Is a slumdog birthday cake not the real poverty porn?
A cake designed like a slum for film star Shabana Azmi's birthday exposes the hypocrisy of many in the Bollywood elite.
Parvez Sharma
This article discusses the deep disconnect between the Indian elite and impoverished.
This photograph is of a birthday cake for a Bollywood actress in the shape of an Indian slum.
The article sights a recent study by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative that says there are over four hundred million poor living in the country accounting for one third of the total number across the globe. While the middle class in India continues to grow staggering numbers like these show the tremendous amount of individuals who are still trapped in poverty.
It seems incredibly insensitive at the very least for a group of individuals who are not privy the lives of those who suffer in extreme poverty to throw a party around a symbol of that poverty in which from they eat. I can't begin to imagine the backlash that would result from somebody like Martha Stewart throwing a party with a cake in the shape of project housing.
Hi Domonique! What a revealing article. There seems to be a real disconnect between Bollywood elite and people that make them famous. They should use their celebrity to bring light to India's strife...very few performers have the capacity to spotlight such social disparities.
ReplyDeleteHi Dominique,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lourdes, I can't imagine why anybody would want a cake such as this. It's interesting that no matter what society you look at, it seems that the rich and famous rarely understand the plight of the poor in their country.