DOGged SlumDOG

The mood is quite upbeat and jovial with each success of Slumdog Milllionaire in its runup to the Oscars and every award won by it is being celebrated throughout the country. Well, nice to see most of the awards coming from the western world where Indian cinema is slowly spreading its arms. It has hit the silverscreen worldwide with the thump of an enigma. Its being suggested as a must-watch by the biggies in hollywood and elsewhere.

Equally sad and untimely is the fact that a lawsuit has been filed by a malevolent litigant against the producers of Slumdog Milllionaire for potraying India as a “slum” and Indians as “dogs”. Such parochialism can be suitably equated with a surly insanity. The gentleman shockingly fails to understand the grand impact the film has made at a world stage by bringing some of the glaring realities facing india and her people. It further displays his inefficacy to contemplate the stand taken by us on a global platform inspite of the collossal list of challenges that we face and the umpteen examples of people hitting the jackpot after starting from mere scratch.

The title of the film is a far cry and almost an antithesis to the way way we were being referred to by the British as “Bloody Indians” during the raj or a banner at a rally in Pakistan reading “Indian Dogs Quit Kashmir”.

Had there been any truth in our poor suitor’s assertions there would have been hundreds of cases for the varied contexts in which the term “dog” (whether prefixed or suffixed or idiomed or phrased or in any other form) is used in language. Lets take for example our national cricket team or Miss Sania Mirza or India’s software prowess which were once categorised as “underdogs” in there respective arenas. However what ensued thereafter is history. The designation nonetheless spoke of the inherent potent which the world saw in we Indians. While the suit—Quite dogmatic. Is’nt it?

Its definitely our dogged persistence which makes us a vibrant nation today. Yes, we are on our stride in a dog-eat-dog world and there is no reason for us to be in the dog-house. Its rather worthwhile for us to bask in the dog days of Slumdog Millionaire while it makes its millions around the globe and get rid of our archaic doggish attitude and let the world take note of how we forge ahead.

Our poor dog in the manger leading an apparently dog’s life could’nt resist himself from making a real dog’s breakfast of our elated spirits before the Academy awards. Truly though, he doesn’t have a dog’s chance of winning given the doggerel of his plaint before he gets dog tired of his dogsbody efforts. If our dear Mr. busybody’s stomach has not yet been adequately filled up with enough dogfood he’d better doggo somewhere in the woods and feed himself with dogwood berries and stems---or find a good restaurant where he could vent his exasperation on the waiter with his “ Bring me the doggone hotdog, huh !”