Dr Anesimo: During my younger days, i visited Bombay frequently. I never saw any slums,open gutters, gangsters and rapists. During my short visits to bombay, i lived in a posh residential area and travelled by taxis to those relatively clean and decent areas for my shopping and entertainement. For me, Bombay was the safest and on of the cleanest city in the world. When i saw Slumdog Millionaire, i said it was fake!
Response: Dotor, I do not think despite your frequent visits to Bombay, you know what Bombay really is. Visiting Malabar Hill or Peddar Road or Marine Drive is not Bombay. For your information, more than 60% of Bombay's population lives in slums ie. makeshift tenements of not more than 6ft x 6ft with a tarpaulin sheet for a roof, devoid of toilet facilities and drinking water. Dharavi where the film was shot holds the dubious record of being the largest slum in Asia. No visitor to Bombay can miss seeing Dharavi, as it is the first sight that greets any visitor flying into Bombay by air. Dharavi is inspite of this dubious record a very robust place and boasts of intrepid entrepreneurs who have survived poverty and run several successful businesses from here. The leather industry is very famous and one can strike good bargains for genuine leather goods which would cost a fortune elsewhere. Dharavi has also become a place of tourist interest (much before Slumdog hogged the Oscars and fame). There are regular tours conducted through the slums by guides who can match the accents of Americans, French and Germans, and who have never seen the insides of a school. Believe me, what is portrayed about life in the slums is as true as the air that you breathe. There may be a few points of exaggeration like the scene in which Jamal jumps into the cesspool so that he can obtain the autograph of Amitabh Bacchan, his hero. But otherwise, it is a very realistic portrayal. May I suggest that the next time you are in India, you take a tour of Dharavi. It can be a very numbing experience. Regards, Marshall ------------------------------