I am an avid fan of Danny Boyle movies and his new movie Slum dog Millionaire is by far the best from Boyle.Although the movie opened early November it didn’t get much attention initially but gradually by December it won the accolades from general audience as well as critics.I watched it in December and I was really impressed by the way he depicted the story a young boy from slum in Mumbai.The audience gave a standing ovation after the movie.
The story depicted the sad but the ground reality of the poverty and struggle for survival in one of the biggest slums in the world.The movie’s real strength was the realistic depiction of young kids being forced in to child labor and more horrendously the way they are handicapped and thrown in to streets for begging and prostitution.It also portrayed the hope and love that triumph in the most difficult of the times.
It was destined to won many awards and I was exalted when it won four golden globe awards including the best music score by an A.R Rehman , the first Indian to win a Golden globe award.I was going through the reviews of the movie and I came across this article that some of the Indian audiences didn’t like the portrayal of India in such a poor light exposing the underbelly of poverty that’s right next to the sprawling buildings which represent the surging Indian economy.Even couple of my friends argued that the film showed only the negative side with out showing the positive aspects that India is experiencing.
I feel that we are missing the whole point of film making.First of all the film is based on a novel written by an Indian and Boyle did an excellent job of making a movie on that story and portraying the reality.the story indeed is a saga of struggle, hope and love in the slums of Mumbai.The argument that positive aspects were not showed in the movie sounds absurd,when the whole movie is about the young boy’s life and his hope that carried him to meet his lady love.The movie is not some feel good movie that shows lives of people being perfect with all the happiness in their lives.A good movie can only be made when the director makes a movie according to what the story demands rather than making a story for what the movie demands.
I feel that those who are arguing against the movie don’t realize the sad reality that these are the things that every common man faces in his life.Is it not true that children are being trafficked in to flesh trade, begging, drug business.The movie got enough media attention for highlighting the plight of the children in slums of India.This would help in mounting pressure on the government to tackle these issues and bring about necessary reforms and laws to eradicate this evil.Its a sad thing that,although many Indian directors showed the ugly side, they didn’t get western media attention.
The other argument that the western media portrays India in a stereotypical fashion of land of elephants, yogis and snake charmers and poverty and this movie is no different is wrong.although it showed the poverty,the depiction of the elements of love, hope and struggle in the lives and how they overcome the adversities gives us enough inspiration to think about the various aspects in our lives that we take them for granted.
No comments:
Post a Comment