You know this movie has received many awards including Golden Globes and Oscars. The two child actors [Rubina-Azhar]casted in the movie are from the slums of Mumbai.Now,the west has known India better than ever before. As such,many in the west believe that India is a country with mud roads and bullock carts and this movie has done its part to reinforce and renew their beliefs that India is a third/fourth world country with unsuitable living conditions.
Here are my experiences on this movie. Few in my apartment complex has stopped by my house to say a word about this movie as how wonderful and excellent the movie was.I can't comprehend whether there was pity in their tone or an exclamation as how this guy spoke English and came to America ! At my work,i'm the only desi guy. Those colleagues,whom i have never met,stopped by me to say a word about the movie ["I'd never take a flight to Mumbai" ; "Do people really live in those slums there?"].I even had a student ask me about the living conditions in India !
Uh ! How should i react to these people ?. I know there are homeless and tent cities across this country but do i tell them that ? I don't know...Let me know your thoughts !!
EDIT 1:
Sundar's comment as a post on his blog !!
EDIT 2:
7 comments:
what started as a comment here, is now a post at...
http://sundar72.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-does-one-say.html
Anyhow this movie got world’s attention on India. Jai Ho is so energetic and fun. ARR Rocks!
lol sarcasm would help you know - oh you should go to the villages we all live in trees ;p
american tent cities >> indian tent cities
ATC - has people who have fallen into bad times
ITC - people born into bad times and most probably die into bad times
ATC - people can work hard and get out
ITC - people work hard how muchever they can, still die paupers
ATC - governments try to prevent these
ITC - governments try to start more of these (no diff between DMK/ADMK, BJP/Congress, etc)
ATC - minimum standard of living guaranteed by the local government
ITC - caught me there...
I hope you know what is called Drama. It's a drama with romance, enjoy the creativity of director. If people can watch "Satya" and "Company". Did not you enjoy movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon". Enjoy it on a positive edge of life. Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) is a good example as well. Bottom line is You should not get too personal with stories like these. It's low budget well edited movie.
My comment as an American who has never been to India:
Prejudice is not so much the product of attitudes within a particular group as the byproduct of *communications* between people from different groups. What you think "many in the west" believe about India is really what you have heard/seen/read a relative few westerners express.
Often the most opinionated people can be the most ill-informed, and most expressive of their ideas. But when one who bases his own opinions upon stupid things that others say is likely to end up misinformed about others, too.
Anyway I guess my point is this: if people say silly thing to you, don't take it personally. Remember that most people, however ignorant they may sound to you, are asking because they are interested. This is usually a lot better than them not being interested. just tell people who ask that that is a part of India but India is a huge place and that is only part of it, which has been dramatized.
If anyone "congratulates" you on Slumdog -which I couldn't even imagine happening if I not witnessed something absurdly similar re Obama's election- just laugh and say "thanks." Let them figure it out on their own. We do have a bit of societal thing with patronizing political correctness here, but it will take years to grow out of. You won't be able to do much about it with a few barbed retorts.
PS sorry for the horrible spelling and grammar above.
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