The story of this film is adapted from a book Q & A by an author Vikas Swaroop. Slumdog tells the beautiful story of a penniless orphan who improbably finds love, success and redemption on an Indian gameshow.
In simple words, there are many other areas of india that can be covered, other stories told to a western public instead of these same old sucky stories. There were other great indian stories that were well told that talked of other problems facing Indians. Taare zameen par was beautifully done but as I read on a news article, it did not even get seen by many academy members (lobby politics) other stories can sell well too.
SM was not a story of Indian cinema as it was produced by a British company.
AR Rehman’s speech:
I am excited. There is a dialogue in Hindi film - ‘mere pass maa hain’. Which means that I have nothing, but my mother. My mother is here. Her blessings are with me. God is Great”
AR Rehman’s speech about Jai Ho song:
This song belongs to the people of Mumbai. This song is about optimism and power of hope. We have a choice to choose hate or love. I choose love.
Best Picture: ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
Best Director: Danny Boyle ('Slumdog Millionaire')
Best Original Score: A.R. Rahman ('Slumdog Millionaire')
Best Original Song: “Jai Ho” ('Slumdog Millionaire') Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy ('Slumdog Millionaire')
Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle ('Slumdog Millionaire')
Best Sound Mixing: Resul Pookutty, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke ('Slumdog Millionaire')
Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens ('Slumdog Millionaire')
Seen in this light, predictable ingredients were used listed below to appease the academy therefore:
(1) The slum -- the foremost basic ingredient, complete with lepers, beggars, naked urchins, goons, horribly amputated sub-human humans begging by singing Surdas or Meera bhajans (read: in the name of Hinduism) etc. -- must be first used in liberal amounts.
Subliminal message and image-reinforcement no.1 -- (a) India = slum, India = poverty, (b)India = hunger, (c) India = primitive/barbaric inhumanity(amputated child beggars) and finally (d)India = Hinduism = obscurantism/superstition/regression = poverty/hunger (begging with Hindu bhajans), therefore, Hinduism is the culprit and the source of depravity, and so it is the "advanced west's" burden to "rescue the heathens" from it and replace it with its own value system and morality and religion.
The other "ingredients" or "components" can then easily complete the recipe --
(2) Muslims = the victims and Hindus = unprovoked aggressors;
(3) Muslims = secular and suffering and Hindus = the powerful hostile majority;;
(4) Authorities (policemen)picking on Muslims = Hindu = Hindutva misrule and minority oppression;
(5) riot victims = always Muslims (to be shown as always in panicky or running mode) -- thereby successfully reinforcing Hindi India into a hostile savage jungle where minority lambs and sheep have to spend their entire lives constantly running and trying to hide;
(6) Christian nuns = benevolent rescuers, selfless servers and constantly in the risk of getting raped anytime. "Confirming" that Hindu-majoirty India can have no decent human rights performance, and christianity (read: western helping hand) has no welcome or appreciation from the barbarians;
(7) blue bodied Rama = Hindu icon = inspiration behind the violent, fanatical, irrational, insensitive, dehumanised Hindu; inspiration behind "hindu communalism" (the sangh parivar -- Rama connection established) = a dark,("blue" -- as also in Kali) symbol that can even turn a pre-teen kid into a raging bloodthirsty hate-filled fanatic;
(8) Bombay Police = the authority, the ruling power, the lawkeeper of Hindu India = always picking on the muslims = intolerant and suspicious of help from outside = helps the Hindu fanatics with the power of their uniforms, therefore making the prevalent law-and-order situation, human rights records and civic/public life and security of miniroties under Hindu majority rule "very obvious";
(9) The christian church = the christian first-world western helping-hand* trying to make things better for the Hindu masses, trying to rescue, humanise and enlighten them, but constantly hounded by the hostile, savage heathens, who cannot go on with their evil if the church is allowed to flourish and people are made "aware" and "emancipated";
(10) amnesty international = another form of the christian, first-world western hand, extended to the downtrodden dehumanised Hindu India, but which is not allowed by the authorities, lawkeepers and the public (the powerful and unrestrained Hindu majority) to do its work for the poverty-ridden heathen Hindus in peace, but is constantly harassed and forced to try to work under very "challenging and hostile conditions"
With these ingredients -- the essential masalas, the great Indian feast was served before the champagne-caviar-and-red-carpet circuit at Academy’s.
Bottom line : Our Bollywood icon Amitabh rightly said "If '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, It's just that the 'Slumdog Millionaire' idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a westerner, gets creative global recognition,"
Exploitation of the most vulnerable in society, for "reality shows" as entertainment, is a very sad reflection of the values of current 'civil society'.