One man’s slum is another man’s home and recycling business. A photo essay in Foreign Policy takes a look at Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, where up to one million people live. Around 15,000 single-room factories and other entrepreneurial ventures result in an economic output of up to $1 billion in this settlement alone.
Journalist Sudip Muzumdar, who grew up on the streets of Kolkata, provides a reality check on life in the slums and the probability of Slumdog Millionaire’s happy ending. As Muzumdar writes in Newsweek:
People keep praising the film’s “realistic” depiction of slum life in India. But it’s no such thing. Slum life is a cage. It robs you of confidence in the face of the rich and the advantaged. It steals your pride, deadens your ambition, limits your imagination and psychologically cripples you whenever you step outside the comfort zone of your own neighborhood. Most people in the slums never achieve a fairy-tale ending.
Two of the child stars of Slumdog Millionaire—nine-year-old Rubiana Ali, who played Latika and 10-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed, who played Salim, the main character’s older brother—were cast from the slums of Mumbai. As London Telegraph’s Jenny McCartney writes:
When the children were flown over to attend the Oscars ceremony and Disneyland, they were a palpable hit with cooing celebrities. Then it was back to Mumbai, and ordinary life with their parents, all of whom bear the scars of poverty. Aside from the appalling squalor in which the families live, Azharuddin’s father Ismail has TB, and his mother one eye. Last week Azharuddin was pictured crying in the aftermath of a beating from his father for refusing to talk again to the media. Rubiana’s mother—who reportedly abandoned the family five years ago—made a sudden reappearance,clumsily attempting to wrest Rubiana physically from her father Rafiq.
Given the film’s tremendous success, a lot of attention has been devoted to what’s going to happen to these very adorable and talented children. The latest is that the Indian government will re-house the families and the filmmakers are going to pay for the children’s schooling, living and other expenses as well as additional monetary compensation once they turn 18. Both of the kids have also been cast for a cameo appearance in a Bollywood film, so who knows, maybe they will become big Bollywood stars one day.
If you want to read a fantastic book about Mumbai, I recommend Sekutu Mehta’s Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, which tells the story of the metropolis and its people, including a crusading cop to a lost dancer. Unfortunately, last week I was engaged in far more frustrating reading about Hindustan. Heed my advice and do not buy Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald. This book somehow managed to attain a “must read” status for those going to India even though it is definitely the most ignorant book that I read about the place. The author’s condescending tone and unstoppable whining made me want it to toss it.
On a much more pleasanter note, I end with A.R. Rahman performing “O…Saya” and “Jai Ho,” two of the songs from the Oscar-winning soundtrack. Enjoy!
