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Sri Venkat

To:  Major US and Indian publications
We the undersigned find the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" highly
offensive for its portrayal of Indians as bloodthirsty, child-beating,
eye-plucking people and portrayal of India as a very poor and filthy
fifth world country.

Isn't India poor?
India being a vast and diverse country, is a statistician dream.
Figures can be twisted anyways. But the fact is that while the poverty
rate in India was 40% 5 years back, it was 60% 25 years back. A 20%
jump translates to approximately 200 million people coming out of
poverty. Projecting the figures now, the poverty rate in India is the
30% range. India has a 300 million strong middle class. While it is a
fact that there is still unacceptable poverty in India a clear
majority in India are not extremely poor as portrayed in the movie.

When a dollar isn't a dollar:
The most commonly quoted figure to paint India an impoverished nation
is quoting Indian salary in US dollars by using the exchange rate
conversion. But a dollar-a-day isn't really dollar-a-day in India it
is Rupees50-a-day. For many of the most common things 1 dollar
translates to 1 rupee. A doctor visit would be Rupees100 in Indian and
at least dollar100 in America. Public transport, though very crowded
and inefficient, works and a typical daily commute to and from work
would be Rs10 in India and $10 in America. Basic food items are highly
subsidized to the poor people through a vast Government network.
Electricity is free in rural areas. Even the world Bank recognizes the
fallacies of using the exchange rate and have abandoned this in favor
of Purchasing-Power-Parity. It is pity that lot of publications and
statisticians (Liars, damn liars and statisticians), know about this
and still use the raw exchange rate figures to make their point of
poverty in India.

Aren't Indian slums hell:
Yes, and then Maybe. Danny Boyle himself in his interview to an Indian
publication has admitted that the slums in India are teaming with
industries and entrepreneurs. But in the movie the only "industry" he
has portrayed in the slums is begging, eye-plucking, prostitution and
shooting.

It is just a movie:
"Just a movie" can change public perceptions. Even an over-the-top
movie like "Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom" was disastrous for
changing the views of India for a generation of people. Kal Penn, the
Indian American actor, told that after seeing the Indiana Jones movie,
his American friends used to avoid him, thinking he eats monkey's
brains. The "Slumdog" movie has been perceived as "real" by the
American and world media. Imagine the amount of profiling and impact
this movie would have, especially on the lives of children of Indians
abroad, who can't defend themselves.

Isn't the author of this movie Indian?
Indians have a long history of degrading themselves in literature and
in media. Maybe because some are "ultra-liberal", maybe it is due to
age-old perceptions, maybe some feel that they have to dance to the
tune of their "Western-masters". But the fact is that many Indians in
media and literature perceive (rightly or wrongly is debatable) that
their work will be published/seen/recognized only if they write
something about India and Indians.

We the undersigned pray that the perception of Indian journalists and
authors is wrong. We hope that this counter view of Slumdog is
published so that people can see India for its glorious diversities
and not a one-dimensional hell as portrayed in the movie "Slumdog
Millionaire". Though we have the utmost love and respect for AR Rahman
and the rest of the Indian crew, we hope that they think twice about
being part of such movies -which can bring only bad to India and
Indians. We also hope that the Oscar committee would see this movie as
a con to satisfy the Western thirst of superiority and not as
"rags-to-riches" story or "real" portrayal of India

source: petitiononline.com