Introduction: The Slumdog Phenomenon

Summary

It seems impossible to begin any discussion of Slumdog Millionaire (2008, hereafter Slumdog) without immediately mentioning how successful and controversial it has been — how many awards it has garnered, how many cultural gurus have weighed in with damnation or praise (in some cases, damnation and then praise) regarding its depictions of the slum, of India, its relationships with Bollywood, and its varying — in some cases, wildly divergent — receptions around the world. Yet the impossibility of avoiding such a discourse itself illuminates a salient point, namely, that the Slumdog phenomenon is precisely that — something viewed by so many people and resulting in so much passionate discussion that it has become more than just a film. Slumdog has become a cultural event, a phenomenon that speaks to many issues of our time, even as it illuminates several ongoing debates regarding the formation of cultural identities and relationships between global cultures (and culture industries) in the twenty-first century. Some of the issues Slumdog speaks to include: the rapidly transforming state of India; the increasing global dissemination of Indian culture (and the particular role Bollywood plays in this process); the exponential rise of Indian markets and, almost simultaneously, of Indian slums, especially those located in and around Bombay/Mumbai, where much of Slumdog takes place.