Representation of India in Slumdog Millionaire - Unfinished.

Slumdog Millionaire – Representation of India

Straight away from the title, the audience can clearly see that the film will be based in someway around the slums, and the people from these places. The term "Slumdog" I would consider to be a derogatory term, referring to the people of slums as a 'dog', to me, would be quite offensive, but Boyle and Beaufoy possibly didn't mean any offence by it, and maybe only wanted Slumdog to simply mean a boy from a very crowded place in India. but straight away at the very first scene of the children running, the quick camera movement and shots, combined with several high angle shots and long shots signify how crowed these slums are, and how hard it could be to move around in the slums, despite the quick camera movement, which could also represent the slums never stopping, always at a fast pace. The trains don't stop too, Boyle actually mentioned this when filming with the small children, Indian trains don't stop, signifying how fast India moves, it simply doesn't stop. However, despite all of this being at the start of the film, as it progresses, the slums don't appear in the film as much, Boyle clearly wanted to show India in a completely different light. Beaufoy probably did too, as he took 3 separate trips to India, so perhaps he wanted a different Indian side, one that the audience aren't used to, to be shown in the film.

Something that the audience will be used to is the iconography. Dirty water that the children are swimming in, and then drinking, unfortunately is iconic of poverty, which sounds harsh to say. This iconography helps the audience know how bad the conditions are in the slums. Another iconic scene of Indian slums is the scene where Amitabh comes to visit one of the slums. Although Amitabh does not actually feature in the film, only his bottom half does, the long shots of the huge crowd of Amitabh show just how crowded the slums are, and how popular one Indian is. With Jamal prepared to jump in faeces just to get a signature of Amitabh, shows just how much he is loved by the people of the slums, and just how much they adore 'one of their own.' A third iconic scene of India, one that truly represents Indian culture and spot, is the very quick scene of where the children at playing cricket. If ever you needed a sport to signify Indian culture, it is cricket, as it is the main sport they play in the slums. Its a clever addition by Boyle and Beaufoy, as it very quietly drops in to remind the audience that the film will be centred around India, and will give a realistic and true representation of the country.

This true representation of India unfortunately takes a dramatic, and quite sad twist when Jamal and Salim walk in to find that their mum has been killed. The whole scene just before and after this shows the true side of India, as there was chaos just before they realised their mother was dead, witnessing many people being killed, including one shot where they see a man rolling on the floor being burned alive. this is a reference to the 1992 Bombai Riots, in which a peaceful protest turned sour, and 900 people, mainly Hindi's where killed. This is important, as the film gives a good representation of India, because this event is actually based on a true story! The very quick camera movement shows just how quick the devastation was, and also how quickly how the slum can turn from quiet and peaceful, to complete carnage. What is quite sad is how the event never gets mentioned again. Jamal never references his mothers death other than for reciting the question, which is an indicator of how normal the children treated the death. They weren't sad, or at least didn't show their emotions, as they quickly ran away from the scene in a shocked, emotionless face.

The scene with the children working as con artists in the Taj Mahal is also quite a sad representation of India. Firstly, because they are now living independently, they need to be able to make money, and the children obviously take extreme lengths to do this by robbing clothes and working as tour guides, without having any knowledge at first of the history of the Taj Mahal. This robbery of the clothes shows just how desperate they are for money. More importantly, when they are working for the American adults, no adult actually even questions why the children are working for the Taj Mahal, indicating that child labour is accepted in India, something that is frowned upon in the Western World. When the Americans car has been dismantled, and Jamal is beat up, he shouts "This is the real India", showing the audience that the real India is full of robbery and violence. The Americans respond by seeing "This is the real America", giving Jamal some money for his troubles, and offering their kindness to him, comparing and contrasting the two cultures, very subtly, but very effective, which was quite clever by Beaufoy to do, as it allows the audience to see how different Indian culture is to their own.



The ending of the film is arguably the best bit in the film. There are a few representations of India to note, specifically Bollywood. The scene ends with Jamal looking for Latika, which is in a POV shot, ehich is recognisabole thoughout the film as the shot seems to appear more thn once. Latika, sporting a yellow dress is very typical of Indian clothing and culture, and the kiss is a nod to Bollywood too, as traditionally, Bolywood films feature no kissing between a man and the woman, and with the freezeframe just before they kiss, this is a subtle nod to Bollywood by Boyle. Not so subtly, Boyle includes scenes with thousands of dancers in the background, very tradtional in bollywood films, with most romantic drama's