, to survive in the mega superpower in the making.
To make a movie about those that do not have the means, other than a drug-like illusion offered by the film, to crawl out of their misery is to mock their poverty. The illusion was less insulting in the past. Mother India, for example, was the first Indian movie to be nominated for the Oscars but it missed the award by a whisker in the foreign films category. That was way back in 1958.
A box-office triumph at home, the film��s heroine bore a strong resemblance to Bertolt Brecht��s Mother Courage. It depicted the courageous saga of an Indian peasant woman who took on the wily village moneylender who was responsible for her many tragedies. In a manner of speaking the changing faces of the villains in Indian cinema have marked the evolution of the national polity.
It is not a flattering thought. The epidemic of suicides by indebted farmers across the country shows that the money-lending class is thriving though they may have moved out of the frame as the nation��s arch villain. Many of them have joined politics.
With time, new classes of villains came to the fore. Just until a few decades ago, a stockbroker, for example, whose antics keep today��s parliament glued to the Sensex, was denounced as an evil man. The Hindi word for the bourse, satta bazaar, conjured images of a criminal lot that lured gullible Indians to wrack and ruin. Today, a stockbroker is idolised as a guru of sorts.
Leading actors like Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar all took turns to depict heroes that fell for the trap of easy lucre. The capitalist too was what he is seen today even in the western hemisphere �� satanic. The priestly class was regarded with suspicion and contempt. Religious bigots were censured, for example in Dharamputra. In some movies, the partition of India was the villain, for instance in Garam Hawa and Chhaliya.
In the 1970s, the ubiquitous smuggler became a big-time villain. Today, he runs the country��s parallel economy. Among the many uses it lends itself to, parallel banking has become a lifeline for terrorists and leading filmmakers alike. It is a curious mix: the underworld that finances movies that paint the bomb-planting terrorist as the nation��s new villain, turns the financial wheels of terrorism itself, or so the story goes. But Slumdog cannot be accused of such small-time villainy. It has a far higher purpose, as the applause from India��s political class reveals.
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