Slumdog Millionaire

The fact that this movie portrays India in the list of slumdogs disgusts me and you may not find this very convincing if you are not Indian (I am). I write this from the core of my heart after i watched the film couple of weeks back. Somehow, the western packaging of India slums worked for Danny Boyle and his film crew who got to bag 8 oscars for his movie. Am not jealous that a British director has today opened the way to Indian mainstream cinema in the hearts of millions around the world. He brings to light what happens to kids living in slums, how they are exploited to beg by some hoodlums but the big question is what happens after 3-4 months of spectacular fame. No one in India cares about the slum kids who acted in th film, they dont still have a house, no food, no education and now their father trying to sell them!!!!! This happens only in India.
So was the corollary of the movie also to wake up the sleepy Indian government to the sorrows and needs of distressed slum people. Is that the reason why we make such films? I am very certain that Danny Boyle, Anil Kapoor, AR Rehman are sleeping in their best times now but the slumkids have been left to their destiny and nothing promising remains in their favour. Audience in western world is absolutely oblivion of events happening in India. My advise to them is please do not compare your world with ours. Do not keep very high expectations from our Indian world. One of my colleagues in NY asks me if it was true that there was so much poverty in India, or are there really slums in India. Deep within my heart i curse the director, my government and my country.
I have watched "Frost Nixon", "The Curious case of Benjamin Button", "The Wrestler" in the same best film category as Slumdong and slumdog comes no close against the strong plots of other movies. In the best music/song category, there is only 1 man standing, thats AR rehman. so guess what, by obvious reasons he only wins the oscar...so lame because i do nt think "Jai Ho" is a oscar winning song. Slumdog bags 8 oscars by virtue of its luck and destiny because it has an extremely wicked, weak , fragile plot. The Acting is pathetic even from senior actors like Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan. The kids were however brilliant in acting and so natural to their personas. I do respect the Academy's decision on choosing the best film of they year but with due respect, you cannot judge an Indian film from the eyes of an American. It needs to be a true native or Indian to feel this film. Building relationships with film fraternity is important but getting talent from outside while the nurturing the indigeneous Indian talent getting discouraged is an horrendous idea and like a sacriledge with the Indian Film Industry.
Satyajit Ray is a big name in Film school books in US but why have films like Pathar Panchali not made a name for India on the red carpet. Is it just because it was to the core all Indian, made by Indian director, made in India and everything India. Even Lagaan reaches oscar only in Best Foreign Category but not in best film category because its directed/produced by Indians and not a britisher/american. So hypocritical !!! Slumdog definetly arouses sympathy, pity, excitement, compassion for Indian slums, Indian people. I bet you on that as i live in US and most of my peers are Americans. From my stand point, i do not see any convincing reality besides the slum life in the movie and Danny boyle adapts "Vikas Swarup's" novel targeted only for Western audience and his pride. If only someone would not come to my country and show how/what it is all about the way Danny shows, my reasoning and logic would have been different. Why should an Indian like me be so critical when his country name is on the tongue of evert American? But i and neither do my country need the worlds sympathy by showcasting the poor life in our films. We are what we are but we will not be always like this. We follow the hype and get caught in trap to watch the film, same was with me. I do not recommend this movie to any Indian, thats for sure but even if you do watch it, i'll be more than happy to read your comments on my blog. I'll rate the movie 4/10.