Questioning Slumdog Millionaire: Ambivalent Practices and Imaginary Truths

• Main Author: Deimantas Valančiūnas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of English Studies 2017-10-01
• Series: Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies
• Subjects: postcolonial theory; cinema; India; narrative strategies
• Online Access: http://www.anglica.ia.uw.edu.pl/images/pdf/26-1-articles/Anglica_26-1_DValanciunas_235-249.pdf

This article analyses the British film Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle. The film has created hype all over the world by supposedly showing a “true India,” thus generating a number of negative responses, mainly from India. The article employs postcolonial criticism in analysing particular visual and narrative aspects of the film. As the research revealed, despite Slumdog Millionaire’s attempts to recreate the authentic voice of India by employing hybrid cinematic aesthetics, the film remains an ambiguous project whose certain visual and narrative strategies contribute to the construction, exploitation and dissemination of exotic discourses and (neo)colonial relics.