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'Slumdog Millionaire''s Hollywood triumph controversial in India

The triumph of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles has divided Indians for a variety of reasons, the Financial Times reported Monday.[1]  --  Whether the film is truly Indian is disputed, as is its accuracy, and resentment that the Academy has historically ignored the products of the Indian film industry is playing a role in the reaction.  --  But others are pleased by the attention and are seeking ways to turn it to advantage, James Lamont said.

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'SLUMDOG' OSCAR SUCCESS DIVIDES INDIA
By James Lamont

Financial Times (London)
February 23, 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a2c1ea6-0167-11de-8199-000077b07658.html

India reacted with mixed feelings as "Slumdog Millionaire," an enthralling rags-to-riches tale set in the slums of Mumbai, scooped up eight Academy Awards in Los Angeles, including Best Picture.

India's film industry was bitterly at odds in the run-up to last night's awards over whether to acknowledge "Slumdog Millionaire" as an Indian film as excitement grew over its 10 Oscar nominations. The $15m (12m euros, 10m pounds) budget film was directed by Danny Boyle, a British film-maker, and featured a cast of largely unknown actors.

Where relatives of the child actors celebrated the Oscar win, and jubilation erupted in their home neighborhoods, its critics have preferred to view the film as foreign, although its content, actors, and musical score are Indian.

As the acclaim has grown, controversy about how the film portrays India has deepened. The protagonist, Jamal Malik, grows up in a slum and survives insuperable odds to track down his childhood sweetheart. His mother is killed in a sectarian riot forcing him and his brother to become beggars.

The brother joins a gang, while Jamal finds a job as a lowly *chaiwallah* (teamaker) in a call center. By some extraordinary chance, he becomes a contestant on the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" game show.

But even to win the game show, he has to overcome a corrupt system. While on the show, he is a popular hero. Backstage, Jamal is tortured by the police as the show's managers try to extract a confession that he has cheated.

The backdrop to a redemptive love story is that of a poor, brutal, and blighted society. That world, though real to hundreds of millions of Indians, is sharply at odds with how modern India sees itself. Many Indian viewers are highly uncomfortable with the depiction of the slumland, the deliberate maiming of children and police torture.

"There are no mass celebrations in the slum," says Ganesh, who works for a travel agency in Dharavi, where much of the movie is set. "Most people in Dharavi haven't even seen the movie."

The film has been sharply criticized as "poverty porn." Well-respected local filmmakers have described the film as titillating Western audiences with its portrayal of slum life.

Priyadarshan Nair, an India film-maker, complained strongly that the film makes a mockery of India. "It's nothing but a mediocre Bollywood film, which has used references from several Hindi films very smartly," he wrote in the newspaper India Today at the weekend.

"India is not Somalia. We are one of the foremost nuclear powers in the world, our satellites are roaming the universe. Our police commissioners' offices don't look like shacks and there are no blind children begging in the streets of Mumbai."

Even some who like the movie are unhappy with its title. "Dog is really offensive for us Indians," says Krishna Pujari, a former street child who now organizes ethical tours of the slum.

Much of the resentment stems from the fact that India's own booming Bollywood film industry -- and the big names of Indian cinema -- have not previously been recognized at the Academy Awards. "Slumdog Millionaire" and its cast, including child actors drawn from the slums, have succeeded where the glitz and the greats have not.

India has, however, found a way to celebrate the film. Critics and cinema-goers alike have praised A.R. Rahman, a well-known Indian musician, for his score, which captured an Oscar.

But some view "Slumdog Millionaire"'s success in Los Angeles as a geopolitical moment for India, and proof of a warming relationship with the U.S. Morris Reid, a lobbyist for the entertainment industry who was an adviser to former U.S. president Bill Clinton, says the film's success would awake a generation to India's possibilities.

"Because of 'Slumdog Millionaire,' millions of people in Kansas will be saying: 'I've seen that movie and I'm interested in India,'" says Mr. Reid.

"A lotus from the swamps" is how a proud father of a child actor in the film describes his son's achievement. The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, reiterated that sentiment saying: "The winners have done India proud."

--Additional reporting by James Fontanella-Khan in Mumbai.