It may be a Golden Globe award winner; it may also have Oscar nominations creating a lot of buzz in the media across the world. However, on this occasion, Slumdog Millionaire is in the press for all the wrong reasons, especially in India.
Andheri Sessions Court in Mumbai has disclosed a PIL by Andheri Corporator Nicolas Almeida which asserts that the film’s title is distasteful and it should be altered from Slumdog Millionaire to Slum Dash Millionaire.
“I have no objection against the film but why were we called dogs in the film,” Almeida wanted to know.
The bad news doesn’t stop there either. General Secretary Tapeshwar Vishwakarma of Slum-dwellers’ Joint Action Committee filed a defamation case against AR Rahman and Anil Kapoor in a local court in Patna, alleging that Slumdog Millionaire was a poor representation of slum-dwellers.
“It’s an insult to everyone who is living in slums in India. This film should not run in this country. They called us dogs,” Vishwakarma said.
The hearing for the PIL case will be held on February 25 in Mumbai, three days after finding out whether their nominations in the Oscars turn into actual awards. It seems as though Slumdog Millionaire will be in the media for a while. Whether it enjoys this kind of attention or not is a different story altogether.
