A career begun in Turkey leads to red carpet fame
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Ezgi Başaran - Hurriyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 05, 2009 00:00
Vikas Swarup, the author of the book, which was the inspiration behind the year's most successful film 'Slumdog Millionaire,' is an Indian diplomat whose first foreign posting was to Ankara in 1987 which he still remembers fondly
Deputy Indian ambassador to the South African city of Pretoria, Vikas Swarup is not an ordinary diplomat. The film "Slumdog Millionaire," which is based on his book, has become a legend. In addition to all of the prestigious film awards received throughout the year, "Slumdog Millionaire" swept eight Oscars last week. Unlike the shantytowns he depicts in his book, he is a member of a family of law and has been serving as a diplomat since 1987.
Swarup’s first foreign mission was at the Indian Embassy in Ankara from 1987 to 1990, working as a third secretary. "What I know about diplomacy, I learned in Turkey," he said. He remembers Ankara as a village in those years. "It was not like Istanbul. I had a house on Çankaya Avenue opposite Atakule shopping mall. I had lots of friends and dreamed of marrying a Turkish girl," he said. Swarup did not meet his dream girl and went to India to get married. After marrying, he returned to Ankara and lived there for one more year.
As a diplomat and author, Swarup did not agree with the idea that only a certain type of person could write a novel. "Anyone with a story to tell can find a way to tell it. I had a story and wrote it everyday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the last two months of my mission in England. We diplomats are word acrobats. We know what we should say in every situation," he said.
It is not a common thing for diplomats to write novels on shantytowns. Swarup said his goal was not to draw attention to India’s shantytowns but to give a message that knowledge was not the monopoly of the well-educated and elite. "In order to give this message, the main character had to be someone from a shantytown," he said.
Swarup grew up in a well-educated family in India. One could think that he would have conducted detailed research to depict a person from a shantytown but he said he had lots of friends living in shantytowns. "Everyone in India passes shantytowns in their life, even if just once. I may live in an air-conditioned house in Mumbai, but this doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything about poverty," Swarup said.
Swarup said he had wanted to tell the story around a television program because if he did not, the entire story would be destroyed. "The competition ’Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ is very popular in India. A very famous Indian hosted it. Life in India was arranged according to when it was on TV. Imagine that an illiterate child answers all the questions on such a TV show. Would you not be curious about him? I asked this question to myself and its answer has become a novel," he said.
Swarup thinks his book and the film are loved worldwide because the story does not include exaggerated depictions.
The character’s name changed
He said the copyright for the film was sold one year before the publication of the book. "What surprised me the most was that it was a British company, not a Bollywood company that wanted to make the film. Director Danny Boyle joined the project much later. We had talks over a long period with the screenwriter Simon Beaufay. We met in London in 2005. He said he would make some changes from the book but would be loyal to its soul," Swarup said.
Swarup said one of those changes was the main character’s name. "The name was Ram Muhammed Thomas in the novel. It was very important to me because it had traces of three main religions in India: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. But they named the character Jamal Malik and decided to make him Muslim. Ram Muhammed Thomas was considered an annoying name, so they should have explained to people why the child had that name. And also, it was a better choice in today’s society that a Hindu gang kills Muslim Jamal’s mother rather than a Muslim gang kills Christian Thomas’ mother. It was politically more correct."
He said another difference between the novel and the film was that his novel’s theme was focused on luck but the film’s was on destiny. Although the boy did not know the answer to the last question, he chose the right answer because it was his destiny. But I say in the book that the boy answered all the questions because he was lucky, he had experiences related to the questions."
Critiques in India
As for Indians’ critiques, some say that the film shows them in a bad light, Swarup said. "They did not like the word ’slumdog’ because they don’t know that the word comes from ’underdog’ in English. They worry that they are called ’dogs.’ But underdog is used for people who are worse off in society. It doesn’t mean ’dog’ the animal," he said. He said this criticism did not reflect the view of all in Indian society and most people were pleased with the film’s success.
Swarup said the success of the film did not change his family’s life. "Children say that their friends have read my book. We laugh and life goes on. Because we know that newspapers around the world are talking about us now, but it will end a week later. We are the ’top dog’ today and may become the ’slum dog’ tomorrow. This is life," he said.
’I used to eat Turkish kebeb and still dream of it’
Using some Turkish words while speaking, Swarup, 46, said he spoke Turkish very well while living in Turkey. He said he attended six months of Turkish courses and was able to read all newspapers. "I graduated from the language course with 100 percent success. It was a record. I was appointed to second secretary after learning Turkish. One day at a meeting, the moderator was shocked, asking me if I was Indian and Turkish. I said what a nice compliment; I am not a Turk, but I speak Turkish very well," he said. He then said he had not used Turkish for a long time.
He said he was always in the delegation forefront because he spoke Turkish well, and he was a junior diplomat.
Swarup replied to a question on whether he considered Turkey a great place for him and said: "I still see Iskender Kebab in my dreams! I used to eat kebab every day. My wife and I were in love with Turkey. It is a country uniting the East and the West. It is a great opportunity for an Indian. Because Turkey’s social structure is very similar to India’s."
Swarup’s first foreign mission was at the Indian Embassy in Ankara from 1987 to 1990, working as a third secretary. "What I know about diplomacy, I learned in Turkey," he said. He remembers Ankara as a village in those years. "It was not like Istanbul. I had a house on Çankaya Avenue opposite Atakule shopping mall. I had lots of friends and dreamed of marrying a Turkish girl," he said. Swarup did not meet his dream girl and went to India to get married. After marrying, he returned to Ankara and lived there for one more year.
As a diplomat and author, Swarup did not agree with the idea that only a certain type of person could write a novel. "Anyone with a story to tell can find a way to tell it. I had a story and wrote it everyday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the last two months of my mission in England. We diplomats are word acrobats. We know what we should say in every situation," he said.
It is not a common thing for diplomats to write novels on shantytowns. Swarup said his goal was not to draw attention to India’s shantytowns but to give a message that knowledge was not the monopoly of the well-educated and elite. "In order to give this message, the main character had to be someone from a shantytown," he said.
Swarup grew up in a well-educated family in India. One could think that he would have conducted detailed research to depict a person from a shantytown but he said he had lots of friends living in shantytowns. "Everyone in India passes shantytowns in their life, even if just once. I may live in an air-conditioned house in Mumbai, but this doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything about poverty," Swarup said.
Swarup said he had wanted to tell the story around a television program because if he did not, the entire story would be destroyed. "The competition ’Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ is very popular in India. A very famous Indian hosted it. Life in India was arranged according to when it was on TV. Imagine that an illiterate child answers all the questions on such a TV show. Would you not be curious about him? I asked this question to myself and its answer has become a novel," he said.
Swarup thinks his book and the film are loved worldwide because the story does not include exaggerated depictions.
The character’s name changed
He said the copyright for the film was sold one year before the publication of the book. "What surprised me the most was that it was a British company, not a Bollywood company that wanted to make the film. Director Danny Boyle joined the project much later. We had talks over a long period with the screenwriter Simon Beaufay. We met in London in 2005. He said he would make some changes from the book but would be loyal to its soul," Swarup said.
Swarup said one of those changes was the main character’s name. "The name was Ram Muhammed Thomas in the novel. It was very important to me because it had traces of three main religions in India: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. But they named the character Jamal Malik and decided to make him Muslim. Ram Muhammed Thomas was considered an annoying name, so they should have explained to people why the child had that name. And also, it was a better choice in today’s society that a Hindu gang kills Muslim Jamal’s mother rather than a Muslim gang kills Christian Thomas’ mother. It was politically more correct."
He said another difference between the novel and the film was that his novel’s theme was focused on luck but the film’s was on destiny. Although the boy did not know the answer to the last question, he chose the right answer because it was his destiny. But I say in the book that the boy answered all the questions because he was lucky, he had experiences related to the questions."
Critiques in India
As for Indians’ critiques, some say that the film shows them in a bad light, Swarup said. "They did not like the word ’slumdog’ because they don’t know that the word comes from ’underdog’ in English. They worry that they are called ’dogs.’ But underdog is used for people who are worse off in society. It doesn’t mean ’dog’ the animal," he said. He said this criticism did not reflect the view of all in Indian society and most people were pleased with the film’s success.
Swarup said the success of the film did not change his family’s life. "Children say that their friends have read my book. We laugh and life goes on. Because we know that newspapers around the world are talking about us now, but it will end a week later. We are the ’top dog’ today and may become the ’slum dog’ tomorrow. This is life," he said.
’I used to eat Turkish kebeb and still dream of it’
Using some Turkish words while speaking, Swarup, 46, said he spoke Turkish very well while living in Turkey. He said he attended six months of Turkish courses and was able to read all newspapers. "I graduated from the language course with 100 percent success. It was a record. I was appointed to second secretary after learning Turkish. One day at a meeting, the moderator was shocked, asking me if I was Indian and Turkish. I said what a nice compliment; I am not a Turk, but I speak Turkish very well," he said. He then said he had not used Turkish for a long time.
He said he was always in the delegation forefront because he spoke Turkish well, and he was a junior diplomat.
Swarup replied to a question on whether he considered Turkey a great place for him and said: "I still see Iskender Kebab in my dreams! I used to eat kebab every day. My wife and I were in love with Turkey. It is a country uniting the East and the West. It is a great opportunity for an Indian. Because Turkey’s social structure is very similar to India’s."