Bollywood star slams 'Slumdog'

MUMBAI, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan is criticizing the celebrated film "Slumdog Millionaire" for depicting India as a "Third World, dirty underbelly," the BBC said.

Directed by British filmmaker Danny Boyle, the movie was the big winner at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles Sunday night. It also earned 11 BAFTA, Orange British Academy Film Awards, nods including one for best picture, when nominations were announced in London Thursday.

However, Bachchan -- an actor who has appeared in more than 140 movies and who served as host of the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for three years -- is not a fan of the movie, which is to open in India next week.

"If ('Slumdog Millionaire') projects India as (a) Third World, dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations," Bachchan wrote in his blog. "It's just that the 'SM' idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative (Golden) Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not."