NEW DELHI — Monday dawned with celebration in India as word spread that “Slumdog Millionaire” had snagged eight Academy Awards, including best picture and best director.
“Slumdog is Top Dog!” read a television headline.
Many people woke up before dawn to watch the results live. And for most, it was more than worth it. This was India’s day, a time to revel, to emote and to beam with pride as the world’s largest democracy swept Oscar gold, and how.
“I’m at work, but if I didn’t have to be here, I’d be on the street jumping up and down and shouting,” said Mohammed Asif, 26, an employee in a coffee bar in New Delhi. “In spite of the weaker economy, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ gives us hope. Maybe each of us can go out and win a million dollars too.”
Diminished, at least temporarily, was the debate over whether this was a real Indian film. Whether it fairly depicted India. Whether slums were the image the nation wanted to project. There was glory to be had and more than enough to go around.
“What a day it’s been for India!” gushed an announcer on one of the nation’s 2 4/7 hyper-active news channels.
“The winners have done India proud,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
In the Mumbai slums where the film was shot, children broke into impromptu Bollywood dancing. Crowds cheered as neighbors huddled around the available television sets.
Local television gave extensive coverage to the two slum dwellers who acted in the film, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, and Rubina Ali, 9, highlighting their own rags-to-riches journey as they flew from their shantytown to Hollywood for the awards ceremony.
In Chennai, the hometown of A.R. Rahman, the modest, innovative composer who won Oscars for best original score and best original song, supporters handed out candy, ignited fireworks and cut a huge cake in the middle of the street opposite his home.
“Jai Ho,” or “Praise Be,” the chorus from Rahman’s film’s hit song of the same name, could be heard on many Indian channels.
“This is a great moment. After the Mumbai attack, everyone relates to Rahman as an Indian rather than a Muslim,” said P.M. Jagannathan, 56, a chemical engineer from Mumbai. “He’s doing the job that politicians should be doing — uniting people rather than dividing them.”
Not everyone was overjoyed by the recognition, however. “This is all a big show,” said Nicholas Anthony, 47, who runs a video-game parlor in Dharavi, the Mumbai slum where much of the film was shot. “Just walk around Dharavi and spend a day with the kids here and you will understand that ‘Slumdog’ doesn’t represent Dharavi.”
Shiv Vishwanathan, an anthropologist based in the western city of Ahmedabad, said the film reflects neither India’s own view of itself nor the outside world’s view of India.
“It’s a Hollywood version of a Bollywood myth that’s inverted and speeded up,” he said.
