India is apparently rejoicing right now. Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars with 8 awards, including Best Picture. Not bad for a film that nearly didnt make it to the cinemas. Yadayadaya….

I am not so thrilled. I dont think it deserved the awards it got. I am thrilled that AR Rahman got the awards, I think he is a brilliant composer. And although Slumdog is probably not his best work to date, he deserves the recognition. I dont have a problem with that.

What I do have problems with is the Best Picture title. And I say problems because there is more than one. Apart from the fact that the story, the acting, everything else about it, was average at best. It certainly wasnt the best movie out of all the nominees. However, thats by the by. That’s for the judges to decide.

Coming back to the problems I have, first of all, I have a big problem with the title. Does anyone else find it extremely derogatory? Gali ka kutta. Just because it is a story about some of India’s most deprived people, it doesnt automatically mean they are slumdogs. I find it even more irksome that some British firangi decided on the title. What does he really know about slums and dogs? He paid 20,000 Rs to the kids who played Jamal and Latika as kids. I guess he knew enough about slumdogs to know that this would be a huge amount for them. I wont even get into the way he has treated these kids, because that can be a post in itself.

However, I can live with the title. But what really gets my goat is why, time and again, stories of poor, deprived and filthy India get so much international attention, and stories that depict other aspects of India dont even get so much as a nod. Satyajit Ray’s entire career was based on selling what he called the ‘humanity’ of India. Authors like Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and more lately, Aravind Adiga have jumped on the same bandwagon. And then Danny Boyle follows. When Vikas Swarup wrote the book, it was more of a Forrest Gump type of story….a story of being in the right place at the right time. But when Mr Boyle made it into a movie, that got sidelined. It became more of a story that made the white man all over the world feel thankful for his cushy life, and feel pity for people who werent as lucky as him.

The posters for Slumdog Millionaire at the local cinemas here describe it as “The feel-good movie of the year” and “the triumph of the human spirit against all odds”. I disagree completely. Now Lagaan was a feel-good movie about the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. But the rest of the world didnt see it as such. Taare Zameen Par was a beautiful movie about a very relevant topic. But how many people outside of India have even heard of it? Now Sheila Dikshit has announced that she is waiving off the entertainment tax on the movie because it has boosted tourism in the country. Had you heard about that? Apparently, the slum tour industry has taken off!

Slums are very much a part of India, but there is just so much more to India than just slums. And it saddens me to no extent that the rest of the world doesnt see that. There are discussion forums on travel to India where people are wondering whether there are any ATMs in India, and whether they will be able to find cutlery in the country, or should they bring their own when they come over. And we only have ourselves to blame for that, for we have built this image of India in the world.

So no, I am not rejoicing at Slumdog Millionaire taking the Oscars by a storm. And I am not even that patriotic towards India, but I am still very offended by this movie.