Slumdog Millionaire

I must be one of the last persons to have watched Slumdog Millionaire. Finally saw it today in a theatre that had not more than 15 viewers ! I had not seen either the promos or reviews of the movie : what I did read/watch on the news was about its nominations.

The movie is extremely well-made and depicts a slumdog's life with the harsh realities one generally refuses to associate it with. The coolness with which the movie shows the death of Jamal Malik's mother, the brothers sleeping in tents on huge moulds of garbage, huge pipes or even train-roofs is very honest. There is no pretence, show or exaggeration in the director's treatment of any of these. The pace at which the first half is set convinces us of how normal it is for people to be living a life like Jamaal's. The scenes in which Latika is left behind when she misses the train or Arvind loses his eye send a horrible chill down the spine.  The latter, I thought, was the most horrific scene in the movie.

 

What's good :

1)  The cast, especially the children playing Jamaal, Salim and Latika and the relationships that they share with each other

2) A naked-reality in the depiction of a normal, daily life in the slums

3)  An interesting style of narration, with the story fluctuating between the interrogation in the police station and the game show 

4) A.R.Rahman.

What's not-so-good :

1)  While the ample use of swear words make the movie more realistic, the sudden use of the English language in the most unexpected of situations by the most unlikely people steals the same realism away. 

2) Dev Patel's phoren accent

3) Anil Kapoor's constant cheesy remarks (exaggerative dialogues) during the show

4) Anil Kapoor.

Definitely worth a watch.

A.R Rahman has done a great job. His music complements the pace and style of the movie magnificently. This movie has not offered him much scope, one must admit. It is n't like RDB, Jodhaa Akbar or any Tamil movie where there are abundant situations for him to demonstrate variety in flavour. RDB, for example - Pathshala, Lukka Chuppi , Roobaroo, Khalbalee and the title track - each one had a different emotion. Jodhaa Akbar had romance, while Swades had patriotism. Agreed, ARR has created better music plenty of times before. But through this one, he has excelled in a limited-scope situation. This movie was on slums - the background score did full justice to it. The music in the initial scenes when the kids run from the police, the beautiful mandolin playing over great guitar arrangements in the train scenes (between Jamal and Latika) were very apt. The brothel song(with Alka Yagnik crooning) was successfully depressing and dull; exactly what the situation demanded ; exactly what ARR set out to do. I actually hated the mood and the feeling the song created. Bull's eye. 

  

I don't understand why people have an issue with the movie celebrating India's poverty. Danny Boyle has only shown the truth - with as much dignity as the situation would allow. Why, he hasn't even exaggerated or indulged in any falsehood. Is it the reality being smashed on our faces that we are unhappy about ? I would have thought it obvious that the term 'slumdog' shows our own attitude towards slumdwellers, and not Danny Boyle's imagination running wild or an expression of his own hatred/ spite. Why should n't a film-maker (so what if he's not Indian?) choose this subject and win nominations for the same? Films show so many more hateful things - violence, rape, drug abuse, murder. It is highly ridiculous that Deshdrohi got banned merely because it depicted the MNS hooligans' violent profession. We cannot question an artist's creative freedom; film-makers are not obliged to depict anything at all in specifics, they have as much right to show negativity(read : reality) as optimism, hope or inspiration.