Dec 29, 2008 09:03 AM
2698 Views
This movie has already won many awards in various film festivals and Critics Acclaim worldwide. This movie is based on a novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swaroop. David Boyle's name is enough to generate curiosity who made impressive drug movie "Trainspotting". Is movie worth all the hype, the answer is hell YES.
STORY:
Jamal takes Hot Seat to win 20 Million rupees into KBC. He has a dream run on the show, however the host suspects that he is a cheat and hand him over to police for one night to find out the real Jamal. And story of Jamal starts.
Jamal lives in a slum with his elder brother Salim and his mother. Jamal is a sweet, innocent boy whereas Salim is more aggressive, sharp and with don't-give-a-damn attitude. They use to play cricket on Airport runway, study in a slum school and lives a perfectly Slummy life. Latika is his childhood crush who also lives in the same slum.
During Mumbai riots he lost his mother and had to run away with his brother. They became orphan n homeless and later were'helped' by Mamman. Rest of the movie tells about journey of Jamal's life from Mumbai slum to UP to Mumbai and finally to Hot Seat. It also tells how Jamal find Latika only to loose her and find her again.
*PLUSES:
Too many. Excellent performances from Jamal(Both youngest and eldest), Salim(all three characters who played Salim), Latika(particularly the child actor). Then we have Irfan, Saurav Shukla and Anil Kapoor. Everyone delivers.
Special mention to very tight Editing and engaging screen play. AR Rehman's background score is simply amazing, it perfectly compliments the theme of the movie. This movie has already earned many nominations / awards for above three categories alongwith "Best Film" and "Best Director".
Speaking of director, personally I find this movie better than Trainspotting. May be because I am familiar with Mumbai, so that I can relate to this film. David Boyle has taken a huge risk by selecting such script for western world and it pays off to him and how. Lavleen Tondon is a co-director and deserves equal accloads, Kudos. David Boyle said in an interview that he is highly impressed with Satya, Company and Black Friday. You can feel that touch in some of the scenes.
And as I always said, script is a backbone of any film. We all are familiar with "Who want to be a millionare?" which helps in storytelling. And How can I forget to mention a very intelligent script. Jamal doesn't know answer of a question at critical point and the jealous host gives him a misleading clue. After conquering that, Jamal realizes it's written in his destiny he plays for the final answer and .
*Minuses:
*The film tends to become little Bollywoodish towards the end. However since this movie has been made mainly for Western audience and Boyle decided to make a modern fairytale, so some minor glitches can be overlooked.
Good Scenes:
*My View:
This movie is a roller-coster ride of emotions. It has it's share of dark moments, happy moments, cuss words, gunshots, chase sequences, a kiss and a bollywood dance number. It's a complete package. There are plenty of messages in the movie, it's upto us what we want to pick up.
Btw, why the title of my review mentions "City of God". It's because of impressive casting of child actors and real depiction of Mumbai slums.
God bless all,
nayan
