Slumdog Splitsville

Much has changed since the day the movie “Slumdog millionaire” was nominated for various categories in the coveted Academy awards. AR Rehman and Resul Pokutty made Indians across the globe erupt in joy and pride. The kid brigade of the cast marched their way on the red carpet. Then they were greeted like rock stars in airport. Then some of them were beaten by their parents for not obliging to the journalists feeding the insatiable monstrous 24 7 news channels. Congress party recently made “Jai Ho” as its anthem for the upcoming election. Admist all these moments of ecstasy, pride, cynicism; the argumentative Indian in me is relentlessly introspecting this entire sequence of events.

While wandering very close to the Kodak theatre in the evening of 81^st Academy Awards, I was checking every second to find if A R Rehman has won any award yet or not. Although we knew that the Hollywood Boulevard was sealed since a week, we still kept on hovering the area just to be a part of the historic moment so that some day we could say that “Oh..we were so much there when AR Rehman won two Oscars ;-)” Inspite of this feeling of pride, the other half of me wrestled with arguments like “O..Saaya” and “Jai Ho” were hardly great music by AR Rehman. Most of us would rate melody of Roja or Taal higher than Slumdog. But then the purpose of the award was not to pick the best ever composition by a musician but to select the best of a certain year of certain movies. Being a hard core fan of ARR, I settled with myself to be happy about his win. Resul Pokutty whose craft is hardly noticed in India also deserves accolades.

Then came the tough one in my mind: “Why haven’t I seen this movie yet?” What is in me that is stopping me to just accept that the slums and whatever else shown in the movie is not fiction in its entirety and there are acres of sprawling slums across the length and breadth of the country. Something in me protests and says that the stuff shown in the promos is so stereo type. Outsiders love to still show the nation as the country of snake charmers, impoverished and unruly people. Why can’t a movie highlighting the beaming workforce, intrinsic innocence of the countrymen, diversity and resilience of the country win an award in an international platform? Then the alter ego stated that why can’t I just accept that it is just a story, take it maturely as a figment of somebody’s imagination and enjoy it that way. Would I have reacted the same if the movie was not about a slum boy fighting the odds and would have been like the movie Guru. The movie Guru was too hugely appreciated in India and had the same fabric of a “rags to riches” story intertwined in corruption, bureaucracy but ultimately building the face of the Indian multinational company.

A shade of hypocrisy of me got highlighted in this episode as I rejoiced when three Oscars were given to fellow Indians but didn’t want the entire country to be shown going mad with joy in CNN as if we didn’t have ever something to celebrate or as if this was an Indian movie. Then popped the next question “What is an Indian movie?” The movie produced and directed in India or a movie about India with Indians in it? As this movie was a British venture and was in English language, I stamped it as an alien movie. But what about those movies made in India having English as its language or movies produced by NRIs? Is language a barrier for us from accepting it? What about our FilmFare awards which is of, by, for Indians but still it is hosted in impeccable English? If Slumdog would have been produced and directed by a Brit Indian, then how would I have reacted? It is difficult to decide what is alien and what is home grown in this inter connected world.

Media hyped the movie as the ultimate story of hope and the movie triumphed at the awards ceremony. Many who have seen the movie said that it is an average film that does not deserve an Oscar. But it’s a known fact that all the award committees around the world are often a victim of the hype bug and shuttles between honoring the best talent and the best marketing. Starting from Academy awards, Noble Prizes to apna civilian awards like Bharat Ratna, all have been tainted and criticized to the core.

The field of Art is always open to interpretation and there can never be a unanimous echo to it. Regarding what is Indian and what is foreign and whether foreigners have the freedom to make movies about the country is a debatable one and is often an arrangement of convenience. Everybody in the world wants to move past an image and would like to have an updated one in the profile. Am I shying from the reality or protesting being typecast as a citizen? Am I being kiddish by not accepting the movie as a work of fiction or am I being rightly touchy? In this topsy-turvy state of mind, I would not like to conclude but just say “And the argument continues…….”