Yesterday I watched the movie "Slumdog millionaire". For me it's a nice movie to watch. There were obvious reasons to watch
this movie.
The movie's best characters were the child artists. The role played in parts by Ayush Khedekar, Tanay Chedda and Dev Patel as Jamal’s journey were really commendable. Similarly Latika, (played in part by Rubina Ali, Tanvi Lonkar and Frieda Pinto) were outstanding. If (or If not) this movie wins any OSCAR, then the contribution of these kids who acted so nicely in the movie cannot be ignored.
I have not read Amitabh Bachhan's blog exactly, but what I heared through media is he said that the movie depicted the wrong image of Mumbai(India),
globally. May be he said correctly that the movie depicts only the portrayal of the India’s dirty underbelly. But you can't ignore the fact that "Yes, there are
regions in Mumbai & other metros of India where you can find such incidents". Showing Only Good part of the society can never serve any good cause to the nation if in reallity it owns such SLUM Areas in it's lap. I do agree that there are fictious incidents & only a little reality in the movie but that happens when a director wants a complete package for it's viewers.
As an Indian, i too was unhappy with the way India has been portrayed in the movie, globally. But I do understand & cannot deny the fact that these type of SLUM regions, begging practices, prostitution etc. are still prevailing even after 61years of India's independence in our society. I was surprised to see, the way Director Danny Boyle has directed the movie. I had heard about SLUMS in Mumbai earlier but had never seen them so closely.
I was surprised how could a foreigner portray India's weaker sections so nicely & why such a movie was not made by Indian directors. I don't have any doubt on the capabilities of directors of Indian Film Industry, but may be they fear to take such sensitive issues. Also remember, such a portrayal of Mumbai can never degrade the image of India globally. Every developing/ developed society has such weaker sactions. I still remember a sequence of American movie “Pursuit of Happyness” in which Will Smith is shown sleeping in public bathrooms and eating at homeless kitchens for survival and ultimately becoming a rich man. But this doesn't depict the image of complete America. This is just a combination of "little bit reality" & "lot of imagination". We should enjoy the creativity of film-maker. A movie on "gangster" or "prostituion" or "gay-relationship" or "Older-age person falling in love with much younger age girl" etc. topics doesn't say that these are the practices that has made the foundation of a great nation.
At the end, I would just say, don't relate 'each & every character' & 'each & every sequence' of the movie to REALITY. It has a lot of imagination based sequences which can be digested for the sake of entertainment. The music by Rahman is undoubtedly very nice.