Slumdog India

Everybody is talking about Daniel Boyle's film "Slumdog Millionaire" nowadays, be it for good, bad or ugly. I was thinking to watch this movie for some time now and yesterday I could find some time so I vouched for it.

I must admit, it one of the finest film that I have ever seene. The direction and editing has been masterful, not giving u even a moment to think of something else. Adding to it was good performance by almost all the actors, and totally engrossing and supporting background score by Rahman. The movie makes u spell bound from the very begining and retains your full attention till the very end. For indian audiences it a short film of just 2 hrs. No doubt it has made so much noise world over.

Coming to the flip side(which are too many i guess), firstly the way slums have been shown-dirty & unhygenic- it is too much. I think most of the indians have been shocked to see it, leave alone the foriegners. Even most of Bombayites also must not be knowing that such things do exist in thier own city. I mean everybody knows there is Dharavi, but how many have actually gone and seen it? We all have seen reality of mumbai and its slums and trains in movies like Dayavaan, Satya, Metro, Salaam Bombay, Traffic Signal etc, but nowhere it has been projected in such bad taste.

Also, Anil kapoor's character as a negative host doesnt go down too well. He keeps making fun of him being a "chaiwala" and the public keeps laughing at it. Atleast we havent seen any such show be it Kaun banega crorepati" or "Dus ka Dum" or watever.

If we look from one point of view it has shown all the "Bad" things about india. Slums, crowded locals, riots, poor police stations, beggar gangs, flesh trade, cheating guides, irresponsible call centre employees and irresponsible show host. The problem gets examplified because it has been made by a britisher. Had it been made by Indian it would have been ok, but as a Britisher has made it, it looks like this is his take on India, tat he is making fun of India. Also, as it has been made by holloywood, it gets more exposure and recognition worldwide. The wold will have now this image of india. I was talking to few of my friends in US and they say they are fed of explaining thier collegues that India is much more than what has been shown in "SM". 

So is it just a artistic film or is the west(specially British) calling  India as "Slumdog" ? India off late has been growing as powerful economy and has been taking job of lots of westeners...!!! This is the bigger question which is surrounding this movie and lot of critics have criticised the movie on this grounds. I think it is difficult to ascertain the truth behind this, but yes I do think India cud have been projected in a better way without loosing the creative part of it.

Whatever u say, think or debate you must first go and watch it. Because it is not a movie u can afford to miss.