Slumdog Millionaire is becoming an international cultural phenomenon. This Saturday, director Danny Boyle took home top honors from the Directors Guild of America, making him a shoo-in for the Best Director Oscar. Boyle is also making progress in the press for giving a more detailed explanation of the pay given to the child actors in the film, a controversy that reached a breaking point last week.

Now comes word that a British television show wants to a reality spin-off of Slumdog Millionaire. The gist of the show will be rich people visiting Mumbai slums, and then offer financial support to families. The Times of India has more info:

The producers of Slumdog Millionaire are reportedly going to launch a British television spin-off, in which millionaires will visit Mumbai slums to help poor families, a British newspaper reported recently.

The new show, called Secret Slumdog Millionaire, also takes its name from a successful British television show Secret Millionaire, in which wealthy businessmen and women move incognito into poor communities and select a person or project for charity.

Episodes often end in tears of joy when the ‘secret millionaires’ reveal themselves to grateful recipients. The planned Slumdog TV series is the brainchild of the co-producers of the Oscar-nominated film who also make the popular television quiz show which inspired the plot for the movie. The newspaper reported that the producers are set to announce the new series soon and are aiming to broadcast it, “as soon as possible to cash in the enormous popularity of the movie”. A television insider told the paper, “It’s a fantastic idea….The millionaires who sign up will see real poverty in Mumbai and it is going to be very moving when they reveal their identity and offer these people help.”

The producers however, are aware that this move may attract criticism, as the source says, “They are bracing themselves against charges that they are cashing in on poverty, but the bottom line is they will actually be helping people, as well as making a great TV show.” Secret Slumdog Millionaire is the working title of the show, and could be changed later.

From The Times of India

I’m sure a lot of people will have a lot of negative things to say about this. I think the show has possibilities to be interesting and informative, but it’s all in the way the producers handle the abject poverty of the slumdwellers, and how the “millionaires” treat the Indians. There is a whiff of colonialism, but I also think that it won’t matter if everyone is treated with respect and decency. If it helps real families living in poverty in a real way, it could work.

Header is from a Slumdog Millionaire photocall on 1/21/09. The image below is a still from the film. Credit: WENN