Pirated VCDs of Slumdog Millionaire (Right) on display at a store on Hill Cart Road in Siliguri. (Kundan Yolmo)

Siliguri, Feb. 23: As Slumdog Millionaire rode high on its Oscars, the euphoria spilled over to Siliguri too.

From the morning, young and old alike made a beeline for music shops to grab a VCD or DVD of the movie.

“Right now there are just audio CDs available. The sales had been picking up but today we did not have time to replace the CDs on the shelves. One person had to be kept solely to attend the calls enquiring about when the VCDs would be available,” said Ratan Kundu, owner of Chayachabi, one of the oldest music stores in Siliguri

“At the end of the day, we were left with just one audio copy of the film. The response was very good right from the time the film won the Golden Globes award. For original copies of the movie, people will have to wait for three more months,” said Vicky Rai, the customer service associate at Music World.

People were not willing to wait any longer and ventured for the pirated copies that are already available in the market. “It has stolen the show at the Oscars and I can’t wait to watch the movie,” said Prasenjit Nandi, who had just collected a copy from the grey market.

The movie received mixed responses from those who had already watched it. While some were enthralled by the rag to riches story of a young boy others talked about a foreigner cashing in on the poverty of India. “It is worth a watch and Rahman has made every Indian proud. The music coupled with deft editing skills and the realistic story was fabulous,” said Supriya Poudyal, a student.

“It is not fair as a foreigner is trying to make profit by selling the abject poverty of India to the world. They have portrayed just the negative side whereas the brighter side has been left out,” said Ashok Sharma, an advocate.

Although the film has already been screened in two cinemas of Siliguri, other hall owners, anticipating that the craze will escalate in the coming days, are planning to show it in the coming week. “The Slumdog fever will definitely go up so we are trying to arrange for a couple of shows next week,” said Utpal Guha, the manager of a local cinema hall.