The
prolific
Priyadarshan
is
shocked
and
disgusted
by
the
importance
being
given
to
Danny
Boyle's
desi
slum-n-trim
saga
Slumdog
Millionaire.
"Slumdog
Millionaire
is
nothing
but
a
cheap
trashy
mediocre
version
of
those
commercial
films
about
estranged
brothers
and
childhood
sweethearts
that
Salim-Javed
used
to
write
so
brilliantly
in
the
1970s.
And
please
quote
me
clearly
on
this.
If
the
Golden
Globe
and
Oscars
committees
have
chosen
to
honour
this
trashy
film
it
just
shows
their
ignorance
of
world
cinema."
Priyan
whose
much-acclaimed
film
on
the
silk
weavers
of
Kanjeevaram
was
shown
alongside
Boyle's
bewildering
busty
tale
at
the
Toronto
Film
Festival
last
year
feels
we
Indians
are
exercising
prideful
property
rights
over
a
film
that
denigrates
Mumbai.
"I
saw
the
film
with
a
mixed
audience
at
the
Toronto
Film
festival.
The
Westerners
loved
it.
All
the
Indians
hated
it.
The
West
loves
to
see
us
as
a
wasteland,
filled
with
horror
stories
of
exploitation
and
degradation.
But
is
that
all
there's
to
our
beautiful
city
of
Mumbai?"
Priyan
is
surprised
that
Mumbai
is
celebrating
a
film
that
shows
only
the
city's
underbelly.
"Why
are
we
taking
this
treatment?
Just
because
a
whiteman
has
made
Slumdog
Millionaire,
we"re
so
happy
with
it?
I've
read
Vikas
Swarup's
novel
Q
&
A.
It
should
have
been
made
by
Mani
Ratnam.
Then
you'd
have
seen
what
he
would
have
done
with
Mumbai."
The
angry
director
wonders
why
there
isn't
a
single
shot
in
Slumdog
that
shows
the
more
aesthetic
side
of
Mumbai?
"Why
has
Danny
Boyle
not
taken
one
shot
of
Marine
Drive?
Do
his
slum
dwellers
exist
only
within
their
slums?
And
look
at
the
absurdities…A
boy
becomes
a
national
hero
on
a
game
show.
One
cop
takes
him
under
arrest
and
interrogates
him
relentlessly.
Where
is
everyone
else?
Is
this
kind
of
confinement
possible
in
this
age
when
television
cameras
enter
your
bedroom?
If
one
of
our
filmmakers
had
made
the
same
film
we
would
have
blasted
him
out
of
business."
"Let
them
give
as
many
Oscars
as
they
like.
We
don't
need
to
be
impressed," ends
Priyan
angrily.
Story first published: Monday, February 2, 2009, 13:56 [IST]