Slumdog Millionaire: Will the Real Hero Please Stand Up? The Sequel
In “Will the REAL Hero Please Stand Up” I examined the hero Jamal Malik from “Slumdog Millionaire”.
In this post…the sequel…I’m examining Jamal’s older brother, Salim, to see if he can be aptly dubbed a “hero”…or not.
Now, I know this is “just” a movie so it makes no real sense why I’ve spent such an inordinately large amount of time hashing and re-hashing it but, if you haven’t seen “Slumdog Millionaire”, I can only tell you there are reasons aplenty why it came out of nowhere as a small-budget indie film and won EIGHT Academy Awards.
At the end of the day I guess the biggest reason I’m so scope locked on this film is what it can teach about the concept of the hero.
This is the year of the hero for me. My third book and the theme of my radio show this year is “ The Quest to Have it All. The journey to true purpose, prosperity and peace.”
Interestingly enough, what I’ve found after dissecting “Slumdog Millionaire” is, the definition of a hero stays the same.
In my post “The Hero’s Journey”, I define my interpretation of a hero based on “The
Hero with a Thousand Faces”, written by Joseph Cambell.
- The Departure (Separation) is when we leave the other side to incarnate on earth. It’s the time we draw up our Sacred Contracts, ink the deal and manifest here. Because we still feel separate from God we set off on our Quest to become one again.
- The Initiation is our time here on Earth. In my book “Remembering the Future” I write about the Seven Spiritual Keys. While we’re here fulfilling our contracts, we’re working toward mastering Truth, Reverence, Humility, Courage, Stillness, Forgiveness and Love.
- The Return is our crossing over, once again. The going home.
However, though the definition remains, the person fitting the definition may not be accepted as a hero because we don’t like or agree with their choices or methodology during The Initiation.
We discount them, entirely, because we don’t like them.
From the start of “Slumdog Millionaire” Salim is one tough customer. But he quickly segues from that to become a genuinely bad seed…maybe…depends on how you look at it.
I’ve guessed the boys are in the eight to ten year old range when their mother is murdered by anti-Muslim terrorists, leaving Jamal and Salim orphaned, poorer than poor and living on the streets
It is Salim who charts their course of survival.
Now, that course is charted with any variety of theft and scam but survive they did…for years. So, are we to hold the methods of a ten year old against him when he was able to keep himself and his younger brother alive into young adulthood?
Is he or is he not a hero for saving his little brother if not himself?
Salim goes on to work for the most heinous of men. First, Maman, a gangster who collected street children and trained them to work as beggars. Salim is groomed from childhood to be one of the henchmen of Maman’s organization and seems to fit into the criminal world very easily until Maman commands Salim to bring Jamal to him so that he may be blinded because blind beggars make more money.
Though Salim has looked the other way when these types of atrocities were inflicted on other children, he saves the day for Jamal and they escape, unharmed.
Is Salim or is he not a hero for saving his little brother…again?
A key plot point is, during their escape, they had to leave behind Latika…the little girl who had traveled with them for some time and, who, Jamal is incredibly connected to.
Jamal never stops looking for Latika and, years later, when the brothers end up in Mumbai, he finds her. She is not a little girl anymore but a stunningly beautiful young lady who is still enslaved by Maman and being prostituted out.
An undisputable hero, Jamal launches a rescue attempt of Latika while Salim wants no part of it. As stories usually go, the bad guys show up and there is a showdown. During this showdown however, it is Salim who deliberately shoots and kills Maman so the three can escape.
Now, he’s not only a thief and a liar but a murderer as well.
Is he or is he not a hero for saving his little brother…again…AND, this time, an innocent young girl as well?
Shortly after that, even knowing Jamal loves Latika and she is a virgin, Salim puts a gun to his brother’s face, throws him out, forces himself on Latika and the three become separated.
For years after, Jamal, still searching for Latika, has no contact with the brother who saved his life on many occasions.
During those years, Salim came to be a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed‘s (one of Mumbai’s worst crime lords) organization.
Through a series of events the brothers meet again and Salim invites Jamal to live with him. Jamal forgives his brother and moves in. In doing so, he finds Latika who is now the “property” of the gangster Salim works for.
Another showdown for Latika’s rescue ensues but, this time, Salim sides in accordance with the wishes of Javed and even cuts Latika’s beautiful face, scarring it for life.
Many of us in the audience really hate Salim at this point. Many hated him far earlier and give him no quarter for what good deeds he has done.
We find his behavior disgusting yet…are any of his choices heroic? And…if they are, even if it is only a few heroic choices compared to hundreds of horrible actions, does Salim even come close to hero status?
What do you think so far?
Will your opinion change when you know the rest of the story?
Find out in, “Will the REAL Hero Please Stand Up. The Last Installment in What Has Become a Trilogy”
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Salim is capable of kind things, like any human. But no matter how many times he saves his brother, he cannot save himself. Salim does not live by a code of self respect, the kind that is so apparant in Jamal. Jamal holds so strong to his inner light that it illuminates others (and perhaps this is why we see moments of light in Salim).
However, Salim fights so deeply with his own darkness that it often taints others and always behind his brothers back.
He knows his brother is special, and in some ways he tries over and over to take on a role with Jamal as protector, but he simply cannot because deep down he is an abandoned child starving for love. As is Jamal, but for whatever reason (an act of the divine perhaps) Jamal is able to nourish his own soul, his connection to the light is pure, direct and unflappable.
I too, was enamored with this film right out of the theatre. A solid reminder that the simple story of the heroes journey regenerates itself throughout time.
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