A regret called Slumdog millionaire

Yesterday when I was watching an action packed hollywood thriller,I found my roommate pretty vexed as he was dwelling on the hows' which I think were never meant to be understood and me,being a true bollywood fan suggested him which came to my mouth bypassing the brain "These are movies, dimag mat laga". The reply was pretty obvious though and it was "abey (some unmentionable words) this is a hollymood movie and that is why mein dimag laga raha hun" . Don't fret about the hinglish here as its an epitome of an progressive Indian society now, however why I am saying all this is because I am taking this space here to write down something about a movie called Slumdog Millionaire which definitely is a hollywood movie and as always we all Indians are trying to posses it.We are in a state of euphoria after the recognitions in GG like we did in the past for people like Bobby Jindal, sunita williams and mittals, just to name a few.

I am not really applying my pretty nonexistent logical brain here for the movie,nor I am trying to go deep in to thinking about the relevance of the story with real life as i think a movie is always a bit larger than life. How a slum dweller speaks pure British English or how he talks to the client in a call center when others were busy trying their luck for " who wants to be a millionaire" are some of the things which left me a bit confused but what really concerned me more is the reason that lured this bunch of Westerners to come down to India or rather to the filthy side of India to make a movie.It is making me a bit apprehensive too as it is getting all the global recognition and attention which means,the movie is going to be watched by people across the globe and those who watch will see the movie through the characters not caring much about the man who perceived it.I agree that 40% of Indians are under poverty line but there are 60% left whose number is even more than the entire population of all the so called first world countries on earth and they are not in anyway near to the people shown in the movie. Here is a movie where each and every person is corrupt,inhuman and having no morale values, this includes a millionaire too, yes I am talking about Anil kapoor and the only good people shown are the ones from United States who show a little bit of America to a barbaric Indian by their philanthropy,well this gives an idea how loyal the English are to the Americans as after all the captain of the ship is an English.

All said and done, the movie is an international hit and may make some of the Indian faces familiar with the world but at the end of the day if we think about the perception the movie will leave with,about India of course is horrible. Right from torture in custody,communal violence, faulty education system, no access to sanitation ,child abuse to many more along the line which will only make the perception of India from a third world snake charmer's country to a hungry and poor country which lives in slums.Trust me I am not an escapist and I am also not shying away from the fact that we have a problem at hand,a herculean task .We are dealing with it and pretty sure one day we will overcome it too like we did many in the past.

I believe,a pure personal thought though,that a Lagaan or Taare can never make it to the international arena but a salam bombay, mother India or in this case Slumdog can always rise to the highest level. Is it just a coincidence or because it shows an India that struggles with all the odds? I think it succeeded because it showed exactly what others want to see and satiates the new found fetish that the Westerners developed for the so called life in slum which makes them feel better or superior .No wonder the story of these people have already started replacing the growth story of our country in CNN and BBC.

For me Slumdog is a good movie but I just can't feel good about it.I crave to see the day when we stop eyeing on an Oscar,stop possessing something which never were ours' and may be then a story of a progressing Indian with dreams to touch the sky in the eyes will be the the most talked about one across the globe.I just hope as I think hope is a wonderful thing or may be the best of things which gives us a reason to wait for tomorrow, a better tomorrow.

Cheers
Sambit