Slumdog: why did it take a Westerner to make a good Bollywood film?
Slumdog: why did it take a Westerner to make a good Bollywood film?
For years, every Bollywood film has been a variation on the same, tired old theme: hot girl and charming guy, while dancing fall in love, their love is threatened by: parents / another lover / accident / disease / magic, more dancing , fight scene / melodrama, charming guy saves the day…and everyone lives happily ever after. Hundreds of movies are produced in India each year that follow this exact formula.
After nearly a century, someone has finally come into India and made a film with the type of grit and artistry that many of us have been craving to see in Indian form for years. And, not surprisingly, it took a white dude to make it happen. I am referring of course to Slumdog Millionaire, which was nominated last week for 10 Oscars and has the international film community abuzz.
The question is, why did it take a foreigner to make a proper Bollywood film?
Many Indians are embracing Slumdog with hesitation, or perhaps not at all, because of its stark portrayal of poverty and corruption in India. It lacks, they say, the fantasy, hope and beauty that we have all become accustomed to as Bollywood fans, and instead focuses on the harsh realities we seek to ignore. There has even been a controversy over Amitabh Bachchan’s biting remarks about the film’s popularity and speculation over his bruised ego. Big B wrote recently about the film:
“If SM 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 SM idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not.”
Wake up Big B! There have been myriad movies made about the ‘underbelly’ of Western societies. In fact, the rest of the world has been making gritty films for years. It’s just that India has been addicted to its decades-old formula and hasn’t noticed. Big B’s remark, in my opinion, is quite naive and completely misses the beauty of this film.
I – and everyone I know that’s seen it – think Slumdog rates amongst the best films of the year. I walked out of the theater with a greater satisfaction than after most of my recent Bollywood watching episodes, thankful that someone had finally come along and modernized Bollywood. Not with nude women booty-shaking to club beats. No. This was modernization in a deeper sense — one that took the art of Indian film making to a higher level.
All the essential Bollywood elements are there in full tact: cute boy and girl, unrequited love, trials and tribulations, fights, an underlying sense of hope…and even a dance thrown in for good measure.
Yet Director Danny Boyle takes this basic formula and transforms it into a moving depiction of the hardships faced by an oft ignored people in India, with the sort of realism that truly brings a fictional story to life. And even in these hardships, there was ample beauty to be found — the brilliant colors of the Mumbai landfills, the sacred bonds of brotherhood, the sensuality of a young dancer, and the undying pursuit of the hopeless romantic for his only love. All this woven into an engaging, tight-knit story.
I hope this marks the beginning of a new era in Bollywood, and many more Oscars to come.
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