INDIA: There has been much debate among Indians about how to receive Slumdog Millionaire’s big win at the Oscars on Sunday. Many are proud to see a film shot in India, with Indian actors do so well abroad. Others feel that Slumdog’s portrayal of biting poverty and the ugly underbelly of Mumbai is unbalanced and unfair.

What no one has talked about yet is why this film is so popular. It seems that the story of a guy, with almost no hope of success, pulling one out of the fire might be something we can all relate to. Without big name stars or big name money this movie made it to the top. At the SAG awards I even heard the actors thank their casting director. That blew my mind. Barely anyone else that was nominated had to go through a casting director. Most of those stars get hand picked by the director, or they get the script written for them in the first place.

Tarun Shankar has a great opinion column in Outlook India talking about this, so I am going to defer to him here.

Outlook India article: Slumdogs Worldwide