Johnathan Foreman has
"Krishna and his British partner at Reality Tours run a school in Dharavi. He told me that the children liked Slumdog Millionaire - they saw the Hindi version - but hated the name "slumdog", as do slumdweller organisations. This is understandable. The term was invented by the screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy, who seems to have ignorantly assumed that it would be believable as a derogatory but semi-affectionate nickname for young slumdwellers. But even "slumrat" might have been less offensive. You won't ever hear the word "dog" used affectionately in India. Unlike monkeys, elephants and of course cows, dogs have no religious significance and are disliked by both Muslims and Hindus. There are stray dogs everywhere you look in most Indian cities; though rarely dangerous, they are feared and persecuted. In 2007 the city of Bangalore sponsored the mass killing of tens of thousands of them."
"Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, a representative of a slum-dwellers' welfare group, filed a defamation lawsuit against the film's music composer A.R. Rahman and actor Anil Kapoor, alleging that grim depiction of slum dwellers violated their human rights. Vishwakarma's filing argued that the very title of the movie is derogatory, and he was particularly displeased that Indians associated with the film did not object to the use of word "slumdog." Nicholas Almeida, a social activist working in Mumbai, organized a protest against the film on the grounds that it intentionally exploited the poor for the purposes of profit, also arguing that the title Slumdog Millionaire is offensive, demeaning, and insulting to their dignity. The protesters were Mumbai slum dwellers who objected to the film's title and held up signs reading: "I am not a dog."
Given how much the constant coy, bafta-flirting ("Obviously, we couldn't possibly be in with a chance, given how worth and underdoggish our subject is ...") irritated me, I found the film surprisingly enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm not remotely surprised that no one thought to check how Indians felt about being called termed slum*dogs*. The overall impression I got was that the film could only suffer from scrutiny.
I've just finished reading a fairly forgettable little medieval murder mystery (Susanna Gregory: A Killer in Winter). It has the same sort of feel as I've always imagined reenactment - an obsessive focus on aspects of material culture but then almost total disinterest in all non-material culture.
Religion is the big obvious kicker - whether it's a book set among Cambridge friars in 1352 with one indirect reference to religious belief per 100 pages or a film set in contemporary India where the main character seems to have the same attitude towards religious devotion as Western elites.
I'd like to believe that what I'm seeing is a subtle argument about the role of overt doctrine and unspoken ritual - I'm not an expert on medieval England or Indian streetkids, maybe people really only ever did mention religion once per year, maybe Indian street kids are all DefaultAtheist.
Unfortunately, it's hard to believe that when religion only ever seems to feature in strict association with violence - this strikes me as reminiscent of nothing so much as reflexive Western atheism (along with the whole "Being attacked by radical Hindus for being a Muslim makes me blame Allah and Rama for the death of my mom" thing). Which is a bit odd, since Danny Boyle, at least, used to be a Catholic. Obviously, religion and ethnic identity aren't something you reach out to when poor, terrified and hungry - they are just a justification you use when you want to murder people.
When Salim recants his evil and decides to suicide on his boss, does he spend his last moments trying to pray? No - he fills a bathtub with money - which doesn't really serve to dispel the image of socialist fairy story. As he expires, he does say "God is great" but it all seems too little too late by that point - I'm not sure if I'm not just supposed to read that as the last effusion of proletariate opiate fumes from his deflating lungs as he bleeds onto a bed of blood money.
Bizarelly, I actually felt like Apocalypto did a slightly better job of transmitting the feeling of a living culture than Slumdog Millionaire - although even if it had just focused on visuals and superficial 'feel' it would obviously have been more justifiable.
Marios