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Slumdog name sparks legal complaint
Legal action has commenced against the Oscar-nominated film Slumdog Millionaire, for allegedly defaming India's slum dwellers by calling them 'slumdogs' in the movie.Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor…
Lawyers Weekly
Legal action has commenced against the Oscar-nominated film Slumdog Millionaire, for allegedly defaming India's slum dwellers by calling them 'slumdogs' in the movie.
Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, general secretary of the Slum Dwellers' Joint Action Committee filed the complaint in Patna, the capital of Bihar state in eastern India, but admitted he has not watched the movie.
"But I have seen the movie's promos on TV," he told The Times of India.
He added that he had singled out Kapoor and Rahman because they were the "better-known Indians associated with the movie".
On Monday, hundreds of protestors tore down posters and ransacked a cinema screening the movie.
The protestors, mainly slum dwellers, shouted slogans saying the film's title was humiliating and must be changed for protests to end. Police have tightened security in the state by deploying armed police outside theatres to prevent further attacks.
The case will next be heard in court on 5 February. Vishwakarma has been asked to produce evidence to support the complaint.
- Sarah Sharples
