Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan

Is the portrayal of Bombay in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, western voyeurism into third world urban squalor or is it just a story of destiny, hope and exhilaration set against a very sour background? A lot of movie goers will attest to the former. The media was quick to point “Its poverty porn”. If portrayal of the ugly underbelly of the city, titillates the more fortunate, then is the incessant barrage of multimillion dollar song and dance movies that Bollywood churns out, “affluence porn”? Meant to titillate the Slumdog?
In the famous scene where Jamal jumps into a load of crap to be able to meet his matinee idol, most people saw an abomination, an exaggeration that stereotypes the tough life of Bombay. But one of my friends, who is as hardcore a native of the city as anyone can be, ignoring the fancy closed captioning, was actually listening to the dialogue exchange between the man on the loo door and Salim “Mera lendi abhi border mein hain... jaldi darwaja khol”. He pointed it out to me and we were rolling on the floor laughing. That is the kind of exchange that one would listen to if one really paid attention to the city’s background din of humanity. We were amazed at the insight that the movie makers had about the city when they made the movie. Having been a local of the city I do see the humor in the situation and I admire the effort that has gone in to pick such a gem and present it in its right context.
I think Danny Boyle has made a movie of great insight and honesty. In all his interviews he has been very genuine in talking about his feelings about India, Mumbai and the slums. I am sure a lot of it is coaching from the public relations team but how many people really make even that much effort? At the Golden Globe acceptance speech Danny, made a comment that the crew made the movie “dil se” and he went ahead a spelt it out D-I-L S-E. That is genuine.
Slumdog Millionaire is a true bridge movie which I see as a great example of international collaboration in movie making. In the all the glitz of the awards, what really thrilled me is the recognition that the music received. Something that I really think that the Indian movie industry does well. The movie gave A.R. Rehman a chance to create one of the most beautiful scores ever. Of course Roja, Bombay and Dil Se and his latest albums Ghajini and Dilli-6 are great albums but Slumdog is a different genre. It’s a different palette of musical influences - Indian bollywood, Electronica, Rap. And the greater outcome is the Oscar nod for Gulzaar Saab's “Jai Ho”. After all, there is no one on this earth who can write poetry like "aaja aaja jinde shamiyane ke tale"... and there cannot be a better description of Bombay's atmosphere than that.
In an interview, Vikas Swarup, the writer of the book Q&A on which Slumdog is based, was asked “What is the biggest difference between the book and the movie” and he answered “the book is about luck; Danny made the movie about destiny”. And that is what gives us hope, a fair dose of hope, from a movie from the Maximum City that is probably the most feel good movie of the decade.