Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle | United Kingdom | 2008
120 mins
Once in a while you get to watch a movie like Slumdog Millionaire. In a well-crafted, well-written tale of destiny and triumph, directors Danny Boyle and Laveena Tandon take us through three simultaneous timelines of hero Jamal Malik’s journey — from Dharavi’s slums to the ‘hot seat’ of the Indian version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’. Encountering a wave of colorful characters along the way and events that leave lasting imprints on his mind, Jamal eventually plays the game with one purpose — and it’s not winning.
Laced with a wonderful engaging soundtrack by A. R. Rahman, many scenes of young Jamal are presented with such charm and down-to-earth honesty that you start rooting for the protagonist early-on. A few Bollywood actors fill in some of the supporting roles, notably Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan and Mahesh Manjrekar, to bring added vibrancy to a movie set against, and for the undying spirit, of a city that has seen it all.
Unfortunately, and in a bad choice by the makers, they have made the movie predominantly in the English language. Those familiar with the city, country or the culture will find it absurd that a boy from the slums speaks with a British accent, let alone that most of the other characters are conversing in English (the cop and his “havaldar” or the “bhai”). This glaring issue aside, the movie succeeds on all accounts as a wonderful celebration of hope, destiny and definitely of Cinema.
Postscript: Stay on to watch the end credits.
Note: Slumdog Millionaire will be released in cinemas across Dubai, UAE on January 22, 2009.
Cant wait to see this! Nice review
Like Shariq has noted in his review, the language shuffling (from Hindi to English) was a bit jarring, especially at first. I mean, these are supposed to be impoverished kids but they speak so well – this is all the more apparent because the film actually has those same characters (though different actors) speak Hindi for so long during the first act. Having said that, the film is fantastic – energetic, kinetic cinema at its best using all those familiar themes Boyle is known for. I would almost consider this ‘Trainspotting’ in India!
Ha ha, Trainspotting in India! Slumdog Millionaire is a thematically different film, but Boyle’s visual style is so distinctive that your comparison to Trainspotting makes a special kind of sense.
I’m willing to forgive the unpleasantness of the very British-accented English that the protagonist speaks in (Not there’s anything unpleasant about the accent – I only mean it in context of a slum-boy speaking it). And this forgiveness comes mainly due to the ignorance that Western Cinema has generally portrayed when depicting foreign cultures. If The Last Samurai could have villagers in Japan pre-WWII speak in English, this is not too long a shot now, is it?
Glad to see A.R. Rahman win the best score at the Golden Globes. Without his score the movie would be soo bland.
Thanks for the review Shariq. I saw it tonight and it was fantastic.
Hey Scott, glad you liked it too!
Great Review ! LOVE the movie. Seen it twice, so far. Definately stay during the closing credits, at least the first part of them !
Great review, also great movie. Interesting that I hardly noticed the transition from subtitles early on in the movie to the English that is spoke by the characters later. You get so caught up in the movie that it just carried you along regardless. I saw it on a plane to Europe and now look forward to renting it for a full screen affect.
Thank you, and I’m glad you liked the movie too. You must catch it on a full-screen, and more importantly, the effect of surround sound. The score, especially early on in the movie, is nothing short of brilliance.
this movie blows! so sick of everyone acting like its the most brilliant film in the world because it was filmed somewhere other than london, new york or los angeles. acting: RETARDED, soundtrack: EARSPLITTING, plot: RETARDED, cinematography: NAUSEATING!!!!! just because the average movie goer isn’t used to seeing artsy fartsy films(which i love) doesn’t mean they have to bow down and worship one when it becomes mainstream. same thing happened with napolean dynamite. john q popcorn isn’t used to indy style movies, it goes mainstream and hailed as brilliant. absolute garbage. the toxic aveneger was better written and more inspiring than slumdog…