The obligatory post
I love Rahman. I’ve loved him ever since I was a little girl and first heard his music in Roja. I am very happy that he won the Oscar. I would have been happier if he had won it for his best work (which Slumdog certainly isn’t) and if it didn’t take a white man’s film to precipitate this recognition. But I am happy.
Slumdog Millionaire is another matter. I can’t pretend to be surprised considering opinion polls all over the Internet predicted its win. But at a certain level, I am astonished. It’s beautifully shot and I loved the soundtrack. Some of the scenes were memorable. But an Oscar? Really?
Most people who’ve had a problem with Slumdog seem to parrot the same boring (and to my mind, ridiculous), pseudo-patriotic argument of ‘how dare anyone show our dirty underbelly’. The one we carefully keep layered up in all seasons. I have no problems with anyone showing anyone else’s underbelly. What I do have a problem with is weak story and bad acting. And then there’s the small matter of realism.
Now, clearly, there’s ‘reality’ and there’s reality. Slumdog specialises in one kind. There are the mutilated beggars, the prostitution, the evil mafia but it’s all so nicely sugarcoated with the big story of Redemption and Hope that in the end, all one walks away with is a happy song and visions of them dancing beside empty trains. The mutilated beggars, the prostitution, the domestic violence, police cruelty — all of it forgotten with a humming tune.
Because the movie cleverly skirts around the other reality. The one that happens to real people as opposed to movie people. The one in which poor boys do not know the answers to all the quiz questions because, well, the lack of education? — it’s a bit of a hindrance. The one in which it takes more to rescue a trafficked girl than two teenage boys with one gun. The one in which the simpering heroine is not saved by the love of a good man and has to either cope with the mess — or find her own way out.
Now, I’d be okay with all this skirting around reality (after all, I’m an avid Bollywood consumer) if the movie wasn’t being talked about as ‘realistic’. The fact that it is being talked about as realistic makes me think that many people are seriously delusional. Or there are two kinds of reality and people like one kind but not the other.
Bring on the slums, dude, but throw in a good ol’ love story, will ya? And make it, you know, hopeful?
Okay, so let’s move on to what’s worse about the movie. What’s worse about the movie is its hollow messaging as Mitu Sengupta at Alternet points out:
The film’s real problem is that it grossly minimizes the capabilities and even the basic humanity of those it so piously claims to speak for. It is no secret that much of “Slumdog” is meant to reflect life in Dharavi, the 213-hectare spread of slums at the heart of Mumbai. The film’s depiction of the legendary Dharavi, which is home to some one million people, is that of a feral wasteland, with little evidence of order, community or compassion. Other than the children, the “slumdogs,” no-one is even remotely well-intentioned. Hustlers, thieves, and petty warlords run amok, and even Jamal’s schoolteacher, a thin, bespectacled man who introduces him to the Three Musketeers, is inexplicably callous. This is a place of evil and decay; of a raw, chaotic tribalism.
Read the full thing.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Wow! That packed a solid punch!
February 26th, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Liked this post! I really liked this film.
Still, Slumdog Millionaire deserved a few Oscars only, in my humble opinion. So, why did SM win 8 Oscars?!
Because “the heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of!”
The power of human emotions can really overwhelm. It is a telltale sign that the ‘heart’ still calls the shots in a troubled and deteriorating world.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Couldn’t agree more, even though I haven’t seen the film. I think Mitu’s review really rings close to the truth. I have shot documentary several times in Dharavi, and know that it’s not exactly a den full of criminals. A lot of people there live normal lower middle class lives, struggling to make their lives better.
And what you say is so right, the problem is not with a story of hope and redemption, when it is a Bollywood masala film. But when it is slated as ‘realistic’, it treads on dangerous grounds.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:52 PM
but anu, is slumdog worse than Titanic? I haven’t seen the movie, so it is a sincere question. and i completely agree with all your arguments as to why the movie should be panned… definitely not for the so called poverty tourism.
as for rehman’s oscar, i think he himself said, when he got the globe, that he believed SM wasn’t his best. owning every single album that he has ever produced, like any true fan, i know his genius revealed itself better in several other compositions. but at the end of the day, we make too much of the academy awards. how different are they than our very own filmfare awards? and they don’t be claim to be for the global film fraternity, which is why they have a separate foreign film category. rehman’s music for a western film was the only way he could’ve got the award. which effectively makes SM his debut…
February 27th, 2009 at 2:24 PM
Mamma Mia:
Did it? I guess i disliked the movie more than even i realised!
Vikas: I have nothing against people liking the film. I am questioning whether it deserves the ‘critical acclaim’ it has received. The masses can like lots of things. Anything can become popular. But one expects jury panels to exercise critical faculties that are more sound, better informed and wiser. Or at least one used to.
Banno: Exactly! I don’t care when an unpretentious masala film shows nonsense. The worst part is there are enough bleeding hearts who’ll watch this, think its reality and pat themselves on the back for being so socially aware.
Aarti: Hmm…tough competition
. That was another baffler. Maybe one should stop expecting anything from the Oscars.
But my point is not only about it being ‘worse’ in the pure film sense. I am less inclined to take a movie about some ship that sank a gadzillion years ago seriously in any case. Titanic is like a Bollywood masala flick — the kind my favourite SRK stars in usually
. My problem with Slumdog is that people are lauding it for its ‘realism’ and somewhere there need to be questions raised about what is being sold as reality.
Agree with you about making too much of the Oscars. And it’s true that they don’t claim to be for the global film frat. Am quite yay on Rahman’s behalf, more because it must have made him happy than because we needed validation of his talent.
February 28th, 2009 at 12:11 AM
It’s a thought out post, but why is the reaction to the movie affecting your opinion of it? How is it a part of the movie if somebody describes it as realistic? And I think people find it realistic more in terms of the depiction of people’s behavior, mannerisms and their interaction with one another, which is just because Hollywood film-makers have a better hold on that kind of stuff. I don’t think people really find it ‘realistic’ in the sense that it truly shows the state of their lives. The look is realistic.
And as far as the movie doesn’t show the real, well, it _is_ being sold as a movie, and not as reality.
March 1st, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Vib: My opinion of the movie is not affected by the reaction to it. I am commenting on critical reaction to it i.e. disagreeing with it to some extent.
Like I said, two kinds of reality. But a bit dangerous because enough people will mistake one for the other. More than quibbles about the storyline, the article i linked to brings up some other important points.
March 8th, 2009 at 11:17 AM
I agree whole heartedly with you on one point.
A.R. Rehman got felicitated for one of his mediocre works..
Whereas there are so many brilliant gems of his that went unnoticed
March 10th, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Debajyoti: I suppose as Aarti pointed out, it would take an American film to gain recognition at an American award ceremony. Better late than never, perhaps. Thanks for your comment.
March 12th, 2009 at 10:51 AM
It’s a great feeling when you notice the same thought process out of someother Brain. Welcome to the club or should I ask for an application to join this club.
There are so many Tamil songs of Rahman, that are awesome. But just for the fact that the rest of the world cant think in TAMIL, it lost it’s charm. I know Music knows no language, but the west thinks only in English.
I am so proud for the fact that India is getting noticed for several elements in the past. It took a director from the other side to showcase the gem that we always had…
Loved your blog…
Cheers.
May 1st, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Anindita: agree with all your points in your original post. Though also agree with Arti that we make too much of the Oscars. A good point about Titanic. I guess it’s sad – it is to me – that the first Indian film to get the Oscar (well, several) was so mediocre.
I’d add two points to yours about this film. One, I found the idea of police torture in this particular case – not per se, but in this case – also unrealistic. Two, it wasn’t so much that the plot was unrealistic about everything else as that it was so damn cliched. Not an ounce of originality anywhere.
And yes, the happy ending… Well, what can one say…