Page after page of pricking abuse and distasteful mud-slinging at India leaves you a bit angry and irritated. But that’s the reality and reality does bite. Agreed, all that Adiga writes is not uncommon in India, but it is put in a hard-hitting and on your face way. The crude and often dry narration style gives away the probable end quite in advance. Cause you know this writer can never climax in a Bollywood-ish happy-go way.
TWT does not give out anything positive all through its 304 pages and sarcastically defends the protagonist’s way of life. A life, which is mutinously 'successful', but at the cost of the ones who love him. Break the law at every point, no matter what, to reach the top – that is the end message, with lots of India-bashing along the way.
SM on the other hand tells you the story of a kid, again from my Mumbai, who goes on to win millions on a TV show. The stuff and style might be new for international audiences, for which it was targeted, but was too predictable for India. India loves movies in which stories are unrealistic, sets are lavish and lifestyles similar to the western world. In a way, we love to see on screen what we crave in reality. Movies like DCH, RDB, Black, K3G or most other movies you think of, portray characters which hardly 10% of Indians can even relate to, forget about matching the lifestyles. SM however shows the shit that 80% of India really is. And we obviously find it a bit difficult to accept.
To me, SM is as Indian a movie I have ever seen. And with that in mind, it seems decent. Definitely watchable compared to the other crappy movies releasing of late. The characters are a delight to watch and the story-line albeit not being smooth, is agreeable. The flow of the movie is always towards daylight and not towards darkness. 'Darkness' is in fact, a word all too common in TWT, used to indicate Indian villages. That is where SM differs from TWT - Positive v/s Negative tone in describing India’s mess.
Both have now swept awards in their respective categories. And they have a common theme. When was the last time, works as Indian as these, grabbed such worldwide attention? No rocket science to understand what the world makes out of it. Catch BBC/CNN sometime - a rioter attacking the police in China will get more coverage than say, a similar case in Algeria. Similarly, India's gutters will draw more attention than Ethiopia's. Will anyone be interested in SM if it was based in Ethiopia? Obviously No. The reason is simple. The world has been told that India is on the rise, to be wary of India, and so on. When the same world is exposed to something degrading in the new challenger, it laps it up in its entire splendor. Not that it is always meant to ridicule, but also for the awe and shock of it. A kid in NY who has been told India is the next big thing is bound to be astounded by a way of life as bizarre as the one shown in SM.
For an Indian critic, SM was pathetically mediocre to deserve 8 Oscars (LOTR-Fellowship of the Ring won just 4). But the fact remains that out of the 8 Oscars, 3 were won by Indians, for their previously unknown talent in the international scene. A star is made only when people recognize someone to be one. In this way, the movie is a god-sent for India. Actors, artists and technicians from India who always deserved bigger bucks will now indeed start commanding them. Just FYI, Frieda Pinto now is worth twice as much Ash. Rahman status won't change much in India after this (genius has a superlative term?), but the world will look at him completely differently, a double Oscar winner.
Now I rate SM and TWT based on not just the quality of the content, but the significance and sensibility of the two works:
SlumDog Millionaire: 4/5
The White Tiger: 2.5/5
Midnight, at the Andheri Station Bus Stop, I snapped up this interesting coincidence through my N82. Yeah, it's my Indyeah!!
