MovieChat Forums > Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Discussion > Destiny doesn't exist

Destiny doesn't exist

posted 8 years ago by CarusProductions
7 replies | jump to latest

This film is not about destiny. It is about creating your own life and transcending karma. He could have just as easily given up on looking for her, and she could have easily submitted to the lifestyle that she was thrown into, yet they chose love. They wrote their own story. The fact that he got the answers had nothing to do with his life. Had his life been different the answers would have been the same, only he wouldn't have been able to get them.

The real message of 'Slumdog Millionaire'; you create your life.

Namaste.

Karina Lafayette

[–] mark-1589 8 years ago

At the very end of the film, the question that is posed at the beginning is answered, and the answer was "d: It is written." Unless I am mistaken, that is an Islamic way of talking about destiny. So I would have to say that the film making DID in fact present this as a film about destiny. However, we are all entitled to interpret is as we see fit.

[–] PropaneGame 8 years ago

he got the answers because he was just "fortunate enough" to be there at the right time in all those situations

so number #1 he is 100% lucky
because all the questions they asked he happened to know them from personal experience

number 2... had his life been different he wouldn't have gotten the answers

which means that he wouldn't have gotten far enough to end up so famous that she saw him or whatever...

karma does not exist, i dont care how many good deeds you've done or how many bad deeds you done, bad people get away with crap all the time

namesta up yau butt

[–] disco-spider 8 years ago

I love this response. But doesn't the chaos and chance you talk about contradict the idea of "destiny" in the film?

[–] edacheeky 8 years ago

This is a very interesting topic. In the end it all depends on whether or not you believe in destiny/fate, and clearly, you do not. Destiny/fate is a blessing, motivating us to push through tough times knowing that something better is waiting for us, but is also quite the opposite knowing that we have no control over our own lives. Then again it's scary knowing that there is no destiny at all and it's all on us. It would mean that we could very well be living a much better life than we are now, and everything that has happened to us now is our fault, and our fault alone. But it's also nice knowing that we have the power to change and mould our lives as we wish. So you see, I'm very conflicted about this topic. I'd like to believe in a little bit of both. But in the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. We just need to push on, live life, and let things unfold.
This film is a very moving story that we can all interpret the way we wish. But I see it as a message of endurance as things will be hard, but it will also get better, whether because of destiny, yin and yang, or just hope.

[–] DramatisPersona 8 years ago

D: It is written.

It is destiny precisely because it is written. Not that it was written. It wasn't that it just happened due to things beyond his control, but because he made it happen by being a creator of his own story:

Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.

or;

Our longing is the way, the path and the cure.

~ Rumi

He wanted one thing in his life and every action he took (in the story) was rooted around this entirely sincere quest. It is what landed him on the show. It is what landed him in the right opportunities to answer the questions that just happened to be asked on the show in order to help him find it. When life threw all of these various obstacles in his way that kept him from it, he didn't give up. Even when he was at his lowest point, he didn't give up. In response to the sum total of his struggles, he made choices that reflected his sincerity, and Life/Fate rewarded him by helping him write his own love story in the process. It was like Fate asked him "how bad do you want it?" and the end result is the story.

I think the theme behind the story is not that there is Fate per se. But that there is a reason why it sometimes plays out like there is. It simply doesn't become a written story otherwise.

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itKVE1HAd6U

[–] notsocrazyroy 7 years ago

He wanted one thing in his life and every action he took (in the story) was rooted around this entirely sincere quest. It is what landed him on the show. It is what landed him in the right opportunities to answer the questions that just happened to be asked on the show in order to help him find it. When life threw all of these various obstacles in his way that kept him from it, he didn't give up.

The only downside of all that struggle was that he didn't get to be with the girl of his dreams until she'd been passed around all and sundry. Kind of took the shine off it for me, other than that it had a pretty feel good ending.

This means something, this is important.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 7 years ago

Namaste.

😎