Slumdog Millionaire... and what should a movie be ?

A question that will never be quite settled is related to the extent of realism in cinema: should cinema expose harsh truth or should it portray a carefully sanitized picture of society. This question has again come to the fore front with release of Slum dog Millionaire , which on one hand has been nominated for the Oscars and on the other is dogged by controversy with actors like Amitabh Bachchan having panned it – ( though reportedly, he has retracted those comments).

Partly this is because of the different expectations that people have from cinema and the role that cinema has in society – and this question too will never be satisfactorily answered. Actors like Amitabh, who have been principally entertainers, see the medium as principally a vehicle of entertainment – some thing affordable and accessible to the common manta the end of a day’s work.
Other film makers have thought and acted differently, Satyajit Ray being the one most well known of them. He used films to portray the stark realities of Indian society – the poverty, the corruption and the decadence of a country in transition. of Ray was a lot more than a chronicler of penury and hardship ; his films made money, won praise and gave Indian films their first ever visibility on the world stage.

The films that Amitabh made and makes are of course quite different – escapist, mainstream masala fare is what we call them, where the money and fame is and parallel cinema is the homely cousin which wins awards and acclaim but don’t necessarily entertain the common man who sees on screen the reality that he has been part of all day long.

Parallel cinema of course decidedly doesn’t entertain; what it does is make a statement on aspects of society which ought to be noticed and attended to but sadly no one does or did till the movie came along. While Satyajit Ray did make pure entertainers, especially his children’s’ films in particular, his contemporary, Ritwik Ghatak, the noted Bengali film maker made movies inspired by the partition of Bengal in 1947 and its aftermath among people uprooted from places where they had lived for centuries.

Of course Amitabh is not incorrect when he says that “If Slumdog Millionaire’ projects India as Third World dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations,” It is just that there is and always be a difference of opinion about just which aspect of reality should the creative artiste; be it a movie maker or a journalist or a novelist focus on ….. The subjects of celebration and veneration or the objects of ridicule and revulsion.

Using depictions of poverty solely as a means of publicity or getting recognition is definitely pandering. But we cannot get away from the fact that a very large fraction of the billion-strong population of India does not have access to the basic amenities of life, and this is the most obvious thing that will strike an observer from a Western country where these amenities are taken for granted and where these films are getting mileage and Oscar nominations. Meanwhile both kinds of movies deserve a place in the sun. it is the typical Bollywood movie, of the kind in which Amitabh acts that have made Hindi films the force that they are today…. when they are watched more by people outside India than within. And it is the kind of film that Satyajit Ray and others like him make that initially gave Indian films a foothold in places like Cannes. Slumdog Millionaire is incidentally a bridge. It is not the kind of film that Shyam Benegal or Adoor Gopalakrishnan would make; it also obviously is not the kind of film that Amitabh Bachchan would have acted in. a perfect balance, one must say.

Amitabh short sells Uttar Pradesh

The Congress Party has sought the Election Commission's intervention in banning advertisements, featuring superstar Amitabh Bachchan that glorify governance in Uttar Pradesh. In a series of advertisements carried out in print and electronic media, Bachchan has been highlighting the achievements of the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government. "Uttar Pradesh mein hai dum, kyunki jurm yahan hain kam," the latest advertisement says. But to hear Amitabh Bachchan spout aloud ever so often from television screens that the people of Uttar Pradesh are the most blessed because they have the peace to sleep blissfully at night and that only rumor mongers talk about any jurm in Uttar Pradesh because there isn’t any can impress only the most credulous. Who ever decided that such advertisements should be aired on news channels like NDTV , where minutes after the advertisement has run , news will appear of this sort “Criminals dominate Uttar Pradesh politics” and then “Unchecked abductions in Uttar Pradesh” has to have taken leave of his senses. As for people sleeping well and peacefully, here is another news item, again from NDTV-“Power shortage in Uttar Pradesh”

Now we all know that Amitabh Bacchan has a particular political affiliation and his wife is a member of the Rajya Sabha with the Samajwadi Party tag and Amitabh is the “elder brother” of Samajwadi Party honcho Amar Singh. We also know that Amitabh is a performer and he performs for money. He sells us Reid and Taylor suiting, Parker pens and all sorts of other gadgets. He has in the past also told us about the merits of polio vaccination and other social causes. Along the way, he also earned himself the reputation of being a man of grace, charm and some credibility. His name was and is being suggested as a worthy replacement for President Abdul Kalaam, when his term ends in July. Of course, Amitabh has with suitable humility declined for the moment but he may well be biding his time to see how the cards line up after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and how many seats his “brother’s” party picks up.

After seeing the advertisements that Amitabh is now mouthing, I am aghast. Aghast at the game plan of the party strategists who have chosen to air these kind of messages on news channels. Surely viewers here of news channels at the least will know better than believe the propaganda hear just because Amitabh is the one saying it. And what of Amitabh’s own credibility? Can he really look at any one in the eye and mouth that Uttar Pradesh is now under the current dispensation an Uttam Pradesh and that there is no injustice and no crime that is happening there? Has advertising fallen so much that blatant untruths can be uttered on camera by public figures and celebrities without caring at all about the factuality of the case at hand?
Celebrities’ are able to carry off a lot of advertising because of the integrity they have amassed over time and Amitabh has surely amassed a lot of it because of his iconic status. But such a status has not only to be earned but also to be preserved by demonstrating consistency and discretion in the products and campaigns they allow their name to be used in. once before, many eons ago, Amitabh Bachchan had retired from the film industry to briefly enter politics by winning a seat in parliament from Allahabad constituency in 1984, but within a short span of time, he resigned from the Parliament because he felt that all that he was understood to stand for was getting compromised. It looks that the same thing is happening again and Amitabh if he learns lessons from his own past should withdraw from such an abhorrent campaign

Tax Exemption for "Guru" - The Message

The Uttar Pradesh government has recently made Mani Ratnam’s film” Guru” Tax Free. By exempting this film from entertainment tax and making the price of tickets cheaper, it has made it possible for more people to see the film than would otherwise have. In fact in recent times, most films starring Amitabh Bacchan or his son have been made tax free. Although the exemption in most cases are made on political considerations of one kind or the other, in the context of Guru, the ethical implications of the move set against the main message of Guru Bhai are worth some thought.

Typically movies are exempted from entertainment tax when they bring to the table apart from healthy entertainment, some ethical values that the government would like to see diffused. Some of the movies that have worthily enjoyed this exemption in various states in the last few years are Swades, Black, Lagaan and Rang De Basanti. Few would venture to argue about these films and their artistic merit.

Guru is supposedly loosely base on the life of a prominent industrialist of recent times. Abhisekh Bacchan as Guru Bhai, the protagonist begins his career in Turkey working for Shell. From there on, he steadily ascends the corporate ladder, eventually, he comes back home where he wants to be his own boss. He marries his friend's sister Sujatha (Aishwarya Rai) so that he can use the dowry as his capital. Soon he moves to Mumbai, the ever-happening place where he reaches pinnacles of materialism while steadily slipping in his ethics and morals. His friend of previous generation and a well-wisher, Manikdas Gupta (Mithun Charkavarty) finds Guru's means of acquiring power and money abominable.

The moral of the movie, one might say is that it is OK to manipulate everything for one’s own success and material gain. By endorsing a movie which has this message as a backdrop, is the Uttar Pradesh government trying to say that this is the way to go? That in these days of 8 or 9 or 10 percent economic growth, success is also that matters and the means is damned? It would seem so and the irony of a movie promoting capitalist at its crassest being rewarded by a government purporting itself to be socialist in its ideals and inspiration can not be missed.

Ratan Tata was recently interviewed on CNN-IBN in the after glow of the Tata Group’s acquiring of Corus. In a telling observation on corporate governance, he remarks to Rajdeep Sardesai that “There is always a view among some segments of the industrial community that they are above the law and that they can manage the environment.” Ratan Tata agrees in the interview that it is still possible in India to” cut corners and get away; if you need, you can peddle influence with politicians, or influence someone, bribe someone”.

Well , any one who lives in India knows that life is all about managing the environment through whatever means and Guru Bhai will show you how if you go and watch the movie in U.P where the tickets have just got cheaper. But it is unfortunate that the ethic of unscrupulousness is the direction that the state government seems to be endorsing by its gesture of exempting the movie from entertainment tax.