"Slumdog Millioraire" - How close is it to

DaveC426913

I've seen her. I've seen many of the more popular Bollywood flicks that have made it to the West.

But I don't just mean the women.

In general, I am virtually blind to ostensibly good-looking men, but even I would bear Mohinder Saresh's children.

WiFO215

Ah, how true! How true! *Kisses self in self-admiration*

@ the OPs question:
The caste system is still very much prevelant in India. There are many causes. Partly it is the fault of the politicians who use the existing systems to stay in power. For instance, if you were to attend a public gathering where a politician was addressing a the people, you'd find something along the lines of " I will make sure caste X get reservations (a quota system) in all sections of society because they are being oppressed by caste Y and are finding it hard to come up in life". Likewise, he will claim the same thing to caste Y. Castes X and Y, immediately moved to tears will vote for this bloke while he does absolutely nothing after coming to power. Like Bernard Shaw put it, we are in the hands of best demagogue on that day. They make sure that there remains such a cultural divide so that they can retain power.

Partly, it is a fault of the people themselves. It is a similar to the society Brave New World. The situation is akin to the Beta's chiming "Boy, I'm sure glad I'm a Beta and not an Alpha" and the Alphas doing the opposite. Where this conditioning stems from is a mystery, but it has a bad impact on society.

Let us hope it gets better.

martharon

Its very sad to admit that what has been shown in "Slumdog Millioraire" is true almost. there is still caste system in some parts even the schools and colleges are given admission based on the categories like oc, bc, mbc...
apart from this there are many amazing wonders in India.

maverick_starstrider

My opinion of slumdog millionaire was that though every individual part of the movie is in someway representative of life for someone in India the statistical likelihood of ALL that stuff happening to one person is absurd. It would be like a hollywood movie about a young black kid growing up in the ghetto who before the age of 12 fathered 3 children, had multiple drug addictions, AIDs, cancer was ostracized by his peers leading him to a school shooting where he got thrown into prison but found himself through the poetry of emerson and the lyrics of tupac and despite institutional racism and rose to become president. Sure, it COULD happen but really it's a medley of sensationalist Times magazine articles and stereotypes/cliches.

TheStatutoryApe

if every single noncaucasian person in the country (men, women, children, the already married, ect) married a white person all of the couples added up together would constitute less than half of the potential pairings in the country. so 7% is fairly significant i'd say.

ank_gl

@sganesh
Keep denying the problem, keep yourself in denial mode.

If you cant see the problem, you cant solve it.

russ_watters

No: but it does relieve him of the responsibility to research them if he is merely adapting the book!

And, of course, none of this has anything to do with whether the movie was accurate or not: you are arguing around the issue.
Yes. So what? That doesn't have anything to do with whether it is a generally accurate portrayal or not. You are the one trying to elevate the responsibility of the filmmakers here. There is no need for me to argue coincidental vs deliberate since you are arguing about something you could not possibly know: what was going on inside Danny's head!

Again, these are all just diversionary tactics. They don't have anything directly to do with whether the book and/or movie were accurate.

russ_watters

That should be obvious - the kid is essentially winning the lottery based on that combination of unlikely life experiences. And the more specific you get, the closer to zero the probability of more than one person having your life experiences. Heck, the first one alone is an essentially unique expeirence!

jobyts

lisab, duriing your visit, you are invited to stay at my home:) My home state is said to be one of the most beautiful and unique. Do a google image search for kerala.
To give a heads up, - within India, Kerala has
the highest literacy,
lowest death rate,
lowest birth rate,
lowest corruption rate,
highest suicide rate,
highest alchohol consumption,
highest religious harmony

WiFO215

A COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT

Just kidding.

b.shahvir

I'm from India (as most of my forum friends might be aware) and I'm not a Hindu by birth, although I follow Hindu philosophy for my spiritual upliftment. Actually I'm a Zoroastrian (follower of the prophet Zarathustra) and we do not have concept of casteism in my religion.

Nonetheless, I felt I should give my 2 cent worth.... The developed world is currently dabbling with issue of racism against ethnic asians, but I still believe this is natural human nature depicting survival of the fittest. At times it is evident that ethnic Asians (especially Indians) fail to come to turns with the western way of life and hence the issues.

However, at this point I must state that the developed world should not give in to ridiculous levels of political correctness just for the upliftment of minorities. Citizens of the developed world too have a right to status pride. Although all human beings are created equal, desparity in nature exists and cannot be avoided! Political correctness will lead to mockery of the developed world. Migrants cannot stake a claim on every land.

My sincere apologies if i've offended anyone, but these are purely my views.

Regards,
Shahvir

sganesh88

He does have a responsibility considering the reach of Hollywood. This thread is itself an example.
It isn't about accuracy. Of course India has the problems portrayed. But showing them all in a single film is distasteful according to me. Maverick Strider explained it better.

sganesh88

I didn't quite understand what you're trying to say. Whats this "political correctness"?

Sorry!

I'm certain that the OP was questioning about the specific problems and whether they occured in India not if these same situations arise for every person who is born in India; that's stupid.

From that friend I spoke of earlier she said it is very true to real-life in India. Many of those situations happened directly to her family... Her mom spoke of the riots that occured between muslims/hindus (they are hindu). In the movie it was shown only from the slums but these riots definitely effected areas outside the slums.

I can speak from personal research I've done for photography class that the slums in the movie look quite real-to-life and the situation with drugs/prostitution etc. are all real problems in India.

Even that movie and the actor who Jamal goes to get the signature from are real... lol?

So the OPs question has been answered, yes India does have the problems from the movie.
How does this have anything to do with it being 'distasteful'? I thought that the movie was good. Please explain why you think that it is distasteful for all these problems to be portrayed in a single movie? Would you rather have them release a series? This movie costs what under $20 million? It grossed well over $350 million last I checked; something must've gone right.

b.shahvir

political correctness is something which the lawmakers of the developed world normally depict when they give certain incentyives or make policies keeping in mind upliftment of the minoroties...all that is OK but it shouldn't be to the extent of ridiculousness

Sorry!

What exactly was the intent of this post... Are you a troll sir?

b.shahvir

can u care to explain me the meaning of 'troll', sir? u see my english ain't that good! and watch what you say or u would be charged with racism (this is to some extent an example of political correctness) no hard feelings good friend