WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL - AT 8:01 A.M. ET:  Readers will recall the superb reports sent by Renee Nielsen, our contact in Mumbai, India, during the recent terrorist siege in that city.  Now Renee reports on the reaction in India to the whopping success of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Oscars:

All of India is celebrating the eight Oscars the film "Slumdog Millionaire" received at Sunday night's 81st Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles.  Mumbaikers (as residents of Mumbai are known), are especially filled with pride and joy because so many local sons and daughters have achieved international recognition.  This is something previously unimaginable for many, including the families of the youngest stars of the film, who live in some of the poor enclaves in this enormous and impossibly crowded city.  Rubina Quereshi (youngest Latika) and Mohammed Azharuddin (youngest Salim) are actually neighbors living in shanty houses within the upscale northern suburb of Bandra.  Their families struggle with unemployment and, in the case of Azharrudin's father, severe tuberculosis--a disease from which many of the poor in Mumbai suffer.

For weeks there has been discussion in the newspapers and on television about why the producer and director of "Slumdog Millionaire" would need to portray India in such a negative light?  Mumbai, some were afraid, would only be seen as a cesspool of crime and poverty, and a city that didn't care about its poor.  That could damage tourism, they fretted, which is slowly coming back after the terror attacks last November. 

Many others, however, were happy to get the real problems of the slums, such as Dharavi--another area featured in the film--out in the open for the West to see, and perhaps get some help.  According to today's Times of India, some of that much-needed help is arriving in the form of permanent housing. The Times states:  "In another cheerful development besides the Oscars, 14 consortia of infrastructure developers, including foreign companies, have come forward for Dharavi's makeover." 

"Slumdog Millionaire"has raised the hopes of many, from the poor residents featured in the film, to the artists and actors internationally recognized for their craft and looking for future sucess.  However, it is a safe bet to say that all Indian citizens would like this current worldwide interest to translate into pushing the Indian goverment to assist the urban slum population of India, numbering 80 million, to live with more dignity than theydo now.  That would be the real success story.

COMMENT:  We love Renee's reports.  She has a keen eye, and sees things that more traditional journalists don't.  And where else have you read that residents of Mumbai are called Mumbaikers?

February 24,  2009.