Slumdog Millionaire’s Success used by Save the Children to Highlight Misery of Slums

Byline: Slumdog Millionaire’s success is being used by charity Save the Children to highlight the misery of living in the slums of Mumbai

From: Telegraph.co.uk / January 19th, 2009

The hit movie, Slumdog Millionaire, which has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards as well as an Oscar, is being cited by the international charity Save the Children, as a vehicle for better understanding the dire conditions of poor children living in India. The literal “rags to riches” story portrayed in the film depicts a beleaguered “slumdog” – a slang term for a child growing up in the poverty-stricken area of Mumbai - who manages to beat all odds and win big on the popular television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Indian representative of the Save the Children organization, Shireen Vakil Miller, focuses on the differences between the fantasy depicted in the film and the reality of a life of poverty in any number of Indian cities. Children, along with their families, live in tiny shacks and work round the clock, with little or no opportunity to go to school and thus escape through education. There are over 120 million children who live in poverty across India, which is about twice the population of Great Britain or the UK. Save the Children seeks to help child victims of poverty in Indian cities such as Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad – where they are offered education, training and reunions with families after rescues from child trafficking – another term for selling children into the sex trade. It is thought that the film Slumdog Millionaire will serve to call attention to the plight of poor Indian children.