Atleast for a few days sharukh is not on the movie covers. No .. its not Ghajini either. For that matter its none of the traditional cover boys of bollywood namely the khans, kumars and the roshans. Its Mumbai at the center of it all. And its not the Mumbai Bollywood raves and rants about. Its nothing to do with the glitz, the glamour, the extravagance and the excesses. Infact its the totally opposite one. Its the Mumbai that stinks, survives rather than exists and surprisingly, it never gives up.
Mumbai lives in its slums. The slums give Mumbai its character more than the Arabian Sea, the Marine Drive,Malabar Hill or Juhu itself. Majority of the people come from slums. This in itself is enough to corroborate what i mean to say. The rozy, romantic Mumbai along with its english speaking ("cool"?) junta can take a hike. For now atleast. Its just an illusion created by marketing pundits to fool people into believing what a life people live in Mumbai. The celebrities, (Sharukh the sportstars and their comrades inclusive) are just agents to foster that illusion and keep it alive. For the longer it stays alive the better for them to sell anything and everything. At the cost of Mumbai of course.
The real Mumbai however has been the same over many decades. Even decades back it wasnt very different that what it is now. Just that people just didnt care about this so called underbelly. The only difference being that now all of a sudden, with India being in the eye of the west, Mumbai, or rather India, is up for inspection. Naturally, the things that we have become insensitized to and take for granted have started to appeal to the sensibilities of the foreign world. The same has happened with Slumdog millionaire.
Ironically, it took a Brit to portray Mumbai in all its unglorified nudity. His Indian counterparts either didn't want to or didnt care frankly speaking. The reasons for which i have already mentioned. There might certainly be people who look at these foreigners as hypocrites playing to their western gallery. Their argument being that there is so much more to show about India rather than her poverty. My answer to that is step outside your building or peep outside the window of your skyscraper. Chances are that you already have an idea and have kept the window closed to stop the stench. Its so easy to live in Mumbai, you just need to become cold blooded!
Down below the building, you wont see much other than a hive of tin roofs, brick walls and plastic sheets. Small dwellings measuring 6ft by 10 ft housing entire families are relatively easy to find. Its here that children call a pigeonhole as their home. Labyrinthine alleys and culdesac's dot the entire landscape. Occasionally, you would spot garbage strewn all around. You wouldnt want to see any more of it either. Actually, you should be thankful that you dont get to see much since its so congested as it shall quickly shatter all mirages of how developed we are. Imagine, if we are so ignorant of the city in which we live then what about the real India in the villages.
I genuinely wish goodluck to the effort that Danny Boyle has undertaken. I havent watched the movie so wouldnt want to comment on that. But the undertaking on such a subject itself needs appreciation.
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It's a great movie, lines up well with the theory of spiral dynamics.
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