Abhimanyu Chakravorty

FANTASY SELLS

The Slumdog Millionaire has joined the Super fantasy Club of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. While J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is set in a pure magical world, Rowling’s Harry Potter meshes the two worlds, magic and real. In Slumdog Millionaire, it is fantasy realized in real world, termed magic realism.

Why do grown-ups love fairytales? Especially, the adaptation of a book titled Q & A by Vikas Swarup that would have almost gone unnoticed? There is something horribly wrong with our society that makes bloodshed, rape, robbery and hatred a stark reality that we would want to escape from. And Swarup could never have dreamt of so many Oscars for the adaptation of his book.

After eight Oscars and scores of prizes, Slumdog has finally reached Beijing. It is now being screened across China, over 2,000 theaters, attesting to its world-wide appeal. But there is a ring of realism in the movie. Remember Amitabh Bachhan’s show Kaun Banega Crorepati? (Who wants to be a millionaire?). When the success of the show went beyond reasonable limits, it aroused the suspicion of even tax collectors. Then the serial was stopped but the suspicion remains.

It connects to Hamlet’s suspicion about getting caught. When climax of the play is about to unfold, King Claudius cannot stand it anymore and finally orders the play to stop. Fiction is moulded reality, the reality which people wish to live in. But as they say, Truth Hurts!

After the flamboyant success of Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire'- a fantasy turned reality- millions of viewers across the globe have discovered an inherent message linked to fantasies that revolve around the idea of HOPE.

Unlike the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings, it’s impossible to lose yourself in Jamal’s story when you know that each vignette is one of a fixed number. Because by pure coincidence, each answer has a personal connection to Jamal. Even though Slumdog Millionaire is much more contrived yet the similarity between all stories is the fact that most of the things in the plot revolve around bringing the protagonist to a victory at the end. However, when it was amply clear that the answer to each question lay in his life's experiences, the host Anil Kapoor and the police were convinced that there is an element of truth in his confession.

The victory of Jamal was inconceivable at the beginning since he was a slum dweller and that it was impossible for Prem Kumar and the police to come to terms with it. How can a slum boy possibly crack all the questions is what baffled the authorities. His idea was to participate in a game show and catch the attention of his love, Latika, who was kept in captivity by his brother. When he was just a question away from winning two crores, he used the option phone a friend. He got in touch with Latika but she couldn't express herself within the stipulated time. Ironically, he was able to crack the last question. And there he was 'The Slumdog Millionaire'.

While Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins emerge victorious with their magical powers , Jamal does it with something even more magical, hope. To some extent, it is the brutal realism attached to Jamal's character that help viewers connect with him much more than Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins do.

Clubbing all the three characters under the tag of classic 'underdogs', the three movies are a potential source of courage and determination. In the case of Harry Potter, not only is he the underdog but for a viewer who is watching him for the first time she would mull over his ability to perform magic and more so, even underestimate his magical powers. For Harry is not only the underdog, which a lot of heroes tend to be, but he is also a bit puny. He is skinny, he has knobbly knees, he wears glasses for crying out loud, and he appears to be rather average in his abilities. All such heroes develop with what and who is around them. For Harry, Hermione is the one with the fabulous intelligence, and Dumbledore is the one who is magically powerful. J.K Rowling, by making Harry human, has helped us identify with him more closely, and to see that true heroes are not always unafraid and do not always know what to do.

What makes the characters special is that they try their very best to do the right thing even if it is not easy, even if they are afraid. And that courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of it. Jamal displays absolute courage, Harry Potter survives the deathly challenge posed by the evil wizard Voldemort and his minions and Frodo defies fear and destroys the Ring.

Lord of the Rings is a story about the journey. A journey that is filled with light, peace, and hope. It presents the path as a shared struggle. It's an adventurous trek from the blissful, peaceful land called The Shire to battle the forces which are seeking to dominate Middle Earth with their lust for power.

Another compelling symbol is the hero status. It isn't an immortal elf-lord who must destroy the fellowship of the Ring, but a frightened, mortal, little hobbit. Frodo Baggins, for instance, is a hobbit who lives a peaceful and serene life in the Shire. Suddenly, he is jolted out of his happy-go-lucky life and thrown into a bloody battle to save Middle Earth from the dark forces of Sauron. For a boy of his age and stature, viewers would come to believe that he is a good-for-nothing raggedy little boy. But after he gets the ring, there is a sudden reversal in the attitude of the viewer who then visualize him as the Saviour of mankind. His comrade, Sam, who is also a hobbit, displays tremendous willpower to accompany Frodo in his journey to Sauron's Castle. The horrifying images attached to the ring keep haunting Frodo till he gets rid of it. But he resists the trauma and moves ahead with the mission.

More than most fantasies, Lord of the Rings depicts the internal part of the struggle as well as the external—Frodo's struggle is less against those who are trying to seize the Ring, and more against his own weakness against temptation. The temptation to think and perceive that with more power, more good can be accomplished.

The idea of collective action is clearly displayed in all the three fantasies. Readers come to know that Harry is never a self-centered and an independent hero, but instead relies on his inclusion in a larger group: his friends, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts, and the entire non-Muggle world. Further, the Harry Potter series valorizes collective action, as the conflicts always require action by cohesive communities. As for LOTR, it is not only Frodo but also heroes like Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin who collectively destroy Sauron and his Ring. In that sense, Slumdog Millionaire is slightly different from the other two fantasies. The Protagonist, Jamal, draws inspiration from his life's experiences and the varied people he meets. His decision to participate in the game show partly stems from his love for Latika.

Another point of similarity that one experiences is the caste and class system. A caste system is well established in Harry Potter: wizards and witches are better than Muggles and Mudbloods; giants are outcasts and house-elves are considered as sub-human. Whereas in LOTR, the hobbits are the smallest and weakest people who are always protected by other senior charachters in the novel like the Elves, their leader Gandalf, Prince Aragorn, the Bow and Arrow man Legolas, the Sturdy dwarf Gimli etc.

Fantasies not only provide edge-of-the-seat thrills and chills but also impart a sense of hope and courage to stand up for what is right. Even though Slumdog millionaire has bagged a whooping 8 oscars, it has drawn a lot of criticisms and is touted to have brought forth the introduction of a new term: Poverty porn. Cynics are of the opinion that the adaptation has shown India in bad light. And that India is home to SLUMDOGS.

No movie is ever free of controversies. Slumdog is no exception. Fantasies are selling. And they will continue to sell as long as they connect with the audience.