February 24, 2009
Mangalore
As I begin this article, I am still reeling under all the glitz and glory that Slumdog Millionaire created at the Oscars. The news channels are having a field day, and suddenly India is no more the under‘dog’ of the international film community. No doubt, the achievements of A R Rehman and Rasul Pookutty can never be applauded enough and it is a proud moment for all Indians to be recognised at the world stage, but are we missing the deeper meaning of it all amidst the glamour?
The question whether the movie is India’s pride or her shame has been debated a million times (though now the movie has suddenly taken a place of pride for many who had criticised it). Therefore I shall not go in to this question. Movies and books that display India in a despicable light disgust me to the extent that I become indignant and angry. You might say I do not want to face the truth, but the question is not of truth or lie, but of the fact that a country that was to the West a land of elephants, colours, temples and the Taj Mahal is now become a land of dirt and slime, and what is worse, we shameless Indians are proud of being applauded for it.
If someone were to ask me the formula for success these days, I would say making a movie or writing a book showcasing India in the worst light possible is a sure-fire method. Next thing you know, you would be delivering the thank-you speech at the Booker or the Oscar awards, thanking the world for appreciating India’s dirt and poverty.
What prompted me to write this was just one moment at the Oscars – the producer, Christian Colson acknowledging the award for the Best Film. The entire Indian crew stood all smiles right behind him, while he made the speech. True, as the producer, it was his right to speak but it was the order in which they stood that drew my attention. It was one white man, standing in front of more than ten brown men, as if he were leading them while they politely followed. What struck me about this scene was the way it represented the hegemony of the white man over the coloured man. It spoke a thousand words of the years and years of cultural and intellectual dominance we have been under.
Another question that has often sprung up in the last many days is whether the movie would have enjoyed the same applause if it had been made by an Indian and if it had shown the brighter side of India. Firstly, it is an undeniable fact that an American making a movie with an Indian crew would receive much more attention and hype in the world media than an Indian doing so. Secondly, the dirt and grime and the poverty of India is something that has always fascinated the ‘clean’ and ‘correct’ West. And thirdly, this grime, dirt and poverty attains importance and truth only when a Westerner shows it, for as Edward Said, a great thinker and humanist, says in his monumental work Orientalism, the white man is always right in the eyes of the colonised as well as the coloniser. In other words, no matter how many movies Madhur Bhandarkar makes on the social problems of India, it needs only one from a white man to create the Tsunami.
Now before I am accused of cynicism, let me tell you that there are things that this movie has done that transcend far beyond the mere surface of it being a good (or bad) movie. For one, Bollywood has long been denied the international acclaim that it deserves for some of the landmark movies, actors, directors and technicians that it has produced. This movie is a bridge, a conjoiner between the East and the West. A production that has a blend of Hollywood and Bollywood talents winning on the international stage would go a long way in enabling an amalgamation between the two sides of the movie world. It speaks of the need to create a mutual platform between India and the US as far as entertainment is concerned. The technology of the West and the resources of the East together with talents of both can create wonders for the progress of the entertainment industry. People like A R Rehman and David Boyle have shown a glimpse of this magic already.
However, though it may sound as if I am contradicting myself, I am not. All this I say leaving aside the some of the content of the movie presently under debate. For, a movie does not need grime and dirt alone to succeed; and surely, stories of poverty can be told even without such ingredients. Those who have watched some of the earliest movies of Amitabh Bachchan would agree with me – movies like Coolie and Deewar too showed poverty and rags-to-riches story minus the slime, and their effect on the Indian audience is something that continues to this day.
Black or brown is as beautiful as the white. The inherent servile attitude of the Indians and the ‘greater than thou’ attitude of the West must be got rid of. This is something that cannot be achieved overnight, given the hundreds of years of history behind those attitudes. And though the start was made many movies before Slumdog Millionaire in terms of technology and talent, the discrimination in terms of response still continues. Indians do not like the film but the west loves it and both for the same reason.
But all said and done, let us not forget to applaud Rehman and Pookutty for their wonderful achievement, for they won for their music and talent, not for making the film. There is no doubt that Rehman had this award long in waiting. Had the Oscar jury listened to his tracks in Indian films like Bombay and Roja and other movies that did not make it to the Oscars, they would have probably regretted taking so long to recognise his unmatched talent.
Also Read: