SLUMDOG millionaire, human rights and poverty

With eight Oscars in its kitty SLUMDOG millionaire has once again generated much discussion. Having won awards one after another it’s now difficult to sustain any conspiracy theory. Personally I find the movie quite better than so many Bollywood movies that have already been made. I don’t know why some people make an issue out of it when they are silent on those movies that have unwanted scenes. Is it that some people find it insulting because that part of India they want to hide has been exposed? Or is it that their pride has been punctured because what we Indian could not do, a foreigner has been able to do – using our weakness to our advantage. After all making money more than ten times its actual cost is an achievement, and it is even likely to cross that figure.

The most important theme to me, however, is the portrayal of human rights of our nation India. I am not sure if the director had any such motive when the movie was being filmed. The intriguing thing about human right is that it has been used to support different causes. From denouncing military torture to supporting gay rights to fight to take one’s own life etc. The idea of the right to eat, however, is not propagated anchoring upon human right. And quite obviously because those who do not have food to eat are not even aware of any ideological concept as human right.

Human right is that basic right and freedom which every human being in entitled to. If poverty is understood as that which deprives people of food, and chains people to hunger then issue of poverty is very much an issue concerning human rights. Nature has made human being to eat, and when one has no food to eat it is against law of nature. Human right is the recognition of the right of an individual ‘given’ by the law of nature. This right is not given by any government or any state so that it can be taken away whenever government or state demands it. Rather government or state just recognises this right ‘given’ by the law of nature. It is for this reason that I believe poverty is a violation of human rights of those who are poor: who are deprived of food for survival.

It is for this reason that one medieval thinker said something like this: “ ... if the need be so manifest and urgent, that it is evident that the present need must be remedied by whatever means be at hand, then it is lawful for a man to succour (help in time of difficulty) his own need by means of another’s property, by taking it either openly or secretly: nor is this properly speaking theft or robbery”. Because in such situation the right to live of the hungry man trumps over the right to private property of the rich. This is so radical, yet this contains a profound truth. This also calls for radical transformation in the thinking of the rich.
The SLUMDOG millionaire exposes the deprivation of human right of many people of India. I don’t suppose that the producer had motive to portray India in poor light. And even if he had any such motive we should have the heart to accept reality. The wise move for us as Indian is to accept such reality and proceed to rectify such gross violation of human rights. Criticising the movie and refusing to accept reality is to turn blind eye to the gross violation of human rights in India.