“My books may highlight corruption, brutality and venality, but they also show that if these things come to light, there is rectification. The voiceless do have a voice; democratic mechanisms and accountability do exist” -Vikas Swarup. This essay will compare Ram Mohammad Thomas from the book Q&A written by Vikas Swarup and Jamal Malik from the movie Slumdog millionaire directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan. The directors of slumdog millionaire do a better job of incorporating the physical stature of Jamal into the plot but fails to develop him whereas the author of Q&A develops Ram very well and makes his compassion towards others better known. Jamal’s physical size plays a bigger part in the plot of the movie than Ram’s plays in the book but Ram is shown as a more compassionate person and develops more throughout the book than Jamal develops throughout the movie.
As a child Ram is portrayed as tall and looking old for his age whereas Jamal is short and young looking. By other characters in the book Ram is seen as younger than he looks shown when Maman tells the orphanage “Sethji looks me in the eye, and shakes his head.’He is too old'” in which they reply “No sethji he is only ten” this shows that he looks older than he is which doesn’t come up a lot in the book in relation to the plot of the book as it only appears one other time than this. Whereas in the movie Jamal’s size comes up a lot and plays a big part in the plot where in one part “Jamal is able to fit into the port-a-potty when he is locked in their by salim when famous actor Armaan Ali shows up so he does this to get his autograph” this shows how big apart his size plays in this part of the movie because this wouldn’t have made sense if he was tall like in the book.
In both the book and the movie the main characters are compassionate people that everyone else roots for good things to happen to them but the book does a better job of showcasing this as the movie makes him seem like he doesn’t care for others as much. Ram shows a lot of compassion to others no matter their situation or how long he has known them shown when he is talking to Gudiya who he has known for only a week. “‘I like Gudiya very much,’ I tell Salim ‘I have to ensure the Shantaram does not repeat what he did to her.'” Even though he has only known her for a week he still cares for her and wants to help her through the problem her dad is causing her. In Contrast Jamal doesn’t show compassion to anyone outside of his family and Latika. “During a religious riot Jamal saves Latika by letting her hid with Salim and him” Outside of this Jamal doesn’t show the same compassion to risk his own life to help or save anyone else in the movie because he doesn’t care as much. I feel this is important because the main character is suppose to be someone you want good things for and the movie doesn’t give him that sort of feel.
Ram develops through all his bad memories while Jamal has a easier time and doesn’t develop as much as Ram. As a child Ram has many bad experiences as his life is filled with many terrible moments. Near the beginning of the book he thinks to himself “The finger of suspicion has always pointed towards the maternity ward of J.J. Hospital. Perhaps I was born there and my mother, for reasons known only to her, was forced to abandon me.” Ram is referring to what he thinks about his mother leaving him but doesn’t blame her and feels there was a reason out of her control that led to her leaving him. Events like this lead to the way he develops later on in the book when he is an adult and doesn’t believe in fairy tale endings like he did when he was a kid. whereas Jamal has a easier life and stays mostly the same throughout the movie an example of this is After his mom dies Jamal goes with his brother to the orphanage and doesn’t change how he acts in any way. This shows that Jamal was not affected by his mom’s death as much as other kids would have been and his character stays pretty constant throughout the movie.
Vikas Swarup does a better job of showing Ram as a compassionate person as well as in developing him as the book goes on whereas Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan fail to develop Jamal but do a better job of incorporating his physical stature into the plot of the story. The physical description of Jamal in the movie is more utilized than Ram in the book. Ram’s compassionate side is shown more in comparison to the amount Jamal’s is shown. Ram is better developed through the book and is constantly changing whereas Jamal doesn’t change as much and stays constant. In the end Ram and Jamal are very similar with minor differences but the main difference between the book and movie is the plot twist in the book.
Character Analysis comparison 