Mumbai Meri Jaan (Bombay, my Life)

Watched an wonderful movie - Mumbai Meri Jaan. I didn't know the story until I watched this movie. And it set me thinking on the recent furore about Slumdog Millionaire. Many in India have voiced their opinions that the latter movie shows Mumbai and India in bad light. The opinions have come about only because people started watching Slumdog . . . only because of the attention it's recent award winning streak created.

The former movie has shown the life and people of Mumbai in another realistic perspective; it has the same ingredients - a poor immigrant to Mumbai, an aspiring nationalist/IT person, a policeman whose soul awakens as the story unfolds, a TV personality who realizes the emotions of people through her own predicaments and the a religious zealot who learns to accept the diversity - all of these revolving around an unfortunate incident the city faces (in stark contrast to the storyline of individual triumph in Slumdog. . .).

More than comparing these two films, what made me think is the reactions from people. I have never heard people saying that Mumbai Meri Jaan is a very good movie about the famed Mumbai and Indian resilience and moral fiber. And the reason is because this film (or similar films) never got the marketing publicity and the buzz!! Hence, the towering film, publisher, etc personalities who raised the furore, never got a chance to say about this movie. A little bit of introspecting reveals that these personalities could have used their good offices to garner support for movies like the above, instead of just complaining about Slumdog Millionaire.

Jai Mata Di.