Slumdog Millionaire Movie Review

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire
My Rating: 4/5
Music: AR Rehman
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy
Direction: Danny Boyle
Producers: Christian Colson, Tessa Ross, Paul Smith
Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Freida Pinto, Ankur Vikal etc
Release Date: 23rd Jan 2009

Review

Story:

Jamal (Dev Patel) is an orphan from the slums of Mumbai. He gets to attend the game show ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ when he is 18. Surprisingly he starts giving the right answers till he gets into the final round. And all these questions have relevance to certain incidents happened in his life. The game show host and cops suspect that Jamal cheated in the show. The rest of the story is all about how he proves his innocence and wins his lady love that’s been playing hide and seek with him since his childhood.

Artists Performance:

The kids who did the roles of Salim, Jamal and Latika are adorable. They are the best in the film than the main leads. Among the notable Indian actors, Saurabh Shukla is the best. Ankur Vikal is excellent. Anil Kapoor is pretty natural as a wicked and biased host of the game show. After some point of time, we start hating him. Dev Patel is adequate. Irfan Khan played similar kind of roles earlier. Hence it is a cake walk for him.

Story – Screenplay – Direction:

The story of this film is adapted from a book Q & A written by an Indian author Vikas Swaroop. It is an interesting story that has two parallel plots interwoven into a game show. Direction of the film is brilliant. The screenplay is extraordinary. This film combines both arts and commerce. It has a highly realistic treatment to it with an undercurrent box office winning formula.

The following scenes are worth mentioning:

1. The cop chasing the kids in slums
2. Young Jamal jumping into shit pond to get an autograph of Amitabh.
3. Young Salim asking his boss for 50 rupees when his boss asks him to be professional.
4. Jamal acting as tour guide in Taj Mahal
5. Darshan to Ghanashyam scene
6. Jamal’s conversation with the blind in which he comes to know about the photo on 100 dollar bill.
7. Salim taking the life of the guy who bothered him.
8. Jamal trying to steal chapati on a moving train
9. Jamal not choosing B as an answer for the penultimate question

Other technical departments:

Background score by AR Rehman is peppy and energetic (especially the beat scored by kids chasing scenes in the initial part of the movie). Cinematography is excellent. Editing is superb with no dull moment. This film shows Mumbai slums in a magnificent way.

Final Analysis:

It's a movie that sounds mundane for Indian audiences as they have got exposed to better story lines and better narrations so far. But it has run on a new platform where Indian movies seldom do. Let us discuss how it appealed for western audiences and how for Indians. As almost every Indian knows the most famous TV Show 'Koun Banega Crorepathi', they can get connected easily. It's the story of a slum boy who happens to be on the hot seat of that show miraculously. He wins 20 million rs in that show and makes big news in entire nation. How the uneducated slum boy could win that show with his general knowledge? That forms the interesting narration all over. His practical exposure and knowledge that comes to him since childhood luckily form the set of questions in front of him when he faces that show. Ultimately he wins the maximum amount from that show. But there is no big social responsibility that is linked up in the climax. There is no surprise element or the aspect that boosts up the graph of the movie in climax. Hence it appeals to be a normal flick for Indian movie lovers. Beside all this, the love line in the movie is also nothing new for Indian audiences and it goes without saying in any movie. The adrenaline hasn't boosted up even in climax as there is no suspense part.

But for westerners, they hardly get exposed to this kind of stuff. They can easily get sympathetic when the pathetic India is shown for them from the angles of filthy slums, brothel lanes and Mumbaikar gangsters. Rehman's Indo-western style of background score appealed for them in novel way. And moreover, the sensitive love concept from the side of lead role also makes them connect better.

The film is neither extraordinary nor great. It's a good narration with an average content where direction and screenplay grooved well. But still, the film got the great international recognition- because 'It's written'.