Slumdog Denigrates India, and Everything Hindu

by Jagannath Sharma
The film starts with Jamal Malik getting the third degree in the Police Station-- to make him "confess" how he had succeeded in "cheating" the Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) show till then. He was getting the third degree because the show host (Anil Kapoor), had asked the police to find out how could a slum-dwelling chaiwala pile up a huge win of ten million rupees by answering the diverse questions asked. The police got to him as he was readying to notch the 20 million rupees question. From then on the film is a series of scenes switching from those of Jamal facing the questions on the KBC set, to those of his childhood and teenage in a Mumbai slum and elsewhere, which he draws upon to answer the questions.

Mumbai's slums are a hell on earth. Those who have seen them from close quarters (as I have) cannot but be revolted by the inhuman conditions in which impoverished men, women and children live out their lives. As an Indian, I am ashamed that such conditions exist in India. Being ashamed is a positive thing, but allowing this blot to be broadcast to the world with nauseating invented add-ons to create a non-existent "reality" is another. Danny Boyle, the British director of the film has done this typical western thing. But I won't blame him. I cannot however excuse the Government and the party in power. The film was shot in India, and all these things were allowed to be shown raw and exaggerated with the consent of our politicians, babus and sections of the intelligentia. Clearly, self-respect and self-esteem are not part of their character. A white man's patronage and money is enough to get anything done by the servile political class, babudom, the English language electronic and print media, and of course the so-called intelligentia (English-speaking one).

Danny Boyle was not content with focusing sharply on the colourful excreta of Jamal in the toilet; he wanted to shock the blasé western viewer. So, he thought up a huge shit pot and made Jamal jump into it! "This was entirely Danny's idea," crowed one of his Indian colleagues admiringly. The scene shows the shit covered Jamal rushing into a crowd crying out, "Amitabh Bachan! Amitabh Bachan!" to try and get an autograph! This is not plausible. Contrary to Danny Boyle's thinking, even a child of 7 or 8 living in an Indian slum is sensitive, and will find it nauseating to see his body covered by shit. The first thing he will do will be to rush to wash his body, irrespective of any overpowering attraction before him. Danny and his friends may relish such content, but no true Indian will.

There are so many implausibilities and improbabilities in the film, but there is no space here to relate them all. I will mention only a few. Can anyone believe that primary school children in the slums of India not only read "The Three Musketeers," a work in French by Alexander Dumas, but also remember those unpronounceable French names-- Porthos, Aramis, Athos, D'Artagnans etc.? Danny Boyle's Indian slum children do! Also, can one imagine American tourists at the Taj Mahal beseaching an ill-kempt teenager to be their guide to the monument? In this film they do. An American couple corners Jamal, pushes a $100 bill into his hands, and implores him to be its "guide.!" In reality, such youngsters pester western tourists, and are brushed aside. There is also a blind beggar, childhood friend of Jamal, who immediately answers, "Benjamin Franklin!" by touching the $100 dollar bill! Implausible? But that's how Jamal gets to give that winning answer for the KBC question as to what appears in a U.S. hundred dollar bill !

As Swami Vivekananda said, Hindus accept all religions to be true, and respect all religions. Alas, others don't think the same way. This film has an anti-Hindu bias deliberately built into it.
The original name of the protagonist in Vikas Swarup's book was Ram Mohammad Thomas. It was changed to Jamal Malik. No harm in that. But soon one realizes that there was a definite reason for changing the name, and it was not a noble one. The slum-dwellers were made out to be Muslims only, which is contrary to fact. Mumbai slums have Hindus, Muslims and Christians from different parts of India. And they live out their lives harmoniously -- preoccupied with making the best of their grinding, impoverished life.

Suddenly, we see a mob rushing in. The English sub-title (for the western viewers and Oscar judges) reads, "They are Muslims! Kill them!" And Jamal's mother and many others are killed while the children escape. Was it right to allow that sub-title?. Amidst the rioting mob, we are shown a boy-- coloured blue and dressed up as Shri Rama carrying a bow and arrow. It is an imposition. How can such a figure appear in a Muslim slum? Danny Boyle had two purposes in showing Rama there: 1) To reinforce his point (oddly) that it was a Hindu mob, and 2) to show Jamal remembering that image to answer the question posed to him in the accompanying KBC scene as to what Rama held in his hands! Then, there is an organized gang which mutilates and blinds children and makes them beggars. Naturally, Slumdog had to show the gang as Hindu -- so the van they use to transport the mutilated children to their begging places has to boldly carry the name: Sai Ganesh! To reinforce the image, the children have to be taught a Hindu bhajan: "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath Mori Ankhiyan Pyasi Re…" And, to commiserate with the victims of Hindu barbarism, what would appeal to the western audiences but an evangelical input --a Christian hymn and scene of angels with a Christ-like figure holding a suffering child. Was it necessary to communalise the film to get an Oscar? By the way, the bhajan, a filmi bhajan incidentally, was introduced to enable Jamal to answer the KBC question as to who composed it: Surdas, Tulsidas, Mirabai or Kabir? He answered it as Surdas, and here the director and his research team blundered! The bhajan was composed by Mr. Gopal Singh Nepali for the film Narsi Bhagat in 1957! (see TOI Feb.16). Surdas had composed the bhajan: "Ankhiya hari darshan ko pyaasi." How can any one expect true knowledge and understanding of India from a rootless "secular" anti-nationalist research team?

Slumdog Millionaire is an example of the Hindus' immense capacity to tolerate anything unthinkingly. The film denigrates India and its people, and is an insult to the Hindus. What is unforgiveable is that it is the Indian Government, its Censor Board, the deracinated English TV and print media and the intelligentia who have made it possible, and are breathlessly looking forward to its winning the Oscar! Jai Ho!