A great production value but insensible story telling

Rating: 4/10 (10 November 2008)

I saw this movie yesterday at MIAAC film festival in New York. I had heard great reviews of this film and was really looking forward to watching this film. the first 10 minutes were fantastic! It won't be an exaggeration if I say that it was work of a genius. I told myself that this is going to be a great, Salaam Bombay type of, film. The filmmaker seemed to completely understand the spirit of Mumbai and Mumbaites.
But the next hour and twenty minutes of the film were a disaster. Every clichéd and stereotype imaginable about India, Indian class struggle, Indian religious struggle was reinforced in the film in an even more exaggerated form. Every character in the film was either good or evil, black or white. Every system was either fair or unfair. There was no room for nuances and subtleties. The story telling was too much on the surface. For e.g. a scene from '92 riots, where a bunch of Hindu fanatics were attacking Muslims in their slums. That scene was a biggest turn off for me. I was in fact offended by the insensitivity and insensibility of the filmmaker who presented such a big historical tragedy in simplistic and stereotypical way. I have lived through those riots and I know exactly how it feels. It for sure wasn't as simplistic.
And the scene where the two brothers were pushed out of the train because they were stealing bread. Common! Give me a break! I have never seen such things happen in India in my entire lifetime. And I've lived in India for most of my life.
Also the kind Caucasian couple who graciously gives $100 to Jamal. I've never seen such kind tourists in India ever. I've seen Western tourists sometimes haggle for 10 cents. Forget India I've never seen such a gracious Caucasian exhibiting such kindness even in New York City.
And besides that Caucasian couple nobody from the higher economic strata of the society was kind and generous. Everyone was brutal, cruel, conniving...as if there were only two types of people in Mumbai.
This was yet another stereotypical Western view of a "third world country" gone wrong. I think this film is made purely for the Western audience, so that they feel good about themselves. The film does nothing else but reinforces the stereotypes. And after looking at all these favorable reviews I feel that there is a great divide between the way the West sees the world (or wants to see the world) and the way the world really is. One of the roles of media, in my opinion, is to challenge these stereotypes, whereas this film, to become popular, simply reinforces them. The film in my opinion is shallow, lame and absolutely insensible.
I gave it a generous four stars because I loved the cinematography and the performances. But I wish I could give negative points for storytelling.