Slum Dog Millionaire-Review

Slum Dog Millionaire was released in India amidst its share of glories and controversies. After the golden globes bursts, it not only received Oscar nominations but also was criticised by someone who on any day can easily be a brand ambassador of Bollywood – Amitabh Bachchan. There was, therefore a lot of curiosity for this movie.

Danny Boyle’s Slum Dog Millionaire is a soul-stirring, fast, entertaining and a rags-to-riches story of a boy who can be easily written off as one from the slums but eventually goes on to become a millionaire on the “Who wants to be a millionaire” show hosted by Anil Kapoor. The movie is very enthralling and delves into the darker side of our own Mumbai. One may feel a bit odd watching the English version of the movie hearing the kids in the movie speaking a high accent English language.
The story begins with the main character of the movie Jamal Malik enjoying his life as a child in our own Dharavi along with his brother. They belong to a family who cannot even afford a smile on a daily basis. Everything goes well till his mother is killed in a danga. The two kids soon are all on themselves, have nowhere to go and fall in the hands of a beggar mafia. Soon the irrepressible and street smart Salim, the elder of the two brothers discovers that those people have actually planned to notch the eyes of his very own little brother. This particular scene in the movie is heartrendingly impactful when the eyes of a little one are notched with a spoon. The duo manages to run away leaving Jamal’s love interest Latika behind. Soon they reach another city and since they do not have anyone to take care, earn their living the way they know.
Destiny brings the brothers back to Mumbai and Jamal starts looking for Latika. The search takes them back to the same people – those who run the beggar mafia. The story takes a sudden turn when Jamal watches his elder brother committing a murder and taking away his girlfriend. He is then left all alone by himself. He works as a chai wallah in a call centre. He manages to track his brother and through him meets Latika once again, who is now a keep of a local don – Javed Bhai (Mahesh Manjrekar). The love birds are once again separated but Jamal doesn’t give up. He participates in a popular show of Kaun Banega Crorepati hosted by a mean host Anil Kapoor who tries to demoralise Jamaal every time. This he does to find Latika who is a fan of the show too. Jamal answers all the questions correctly by a matter of great coincidence because all the questions asked to him actually correspond to some or the other event from his life. Anil Kapoor suspects that a chai wallah cannot know all the answers and hands him to the police. But the circumstantially challenged underdog returns for a redemption not only for winning the prize money, but also his love interest.
There are no surprises in the movie and the plot is predictable but the speed with which the movie goes is very enthralling. The teen Jamal played by Dev Patel and Latika played by Frieda Pinto are eminently watchable. One of my favourite scenes is young Jamal jumping and emerging from a shit-pit with shit all over his body, only because he wants an autograph of his favourite movie star – Amitabh. It’s easy to lapse into a gush watching the scene.
A R Rehman too deserves a lot of credit for his musical touch and a superb song Jai Ho shot at a railway station. The movie no doubt has been directed by a British director but has an Indian heart to which every movie goer can relate to. The Oscar nominations are only add icing to the cake. Amidst criticisms, nevertheless, go grab some fun.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rangeelo Rajasthan - Udaipur

Image
A two-night stay in Jodhpur was quite an experience. Our next destination was Udaipur. I thought Udaipur was a quiet town but I was wrong. Udaipur town is huge and well populated. Whichever place we have been to in Rajasthan, traffic followed us. And Udaipur is no better when it comes to traffic. We spent a couple of desperate moments looking for our hotel Thamla Haveli . Finally, I called up the hotel and they sent a boy to look for us. We met at a specific place and were later ushered into the hotel. Since we had opted for a lake facing room, we were asked to go to the top (second) floor which had an amazing view of the beautiful lake Pichola. After checking-in, I stayed put at the window to have a glimpse outside. There were many people boating in the lake. In Udaipur, since many buildings are located close to each other, I could see nearby hotels and its residents resting and eating. Some were sun-bathing with their clothes on.  I heard some bird-calls in the nearby tree. Su...
Read more

What exactly is Prithvi Shaw’s problem?

    By the time of your reading this one, Australia has won the first test match by 8 wickets. In my mind’s eye, I could see Virat Kohli packing his bags, preparing to leave for India for the birth of his first child.   I still believe the Indian captain is the only one capable in the current lot to take the team forward after a performance which was lacking in intent but sadly, he will not take any further part in the series leaving severe headaches for Rahane & company to deal with. The Indian team was all out for a paltry 36 and the way they surrendered was unprecedented .   One of the reasons why India lost was of course the start provided by the openers wasn’t good as it should have been… specially Prithvi Shaw the under-19 sensation.   We have seen Rahul Dravid on many occasions and in Adelaide as well when in 2003 he singlehandedly won us a test match. Whenever Dravid played it appeared he treated every delivery with utmost respect be it his fir...
Read more

What would I want to tell my daughter about Diego Maradona?

  I try telling my daughter about Diego Maradona but she shrugs and continues playing with her dolls. She escapes when I persist. She never returns so I catch hold of her to tell her about Maradona's dribbles, his audacity, his shrewdness and the ‘Hand of God’. She listens as if un-listening. She enquires about her birthday gift. I tell her I would buy her a no. 10 Argentina jersey with Maradona’s name printed at the back. She makes faces and is not interested. Knowing well that lives of great sportsmen can inspire, I hit the keyboard to draft a letter for her to read in the future… to tell her about Maradona hoping she would seek inspiration from it few years down the line. That letter goes this way…   My dear Vidita, Diego Maradona? Who? You’d wonder. Different things to different people, I’d say. To some he was like a graceful dancer with the ball at his feet. To others he was a brilliantly gifted footballer but also flawed. To many like me, he was a gen...
Read more