New Delhi, July 15 - Vikas Swarup, whose book was turned into the Oscar-winning 'Slumdog Millionaire', will be India's consul general in Osaka, Japan.
On his first visit to India after the Oscar glory, Swarup, the author of 'Q&A' , is upbeat about his new avatar as the country's most famous diplomat whose book has put India 'in the consciousness of the world' in a new way.
Repudiating the labelling of 'Slumdog Millionaire' as 'poverty porn' by some critics, Swarup said his book and the film version neither glorified poverty nor trivialised it.
'Slums are both a condemnation and celebration of India,' Swarup said at Hotel Taj Palace Tuesday evening. The interaction was organised by the Aspen Institute India.
While slums reveal the dark underbelly of India's development, they are not places of despair and hopelessness. They are teeming with energy, ingenuity, dynamism, compassion, humanity and entrepreneurship, Swarup said.
'There is no attempt to exoticise India. No book or film should seek to represent India in its entirety,' he underlined.