Why Slam Slumdog?
What do the decision makers in the media think? How much conflict do the readers need to satiate their appetite? Isn’t conflict in our regular lives not enough? Isn’t conflict in the movies and theaters and books not enough. Isn’t conflict in the political systems and economies and natural resources not enough? Apparently no.
Slumdog Millionaire is a fascinating movie. An eye-opener, a sensitizer, an entertainer. Most of the people who saw it, loved it. Critics acclaimed it. The West absorbed it. It dominated award ceremonies and again brought the world’s attention to many things Indian.
And then Mr Bachchan chose to voice a somewhat negative opinion on it and lo and behold! the media had found a story they would be so comfortably familiar going to town about. “Bachchan Slams Slumdog” screamed a headline. Ah now, did he? I was curious. What did he not like about the movie that the world was so wide-eyed and misty about? I went ahead and read his blog. Ah! So that was what he didn’t like. He didn’t like the fact that the world had absorbed so whole-heartedly a movie that depicted poverty in India… yet again! He even equated Satyajit Ray’s universal recognition to the acclaim Slumdog got. And no. He wasn’t in any way criticizing the movies. He was really going after the ‘reaction’ these movies were getting in the world of gala film awards and ceremonies. And he was wondering why films from our Bombay Film Industry have always been cast aside and considered frivolous.
All this was in plain English. But the media picked it up, turned it around totally and came back with gems of its own – “Big B Slumdog Post Sparks Debate” “Is Slumdog Millionaire Poverty Porn?” “Selling Poverty, Making Money?”
Ride the wave. Take an issue like this and push it and grind it day in and day out into a nation’s consciousness till fuzzy-minded fringe groups start stoning and burning cinema halls and shutting them down. In the process skew everyone’s perspective so horribly that no one understands that this is a simple story told by a storyteller with a group of eager talented people. Yes, they had a great time making it. Yes they made money too and became famous. But first and foremost they had set out to tell us a story. They didn’t start working on the movie with the aim to get nominated for 10 Oscars and win so many Golden Globes. But what they did, they did beautifully and in the process praise and acclaim came by. My question is this – is the Slumdog crew ‘the reason’ for the poverty everyone and primarily the media is suddenly so concerned about? Poverty has existed for a hell of a longer time. So long, we have ceased to see it, talk about it, leave alone make movies about it.
But coming back to the media, shouldn’t it report on the contractors and officers and authorities that can, but won’t do zilch to eradicate poverty? But no, the media will not. Because that just isn’t news. They will keep braying about a movie that everyone is talking about already and stir up a non-existent controversy about it so there are protests and agitations about an issue that will really get us nowhere, but will definitely give them more conflict to talk about.
Whew! Enough venting. Having done Mass Communication and later moving to film-making instead of journalism, it really makes me angry and upset and somewhat helpless when I see such reportage prime time. But as a reader/user/viewer/ I do sometimes feel the need to voice my displeasure.
Tags: amitabh bachchan slumdog, Danny Boyle, kreativevistas, media reports slum, mumbai poverty, slumdog millionaire critic, slumdog millionaire in media, slums mumbai, valli bindana, World Cinema
Anurag Kashyap
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Fine, AB didn’t like Slumdog like a lot of us did. And coz of his celebrity status, his opinion was heard and read more than the average Joe’s. Whatever be the reason AB didn’t like it – he is totally justified to his opinion – nothing in life is black or white anyways, we live amidst all shades of grey. The media has become massively pervert & sick to make headlines out of absolutely nothing. Its time we stop paying any heed to the “sansanikhez khabrein” – anything, dammit, anything becomes national news these days. Sad.
Valli,
You also chose to blog about the same topic.. what are you doing to eradicate poverty. If you are a film maker, make a movie which exposes the underbelly of corruption in India.
As far as SM goes its absolutely disgusting to see people manipulating the same western stereotypes to gather Oscars. The movie was made with an intention of targeting it to the award functions the common theme between all the indian cinema getting oscars is the same. Salaam Bombay, Pather Panchali and Life in Brothels.
I was disgusted to see the scene when the firang says let me show what real America is … and gives a 100 dollar bill to Jamaal.
I am not officially commenting on this one.
Pls note it down.
the media taking up Slumdog Millionaire as a national issue & airing programmes at prime time related to the movie – whether its abt the controversy which is obviously silly or the hype abt its run at various international awards has screwed ppl’s opinion & hence its merit as a film has been majorly ignored..Slumdog Millionaire is a film with few moments & some really good performances by the child aristes(& they r the ones who hv been completely ignored not just by the media but also by the crew of the film)..after I watched the film I cudnt make out why it got 10 Oscar nominations & this has helped change my view abt the Oscars..at times its a good film & at times its a mediocre film..Rahman’s music is good & is a high point due to the way it has been used but we hv known better works of Rahman than this..also while I was watching the film for some reason this thot came to my mind – Subhash Ghai of the 80s cud hv done a far better job at handling this story..I hvnt seen other films by Danny Boyle but my personal opinion is that Slumdog is an overrated film & so is Danny Boyle’s direction..I hv a cousin who lives in London & has seen couple of more Danny Boyle’s films incl Trainspotting & his opinion is, that Danny Boyle is good but is overrated.He told me that Mike Leigh & Ken Loach r far better British filmmakers..So yes agree with most of the points u hv made abt media & the unnecessary & irrelevant controversy created by the news media by twisting Big B’s statement but Slumdog acc to me is only an above average film & I just cant make out why “its the film the world is talking abt”
@ no rocket science
Subhash Ghai? Seriously?
Slumdog is an amazing movie and it has the right spirit which shows the uniqueness of a poor Indian boy from the slum. It puts the spirit of life above all, above poverty and adversity, above conflicts and suffering. If there is a story to be told, it has to be told with honesty. The very reason that Danny Boyle must have decided to make this film would have been because of the story and not that it depicts poverty of India to the western world.
Bachchan is entitled to his opinion, but it just shows how narrow-minded he is. If he disagrees about the slums and the people living in Mumbai, I think he is like the cat who is drinking the milk with his eyes closed thinking that the world wouldnot be able to see him.
Very few Indian film makers have been able to capture the life of a poor person and potray his spirit the way Danny has done. I agree there are some loopholes in the screenplay, but which Hindi film boasts of a flawless screenplay. Many of them are either inspired by the west or adapted from other successful south indian films. The other films seems to be senseless comedies which the audiences lap up keeping their brains aside and just trying to enjoy the worth of the ticket they invested in.
It comes as a pinch to this particular fraternity that a British filmmaker has made a film on India which is being appreciated by the world.
The media unfortunately in the recent and later past have always given importance to views of these celebrities than news that actually shapes the world. I remember the time when Ash and Abhi was tying the knot and the media hounding them finding out the color of the saree Ash would wear was a bigger news than the farmer suicides in Maharashtra…
Patha nahi yeh media bhi kab sudhrega!!
@32
yes..Subhash Ghai of the 80s..of Meri Jung,Ram Lakhan,Karma,Trimurti(though Trimurti didnt do well & was nt as good as the other 3 but yet I find it watchable)..Slumdog is ‘Bollywood masala’ & he championed that in the 80s & early 90s
but then Trimurti was not directed by him though it had his stamp..whether its the BGM or the characterisation..btw Mukul Anand was another filmmaker who I feel cud hv given us some more good entertainers..sadly we lost him
this is not about the “media”. for me the discussions and ravings on SDM have begun on PFC and continue here. This is not “media” to me, but a fraternity where we can reflect and blog and be. I don’t know what the media has said about SDM, and i had only a fleeting inkling of Mr. Bachchan’s opinion. I went to watch the movie, and found myself cringing and internally appalled at what the world has lapped up.
No, i don’t begrudge Mr. Boyle having shown the world the squalor and poverty of my country. It is the manner that i object to. That is my thoughts of SDM as a film, not as a social commentary on my country.
Valli, i don’t see where your anger for the media comes from. I didn’t see this being about the media at all. They will do what they do and make news of whatever… but the issue at hand is more about the film then what the media’s made of the film. no?
The ONLY reason why Indians have a problem with SlmD M is that it depicts India as a poor nation, note the first half was set in 1980’s. India WAS poor then. And the movie is NOT ABOUT POVERTY, when would these guys understand that? It’s about the love story, about how Jamal loses Latika and later finds her in the end.
The MAJOR problem people are having is that, the movie has become successful and it’s been screened all over the world. We are so conservative in our thoughts that we think people in the US/UK might have a ‘negative’ view point about India after watching this movie, which is utter bullshit. And they would NEVER visit our country or this movie re-affirms ‘their’ POV of India as a third-world country.
Watch it as a movie, not coz the story is set in the city/country that you belong to. If the movie was set in BRAZIL, everybody in India would not have had a problem, they’d hail it as a very good movie. IF the movie was directed by an Indian dude, still we wouldn’t have had a problem, as it wouldn’t garner much ‘global appeal’. We are such lov-lives that we think a 2 hr movie can change the way people look at us. How stupid?! Stop barking and start doing, I can bet that say 10 years down the line there would be no efforts to remove poverty and that DHARAVI would remain the same.
Bottom line – SlmD M is a damn good movie, you either like it or you should be a politician.
The reason why this movie was absorbed by the Western World is simply because what’s depicted in the film is “new” to this world. For Indians and Southern Asians, the portrayal of poverty is not a new concept, as acknowledged by Bachchan with his mention of the Ray films.
The reason why, it is worth watching is because of Danny Boyle’s direction and his part in the screenwriting process. Otherwise, it is a happy-go-lucky Bollywood film with a strong central character and a film like that is not worthy of any best picture awards. Indeed, it should be nominated for Best Director, but Best Picture, I think not!
“Bottom line – SlmD M is a damn good movie, you either like it or you should be a politician.”
Duh, what is that. Dude, people have reasons to like or hate a movie, ru trying to go on some Jihad here, branding every one who hates or does not like SDM much. Learn to respect others opinions please. If u like SDM, fine, but dont go around on a crusade against every one, who does not think highly of it.
after the announcement of Slumdog’s 10 Oscar nominations BBC aired the news for few minutes in a bullettin while Indian media completely went crazy as usual & kept goin on abt it till late night & ws absolutely possesed by it till few days after it..I agree that India media(electronic) sometimes do a good job but most of the times its sensational..’we show coz ppl watch’ – wtf..its like a rapist saying we raped the girl coz the way she dressed was inviting..ppl dnt watch TV with a purpose or an agenda..they just watch it.. but the irony is that though we have 100 news channels & 100 other channels,actually there is no choice..so a film as average as Slumdog Millionaire(acc to me) is able to kick debates at prime time..our news channels r obssesed with showbiz & they dnt skip a chance to find a filmy angle to everything..I feel TV makes us narrow minded & we all sub consciously start thinking on same lines & hence abuse our freedom of thought which I think is equally if not more important than freedom of speech..the debates we see on news channels are not debates but just an extention of what happens in the parliament – shouting at each other with selective memories & selective listening.
@ Ratnakar
..
Fair, but of all the people who have hated the movie, is not coz it lacks some in the ‘technical dept’ but they just don’t like the way the movie potrays Mumbai. It isnt as though people talk about how loose the screenplay is, or how bad the cinematography or the editing is, hell nothing on those lines. Everything is about how the movie ‘potrays’ and not how its made. And I surely have a problem with that.
Obv everyone has their POV, and I respect it, but as far this movie goes everybody who have a problem with its content and nothing else.
Sad.
@sriram
Sorry to but in on your conversation but here are the accusations against Slumdog
1. very weak characterisation – one of the weakest ever for a nominated movie.
2. lesser said about the script and screenplay the better
3. Skewed portrayal of its backdrop – i.e., india. Fiction it is yet this weak movie that cant get its basic characterization together is highly effective ’stinking postcard’ from india, as if all the creative energies of the team went only into that department.
Hence people are irked and are reacting. The aspect 3 would have been swept aside had the team worked a little bit more on aspects 1 and 2.
SDM lovers are on the other hand a disparate group – united together by love for the people who are nominated because of the film more than anything else.
First of all Amitabh did not slam Slumdog since he has not even seen it. Some readers of his blog commented negatively on the movie and he posted their comments to open the topic to debate. The media reported the comments as his opinion and ran with it.
Secondly, because someone does not think Slumdog is a great movie, it does not mean they are objecting to the poverty shown. I found the movie to be entertaining but not great or award worthy. Should all entertaining movies get an award? If Slumdog wins an Oscar it will be grouped with other lightweight movies (Titanic) which do not hold up well beyond the initial hype.
Finally I see a lot of people praising this movie who otherwise would be picking it apart for being illogical. But now it has western approval so it is okay to overlook all the flaws while BW movie would get crucified for the same flaws.
I’m happy for AR Rahman and wishes a win for him but I hope this movie does not win an Oscar.
@ Jai ganesh
..
1) I thought the characterisation was perfect, to the point, what sorta fault did you find in that?! I didn’t find the characterisation weak at all, infact it’s great!. If its garnering many awards thats coz the screenplay is tight and the characterisations are perfect.
2)
Don’t find any problem with the script & screenplay either. It’s like one of the B’wood movies in the 70’s, with less of masala and drama. We have seen so many of such b’wood movies so we think its a mediocre movie, for the west, who hvnt seen such stuff, its GREAT!
Bottomline: –
If somebody wants to trash a movie, he’d anyhow. I found it a very good movie, dunno if its ‘worth’ these awards, thats ONLY coz I hvnt seen the other nominated movies.