Slumdog Millionaire Tries to Overturn PR Obstacles

While Slumdog Millionaire is under the influence of a feel-good publicity frenzy States-wise, it’s been an entirely different story in India, the actual setting of the Bollywood movie.

Slammed as “poverty porn” by some, and a “cinematic terror” by others, Slumdog Millionaire is definitely being avoided by some moviegoers in India, a catastrophic turn of events when one absorbs the fact that India has a population of 1,147,995,904, all potential moviegoers.

Word of mouth in Indian circles about the movie has hit a crescendo with an actual high court hearing taking place Indian courts and brought about by offended Indians complaints over the perceived national insult implied by the movie’s title. Coincidentally the charity in the movie also has a namesake in India, another PR snafu. An all-around PR nightmare, indeed—but one that could have been simply evaded by re-issuing another title for its Indian release. But with virtually every critic predicting that the film will nab the Best Picture Oscar (and goodness knows what other honor), let’s see how long the film is a pariah in its own hometown!