Mumbai's Slums—the Real Scene Behind "Slumdog Millionaire"

This is Dharavi, Mumbai's largest slum, and it's about to change forever.

Once a mangrove swamp on the edge of Mumbai, more than one million people now live in these five-hundred-and-fifty acres.

The residents of Dharavi are representative of India's larger poverty problem.

This Stanley Foundation video was filmed in April 2008.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Mumbai Slums
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Bombay Slums
• Dharavi Mumbai
• Bombay
• India
• Poverty
• Stanley Foundation
• Rising Powers

[pellezpellez]

why does every1 think these people arent happy. bellieve me they are generally happier then most of the well to do urbanites.

Go read Ramcharan, to see why

[nikhilck]

I live in India and I don't think these people in slums are happy. They see the middle class people all around them and they are desperate to get out of the slum.

I don't understand how these americans assume they are happy. Just because they say they are happy and smile for the camera, doesn't mean they are.

[deveen1979]

When indians are in the West they have a big mouth....reality is that Indians are dying to come to the West and make our countries dirty.Have been to India a few times,very hypocrit people and India is the most dirty and filthy country in Asia.

[AngieMarie273]

@pellezpellez why would anyone living in their own excrement, wondering if they will live to see tomorrow, be happier than 'well to do urbanites'? their basic survival needs arent being met!

SLUM:

Encyclopedia Britannica: “…residential areas that are physically & socially deteriorated and in which satisfactory family life is impossible. Bad housing is a major index of slum conditions... dwellings that have inadequate light, air,toilet, and bathing facilities"

[atheist382]

@basque777 Was this south or north India?

[rajroy04]

@QuanticIllusion , so typically naive....

[QuanticIllusion]

@rajroy04 America is also a land of rags and riches. Americans make so many films portraying their own country in that way and India is just a more extreme example of the same thing.

[buckwats]

@Jonsbk Well said, I'm a U.S. native and most people from India I know speak english better than me. By that I mean their more correct with their grammer. They are also are repectful, and they address you as sir, or brother

[basque777]

I visited India last year. Everywhere i went, there were little children begging for coins and homeless people scattered on the streets at night. Place is dirty and corrupt as shit. I felt so sorry for the people there.

[dachicagoan]

@superking445 If you live in the US, all I can say is...COMING SOON!!