SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE: Again a British EXPLORES & EXPOSES India??!!

The movie that has been made for USD $15 million, presently running over 1700 theaters, has already earned around $90 million and has grabbed 8 Oscars, 7 BAFTA, 5 Critic’s Choice Awards, after its worldwide release in January 2009. Movie tell the rags-to-riches story of a youngster, who answers all the questions correctly, from and with his life experiences in a “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” reality show. Anyone who has seen the movie can recall the affective visuals of slum land and slum life in its miserable state and texture. This film which has a pure Indian plot has terrifically hit the nerve of the world, and is being crowned with the title of ‘world's first globalized masterpiece’ movie. The direction, music and script of the movie sound wonderful and hence the outcome is a good entertainer, portraying a social backdrop in realism. But still, it’s being said that the film has lauded applause, popularity and awards because a westerner is at the helm (Danny Boyle, British Director) and hence distributed worldwide.

The theme of this movie develops through the following plots which are realistic and pragmatic:

1. Depicts Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992-93 in Mumbai after the Babri Masjid-Ram Janam Bhoomi issues;
2. Shows the life of poverty struck slum children’s education standards, their working over piles of wastages and they dwelling in unhygienic & insecure conditions in slums;
3. Illustrates with a disgusting ecstasy, how glimpse of cine-celebrities becomes a celebration of lowly life;
4. Demonstrate how orphan children are being lured and thereafter harassed, mutilated and exploited by the beggar mafias;
5. Highlights forced prostitution of under aged girls and streets of soliciting sex workers;
6. Narrates life of children selling food articles and toys in Indian trains;
7. Shows the life, language, attitude and attribute of children who roam around as guides in tourist spots;
8. Refilling of tap water in distillery/mineral water bottles and sealing with adhesives for resale;
9. Pick pocketing and day light theft committed by children on street;
10. The handling of deadly weapons like revolvers by youngsters who are brought up on streets;
11. Organised crimes and underground mafia wars;
12. Call centre jobs and its influence on Indian youth’s language accent and perception;
13. The cricket craze of an average Indian
14. Impact and influence of reality shows on Indian families;
15. Police Brutality and versions of notorious interrogation methods;
16. Mumbai Road Traffic blocks, Local train’s rush and the list goes on.....

LIGHTING LAMP OF CONTROVERSIES:
1. Starting off with the title of movie, “slum‘dog’ millionaire”; Let it be in any country, culture OR kind of creativity, labeling/cataloging someone as a ‘dog’ is offensive. The derogatory title has punctured the sentiments of people who value/respect humanity, especially the social activists & the slum dwellers, as it is invariably a direct insult on their existence.
2. Criticism has also been raised that the Western media and people has many times depicted India as a wasteland, filled with horror stories of exploitation, misery and degradation without ever turning leaves onto the brighter side of the country. Though the director of the movie said he was trying to capture “Mumbai’s Lust for life”, world could see India once again as a Poverty Porn Nation.
3. Though the movie is basically a redemptive love story of a poor guy in a brutal and blighted society, many Indian, English & American viewers were highly uncomfortable with the devastating depiction of the slum land, the deliberate maiming of children and the scenes of police torture.
4. Some criticizers opine that the movie crew has made a mockery of India and its resources, used smart references from various Hindi movies and has marketed it effectively for personal gains.
5. After converting every scent and stench of the city into a liquid asset, the cast and the crew and few reviewers proclaimed that “Slumdog Millionaire would do wonders for Mumbai's tourism industry” and that really jingle ironic expression. But it’s an undisputable fact that film production houses, herein after has a good opportunity to carve a niche market for Indian films with its newly acquired universal audience.
6. The ‘underpaid’ remuneration and future welfare of child artists in the movie, which was a booming issue for a while, seems to subside with the declaration of Trust funds for their education and flats worth £20,000 in Mumbai.
7. Does ANYONE think India is the only country in world with slum-dwellers, street children and unhygienic livelihood? If so, have a look at how people live in hush and poverty in the Kibera district of Nairobi, the favelas slums in Rio de Janerio, the Orangi district of Karachi, slums in Mexico City etc. No NATION is PERFECT.

BUT the question remains......

Despite its recent economic growth, India still has the largest number of malnourished children younger than 5 in the world, along with one of the largest slums in world, especially in Mumbai, where a vast stretch of low-lying tin roofs is the first thing visitors see from airplanes on arrival into Mumbai, the country's entertainment and financial capital.

Isnt it true that about half a million people who live and work in Dharavi, the slum in Mumbai, as recyclers, tailors, leather tanners, laundrymen, potters, cloth dyers and shopkeepers, and all of them are jammed into a single square mile of narrow alleys and rickety buildings made from corrugated metal sheets? Another interesting fact is that these slum dwellers also works in tiny manufacturing units spread across the slum region, that produce embroidered garments, export quality leather goods, pottery and plastic goods and most of these products are sold in domestic as well as international markets making an estimated turnover of more than £350m every year. In November 2008, Dharavi Redevelopment Project was estimated to cost 15,000 crores and the plan of State government to transform the region into a modern township, complete with proper housing and shopping complexes, hospitals and schools has been delayed time after time since 1995.

FOOTNOTE: To what extent are filmmakers and artists responsible for improving the lives and fixing the societal dysfunction that made their movies possible? Or does that responsibility ultimately rest with a society or government, once its conscience has been pricked? INDIA is not a “Third World dirty under belly developing nation”. BUT isn’t it time for a healthy, practical and reliable review & reference for rehabilitation action over EXISTING SCENARIO?

REFERENCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Principaux_Bidonvilles.png;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/5078654.stm

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