Slumdog Millionaire

Is Hollywood’s Portrayal of India Concerning?

C. N. Mathur

SUFFERING FROM HOLIDAY HAIR, AND PLANE DELAYS, I stumbled into Asif’s barber shop in Delhi Airport. In a feeble attempt to start a conversation with Asif, I uttered, “Do you watch much film?” Met with little response, I added, “I saw the Bollywood film – Tiger Zinda Hai in the cinema a few years ago”. He nodded blankly before finally I asked, “I love the film Slumdog Millionaire. Isn’t it a great Bollywood and Hollywood collab!?” This seemed to set him off – “I hate how Hollywood writes India, there are more Indian stories than poverty!” Taken aback, I attempted to soften the blow of my assertion – by agreeing with him, declaring my ¼ Indian-ness and boasting my familial name – Mathur. 

Yet, whilst I left the barber shop for the boarding gate, I thought about Asif’s comment, leading me to revisit the film that I hold in such high regard. With a 15 hour flight ahead, I could ponder the extent to which I believe Western cinema incorrectly depicts Indian culture and, further, if it perpetuates Orientalist or simplified views of India. 

As a somewhat (incredibly) naive 14-year-old, my first experience of Slumdog Millionaire (2008) was not that deep; I saw it merely as a nice, feel-good film, with a highly enjoyable, yet unsolicited, dance sequence at the end. However, now with heightened knowledge of the implications of British colonialism (under the passionate tutelage of Ms Rhodes in Year 10 Geography), I could now sense the underlying issues with the film. 

The film’s narrative is structured around the Western game show of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, with protagonist Jamal Malik’s (Dev Patel) story being told through flashbacks of his childhood which were shared with his antagonistic brother in the slums of Mumbai, and his yearning for romance with his childhood companion. The film ends with the ultimate uplifting ending, thus it has been coined as the “feel good [film] of the decade”. 

Yet, underlying all this is an absolution of any responsibility for the colonial legacies that created the contemporary realities of poverty that the film depicts. It subliminally states that colonial legacies are elided by a more universal fantasy of achieving wealth and romance, and that upward economic progression, from vagrant to millionaire, is simplistic and in-reach. 

Furthermore, the fact that the film was created by a British director and screenplay writer, led the film to much criticism: first for purportedly being a neo-colonialist misrepresentation of India and secondly, for masquerading itself as “globalised or world cinema”, when in actuality it was produced in a British studio. 

Moreover, just a side point on casting. As a Dev Patel tragic, I find it infeasible to critique his acting and persona, yet his presence in seemingly every Hollywood mainstream depiction of India (Hotel Mumbai, Lion, Marigold Hotel, as well as Slumdog Millionaire of course, to name a few) is quite apparent for me – perhaps even a little polarising. Whilst being born in India, Patel emigrated to England in his early teens, developing a British accent and speaking no Hindi! (think of this what you will…)

Nevertheless, into the film itself: 

The general focus on the Indian slums and the depiction of certain cultural elements could be seen as fitting into the broader historical pattern of Western narratives about the East, outlining the basic concerns of Orientalism. Referring to the way Western societies have historically depicted and misrepresented cultures by simplifying or exoticising them, Orientalism is a profound concern that, one can argue, subliminally pervades the film. 

More specifically, in a flashback sequence, young Jamal works as a tour guide for Westerners, on the Ganges River. Much to the horror of the tourists, a driver physically abuses Jamal. Jamal exclaims, “You want to see a bit of real India? Here it is!” The director refers to the side of India so poverty-stricken and chaotic that it lacks all human decency and civility. Thus, perpetuating the view of India as a backward third-world nation.

In the risk of ending this article regressively, I think the positive impacts of Slumdog Millionaire, especially the encouragement of celebration and tourism in India by romanticising its beauty, are insurmountable in comparison to the negatives it may purport. After all, winning eight Academy Awards is no joke!

Perhaps retrospectively writing this, I may have misinterpreted the words of my barber Asif. However, I still think that there is an underlying ignorance as to the way we think about other cultures and their cinematic depictions, and the possible Orientalist stereotypes that may be perpetuated as a result of our blind affirmation of what we see on the screen.