The case of Slumdog Millionaire

There has been lot of attention devoted recently to the hit film, Slumdog Millionaire, by British director Danny Boyle. First, I'll admit I've yet to see the film myself since it has not been officially released here in Singapore yet. However, I have read Vikas Swarup's novel, Q & A, on which the film is based. So I think I can offer my views on the subject.

I've heard a number of Indians, including friends and family, moan to me about how the film depicts India as such an impoverished nation and that it is a horrible impression to give foreigners about our country and that such a pathetic picture could only be painted by a foreign director! Several pundits have also written that the film is not likely to do well in India itself because of the "negative" picture it paints of the country.

The story is about a slum-dweller achieving success on a popular gameshow and basically traverses the boy's tragic life story. Now, what do expect the filmmakers to show? A slum boy eating at five-star hotels and enjoying a luxurious life? C'mon! The filmmakers are merely doing justice to the storyline and attempting to give a realistic screenplay to Swarup's novel when they portray the slums of Dharavi in significantly gory detail. We, as Indians, cannot deny the fact that such pathetic conditions to indeed exist in reality in several parts of the country today. So, why is it so unacceptable for someone to portray them as they are on the screen? If we truly so concerned with conveying the "right" impression about India to foreigners, we ought to find ways to clean up this mess as best as we can! Not complain about others depicting our country in a poor light!

Every Indian is aware of the problems in the country. Some, I'm going out on a limb here to say the upper-middle classes whose lives are relatively unconcerned by fundamental problems of slums, are not ready to admit that these problems do indeed exist and come face-to-face with them. To be honest, I'm actually very intrigued by this mentality. This seems to be becoming a popular theme in contemporary Indian English literature but more about this in later posts. India is not all about the Taj, five-star hospitality, sumptuous feasts and elegant scenery, no matter how much we like to believe the travel brochures. Kindly accept the reality, and instead of moaning about negative publicity for our country, unite together to find ways to eradicate slums and poverty. Then, perhaps, there will not be a rationale to make a film such as Slumdog Millionaire.