Million (O)scars!

 

 

Winning an Oscar is the ultimate joy, one thought, until the arrival of "Slumdog Millionaire". The film may have swept Oscars, but the manner in which it managed to win the Oscar has left ‘millions of scars’ in the minds of right thinking people. Prof Arindam’s hard talk on "Slumdog Millionaire" is indeed the perfect scrub pad for the rusty minds. While the critics, including, unfortunately, some renowned columnists, penned their thoughts in joy over the film, the discerning hung their head in shame at the perverse portrayal of poverty. Do pride and honour mean nothing? ‘It-is-just-a-film’ theory advocated by many is too naïve. True, we can’t wash away the reality. But then, neither does such harsh living conditions give one license to make a fortune out of it. To our great misfortune, Danny Boyle has done just that made a ‘fortune’ out of poverty. We don’t crib his luck with the Oscars. Neither the fortune he made. That he should portray the ‘hopeless economic status’ of the millions of people in a manner that he has, is more inhuman than the reality itself. Just as we hate this cruel reality called slums, wishing and willing our leaders to provide reasonable access to their reasonable basic needs, we hate in no small measure the attempts at making a caricature of them. Boyle has done just that. If this act of Boyle does not ‘boil’ our blood, we can only hang our head in shame and be out of sight in a pool of shit. In attaining the Oscar, he has left behind millions of ‘scars’ in Indians’ minds.

Vivek C Hegde

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