"Slumdog Millionaire" is not the first movie on an Indian theme that has been acclaimed the world over, nor will A.R. Rehman become the first Indian to win an individual Oscar. "Gandhi" had received more accolades and awards, including Oscars, and Bhanu Athalya was the first Indian who got an individual Oscar for dress designs in that movie.
But Indian acclaim internationally is more than 60 years old. Pather Panchali got more acclaim, though no Oscar. A miss that was partially made good with a Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously to Satyajit Ray. The popularity of Raj Kapoor and Nargis in Russia and China continues to surprise one even today. Go to any part of Asia or Africa and one is amazed by the popularity and respect for Indian movies and stars. And this is not restricted to Bollywood alone; Rajnikant and 'Muthu' are household names in Japan, where the movie completed a Golden Jubilee without patronage from Indian expatriates. Nargis' performance in 'Pardesi' where she was cast opposite the star of USSR, Oleg as the Russian traveler Afnasi Nikitin is still remembered for her brilliance. Smita Patel had a revue in France, and was acclaimed as a great and sensitive artist.
'Slumdog' was anticipated with the clichéd prototypes of portraying Indian poverty. The charge was slowly sinking in with the initial scenes when the child Jamal jumps into the cesspool to escape from a locked toilet, and when the gang is shown maiming and blinding the children in order to push them into beggary, and in case of the female child into prostitution. But from here the film breaks into a story of hope, love and achievement. All the childhood experiences of Jamal find him reaching to the right answers in KBC. He goes for KBC, and answers with a complete nonchalence about the result, he is too engrossed with his desire to reach his lost childhood love Latika, which alone is his pursuit , though he lands the coveted prize of two crore rupees. It is interesting how the format of the game show and police interrogation; sometimes third degree; has been used as flashbacks to the past, bringing out the story in a new and interesting way. It is this novelty, and the apt integration of music in practically every frame that have resulted in so much acclaim for the movie.
There are many who have criticized the movie for its title, 'slumdog' and the negative portrayal of India. That it is beautifully brought out in a scene where Jamal says they cannot be relegated to a life of dogs in the slums forever has been lost on many. We In India are quick to get stung by the portrayal of reality when poverty is shown. We perhaps have to get over this trait and accept it all with maturity. Only then will our defence of our country and its backwardness be taken seriously.
Saw the film . Very slickly formatted. Good acting. Not superb but certainly not crap as some would make it out to be. Of course our hypocricy would not want the picture of a kid raking through a garbage heap shown to us by a foreigner, even if that be one of the most commonest sights in our cities. The best part of the film was that in spite of the wretchedness of the lives of children living on the edges being uncompromisingly shown, the overbearing presence was not of pathos but of hope and grit and the determination to survive..very much as it is in real life, the few instances of exaggerations notwithstanding.
I appreciate and value the comments of PGR and Ravikumar. BTW, I have never said that this was a great movie, and i do tend to substantially agree with the view that it portrays poverty very negatively, but having said that, it does bring out some very unique handling and scripting.
10/10 to Ravikumar.
Hi AMit,Few comments on your article.Bhanu Athiya shared an Osacar for costume design for Gandhi with John Mello.
Satyajit Ray received lifetime achievement special Oscar when he was in hospital bed but not posthumously.
For those who are appreciating SM : Have they ignored the inconsistencies in the film just it got awards and nominations.
1.The sudden change of language to English (with accent) .Can it be explained.The Engilsh expression is also not Indian.
2.Since when we started counting in millions.It sounds ridiculous when Anil Kapoor says “10 million Rupees”.The director clearly targeted the awards and took care to appeal to the American audience.Probably he assumed that Indians can be taken for granted as long as some awards are there.
We proved him right by praising the movie and making him a hero.
3.The American couple being so generous is possible but the scene clearly exposes the director and his target audience.
Amit…i am just back home after watching the movie…I agree with what you wrote…
I have not seen the movie and hence I cannot comment on it…Even Ray was criticized by many folks here as a director who sold Indian poverty…yet those who have seen Pather Panchali (I have seen it at least 10 times )would vouch a hundred times that it is still the greatest Indian film ever produced…Many years back , I still remember it, there was a feature in ”New Week”. The great Photographer Henri Cartier Bresson was asked to name one great movie he saw that year..His answer was “Jalsaghar” (Music Room by Ray again)- ”a simple film but one that made an indelible impression on my mind ” was his remark… Great films are often great meditations on life (Example: Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman- a film I rank as the greatest film produced by mankind in any language in any part of the world..ha..ha..pardon my exaggeration)….PGR
Amit, I couldn”t have agreed with you more on this…actually I put up a short PS in one of my blogs about slumdog when I watched it a few backs here. I am in the process of writing about it, hopefully some time this weekend…if Danny Boyle portrayed a part of his story with slums in Mumbai, he did the same with the “dole” diggers in Britain in Trainspotting..I think it is people came out of thier shallowness and embraced matters of consequence rather than be caught in a whirlpool of minutia and cliche !! Moreover, the concept of the movie we must remember comes from a Indian novelist too..
I think it is a good movie not a great one. I dont think it shud-a been nominated to the Oscars.