Slumdog Millionaire book author defends his work

Jaipur: Riding on the crest of the popularity of Slumdog Millionaire based on his novel, Indian author Vikas Swarup was beseiged by admirers at a literature festival in Jaipur where he defended it against critics who alleged it exploited the poverty of India's slumdwellers.

Swarup, a diplomat who wrote the novel titled Q&A during a posting in London, said that Indians who criticised the film as "poverty porn" and decried the image it portrayed of squalour and hideous poverty were totally off the mark.

"I did not set out to write a negative story about India. I set out to write a compelling story about how ordinary Indians - servants, cooks, drivers and gardeners - also have knowledge and wisdom despite having no book knowledge or education," said Swarup.

He said his purpose was to show the triumph of hope and the human spirit among India's poor.

The lively and fast-talking Swarup, 47, was the centre of attraction at Diggi Palace, a sprawling heritage hotel.

The festival has attracted renowned authors such as Vikram Seth, V. S. Naipaul's biographer Patrick French and travel writer Pico Iyer.

Seth, who described his early days as a writer, said that he started to write because he thought "there must be more to life than my economics dissertation", and that it was not courage but "obsession" that drove him to write.

But Seth created a flutter in Jaipur by drinking a glass of wine on stage as he spoke. Local Hindi newspapers fumed at his "sinful" behaviour and misreported him as being drunk.

"He should not drink alchol in front of an audience at a public function. It's disapproved of here," said Nikhil Gupta, a duvet seller in the bustling old market near Diggi Palace.

But Slumdog Millionaire, which has just won several Oscar nominations, has triggered a much bigger controversy in India.

While virtually the entire country rejoices in its success, almost as though it is an Indian film when in fact it is officially a British movie, several dozen Mumbai slum residents protested on the streets against British director Danny Boyle, claiming that the movie's title was insulting to them.

Slumdwellers held up banners reading "Poverty For Sale" and "I am not a dog". Mumbai social worker Nicholas Almeida, who organised the protest, said that he was planning to file a lawsuit to get the name of movie changed.

Actor Anil Kapoor, who plays the shift compere of the television game show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' was reported as saying that the word "slumdog" was not offensive. "Children from the slums are actually called much worse names," he told Indian journalists.

But the anger in some quarters seems to be snowballing. Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, who works with slum dwellers, has filed a legal case against Boyle.