Bollywood composer Aadesh Srivastava says he is embarrassed to walk on the streets of the US after Oscar-nominated “Slumdog Millionaire” because “they have started calling Indians slumdogs”. “I'm so upset. They've started calling Indians ‘slumdogs', just like ‘coolie' was 'slang' in Britain. Now in the US I feel slumdog is a ‘gaali' (slang) for Indians. Mumbai has given me everything,” Srivastava told IANS. “To see the city being shown as a place of dirt, filth and crime only is very humiliating. Even I can make a film on child prostitution and pedophilia. But it won't get Oscars because I am not a ‘gora' (white),” added the composer. “What right does the director have to show Mumbai as a slum? Now we are considered a slum city in all parts of the world. Humlog kahin mooh dikhane laayak nahin rahe (we're unable to show our face anywhere),” said Srivastava, who watched the movie in Los Angeles this week. Srivastava applauds fellow composer Rahman's music in the movie, but says he'd never be part of a film that makes India look like a slum. “I'm so upset. It's a disgusting movie. Being an Indian it was doubly humiliating to be watching the film with Americans. Even if Steven Spielberg asked me to compose music for a film that makes fun of India, I won't do it,” he said. “We applaud people who come to our city and spit in our faces!” he said.
