Slumdog Millionaire
I was coming back from a meeting. I was standing in the bus stop chilling, waiting for the bus which was late. Then came this girl and a guy. I hardly noticed them. They stood in front of me. Girl was talking on phone. When she finished on phone she asked the guy what he did on weekend. The guy said “Nothing on Saturday. On Sunday I watched Slumdog Millionaire.” <pause> “Its a good movie”. The girl replied, “yeah its a good movie. The part which I was atleast was, was SO India.” <”So” with a stress>. I was standing there, I heard it. My next inpulse asked me to ask her what she knows about India. And those who know me, know that its natural for me. I would fight with this person. But to your surprise, and mine too, I didn’t say anything. I smiled. No, I laughed.
I laughed because some people still think that India is a land of snake. It is full of poverty and thats all it has. I laughed at the ignorance and unintellect of that person. This is specially significant here. Here as in America. Because America has lot of Indians. (I never noticed that untill I started looking at different research groups in academia and industry in general). And after this, if this person could still think that way, I am sorry for her. Now, I am not saying that the life shown in that movie is untrue. With good approximation I can say the story is true (not the millionaire part, but the slum life). But is this India? Oh, not just India, she said “*so India*”.
When I read this post, I thought its just exaggeration, but guess what? I was wrong.
Talk about Cannibal Holocaust in front of them whenever they discuss Slumdog in front of you
lolz
A bit off topic, but I think one movie that did this really well was Goodbye Lenin. It presented East Germany not as some sort of evil communist nation but as a flawed country. Yeah, there were a lot of bad things about it but the country wasn’t represented as pure evil. It showed the pride in their space program, the scouts, etc. And maybe that’s what this movie should have done.
I haven’t watched Slumdog yet, but when I do, I’ll remind myself that it is not an accurate depiction of India.
I haven’t watched Goodbye Lenin yet.
What ticks me off is that “Slumdog Millionaire” got so much publicity because it showed the sad part of India. AR Rehman got best music award for this movie. Ask anyone who has listened to AR Rehman, they will say that his performance in that movie was average. He has done 100 times better jobs in lot other songs. “Lagaan” the other movie which was nominated for Oscar some years back got nothing. Lagaan was a hit in India. It showed rural part of India, and showed how Britishers tortured them, and how they stood against British rule. It had better music numbers, and better acting. It didn’t get anything because that was not the sad part of India. I think Slumdog got good publicity because people thought it is India, and they had petty for it.
Rohit, I think we’re missing something rather important here. Your case regarding Lagaan is a typical example of how the right-wing fundamentalists of India use it as a case to dismiss International views. How? Lagaan is the past. Slumdog is the present. Lingering on past wrong-doings that have been done committed against us has little relevance today (think about it, are the British who mistreated us in the past still do the same to us today? No. Mistakes were made, lessons were learnt.) Of course, Rahman getting a best music award for this movie is a little questionable. I honestly believe Slumdog got all the attention for its somewhat courageous display of certain sides (totally unrare!) of the country which have largely been ignored in Indian popular media in the past few years – ever since the “India Shining” campaign days maybe?
Lagaan is not past my friend. You do not forget things in 10 years. And you do not forget that Britishers ruled us and tortured us 50 years back. See, these things show the nature of the society. (And for that matter, the whole Britain should be blamed for this, because if your government does something wrong, and you do not say anything against it, you are wrong as well). And the nature of the _society_ doesn’t change within few years unless there was some revolution. This is probably the reason why you are not allowed to be in government if you were sentenced for a crime.
I do not remember of any movie which showed the troubles we faced during British rule. And I do not remember any movie which showed how a normal man of society fought against that. Then wasn’t Lagaan a rare side as well? I have never denied that Slumdog showed a false story. The question is, did the movie got so much publicity for showing a rather rare side of India, or for satisfying the West’s view that this side is actually India. 8 awards in Oscar. Best movie award, are you kidding me. This guy from Slum will get to that big show? Could you have answered those questions? Its a movie, I know. Things will be exaggerated, I know. But is this a story? The slum life was showed awesomely, but rest? The show, the questions he answered? How can it get the best picture award, god knows.