Just saw ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.. I was disappointed… It ‘craftily’ translates, onto the Screen, a host of negative Indian Images entrenched deeply in Western Minds !

This Saturday afternoon I saw the highly acclaimed ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, winner of Four Golden Globe Awards and just nominated for the Oscars in Ten categories. It was released in Mumbai just yesterday

The Movie did not tug at my heart like ‘Taare Zameen Par’ which was not shortlisted in the Oscars in the Foreign Films Category… I was disappointed.

Amitabh Bachchan’s Blog http://bigb.bigadda.com/2009/01/13/day-265/ raised controversy as media played up that the ‘Big B’ slammed the Film for portraying poverty…. ‘Big B’ accuses the Media and especially two Delhi based Indian journalists of the Gaurdian, Uk for their incontinence

Relevant Extracts of  what Amitabh Bachchan actually blogged from Paris on January 13, 2009, for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ are as below:

A couple of hours, a few damp smelling minutes of those under the English Channel, self mobile operated pictures, early morning French countryside and PARIS..!!

The Salon du Cinema team meets me at the entrance to Paris-Nord station and after an exchange of greetings and flowers and video and stills, out into the wet and cold Paris streets, chased by a huge group of women, who scream and shout and clap, making you wonder what it is that I may have done to receive such an enthusiastic welcome in a country that hardly knows who I am. But, Fouad my driver and sincere personal guide during all my recent visits to the city, gathers me quickly into his car and drives off. They are migrants or asylum seekers from nearby or distant country and are begging he informs me. My ego brought into place I am saddened by their plight. Conditions the world over are so similar. Perceptions differ, but the reality of life and existence, unchanged.

On blog, comments for the film ‘SlumDog Millionaire’ and the anger by some on its contents, prompt me to say the above. If SM projects India as Third World dirty under belly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky under belly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations. Its just that the SM idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not.

The commercial escapist world of Indian Cinema had vociferously battled for years , on the attention paid and the adulation given to the legendary Satyajit Ray at all the prestigious Film Festivals of the West, and not a word of appreciation for the entertaining mass oriented box office block busters that were being churned out from Mumbai. The argument. Ray portrayed reality. The other escapism,  fantasy and incredulous posturing. Unimpressive for Cannes and Berlin and Venice. But look how rapidly all that is changing.  read more