DESI MAAL-VIDESHI PACKING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally saw SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and really liked the movie!
There has been much talk about the movie,but in spite of (or rather because of) all the controversies,the movie got an unimaginably welcome international recognition,including eight Oscars,as no movie ,from Hollywood or Bollywood has ever got before!
Adapted from the novel.Q&A,the movie primarily focuses round the slums and poverty of India,twined beautifully around a love story,and how the young hero,a slum dweller,working as a tea-delivery-boy at a call centre,wins twenty million rupees at a TV show,representing the popular Kaun Banega Crorepati,without any formal education or training,and the key to his success being his experiences in life,staying in the slum and working at the call centre.Intermingled in the story,as an inseparable part,is the portrayal of the evils of slums and the underworld,and the miserable exploitation of the underprivileged.
The story is realistic,screenplay authentic and touchy and the pace intriguing! The movie keeps one gripped in its mood,and waiting for the next step.Background score is awesome,cinematography superb and editing par excellence.What stands out most,is the superb direction and the immense effort in maintaining realism and simplicity.A R Rehman's music is mind blowing,melodious and enchanting!!!!!Acting of the slum kids and the young stars is fantastic,but Anil Kapoor and Irfaan were surprisingly ,not up to the mark.
All the noise about the portrayal of the negative side of India is baseless and unwarranted.Poverty of India is an integral part of the country,and if we are keen on our success story to be taken all over the world,we cannot stop the dark side of our existence from being projected too.If the government and those who are objecting to this,really mean concern,then they should have or at least should now take appropriate steps to decrease poverty and eliminate the evils related to it,and the exploitation and the miseries of the poor and the slumdwellers.Danny Bowle deserves a bigger award,for being a social activist by bringing the anguish of these underprivileged,children of the lesser God,to focus.The only objectionable part,which i felt hurt about,was,when the cops bash up the child hero,working as a guide to foriegners and he says,you wanted to see real India,This is real iNDIA! On this the english tourist dools out dollars and tells him,dont worry my child,I will show you,what real America is!This was unwanted and outright racist!
The representation of Indian poverty has been done most realistically,without any exaggeration,and in no derogatory manner,rather in a more acceptable matter of fact fashion,and it is definitely not the first time that it has been done.Traffic Signal,recently portrayed all this and even more! Slums of Mumbai,poverty,exploitation of poor,underworld,organized begging gangs,child labour,child abuse,flesh trade,all were very nicely portrayed in Traffic Signal,but went unnoticed without any reaction,since it lacked,big stars ,big banner and a Hollywood director to break our slumber !One cannot stop feeling happy and proud for A R Rehman and Gulzar for bringing home the much coveted Oscars,but its definitely not for their best.Even Rehman has given innumerable memorable music before,specially in Bombay,Roza,Lagaan,Taal,Rangeela and many more,which were as good as this,if not more.Without undermining the success of SDM,I cannot resist but say,that it required am imported packing for the story of slumdwellers of India and A R Rehmans music,to be catapulted to international fame.
My heartiest congratulations to the complete team of SDM,for their grand success,but the real success will actually come,when this movie shakes the powers to be,and the chants of Jai ho shatter their deafness to the cries of underprivileged and something concrete is done to decrease and end the miseries of these poor people,rather just create a ho-hulla,on a movie based on them.
Sanjay,Delhi
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