Indian Police and Slumdog Millionaire

A couple of years ago I spent a month in India. One balmy afternoon, from the roof-top bar of my hotel in New Delhi, I watched a group of cops pull up in the street. They picked a bystander seemingly at random, then started beating the crap out of him with long sticks. They threw him in the back of a police wagon, then a minute later released him, grabbed somebody else, beat him to a pulp and took him away. I was stunned, as were the other guests – all whiteys – in the hotel. I felt anger, powerlessness, and contempt. Never have I been so glad to leave a country.

I watched Slumdog Millionaire today, loved it, recommend it, and appreciated that it showed India as it is. Indian movies for western consumption usually omit the daily dirt, degradation, and suffering that hundreds of millions experience daily. Slumdog showed it all.