A movie depicting the impoverished life in India, Slumdog Millionaire is all about the story of an 18 year-old boy, Jamal Malik, who was being tortured to confess that he cheated on the Indian franchise of the game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” He is a question away from winning 20 million rupees. Nobody believed that he can answer the question since he is from the slums. To prove his innocence, he started to tell their story—his’, his brother Salim’s, and their childhood friend Latika’s, known as the "Three Musketeers”, and the tragic way he get to learn most of the answers. Many societal issues, not only in India, but also around the world have been portrayed in the movie. The brothers became orphaned after being in the middle of a religious riot between the Hindus and Muslims. Even at this generation, people still use their “beliefs” to do violence against each other. It has been happening for thousand of years and as long as people will impose their “faith” to others, it will still continue.
The exploitation of children was vividly shown in the movie. The extent of what the syndicates are willing to do to the children to make them more profitable is really repelling. Every child is entitled to be fed, to be clothed, to have a roof above his head, and to be educated and yet even his safety can’t be ensured by the government. Not only that, it is the adults who are suppose to take care of the youth that is using them for their benefit. It is an issue that should be addressed immediately. How can we have a better future if we can’t look after the youth?
Women objectification is another issue in this movie. Sadly, I think this matter can’t be settled. It is prevailing everywhere, some are obvious, some not so. But it is always there. Women will always be inferior to men, and their role would always be to serve men. What is worse is that I believe that most women believe in this stereotype. They hide their true feelings and don’t utilize their full potential because they are shackled by what the society thinks they should be.
“Crab mentality” was also displayed in the film. The game show host can’t accept that if Jamal win the prize, he will have an equal wealth as he does, so he insisted that Jamal cheated. According to the psychologist Alfred Adler, the core motive for human personality is striving for superiority, that is why we put so much value in our achievements and feel threatened when someone matches ours. Another psychological concept shown in the film is Carl Jung’s “shadow”. This is the animal side of our personality. Salim’s “shadow” made him do bad things for his and Javal’s survival.
The film also debunked the idea that your family and environmental background make you who you are. Salim and Javal experienced the same traumatic experiences as children and yet we can say that they have very different personalities. It just proves that although these factors contribute to your personality, it is how you think and how you perceive the world that will still matter.
For me, slumdog millionaire is the modern “Ramayana”. I can relate the story of Javal and Latika’s to Rama and Sita’s. Every major thing that happened between the brothers lives was because of Javal’s resolve to save Latika. It is ironic, because as I mentioned above, women will always be viewed as inferior to men and yet they are behind every misery and victory of men.
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