My 2 pence worth on Slumdog Millionaire

I would seriously like to blog more often than I am right now. There's about 2-3 issues on my mind every week on which I would like to blog. But then obviously never end up doing it. Its quite strange that the very issue for which I started this blog i.e. caste reservations in Indian education, is the one I have never written about!! I wouldn't say I don't have the time, because that's just a lame excuse. So its ironic that I am finding time for a post just when I am in what is possibly the busiest part of the year for us, harvesting grapes for the 2009 vintage wines. More on that to follow.

Slumdog Millionaire is the flavour of the season especially after the 8 Oscars, preceded by numerous Golden Globes, BAFTA's, etc. I cant remember any other movie, Indian or foreign, that has so divided opinions & reactions in India during my time, which is not too long either. And its not just a mild disagreement we are seeing, its extreme views. Ranging being hailed a cinematic masterpiece & celebration of Mumbai to poverty pornography & twisted depiction of Mumbai to a Western audience for the sake of entertainment.

What did I think of Slumdog Millionaire? Well I thought it was a good movie but not a great movie. The story of the movie, the rags to riches tale with a love angle is something we have been seeing in Bollywood since a very very long time. The wronged protagonist, lost love, cliched plot twists, stereotyped characters, etc etc are regular fare we are treated to week in week out. And ofcourse the all encompassing happy ending.

But what separates it from the regular fare is the technical brilliance of the film. The depiction of Mumbai to start with. I cannot remember many movies which have captured it so brilliantly inspite of the filth of the slums. The movie is a visual treat and the sounds add to the experience. Has the perception of slums and poverty been shown in a deliberately perverted way to cater to the West? I don't think so. I've lived and seen in India long enough to gather that inspite of liberalization, modernization, 8% GDP growths, malls, BPO's etc etc that poverty and slums in big cities is a reality and something we have to face up to. The view while landing at Mumbai International Airport is a stark reminder. Even if we spend have the efforts that people have done in criticizing Slumdog for showing something that's real in a very authentic way, then we would go a long way to recognizing and eradicating the problem. Are we insecure about it because it has taken a foreigner to show us what slums actually looks and sounds like? Maybe. The acting was very average on the whole except for the child artistes and the music was just fantastic. And lets not get too gaga over the end dance sequence on Jai Ho, we have seen many more better ones in Bollywood.

Film making is an art. Art is never meant to be appreciated and liked by everyone. There will always be someone who will disagree. You either do or you don't like it. Not liking or enjoying Slumdog is ok. But going a step ahead and calling it a deliberate attempt to sabotage India's image and new found wealth is simply ridiculous. One movie cannot judge the image of an entire country or society.

What Slumdog Millionaire has managed to achieve is sell the Bollywood style of cliched storytelling along with the song & dance routines to a Western audience. Something as an industry we have struggled to do. I mean, Jai Ho, a song in Hindi wins an Oscar for Original Score when the rest of the world can barely understand or even pronounce the lyrics right! All said and done Slumdog Millionaire has more good points to celebrate than loopholes to ignore.

PS. Just seen in the news as I write this post, about Indian politicians and sections of media taking credit for Slumdog's success. Thats quite frankly ridiculous. Its an English film made by a British filmmaker and an American production house (Fox, I am pretty sure). Yes, we can celebrate the contributions of the various Indian artistes and technicians, but we don't deserve to take the credit for any of it.