Bollywood and slum tours: poverty tourism and the Indian cultural industry

An article published on India Outlook in July 2019 stated that Dharavi, Mumbai’s biggest slum, has now beaten the Taj Mahal as the most popular tourist destination in India, having “received a push by Hollywood and Indian films alike” (2019). Following Hesmondalgh’s observation that cultural industries reflect the inequalities of capitalist societies (2007), we examine precisely the relationship between poverty tours, cinema and Bollywood as a cultural industry. Through the analysis of literature on poverty tourism and film-induced tourism in India, and the thematic analysis of entries in a Tripadvisors page dedicated to Bollywood and slum tourism in Mumbai, we argue that the combination of Bollywood and slum tours speaks of the parallel trajectories which lead towards the perception of the slum and Bollywood as the two most prominent symbols of authentic India in the global marketplace, and that this promise of authenticity makes slums popular as tourist destinations.