I had wanted to write a review on this movie for quite some time now and finally, I managed some time off my schedule to write another post.
Slumdog Millionaire
Cast: Dev Patel, Irrfan Khan, Anil Kapoor, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Azharuddin Ismail, Ayush Khedekar
Director: Danny Boyle
Composer: A.R. Rahman
Written By: Based on the book, "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup
Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0 (A wonderful movie to watch)
This is a movie about Jamal Malik, a young illiterate slum teenager who works as a side-back chai wallah (tea serving assistant) in a Call Center, who apparently gets selected in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” – The Indian version of “What Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and strikes it BIG as if he is a whiz-kid. This acts as a shocker to the expectations of a lot of people and he is sent to jail for further investigation of how he could have answered questions when he has no other General Knowledge. There we see a horrifying behavior as the local police torture him and even electrocute him in the process of their interrogation. The whole atmosphere depicts mistrust and sarcasm, but more importantly it shows the jealousy as people don’t like the other guy to climb on top of them just like that.
That is where the story begins and unlike a normal movie, the whole plot unfolds in form of flashbacks and how Jamal has answers to even the toughest of questions posed onto him, not because he read a book, but because life taught those very answers to him, the HARD WAY. Almost the whole story is his depiction of his life with the show recap going on and the Police inspector (Irrfan Khan) asking him to justify his knowledge of the answers. The story very beautifully takes us to the sub-urban parts of Mumbai, the very slums where people spend their lives just trying to earn enough for meeting their basic necessities.
A fragmented biography emerges: he's an urchin, born to a mother who's slaughtered in communal riot, when he is just a kid. Later he is picked up by a person who claims to be affiliated with some orphanage, but then ultimately turns out to be a brutal demon who forces young children into begging. As the story goes by, we come across adventures both awful and exhilarating through a society that is becoming flashier, hypo critic and more urban as time goes by. More than anything, it is a tale of an ordinary slumdog’s life in the Shining India, without the glitter, the tale of what happens beneath the feel-good filters that we have placed before our eyes when we see our society.
It is almost a horrifying Fairy-tale with shocking brutality, very deep commitment of love contaminated by sexual abuse and dreams of wealth and luxuries with crushing poverty. The acting done by all the characters is of very high level indeed and the storyline keeps you glued. Small instances that make you stifle at first sighting form the very fabric in which the film is embroidered. Things like Jamal could answer a question about film actor Amitabh Bachchan, because of his mad love for the Bollywood legend, which is shown by the fact that he jumped into a public latrine just to get a sight of Amitabh and even managed to sneak in for his autograph. Very beautifully is also depicted the sibling jealousy that Salim (Jamal’s elder brother) fosters and this coupled with his love for his younger brother form a complex combination which make the movie sad and painful at times. The story also has Jamal’s childhood love Lathika, whose character adds another note of happiness and pain at different instances blending the story with the much needed feminine touch.
All in all, with the fear that I’ll reveal the plot, I wrap this review up to say that the movie is definitely worth a watch. The cinematography is absolutely superb and the pace of the movie is just right. The name A. R. Rahman in itself is sufficient to say that the music is breathtaking and defines both the happiness and pain wonderfully well. To me, the movie says one thing very loud and clear, there is one and only one “Life-line” in this life of ours, and that is “LIFE ITSELF”. Couple it with hope, and we can win any show.
Philosophy apart, the movie has been looked upon for the Oscars as an underdog, but the movie itself shows that if a slumdog can do it in the Game show, why can’t the movie itself repeat the same in the world? Optimistically speaking, the movie’s winning 4 Golden Globes does say a lot.
Final Verdict:
An illiterate slum kid from Mumbai goes on air in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and comes off like a whiz-kid. Who would like to see that?
Final answer: You would.
Slumdog Millionaire
Cast: Dev Patel, Irrfan Khan, Anil Kapoor, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Azharuddin Ismail, Ayush KhedekarDirector: Danny Boyle
Composer: A.R. Rahman
Written By: Based on the book, "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup
Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0 (A wonderful movie to watch)
This is a movie about Jamal Malik, a young illiterate slum teenager who works as a side-back chai wallah (tea serving assistant) in a Call Center, who apparently gets selected in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” – The Indian version of “What Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and strikes it BIG as if he is a whiz-kid. This acts as a shocker to the expectations of a lot of people and he is sent to jail for further investigation of how he could have answered questions when he has no other General Knowledge. There we see a horrifying behavior as the local police torture him and even electrocute him in the process of their interrogation. The whole atmosphere depicts mistrust and sarcasm, but more importantly it shows the jealousy as people don’t like the other guy to climb on top of them just like that.
That is where the story begins and unlike a normal movie, the whole plot unfolds in form of flashbacks and how Jamal has answers to even the toughest of questions posed onto him, not because he read a book, but because life taught those very answers to him, the HARD WAY. Almost the whole story is his depiction of his life with the show recap going on and the Police inspector (Irrfan Khan) asking him to justify his knowledge of the answers. The story very beautifully takes us to the sub-urban parts of Mumbai, the very slums where people spend their lives just trying to earn enough for meeting their basic necessities.
A fragmented biography emerges: he's an urchin, born to a mother who's slaughtered in communal riot, when he is just a kid. Later he is picked up by a person who claims to be affiliated with some orphanage, but then ultimately turns out to be a brutal demon who forces young children into begging. As the story goes by, we come across adventures both awful and exhilarating through a society that is becoming flashier, hypo critic and more urban as time goes by. More than anything, it is a tale of an ordinary slumdog’s life in the Shining India, without the glitter, the tale of what happens beneath the feel-good filters that we have placed before our eyes when we see our society.It is almost a horrifying Fairy-tale with shocking brutality, very deep commitment of love contaminated by sexual abuse and dreams of wealth and luxuries with crushing poverty. The acting done by all the characters is of very high level indeed and the storyline keeps you glued. Small instances that make you stifle at first sighting form the very fabric in which the film is embroidered. Things like Jamal could answer a question about film actor Amitabh Bachchan, because of his mad love for the Bollywood legend, which is shown by the fact that he jumped into a public latrine just to get a sight of Amitabh and even managed to sneak in for his autograph. Very beautifully is also depicted the sibling jealousy that Salim (Jamal’s elder brother) fosters and this coupled with his love for his younger brother form a complex combination which make the movie sad and painful at times. The story also has Jamal’s childhood love Lathika, whose character adds another note of happiness and pain at different instances blending the story with the much needed feminine touch.
All in all, with the fear that I’ll reveal the plot, I wrap this review up to say that the movie is definitely worth a watch. The cinematography is absolutely superb and the pace of the movie is just right. The name A. R. Rahman in itself is sufficient to say that the music is breathtaking and defines both the happiness and pain wonderfully well. To me, the movie says one thing very loud and clear, there is one and only one “Life-line” in this life of ours, and that is “LIFE ITSELF”. Couple it with hope, and we can win any show.Philosophy apart, the movie has been looked upon for the Oscars as an underdog, but the movie itself shows that if a slumdog can do it in the Game show, why can’t the movie itself repeat the same in the world? Optimistically speaking, the movie’s winning 4 Golden Globes does say a lot.
Final Verdict:
An illiterate slum kid from Mumbai goes on air in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and comes off like a whiz-kid. Who would like to see that?Final answer: You would.
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