We’re all Slumdog Millionaires now

Congratulations to a gushing Kate Winslet. Congratulations too, to those who worked on Slumdog Millionaire, the film that last night won five awards at the 66th annual Golden Globe Awards.

Based (loosely) on Vikas Swarup’s novel, Q & A, about a Mumbai chai boy winning the Indian equivalent of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? It’s a game show that the producers hope will never be won for one reason: they don’t own the jackpot.

Well-educated doctors and lawyers rarely get past the 60,000 rupees round, so imagine the public’s surprise and joy at a slum-dweller bagging the billion grand prize.

Slumdog Millionaire is an important film for these times for a few reasons. First are the parallels we can draw between the financial management of the game show’s organisers and investment bankers, hedge fund managers and Bernie Madoff.

All have been subsequently reviled for being perfectly happy in betting long and hoping that they will never lose; assuming an elaborately packaged web of debt would never catch up with them.

Slumdog Millionaire marks another significant step forward by Indian movies  in Western film industries.

The film’s most important facet in a recession is its rites-of-passage plot focusing on social mobility. A lower caste individual climbs the financial and social ladder, demonstrating such a possibility to the countless millions starting in his position.

The last decade of prosperity has seen an increase in wealth disparity as the rich, taking risks with money they already have, get richer and the poor stay the same. Such a failure by a Brown-financed Labour government has led the PM to draft in arch-Blairite Alan Milburn to get British social mobility moving again.

The number of entrepreneurs increases during recessions. Resourceful individuals see gaps in a market in the first throws of re-finding its feet and act decisively. If they are are suitably financed in the short-term (this is a big if) they can emerge richer from slumps.

Another reason people move up the wealth ladder during recessions is that they recognise what goods and services consumers need, not necessarily what they want. Recession tightens the belt and focuses the mind.

One can only hope the banks allow the next generation of entrepreneurs the finance to kick-start their dreams, and our economy.