The Oscars will be announced tonight and Slumdog Millionaire seems to be the hot favorite of the critics. The movie is raking millions of dollars worldwide and is supposed to make Indians proud having got so many awards.
What is shocking is that this movie is in the top 34 movies of all time in IMDB! This is definitely one of the most inconsistent movies that I have ever seen.
The only reason why this movie is a hit is because it exaggerates incredible things. This is definitely a very unrealistic movie. The thing with Americans is that, like all out going individuals, they too want to see and experience exotic and new events in their life. Now, the India that is depicted in the movie is totally not true and yet it is easy for foreigners to believe that this how India is at this moment. This misrepresentation of reality so endeared the movie to the Americans that they went blind to the faults glaring out from the movie.
Inspite of all the glaring holes in the weak script, just because it is getting the lime light in the US many Indians continue to chant that this is as an excellent movie. No wonder then, when the famous Swami Vivekananda was questioned why he went to the US to preach Hinduism when he could have done so in India itself, he replied that it would create a reaction back at home. No wonder then that when his greatness was acknowledged in the Parliament of Religions, immediately he was hailed as a Supreme teacher back in India.
Similarly, when Rabindranath Tagore composed Gitanjali, he was not appreciated by fellow Indians and yet when he won the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature immediately guests started pouring in saying that his poetry was beautiful. Rabindranath Tagore gave them a piece of his mind to them at that time!
We are exactly like Jamal and his cohorts in the movie who become very happy when they are treated with lots of food and fun by the beggar mafia don. Jamal says, “He must be a saint!”. In the same way Danny Boyle and his mates are treating India to the BAFTA awards or so on and we are becoming happy not understanding that all that is really happening is that shit load of money is being made by them for depicting India’s poverty in an unrealistic way.
Americans are shown as being nice who even give away 100$ after getting their car stolen. This is narcissism at its best.
Is there any Indian who thinks that this movie has not shown India in a poor light?
After watching this does anybody want to go to india? Not even for a visit. People call it a “poverty tour.” Although it does highlight the “new India,” it does largely depict India as a terrible place to live–with corrupt cops, and criminals that blind children for profit. The matter is nobody in their right mind would want to go to India after how it is shown in Slumdog Millionaire.
Indians are trying to have their cake and eat it at the same time. They are saying to us that this film is just a fiction and thus its OK to set it in slums etc and misrepresent here and there. We are saying that this IS going to create a bad image of India. Just like Temple of Doom did.
They just don’t know how media works. It doesn’t make a difference if it is fiction or non-fiction, the selection of details has an influence on the viewer.
It is not surprising that this movie is a low budget one and I can wager a Million dollars if I have them, that this movie could have been shot in just 30 days. There is absolutely no substance in this movie.
If this movie ACTUALLY WINS an OSCAR for the best picture, be sure that for the first time in the American movie history a totally unworthy movie has been awarded one of the most coveted award that often times is denied to the best of the best.
And one last point: The way Salim was portrayed towards the ending of the movie is highly reminiscent of scenes from “The City of God.” How original is that?
However AR Rehman’s score is commendable and deserves an Oscar!
What is shocking is that this movie is in the top 34 movies of all time in IMDB! This is definitely one of the most inconsistent movies that I have ever seen.
The only reason why this movie is a hit is because it exaggerates incredible things. This is definitely a very unrealistic movie. The thing with Americans is that, like all out going individuals, they too want to see and experience exotic and new events in their life. Now, the India that is depicted in the movie is totally not true and yet it is easy for foreigners to believe that this how India is at this moment. This misrepresentation of reality so endeared the movie to the Americans that they went blind to the faults glaring out from the movie.
Inspite of all the glaring holes in the weak script, just because it is getting the lime light in the US many Indians continue to chant that this is as an excellent movie. No wonder then, when the famous Swami Vivekananda was questioned why he went to the US to preach Hinduism when he could have done so in India itself, he replied that it would create a reaction back at home. No wonder then that when his greatness was acknowledged in the Parliament of Religions, immediately he was hailed as a Supreme teacher back in India.
Similarly, when Rabindranath Tagore composed Gitanjali, he was not appreciated by fellow Indians and yet when he won the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature immediately guests started pouring in saying that his poetry was beautiful. Rabindranath Tagore gave them a piece of his mind to them at that time!
We are exactly like Jamal and his cohorts in the movie who become very happy when they are treated with lots of food and fun by the beggar mafia don. Jamal says, “He must be a saint!”. In the same way Danny Boyle and his mates are treating India to the BAFTA awards or so on and we are becoming happy not understanding that all that is really happening is that shit load of money is being made by them for depicting India’s poverty in an unrealistic way.
Americans are shown as being nice who even give away 100$ after getting their car stolen. This is narcissism at its best.
Is there any Indian who thinks that this movie has not shown India in a poor light?
After watching this does anybody want to go to india? Not even for a visit. People call it a “poverty tour.” Although it does highlight the “new India,” it does largely depict India as a terrible place to live–with corrupt cops, and criminals that blind children for profit. The matter is nobody in their right mind would want to go to India after how it is shown in Slumdog Millionaire.
Indians are trying to have their cake and eat it at the same time. They are saying to us that this film is just a fiction and thus its OK to set it in slums etc and misrepresent here and there. We are saying that this IS going to create a bad image of India. Just like Temple of Doom did.
They just don’t know how media works. It doesn’t make a difference if it is fiction or non-fiction, the selection of details has an influence on the viewer.
It is not surprising that this movie is a low budget one and I can wager a Million dollars if I have them, that this movie could have been shot in just 30 days. There is absolutely no substance in this movie.
If this movie ACTUALLY WINS an OSCAR for the best picture, be sure that for the first time in the American movie history a totally unworthy movie has been awarded one of the most coveted award that often times is denied to the best of the best.
And one last point: The way Salim was portrayed towards the ending of the movie is highly reminiscent of scenes from “The City of God.” How original is that?
However AR Rehman’s score is commendable and deserves an Oscar!
i think you've mixed uo two things here...while i definitely agree with you on the indians' act of " having the cake and eating it too", i dont thnk this is the real india and neither will others,after watching the movie.
ReplyDeleteexaggeration is what underlines entertainment,otherwise its called documentary. yes, the director does exaggerate here, but it shows only a part of india, and sadly, it shows the truth about that aspect. Nowhere does the movie say that "see,this is india" it just shows the lives of the slum dwellers, and "the human spirit".We all are aware about the facts about maiming children for beggary or the shitty life of slum dwellers. but now if someone tries to project it on the silver screen why is there so much rage right from Big B to Hitnameever?! it's like touching someone on his/her weak nerve which makes him/her jump.
there are other movies which show the grandeur of india,the prosperity in big cities, the rich business houses and the glitterati..we dont think anythng then that they are just showing the upper 1-5% of the billion, and that there are innumerable people slogging their lives just to live properly...we just are happy to see "india shining"
i dont know why do people have so much problem with the portrayal of india's poverty...even the racism of US is shown in hollywood, or the autocracy of the Holocaust times. Still, no one thinks that only thses aspects define US or Germany...so why should they think so about India?
Well, Pratik, here we are talking about a movie which is meant for overseas audience, and not the Indians. Now, we might have the true knowledge of the conditions in India, but outsiders don't have so. When a movie potrays India in such a manner, we might know that is just a part of the population they are talking about, but people overseas will just think what they are made to think, just like we have the image of the africans being extremely poor, suffering from diseases, or that the irish are good for nothing except drinking, or that chinese are stupid people who like to eat cats for dinner. When the people abroad have not much idea about some place, they will generally take what the media has to say. This is how things get stereotyped, and this is why the movies are said to have a huge cultural impact on people.
ReplyDeleteI am not that much disturbed from the protayal of India in the movie, as from the fact that being just an average movie, it got so many accolades all around the globe. There is not a single field where the movie excels over other contenders, and still manages to grab award after award for Danny Boyle's mediocre work. Though its only the name of DB that has made this movie so popular all over. Had such a movie been made in Bollywood it wouldn't have been able to reach the Top 5 Foriegn films nomination in the Academy Awards. Or better still, India wouldn't have even considered it for sending to the Oscars.