I’ve been planning for some time to see the film Slumdog Millionaire. I have lived in Bombay and have seen the reality, and even now I’m a frequent visitor to that city.

But now, as a visitor I can avert my eyes from the painful reality. So I’m a bit reluctant to watch that painful reality on the big screen, in all its misery.

Every review of Slumdog tells us how good it is. I’m sure it is. The BBC Asian Network keeps playing a trailer in which we are told again and again that a year ago it was “casually mentioned” in its review and now look where it has got to! Maybe Asian Network had a hand in its success, who knows.

Slumdog has already won a string of awards and is destined for an Oscar. But I just wonder if it is because, as someone said, is “spiritually affirming”. Do such films have this effect only on western audiences?

Indians have yet to make a similar claim since it was released there several weeks ago. I think the noises coming from the sub-continent have said it portrays “a false image of the country”.

I beg to differ on that account. The children growing up in those slums do have a life that we living in our comfortable homes in the west can even not imagine. And it seems nor can the affluent Indians.

They too are removed from the reality, though they are living quite close to it. It is not fair to say that Indian filmmakers don’t make such films. They do, but not much is heard about them.

Meera Nair’s Salaam Bombay was another one such excellent film. It was not as acclaimed either and every Indian I spoke to then was very critical of it. They said India was not like that and it should not be portrayed as such.

Is that because such Indians feel that Slumdog brands them as heartless, or is it because they find the reality too painful to watch? I must admit I think it is the latter.

I think it will be good if Indian filmmakers do embrace reality and make more such films. But since films are mostly about being an escape from reality, I doubt many producers will want to embrace such stark reality. I can understand that Indians then feel embarrassed when a western filmmaker shows it.

To the western world it is worthwhile to spend a couple of hours in a cinema observing the misery of others and getting a feel to how they live. Maybe its because most westerners fall in love with India on their first visit. The colour, the warmth of the people and of course the food, captivates them. They do see the poverty and the limbless children and are told not to pay them. So they move on and forget and only remember the good things.

Either way, I salute the unbroken spirit of the young slum-dwellers. We can learn a thing or two from their zest for life and the stoicism. If in this battle for ratings and Oscars – the clear winners are those young people.