Slum Dog??

A double question mark in an annotated chess game indicates a bad move. I used it here with a better Intention. I just don't understand why the movie 'slum dog millionaire' is hyped up so much. I just don't understand why its expected to sweep the Oscars? Its just any other egg-straw-ordinary movie with a regular happy ending, rag to rich story in the back ground of not-so-beautiful side of an over populated urban India. You keep searching for the reasons. And you find some points. Good technique of story telling. A slum dog scales his way up to a big fortune answering the questions shot at him from a 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' show. The difference here is, he finds the answers from his very life not from the books. Story unveils in the intervals of questions flashing back to the world he came from, and the bitter life he lived. Interesting? A near perfect cast who would suit the roles almost perfect and what else? A decent piece of music which is so much inside the movie. Anything else? Some hyper realistic (I am sorry, Cant use the word 'exaggerated') scenes from the poor, struggling and suffering side of India which would remind you of those neo-realistic Italian movies of the past. Movie has got some documentary styled perfection in the portrayal of bitter realities. But what else? Don't you feel the script looked more of a school drama? I felt so. Yes. Most of the actors have done the perfect 'behaving' . But still does it rise to the level of expecting 'Oscars' (Lets keep aside the topic 'whats so great about Oscars?'). I just compared this to 'Forrest Gump', a randomized sample from the Oscar winners from the past. And I did'nt find slum dog stands anywhere near by. Then what about this hype? You see Brad pitt, Angelina Jollie comes out of the theatre saying touching dialogues. You see Anil Kapoor dances around the streets of 'world Cinema' with an abundant joy of achieving something priceless?

Eminent historian Romila Thappar talks about historiography(the study of how knowledge of the past, recent or distant, is obtained and transmitted) the 'history of history' in one of her books on ancient Indian history. She says, there were lot of mistakes committed in 'Indology' of early 20th century because of the ignorance of the Western historians about the Indian way of life. They got confused and confused others by documenting their bad assumptions about India and its religious, social and political base which probably could be one of the reasons why some people abroad still think India is all about 'Maharajas','Magics' and 'Elephants'.
Same way, a foreign Critic who sees, slum dog would be very happy. Poverty, Corruption, music and a heavy doze of realism. But for an average Indian cine goer, Slum dog Millionaire is just like any other modern bollywood flick.