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Movie: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) is a British film directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tadan that depicts modern India through the story of brothers Jamal and Salim. It shows both the promising potential and negative impacts of modernization in India. Salim loses his way and is negatively influenced by money and power, while Jamal is determined and reflexive, deciding his own future by believing in himself and his love. The film acts as a mirror that reflects the changes in modern India through the brothers' different experiences.

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Huynh Kim Thanh
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42 views

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) is a British film directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tadan that depicts modern India through the story of brothers Jamal and Salim. It shows both the promising potential and negative impacts of modernization in India. Salim loses his way and is negatively influenced by money and power, while Jamal is determined and reflexive, deciding his own future by believing in himself and his love. The film acts as a mirror that reflects the changes in modern India through the brothers' different experiences.

Uploaded by

Huynh Kim Thanh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Movie : Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) , a British film, is directed by Danny Boyle, a well-known English
director and co-directed by Loveleen Tadan, an Indian veteran casting director (Pais 2008,
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/nov/12making-slumdog-millionaire-truely-indian.htm). This
co-operation of the two directors has offered a new and mixed picture of India society painted in
both Western and Orient colors.

The film’s pre-production and production was finished from 2006 to 2008
(http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/slumdog_millionaire.html), when India is in a new era
with both strong improvement and negative impacts from modernization. The film is like a
mirror reflecting closely most of those changes, and it is the answer of the West to India
regarding the country’s modern image.

One prominent negative side of Modernity in India describing in Slumdog Millionaire is that
people have no clear goals for their future and affected strongly by outside forces ( ‘Modernity’
2010) . Salim and Jamal, the two main characters representing Indian youth, are brothers who
have the same beginning but different endings. They both have no ideas about their future, they
go on a train and come to wherever it take them to; they cheat, and thieve to survive. They act on
their instincts. However, Salim is then influenced heavily and negatively by money, position and
power, he choose them instead of his younger brother. Ignoring his future and consequences, he
robs Jamal’s girl, does whatever the gangster order to be powerful and rich. His lost peaks at his
death. The image of Salim sits in the bathtub with lot of money, the purpose of his life, best
describes the power of this outside force. He is waiting for his foretold death . He totally looses
the will to live, that is the tragedy, the crisis of Modernity. People are negatively influenced by
outside forces and are unclear about what to do.

In contrast to his brother, Jamal is very determined when it comes to his life’s dreams and love.
He is the representative of the promising and determined young Indian generation. He is a typical
example of a characteristic of Modernity, people are reflexive ( Giddens 1991) (modernity and
self-identity) . They can now decide their future and write their own narratives by deciding their
perspectives without basing on the society’s , and keep reflecting on it as the self is no longer
static; it is a ‘reflexive project’ ( Giddens 1991, http://www.theory.org.uk/giddens5.htm) . An
illustration of this is that Jamal is not defeated by the India’s harsh prejudice, a slumdog cannot
achieve his dreams. He believes in his love for Latika and keeps searching for her, the image that
covers the whole movie . She then becomes his reason of attending his destiny game show: “who
wants to be the billionaire”. He believes in himself and creates his own ‘biographical narrative’
(Gauntlett 2002) (Gauntlett, David (2002), Media, Gender and Identity: An
Introduction, Routledge, London and New York).

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