PERCEPTION OF INDIA BY FOREIGNERS THROUGH SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

PERCEPTION OF INDIA BY FOREIGNERS THROUGH SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

The dissertation titled Perception of India by Foreigners through Slumdog Millionaire speaks about the effectiveness of mass media in the recent times. Since times mass media has been playing a critical role in the peoples lifestyle with regard to understanding of various situations and also in decision making process. Any mass medium be it newspaper, radio,television, films etc has become a part of peoples life making them depending upon these mass media for their decision making process. Films, in particular, which caters to a large number of audiences crossing borders play a significant role in building ones perception on a culture, religion, nation, people and so on. While written reviews available online in scholarly and film journals, newspapers and the IMDB, for instance, form the backdrop to ideas in this study, the primary method of data collection is to do qualitative research through interviews of foreigners and Indians. Also, included are the qualitative questionnaires which would be administered online and off line to 100 foreigners and Indians. The problems lie in the perception of a problem by people of different culture having grown up in a varied environment. The aim of the research is to bring out the causes of such understanding towards the problem.The movie Slumdog Millionaire has been a mouth-piece of India in showcasing Indias poverty and lives of poor people. Here the Indians would have a different take on this problem with respect to foreigners who have, if not same, a contrast understanding of problem. The study helps in establishing a link between mass medium and people who would watch the film with their culture behind them. It also talks about the ethics involved in portraying a foreign nation by an alien person who is not from the same environment.

Chandra B.S. Sharath

Media Studies