The movie starts off with Jamal(Dev Patel, our slumdog err protagonist) being tortured in a jail cell. The belief is that this young chai-wallah cheats on 'Who wants to be a Millionaire'(hosted by Anil Kapoor) and answers all the quesitons right, which makes him a slumdog millionaire overnight. The lives and hardships in the slums of Bombay have been captured in some great sequences, as we run through Jamal's childhood in the flashback (for those of you who dint know this, Dharavi is Asia's biggest slum). How Jamal gets to know of the answers for the questions is cleverly intertwined while describing his past. He gets on the show not to win the millions, but to get a chance to be seen by his long-lost childhood love Lathika(played by Freida Pinto).
The child protagonists (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) are splendidly natural, the first quarter of the movie is by-far the most gripping. The movie has those distinct 'Danny Boyle trademark' moments and they hit the bullseye each time. The plot does have some holes, and gets a bit too Bollywoodish at times. The ten year olds start speaking about destiny, join mob gangs rather effortlessly and also manage to find and pull Lathika(Freida) out of the red-light area with great ease. Anil Kapoor does a great job playing the smug show host. He brings with him an air of sophistication, pomp and snobbery to the show.
The mellifluous background scores splendidly blend in with the screenplay, cant believe that Subhash Ghai rejected the 'O Sara' OST for his Yuvraj(I can spell it only this way, am sorry, i dont type extra unnecessary alphabets). The Danny Boyle - John Hodge pair would have handled this subject better and made it more impactful than it already is. Its high time they re-join as a team and bring to us another marvel like 'The Beach'. Trainspotting still is Danny Boyle's best movie till date. Slumdog comes a close third, after "The Beach'.
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3 comments:
absolutely loved the movie!! the narrative and screenplay--aweesomoo!!
yes - the first part was the best - convincingly real and gripping.
But from the point where two guys wake up from the train and find themselves at Agra (Taj Mahal) - the movie somewhat lost its credibility. The English which was neither professional nor desi was outright irritating. At places the 'corrected' accent was over-done. It sometimes made some serious scenes very comic. I see it as a disaster.
But concept-wise superb movie. The first part a master-piece in itself. The back-ground music is exceptionally great.
P.S.: Please add a spoiler-alert on top for those who haven't watched already. :)
its one helluva movie man! i seriously loved the screenplay and of-course anil kapoor. and remember dont term it as bollywud! these johars and chopras wud ask SRK to be jamal !!
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