Slumdog Millioraire - How close is it to

[WiFO215]

And the people themselves can be astoundingly, shockingly beautiful.

Ah, how true! How true! *Kisses self in self-admiration*

@ the OPs question:
The caste system is still very much prevelant in India. There are many causes. Partly it is the fault of the politicians who use the existing systems to stay in power. For instance, if you were to attend a public gathering where a politician was addressing a the people, you'd find something along the lines of " I will make sure caste X get reservations (a quota system) in all sections of society because they are being oppressed by caste Y and are finding it hard to come up in life". Likewise, he will claim the same thing to caste Y. Castes X and Y, immediately moved to tears will vote for this bloke while he does absolutely nothing after coming to power. Like Bernard Shaw put it, we are in the hands of best demagogue on that day. They make sure that there remains such a cultural divide so that they can retain power.

Partly, it is a fault of the people themselves. It is a similar to the society Brave New World. The situation is akin to the Beta's chiming "Boy, I'm sure glad I'm a Beta and not an Alpha" and the Alphas doing the opposite. Where this conditioning stems from is a mystery, but it has a bad impact on society.

Let us hope it gets better.

 

[martharon]

Its very sad to admit that what has been shown in "Slumdog Millioraire" is true almost. there is still caste system in some parts even the schools and colleges are given admission based on the categories like oc, bc, mbc...
apart from this there are many amazing wonders in India.

 

[maverick_starstrider]

Its very sad to admit that what has been shown in "Slumdog Millioraire" is true almost. there is still caste system in some parts even the schools and colleges are given admission based on the categories like oc, bc, mbc...
apart from this there are many amazing wonders in India.

My opinion of slumdog millionaire was that though every individual part of the movie is in someway representative of life for someone in India the statistical likelihood of ALL that stuff happening to one person is absurd. It would be like a hollywood movie about a young black kid growing up in the ghetto who before the age of 12 fathered 3 children, had multiple drug addictions, AIDs, cancer was ostracized by his peers leading him to a school shooting where he got thrown into prison but found himself through the poetry of emerson and the lyrics of tupac and despite institutional racism and rose to become president. Sure, it COULD happen but really it's a medley of sensationalist Times magazine articles and stereotypes/cliches.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

i wouldn't call 7 percent as "very common".

if every single noncaucasian person in the country (men, women, children, the already married, ect) married a white person all of the couples added up together would constitute less than half of the potential pairings in the country. so 7% is fairly significant i'd say.

 

[ank_gl]

@sganesh
Keep denying the problem, keep yourself in denial mode.

If you can't see the problem, you can't solve it.

 

[russ_watters]

Reading a book makes Danny Boyle completely knowledgeable of the problems of India?

No: but it does relieve him of the responsibility to research them if he is merely adapting the book!

And, of course, none of this has anything to do with whether the movie was accurate or not: you are arguing around the issue.

And that book was also a fiction(named Q & A by Vikas Swarup) and not a commentary by some social researcher on these issues.

Yes. So what? That doesn't have anything to do with whether it is a generally accurate portrayal or not. You are the one trying to elevate the responsibility of the filmmakers here.

The problem is Danny was intent on showing *all* the problems within the two hours.. If you say it was completely coincidental rather than deliberate, then off i go!

There is no need for me to argue coincidental vs deliberate since you are arguing about something you could not possibly know: what was going on inside Danny's head!

Again, these are all just diversionary tactics. They don't have anything directly to do with whether the book and/or movie were accurate.

 

[russ_watters]

My opinion of slumdog millionaire was that though every individual part of the movie is in someway representative of life for someone in India the statistical likelihood of ALL that stuff happening to one person is absurd.

That should be obvious - the kid is essentially winning the lottery based on that combination of unlikely life experiences. And the more specific you get, the closer to zero the probability of more than one person having your life experiences. Heck, the first one alone is an essentially unique expeirence!

 

[jobyts]

I've always been completely charmed by India, and I'd love so much to visit someday. I know it has problems (what place doesn't? there is no heaven on Earth), but although its problems may be uniquely bad, it is uniquely good in many other ways as well, I bet.

Someday I'll visit, if I'm lucky .

lisab, duriing your visit, you are invited to stay at my home:) My home state is said to be one of the most beautiful and unique. Do a google image search for kerala.
To give a heads up, - within India, Kerala has
the highest literacy,
lowest death rate,
lowest birth rate,
lowest corruption rate,
highest suicide rate,
highest alchohol consumption,
highest religious harmony

 

[WiFO215]

To give a heads up, - within India, Kerala has

A COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT

Just kidding.

 

[b.shahvir]

I'm from India (as most of my forum friends might be aware) and I'm not a Hindu by birth, although I follow Hindu philosophy for my spiritual upliftment. Actually I'm a Zoroastrian (follower of the prophet Zarathustra) and we do not have concept of casteism in my religion.

Nonetheless, I felt I should give my 2 cent worth... The developed world is currently dabbling with issue of racism against ethnic asians, but I still believe this is natural human nature depicting survival of the fittest. At times it is evident that ethnic Asians (especially Indians) fail to come to turns with the western way of life and hence the issues.

However, at this point I must state that the developed world should not give into ridiculous levels of political correctness just for the upliftment of minorities. Citizens of the developed world too have a right to status pride. Although all human beings are created equal, desparity in nature exists and cannot be avoided! Political correctness will lead to mockery of the developed world. Migrants cannot stake a claim on every land.

My sincere apologies if I've offended anyone, but these are purely my views.

Regards,
Shahvir

 

[sganesh88]

You are the one trying to elevate the responsibility of the filmmakers here. There is no need for me to argue coincidental vs deliberate since you are arguing about something you could not possibly know: what was going on inside Danny's head!

He does have a responsibility considering the reach of Hollywood. This thread is itself an example.

They don't have anything directly to do with whether the book and/or movie were accurate.

It isn't about accuracy. Of course India has the problems portrayed. But showing them all in a single film is distasteful according to me. Maverick Strider explained it better.

 

[sganesh88]

My sincere apologies if I've offended anyone, but these are purely my views.

I didn't quite understand what you're trying to say. Whats this "political correctness"?

 

[Sorry!]

He does have a responsibility considering the reach of Hollywood. This thread is itself an example.

It isn't about accuracy. Of course India has the problems portrayed. But showing them all in a single film is distasteful according to me. Maverick Strider explained it better.

I'm certain that the OP was questioning about the specific problems and whether they occurred in India not if these same situations arise for every person who is born in India; that's stupid.

From that friend I spoke of earlier she said it is very true to real-life in India. Many of those situations happened directly to her family... Her mom spoke of the riots that occurred between muslims/hindus (they are hindu). In the movie it was shown only from the slums but these riots definitely effected areas outside the slums.

I can speak from personal research I've done for photography class that the slums in the movie look quite real-to-life and the situation with drugs/prostitution etc. are all real problems in India.

Even that movie and the actor who Jamal goes to get the signature from are real... lol?

So the OPs question has been answered, yes India does have the problems from the movie.
How does this have anything to do with it being 'distasteful'? I thought that the movie was good. Please explain why you think that it is distasteful for all these problems to be portrayed in a single movie? Would you rather have them release a series? This movie costs what under $20 million? It grossed well over $350 million last I checked; something must've gone right.

 

[b.shahvir]

I didn't quite understand what you're trying to say. Whats this "political correctness"?

political correctness is something which the lawmakers of the developed world normally depict when they give certain incentyives or make policies keeping in mind upliftment of the minoroties...all that is OK but it shouldn't be to the extent of ridiculousness

 

[Sorry!]

political correctness is something which the lawmakers of the developed world normally depict when they give certain incentyives or make policies keeping in mind upliftment of the minoroties...all that is OK but it shouldn't be to the extent of ridiculousness

What exactly was the intent of this post... Are you a troll sir?

 

[b.shahvir]

What exactly was the intent of this post... Are you a troll sir?

can u care to explain me the meaning of 'troll', sir? u see my english ain't that good! and watch what you say or u would be charged with racism (this is to some extent an example of political correctness) no hard feelings good friend

 

[DaveC426913]

can u care to explain me the meaning of 'troll', sir? u see my english ain't that good! and watch what you say or u would be charged with racism (this is to some extent an example of political correctness) no hard feelings good friend

The problem here is that you are hijacking the thread. This thread is about whether the film depicts a reasonable protrayal of India (inasmuch as any single film might).

However accurate your statements of racism and political correctness, they are not addressing that question. What they are doing is trying to create a straw man, an easier - and much more inflammatory - issue to attack than the one on the table. Whether you meant it to be or not, that is trollish behaviour.

Please stay on-topic or risk being reported.

 

[b.shahvir]

The problem here is that you are hijacking the thread. This thread is about whether the film depicts a reasonable protrayal of India (inasmuch as any single film might).

However accurate your statements of racism and political correctness, they are not addressing that question. What they are doing is trying to create a straw man, an easier - and much more inflammatory - issue to attack than the one on the table. Whether you meant it to be or not, that is trollish behaviour.

Please stay on-topic or risk being reported.

I understand, my apologies!

 

[mgb_phys]

The caste system is still very much prevelant in India. ...Partly it is the fault of the politicians who use the existing systems to stay in power.

A clever invention though:

Picture the scene about 200BC,, couple of Indians in a bar enjoying a Lhasi.
>Ashok - nice place we've got here but somethings missing
What?
>Well we really need somebody to discrimiate against
What?
>Well we need somebody to look down on - otherwise how do we know we are best.
What about brown people?
>Ashok - we are all the same color.
What about those people with their crazy gods
>Ashok - we are all hindus, we all have crazy gods
Well we could all gang up on one particular god
>Ashok - there are more gods than people, if we all pick one each and gang up on every body else it's not going to work. You invented maths you should know that - good work on inventing zero by the way.
Well we could invite the Jews to move in
>Ashok - don't be silly.
i've got it, we just split the whole population into groups and tell each group to hate the one below it.
>Good thinking, who does the picking?
Us of course
>Why us?
Because we are in the top group, we thought of the idea
>Will it work?
Well it will do until we event computers and then we can hate each other based on which operating system.

 

[Saladsamurai]

A clever invention though:

Picture the scene about 200BC,, couple of Indians in a bar enjoying a Lhasi.
>Ashok - nice place we've got here but somethings missing
What?
>Well we really need somebody to discrimiate against
What?
>Well we need somebody to look down on - otherwise how do we know we are best.
What about brown people?
>Ashok - we are all the same color.
What about those people with their crazy gods
>Ashok - we are all hindus, we all have crazy gods
Well we could all gang up on one particular god
>Ashok - there are more gods than people, if we all pick one each and gang up on every body else it's not going to work. You invented maths you should know that - good work on inventing zero by the way.
Well we could invite the Jews to move in
>Ashok - don't be silly.
i've got it, we just split the whole population into groups and tell each group to hate the one below it.
>Good thinking, who does the picking?
Us of course
>Why us?
Because we are in the top group, we thought of the idea
>Will it work?
Well it will do until we event computers and then we can hate each other based on which operating system.

oh man...

 

[b.shahvir]

What about those people with their crazy gods
>Ashok - we are all hindus, we all have crazy gods
Well we could all gang up on one particular god
>Ashok - there are more gods than people

Be-littling Gods of Hindus (calling them crazy n so on) or their beliefs, for that matter, even in jest amounts to racism. This could hurt Hindu sentiments or that of people who follow Hindu philosophy. Could have exercised some discretion in irony my good friend!

 

[Sorry!]

Be-littling Gods of Hindus (calling them crazy n so on) or their beliefs, for that matter, even in jest amounts to racism. This could hurt Hindu sentiments or that of people who follow Hindu philosophy. Could have exercised some discretion in irony my good friend!

Call the police.

 

[mgb_phys]

Be-littling Gods of Hindus (calling them crazy n so on) or their beliefs, for that matter, even in jest

It's ok, God has a sense of humor (look at the platypus) - at least Durga does and with her on your side you can generally beat any other Gods anyway.

By the way it's perfectly ok to belittle Gods - they very rarely sue. Sometimes they turn you into a spider or pillar of salt or something - but since the requirement for environmental impact assessments they have generally laid off the whole, flooding the entire Earth or raining down sulfur thing.

You can occasionally get into trouble for taking the piss out of people who believe in Gods, but unless they also believe in cyclohexane you are generally safe.

amounts to racism.

Not in the UK, Hindus aren't a race (in the 1976 race relations act - unlike Sikhs)

 

[jobyts]

>Ashok - there are more gods than people...

This is no longer true.

 

[protonchain]

I'm from India (lived there for 10 years), and I can tell you that the caste system is close to non-existent in the developed cities. In fact, in my 10 years there, I've never met a person expressing such sentiments.

Thank you.

Let me enlighten y'all and pardon the partial racism here.

The caste system was built thousands of years ago to divide up the tasks among groups of people. For example some people were merchants, some were warriors, some where priests, and some tended to cremations and funerals.

This caste system was horizontal, meaning it was completely even and there was no discrimination.

It wasn't until the British came in and effed everything up, making brahmins (the priests, which is what I am) at the top, and "untouchables" (those that did the menial tasks and some who performed cremations) at the bottom. Politicians sometimes continue this tradition mainly because politicians make retarded people look like geniuses.

I can tell you for a fact that while there are very few families that are a bit pedantic when it comes to caste systems, there's virtually no discrimination between caste members. There are rules and regulations involving not touching "untouchables" and the sole reason for that is is that it's unholy to touch someone who's blessed with the task of cremating your late mother (for example). We actually say that you are contaminating the untouchables if you touch them, and preventing the soul from reaching heaven.

I can tell you this because my grandmother passed away just a couple of months ago. We were all distraught and my dad had to hurry up and start the last rites. In doing so, the people given the task of performing all of the funeral functions, the untouchables, are actually considered priests and we weren't allowed to interact with them physically until the 12th day services were complete and the ashes were transferred through a body of water.


The movie by itself represents parts of India very well, but the whole "killing because that person is a muslim thing" is just utter bullcrap.

Don't read into the movie. For pete's sake.

 

[Sorry!]

Thank you.

Let me enlighten y'all and pardon the partial racism here.

The caste system was built thousands of years ago to divide up the tasks among groups of people. For example some people were merchants, some were warriors, some where priests, and some tended to cremations and funerals.

This caste system was horizontal, meaning it was completely even and there was no discrimination.

It wasn't until the British came in and effed everything up, making brahmins (the priests, which is what I am) at the top, and "untouchables" (those that did the menial tasks and some who performed cremations) at the bottom. Politicians sometimes continue this tradition mainly because politicians make retarded people look like geniuses.

I can tell you for a fact that while there are very few families that are a bit pedantic when it comes to caste systems, there's virtually no discrimination between caste members. There are rules and regulations involving not touching "untouchables" and the sole reason for that is is that it's unholy to touch someone who's blessed with the task of cremating your late mother (for example). We actually say that you are contaminating the untouchables if you touch them, and preventing the soul from reaching heaven.

I can tell you this because my grandmother passed away just a couple of months ago. We were all distraught and my dad had to hurry up and start the last rites. In doing so, the people given the task of performing all of the funeral functions, the untouchables, are actually considered priests and we weren't allowed to interact with them physically until the 12th day services were complete and the ashes were transferred through a body of water.


The movie by itself represents parts of India very well, but the whole "killing because that person is a muslim thing" is just utter bullcrap.

Don't read into the movie. For pete's sake.

Not true, there were higher castes and lower castes. Mobility between castes has nothing to do with how much power the caste actually wielded. Just because you could be say a fisherman and then be in the military does not mean that you haven't gained new powers you didnt' have prior. All it means is that the caste system was not deemed by birth-rite more by merit and job.

With that being said yes the British did come and cause a ruckus in the Indian caste system but I think it gets over-exagerrated. Indian people had just as much a role in the development of the system.

Yes there were riots between muslims and hindus and I know people who lived through these experiences first hand.

 

[rootX]

A clever invention though:

Picture the scene about 200BC,, couple of Indians in a bar enjoying a Lhasi.
>Ashok - nice place we've got here but somethings missing
What?
>Well we really need somebody to discrimiate against
What?
>Well we need somebody to look down on - otherwise how do we know we are best.
What about brown people?
>Ashok - we are all the same color.
What about those people with their crazy gods
>Ashok - we are all hindus, we all have crazy gods
Well we could all gang up on one particular god
>Ashok - there are more gods than people, if we all pick one each and gang up on every body else it's not going to work. You invented maths you should know that - good work on inventing zero by the way.
Well we could invite the Jews to move in
>Ashok - don't be silly.
i've got it, we just split the whole population into groups and tell each group to hate the one below it.
>Good thinking, who does the picking?
Us of course
>Why us?
Because we are in the top group, we thought of the idea
>Will it work?
Well it will do until we event computers and then we can hate each other based on which operating system.

But weren't it Europeans who introduced caste system?

 

[Sorry!]

But weren't it Europeans who introduced caste system?

No that's myth.

 

[DaveC426913]

But weren't it Europeans who introduced caste system?

Awesome. You found a cool person in his otherwise iron-clad argument.

 

[rootX]

No that's myth.

I have no knowledge but I wonder if it were Aryans (who were white Europeans I believe) that decided to discriminate against dark Indians. I neither know if there were light brown Indians before Aryans. Also, it might be that it were the Aryans who introduced Hinduism.

(Not hard factual information:
http://hinduism.suite101.com/article.cfm/hinduism_and_the_aryan_influence
http://adaniel.tripod.com/historycaste.htm
)

 

[sganesh88]

I thought that the movie was good. Please explain why you think that it is distasteful for all these problems to be portrayed in a single movie?

I have agreed that casteism exists in India. I am just pointing out why i didn't like the film. I think its prime motive is to show India as a dangerous place (this isn't the only one that attempted it). I found it distasteful because they showed all the problems occurring to a single person. I said this already. Its like a third person filming your house for an year; Taking out those particular scenes where you people fight; Then using the portions for an one hour film. What would that film make others think of your family? They may title it "Fight Club".
If you still argue that that was wholly unintentional, well.. *sigh*

This movie costs what under $20 million? It grossed well over $350 million last I checked; something must've gone right.

So? You mean only good movies gross more? I thought otherwise.

 

[ank_gl]

I think its prime motive is to show India as a dangerous place

You think wrong.

There have been soo many movies which potrayed problems in countries, I bet you don't care about them, because they r not related to you, so they don't exist, right??

For example, blood diamond, its a nice movie.

 

[mgb_phys]

I think its prime motive is to show India as a dangerous place

No it was a fairy story set in a country that made the setting colorful and exotic.
it also saved the costs of the obligatory car chases and explosions that would have been required if it ha been set in LA.

if you think it was an attack on India you should see the films the director made about his own country!

 

[b.shahvir]

Call the police.

Sorry, can't do that...Police officers commit 'Temporary Rapes' as suggested by an earlier thread in this forum

Not in the UK, Hindus aren't a race (in the 1976 race relations act - unlike Sikhs)

Tell that to Jade Goody of 'Big Brother' fame. She rubbed one of the Indian female contestent, who also happens to be a renowned Bollywood actress, the wrong way! You should know, it was all over the media in the UK.

 

[WiFO215]

A clever invention though:

Picture the scene about 200BC,, couple of Indians in a bar enjoying a Lhasi.
>Ashok - nice place we've got here but somethings missing
What?
>Well we really need somebody to discrimiate against
What?
>Well we need somebody to look down on - otherwise how do we know we are best.
What about brown people?
>Ashok - we are all the same color.
What about those people with their crazy gods
>Ashok - we are all hindus, we all have crazy gods
Well we could all gang up on one particular god
>Ashok - there are more gods than people, if we all pick one each and gang up on every body else it's not going to work. You invented maths you should know that - good work on inventing zero by the way.
Well we could invite the Jews to move in
>Ashok - don't be silly.
i've got it, we just split the whole population into groups and tell each group to hate the one below it.
>Good thinking, who does the picking?
Us of course
>Why us?
Because we are in the top group, we thought of the idea
>Will it work?
Well it will do until we event computers and then we can hate each other based on which operating system.

. So which group o' losers got the Mac?? WE have windows, right?