Film Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Amazing screenplay. Best background music. And a simple storyline. No wonder Slumdog Millionaire bagged 4 awards at the Golden Globe.

The film is based on the Indian book, Q&A. In short words, its just a love story, mixed with the life struggles which hints the answers to the lead character (Jamal Malik) to win the millionaire TV series. But the photography which tastes the slice of India, the screenplay, which fits perfect and makes us glued to the end, though we can anticipate the end and the freshness of the new actors, is what made me see through the film, before it got released in India. I had downloaded the music first, but other than great beats, I didn’t find it much interesting as a casual listener initially. The “Ring Ring Ringa” song reminds you of the famous “Choli ke peeche” track, and is pictured on the prostitution in Mumbai. But after you see the film, the song, “O Saya” keeps ringing in your mind, which enhanced the spirits of the lead characters. Like other A.R.Rahman’s songs, I guess the music catches on you, very slowly and gradually.

The bare and truth of living the hard life in the slum areas, and the struggles they need to go through, evokes a deep cry within you towards those people. I mean, its a known rumour story about the child beggars, being used for making money, by making them disabled manually through raw methods. Its pathetic too, that there may exist people who does so in real. Have we ever given a damn about the child singers who sing in the local trains or at the railway station? How many times have we hesitated before we give them money? Can we ever imagine the life in the cringed areas, the life among the rags and public dumps, without no shelter in the rain, being the most common victims for riots, starving enough for a piece of roti that we stoop down on picking food from others endangering our lives? Are we able to digest the realization of the need to earn money at any cost to maintain your life for each second, and that too at a very early stage, when we should have been playing and enjoying at school? The amount of pain to treasure in your heart for seeking your love amidst all these chaos and to keep it pure and deep is truly unimaginable.

And to give it a tinge of childish innocence, there were the comedy scenes at the Taj Mahal. I wonder, whether it was a mocking of the foreigners visiting India without any knowledge, or how the locals fools them, but it relieved us of the tension for quite some time, amidst the 2 hour long movie. . The metro trains, and the railway station of Mumbai has been an integral part of many Bollywood movies, and as an example of perfect chaotic busy life in this city, it makes its entry in this film too. And there was the perfect example of Indians being the great fans of actors and actresses. The enthusiasm of village and slum people to see Amitabh Bachan has been perfectly captured, that we really wonder, whether people go to this extent to catch a glimpse of the actors. It reminded me of the Rajni fans n the spirit of Chennai, when I lived there, during the release of his latest film, Sivaji.

The roles lived by Irrfan Khan, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, and Mahesh Manjrekar are very short, but breathes life into the characters. Dev Patel and Freida Pinto provides great on-screen chemistry and looks very fresh and young. But more than them, the child brothers Jamal and Salim, occupy the screen space more. I wonder whether it was an English film or Bollywood film (minus the songs and dance), but whatever be it, Danny Boyle has did an amazing direction. I would rate the film at 8/10, as I don’t find much discrepancies or shortcomings for the film. I won’t comment whether it was an overrated or underrated, but I think it was a good movie in overall. Click here to find an interesting interview of the director!

It can be called a worth watch film, considering the 4 awards it received at Golden Globe, and with A.R. Rahman with background score, it sure could not be missed! 😀