Director: Dan Boyle
Co-director: Loveleen Tandon
Story: Vikas Swarup (novel-Q and A)
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy
Music: A.R.Rahman
Genre: Drama/Crime/Romance- (rated R)
Rating: ****
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed
Official website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/slumdogmillionaire/
Cast:
Jamal Malik -Dev Patel/ Tanay Hemant Chheda/ Ayush Mahesh Khedekar
Latika - Freida Pinto/ Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar/ Rubina Ali
Salim Malik - Madhur Mittal/ Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala/ Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
Prem/Host of KBC- Anil Kapoor
Inspector -Irfan Khan
(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)
“It’s a tale about the trial, tribulations and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit”- a good friend's quote which perfectly says it all.
Slumdog millionaire takes you on a journey of brutal existence, poverty, religious divide, exploitation, hurdles, humbug, survival and crime, all juxtaposed and interspersed with cheering scenes, exciting moments, fantasies, tender emotions, dreams and exhilarating situations. You go through a gamut of emotions all in one brilliant movie.
The story is about how an orphan from the slums of Mumbai rises from rags to riches remembering his memoirs of life as knowledge for winning a game show. Jamal Malik a spirited kid, orphaned at a young age goes through many hurdles and challenges in life, yet overcomes and triumphs. He is a beggar, a thief, an imposter, a guide at Taj Mahal, a waiter, has a brother in underworld, is a tea server at a call center and finally goes on a game show- who wants to be a millionaire/ Kaun Banega Crorepati not for the money but to reach out to his lost love.
His life shown in flashbacks juxtaposed with the questions of the game show and the reason for his awareness of the answers is brilliantly depicted. The slumdog becomes the underdog and rooted by audiences across India to win, but the show’s host gets doubts about the authenticity of his answers and knowledge and get him interrogated by the cops, where he further relates his poignant adventures of life.
The characters, all relatively new artists acted brilliantly. Dev Patel as a somber and subdued Jamal who shows sudden wit and cleverness did a great job for an upcoming teen British TV artist. Ayush Mahesh Khedekar who plays the younger Jamal was amazingly talented. He shows the sweet innocence, the emotions, the depth of pain, the loss of friendship, betrayal by his brother, the exuberance of seeing his favorite hero Amitabh Bachchan, going thru shit literally, all portrayed so well.
All the characters that played Latika were good. But the characters that played Salim were again brilliant. The young character Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail starts to build the mean, bigheaded, selfish character which gets further negatively built by Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala and get graduated by Madhur Mittal into a power and money maniac involved in the underworld.
Anil Kapoor as the condescending host is good, but the reason his character was negative is not detailed. The only reason may be to develop sympathy factor to the contestant. Irrfan Khan is his usual best. The rest of the cast gave good performances and I guess the co-director and casting director Loveleen Tandon needs to be credited for such a talented cast.
The music By A. R Rehman is excellent and uprising. The cinematography and screenplay is exceptional, the direction is excellent. Dan Boyle has to be applauded for such a well made movie.
The rags to riches slumdog kind outstanding movies have been made earlier, like Amitabh Bachchans, Deewar or Lawaris and more. But what makes this different is the real life like depiction and possible dreams through modern day game shows. The depiction of how similar circumstances bring out different personalities is also showcased well, contrasting the lives of the two brothers. In a bollywood masala movie the parallel would be too contrasting and surreal, where as in slumdog it is more realistic.
The depictions of parts of India in a bad way, the slums and the poverty and the condescending characters have been not appreciated by some media in India. But one has to accept the reality of life, ignoring them doesn’t make them disappear. Every country and city has alternate realities, and that’s a fact for many big cities. It’s unfortunate but life is like that! Get over that and appreciate the movie for its brilliance.
The movie is exhilarating, narrative is crisp, editing is perfect, pace is quick, music is rousing, and the story is moving. Not many movies in the recent past have that simply perfect movie experience. This is going to get an Oscar.
3 comments:
What a smart idea to show and attract attention to poverty by turning the camera on almost-fantasy but possible escapes out of it!!
Finding exits from poverty and despair, and staying motivated to find those ways out - that's a worthy theme. And in passing, if a wide mirror is held up that reflects the events on the darker fringes in an artistic way - well, that is social realism.
Counterpointing has often proved a successful approach in music, writing and cinema. So the juxtaposition of scarcity and bounty has done the trick yet again!
Beautifully summed up as always C/B:) BTW can you expand on the local Mumbai reactions to this movie?
I am willing to wager a bet on your comment "This is going to get an Oscar" - really this is not Oscar material (assuming you were referring to Best Film award). It is a damn good and entertaining movie but Oscar winners have a certain awe-inspiring quality (as in No Country for Old Men,Million Dollar Baby, The Lord of the Rings, Silence of the Lambs, Titanic, or Gandhi) whereas this is Tamasha -- how else do you explain the need to have a dance on the railway platform!!
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