Skyward Fire

It was earlier this year when I had the opportunity to watch Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, and it impressed me to the core. This has got to be one of the best films I’ve seen in the last couple of years or so. The movie is about a boy from a Mumbai slum who goes on and wins the game show ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, and in between, he unfurls the truth of his enigmatic journey from his boyhood to where he stands now. Everything about the movie is very touching, from the story, AR Rehman’s exemplary music, the wonderful acting by all the children and the actors, the cinematography, and the way the story is told. The movie has left a mark on everyone who has seen it. The movie eventually went on to be critically acclaimed by names like the LA Times, USA Today, New York Post and so on, and was loved all across the world, literally. Slumdog Millionaire went to win numerous awards, and currently stands with 4 Golden Globe victories, 11 BAFTA Awards nominations, and 10 Academy Awards (Oscars) nominations. The movie now stands at #34 on IMDb’s Top 250 list, and has been generating profits on the box office consistently.

Trailer of Slumdog Millionaire

In India, the movie was released in theatres on the 23rd of January 2009, and it brought along a whole lot of controversy, with statement popping up from even the Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. On his blog, Amitabh Bachchan went on to criticize Slumdog Millionaire saying it was wrong to depict and bank profits on the slums of Mumbai, the plight of the nation, poverty, and the slum dwellers. And he isn’t the only one. A whole lot of Indians who’ve seen this movie think it was very wrong of Danny Boyle and his crew to exploit what’s wrong with this nation. Danny Boyle has been headlined as someone with the stereotypical viewpoint of the West, adding the description of the fact that everyone in the Western world thinks India is a third world country with many poor people and the lifestyle that has been depicted in the movie very precisely. The so called ‘social workers’ and NGOs at many towns and cities have filed Public Interest Litigations (which, in India, are hardly ever in any interest of the public) in various courts citing various reasons why this movie offends them and the sentiments of many others.

What a steaming pile of bullshit?! Period. Truth is, reality happens to be a bitch, and if it bites, it hurts.

Of all, such narrow-mindedness was never expected out of someone of Amitabh Bachchan’s stature, who happens to have a global access to the rest of the world when it comes to promoting Indian cinema on a massive platform. And in a book release function at the Indian city of Jaipur, he went on to say that it wasn’t his statements where he criticized Slumdog Millionaire, but those of the people who blog for him. He also said that Indian Cinema isn’t needy of international recognition and can do without the Oscars. Any one in their right mind can point out the clear stink of jealousy in the tone of Amitabh Bachchan who hasn’t had a nomination in the Academy Awards yet. So, in spite of all the recognition and the respect this man has got from the International Cinema, he just disregarded the Oscars and said they were irrelevant. The point to note here is, this is the man who runs around Europe and Asia trying to promote Indian Cinema through IIFA Awards (which happens to be a mock of the Academy Awards themselves). How does he think that is possible if he is just going to shut out the Academy Awards, which happen to be the industry’s most prestigious recognition ever. In my opinion, it’s the old age taking toll on the man, and he obviously isn’t to blame for his degrading capacity to think, use his mind, and say stuff like that. I’m no fan of his, and I keep at bay from all the tasteless and unoriginal movies that Indian Cinema produces (obviously, there are rare exceptions) and has been producing for an awful long time now. But I had great respect for Amitabh Bachchan always, and now, it has just all fallen apart.

Meet the Children from Slumdog Millionaire

As for the rest of the countrymen who think Slumdog Millionaire is a mistake and the so called ‘wrongful depiction’ of India’s plight is hardly anything but exploitation, well, I cant really comment on the stubborn celebrity-kiss-ass attitude that exists here. The mob mentality is something you cannot argue against and reason out. The truth is, there’s a lot wrong with India, and the rest of the world, and there is just no reason to not publically shed light on it. As far as the slums in Mumbai are considered, all the political parties, whether the ruling ones, the opposition, or the neutral ones see the slums and the slum-dwellers, and even the rest of the financially unstable population as vote bank for elections, and they never do anything about it, and they never will. Majority of Indian cinema-going crowd is naive, and feeds on a whole lot of mindless unoriginal bullshit with a lot of senseless dancing around trees. And it’s not that hard to be completely ignorant when it’s about something serious.

So there you have it. It hasn’t even been 36 hours since Slumdog Millionaire was released in India, and a dozen controversies have been created out of lack of information, lack of presence of mind, jealousy and ego. And that’s just about it. Expecting people to change and think broadly here is not justified, since that isn’t going to happen any time soon. Bottom-line is, Slumdog Millionaire is a great movie, despite of all the negative stance that a few folks have taken up. If you haven’t seen it yet, you just have to check it out.