Slumdog Millioniare -(A little below expectation)

I watched Slumdog Millioniare last night and walked out of the theatre with a good feeling at having seen the movie on a big screen, which I hardly get to do with 2 young kids at home. I was able to see it because my family is currently in India and I needed ways to kill time in this freezing winter evenings in New Jersey. After the movie won 4 Golden Globes, my expectations of the movie were very high but I was a little dissapointed that it did not meet my expecations especially after sweeping the Golden Globes. It was a fine movie though and I liked the story telling style of Danny Boyle going back and forth between the Game Show and Jamal's past in 3 stages of his life, but there were somethings that put me off too.

Hollywood, once again showcases the extreme poverty of India while only a hand full of shots were shown that fell out of that poverty range. The tipping point was when young Jamal jumps into the Shit hole... ugg...!! People might argue that it is a reality that such poverty does exist in the country. I find it hard to digest the fact that what is shown in the english movies is not the only India that there is. Why doesnt hollywood show the otherside of India too, that India is not only about slums and beggers, but also of 400 million middle class with increasing income levels and a country with one of the fastest growth rate of millioniares in the world (and many more that un-accounted ). And not to forget the fact that the country has 4 of the top 10 richest people in the world today. Even though the movie is about a Slumdog, there were ample opportunities in the movie to show some other sides of Mumbai just to give a break to the users from abject poverty.

Also, Danny Boyle should have given some background on the riots in which Jamal's mother is killed. It was portrayed as if Hindu's just came and bashed the muslims and as if this is the way of life in India (The Jihadi's can use this as a propoganda in their new training video's ). Indian's watching can relate this to various roits that occured in the country where Hindus and Muslims killed each other as an aftermath of some events. But for a westerner without any background, it gives a totally wrong picture of the Indian society.

But I must say in spite of all that, I did enjoy the movie and am proud that A.R. Rehman has won a Golden Globe. But as Indians we all know Rehman has produced music that is times better than the music in this movie, but finally he is getting a global recognition and he is one guy who I would hope wins an Oscar one day - and he deserves it. (One other guy I always wanted to win an Oscar was Kamal Hassan in his hay days, but now he has gone overboard and steps over the directors. If he gets a good script and gets a director who can put him in control, he still might have a have a chance one day)

-Shanthan