Jan 26, 2009 02:06 AM
1244 Views
I was quite excited about this movie and there are no favouritesinvolved, so this view is not biased at all. The movie starts on apromising note and the city of Bombay is captured well, with the littleJamal who is the most endearing and heart-warming element of this film.
Thewhole journey of the kids is well-shot and narrated and theirtransformation scene into teenagehood is the last brilliant thing inthe movie. After this point, the movie mainly loses its grip becausethe hindi-speaking slum kids start speaking fluent English with anadded British accent. The accent seems authentic but the portrayal not.
Itsunderstandably made for an international audience, in which caseSlumdog Crorepati would be a better choice to watch for the Indianaudience. Through all its promos, I did not think it was a big dealthat poverty was being shown so explicitly. After all, it is a bigreality that we live in.
Sadly the movie on the whole succumbsto cliche's and is shot by a foreigner's camera- the ones that catchall the cows, snake charmers and dhobhi ghats. It is like going to NewYork and shooting only the shadiest parts of Brooklyn. But this is apardonable point- in a way good, that we feel really embarrassed at ourparallel reality.(Though I would hold it against Lovleen Tandon who isthe assisstant director for saying on TV that the "middleclasses" havea problem as they do not want to show poverty and hide it-disillusioned I guess!)
Apart from all this, it is not one ofthe best movies I have viewed. Largely manipulated, highly filmy, withaverage performances and a musical score that isn't exactly AR Rehman'sbest! It seems aggressively marketed and well-orchestrated to suitinternational audiences. Perhaps, this is just a reaction to expectingtoo much from a film that's been sooo wilddddlllyyy appreciated.
