a) The Best Movie Ever Made in India?
b) The Most Overrated Movie Made This Year?
c) A Misunderstood Movie Being Appreciated (& Criticized!) For All the Wrong Reasons?
d) All of the Above?
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ve probably been living under a rock this past month. Slumdog Millionaire has today, gained the proportions of a massive cultural phenomenon, not unlike some others we’ve been witness to over the course of 2008. A good case-in-point being the raucous extravaganza that was the IPL – unavoidable, despite your best attempts to look away. And after one Mr. Rahman’s win at the recently concluded Golden Globes, the buzz has intensified to a deafening level. Strange, when you acknowledge the fact that the movie, at its core, is still essentially a British production.
Which brings me to the first point – is Slumdog the best movie to ever have been made in India? Well, it’s pretty evident that it’s on its way to becoming one of the most widely acknowledged movies to have ever been made here. And it’s with good reason too! There aren’t many who would deny the fact that it is exceptional cinema. But ‘The Best Movie Ever’ is a term thrown around too easily by Indian audiences and media. Not that European and American cinemagoers haven’t been unanimous in their praise, but they’ve appreciated Slumdog for the movie that it is. Us Indians, however, have embraced the movie as our own and displayed an oddly misplaced sense of jingoism in rooting for it. The truth is, the story could have been based anywhere - Brazil, Nigeria, Whathaveyou. I mean, despite what we’d like to believe, Bombay city itself forms a very miniscule part of the message the makers were trying to put across. I shudder to imagine if this movie would have seen the light of day here had it been based anywhere else.
Having said that, is it being given more credit than it’s due? It’s again a ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ here. The movie deserves all the accolades that it has received. And more! But some of the superlatives floating around border on the ridiculous. I recently came across a friend’s status message on a popular social networking website urging “All Indians” to watch this movie. Yes. Every Indian should watch this movie. But because it’s brilliantly made, not because the characters happen to share the same race as us! In its least common denominator form, our reception is, really, a sad testament to the history of communal politics we come from. It’s really an inherent form of baggage we tote around, regardless of the issue we’re dealing with.
Favouring the movie for its desi setting is still half acceptable actually. What really reflects the mind-numbing hypocrisy plaguing us, however, is the other reaction. The one where the Slumdog is vilified for portraying India’s… well, slums. We are in such denial about our non-shining brethren that every time an outsider holds a mirror up against this very real part of our society, we go into the defensive. A defense that most taunting, yet overly jealous and possessive girlfriends would be proud of. How else would you explain it when a highly respected star of many a slum-gangster flick criticizes the movie for depicting the country’s seedy underbelly. Hardly anything Big in that Bee’s buzz there. We shouldn’t be ashamed and passive-aggressive about the fact that it took a foreigner to capture this part of India in all its grimy glory. We should laud Danny Boyle for pulling it off with the conviction he did.
The truth is, Slumdog Millionaire is a really, really good movie. It is a movie that, much like its lead character Jamal, makes us root for it despite some of its very obvious flaws. It is also a movie that has exposed the sad state of cinema and film distribution in India. At the time of writing, Slumdog Millionaire is still awaiting a theatrical release here. As are a lot of other “foreign” movies that in all probability will not be “coming to a cinema near you” any time soon. Not until after the Oscars anyway, when multiplexes will scurry around to cash in on the post-award season buzz. It’s a real shame too, because some of them are, in a lot of ways, far superior to this one movie that seems to have caught our audiences’ eye. But since the majority isn’t complaining, I guess the rest of us true movie buffs, the real slumdogs in this messed-up story, will have to make do with what we have; DVD-quality, but essentially illegal, internet downloads. Should we feel guilty, though? I’d like to think not. Like the movie says, “It is written”.
Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.
Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...
—About our writer:
Sahil writes for c hillibreeze.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:
Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include:
