At an early age, Jamal’s dignity was sacrificed when Salim maliciously locked the
door to the toilet pit. That did not deter Jamal from jumping into the waste pit to get
an autograph from his ultimate hero.
In the early stages of the film, where the Hindus attacked the Muslims, Jamal’s
mother laid down her life in order for her boys to escape and survive.
The brothers’ innocence and childhood was sacrificed due to the death of their
mother. With no one around to support them, the boys had to learn to fend for
themselves and along the way they picked up bad habits, such as stealing and
begging.
Salim sacrificed his chance of being seen as a man and a boss by Maman, to save
his brother from being blinded and abused by the gangsters.
A sacrifice of love is when Latika willingly allowed herself to be raped by Salim
because Salim threatened to murder Jamal
When Latika ran away from Javed, she risked her life just to see and let Jamal know
that she still loves and cares about him. She sacrificed everything she had just for
Jamal.
The ultimate sacrifice in the film was during the final scenes, when Salim decided to
let Latika go to Jamal, her true love. Salim knew that Javed would come after and
murder him but he knew that in sacrificing his life, he would repay the debts he owed
to Jamal and Latika. This was a way for him to redeem himself for all his past sins.
Sacrifice reveals a person’s character, exposing their strengths and weaknesses;
and how much they are willing to sacrifice in order to get what they want.