Me too ….on SD Millionaire

Enough has been said , written about it so this comes a bit late , but honestly I was struggling to form a pov. I liked the film but it left me disturbed. Aishwarya Rai’s comment ‘It is just a movie’ pushed me into writing out my POV . I so disagree with ‘Its just a movie’ stance, it is a convenient stance to take. I think movies and real life are interdependent. Movies shape lives and lives shape movies. So to say the least , it is a flippant remark

War happens and countries where it happens often make films about War, The US has subway violence and it has money mindedness and an excessive lifestyle and that’s what their movies reflect. Then why are we getting so touchy about poverty and the showcasing of the really abysmal living conditions that a lot of India thrives in. I think I know why I got so disturbed.

Well we have recently undergone an image revamp. We have just about repositioned ourselves as the technology leader, the knowledge and services hub, and a youthful vibrant people. Like any good Branding exercise we want to play up our strengths and divert people’s attention from our weaknesses. Slumdog brings back the world’s attention to what we want to underplay. Brand India is now being proudly worn by the youth not because of its snake charmers and elephants, but because the generation has worked hard to make a place on the global map. We owe it to them to hold on to the new image till it is strong enough.

To conclude, Slumdog is a right movie at a wrong life stage in Brand India’s branding cycle.