Intercultural Competency Research Paper: India Vs Canada

Intercultural Competency Research Paper: India Vs Canada
The first movie of choice is 3 Idiots, an Indian comedy-drama predominantly in the Hindi language. It premiered in 2009 and is directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The film stars Aamir Khan as Rancho, R. Madhavan, as Farhan, Sharman Joshi as Raju, Kareena Kapoor as Pia, BomanIrani as Dr. Viru, and Omi Vaidya as Chatur. The movie is brought to life in two parallel settings; one in the present and one ten years past. It follows the lives of three college students that were duped idiots by their school administrator. It also explores the satire about the social pressures in the Indian education system. Even though the movie is in a college setting, there is enough interaction with the world outside the college's confines that illuminates India's general aspects of life. Although quite humorous, the plot manages to highlight the importance of individuality and condemn societal pressures that can have drastic effects, including but not limited to mental health and suicide.
The second movie is Slumdog Millionaire, which premiered in 2008. Although the movie is a British drama directed by Danny Boyle, it’s set and filmed in India. It is an adaptation of the novel “Q & A” written in 2005 by Indian author VikasSwarup, that tells the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from Mumbai's Juhu slums. The movie stars Dev Patel as Jamal as a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Jamal catches everyone surprise by answering every question he’s asked correctly. He is accused of cheating, and so Jamal gives the movie its set by recountingthe story of his life to the police, an illustration ofhis ability to answer each question correctly. His life flashbacks are not only sad but highlight the social injustices and difficulties of growing an Indian slum and the lengths to which he and his friends had to go through to learn and survive.
Socio-centric versus egocentric patterns
In both movies, India is portrayed as taking a more socio-centric approach to life compared to Canada. In 3 Idiots, the push by families for boys to be engineers and girls to be doctors is societal with a complete disregard for their personal desires. Moreover, other than the class that an individual is depicted to have one they attain, the respective titles become a bragging right to the family. It is also so that they can redeem the families of their intense poverty. As shown in Raju's case, when the three friends visit his parents' home, the mother laments that if Raju does not excel at school, the family stands no chance at anything. That's because he is supposed to come out successful in paying for his father's hospital bills and his sister's dowry. That comes off as all goals being societal driven and that a person's ambitions, struggles, and desires are always secondary to what is expected of them. It is a clear representation of how the society views and values you as depicted in Ruth Behar's 'the evil eye of an anthropologist' (Behar, 2012)
Similarly, in the Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal has grown up in an immensely crowded slum where your business is everybody’s business. Even at a young ...