When I saw slumdog millionaire, I had liked it for its story. It was gripping. I admired the movie and recommended it too. My motive of watching the movie was purely getting a break from my daily job search routine.
But some days later, one of my friends posted a blog where he kind of agreed that Slumdog was a poverty porn. He also supported Amitabh Bachchan’s view in his blog that India (or the slum) has been wrongly portrayed in the film. Also, was it that the film was really different than the scores of other brilliant films that Bollywood churns out?
That certainly made me think about why this movie was preferred for Oscar nomination than many other, in my view, much better Indian movies. There are very few films that I have really liked. The ones that I can see many number of times, although I wouldn’t describe myself as a movie lover. When I really want to watch, I prefer Janjeer, Deewar, Jewel thief, Andaz Apna Apna, Sarfarosh, Angoor, Ijaazat.
I read the debating views on Slumdog in the major newspapers. Indian as well as American. And I agree to both. No, its not a MBA talk. I really agree to both. But yesterday I tried thinking about it from a MBA perspective. Here are my views why Slumdog bagged the Oscars:
- Editing challenge: I believe that the Slumdog story was different in the sense that for each question asked there was a story behind it. I don’t have much knowledge about movie making but as a third person I think that would have been a challenge in editing. Putting those number of stories together was what separated it from other Indian movies.
- Team of the movie: The team of the movie was diverse. And I mean it was really diverse. People from different countries, cultures, languages including the children from the slums. I know from the MBA program, that handling diversity is always a challenge. All through the movie and through the publicity, it seemed to me that it was a team effort. It wasn’t a Sachin Tendulkar carrying the burden of delivering a win. Or to put it in a context, if I see the movie, it won’t be because it is a one man show.
- Right Balance: The script of the movie had included all the different aspects for all the different audiences very well. The Muslim characters in a city were carefully chosen to capitalize on the Hindu-Muslim divide that the foreign world thinks exists in Mumbai, a view of the foreign world that I think is rubbish. Slums are a major part of Indian residential arrangements and by including a slum-based protagonist it appealed to a large audience who would want to see it for the controversy it generated. A proper mix of international crew assured that there was enough foreign media participation. Also, I feel that the fantasy and reality are very well balanced in the movie. The basic concept of the movie is too good to be true but it also does not show a single hero killing hundreds of Pakistani army-men like Gadar.
In retrospect, I think I understood what the judges were thinking while making the judgment. In all probability I may be wrong. To single out the most important aspect of the movie beating other Indian movies in the race to the Oscars, I think it is the hype generated in the foreign media. The focus of bollywood movies has always targeted the Indian population in foreign countries. This movie appealed to the foreign nationals as well. That’s what made it different.
P.S. The slumdog pic in the post was taken from here.
