On the other hand, Bollywood icon, Amitabh Bachchan snubbed the movie as saying that the movie portrayed India as “a third-world, dirty, under-bellied nation”.  Mr. Bachchan might have over-reacted because no matter what people think about India, it has portrayed the reality.  The movie tells the story of three slum kids’ journey through life. What is unique about this movie is that the gory detail of slum, poverty, despair has been depicted very nicely. The violent contents of the movie is sometimes too difficult to digest but has not lost its real touch. For instance, a scene in the movie shows how slum kids are blinded to enhance their earning potentials. It is disturbing but it is very true. It is more believable than watching the most commercially successful Bollywood movie now playing. In the latter movie, the main character suffers from memory loss but has gained immense “King Kong” strength which he channelizes in killing, ravaging people at his will.

There are times when people will enjoy how slum kids make fun of each other. It has a humor touch to the irony of life. The best part is that the movie has a happy ending. It feels great to believe that two of the slum kids could have a better life. Millions are still suffering and need help. How about thinking that the movie was not conceived to portray India as a third-world nation, but bringing in light the pathetic life of many children. The movie might work as an eye opener for many philanthropists and few more children can be rescued.

However, as Mr. Bachchan has also pointed out, it might be true that the movie received more attention since it was a foreign production. Many good Indian movies never received international attention. A similar genre of movie which deserved more attention was Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Traffic Signal”.  It could be due to lack of marketing skill of producers, or something else, we are not aware of.  So whatever be the reason, Indian films have not got enough attention in America so far. Some of the films produced in Hollywood with Bollywood touch was below the par and not even worth mentioning.

So what happened to Hollywood suddenly?  This year Indian film fraternity received major attention at the Golden Globes. Bollywood’s Shah Rukh Khan, the only actor to be included in Newsweek’s “50 Most Powerful People of the World” appeared as a presenter.  Few Bollywood celebrities were spotted at the ceremony, including Karan Johar and Anil Kapoor. Is it the economic reason behind all this? Probably this is the first formal gesture confirming the potential of the multi-million dollar Bollywood industry. Recently, big production houses including Disney have collaborated in making Bollywood movies.  On the other hand, Indian business houses had been gradually trying to slip into America’s entertainment industry.  Not long ago, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group roped in with Steven Spielberg’s, “DreamWorks SKG” for joint collaboration of movie production and distribution. So it could well be the economic potential of the Indian movie market attracting Hollywood’s attention suddenly.

But going back to the topic of Slumdog Millionaire, now all eyes are towards the Academy Awards. Besides this movie, a billion Indians are keeping their fingers crossed for Aamir Khan’s “Taare Zameen Par” for the best foreign category. It is a sensitive story of a dyslexic child.  Will these two films get nominations for the Oscars? Well, let’s wait and see.