Slumdog Millionaire: developmentalism on film?

The film Slumdog Millionaire has set of a heated debate in India, and rippled across the western World.

Protests outside the studio of actor Anil Kapoor

Alice Miles a reporter for the Times London Calls the film an example of ‘poverty porn’ – where a a grassroots, insiders view of the ‘the slums’ is served up for a voyeuristic western audience.

Sadia Sheppard, documentary filmmaker and author writes:

More troubling than Mr. Boyle’s facile characterization of life in Asia’s largest slum is how the national argument over India’s representation in popular culture seeps into the urban solutions proposed for Dharavi, notably a new redevelopment plan which would demolish the slum and relocate some of its residents to a complex of towers…a sentiment that goes hand in hand with Bollywood’s glossy view of reality.

Here is a link to a blog on the story : ‘The Real Roots of the ‘Slumdog’ Protests’

and the article in the NYTs.