Saudi FM calls Indian, Pakistani counterparts to discuss developments    Al Hilal thrash Gwangju to reach AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Arabia cracks down on fraudulent Hajj campaigns, urges pilgrims to use official channels    Nammos Amala Resort to open soon with Saudi-Greek designs    Saudi Arabia completes 674 Vision 2030 initiatives, achieves 93% of KPIs as ninth-year milestone marked    Literature Commission inaugurates Saudi Pavilion at Muscat Book Fair    Saudi Minister of Culture holds talks with his Costa Rican counterpart in Jeddah    Alkhorayef praises advancements in Al-Kharj food industries sector    MHRSD: 80% of recruitment offices are non-compliant with regulations    At least 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza    Teenage girl killed in French school stabbing attack    Trump claims meeting with China after Beijing denies any trade negotiations    GACA chief chairs 16th meeting of the Steering Committee on aviation's strategy    Saudi Theater Commission launches its Work and Learn Project in UK    The season has begun — and one comment shook us all    Jennifer Lopez dazzles in Jeddah with a Formula 1 performance    Saudi Arabia open to expanded 64-team World Cup in 2034, says sports minister    Average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rises to78.8 years    Film Commission launches 'Cinema' initiative to enhance content    Famed Philippine film star Nora Aunor dies at 71    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



No flights of fancy for kids in ‘Slumdog' slum
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 15 - 01 - 2009

IN Nehru Nagar, the teeming Mumbai slum featured in the Golden Globe-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire,” the only music heard is on tiny radio sets and the young boys have no ambition to appear on quiz shows.
While the crowded slum with its unpaved alleys, open sewers and tiny shacks is faithfully portrayed in the film, for the kids playing cricket with wooden planks near a smoking landfill, the story of protagonist Jamal Malik is unimaginable.
“I have never even tried to get on a quiz show on TV,” said Siddhant, a cheerful 12-year old, shrugging his shoulders.
For Siddhant, who studies in the seventh grade in a nearby school, his role models are cricketers and his hero is Sachin Tendulkar, India's batsman.
He and his friends have little interest in watching “Slumdog Millionaire,” which was mostly shot in Nehru Nagar and nearby Dharavi, when it is released in India next week.
“We saw some parts of the shooting, and that was nice, but I won't see the film,” said Alpesh, also 12.
“I only like Shah Rukh Khan films,” he said, referring to the popular actor who usually plays the romantic hero in big-budget Bollywood productions.
Get a peek
Director Danny Boyle, in publicity material for a film he called a Dickensian tale, said he shot in real, gritty locations “to show the beauty and ugliness and sheer unpredictability” of Mumbai.
About half of Mumbai's 17 million people are homeless, and a vast number live on the streets or in about a dozen slums that lack even basic facilities such as running water and toilets.
“Slumdog Millionaire,” which tells the rags-to-riches tale of an orphan from such a slum, won four Golden Globe awards on Sunday, including one for Indian music composer AR Rahman.
But there is little upbeat or ambitious about Nehru Nagar, and some newspapers have criticized Boyle for romanticizing the slums and peddling such grim realities as the beggar mafia, prostitution and crime as “Indian exotica.”
Others have sprung to Boyle's defense.
“If through (the movie) the world gets a peek at an India inhabited by millions of people who continue to live their lives without clean water, sanitation or electricity, what is the problem?” wrote Kalpana Sharma, author of a book on Dharavi, Asia's largest slum, in the Indian Express paper.
India's own film industry, best known for its racy action flicks and lush romances, has delved before into the slums in Mumbai occasionally, and there is growing interest from tourists.
Reality Tours & Travel, which offers guided tours of Dharavi, calls the slum “a place of poverty and hardship but also a place of enterprise and humor,” saying the tours are meant to dispel the negative image that many people have about slums in Mumbai.
“People want to understand how the country works, experience a culture that is alien to them and goes beyond the standard tourist spots,” said co-founder Chris Way.
To people in the slums though, a movie like “Slumdog” probably would not make a huge difference because “they are just too busy getting on with their lives,” he said.
That thought is echoed by 14-year-old Rajan, who when asked what he would do if he won a prize, shrugs his shoulders.
“What would I do with all that money?” he said.


Clic here to read the story from its source.