After paeans and adulations from most Indians, ‘Slumdog millionaire’ seems to have stabbed the prestige of a few by its very etymology. It is beyond doubt that the movie had an incredible storyline and tantalizing music, it diverted Bollywood from its regular and monotonous path of romance,but inspite of its two Golden Globes(for its music and direction) it seems to have left India groveling low in the eyes of the world. Moreover, some feel that by applauding such a movie, we our throwing down our own self respect.
Arindham Chowdry, the founder of the b-school,IIPM, says,” five minutes into this celebrated patchwork of illogical clichés and you are struck by jarring dialogues.” He condemns Indians rejoicing over the Golden Globe awards for a movie that mocked at themselves. Furthermore, Mumbai is depicted as a place of trafficking, cheating, communal riots and meaningless life. The movie is being watched worldwide and Mumbai, our trade capital, seems to be under the façade of development and hollow within.
Mr Chowdry adds that had the movie been directed by an Indian, it would have been “trashed like an old hat”.
The coining of the word ‘slumdog’, was bound to raise the people’s brows. Infact, the poverty laden strata felt that the country was cheering for a film that put them and dogs on par with each other. Initially there was not much murmur, but as Indians were rejoicing on the worldwide victory of the movie, these issues cumulatively came up.
It is still a question mark whether we should be happy about the movie’s Oscar nominations or not, because it would seem that we are mocking at our own downfall. However, this controversy has a positive side as well- we, the youth look up and respect our nation, not even an A graded movie amplifying our loopholes is stood by us. Much on the contrary, apprehending such uproars( that happened for Arvind Adiga’s ‘ White tiger’ as well) , writers would never nod to making a script that is based on bitter reality.
With exceptional work from its crew, Slumdog was initially welcomed, but these controversies and debates make us take a scrupulous look at the film and look at it from a different angle- the reputation of our country. Things have changed overnight. Till yesterday we looked at the word ‘millionaire’, but today we have begun to stare at ‘ slumdog’.