India
'Slumdog Millionaire' boosts Mumbai tourism
Nominated for 10 Oscars and a best-picture favorite heading into Sunday's Academy Awards, the popular Slumdog Millionaire is translating to more rubberneckers in the Mumbai, India, slum where it was filmed — and is re-igniting a debate over the ethics of "poverty tourism."
British director Danny Boyle's feel-good flick follows an orphan who grows up in Dharavi, one of the world's poorest and most densely populated neighborhoods, and who finds improbable success on India's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
The movie's recent premiere in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) sparked complaints among some of Dharavi's estimated 1 million residents, who live and work in an area smaller than New York's Central Park. But it also has boosted business for Reality Tours and Travel, which leads eight to 15 tourists a day on guided tours of the slum.
Reality Tours co-founder Chris Way estimates that sales are up by about 25% since Slumdog Millionaire's release. Though he credits some of the increase to a gradual rebound in tourism after terrorist attacks in Mumbai killed more than 170 people in November, publicity surrounding the film has played a big role.
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In India, "a lot of people think the movie is 'poverty porn,' " says Way, a Brit who has lived in Mumbai since 2004. But any criticism of his tours "comes from misunderstanding what we are trying to do … break down the negative image of slums, (and) highlight the industry and sense of community." Reality Tours charges $10 or $20 a person, depending on length of the tour, and pledges to donate 80% of after-tax profits to local charities. Though the business hasn't yet cleared a profit, it paid for a community center.
Mumbai is one of several destinations to offer "poorism" options. In New Delhi, the non-profit Salaam Baalak Trust, spearheaded by Salaam Bombay! filmmaker Mira Nair, leads tours focusing on children living in and near the city's train station. Other forays take visitors to slums in Rio,Nairobi and Johannesburg. In New Orleans, companies offered post-Katrina tours that included the hard-hit Ninth Ward.
"If one takes such a tour out of a genuine desire to learn and a passion for social justice, the experience can be valuable, eye-opening, even life-changing. If one goes as a spectator, it's little different than a visit to the zoo," says Jeff Greenwald, executive director of EthicalTraveler.org.
"Part of the key is interaction," he adds. "Do visitors get to speak with these individuals, and gain a sense of their lives? … If not, this is the modern equivalent of watching people suffer in public coliseums."
Comments
First of all, I congratulate to all people involved in this movie and particularly to Mr. Rahman for winning Oscar awards and bringing laurels for himself, Bollywood and to the country. Howerver, I do not subscribe to the argument of this article titled 'Slumdog Millionaire' boosts Mumbai tourism". Mumbai has its own historical importance and it is the financial and industrial hub of India. A major chunk of tax revenues go to the government from this city. The city has several tourist places apart from beaches. The development of Mumbai in last 5-10 years have been very rapid, outstanding and the pace of development is still continuing. The argument that Slumdog Millionnaire will bring toursim to Mumbai makes no sense to sagacious people like me. I have several concerns about this movie and the perceptions of the West about India.
I realized that this movie projects somewhat a negative image about India. Did this movie sell out Indian poverty to West? Does it mean that make a movie on Indian poverty or Mumbai slums, it will fetch Oscar awards? We, Non-resident Indians (NRIs), excel abroad and keep our flag very high by demonstrating our skills, intellegentia, hardwork, Indian culture and values. Indian institutions and government bodies recognize and honour NRIs every year for their excellent work carried out in other countries. On the other hand, Bollywood and Hollywood producers and directors make such movies on India , projecting somewhat a negative goodwill about India and get awards like Oscar in the West, thereby indicating and communicating to others that produce a movie on Slums and poverty of India and you stand high chances to win awards like Oscar in foreign lands.
My other question is how many times these people have produced movies on good things about India. May be many times but none of their movies earned Oscar? Why? Indian Middle class has progressed like anything in the world. Today, India has over 315 million middle class population which is perhaps more than the population of the US. Why people in other countries don't appreciate that and recognize this excellent progress of India and Indian society?
Indian culture, values and Yoga have given a lot to Western countries. Today, more than 50% of corporate executives in the US alone practise Yoga to keep themselves fit and overcome their work stress. Perhaps there might have been movies on this, why Oscar awards were not considered?
Two years back Reader Digest, in its global survey, tried to project Mumbai as the rudest city in the world and New York the most behaved city though I severely criticized Reader Digest's unscientific methodology used in that survey. My perception has been that many times Western societies prefer to read some negative images about India and its cities, for the best reasons known to them.
If husband and wife have quarrel at home, it does not mean that they should bring their quarrel on streets. They have to project themselves in front of othersas if they are good couples otherwise there is no family. Same way, yes, India has poverty ( which cannot be eradicated overnight), but it does not mean that it should be projected in such way to gain awards. Mumbai has some slum areas because people migrate from rural areas every year in search better life. At the same time, land is limited in Mumbai and resources available at the disposal of government are always limited, therefore, housing is an acute problem. However, in last five years, Maharashtra Government has done an excellent job in resettling the people from slum areas and thousands of families have been provided small houses. This work continues there and we hope that in next one decade, there will not be any slums in Mumbai.
Promoting tourism is one things - but if Slumdog Millionaire can effectively raise awareness on some of the issues like child poverty and human trafficking it will have actually accomplished something.
For in-depth coverage on what one organization is doing to rescue girls from a life in the sex trade, check out Explore's series of short documentaries, Rescued from Mumbai Brothels.
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