Gandhi to KBC...

You know what this is about...So let me get to the point straight away.

I watched Slumdog Millionaire a couple of weeks ago. I watched it in Bangalore and could not resist to imagine how this movie will be received by the tinseltown audience else where in the world, Hollywood...

American audience by and large would find this movie very educational, an eye-opener providing a different view of what they may have heard or seen, thanks to the IT outsourced, BPO lifestyle in India.

...Very well researched topic that is shot well in parts of India not normally known to rest of the world, brings out how children live their lives below the poverty line, early induction to drugs, prostitution and the whole nine-yards...truly deserves an oscar nomination...

Thanks to Boyle and his avid portrayal of Dharavi, there will be a flood of International NGOs and Hollywood stars taking ownership and responsibility to fix our slums.

Indian audience, on the other hand, are caught between rooting for an Oscar, the first realistic shot at an Indian winning an Oscar and embarrassment for what they want India to be known for in the world stage.

How diverse viewers feel about this movie – the American and Indian audience.

Depicting Indian poverty, Indian politics, Indian family system and not to forget the story-lines around arranged-marriage are stereo-typical yet compelling scripts normally catering to Oscar judges. Similar to how box-office driven directors add item numbers in the movie catering to the front benchers.

Last time an Indian theme came close to Oscar honors was also when it won - Gandhi. Indian story line with fair share of poverty, religious differences and illiteracy, catering to the history deprived average western audience. Indian audience accepted how India was portrayed in Gandhi as that was history and not a projection of current times.

My reviews – Watch it like any other movie and move on. I want to root for Rehman’s Oscar – frankly I still cant figure out what he scored. I also would want to hide and avoid if this becomes a topic of discussion over dinner with my US colleagues. So a watch, root because it has an Indian-Oscar potential and hide are my slum dog millionaire feelings.

For some it may be hard to digest when India's negatives are projected as art…Is this embarrassment, is this patriotism, shameful helplessness or inability to appreciate art as is without personal prejudice. But isn’t appreciation prejudiced anyways.

I am part of the Middleclass-Mouse turned NRI script…a movie sure to win Oscars soon…this is not about the NRIs and their life in India. But about their illiterate servants, drivers and their affairs in the middle of a busy NRI family who have just moved back to India. There are only 5 back to back songs when the credits are shown, all scored by Rehman - Hollywood version. Indian version dubbed only in 23 languages has credits shown every 10 minutes during the movie to help Rehman win back to back Oscars.