Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

I don’t know how I missed reviewing this movie. Guess, sometimes you plan on doing and never end up. But, after Slumdog Millionaire‘s sweep of 8/10 Oscars, I decided to get down to it.

Very few movies have created a craze among viewers worldwide and more importantly in India. The movie proves that even though it is directed by the foreign director, viz. Danny Boyle, it had the support and the hopes of a billion people of this country hoping that India’s shot at the Oscars is successful!

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost.

Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions. Each chapter of Jamal’s increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show’s seemingly impossible quizzes.

But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love.

Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Slumdog Millionaire

In one word the movie is Excellent. I won’t say I can relate to the movie, because, I can’t. However, the filming of this took place around 10Km from my place and considering the Mumbai has a good portion of it’s surface covered by slums, you can actually see a lot of commonalities between the reel life and real life.

While, Dev Patel does take up a good portion of the movie, without doubt the best actors are the tiny kids who play the Jamal and Latika in their early days. One scene that everyone talks about is the young Jamal rushing for Amitabh’s autograph.

The movie depicts a scary life of a young boy in the slum. It’s well known and rather unpublished about the begging mafia in Mumbai, but you get a first hand experience of this in the movie.

The music is fantastic. A.R. Rahman has once again done a fantastic job and he has been well rewarded by the two Oscars.

If you haven’t yet watched it, got to the theatre, grab some pop corn and watch it!

And, to close, here is a question for you. As @cheth asks:

Slumdog Millionaire won the Oscar for best film, How did he do it?

a) He cheated, b) He’s lucky, c) He’s a Genius, d) It Is Written!

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8 Comments

  1. I must say that the movie is really different from others.The script was very intelligently connected with present life and past life.I likes the concept of mixing “story” and “real life”.Cast was very good and natural looking with no overacting.Kids even acted very well.My average rating would be 4.5/5.This movie has now become one of my evergreen favorites!

  2. i think the movie has been proved that indian artist are the best in the world . the movie shows the reality in india . most of people must encourage by it . it is true that india is developing country and the world 2nd largest populated country but the movie proves that population and poverty does not matter , matter what country artist does .obviously it is a great honour to our country . it will providing the confidence in the indian artist .
    today i m very proud of me to be a part of this country .so jai hind

  3. Slumdog Millionaire is the best movie i ever see in my life. I wish all the very best to Dev Patil, Frieda Pinto and for everyone.

    SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ROX!!!!!!!!.

  4. The story and acting was fantastic! I just felt so bad for the child actor who was \”beaten\” by his father upon returning home. 🙁

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