The Slumdog backlash begins

Thu, 01/15/2009 - 5:33pm

On Tuesday, Dan Drezner wondered how Indian audiences might react to the colorful depiction of India's urban poverty in Danny Boyle's film Slumdog Millionaire. If Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan is any indication, Slumdog might be in trouble:

"If Slumdog Millionaire projects India as a third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations," he bellowed. "It's just that the Slumdog Millionaire idea, authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a westerner, gets creative global recognition."

On the other hand, the Guardian's Nirpal Dhaliwal says India's movie elite are just rattled because no Bollywood director would have the guts to make a film like Boyle's. Indian audiences will get to make up their own minds on Jan. 23.

Joshua Keating | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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I'm very curious about the Indian reaction to this...

by Filmi Girl on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 2:38pm

While Amitabh Bachchan is often overly sensitive to perceived slights of India, himself, and his family - I think in this case he has a good point. It does seem awfully convenient that the one "Bollywood" movie everyone in the West is excited about was, in fact, made by a white British man.

I linked to a great quote from an actual boy from the slums:

"We saw some parts of the shooting, and that was nice, but I won't see the film," said Alpesh, also 12.

"I only like Shah Rukh Khan films," he said, referring to the popular actor who usually plays the romantic hero in big-budget Bollywood productions.

At the end of the day, Slumdog tells the same old story we Westerners love to hear about India - the "Gosh, don't you feel sorry for those poor boys" story. Sure, in this case it was rooted in Parinda and Deewar but it still a Westerner's view of India.