Slumdogs or underdogs?

'SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE'!
Everyone's talking about it. The whole of India feels proud that A.R.Rahman has got 2 Oscar nominations for the film while Resul Pookutty has a nomination for Sound mixing. Add to it the fact that the film stars Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan,Saurabh Shukla, Frieda Pinto, Mahesh Manjrekar & Dev Patel( of Indian origin), one gets lulled into feeling that it is an Indian film.

Reality is that it is NOT an Indian film. Danny Boyle has made use of , or should I say exploited the ugly side of the city of Mumbai, put in a lot of Indian actors and a music director par excellence to perhaps, carve a niche for himself at the Oscars. India and Indians be damned!

The film does get you involved.Every Indian particularly Mumbaikars could identify with the film-- the filth and squalor of the Mumbai slums, the half-naked children,communal riots and above all Kaun Banega Crorepati or Who wants to be a Millionaire.

Some deft directorial touches are discernible. The young Jamal jumps into an open pit of a toilet and comes out fully covered with shit, runs towards his hero Amitabh Bachchan (though his face is never shown) to get an autograph. The Indians' craze for film stars being brought out by the director with a dash of humour? Another scene has the slightly older Jamal acting as a guide at the Taj Mahal and explaining to some foreign tourists that it was a big hotel that Emperor Khurram built and that Mumtaz died in a road accident. A possible dig at how foreigners are fleeced in India?

It is primarily the child stars playing the young and later teenaged Jamal, Salim and Latika who really steal the show and warm our hearts with their effortless performances.In comparison, the grown-up stars appear wooden and rather uncomfortable, perhaps wondering why had they wandered into an English film. The childeren in the film are not the archetypal, choclatey kids who mouth dialogues far beyond their ages as in Bollywood films. These chidren are street smart--they are survivors.Though they have the same likes and dislikes as children of their age, the tough environment makes them that much more self-dependent as they have to face the harsh world very early in life.

How Jamal manages to answer the different questions on the game-show and the real-life connections to the answers are well brought out.

People who watch the film will realise why Amitabh Bachchan and Sharukh Khan refused to play the role of the host in Who wants to be a Millionaire in the film which Anil Kapoor eventually did.

A 'feel-good' film in the typical Bollywood mould where true love triumphs and the underdog emerges on top. This brings us to the most important question of all--the film's title. Is it right to name the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'? Can people living in Indian slums be called slumdogs? A word which does not exist in any standard English dictionary. This has been coined by Danny Boyle to perhaps add spice to to the title. Anyway it is a poor reflection of Indian slum dwellers, why even the Indian pride. No Indian, whether he stays in a mansion, apartment or slum can be called a dog by a Westerner. Do not understand how the Indian Censor Board allowed the film to be released in India with this title. Even now it is not too late. They can still insist that the film's name be changed in India to ' Underdog Millionaire'. Will the Indian Government step in to advise the Censor Board or will all Indians be seduced by the fact that the film has bagged 10 Oscar nominations and will give a chance to an Indian , A.R.Rahman to bag a major Oscar?

Air India............tu tu main main

December 23rd, 11.40 PM:
We were on AI 442 flying from Mumbai to Singapore. Boarded well on time.Flight was to take-off at 12.10 AM . 12.30............12.45.... still no sign of movement.Boarding letter still in place. Finally, out ogf the window, I see the pilot rushing up the ladder at 12.50AM. Pretty soon, he is on the public address system apologising for the delay.Normal? Perhaps , yes, but what he added really had me in shock. The pilot made it very clear that the delay was not his fault and there had been a major mix-up in the rostering, wherein the take-off time had been stated as 12.55 AM. He promised to send a detailed note and ensure that the erring people were brought to book and reiterated that the delay was not his fault.

As the commander of the aircraft and as a senior employee of Air India, his statements were appalling.Should he not have stood up for his organisation and explained the delay as technical reasons while apologising instead of pointing fingers at others and showing himself to be not at all at fault? Needless to state, internally he should have sent a detailed report to punish those who erred. As far as Air India goes, he was a very bad ambassador.