Blog Post number 4

     To choose the issue that had the largest impact on me throughout the watching and 'unpacking' of the movie Slumdog Millionaire hand down I would have to say the existence of these slums take the proverbial cake.  I mean the Dharavi slum containing over a million people in an area less than a square mile, to me is pretty astounding!  The video states that the slum had its beginning, then a swampy marshland when some of the city's poorest took refuge here, and from there it just developed here along with the development of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) as a financial hub.  Even more surprising is that in a city like Mumbai, around 50 percent of the total population lives in a slum like this.  

     The most unique reason I chose to use this topic, as was discussed both in class as well as in the chosen video, is the unlikely event that this movie has been able to produce.  The hit that Slumdog Millionaire was, it has been able to turn the poverty stricken dirty home of so many into one of the area's largest tour destinations.  The company Reality Tours has one of their guides interviewed in the video and it is amazing to think that after seeing the movie people have such a desire to go see the place where the story took place.  The guide seems to suggest in his interview that the slum is not as dangerous a place as it is perceived by the outside world, and that people should take the time to go there, as for me I think if I ever go there it will have to be in the light of day.  However, that being said, it tells me a lot that the film's director was confident enough to insist upon filming on the actual location of the slum.

     Also in the video one of the residents of the slum, whose whole family lives in a single room in their shack in the slums, says in India there is no such thing as a rags to riches story, and that is a pretty sad thing to hear someone say.  He is a business owner and he only takes in about five dollars a day, to support his whole family.  Although they are not high paying there are many jobs to be found and that looks to be one of the few positives I have found.

     The map above shows the location of the slum from the movie, and the one I have focused on in this post.  This is in relation to Mumbai and below is a map showing the location on Mumbai in India as a whole.