The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire

This blog is a part of thinking activity given by my Prof. Dilip Barad.

Similarities between The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire

i) Narrative structure

Parallel Narratives are going on in both, the film and the novel. In the novel there is poster reading scene and along with it the parallel story of Balram Halwai is going on. At one side he is reading Wanted poster  and on the other side he is remembering his past and the crime which he has committed.
In the film we find that at one side the Questions and Answers show is running, and with reference to each questions, Jamal is thinking of his past. In this way two stories are working parallel in both. Flashback technique is used respectively in recalling the past events.

ii) Indianness

Picture of slum area- The film and the novel successfully presents the harsh reality of slums in India. Dirty surrounding, lack of water, electricity, education system etc. These all things are connected with Indianness because in a way major part of India is covered by slum area.
Education system- In village the education system is very poor, the masters are not taking care of their students. They are portrayed as careless and cruel. There is satire on the education system. In the white tiger when Inspection team surprisingly take visit to school then master put forward Balram to answer all questions because no other boy in the class is intelligent like him. In the film we can see harsh portrayal of master who used to beat students.
There are many other points which presents the theme of Indianness in film and the novel like Intuition, Trains, Two brothers-lost and found(common archetype) Difference between knowledge and understanding, "It is written". The first point is Intuition, which we can find in the character of Balram, Ashok(In novel) and Jamal, Salim(In film). When Balram is going to murder Mr. Ashok then something from his conscience alarming him. He spoke some unusual words like "Trust me" to Mr. Ashok who already trust him. When Balram calls Mr. Ashok to come out of car then Ashok's body is not cooperating with his mind. He want to go but his body is not moving. In a way his body knows that the end is near. In the film also Salim committed suicide. He has intuition that now his time is finished and release Latika. These is much Indian concept to have intuition which alarm us before something bad is going to happen. Train is also found in both, it becomes necessary to use train or its platform to show Indian crowd. Difference between knowledge and understanding is found in both, like Balram who is not much educated but has gained knowledge from surrounding, similarly Jamaal is also more social than reserve and learns a lot from surrounding. There is more understanding than taking higher education in both these characters. "It is written" means something that is in fate. If we think about the life and success of Balram and Jamaal then we can draws easy conclusion by stating that "It is written in their fate" because Jamal got the questions in the show which are connected with the episodes of his life. Balram killed Ashok, but police was not able to catch him even if they pasted wanted poster on walls because of uneducated masses that cannot read.

iii) List of the questions asked in the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'

1. Who was the star in the 1973 hit film "Zanzeer"
   a) Shah Rukh Khan
   b) Salman Khan
   c) Amitabh Bachhan
   d) Ranbir Kapoor
Answer: (c)

When Jamaal is at age five then there is incident of Amitabh Bachhan's visit to his slum to promote his film. Jamaal  is big fan of Amitabh Bachhan and he went to get the autograph of him. From that incident he remembers the answer of this question.

2. A picture of three lions is seen in the national emblem of India. What is written underneath it?
    a) The Truth alone triumphs
    b) Lies alone triumphs
    c) Fashion alone triumphs
    d) Money alone triumphs
Answer: (a)

3. In depiction of God Rama, he is famously holding what in his right hand?
    a) A bow and arrow
    b)A sword
    d) A flower
    c) A child
Answer: (a)

There is riot in the village during which Jamaal saw a child in the costume of Rama, holding A bow and arrow in his right hand. From that incident he remembers the correct answer.

4. The song " Darshan Do Ghanshyam" was written by which famous Indian poet?
    a) Surdas
    b) Tulsidas
    c) Mira bai
    d) Kabir
Answer: (a)

In the film there is incident when Jamaal and Salim met a person who is a gangster. They think that he will offer them good job. Jamaal also prepared one song to recite in front of him "Darshan Do Ghanshyam". Therefore he remembers that it was written by Surdas.


5. On the American One Hundred Dollar Bill, there is portrait of which American Statesman?
    a) George Washington
    b) Franklin Roosevelt
    c) Benjamin Franklin
    d) Abraham Lincoln
Answer: (c)

When Jamal was searching for Latika he met one blind boy who is very intelligent. He has an American Dollar bill on which there is picture of a man. When he describes the picture to the blind boy, he immediately give the correct answer Benjamin Franklin.

6. Who invented the revolver?
    a) Samuel Colt
    b) Bruce Browning
    c) Dan Wesson
    d) James Revolver
Answer: (a)

Jamal saw the murder of the gangster Maman by his brother Salim. Then he speaks that Samuel Colt is such a great man who invented  revolver for good purpose. From that incident he recounts the correct answer.

7. Cambridge Circus is in which UK City?
    a) Oxford
    b) Leeds
    c) Cambridge
    d) London
Answer: (d)

8. Which cricketer has scored the most first class centuries in history?
    a) Sachin Tendulkar
    b) Ricky Ponting
    c) Michael Slater
    d) Jack Hobbs
Answer: (d)

In this questions there is proper guess work by Jamaal. He use 50-50 option. The host give him answer in break but Jamaal know very well that what type of character he is therefore he didn't rely on his answer and used lifeline. 

9. In Alexander Dumas' book, "The Three Musketeers", two of the musketeers are called Athos and Porthos. What was the name of the third Musketeer?
    a) Aramis
    b) Cardinal Richetieu
    c) D' Artagnan
    d) Planchet
Answer: (a)

In this way Jamaal gave answer to questions which are connected with his life incident. And in some questions he used pure guess work. I wanted to remove first question which seems too simple to answer for any person about the star of the film Zanzeer. I will replace that question by asking another which is connected with his life story that "Which is the largest slum of Asia, located in India?". The answer is obvious "Dharavi".

iv) Deconstruction of film with post colonial tools.

Postcolonial study helps us to question the power dynamics. Between colonial centers and margins. The film Slumdog Millionaire is directed by an English director Danny Boyle. He presents the harsh reality of India. His centre of focus is the slum area of India. He portrays foreigners in a very good manner. For example, foreigners have obsession for Taj Mahal and many came to India to visit Taj. Salim Malik used to guide them, but he asked for more money to loot them. At the other side some thief stolen the wheels from the car of foreigner. Still they show mercy and gave money to Salim. This shows their calm and generous nature. On the other hand Indian's are portrayed as cruel, cunning, thief. There are so many other things which presents Indian as downmarket people. Danny Boyle satirizes on the Indian education system, Police system, crowd at station, portrayal of gangster. This shows that how most of the American looks at India which is a land of poor for them. Even after so many years of freedom, still we are slave, not physically but mentally. We like everything about them and dislike everything which is Indian. Karan Johar, the director also presents falseness in his film by portraying decorative things which seems much artificial, lacking reality into the film. That is the outsider way of looking at India.

v) Compare with Texture and Treatment of subject content in film and novel. 

The technique of the film and novel is much similar which presents the dark side of India rather than looking at the light side. Themes like corruption, poverty can be found in both. The show host, gangster, police, Salim everyone is corrupt in the film. Salim sells the autograph of Amitabh Bachhan to get money. However it is his younger brother Jamal who get the autograph. From the very early age Salim begins corruption. In the novel the character of protagonist himself is corrupt. If someone did small corruption like, taking more money from masters to repair car or to get petrol, then keeping  the remaining amount is also corruption. However big dealers corruption looks more problematic  than workers of small scale. Both, presents the same texture of India. The outsider looks at India from different angle like lizard in the class (in the novel), street dog (in film). This is much Indian, about the real society.
Treatment of subject is also going similar in the film and the novel that is treating serious element of India with dark comedy. There is comedy upon the life of common man, about the size of their family and so on.

vi) How far do you agree with  the India represented in the novel "The White Tiger"

Adiga is much realistic writer than other writers who used to write fake things. He doesn't believe in fspreading falseness. Therefore he presented the harsh reality of Indian society. He described the condition of village, school, family size and write about it in satirical tone. There is Lizard in classroom, families are used to be too big, one buffalo in each family, used to fed buffalo more than human. This is the condition of village life. Similarly Adiga also satirized on city life. The India which is portrayed in this novel is much true than the India portrayed in any films of Johar.

vii) Do you believe that Balram's story is the archetype of all stories of 'rags to riches'?

Normally the story about poor ends with rich. According to common archetypal pattern all poor boy's life turns out into rich. Same is the case with Balram Halwai who grows in a very poor family. He left his schooling and started working in a tea stall. Then he learns driving and becomes driver of rich entrepreneur Ashok Sharma. His dreams are big therefore he decided to kill Mr. Ashok to get his place. After killing his master he steals his identity and become same rich entrepreneur. In many other stories like 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'Boss', 'Once upon a time in Mumbai', Raees' we can find the common archetype of rags to riches where the protagonist begins from poor class turned into Rich in the end or between of the film.