Did ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ deserve the Oscars?

Danny Boyle’s low-budget Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars last night, said Mitu Sengupta in Alter Net, including the award for Best Picture (click here to watch the acceptance speech). But although it’s “one of the most celebrated films in recent times,” this “magical tale, with its unconvincing one-dimensional characters and absurd plot devices, greatly understates the depth of suffering among India's poor”—what a “sham.”

Slumdog Millionaire really didn’t deserve so many Oscars, said The Times of India. But AR Rahman did deserve the Oscars for his song “Jai Ho” (watch video here) and for his other musical work in the film. And if anything, maybe Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar wins will allow Indian artists to “be taken more seriously” from now on.

“The time has come for those, like me, who have treated the film with a touch of friendly skepticism,” said Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian, “to wake up to an important part of what made it so compelling—its differentness, its originality.” At a time when moviegoers are repeatedly offered uninspired, paint-by-numbers films, “Slumdog Millionaire really did deliver the shock of the new.”

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