Slumdog Millionaire - The reaction review

If you're thinking that it is pretty late in the day to be reviewing the movie that took the Academy Awards by storm, you are mistaken (I already reviewed it-read it here). This is more about the mixed reactions that the movie has evoked and importantly the interpretations that have been made of these reactions. Having been in the premiere show here in Paris, I know for a fact that almost everyone, Indian or not, enjoyed it. There is no doubt that the movie was great fun. It was a total Masala flick, feel good and nothing Hollywoody about it. But soon, I read that Big B was pissed. (Read an insight article here). Surprisingly so were many of my friends. And the main issue that caught everyone's attention was the portrayal of the poverty in India.

Let's be honest here. Poverty exists at large in India. There's no denying that. But what ticked off most people was that this was exploited by Westerners to make a movie to win awards. Had the movie been made by Indians, there would've been lesser complaints, I bet. But to be totally truthful, I do not think any part of the movie was exaggerated. It was commercialized for sure.. but not exaggerated. In fact the whole poverty deal was vital to the screenplay and that's why it should be left at that. As a matter of fact, later in the movie itself, the opulence and advancement of Mumbai is shown. Perhaps because this display took a backseat to the actual script, the dissed Indians probably thought that the "Foreigners" reveled in the misery of our country, perhaps secretly thanking their stars to have been born in a richer country.

Come now, rich is a loose word, isn't it? Is there any country that can hold a torch to India's richness in culture, in colour, in diversity of religions, people, races, languages,in food, in architecture,in intelligence and what not? We have no reason to be ashamed of one segment of reality shown in some movie. Like Big B pointed out, every country has a murky underbelly lurking somewhere. With a population of over a billion, it's not surprising that India does. But that hasn't hampered the success of Indians world over in any field and we should all take pride in that. And finally take a movie to be just that - a movie. Jai Hind!

Slumdog Millionaire - A review

Spoiler Alert: Duh, of course there are spoilers.

The movie released only yesterday here and that too it was 'Avant Premiére', meaning that it would release in the WHOLE of Paris on ONE screen. And with the Golden Globes giving it all 4 awards that it was nominated for (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Original Soundtrack), the expectations were sky high. And the French folk turned out in high numbers to catch the movie, even if with subtitles. So, expectedly without reserving ahead, we were left ticket-less (5 of us sincere movie buffs). We are holders of the UGC Illimite, which is a card that at a given rate entitles you to watch infinite movies in a month in all the finest cinemas. The only catch is that you can only book tickets one hour ahead of the show you want to attend. And that's not even a 'catch'. Most movies are ee-ootifying (pretty vacant). But Slumdog, at 6:30pm, for an 8:00pm show was sold out. Our movie maniac friend, SA told us that they would 'release' the unclaimed reserved tickets out at 7:50pm. So judiciously we sent ahead another friend to hold 5 seats in case we got tickets. To make a long story short, with a stroke of unexpected luck, we all landed tickets and seats right next to each other in prime location.

Until a day ago, I had no idea that the movie was based in India, nor that it was based on KBC.. nor that they spoke a whole lot of Hindi in it. I checked out IMDB for a review and read the blurb there and was amazed at the original story. In one line, it's just this: The story of a poor slum guy who enters KBC and wins 10 million without effort and is suspected to cheating to get to that standpoint. Why he enters it, how he knows the answer to all those questions forms the core of the plot. What it's not is a 'rags to riches ' story. At it's core, the movie is a love story. It is about how Jamal Malik, a slumdog believes that he is meant to be with Latika, another slumdog, the girl of his dreams and how he yearns for her even after losing her time and again and how he believes that destiny wants him to get together with her. Seldom has such an authentic Indian movie been made, especially by a Western director. The movie is based in the slum suburb of modern Mumbai, Dharavi and every aspect has been shown as is... the crazed fanatism for Bollywood, the life at the slum, the gore inflicted by the money launderers who send out children for begging, parts of the gangster world and what not. What gets you is the way that the story has been narrated. The cinematographer and the director truly deserve a standing ovation. And our Rahman... oh Rahman.. what music! Normally in English movies, the music takes a back seat. Apparently Danny Boyle promised to give Rahman's music free reign only if he would please compose the music for the movie. And he kept his word. It's all Indian... right down to the song n dance sequence at the railway station in the end. There's not a single 'foreign' face. It's all India.. except that it's in English a bit and many of the kids in the movie are actually from slums. I loved the first 3 kids who played Jamal, Salim and Latika.. they were adorable.

Some scenes were gross, some disturbing and they were entirely meant to be. the gravity of the situation and the point of view could not be conveyed otherwise. And everything depicted there is 100% true and not the least bit exaggerated. The movie's gripping and the plot works only because it's based in India... it would'nt have stood a chance elsewhere. What was amazing was that the entire theatre was glued to their seats even after it was obvious that the movie was long over when the Bollywood song took over. It was that good and I am not exaggerating. This time the Oscar buzz rings true. And then there was applause when everything was over and the credits had almost finished running.

Jai Ho! - You gotta watch the movie to know what I am talking about.