Why is it that the Brits are always at our throats, slitting it every time they feel like it? 300 years of ruling over us didn't quench their thirst, I reckon. Or so it seems by the reception, critical as well as otherwise of the recent Slumdog Millionaire. The movie is portrayed on Jamal Khan from the Dharavi slums in Mumbai (largest slum in Asia) and how the experiences of his mishap ridden and hectic life ultimately help him in winning the most coveted Game Show of the season, acquiring a celebrity status and a whooping sum of Rs. 2 Cr. to boot. The movie is an emotional and utterly brutal portrayal of the everyday trials and tribulations that a poverty ridden individual (man, woman, child) in India has to undergo just to earn a square meal and a square meter of cloth. Based on the novel 'Q and A' by Vikas Swarup, the movie has already won 4 Golden Globe awards.
The movie was publicly denounced by Big B; he argued that the India portrayed in the movie was not the current situation of this great sub-continent and the drastic effect rendered on the minds of the foreign viewers will be devastating to the already precarious image of this Third-World nation (ironically, a phrase invented by Britain just before partition).
The critics have not been generous although in retrospect, they are merely trying to promote the movie in the foreign film industry. One of them calls the film "a modern fairy tale," a "sensory blowout," and "one of the most upbeat stories about living in hell imaginable." The economic conditions in India are not like Kenya or other third-world countries, where everyone is poor. We have middle class people, working hard to earn their bread and that is what makes us different. But it is always the 'poor' India that is shoved under the spotlight.
For Radhakrishnan, "the most glaring was the language. Despite the plausible explanation that Jamal and Salim picked up English, posing as tour guides at the Taj Mahal, it is highly implausible that they would come out of that experience speaking perfect British English, but somehow, in the context of the movie, we buy it. Thing is that if he really was as smart and articulate as Jamal was in the film, he definitely would have been making calls at the call center, not just serving chai." Will someone please go and put up some sense in that guy; you need a minimum qualification of Intermediate to work in a call centre, or is he so biased against this industry taking it's firm roots in India that he doesn't even think before uttering such nonsensical babble.
All in all, even though this movie does not do justice to the other side of the coin, it still is a glaring reminder of the facets of our country totally ignored and taken for granted. Things like poverty, population, corruption are so commonplace that the 'well-to-do' don't spare a second glance towards it. The ideals for which The Mahatma stood have truly fallen away, it's place taken by the RatRace of the Globe.
7 comments:
Against Piracy- Do not watch a movie until it is released in theaters.
Rightly said, my dear friend. I agree with you on the point that this image of "POOR INDIA" as portrayed in the movie, has indeed tarnished the image of India, which is no more a poor nation, but a country which houses some of the world's biggest companies, the world's richest man (sometime back) being an Indian. The Director of Slumdog should have updated his knowledge before showing India to the world.
The powerhouse of the IT industry of the world stands tall in India. With the success of Chandrayaan, India has joined the league and proved that it's time to change the perception. Some of the world's biggest acquisitions have been done by the Indian biggies like TATA and BIRLA.
It is a sad moment that even after having changed drastically from a financially crippled nation rendered by the Brits just 60 years ago, to a country which has faced the difficulties with courage and has been able to maintain a GDP growth rate of 7.6% in 2008 (even when the world is in the grip of 'recession'), India is still called a "third world nation".
The world having been pushed to the limits, continuous tries by the Terrorist groups to curb the growth of India has not even been able to stop the life in Mumbai (the most targeted city of India). Instead, the days after the attacks in Mumbai saw rise in the FIIs investments in India.
I can see the India (formerly called the "The Golden Bird") open her wings and soar high in the sky and surprise the whole world with her strength and regain the name which describes the richness in every form: THE GOLDEN BIRD. Rich culture, Strong agricultural background, Ability to manage a populaion of over 1 billion with people practicing different religions, 33 different languages and over 2000 dialects ..... and so on, is what best describes India.
Let me see if I got this right, you're berating the British for colonializing a country some 300 years past and then blaming one innocent Brit. for portraying a very real image of Indian poverty? Here's a suggestion, swallow that ever pervasive national pride. Nothing in the movie (as far poverty is concerned) was far fetched. Feeling bad about the fact that the rest of the world now sees just another faction of India is not a bad thing. I'm sure you're aware of all the troubles that plague the US and other such countries.. so what are you cribbing about?
I do not sir what nationality you belong to, but if you are an Indian, then I feel nothing but great humiliation. Also, this faction of India is exactly what the Western world has in it's mind, by reinforcing it in these times only re-iterates my opinion.
You really need to be an Indian at heart to see my point of view.
Cheers
Yes, yes.. I agree that the movie only indulges in a western stereotype but you're just overreacting.
like I said before; " You will also overreact if it was your country..."
It is my country. Now please don't go onto say I'm not a proud Indian and all the rest of the nonsensical babble. I love my country but fretting over something this trivial is simply a waste of time. I'm gonna go read about the continuum hypothesis instead.
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