Enough and more than enough has been said about slumdog millionaire on TV, print and blogosphere….my final two pennies…while I see two clear camps of oh-so grt-why-be ashamed-of-our-reality(slums) and why-did-they-show-india-this-way-movie-is-overrated, but I don’t see myself fit into either camps.
I like the movie, and found it awesome (as my previous post says) but only for the brilliance of the director’s way of story telling. I cringed at the slum parts and wondered if this detail was necessary, but somehow that didn’t stop me from appreciating the central plot of Jamal knowing every answer linked to some tragedy in his life and the way it unfolded in the movie.
(And also maybe because I am a big time sucker for anything where love triumphs over everything 🙂 )
I wish more movie-goers would purely enjoy the cinematic experience of that movie, but I guess its difficult to detach given our inherent passionate nature and the need to see things(including movies) in black and white.
A friend came back this week from the States and he reported several Americans thinking of India dirt-poor because of the movie, which is so just one side of the coin, I am sure a grittier movie can be made in not-so-well-off sections of the US which makes me agree with another comment on blogosphere..Oscars are given to what appeals to the sensibilities of the Academy and Hollywood has always loved to typecast all nations , not always in a nice light, we with our slums fight nicely into the mould.
Though , I seriously wish Rehman wins his Oscar because he deserves one , not for this movie but his other work, other wins wont be Indian wins but people will celebrate anyhow. We are known to celebrate “Mera Bharat Mahaan” when a third-generation Indian-American does something great in America. 😛
All said and done, I am glad the movie was made, because the kid who actually played and stays in slums( his mother complains that people have a found a new way to tag them as “slumdog” and I’m sorry for that), has been enrolled in school , his ailing dad is getting medical attention and he will get a neat sum of some lakhs when he turns 21, all thanks to the film crew.
If this film has changed the life of one underprivileged kid who didn’t have a shot, the movie is worth it, whether it sucks or is a masterpiece.
Charuta Pens 