Slumdog Millionaire. Review on Slumdog Millionaire Movie

Slumdog Millionaire or Slumdog Crorepati, whatever you call it, is a nicely hyped, schematically built film by Danny Boyle where the slums of Mumbai get dispassionately dissected to showcase the rise of an ordinary into extraordinary. It is a well served romantic saga from Danny Boyle, which has finally been able to pull India out of misery of no admiration and get it into the red carpet of Oscars, perhaps because it speaks loads about poverty.

Well don’t be so pessimistic about the film or discouraged to go and watch it.For a single watch it is quite nice and will give you a handful of opportunities to smile, cry, scream and adore. It is nicely served with a topping of disbelieve weaved in to a believable world.

As the story unravels Jamal Malik, the protagonist, the slumdog is an orphaned little boy whose mother gets murdered in a riot and who is compelled to live his life with his brother, on his whims. He has been shown as an innocent little boy who is far more emotional than his elder brother, Salim and who exasperatedly lives for his love all through. Finally when he builds his own world with his insight and attains the height to be a millionaire, ironically he gets arrested. To do justice to this love story, finally though, he gets to the TV show platform once again and achieves the rare success of becoming a millionaire from a slum dweller. The life of a slum dweller, their habitat and customs, poverty, dirt and predicaments find quite a notable place in the film. However, it is better to note that Danny has eventually shifted the flow into a romantic tale as Jamal falls in love with Latika(another orphaned slum dweller). Though emphatically the plot depicts Jamal’s emotion, but at every second scene you see the traumatic truth of a slum dwellers life in Mumbai…so much so that at times you feel Mumbai is made up of those people only. Directors take on it is “he has shown whatever is relevant for his plot” but to tell you the truth he has also shown some truths about Mumbai or the low graded life which is not an intrinsic part of Mumbai but can be true to any poverty stricken class of people from anywhere across the globe. Now I understand what made Mr. Bachchan get disappointed about the film and vent it out on his blog.

Characterization: However, the film stands out in its characterization- every actor has done a great job and has very well justified their roles. Especially, Dev Patel(Jamal) is fantastic as a new comer. His innocent eyes, sweet smile and piercing ears nicely carry his body language and boldly express his passion towards his lady love. Other than him, Anil Kapoor our own Mr. India also does justice to his role, though his role is seems to be pretty unrealistic as compared to our own compeers Big B, King Khan and Salman Khan(in Kaun Banega Crorepati, KBC 2 and kya Aap Panchvi Pass sey Tejh Hain). Other noteworthy performances are given by the child artists who portray the childhood and puberty of Jamal, Salim and Latika. They have graced the characters and have set our expectations on the movie to make it large as a success.

Music: A.R Rehman and his much talked about song Jai ho is good but not the best of his lot. As he is our own Rehman bhai and we are pretty accustomed to his music by now, I bet, any Indian can jolly well say it is one of the better ones of course but not the best of Rehman. Yes, this is a true confession of mine but oh Yes, if you want to make me feel happier as he is nominated for the Oscars I would wish him luck to win but cannot lie to say it is his best. Definitlely am proud that he has made it to the Oscars and hopefully bags an award too but would have been prouder if he had that international acclaim for his Roja or Guru or for that matter Bombay.

Cons: Well to talk about the distinctive cons, I must say making a commercial flick out of such a sensible story is a blunder for Danny and Loveleen. I wonder which group of Indian audience was targeted through this film. Neither the rich, nor the middle class or for that matter not even the awkwardly poor of India would like to get attached to the film. Yes even the slum dwellers of Juhu or Dharavi would refuse to get themselves portrayed in such a shameful way on screen, after all it does not speak about them but about what Danny perceived of them AND HOW HE USED THEM TO SHOW HIS HERO WIN. Moreover, if Jamal is to be believed then how can you expect him to speak in an British English accent for all his words(uttered in English) when all other educated counterparts of his talk in a mediocre/neutral accent? Wonder why Danny or Loveleen missed it and so did the Jury on Oscars.For all those who draw a parallel between Danny’s film and Satyajit Ray’s masterpieces must remember ray was a perfectionist and waited for weeks to get natural rain for his world acclaimed movie “Pather Panchali”.

Neway another thing that struck me is if this can get final nomination in Oscars what mistake did Aamir did with Tare Jammen Par” that he got thrown away fro the same platform? I wonder he dint have “Luck by chance” or surely “it was not written” J or should it be wiser to quiz if Danny had:

1. Luck

   
   




2. Lobby

   
   




3. Talent

   
   

My last comment on it is; if you want to go and watch it you are most welcome. It is indeed a good entertainer but do not go with any expectation and forget about its nominations; otherwise your preconceived ideas may ruin the show. As any other commercial film it is pretty well knit but comparison of it as a class apart is unjust. I am sure it will fail to amuse Indians those it has successfully done that for the audience world over …it has its reason of course J