This is a post I’ve been wanting to write about for several weeks, but I just have not had time to get it up. At this point it’s just a brain dump so take it for what its worth.
After all the buzz about Slumdog Millionaire, both in the U.S. and among the Indian community, I was compelled to watch the movie. Having lived in India in a high-rise Flat across the water from a slum where many of our child servants lived, the movie was hard to swallow for several reasons that you can imagine (don’t want to give away scenes if you haven’t seen it). Anyway, I left the theater feeling down, instead of up. I felt it very hard for me to handle some scenes and I actually considered walking out. I ended up watching the whole thing. After leaving the theater and entering a discussion about it, I gained a new perspective – wasn’t completely sold on why others loved it so much, but began to understand their point of view.
It wasn’t the scenes of poverty that affected me, but it was the manipulation of innocent children that upset me the most. The whole time I was watching, I knew all the bad stuff was bona fide and true, and that the message of hope (the game show) was so far far from reality.
Since the release of the movie, I find random people, from the nurse in the dentist’s office to the cable car driver, asking me for my opinion about the movie. The conversation typically includes them telling me that they read somewhere that Indians were upset by the movie because it brought India bad PR, and they ask me my take. For the record, I agree it isn’t the best portrayal of India, but I am fine with it because it was real, it was nicely directed, and because ultimately it had good intentions and brought the country accolades. And how does it matter if its bringing light to an important and real issue. It is what it is.
I recently watched a 20/20 special on the Children of the Mountain. The special by Diane Sawyer reports on rural children living in Appalachia. I encourage anyone reading this to watch the videos if they haven’t seen the show. It is eye-opening and in many ways reminds me of SlumDog. Even in America, a country known (or that was known) for its riches, slums and poverty exist. This series left me feeling the same way SlumDog did, depressed and hopeless. Just like in India, we choose to turn a blind eye, or even worse are ignorant to it and there are systems so far imbedded in our infrastructure that feed the cycle generation after generation — just like in India. Its movies and shows like these that serve a purpose to jolt us into reality before we go back to our own worlds again.
The videos show how corporate America plays a role in these unfortunate circumstances and how the government doesn’t react until its too late.
My point in sharing this isn’t to dampen moods, or bring shame to America, or to strike debate on whether SlumDog was bad PR. Its simply to show yet another example that such things exist everywhere. I think the truth is powerful no matter who it is about. And, I don’t think India is a victim when shows like 20/20, or other American documentaries showcase the tragedies within our society all the time. The stories that are different and foreign just stand out and inherently become more sensationalized. Especially when they are nominated for an Oscar Award. 
