Slumdog Millionaire .....

I generally do not review any movie but this particular movie did attract me.

Before I had watched this movie, I heard lot of feedback about it; “A must watch”, “Sensational”, “You haven’t seen it yet!!” blah blah… I finally got it in my friend’s laptop and decided to see it.

I had mixed feelings after watching this piece of art. Well, the only praise I think I will give to this “over-hyped” movie is that it’s definitely a directional (only the concept of direction) piece of art. Besides that, they haven’t shown anything different. Especially, what I strongly did not like about it is that they have portrayed India in an obnoxious way; India is not about poverty, slums, cheating, dons and Mumbai is not about all these too. Numerous movies have been made in the recent past on this subject and now this subject seems monotonous. I am strongly against it being showcased internationally. It’s sending wrong image of our country.

When I say directional piece of art, I liked the way two parallel stories have been shown; the “Who wants to be a millionaire concept?” and how Jamal’s story is running in parallel. What was interesting and thought provoking was the realization that many times in our lives - we need not be just well-read to have knowledge of something. Our experiences make us very knowledgeable. Most of our Granny's are not literates but when they speak they enlighten us. They have knowledge of many things in life.

When it comes to “Who wants to be a millionaire?” (Popularly known in real India as “Kaun banega Crorepati?”), I don’t remember either Amitabh Bacchan or Shahrukh Khan ever mocking any contestant who hailed from humble or poor background unlike the host in the movie mocking Jamaal as “Chaiwala” or “Call Center Assistant”.

In real India even the literates and well-educated people prefer speaking in Hindi or their regional language other than obviously formal/ office environments. And we saw slum dwellers speaking in fluent, accented English!! When China and other countries can enter International Film Forum with their national language or any preferred language (with subtitles) why can’t India? Why is India still a slave of the British subconsciously? Why is Indian cinema trying to appease the jury by speaking in their language when we Indians can easily feel that what is being shown is not reality?

At one point in the movie an urchin (Jamal) is thrashed by the driver of American tourist, and Jamal asks the tourist “You wanted to see the real India, this is real India!!”. To that the American tourists give the urchin some good amount of dollars adding that now you’ll see some real America. What was the assistant director (an Indian) doing when such a nasty script was being directed? Is that the real India? That is India but not the real India. Atrocities towards the weak and poor are in all the countries. Is real India the largest “Dhobighaat” in Asia? Aren’t there better things to show in India? There definitely is. I get reminded of a shot in the movie “Munna Bhai MBBS” when “Circuit” scolds a Chinese tourist by saying that “Can you see only poverty in India?” when he says that he wants the picture of poor and famished Indians?”

AR Rehman got Golden Globe award for “Jai Ho…” I am sure even AR Rehman knows that he has composed better and more sensible music in the past. He got an award for this because this movie was produced by an International Production House and had a better international visibility. This number is definitely catchy but it’s not one of those that you can listen again and again unlike AR Rehman’s other creative wonders.

The song was so misplaced; this movie did not require a song. The choreography was utter piece of shit. How can slum guys pull off salsa/ jive steps? A realistic movie does not have a song after the last scene with a crowd dancing with the lead characters. And above all the crowd comprised of local train travelers. Who in Mumbai does this? Who has the time to dance on VT (CST) platform?

All in all, it can be watched once and you like the movie because direction is good, actors especially the kids have done wonderful job, and because there is lot of pathos and revelations about a section of society which is different than ours. It can be watched because it’s a story of hope, a story of realizing that it’s not just by proper education or literacy we can become rich or change our destiny by 180 degrees; we can do by just being aware, by being at the right place at the right time, by having focus, by working hard, by keeping your head at the right place even through adversities and by not going astray. We have many examples of such people in our country and elsewhere who were not educated (in term of having n number of degrees) but made it big in their lives.

Nonetheless, it’s not a movie which should be sent to international platform, appreciated or for that matter even awarded. I do not take pride in the fact that this movie has brought us awards or can bring us more. If we are getting international awards for such movies, we better not. We have seen better movies in the recent past like Wednesday, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Munna Bhai MBBS, Rang De Basanti to name a few.

Well I’ll end my review in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” style. :)
How did Slumdog Millionaire become an international hit?
A. Good Script/ Direction
B. Good Cast
C. Good Song/ Choreography/ Background score
D. Sheer Dumb Luck
I would say D. – Sheer Dumb Luck.