If you hadn't heard of the film Slumdog Millionaire before this week, you probably have since Sunday night when it won 4 Golden Globes. Slumdog Millionaire swept all four categories for which it was nominated at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards. This underdog film about a Mumbai orphan who rises to glory after winning TV show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," won best drama, best director, best screenplay and musical score. The movie is based on a 2005 novel by Indian novelist and diplomat Vikas Swarup.
Does it deserve these accolades? Absolutely. A riveting film, the narrative structure creates great suspense as it unfolds while making you deeply empathize with its characters. It also captures a side of Indian life that many outside the coutnry wouldn't know about it, as it focuses on Jamal's life in the slums of Mumbai. While its a great film in itself, it's interesting what mainstream attention it is now generating.
Mainstream and Hollywood are synonymous when it comes to films in the U.S., but in India it's Bollywood that takes prime stage with its elaborate costumes, soap opera plots, and synchronized dance scenes. Slumdog Millionaire is Indian at heart, but British director Danny Boyle tells the story in a Western way that uses Bollywood as a cultural reference more than a film tool. The film portrays the seamier side of slum life, without glossing over the grittiness and hardship and without participating in the mawkishness of Bollywood. It's in English with a smattering of Hindi. Starring Dev Patel and the beautiful Freida Pinto, the love affair that develops between them as life keeps them apart is the same story of countless Bollywood films as well as Romeo and Juliet. During the credits though, the actors engage in pure Bollywood when they break out in synchronized, half Indian, half hip hop dances.
Interestingly, the Golden Globes don't tend to be international affairs, but American ones. Hollywood has been THE place for film in the world since the industry's beginnings. Now, however, American Hollywood-style films aren't winning the awards, even if they're still the ones paying for the show. No Bollywood film would have a chance at winning a Golden Globe, much less an Oscar. Yet Slumdog Millionaire is Western enough to be accessible to American judges and their awards, while retaining an Indian spirit and story. And it tells a great story. Oscars, here comes a winner from a different side of the world!