Mumbai: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has criticised Slumdog Millionaire, the Golden-Globe winning movie which tells the rags-to-riches tale of an orphan from a Mumbai slum, for portraying India as a “Third World dirty underbelly developing nation”.
"It's just that the SM (Slumdog Millionaire) idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not," Bachchan wrote on his blog.
If the movie projects “India as a 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.”
"Conditions world over are so similar. Perceptions differ, but the reality of life and existence, unchanged. Comments for the film Slumdog Millionaire and the anger by some on its contents, prompt me to say the above," Bachchan wrote.
Bachchan recalled that the "commercial escapist world of Indian cinema" has vociferously battled for years, on the attention paid and adulation given to legendary Satyajit Ray at all prestigious film festivals of the West and not a word of appreciation for the entertaining mass-oriented box office blockbusters that were being churned out from Mumbai.
"The argument: Ray portrayed reality. The other escapism, fantasy and incredulous posturing. Unimpressive for Cannes, Berlin and Venice. But look at how rapidly all that is changing," he said.
Actor Irrfan Khan, who plays a police inspector in Slumdog Millionaire, has rejected criticism about the film and believes the reality of Indian poverty can’t be ignored.
"If anyone has any objection to the depiction of poverty in the film they should first come forward and take initiative to remove it. Only talking won't help," Khan told PTI.
"We can not shut our eyes from the fact that a large section of our country continues to live abject poverty which can not be removed by not being shown in a film. We need to work on grass-root level to remove this problem," he said earlier.
Slumdog Millionaire won four Golden Globe awards on Sunday, including one for music composer A R Rahman.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters.)
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