Is Slumdog a Indian Film? - Page 3

Originally posted by: bheegi

Slumdog is  movie

 

Made by the West

 

For the West

 

About the East

 

 

Originally posted by: Gauri_3

 

Made y west about east is fine but I don't agree with "for the west" part of your post.  Entertainment, now a days, has a global appeal to it.  It's only YR films that are made keeping only desi audience in mind😆

Originally posted by: bheegi

 

i think the movie was made with the western audience in mind. We as Indians have seen many similar tales of rags to riches, gangsters, underworld, riots, prostitution with a bollywood style dance in the end on the railway platform. Amitabh Bachchan's old movies have all this masala. What about the British accent of the Suave Dev Patel who played the slumdog? Wasn't Dev Patel cast in this movie so the westerns could relate to him. I could relate to the kids who looked like real slum kids with an authentic accent but Dev Patel did not suit the role IMO- he was there for the west!

 

I don't think the intention of the producer and director was to have westerners "relate" to the characters.  I liked Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto.  I think they did justice to their role.  Not all slumdwellers are ugly.  Some are pretty decent looking too.  I have seen worst suited characters cast as slum dwellers or prostitutes in a Mahesh Bhatt or some other indian flick.  I think the casting in SDM was brilliant.  Everyone suited their role to a T.

 

Don't take me wrong as I actually liked the movie because of the way the story unfolded- it was an engaging tale but with all old Bollywood masalas.

 

Agreed.  And this is why I say it's not aimed at solely West.  If it was, they wouldn't have bothered to have the bollywood masala in there.  The movie is as much aimed at metropolitan Indian audience as it is for western audience.

 

The west loves to see the so called 'real India'. They love a rags to riches story and the story of an underdog.

 

We have not presented any other Indian concept to them in an acceptable form so far.  Our directors take a subject as close to the western heart as dyslexia and then totally kill it with typical indian masala like TZP.  We make a decent enough movie like Lagaan but we totally forget how dramatic the ending is and how many westerners don't really relate to cricket like us Indians do.  Can we really balme west then?  I think fault lies in us....not that I consider it a fault though because I do love some of the lovey dovey dramatic shouting drama bollywood presents for desis exclusively.  Therefore, I don't get any heartburn when west rejects something like Dev Das but loves something like SDM.  I don't try to run the west down by saying they ONLY like watching slums and poverty in India.  Fact is, we haven't captured any other facet of India as beautifully as some directors captured the poverty.  It's us who haven't given many diverse good choices to west so far. 

 

Jay Leno on his show called the slums of Mumbai "beautiful' I thought that was an unfortunate comment from a westerner who sees the slums of Mumbai on celluloid from his five star residence in LA and calls them beautiful.

 

May be he meant it's beautifully filmed.  "Beautiful", as used by Jay, could have meant as real as it could get or any other thing.  Why to get hung up on the literal meaning?  Sometimes, when I am asked, "How are you doing"--- I go "LOVELY".  Now, you can't take the literal meaning of lovely here - could you?

Originally posted by: Gauri_3

Edited by bheegi - 15 years ago

Originally posted by: anon

Pretty Much yes is the answer. British film prodcued by Danny Boyle and written by and written by Simon Beaufoy. Ok Has indian actors etc and based on yes on the Book Q and A by some Indian Author but that doesnt mean its a Indian Film.  Just because its based on the book doesnt mean its an indian film - its a british film based on an indian person's story if that makes sense. Films script was written by Simon - not by author.  

  

The Film was a sucess not the actual book.  Most people only know about the book because of the film.

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THAT!! Just because like u said its set in India and based on an  Indian novel doesnt mean its an Indian Film if its produced by another foreign country.....

Epics like Hercules, The Odyssey, Troy are an excellent example of this... these epics n wars happened in Greek and Rome but Hollywood is the one that made these films that doesn't mean that it's a Greek or Roman film....u get my point na?😛

There was another film Hotel Rwanda which was about the 1994 conflicts between 2 Rwanda tribal groups produced by Hollywood....thts considered a Hollywood flick and like Slumdog having all Indian actors speaking English, Hotel Rwanda had African actors speak English but still its Hollywood 😛

lol in short SD frm my point of view is a Hollywood flick and Q&A is a novel written by an Indian

Originally posted by: bheegi

  I think Frida was appropriatefor her role but Dev's brit accent was out of place. Yes I agree, slum kids can be very handsome too but Dev's body language was that of a suave, educated, foreign returned kid rather than a native of the slums

 

Bheegi, it is a Brit film and Dev is a brit actor!  The movie is not realist cinema like Ray's movies used to be.  It's a hardcore rags to riches story with a touching love story in the background.  The whole point of casting Dev was to portray that Jamaal was different than others around him to begin with...this is how I perceive the story and this is why I disagreed that the film was meant for western audience only.  See my point here?

 

u know originally this movie was destined for dvd and not the theater, so i guess he just wanted a niche arthouse audience to see it. So, it was never meant to appeal to a broad audience!

 

I think Boyle never imagined in his wildest possible dreams that this movie will get so much acclaim.  I think he hit the jackpot without expecting to hit it.  Only reason this movie will do good business in India is because of all the awards and hoopla associated with it now.  Otherwise, Indian public doesn't spend money on such movies.  They wait till the pirated copy is shown on the cable.  I feel Boyle made this movie for his creative satisfaction but never expected the creativity to click with western audiences to this level.

 

  i was unhappy about TZP as a choice for oscars too. I loved the movie but i thought the plot had nothing new to offer for the western audience. Education about dyslexia might be new to India, certainly not for the west, where they have special dyslexia programs in most public schools. i think the west does want to see the poor and real India rather than the glossy india. Remember Mira Nair's 'salaam Bombay?' That was critically acclaimed in the west and i think even Oscar nominated. Lagaan was also a tale of triumph of the underdog but the cricket theme probably did not jive with the west

 

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

 

Yes, it was beautifully shot but I would still say they are not 'beautiful'- there is a difference IMO

 

Well, I still feel he did not mean beautiful in its literal sense but lets just agree to disagree here.

 

 

 

Read this article on the reasons why SDM succeeded:

 

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/slumdog-millionaire-blog.html

Originally posted by: Gauri_3

 

I read it yesterday.  To me, it's a good story captured brilliantly. 

 

yes, i agree with u here- it's the presentation which makes it brilliant. The credit goes to the screenplay writer, director and of course AR rehman for his brilliant background score👏 In fact, I want my kids to see it now altho it is rated R😕 But i'd still say it's made for the westen audience😃

Edited by bheegi - 15 years ago

Originally posted by: bheegi

 

yes, i agree with u here- it's the presentation which makes it brilliant. The credit goes to the screenplay writer, director and of course AR rehman for his brilliant background score👏 In fact, I want my kids to see it now altho it is rated R😕 But i'd still say it's made for the westen audience😃

If this was an 'Indian film' it probably wouldn't receive the critical acclaim it has, without all the publicity and financial backing of the western production houses. Although it has to be said that on winning awards Danny Boyle, the director, and A R Rahman also thanked 'the billion people of India'.

 

Amitabh Bachan has written on his blog: "Slumdog Millionaire projects India as Third World dirty underbelly 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". So although at the moment there is a lot of hype about people claiming the film as Indian, I'm sure there will be a lot of mixed feelings on the portrayal of India once the film has released.

Originally posted by: jasmine_triv

......Amitabh Bachan has written on his blog: "Slumdog Millionaire projects India as Third World dirty underbelly 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". So although at the moment there is a lot of hype about people claiming the film as Indian, I'm sure there will be a lot of mixed feelings on the portrayal of India once the film has released.