An Open Letter To Arindam Chaudhuri

Dear Arindam,

You seem to have posted a rather audacious and untrue blog post about the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I agree, you said what you had in your little mind. Now I’ll say what I have in mine.

You had the audacity to publish that ridiculous blog post as your paid advertisement in the newspaper. As if anyone reads it. I’m not too concerned about that. I’m just concerned where your corporate attitude is taking you. So, I’ve devised a plan for you to get back your life on track, or as the Pope would say, Rid You of Your Sins…

1) Sort out the Unfair Trade Practises charge against your nursery school, if you haven’t already. ( Chill man..Just read it off the news online.)

Also check this bit on MRTPC’s directive to probe these claims.

2) Pay your taxes dude ! The Tax Evasion charges don’t look so great on your already sucky IIPM’s brochure. Check this. Also this

3) Stop suing people who want to spread the truth. As long as Rashmi Bansal has the government on her side, she has nothing to worry about. Neither does Gaurav Sabnis

And don’t even think about suing me. All the claims I’ve made have already been made by by the press and the Indian government. For simplicity, I’ve included them so you don’t have to waste your time on the news websites. As far as my opinions are concerned, well those are entirely my own and you can’t do anything about it.

4) Read the page IIPM Controversies on Wikipedia. Try editing it and I’ll edit it back. Fun game eh?

5) Stop criticizing movies like Slumdog Millionaire. They’re excellent.

Elaborating on the last point, I have many things on my mind..

Firstly, Indian directors have made such good movies. Rang De Basanti? Lagaan? And they’ve been equally well received by critics and appropriate credit has been given to the movie makers. So don’t blame others if you only watch chick flicks.

You say the film doesn’t have sincerity and honesty. Well, we all know how honest you are. The movie’s honesty is quite clear. For people like you fed with a golden spoon in your mouth, it may require you to watch it some 20 times before you see it

And you’re so bothered about India being portrayed as a third world country with slums and slumdogs? Well, we do have all that. And much worse. People keep talking about terrorism. But leave the terrorists alone. The real terrorism is in the poverty stricken India. The terrorists are doing their job just fine. People like you aren’t. You just want to get richer. Accept that or nobody will ever respect you.

Then you say the movie shows slums, open-air lavatories, riots, underworld, prostitution, brothels, child labour, begging, blinding and maiming of kids to make them into ‘better beggars’, petty peddlers, traffic jams, irresponsible call centre executives…

But again, these are India’s assets! Not really the ones we’re proud of, but India wouldn’t be India if it weren’t for all these. Accept your country for what it is.

It’s true, the movie has a Dark side about it, but again why do Indians always want happy movies. Accept the movie for what it is. It’s a drama. Not a documentary. Stop making up bullshit and drilling people’s minds with it.

I guess I could rant on about your antics but I wouldn’t want to waste any more of my time on this topic.

Yours,

Hardik Ruparel