Slum Dog Millionaire - One Thumb Down

Ended up seeing Slumdog Millionaire yesterday. Actually I would have seen it a long time ago before it became famous, at a Toronto Film Festival preview to which I had 2free tickets, had it not been for my wife who refused to see on film what we once saw in Bombay in actual life. Like women, she is mostly right.

Looking from the eyes of an ex-Bombaywalla, I was disappointed with the movie. Don't get me wrong, I wish it well and hope that in addition to all the awards it has already won, it wins at the Oscars too. Not only that, I wish that Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto get all the splendid spin-offs that result from a famous film. But the film itself was neither a tear-jerker, nor had a social message nor was just a feel good movie. It was a portrayal of reality in the Bombay slums or for that matter in the slums of any large Indian metropolis.

It was reality all right. The director dared to show:
Life in the slums
Filth in all its glory
Exploitation of children
Maiming little ones to put them out to beg
Third degree methods used routinely by Indian police

All, except an outrageously unreal theme right out of Bollywood. That a young boy wins a hefty monetary prize at a Bombay television game show based on giving answers that he actually experienced while growin up. It did have its undercurrent of love and hope - that of an enduring relationship of one five year old boy for another five
year old girl, though one had to stretch one's imagination for this.

I know why the film has won international acclaim. It shows the other side of India. One that has always existed, but to the Westerner, is especially relevant now that India has become an international player. This film would not have merited an 'also ran' ten years ago, although what is shown in it, has existed for more than the last fifty.

Something good may come of it, I hope. Perhaps some western countries may send their aid groups to Indian slums to mitigate the extreme poverty that is a fact of life there. Danny Boyle the director has certainly not made any plans for this. If not for the adults, then for the children, so that they might at least have hope. I doubt it will happen. The Indian govt is too proud to let it. After all one cannot have nuclear weapons and then need some 'goras' to look after your weakest links.

I have seen better Indian-English movies directed by Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair and before that by James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. I have heard better musical scores in those films than those of Abdul Rehman in this. Better stories, better direction, better themes. But that is only because I am an ex-Bombaywalla and know a good English film about anything Indian than most westerners do.

But inspite of all that, to those who have not seen Slumdog Millionaire, I sincerely say "dont miss it".