Been long since i logged in.. too many topics swirl in my mind.. news and issues to talk about.. but ill take one at a time.
My recent thrill of watching “Slumdog Millionare” after all the hype of the Ggs and Oscar nominations and not to forget the controversies from the educated, modernised Indian perspective. It s a film which no one with the brown skin dared to do or if at all done would've been type cast as an award aspiring documentary. Kudoos to Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy's venture for intercepting the Indian Oliver Twist with music, dance and a true sense of Indianess.
Slumdog in many ways resembles to me Oliver and his travails as an orphaned boy. Could it be Danny Boyle's British lineage? As we holler about westernization and pubbing balancing a Mcdonalds Burgher on one hand and recycled paper bags from Lifestyle a foreigner landing in Mumbhai with a camera would hardly capture the modern young Indian. For the western mind it is the slums, cows and mud strewn by lanes which India is and none can easily defy their imagined vision. As much as Bungalows and Villas spring in lush localities, as much as youngsters thrive on Mall culture there is still the hidden face of society living behind the high rise buildings, breathing the stench from Five Star lavatories, picking rags and begging for a living. It 'll take years to change this facet of the country.
With the rise of IT culture the slum dogs of the nation have faded into oblivion. Only if people thought of giving them a proper shelter and a culture. Angry grimaces filled up the theatre when little Jamal dived into a pool of excrement, but it is the reality. How many times have we passed by men pissing carelessly on the main roads and excrements scattered on pavements, early in the morning in Chennai's big wig roads? These people have the space not the thought or culture that tells them where to do it..
Whether a real life Jamal could be born in the local slums or not is a question of sorts but “Slumdog Millionare” was an eye opener in many ways. And thanks to Mr. Danny who peered deep within the superficiality of the content Indian Upper middle- class face and exposed the reality of the struggling class of slum dwellers.
My amateur perceptions of the making of the film is yet to come, see ya in the next blog!
