India's Slumdog Protest

I understand the anger from protesters about being called a dog but it's only part of a name of a movie. Fully understanding the true meaning behind the whole title of the movie is entirely a different meaning.

I think Danny Boyle and the film's producers could have tried to test market the film title before settling on one. I saw the film in Seattle for its premiere here locally in November, and felt that "Slumdog Millionaire" is kind of an odd choice. Why? Every time a reference to the film is made -- online, in print, in conversation, radio, et cetera, the title needs some explanation. What is a slumdog? Is it a slur? Who could be offended, and so on.

I think the film would have benefited from a more simpler title: LIFELINES. "Lifelines" would be more fitting, because it's a good metaphor between the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and the lead characters Jamal (Dev Patel) and Latika (Freida Pinto) whose lives are so intertwined in the film's narrative. And it's a romance!

"Slumdog Millionaire" is not about becoming a millionaire or class epithets. It's about taking risks, passionate ambition and surviving under challenging odds. And the film poster's tag line asks: "What does it take to find a lost love?"

LIFELINES would be more affirming and fitting as a title.

hmm.. this is interesting, if the film makers invented the term, than yes they have reason to be protesting. but if it was a derogatory word already used against people in India living in poverty, than it is neccecary for the realism of the movie. just like the N word would need to be used in a historical movie about civil rights.

I believe that the protestors were probably prodded or paid to protest by the wealthy of India. What they want is to project this utopian image of India as a modern, forward thinking country. In actually this film barely showed the wretchedness that is part of the daily existence of the slum dwellers in India. I guess it's far easier to protest a film and a name than to protest the horrid life of poverty that they will lead until they subcumb to death; which will come rather early because of hunger, filth and diesease.

Indians either need to grow up or stop being the world's most boring hypocrites. They persecute artists for kissing in films yet their only-second-to-China population suggests lots of kissing's done off-camera. We've got to resist them or they'll never leave the arts alone.

This makes me really sad/annoyed. Having seen Slumdog Millionaire I would say that these protesters are 100% wrong. Slumdog Millionaire is actualy a movie about how people in the slums are people not dogs. So these protesters are protesting against their own cause.

Also it was a fantastic movie overall.

leave it to some whiteys to find yet another way to profit off of the suffering of brown-skinned people. its like the film-makers never took a world history class. The least they could do is donate half their profits to helping these people as a way to give back and show respect. These film makers havent done anything to help just because they made a movie because everyone already knew that India was full of poverty.

India is seriously one of the most fucked up countries on the face of the earth. I would be ashamed of that place if i was indian. I mean the rampant poverty and disease, over-population, and failed economy. And the worst part is indians are starving to death while so-called sacred cows just roam the streets and shit on the sidewalk. You know what would happen to that cow around some Americans?
barbecue baby!

that's a terrible protest, what they need are some burning effigies.

What do they want the film to be called? "Slum Dweller Millionaire"?

have they even seen the film? its a story of hope for a person who has none. And a very excellent story at that.

I'm just sick of all the constant barrage of promotion being given to this Movie. We have slums in the U.S. Why not focus on that instead of the problems concerning Indias inability to promote Birth Control and get control of their own problems. Is India promoting anything to the plight of Homeless Children in America? Give us break already!

he brought light to their plight but no one wants to be called a dog. no one cares anyway.

these cats should definitely spend their time protesting for or against something much more important to their daily lives, BUT if they are genuinely upset or offended by a word that may have a ton of baggage its their prerogative to speak on it.

the poor people that are protesting have been downgraded, downtrodden and looked down too all their lives. This is their one chance no matter how small to be heard in the vast voices of poor people who by no fault of their own were born in a world apart from which we fear like our worst nightmares. Let them get their little awareness from the media.

what a misguided protest, those kids don't even know what signs they are holding.

I think it's unfortunate that the media has decided to focus on the negative reception this film is getting in India, rather than exploring the positive effects a rare film about abject poverty in India might have. There is no doubt that there will be negative reception, but a film with such a positive message can't go unnoticed by the entire population.

I would also like to point out my doubts that everyone who is protesting the film has actually seen it. Essentially, the buzz is generated from the title, not the content.

have they seen the film, i wonder?

they are barking up the wrong tree

why do idiots protest their stupidity?

'Slumdog' is a commonly used term in India and the UK and ads to the realism of this fictitious film.

the term dog in this movie isnt used by the director to be a racial term it is used in the film to make it more believiable because ignorent use it and with holding it would make its authentisity week. This is just the same as "To kill a Mockingbird" uses the N word Harper lee is not racist and used it because there are people that used in in that time and as a disrespectful term not because she uses it herself. The same is with Danny Boyle and his film.