World | India
Award-winning film exposes Mumbai's dark side
The Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire is bound to sensitise both Indians and people around the globe on the dark side of Mumbai's slums.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:36 February 24, 2009
- Image Credit: EPA
- Rahman Music School students hold a photograph of musician AR Rahman and celebrate outside his music studio in Chennai.
Mumbai: The Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire is bound to sensitise both Indians and people around the globe on the dark side of Mumbai's slums.
"Yes, it is a reality that we come across on a daily basis of young children being exploited by the slum mafia," says Nishit Kumar, head of communications and strategic initiatives of Childline, an NGO working with slum and street children.
Though people were proud and excited to watch two Indians A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty bag the coveted Oscars, most Indians feel uneasy about the stark realities of slum life shown in the film. It is only committed NGOs who are working on tackling such realities - of beggary, drug abuse among children, exploitation of poor girls and street crime, says the social worker.
Childline has also been approached by the film-makers of Slumdog Millionaire "but it is too premature to talk about it", Kumar told Gulf News.
However, he said the NGO focused on rescue and rehabilitation of street children. Though the film exposes many unpleasant truths, "it is afterall meant to entertain and not come up with any social message", he says. "Do you know that every morning between 4am and 5am, nearly 3,000 beggars congregate at Deonar village (in north-east (Mumbai) where they hire babies and little children for begging?"
Your comments
Government/Social workers/Award winners must help and rehabilitate the poor people to provide house, education and tidy place to grow the young generation inorder to develop our nation. Prevent exploitation and child work in cities.
Mohammad Kasim
Kerala,India
Posted: February 24, 2009, 14:56
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
