The world today is no doubt swinging on the beats of Jai Ho and applauding and rejoicing on the theme of Slumdog -a rags to riches story on the backdrop of aamchi Mumbai .In the process helping Slumdog to win multiple oscars .It has become the new sensation that the hollywood is now gaping at but why do all Indians are not so fanatically enthralled at this grand achievement.Why do some of the bollywood biggies are unmoved by this moving film-a film about aspirations and power of hope? Why are the vibrations of Jai Ho getting lost when it mingles with the cacophonies of a disturbing and seething Mumbai?
Having a third umpire's view will remove the cobwebs and present the Slumdogs in a more justifiable light.
Firstly,the film is neither a tour de force nor a pathbreaking movie as it is projected out to be.It is a run of the mill movie and the Bollywood churns scores of such movies every year and sadly to say,they don't even stay at the box offices for more than a month.The movie has stripped the 'India shining' image and thrown it at the center stage for the world to see the inner side of a fast growing economy.The western audience is far more sensitive and caring than we assume them to be.No matter how hard we try to hide the true India and cover it up with the garbs of modernization,the real stuff will time and again be brought to the world view by some outsider.It is a shame for all the Indian movie viewers who live in a life of hallucination and admires the reel life-poles apart from the real life.I wouldn't blame the Indian movie makers because they do come up with such topics and much better films than Slumdog-but to only see their films incompatibility with the box office.People here love to watch a song set in 5 -6 world locations; actors driving fancy cars and sporting ray ban and armani suits.People here believe reel life characters as real life characters and the real life characters as invisible characters ,who do not exist so no need to worry about them.On the contrary, they are the ones who actually represent India and not the lucky fews driving those mercedes benz in the movies.What we have shunned have been accepted by the westerners and then we are blaming them for piracy.We shunned the yoga practices and when the westerners are reviving it, we feel insecure.We are busy fighting for the slum dwellers being reffered to as 'dogs' but happy about them being treated as dogs.Its all hypocrisy in its ugliest form.
The Indian audience needs to do some serious soul searching.Face the reality with open eyes and minds.Closing your eyes does not mean the world cannot see you.Accept the fact that we are still under the shackes of hypocrisy,poverty and human rights violations and do whatever we can to give our fellow citizens a better place to live.Dont let a foreigner come to wake you up with your day dreaming and expose the reality.Poverty is not a sin, but turning away your heads from reality- is.
Slumdog for me is a real winner! Deserves all the oscars it got and great work from all the crew.I would have been immensely pleased if an Indian Director had made the movie and the hollywood had reacted in the same way as it had to Danny Boyle. The victory of Slumdog shows that humanity still exists and the compassion and sympathy shown for the movie proves it. All we need is a broader perspective and a little acknowledgement of the things around.I remember a movie- Swadesh by Ashotosh Gavarikar which went for a toss at the box office.A movie so beautifully depicting socail inequities and a global message went for a cropper.What a waste!.On the contarary films like 'Singh is King' and 'Namaste London' -rules the roost.People find comfort in the utopian world but loathes at the real beautiful world.
My humble request to all my countrymen is to please open your eyes and minds and love your country.Be rational in your thinking and demand for a better world.Stop cribbing and blaming others,start a retrospective thought of what has been lost and a futuristic plan for how to make a change in our thinking and attitude.Then only will the magical word -Jai Ho will reverberate in our head and mind.Jai Ho!!!
