Its like we have an insight into the world of the Indian movies with this film. But its not like that. The Slumdog Millionaire is a British movie from the director of Trainspotting. They did a great job by describing the reality of India, you can recognise the western culture behind the scenes.
The way the Slumdog Millionaire shows the slum of Mumbai is very realistic, the nature in the train scenes is wonderful. Like a socio- photo exhibition. It is visible that the staff of the movie did a great job, they prepared themselves very well. But I think since the Ben hur, it is a daily routine in the movies. The majority of the staff worked hard to make us feel this is the real India and now we've got a window to a culture which we rarely see from that close.
No doubt, this window is definitely larger than the one Nicolas Cage opened for us in his terrible Bangkok movie (who the hell allowed that movie to be shown) about Thailand, but this movie is still a western movie which is 'wanna-be-Indian'.
Just like in the Ben Hur where spite of the enormous efforts, I can recognise the ’50s of the United States more than the ancient Rome, in this movie I saw rather the India as we see from the west than India itself. Little details like hairdo, eye brows, clothes, the style of the chosen actors/actresses and the handling of English language is like that.
The beautiful Indian actress is the best example. She is beautiful after our taste. Cute as a child and as an adult in her jeans and sunglasses, she is rather like a British Born Indian (in fact she isn’t). Choosing more Indian-like faces would have made this movie less attractive in Europe and in the US.
The movies from English speaking countries simply can’t handle the language of other cultures. Making the movie in the original language would be more authentic but again a risk in western movies. So the small slum-kids have to speak a fluent English and only for some moments can we recognise the fact how interestingly is the English language mixed with the local languages in the ex-British colonies.
So this movie is for us (for European and American people) and its really very beautiful and smart movie. I do not blame them that they try to emphasize that this is a mix of Hollywood and Bollywood, because it's really a little step towards it with small cheats. If the movie would be 100% Indian, it wouldn’t be as attractive in the european market.
The movie is very romantic, but if you have ever seen a real Bollywood movie you know that it's nothing to compare with the sentimentalism of those films. Only at the end of the Slumdog Millionaire can we see that musical-type of 'community' dance which seems to be a must in every Bollywood movies.
But I don’t want to be greedy. Meeting cultures needs certain dosage, otherwise it is shocking. To compare to the facts that in early movies black people were usually played by white men with painted faces, the Slumdog Millionaire can be almost considered as something authentically Indian.
The way the Slumdog Millionaire shows the slum of Mumbai is very realistic, the nature in the train scenes is wonderful. Like a socio- photo exhibition. It is visible that the staff of the movie did a great job, they prepared themselves very well. But I think since the Ben hur, it is a daily routine in the movies. The majority of the staff worked hard to make us feel this is the real India and now we've got a window to a culture which we rarely see from that close.
No doubt, this window is definitely larger than the one Nicolas Cage opened for us in his terrible Bangkok movie (who the hell allowed that movie to be shown) about Thailand, but this movie is still a western movie which is 'wanna-be-Indian'.
Just like in the Ben Hur where spite of the enormous efforts, I can recognise the ’50s of the United States more than the ancient Rome, in this movie I saw rather the India as we see from the west than India itself. Little details like hairdo, eye brows, clothes, the style of the chosen actors/actresses and the handling of English language is like that.
The beautiful Indian actress is the best example. She is beautiful after our taste. Cute as a child and as an adult in her jeans and sunglasses, she is rather like a British Born Indian (in fact she isn’t). Choosing more Indian-like faces would have made this movie less attractive in Europe and in the US.
The movies from English speaking countries simply can’t handle the language of other cultures. Making the movie in the original language would be more authentic but again a risk in western movies. So the small slum-kids have to speak a fluent English and only for some moments can we recognise the fact how interestingly is the English language mixed with the local languages in the ex-British colonies.
So this movie is for us (for European and American people) and its really very beautiful and smart movie. I do not blame them that they try to emphasize that this is a mix of Hollywood and Bollywood, because it's really a little step towards it with small cheats. If the movie would be 100% Indian, it wouldn’t be as attractive in the european market.
The movie is very romantic, but if you have ever seen a real Bollywood movie you know that it's nothing to compare with the sentimentalism of those films. Only at the end of the Slumdog Millionaire can we see that musical-type of 'community' dance which seems to be a must in every Bollywood movies.
But I don’t want to be greedy. Meeting cultures needs certain dosage, otherwise it is shocking. To compare to the facts that in early movies black people were usually played by white men with painted faces, the Slumdog Millionaire can be almost considered as something authentically Indian.
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2009 dec. 29.
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