Slumdog Millionaire and “Jai ho”

I had read so many reviews and mostly contrasting that I thought i`ll give SM a miss. I hate bad movies and after Chandni Chowk to China my appetite has taken a huge blow. Dev D restored it but only a little. But then as an emotional Indian when I saw it sweeping all Academy people and bagging awards in bagful I finally decided to watch it.

I have seen couple of Novel Adaptations…namesakes (no connection between movie and the book), Horse whisperer, Lord of the rings, Da Vinci code...etc...And not all movies have done justice to the book. So I had my apprehensions.

So my point of view on the 8 Oscars winner is:

Is it the Best Film: No I have Seen better, May be TZP was better but then TZP was not nominated SM was

Is it the worst Film: Definitely not. We have had Dilli6, CC2C, Billu Barber, Singh Is King, Hey Baby, Kismat Konnection , Tashan...

Does it Sell Poverty Porn: May be but I am again unsure. If I accept that it sells India in Bad light then I should be calling it a realistic depiction. And if it’s not India then it’s purely creative depiction then there no issue of selling my country short.

 What I don’t understand the sudden hysteria and pseudo intellectualism. I mean we essentially are a country of dumb cinema. our highest grosser are Ghajni & OSO (definitely not intelligent…unless you also ve short term memory loss) and sorry to say Mr. Amitabh you have also done movies like Lal Badshah and we have seen them so the whole point of view of selling my country short is invalid cause our films have been categorized as circus and that’s been the reputation whatever you may feel.

Does it worth an Oscar: who knows…when SRK can win filmfare for Ramjane, or Kareena for Jab we met… I wonder do we even have a case.

Another Debatable issue: Rehman`s best work? Not really …I also believe the best work was in Bombay(funnily it too was a love story  based on the same city) but we never bothered about Oscar then. So why bother now. Rehman`s been phenomenal from a decade.

Child Artists have been excellent, Cinematography is beyond words and couple of dialogues is defining. (like when Jamal tells Lathika “ I love you” and she says So!! ) What I didn’t like , the Movie was trying to stretch the scope. Story making amends to include slums, communal riots, prostitution, auctioning virginity, organized begging all via 1 common chord makes the life of the protagonist extremely interesting and less believable. But then as I said if you don’t think it’s realistic, arty Oscar type cinema it makes the whole thing worth watching.

So is it an Indian Film or is it still westerner`s view? Considering Maharashtra Congress seeking credit for its Oscars then who can question otherwise. I think film has intelligent use of wit and what it has managed to do is to put countries intellectuals and politicians made to use unintelligent ridicule. But yes I think movie is Indian. Not just the technicians and cast but also in treatment, use of laud background score, lauder characters, song and dance ritual, the over dramatic love story.

I am not overboard or anything with its Indian-ness. Like when every second NRI kid wins the spelling bee contest you just feels nice about his/her Indian roots despite being nothing Indian about it. It will not increase any remittance to India or FDI in Indian Schools or colleges. So just feel nice about Movie`s Indian roots and be happy.

Considering It at least did changed the slum-dog/life of the child artists involved in it :-  “ Jai- Ho”