Rushdie dismisses "Slumdog Millionaire" as unrealistic

"Slumdog Millionaire" may have waltzed through Oscars with eight trophies but that does not make it a favourite with India born author Salman Rushdie, who has dismissed it for being unrealistic.

The Booker prize winning author dismissed the film publicly in a speech at Altanta's Emory University, saying it "piles impossibility on impossibility".

The writer called the book and movie nothing more than "feel-good" and complained about various portions of the story.

Rushdie, who is famous as the master of 'magic realism' also differed with "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle that the film was a realistic portrayal of Mumbai.

The 61-year-old author said several scenes in the film were beyond explanation.

The other two Oscar favourite films "The Reader" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button also failed to impress the writer, the examiner.Com reported.

However, Rushdie is not the first one to criticise the film, which has earlier been slammed by stars like Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.

"I have to be honest the film didn't work for me but I am happy people are liking it...I find something shown in the film are very over the top but that's my personal response," Aamir had said recently.

First Published: Feb 24, 2009 19:20 IST