Slumdog Millionaire is all over the news with awards, recognition, attention, Oscar nominations and controversy (which obviously begets more attention). I thought I would put in my 2-cents on this topic dujour, since it is getting ready for release in India shortly.
Also, I think you will enjoy this radio show on the movie, with calls from listeners from all over the U.S. with their reactions to the film. Don't miss caller 'Manish' and his inadvertent let-on.
THE CONTROVERSY
AGREE:
There is a strain of debate that casts this movie as exploiting poverty - by western eyes and ears. And that the movie is getting recognition only because it was made by a western director and that similar movies made in India never got the recognition (Sarkar being an example).
Certainly there is a ring of truth to this. The initial scences in this movie are as graphic as they get, and certainly feeds the above argument.
However, this is a hard point to prove (the exploitation bit), since there are tons of movies that show the same made in Bollywood. Satya comes to mind and any number of movies by Mrinal Sen.
DISAGREE:
There are some genuine movie classics from around the world that have sustained similar criticisms.
Nights of Cabiria, the classic by Fellini comes to mind about a prostitute in post-WWII Italy.
Or more closer to the theme, City of God, about the slums in Brazil. This movie won an oscar and I would put this in my Top 5 movies of the year when I watched it.
So I am hard pressed to agree that showing poverty is necessarily exploiting it. I think maybe the worse sin is to air-brush any sense of reality out of movies (paging Yash Chopra and damsels prancing in the pristine meadows of Switzerland).
THE MOVIE IS GREAT
AGREE:
The movie is non-stop energy from the first shot to the last. The characters catch you and dont let you go. The acting is really good. The movie is melodramatic with all the elements of a Bollywood meets Hollywood masala. In fact those of us who have been brought up on a steady diet of Salim-Javed movies, this will be like back to the 70s (complete with lost & found, eternal love, gangsters and group dancing!)
DISAGREE:
I am a total cinephile (with my top 10 lists and so on). So hope you will indulge me this criticism. The wafer thin plot of this movie stretches credulity. The cinematic device of the 'millionaire game show' is gimmicky and so coincidence ridden, that by the 3rd coincidence I wanted to fling my popcorn at the movie-screen in disgust!
LAST WORD AND PREDICTION
So where do I end up on this all in all?
A. The movie is not worth the controversy
B. Good music (AR Rahman has done better - Taal for example - but this album in S-D-M has real energy.)
C. Middle brow entertainment not deserving an oscar for best picture - but does deserve oscars for music and editing.
In terms of business it will be a smash hit in the west (cross $100 MM box office) but will do mixed business in India - more of a major metro movie - will appeal to the Dil Chahta Hai crowd.
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