By Salil Tripathi
It was only a matter of time before someone in India rained – or dumped garbage — on the parade of Danny Boyle’s film, Slumdog Millionaire, the entertaining rags-to-riches story of a boy from a slum getting the girl of his dreams after undergoing life-changing, harsh experiences. Everyone expects the film to win big at BAFTA, and later this month, at the Oscars. But the mood in India is sour.
Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood’s greatest star (who is actually part of the plot, as the answer to the hero Jamal’s first question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire), was the first to complain, saying that the film showed India as ‘a dirty under belly third world country (sic)’ when poverty exists even in wealthy cities.
He wrote this on his ponderous blog, bigb.bigadda.com. Since then he clarified that he was only repeating what others had told him, but the damage was done.
When the film was released in India, some theatres were attacked, its posters defaced, and in some cities, cinema halls required police protection. Lawsuits have been filed against the film. Driven by the wounded pride of nationalism, class, and religion, groups have been attacking the first India-themed film since Sir Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi with a realistic chance of sweeping major international awards.
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