Slumdog Millionaire - Review

Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Mathur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan
Rating: *****

4 Golden Globe awards, 5 Critics choice awards, 10 Oscar nominations, 11 BAFTA nominations, the hype around Danny Boyle’s Slum Dog Millionaire is never going to die down for quite some time. I am not going to write this review with a biased opinion nor am I going to thrash it like many others. The critics say the western world is exploiting Indian poverty to make money. Why aren’t the Hollywood movies showing the brighter side of India but always depicts us as the underbelly slum dogs? This has been the most debated topic on the movie.

The story has been discussed a zillion times but nevertheless will give a brief synopsis. 3 Kids from the Mumbai slums the brothers Salim(Madhur Mittal) and Jamal(Dev Patel) and a girl Latika(Freida Pinto) get orphaned after the Bombay riots. They are left on the streets vulnerable to criminals who use them for begging and crime. No one in Indian movie has been able to capture the plight of slum kids as Danny Boyle. Real slums and kids from the slums were used to play the child characters of the lead artists. The scenes have to be watched to be believed, very realistically shot (If you have not seen Indian slums before it can churn your stomach a bit to see all the dirt and sewage).

Years later Jamal who is still in love with Latika finds Malik and tries to get her back in his life. Latika who also loves Jamal is unable to leave gangsters Javed and Malik(He kills Javed’s rival to join his gang). Jamal was thrown out by Malik earlier to get Latika. To reach out to Latika, Jamal participates in KBC where Anil Kapoor is the host. Anil plays an eccentric man who is unable to digest a chai wala winning money on his game show and even gets him arrested. Irfan Khan plays the role of the inspector who is interrogating Jamal to check if he is cheating. Jamal’s story on how he knows all the answers strikes a chord with Irfan.

The movie shows each scene in flashback as Jamal answers questions in the show and interrogated by Irfan Khan. He narrates incidents of his child hood experiences with riots, foreign tourists, begging and call centre which helps him answer most of the questions. The music is good but people who have listened to earlier scores of A.R.Rahman, this is not extra ordinary. Having 3 oscar nominations, it will be a proud moment to watch him receive an oscar.

What is stopping the Indian directors from showing the negative side of the western world? Drug abuse, broken families, high crime, mugging, lonely lives and there are many more bad things about the west. We show the Swiss Alps, Scenic beauties from Europe, London, Clean roads, Casinos, flashy Sports cars, posh apartments, beaches and our heroes/heroines dancing in them. We all must have seen some of the pitiable living conditions of children on the streets. Why get so offended when a westerner is showing it? Should we all pretend that everything is perfect in our country. Aren’t we all in one way or the other answerable to the way our society is shaped? I don’t want to sit in Air conditioned offices and see only IT parks, Shopping malls which is not the only side of India. The movie also for the matter shows tall buildings and BPOs in Mumbai. The only flip side in the movie is the accent of lead actors especially Dev Patel. This would have been more realistic, had it been shot fully in Hindi with english subtitles.

I would highly recommend this movie for everyone, leave your prejudices at home before you go. Too high expectations can also cause disappointment. Watch it like a simple love story and a typical Indian movie.