This movie caught my attention when it took the Oscars by storm. There has been a lot of debate on whether the movie depicted India in the correct manner. I watched the movie a couple of days back only. To summarize, for the most part of the movie, it does portray a negative image of India. I don’t think that anybody is debating that some things portrayed in the movie don’t happen in India.As I understand, the debate is around whether a balanced image has been presented about India. However, to be fair to the movie, the ending is obviously uplifting. So although it does portray a lot of the ills in India, it also does try to highlight the positives too. There are definitely gruesome scenes, . especially the deliberate blinding of the kids for begging.the torture by the police. However there definitely are uplifting parts to the movie too like the part where the police are finally convinced that the guy is telling the truth and his going on to win the game and his love back.
The cast acted very well. The music was good. However according to me, it definitely is not Rahman’s best. This is not to say that he does not deserve an Oscar. He definitely does but probably for some of his earlier Bollywood music. However. considering the fact that hardly any movies from Bollywood make it to the Oscar Foreign film category.it is better that he gets his due recognition atleast for Slumdog Millionaire.
There has also been a lot of debate on whether if the same movie was made by an Indian director, would it have gathered the accolades and awards it did recieve? I think that is still open to debate.
Overall. I think everyone should watch this movie.