Who Makes A Winner?. Review on Slumdog Millionaire Movie

So this becomes an established fact that what sells is the worst face of India. After White Tiger being accredited with Booker, Slumdog Millionaire joins the line. Of course for the crude realities and that face of India which none have ever dared to show, or if they did also probably the magical word Hollywood Was not attached to it. But then I don’t blame any, because I am sure that the International scenario which has for ages believed that India was “Sone Ki chidiya”, as told by them by books of history, are probably happy to know it otherwise. Or maybe that rude shock which they got on coming across the slums of Dharavi as their plane landed in the grounds of Glittery Mumbai is out for a vengeance. To let the whole world know that India is beyond riches and values, there is a certain part of India which stinks and rots .Dont they all love to know the obvious?The Irony is that Its Vikas Swarup an Indian who churns out the act, so where else to point the finger.

So am I Complaining or shrugging off the cinematic brilliance of Slumdog? No I am not because no matter what Slumdog is perhaps one of the most brilliant cinema I have seen since long. My initial hesitation which wanted to term the movie as an art flick or parallel cinema was rubbed off for preliminaries. It is no different from a Mainstream cinema. Even the storyline is clichéd but yet it has its ways of originality.

As Slumdog, Jamal Malik gets questioned in the Police Cell, änd he is tortured to spell out the obvious. How did he ever knew the answers of Who Wants ToBe The Millionaire, considering the fact that he has slum written all over him.He has reached the million mark in the show which none could achieve.As he relates a gruesome and harsh tale of his survival alongwith his brother Salim and his friend Latika, the movie churns into the worst scenario of Mumbai. Right from the muck to the heaps of trash, the three musketeers witness the life which looks horrifying but is sadly a destiny of every Slumdog. With every query on the show and the reply he has given, Jamal shows the worst face of Life to the Police Inspector and makes him realize that all it takes is live as a slumdog to know all the answers. The incident related to “Darshan do Ghanshyam”is grisly. In fact I guess with the language used and these few horrific incidents the movies justifies the Ä Certificate.

The Act put in by Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto and Mahesh Manjerakar is apt .But more than them I found the little Jamal(Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) little Salim(Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail) and little Latika(Rubiana Ali) strike the best cords. They actually depict the face of every kid bustling from the slums of India and living off the muck and trash.The Screenplay is excellent and the camera angles are brilliant. As they catch the filthiest potions of Mumbai, they do make your hair stand at few places.

The music by AR Rehman has already received its due by a Golden Globe for “Jai Ho”. Though I find “Ringa” the best of the lot.

As Danny Boyle borrowed the story from Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q&A”, he perhaps could see a downright winner in it. Lavleen Tandon acted as his Indian counterpart and they have done a brilliant job together.

Go and view SlumDog for the prime reason, Intrigue. What is that which could finally break the ice at Oscars? Was it the traditional India of Paheli? Or is it the story of dyslexic kid of Taare Zameen Par? None! It’s a tale of the most available and ignored part of India, the face of our country which we so try to cover up: The Slums. And of course the universal dream which any inhabitant from here nurtures: To become a Millionaire from a Slumdog!

Ironically a Slumdog makes to the Oscars!But then who was ever interested in Indian heroes?