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Good point Prita. Reality cannot be wished away . And if somebody
chooses to make a film on it, we have to take it easy.
SO many of our films are on slum people-- Chakra with Smita patil and
Naseeruddin Shah, AAkrosh with Shabana Azmi, Company with AJay
Devgan...... THe list is long.
We have appreciated these movies. THey were close to reality and
interesting. WHy do we wince if a foreigner depicts the same things?
A book titled "shantaram" too is about a slum fellow of mumbai.It is
by a foreigner and a best seller.Similarly "City of Joy"
We are a developing country in transition. Our poverty cannot go away
in a night.Besides, a mere decade of our middle class affluence
cannot bring much of a change to our image internationally.We are
still clubbed with Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh etc. out there.

And so what if the  movie was about a slumdog???
THey are people too and as much as us .
THis reminds me of the famous poem "TAJMAHAL"by Sahir Ludhianavi
"MERE MEHBOOB KAHIN AUR MILA KAR MUJHSE.....
IK SHAHENSHAH NE BANWA KE HASEEN TAJMAHAL,
HUM GAREEBON KI MOHABBAT KA UDAYA HAI MAZAAK"

Is India still the 'slumdog' for Western audiences?
Sun, Jan 18 03:21 PM

New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) "SlumDog Millionaire" has won over the
Western audiences with its 'fairy tale in a Mumbai slum' storyline
but back home the film has opened up a heated debate about the
stereotyped representation of India and Mumbai in the Western films.
None other than Bollywood's Big B, Amitabh Bachchan joined forces
with the critics of Slumdog in his blog.

"If "Slumdog Millionaire" 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 underbelly
exists and thrives even in the most developed nations," Bachchan
wrote. "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," he said. But despite the astounding
success achieved by the film, which is being touted as the next big
winner at the Oscars, Bishakha Dutta, a documentary filmmaker based
in Mumbai, is articulate about her disappointment with the much hyped
film.

She says, "The film takes each and every cliche there is about India
and Mumbai and puts it in its plot. The result is a film that takes
you from one horror of Mumbai to another, in a plot that is
incredulously unbelievable.

" Shyam Benegal, veteran film maker who is credited as the pioneer of
art house cinema in India refuses to take sides and says "I have not
seen the film but answering the question from a theoretical point of
view, as a foreign director filming in India, Danny would view his
surroundings as a foreigner would and that is natural." PTI.