Slumdog debate: The unrealised stardom

Aahana Bhatnagar Delhi

We Indians applaud the success of Slumdog Millionaire  at the Oscars, we applaud the victory of ‘Indian Music', we applaud the fame our Indian actors and technicians got there, more ironically, we even applaud for the grand recognition of the extensively glorified ‘Indian poverty' in the film.

Have Indians become blindfolded? Can't they see beyond fame? It is a matter of shame that we are applauding for the fact that we Indians have certified ourselves as a poor country, full of slums and more importantly SLUMDOGS. Poverty and slums are the only things left in India now, which are picked up as the ‘hot favourite subjects' by foreign directors. And by just depicting this one side of our country, one gets the most prestigious award of the world.

If studying just ‘Poverty and Slums' in India can bring these foreign technicians ‘close' to our country, then they do not deserve such recognition which is all incongruous, irrelevant and incomplete, without even knowing the other side of it. Can't they pick up classical Indian culture and make movies ? No, because they do not want to, because it will not make them earn awards, simply because it will not ‘sell'. Because poverty is an ‘in' phenomenon for them, they exaggerate the fact and project themselves as ‘rich' enough to deal with such sensitive issues.

Many ambiguous questions still exists. Why do our famous actors (would not name them) publicise such issues on a global platform? They are the faces of India, they are the one whom people follow and idealise. If they will magnify such a portrayal of Indian poverty in a ‘foreign film', then how will a common man perceive such an issue. The instant celebrity status of the film's no fame NRI cast is just because Indian poverty sells abroad.

Had it been a film on Indian diverse culture and aesthetics, had it been on India's growing intellect, had it been on India's advancement in myriad fields, Indians would have been happy to applaud, to cheer, to encourage, to perform yajnas all over the country for the success of the film. But no such luck.

Even while tens of thousands of poor Indians die slowly, impoverished and brutalised, in filthy urban ghettos with no infrastructural facilities or social dignity, we all go overboard celebrating the slumdog millionnaire's singular and solitary. One success story, does it reflect the entire 'slum-nation' of marginal India of billions. And how many more films can you make before their earth and sky become worth living for human beings, as Indian citizens who deserve the success stories of this democracy as anybody else?

The writer is a student of Development Communication, MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi