Well, you know ART has to be liberated and that’s what is the film makers prerogative to show as what he wants and its our prerogative to watch or not to watch/ appreciate what we want to see. I completely agree slumdog has shown India on poor light wherein every nation has the dark under the light but again, slum dog is not unreal too. These thing existed and we wanted to NOT to show it or to sweep it under the carpet through our bollywood cinema . Bollywood cinema is now about Indians who stay in new York and share an apartment with girls or may be Indian couple staying in LA and having extra marital affair and we think inwardly “ what great culture” we are portraying. Why people don’t object to cinema like dostana or kabhi khushi etc?
The point is , I am also having the pinch in my heart for showing the gross side of slums in India , but , I am sure the world knows much more about India then we think they know. The world knows about Lakshmi Mittal , Ambanis , our growing economic power, n-deal , our millions on Software Engineers across world and Taj Mahal ?
So, whats the big deal if Danny Boyle wanted to show the poorer side of India? Let the artist have his freedom , I would say. Or may be we would not have commented if Karan Johar or Shyam Benegal had won the same awards for the same movie. Are we not getting little bitter because a foreign film maker made it and not an Indian?
Why don’t you protest when Adiga won Booker award ? The white tiger equally talks about slums and poverty of India. No but we appreciate it as pure form of good literature. The same way, we can appreciate this movie too !
Then, we should not forget VS Naipol, Arundhati Roy and Jhumpa Lahiri who showed the bright side of our country and won booker award.
Basically , the audience are the same. They are intelligent. So lets not be insecure that someone is going to think of us as slums. Anyone and everyone knows the grandeur of India a lot to isolate our country as a dark country full of slums.
I have faith in the audience. Are you thoughts with me?
Great Point, I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteGood or bad, appreciate the effort.
Good or bad, accept the reality.
Thanks. I am so glad we think the same way!
ReplyDeleteHi Moonmoon,
ReplyDeleteHappened to land onto your blog ...thoughts well written I must say!
I happened to be chatting with a colleague( whose husband happens to be from India) and what she said struck me. She commented- "Slumdog Millionaire really portrays a true picture. Whatever they have shown in the movie is so true!" This colleague of mine visits India often and has seen most of the places in India- from Rajasthan in the north to Kerala in the south. When she initially commented , I felt the "pinch" but then I thought- yes that's the truth- India has lot of slums but India is a land of grandeur too and culture and of intelligent people! So why get beleaguered by trivial comments ! I am completely with you on your thoughts!
Hi Moonmoon,
ReplyDeleteYou know you are so right about the film showing things which are as much a reality of contemporary India as The Software Engineers, Ambanis and Tatas are. I dont have a problem with the content of the film, but I dont understand the hoopla around the film, especially in India. There have been a lot of films that are far better than this one, and handling similar topics. I can undrstand the reactions of Non-Indians, who might not have had a chance to see these films, but we have seen films that have handled the subject much better. So, I agree with you that protests on the films contents are stupid to say the least, but the film as a whole didnt really leave me impressed.
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ReplyDeleteI think that the film essentially followed the Bollywood format but was rendered to be more palatable to Western audiences, who may not flocked to see your typical 3 hours+ length film with several dance sequences, so in that sense, I feel like the movie did our pop culture a service giving it wider exposure. As far as accurately representing India's zeitgeist, I agree with Nexus & Moonmoon in that the film did a good job of touching upon the dichotomies (fancy high rises alongside slums) and multifaceted social fabric (from call center operators, to slum dwellers, to gangsters, etc.) that the nation harbors.
ReplyDeleteinteresting thoughts from an intresting person. i agree..
ReplyDelete