Slumdog is a brilliant film, and i fail to understand what's disturbing the likes of Mr Bachchan and Priyadarshan - is it insecurity, that a white man came to mumbai and created a stir with his fascinatng portrayal of the city's slums, considered a blotch on swanky India's image and something that cannot be shown to the rest of the world. Or do these prominent voteries of masaala movies, feel threatened - afterall a Slumdog, with its intrinsic "indian" subject has been shown more convincingly- something that most mainstream bollywood films can only aspire for.
There's nothing wrong with our brand of desi cinema- complete with their song and dance routines; but most of our films are not even convincing enough, with lacklustre subjects and childish portrayals. What john abraham and abhishek's character did in 'dostana' was utterly ludicrous and ended up making a mockery of a sensitive subject.
It's sad that a Mr. Bachchan should make such foolish remarks on Ray's films,(while speaking in context of Slumdog) - that Ray's films consciously depicted India's poverty to attract international viewership. One can only suggest the so called 'living legend' of bollywood cinema to jog his brains and recollect how many of Ray's films have actually depicted poverty or consciously dealt with that subject. Ray's subjects had variety - from exploring themes on man-woman relationships, corporate politics, friendship, children's fantasy ....the themes are endless - something that most voteries of Bollywood cinema cannot probably even begin to imagine.