Photo from Amazon.comI rarely have occasion these days to see new movies in theaters, but I had the good fortune recently to see two of the Oscar-nominated best films, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire, within 24 hours. It was a strange coincidence that both of them were time-jumping stories built around TV shows.
Not that my opinion counts for anything, but I thought Frost/Nixon was a far better film. It may have been that I simply cared more for the subject; but it struck me as exceedingly well-written and conceived, with all the dramatic payoffs and random brain-pleasers you can hope for in a movie. Slumdog Millionaire, meanwhile, felt forced and predictable with shallow characterizations and stock movie tricks. I am hardly the only one to feel that it is way overrated.
That said, Slumdog‘s depiction of Indian life, particularly the slum poverty, was incredibly interesting, at least to this American, even if only for its voyeurism.
Which makes me want to know what Indians make of the film. Articles like this one describe a stark split between those who feel the film is realistic and invaluable and those who feel it’s exaggerated and exploitive. There are a lot of interesting wrinkles behind the scenes as well. According to the film’s IMDb trivia page:
Mercedes-Benz asked that its logos be removed in scenes taking place in the slums. The company, according to [director] Danny Boyle, did not want to be associated with the poverty-stricken area, fearing that that might taint its image.
and:
Danny Boyle placed the money to be paid to the three lead child actors in a trust that is to be released to them upon their completion of grade school at 16 years of age. The production company has set up for an autorickshaw driver to take the kids to school every day until they are 16 years old.
This blog has a lot of Indian readers, living both in India and abroad, many of whom are very outspoken — just check out the response to this recent post on autorickshaws — and I’m eager to hear your opinions of the film and learn how it’s being received in India.
So: what is your personal reaction, and the wider reaction you’ve heard about? How closely does the film portray reality, especially in the realms of poverty and class? How broadly is a film like this seen in India — i.e., will the typical poverty dweller ever get a chance to see it? How significant is it that the kids are Muslim, and indeed meet great misfortune because of that fact? And how much of a pejorative, if at all, is “slumdog”?
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what is your personal reaction, and the wider reaction you’ve heard about?
>> Happy about the movie and the awards its earned, first for India/Indians, but the title is controversial one and the theme is new from typical masala movies..i mean.a fresh one.Otherwise, i would agree with the points u had mentioned, if u expect to go for a thriller, but as a drama, it would pass.
How closely does the film portray reality, especially in the realms of poverty and class?
>> Very true.
How broadly is a film like this seen in India – i.e., will the typical poverty dweller ever get a chance to see it?
>> Yep. They would. Perhaps u should try a study on this. Most of the poor, go cinema often in India, and follow the cinema stars as real gods
How significant is it that the kids are Muslim, and indeed meet great misfortune because of that fact?
>>>> The gap between poor and rich is, pretty wide in India and its irrespective of religion. The highly paid super stars of indian cinema s are muslims. check any indian actor with khan. So religion doesnt play much role.
And how much of a pejorative, if at all, is “slumdog”?
>>> The film focuses on just one part of it. Just like how u would see…’Hell’s kitchen’ area and make a film about it..that doesnt mean the whole US is like that.. I would say..majority of India is moving towards Middle class. But people’s urge towards cities make strong differences in metros, where u see very poor and very rich. In other places of India, the difference looks ok.
As a British reader I enjoyed Slumdog (Bollywood Trainspotting), but I have to say it’s got to be better than Frost/Nixon simply because it’s impossible to believe that anyone would make a movie hero out of David Frost.
“I am hardly the only one to feel that it is way overrated.”
Let’s be honest. The source you referenced (and only one at that) hardly instills confidence in your negative judgment of fellow critics who you feel have overrated the film.
I’m Indian. Grew up in Bombay.
I loved it and felt inexplicably homesick after watching the movie.
I don’t know why people find it offensive. Those slums are a reality – they are amongst the first things that one sees when landing at the Bombay airport.
If reality offends you, watch a Bollywood movie.
(I happen to love Bollywood movies & watch them regularly.)
As a Nepali and regular consumer of Danny Boyle movies, I was surprised by the overwhelming feeling of reality coming from Slumdog’s slums. My brother had similar feelings, but did not like the movie as much as I did.
My father, who saw the movie at a different time, came home slightly pissed off about being so vividly reminded of the slums’ vicious nature (through Maman, Javed, Salim and so on).
All three of us agreed that though it had the vibrations and feelings of reality, it was by no means a documentary or a realistic portrayal. What Slumdog has is the essences of what it can be like to live in the slums and that is what comes across so powerfully real in the movie experience. I do not think the movie would have worked as well, or had the impact it had on us, if it had presented to us stark reality.
To Narinder: there was one “non-sequitur dance number” and that came in the ending credits. Are you conflating the montages set to thundering MIA tracks and that number here?
All of the Nepalis and Indians I know here in the United States like the movie, and a high percentage genuinely love it. I can’t speak for those back in Nepal or in India though.
I am Indian living in Australia now. As a movie it is Ok, worth watching once but not more. It is only heart warming in a schmaltzy way and the movie is largely aimed at western audience.
Most of the characterisation has as much depth as a card board cut out!
It might still win some Oscars, but that’s only because Oscar is a celebration of mediocrity (remember Titanic won Oscars).
Vast majority (maybe 60%+) of Mumbaikars are slum dwellers and India has more poor people than China.
Indians simply dont want to accept reality and end up with doozies like “India Shining” campaign and such cinematic masterpieces like Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gum ( I retched when I saw that one). Amitabh Bachan himself was a typical escapist-fantasy hero, no wonder he objects to the film.
Dear voyeuer;
Saw this great website awhile ago on the discovery of American Indians- by someone named Alfred Jones. Was I imagining things- but then could not find it again.
If anyone has the website- do let us know?
I’m an Indonesian muslim and I read the novel (Vikas Swarup’s Q & A) two years ago and stand still in bookstore for four hours finishing the book and after that I recommend the book in an Indonesian forum and lot of my friends got interested on the book.
The story was a fantasy but the problem it address was real and happened in Indonesia. The child prostitution was happened although it disguised it practiced as contract-marriage. The Oliver-Twist’s-Fagin-like mafia which used those poor kids to beg for them is existed in Indonesia and there are some kidnapping case.
My wife in asked me what “Slumdog” means and I explain to her it came from two word “slum” and “dog”. When I said “slum” is a region that had a lot of “casas de carton”, she laugh and said “Oh.. the movie is about me. I have to see it”.
PS: “Casas de Carton” is a title of a song which I heard from movie “Innocent Voices”. I love the song and the title of the song became my dictionary everytime I describe neighbourhood where my wife and a lot of my friends grew up.