MovieChat Forums > Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Discussion > INDIA, what do Indians think of this mov...

INDIA, what do Indians think of this movie

posted 14 years ago by richardw-14
88 replies | jump to latest

First let me say I spent 3 weeks in the southeastern part of India in 2006. I was not a tourist, but rather a traveler. I loved the people and the country. But I saw much poverty and a general lack of action by the government.

As for the movie, I was wondering what native Indians thought about the movie.

--It shows a person being tortured by the police
--It shows the police looking the other way as muslims were being murdered
--It shows a country covered in filth and trash (I did see alot of this)
--It shows a general sense of uncaring ruthless men preying on children. (in this country, that kind of thing in done in secret, but in the movie, it was common and out in the open) BTW, secret doesn't mean better
--It shows violent Hindus against fellow Indian muslims (I'm not a muslim)

And alot of other items that seem to put India in a poor light.

What do you think?

[–] nick-hades 8 years ago

by richardw-14
» Mon Nov 8 2010 17:51:53
IMDb member since May 2005
Post Edited: Mon Nov 8 2010 21:31:08
First let me say I spent 3 weeks in the southeastern part of India in 2006. I was not a tourist, but rather a traveler. I loved the people and the country. But I saw much poverty and a general lack of action by the government.

As for the movie, I was wondering what native Indians thought about the movie.

--It shows a person being tortured by the police
--It shows the police looking the other way as muslims were being murdered
--It shows a country covered in filth and trash (I did see alot of this)
--It shows a general sense of uncaring ruthless men preying on children. (in this country, that kind of thing in done in secret, but in the movie, it was common and out in the open) BTW, secret doesn't mean better
--It shows violent Hindus against fellow Indian muslims (I'm not a muslim)

And alot of other items that seem to put India in a poor light.

What do you think?

Sup,

In answer to your questions/thoughts...

--It shows a person being tortured by the police

That, sad to say, still happens and it kills me that it is not addressed widely. The reason being, it happens to people with not much money or background or support, as they(the people doing this) know they can get away with it.

--It shows the police looking the other way as muslims were being murdered

Yes, there are bad human beings, but, not everyone is bad. Although it did piss me off.

--It shows a country covered in filth and trash (I did see alot of this)

Again, yes, that is also true. If you ever visit New Delhi, the capitol of India, you will notice some places completely clean and tidy, basically these are the places that diplomats and foreigners would be visiting and asked to stay in, while there are some areas, that are not livable for animals, much less humans.

--It shows a general sense of uncaring ruthless men preying on children. (in this country, that kind of thing in done in secret, but in the movie, it was common and out in the open) BTW, secret doesn't mean better

When the life of a human being is not seen as worthy, what do you think happens... Again, pissed the hell out of me.

--It shows violent Hindus against fellow Indian muslims (I'm not a muslim)

Again, bad human beings, there is no bad hindu, no bad muslim, its people. If any one of those "hindus" was truly a Hindu, he would have given his life to save the innocent muslims who were mercilessly slaughtered in that scene, doesn't matter if they were fellow Indians or not. As for what I think, I cried at that scene where that as*hol* murders these boys mother, disgusting Fu**ers

[–] how_cure 8 years ago

Very nice film :)

[–] DataGrab 8 years ago

This is a perfect representation of india. Kudos to the writers and director. They got the magic of india! From call centers to poverty ridden areas. One of the best movies of 2008 indeed.

A ship sank at the end of the movie Titanic!

[–] DataGrab 7 years ago

There's a lot of indians here in singapore. That right there only proves there's nothing better in their own country. Asked all indians colleagues about what they thought of this movie and they slammed it. Some say it's isn't true and some said their country is rich and isn't what it was depicted in the movie at all. I didn't even try to say anything cause them working in another country is already disproving their argument. Most if not all of them also faked some of their documents just to get a job in Singapore. From government documents to certificates. Why the desperation? 'Cause film isn't far from fiction.

A ship sank at the end of the movie Titanic!

[–] autumngnorth 7 years ago

Hey richard-14,

I think that you pose a very interesting question. I just recently wrote a paper on a topic that addressed a similar issue within cinema. I discussed the idea of how westerners can depict other cultures with ignorance and disrespect. The thesis of my paper discussed the recent film "Queen of Katwe" about a young girl from Uganda that raises her and her family out of poverty through the act of learning how to play chess. The film showed real life scenarios of Ugandan life, including the struggle of poverty and violence that exists within it. The argument of my paper was that these depictions, staying true to what it is really like in Uganda while also focusing on the development of the characters just like you would in any other film, gave dignity to the Ugandan people through telling such a story. I think that Slumdog Millionaire has the potential to give the same dignity. But unfortunately, I think their focus on the struggle and violence that exists in India made the film more about raising awareness rather than giving the people of India dignity. Awareness is not a bad thing and it definitely plays a role, but at what expense? I think that we must be self aware in the sense of understanding that our limited perspective as westerners, can describe other developing countries in such a way that is demeaning whether that be through our words, literature, or media.

Thank you for bringing this up.