"SLAM" dog millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire won accolades. 8 oscars out of 10 nominations, 3 of them won by two Indians. A.R.Rehman and Pookutty did the country proud and announced to the world about a talent less appreciated in the western world.

I have seen the movie and I saw it twice and I recommend it to every person I speak to. The way I see it, I like the simplicity in the story, how realistically truthful the story was. More than Danny Boyle (for realizing a story so well on screen), I would have given a literary award to the man who wrote it. Overnight the movie has become a talk of every household. I read an obscure newspaper say "Indian movie wins 8 oscars". Though I think it is a movie shot in India, story about Indians, it took a British director, an American production house and marketing and hence cannot be called an Indian movie.

Not everyone is happy however about the movie. instead of Slumdog Millionaire, now we have a SLAMdog millionaire. So who is not happy about the movie? Well our very own countrymen (Not all of them, but many of them). The very people who feel the name Slumdog is derogatory, that the movie did not show an economically prosperous India, the movie showed India in a bad light by showing the slums.

I have a problem with all these protests. I dont know how many of these protesters have actually seen the movie and as I see, most of these protesters are from the very slums where the movie was shot. The problem with this is, the protagonist of the movie Jamal Malik is a slumdog in the eyes of an Indian society who think they are better than him, the people from the slums don't call themselves that. In other words, a villain in Hindi movie calling the hero "A Gali ka Kutta" (A dog on the streets). The word Slumdog does not represent a population and is not a word that identifies that population, it is a term used by an oppressive society which sees them in that form. There is nothing wrong with, an in your face title that says "A person whom you call a Slumdog, has triumphed over all".

The story is more than just about a Slumdog. It is about Hope, hardships, right and wrong, about choices and in the heart of all these, the movie is about an integral part of India. Are we this blind that we are ashamed of admitting what is as real and true as the Malls and cell phone toting India? Should the movie be called Chandni Chowk Millionaire? If this movie is about the slums so what? So are many movies about so many other places in India. If you are so ashamed of the slums in our country, we should be doing something about it. Those kids who acted in the movie live in those slums. The movie IS ABOUT THREE KIDS FROM THE SLUMS? And an author has every right to write what he sees and has seen, and a movie maker will take that story to the masses. Whats wrong in it?

I remember when Deepa Mehta wanted to make the movie "Water". A movie that showed the plight of widows in an erstwhile society, oppressed and left to rot. People protested, burned effigies, the beacon holders of Indian tradition (a.k.a Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal) took to the streets, burned shops, pillaged and wrecked public property. What was the result? The movie was made in Sri Lanka, sponsored by the Candian government and nominated to Oscars as a Foreign Film from Canada. And when that happened, everyone was like, oh thats is an Indian movie; Deepa Mehta made that movie; It's about India.

Billu Barber is another instance. The name barber was dropped from the movie. I guess if I make a movie about a person named Bejan Daruwala, or Abbas Tyre wala, I probably would be shot! Whats wrong with our country men? Where were you and your protests when the freakin Netas were eating your taxes and letting you wade through hip deep water in a flood? When are you Shiv Sena going to protest the incompetence of your anointed ones in the office? Why all this hula boo about a movie name? About a movie? About a valentine's day celebration? About girls going to a club?

Fight if you must, then fight Casteism, fight to remove quota based engineering and medical seats, fight those people who take the last penny out of a pensioner to sign a death certificate of his son, fight those who leave the children in these slums, who take the kids out of their schools for political rallies, fight the communal forces who shed blood in the name of the lord. Fight them, not a slumdog or a barber!