Slumdog Millionaire - Genre

Slumdog Millionaire – Genre

The genre of Slumdog Millionaire could, of course, be considered romantic drama, as many of the key conventions of a romantic drama film are satisfied by Slumdog. For example, the theme of chasing a lost love is overriding, prominent and essential to the plot. Furthermore, the setting of a big city makes finding the lost love extremely difficult, whilst the lost love herself (Latika) is an example of one of the key character types we see within the film.

Though the film does not use Propp’s character types as explicitly as other romantic drama films, the character types are still present. Jamal acts as our unconventional hero, Latika is the princess, whilst Prem and Salim occupy the lesser spotted roles of ‘villain’ and ‘false hero’ respectively.

Slumdog’s narrative, despite at first seeming hugely unconventional and non-linear, portrays the romantic drama in an effective manner. This is done through flashbacks, flash-forwards and montages, as we not only see just how difficult it is for Jamal and Latika to be together, but also how it was always destiny for them to end up together.

This theme of destiny propels the narrative and, in being alluded to so often, constantly reassures the audience that, like in most romantic dramas, the ‘guy gets the girl’. The film is bookended with subtitles that reinforce the theme of destiny in order to prove that the outcome was certain from the start.

In terms of iconography, Slumdog uses visual signifiers of the romantic drama genre such as close-up shots of the female character, slow motion shots and, possibly most notably, a kissing scene.

The close-up shots suggest the importance of Latika to both the narrative and Jamal, whilst the POV shots of Latika through Jamal’s eyes highlight the emotion he feels when he sees her. These shots are blurred around the edges and quite voyeuristic, with a possibility here being that the female is something to win, to achieve. She is a prize worth fighting for.

Finally, the kiss at the end of the film is what the narrative essentially builds up to. It is the only kiss featured in the film in order to highlight its importance and once again reinforce the theme of destiny. The slow-motion effect on the kiss is almost as iconic as a ‘kiss in the rain’, and is a huge visual signifier of the romantic drama genre.

However, this one kiss is also an argument for Slumdog Millionaire being of the Bollywood genre.
Set in India and featuring a mostly Indian cast, it is no surprise that some would consider the film as part of the Bollywood genre.

Typically, Bollywood films will have only one kiss (or even none) and this kiss will be cut short or interrupted. In Slumdog, we see that Jamal and Latika have their kiss, but it is obscured by passengers emerging from a train, thus cutting the kiss short.

This is one of many Bollywood conventions or influences within Slumdog. Bollywood has a list of criteria that often appear in their films and many of these appear alongside the ‘single kiss’ idea, such as the following; references to religion, family ties, dramatic changes of fortune, kidnapping, siblings separated (and reunited) by fate, use of Indian-English, corruption, a love triangle, iconography (buildings, clothing etc..), ‘convenient coincidences’ (such as Latika answering the ‘phone a friend’ call), sacrifice, and fantasy/imagination sequences.

However, possibly the biggest Bollywood influence on Slumdog Millionaire is the song and dance number at the end of the film.
This routine subverts everything we have seen prior as we don’t know if it falls until the fantasy/imagination bracket or whether it did actually happen and everyone has randomly burst into song at a train station.

Either way, the scene falls under a Bollywood title and means that possibly the most memorable aspect of Slumdog Millionaire is Bollywood one, giving strong reasoning behind arguments that the film is of hybrid genre.

Overall, Slumdog Millionaire has strong roots in both the romantic drama genre, but also Bollywood too. Neither genre appears to have more influence than the other, thus leading me to conclude that Slumdog Millionaire is a film of hybrid genre.