Word: dharavi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Slumdog, the immensely wealthy who have shown little concern for India’s poor, have virtually no credibility on this issue. Poverty may be far removed from their Indian experiences, but a different world exists not far from their pampered villas. Indeed, Bombay’s own Dharavi slum, home to one million people, is just miles from the Bollywood studios that so regularly exclude any mention of those who have been left behind...
...slum dwellers have been as down on the film. In Dharavi, the Mumbai slum where parts of the movie were shot, many say they want to watch it. "I liked the songs," says Vittal Naravane, who runs a printing workshop. "And I liked the idea that even if you're not educated, like the hero of the film, you can be successful by dint of your common sense and hard work." This message of hope seems to have worked for many among India's lower middle-class aspiring for a better life. "The film only shows what is real," says...
...character. Getting your nails done wasn’t selfish, it was a kind of neighborhood beautification. I was living in a city of 40 million filthy, scuffed, aching feet, but all across Mumbai women were getting pedicures?on Malabar Hill, in the narrow slum alleys of Dharavi, women were getting their toes painted, and now it was my turn, like anyone else, to add to the city’s kaleidoscope of color...
...reason Gupta stays in Bombay, despite falling ill from diesel fumes each time she crosses the city. Samant says it's why, unlike in New Orleans, the people didn't disintegrate with their city after the floods. Hope brought Bombay together and keeps it together. "Look at Dharavi," he says of the city's notorious slum, the biggest in Asia. "The place has a GDP of $1 billion a year. Dharavi makes you realize everyone has a stake in keeping Bombay going." One day all those millions of expectations will have to be satisfied. But for now, the City...
...movie, the divide leads to revolution. In real life, Kapur says, Dharavi will somehow adapt to its unpromising future. In reality, he adds, Bombay's rich are not nasty, but they have too little contact with the poor to understand their plight. "Over there," he says, indicating the high-rises, "they believe toilet paper is soft and beautiful. Here, they know it's to wipe yourself." Money can blind as well as dazzle, he's saying. Sometimes it just gets in the way. And he would know...