What does Slumdog stand for?
- IndiaGlitz, [Friday,January 23 2009]
It was just the direct meaning of the word Slumdog that carried away the emotions of social worker Tapeshwar Vishwakarma leading him to accuse the name to be abusive and file a case.
The general secretary of the Jhuggi Jhonpdi Samyukta Sangharsh Samiti, has now got a crystal clear justification from the screenplay writer Simon Beaufoy who coined the word.
Know from Mr. Beaufoy's own words on how the word 'Slumdog', which he considers as a metaphor representing many truths, came into existence.
The writer said As part of my research, I was wandering in the slums. I was very intrigued by the cats and dogs wandering around there, who dared to be asleep in the sunshine. Though they do look carefree from the outside, they are watching everything from the rims of their eyes.
It is exactly like somebody who is apparently not worthy of an existence but is actually looking at everything and eyeing everything out. Just like the boy in the game show who knows everything not through intelligence but through experience. So, I just made up the word.
A man from the slum is looked upon as someone who wants nothing and in order to say that, it is expressed in this kind of harsh way to make him feel like nothing. The film is not trying to say that a man living in a slum is a dog. This opinion was put forth by Loveleen Tandon, the co‑director of the flick.
The petition filed by Tapeshwar Vishwakram will be handled by the court according to the rules and regulations. As for now, the explanations from the makers of the film are enough for people understand what 'Slumdog' really means.
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