All my foreign net-friends on Yoville, have always pestered me with questions about India. Sometimes, frankly, I had had no knowledge of the questions they had asked. My Egyptian friend would ask me all about Indian movies. He is a big Amitabh Bachan admirer and has watched almost all his movies. I remember he had bored me with his talk about “Zanjeer” and “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham”. One of them had asked me about “Varanasi, the city of temples” and my reply had been “Oh Varanasi is the city of temples!?”

The point that I am trying to make here is that India is being watched closely by the whole world. Enter any bookshop and you will find innumerable books on India, many of which are written by foreign authors! It is a strange nation, with strange ways that generates curiosity in millions around the world. Keeping all progress in science, technology and literature apart, India is still considered an under-developed nation – a nation with millions still unemployed, millions living in slums, or even on the roads, wandering from one place to another. It is a nation that has no national religion, yet witnesses communal conflicts. It is a nation of wandering sages and helpless beggars. It is a nation whose streets witness massive traffic jams due to cows and buffaloes and camels on the roads. It is also a nation that has festival season every month and not just in the month of December. All this holds a certain charm for the people of the world.

So what happens when a low-budget Hollywood movie, completely shot in the slums of Mumbai, is made? Naturally, the whole world rushes to the cinema halls to get a taste of the real India – the real slummy India.

Today, I watched Slumdog Millionaire (with my mother) for the fourth (fifth?? Sixth??) time. Watch Slumdog Millionaire for the first time, and you will find that it is an out-and-out entertainer, fast-paced and full of suspense – a rags-to-riches story of a boy from the slums of Mumbai.

Watch it again with an eye for detail, and you will find that the story is about a battle against all odds in life. It carries a hidden message “Survival of the fittest”.

The protests against the movie, made by certain sections of the Indian society were completely unjustified. The movie did not debase India or its slums. Instead the movie brought the plight of the people living in these gritty slums, where no foreigner would dare to venture, out to the world. It says “Of course, India has made miles of progress (don’t you notice the huge buildings in the movie?), yet there are these poor hapless people!”

Did we ever think that the blind beggar we ignore at the traffic signal daily might have lost his mother in some riots? That he might have been blinded by some men to make him beg for eternity on the streets? I know this sounds way too exaggerated, but did we ever think that the woman tapping on our car windows for a few rupees might have a story to tell? I myself have shouted at beggars to drive them away from my house, when in fact I could have given them some change or last night’s dinner. So if a movie makes us think about the things we wish to overlook, is it bad? Slumdog Millionaire was almost left unnoticed, but it gained popularity by word-of-mouth, so how can we accuse it of cashing in on India’s poverty? Why did we not protest when the movie was made itself? The protests in themselves helped to make the film even more popular! Another reason for the film’s golden run! Had the movie been made by an Indian film maker, I am almost sure it would not have been half as fabulous! At the very least, it would have contained at least two songs featuring slum women in bikinis!

Repeated viewing of Slumdog Millionaire will open your eyes to other tiny details, which are all beautiful reasons for its popularity. There is the meat shop with meat hanging on hooks in the window of the shop in full view of the crowd, which does not mind it one bit. There is also the scene right after the two brothers escape on the train when Salim sets right the shirt of his younger brother and tells him “Tu uski fikar mat kar (Don’t worry about her)”. The manner in which Salim performs this action is so spontaneous, so brotherly, so loving, brings a lump to one’s throat. There are the Amitabh-crazy slum people, creating a stampede for a glimpse of their star, someone whom they cannot imagine themselves to be. Then there is the scene on the train where the Sardar family is having its lunch and spots the little thief trying to steal a roti, and throws him off the train. Nothing can be closer to us Indians. Most (not all, I accept) of us would rather feed our overfed, chubby kid with the spare rotis than give it to the thief. We would not spare a thought for the little kid, whether he might be hungry, cold, tired. We would not call him inside our train compartment and give him a full meal. We would rather throw him off the train. After all, he would deserve it, he is a thief.

Writer Salman Rushdie had commented that he found Slumdog Millionaire to be ridiculous as it plied impossibility upon impossibility. In its main plot, this might be true. But in its sub-plots and other passing scenes, no, it does not.

All these reasons combined with superb acting, excellent camera work and wonderful music made the Slumdog, a Millionaire!

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