I saw   Slumdog Millionaire  , many days before the hype started to engulf it. Maybe that’s the reason why I loved this film. It’s a story about love, about spirit. about determination and also a story about India. And I was happy that it won a few Oscars and happier when ARR and Resul got the recognition on the international stage they have deserved.

But I hear a lot of dissent growing against the movie. I read articles like this and this. I hear some of my friends and colleagues telling me it is bad advertising for India. Maybe it is. But are we all really blind? Or experts at putting things under the carpet. I guess every single one of us understands that these things still happen in India. It is not falsifying facts, it is just showing the negative part of the truth. Yes even I am proud and overwhelmed by the strides India has made in technology, space exploration, IT, pharmaceuticals, spirituality, business.. But doesn’t all that gloss simply hide the patches of rust underneath?

For me   Slumdog  is a movie that also acts as a reminder. A constructive criticism on how we manage to ignore some bare facts about our country. Take pride in glory, but don’t ignore the dirt.