The fact that this movie has evoked my need to review movies again on my blog, is the only credit I would offer this 130-minute piece of nonsense!
As if the name ’Slumdog’ isn’t offensive enough to those living in the slums, the fact that the London-based director Danny Boyle has picked a London-based Indian boy, with an unmistakable English accent, to play the part of a slum boy, offends the intelligence of this film’s viewers!
In which part of India would you see a boy living on the street speak so fluently in crisp English accent? I am really interested to know!
This film seems confused in its choice of language. The slum kids grow up speaking shuddh Mumbai Hindi complete with Hindi bhajans and abuses and suddenly when they are teenagers they start rambling in ’dude-English’, the kind you see only in Hollywood.
Maybe Danny didn’t know what he was aiming for: The Bollywood Filmfare Awards or The Hollywood Oscars. With a bit of tango, he got lucky with the latter.
Critics of this film are right in proclaiming that this film is nothing about India. It is in fact a mockery of our struggle to match up to the superpower countries.
This film boasts of India in its cruelty to slum kids, which wouldn’t take place in a country like America; where a boy in the slum has no idea who Mahatma Gandhi is, but is aware of Benjamin Franklin’s impression on the dollar; where there seems to be no hope for slum children but to end up as prostitutes or gangsters or in this case, win a jackpot; where the host of a reality show wouldn’t give a damn about insulting a show contestant from a humble background on national television (something neither Shahrukh nor Amitabh have done and that is why it surprises me!)
This film is perhaps a way for the first world countries to have fun at the expense of our country. Thanks to the extremely well-meaning, patriotic and loyal Indian cast and crew of this film who have sold their country to the world for a few extra dollars.
This movie may win a couple of Oscars, but it can never win a place in the heart of a true Indian!