The subject of “Slumdog Millioanire” has been flogged to death by a whole host of people – specially after Mr. Bacchan’s comments on his blog. The movie has been going from strength to strength with awards galore and is also expected to bag a couple of Oscars!
The movie has been brilliantly made and the music is something which you carry with you when you leave the theatre. This post is not about a critical analysis of the movie – I definitely am not competent to do that. Just one factual error which came to mind was whether the slums shown in the movie are Dharavi (as depicted) or Kurla. I say Kurla because I have not seen any airport which is close to Dharavi, the only slums which are almost a part of the airport are the Kurla slums.
What I wanted to write about is the hullabaloo being made on the sleazy underbelly of Mumbai – bad for tourism, India is not only slums, etc. But why run away from facts, that is how our slums are – they are ruled by slumlords who have the backing of some politician or the other and these slumlords are the guys who provide money and muscle during elections. Has anyone been inside Dharavi? It has probably one of the biggest unorganized leather products manufacturing units inside its underbelly. Almost all the wallets, belts, purses, briefcases, satchels etc made out of leather and sold through 5 star hotels at exorbitant prices are manufactured inside Dharavi. Just visit the factory outlet showrooms which dot the Dharavi “suburbs” – the road leading from Sion station to Mahim and you will understand what I mean. Try getting anywhere close to these factories without contact and you may find that your skin has gone into the leather products! What I mean to say is that without contacts there is no entry inside Dharavi and you could end up as a lost and not found statistic in Mumbai’s police records.
The slumlords do exist and they do kidnap children, maim them and put them to work begging – that is a sad fact of life, which none of our politicians or social workers have managed to address. For these unfortunate kids – life is one big round of begging and getting beaten up – it’s a dog eat dog world out there – and some of us are upset because the movie has just brought the underbelly into public focus.
The question is – now that there is awareness about the dirty underbelly – will we have the moral gumption to tackle the problem? Will social workers come forward and take on the begging mafia? Will local politicians offer support? Will cops register cases if facts of the begging mafia are brought in front of them? Knowing Mumbai’s cops, it’s easier to say it is not my jurisdiction, come tomorrow or find that a false case has been registered against you. Am not for a moment saying that all the cops behave in this manner, but if you are a regular reader of the newspapers you will understand what I am trying to say. The newspapers every day have some news item or the other which says that the police have not done their job the way it is supposed to be done.
The trouble is Bombay became Mumbai – but in reality it is Slumbai and who will deny that! The movie will definitely get accolades and awards and end up making its millions, but Slumbai will remain Slumbai with the people in power reluctant to bring about change. Rajiv Gandhi had sanctioned Rs. 100 crore for Dharavi redevelopment in 1985, the money was also spent – but do you notice any change in Dharavi? Nope! So where did the money go? Open secret huh!
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