This article contests the characterisation of the popular and acclaimed film, Slumdog Millionaire, as a realistic portrayal of India's urban poverty that will ultimately serve as a tool of advocacy for India's urban poor. It argues that the film's reductive view of slum-spaces will more probably reinforce negative attitudes towards slum-dwellers, lending credibility to the sorts of policies that have historically dispossessed them of power and dignity. By drawing attention to the film's celebration of characters and spaces that symbolise Western culture and Northern trajectories of 'development', the article also critically engages with some of the issues raised by the film's enormous success.
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