Slumdog Millionaire: Will the film impact India's government and its citizens?

According to the article, “‘Slumdog’ turns spotlight on Mumbai’s biggest slum” by Rina Chandran (Boston.com), the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire portrays the slums throughout India in a light that Indian filmmakers and actors do not accept. Dharavi, the slums where part of the film was shot, is Asia’s largest slum. Some residents actually hope the film will pressure their government to support their rights and continue to redevelop the area, which is now under a $3 billion revitalization plan.

With the plan, residents have been relocated until the construction is complete. Through this relocation process, tens of thousands of families have nowhere to go. The plan was drawn up by a U.S.-based architect and was approved by the city in 2004.

It is now 2009…how much time will it take to manage and alleviate the criminal activity and starvation in Dharavi? Maybe Slumdog Millionaire will be beneficial to India and its citizens, even though people feel it is shedding poor light on India.

According to the article “Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan rubbishes Slumdog Millionaire”, from Guardian.co.uk, the famous actor, Bachchan, disliked the way the film portrayed India as a “third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation”. The film was directed by the British film-maker Danny Boyle, which means it was not a true Bollywood film. However, Slumdog Millionaire is based on a novel, Q&A, by Vikas Swarup, an Indian writer and diplomat.

Throughout the movie, there are scenes in lower class India, upper class, of the slums and of the riches. The number of India’s urban poor is expected to rise with more urbanization occurring. With the relocation process and many citizens being removed from their homes, crime has also increased in the slums. The conditions of the slums cannot be denied, although some people believe the film brought Dharavi into false light.

Although Slumdog Millionaire is quite different than the movies in the Bollywood film industry, it is still an exceptional piece of work, which has won many Oscars this year. Due to this film, controversies of the slums in India has arisen and brought more awareness to the difficulties of the people living there. The question is if the film will raise enough curiosity and attention of others to affect the plans for Dharavi in a positive way.

Amy Fusco
Wilkes University '10
Communication Studies