Poverty porn or slum truth?

The Los Angeles Times article written by its New Delhi bureau chief had the headline "Indians Don't Feel Good About Slumdog Millionaire". Mark Magnier's story went further: "The story of an impoverished street child in Mumbai is a stereotypical Western portrayal, Indians say, that ignores the wealth and progress their country has seen."

Does the Oscar-nominated Slumdog Millionaire show life in Mumbai's slum less realistically than a Bollywood musical? That's the question at the centre of a passionate political debate that the film has created. Mark Magnier quotes a Mumbai film professor, Shyamal Sengupta, as saying Slumdog is "a poverty tour". But Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the screenplay and added a Bollywood-like love story to Danny Boyle's film, says that Slumdog is at all times respectful of the people who live in Mumbai, and focuses on the hope with which they live their lives, not the poverty in which they live.