The Slumdogs Blog

The low-budget movie "Slumdog Millionaire" has not only drawn big crowds in the West, but also the movie has won eight Oscars, including the Academy awards for the Best Picture and the Best Director. The Best Music and Best Song awards went to India's musician A.R. Rahman, known as the Mozart of Madras. Half the world in Mumbai, the Garib Nagar crowd was particularly excited because several children from the area, including Rubina Ali, 9, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, starred in "Slumdog Millionaire," playing the roles of "young Latika" and "young Salim" respectively.

After the well-deserved success of the well-made Slumdog movie, will the lives of poor children in Mumbai or in India improve? Can this extraordinary focus on child poverty translate in to positive actions to reduce poverty around the world? These are the most important questions on the minds of many after the euphoria in Los Angeles. The people in India have got different opinion towards the success of the movie. The ABC news has reported that people in the slum area are not at all happy and believes that nothing is going to make any change in their life. In fact the people in the slums are not happy with the use of 'Slumdog'. They conducted protests march in Mumbai against the movie.

Now Reality Tours have started targeting Mumbai Slums as a major place for Poverty Tourism in India. It is estimated that sales are up by about 25% since Slumdog Millionaire's release. Though the tourism industry was down after terrorist attacks in Mumbai, publicity surrounding the film has played a big role. The tours have come under criticism for exploiting poverty. But the organizers say that it is way to help poor in Mumbai. Now, the great success of movie is a fantastic opportunity for the director to set up a foundation for funding the poor children together with UNICEF.