Rushdie Slams “Slumdog”

Prolific Indian author Salman Rushdie says the Oscar-winning movie is "patently ridiculous"

Rushdie -- perhaps the best-known author in Indian history -- slammed Oscar Best Picture winner "Slumdog Millionaire" this week, calling the film about Indian slum life "patently ridiculous."

Rushdie wrote in London newspaper The Guardian that the film about his home country has an impossible plot that presents an inaccurate fantasy about Indian life.

"This is a patently ridiculous conceit, the kind of fantasy writing that gives fantasy writing a bad name," Rushdie wrote of the movie.

The "Satanic Verses" author said that the movie is admittedly a "feel-good" feature -- but its basic plot revolves around a Western misunderstanding of Indian life.

The story is "a corny potboiler, with a plot that defies belief," the Mumbai-born Rushdie wrote.

"It is a plot device faithfully preserved by the film-makers, and lies at the heart of the weirdly renamed 'Slumdog Millionaire.' As a result the film, too, beggars belief," he wrote.

Rushdie was given an Islamic death sentence by Iran two decades ago for "The Satanic Verses," which commits a cardinal sin in the Islamic faith -- depicting the prophet Mohammad.

His work "Midnight's Children" won the "Best of the Booker" award last year was was dubbed the selection committee's overall favorite novel to win the Booker Prize in its 40-year history.

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