Slumdog success gets mixed reaction in India

Slumdog Millionaire took eight Oscars at Sunday’s ceremony but its roaring success has provoked mixed feelings in the Indian media.

Its use of the word “slumdog”, in particular, has provoked fury in some Indians who claim it portrays a negative stereotype of their homes. Simon Beaufoy, the film’s screenwriter, said: “I just made up the word. I liked the idea. I didn’t mean to offend anyone.”

But it appears he has. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan said the film made India look like “a third-world, dirty, underbelly, developing nation.”

On news websites, many comments seemed to agree. “This film’s success relies strongly on exploitation of Indian poverty and slums,” wrote Jiji, on Reuters.

Dr. DK Mehta, from Gujarat in India, said: “Any sensible Indian will agree that India is not what has been shown in the movie and it definitely is not a correct and complete picture of India. This also gives rise to a question, ‘is this a deliberate skew to help the film?’”

But some bloggers said Indians were in denial. KC said: “The movie showcases true facts about India and let us not hide from them! The slums are right under our noses and nothing much has been done about this.”

And two real inhabitants of the Mumbai slums said the film merely represented real events. “We have seen these things since we were 16,” they said.

Meanwhile, newspapers played up the fact that India’s two Oscar winners were Muslims. The opinion piece in the Times of India, the biggest-selling English language newspaper, said: “For all its problems, India is a multicultural experiment that works. Just take a look at the Indians who won Oscar accolades this year. They all follow different faiths but they all accepted the honours as Indians on our behalf.”

And the Indian Express editorial said: “Perhaps there is someone up there sending a message to all of us, saying that it is in our destiny to continue to be a pluralistic society, to not get taken in by hate merchants spewing venom whenever they feel like it.”