Slumdog Millionaire Review

Monday, December 15, 2008, 17:49 [IST]
Slumdog Millionaire has been receiving rave reviews and coveted awards ever since its premiere. Directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting fame, Slumdog Milliomaire is a rags-to-riches story, dwelling for the greater part on the rags period of the protagonist's life.

Orphaned by religious wars on the streets of Mumbai, a young kid wanders around aimlessly in search of food and shelter. A series of lucky coincidences keep him alive; by the time he reaches his teens, he is doing a bunch of odd jobs to for his livelihood. The troubles this child experiences are quite moving and hard hitting, and his escape each time comes as a relief. As a child, he manages to flee (a) from a bad guy who blinds orphans and forces them into begging, (b) from a locked room where he is covered with excrement and (c) from a whole lot of vile situations. Each situation leaves you gasping and praying that children should not have to go through such torture and tribulations in real life.

As a brazen brash confident teenager, he lands an opportunity to participate in a TV quiz programme leading to a huge cash award. Given his impoverished background and lack of formal education, it's quite astonishing that he manages to get through round after round in the quiz. The quiz show host and sponsors think he is cheating his way to the reward, so he is imprisoned and tortured to confess. What is the truth? What does he reveal? Only a visit to the theatre will tell you!

Dev Patel, the debutant lead player, has already been showered with praise for his performance and has even won an award in the UK. Dev shows a lot of promise and enthusiasm for acting. Appearing as the quiz show host, Bollywood veteran Anil Kapoor makes quite an impact. Danny Boyle has garnered his own set of awards for his efforts and critics say an Oscar could be on its way.

The movie is currently playing in cinemas across the US and UK and will hits screens in India in January.

Which movie is playing in the theatre near you?
User Comments
peter vas 24 Feb 2009 10:10 pm
Who wants to be a Slumdog? My son and I suffered the ignominy of having been stopped by the security guards at the Cinema theater entrance that was screening “Slumdog Millionaire”. The problem was that my son was under aged according to the guards, and the film was rated ‘Adults Only’. After pleading with the guard for a full five minutes pulling out the ace defense of ‘Father knows best what is good for son, not the censor board’, we were allowed inside the theater. My son and I secretly admired our audacity in the dark shadows of the cinema hall. After getting ourselves some nachos and not-so-fresh salsa, we settled into our seats and got ready to watch the much hyped oscar contender - ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Much later, on our exit from the hall after watching the movie, we secretly thought to ourselves and confessed to each other later, that we wished the guard had not allowed us in after all. I really feel that this was a left handed delivery of a western accolade meant to thank India for exposing it’s underbelly in all its glory. Hairy private parts and all. However, I am not here to rant but to understand. So understand we will. SDM has a few tested strong threads that make the western movie creation a huge success. Here is a movie with an accepted Operating System, to use a PC paradigm. ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ and its equivalent of ‘KBC’ are game formats that the east and west agree upon. We know the anchor, participants, the nervousness, the lifelines, the stupid errors and the mind boggling success stories of the game show. While India knows all too well some of the rogue runaway applications such as slums, children forced to beg, religious riots, gang warfare, the west on the other hand needs occasional confirmation to the ingrained accepted truths regarding an under developed country. Such rogue runaway applications are hidden and unknowable, unless exposed by the glare of a western light and camera to a western audience. Moving...
Sambit 27 Jan 2009 01:09 pm
3) When the boy uses his ‘lifeline’ during the game-show, his friend discovers that she has forgotten her mobile and has to run back for it. This is plain Bollywood masala! Did the director have to make it so melodramatic? 4) How did the boy know who invented the revolver just by watching his brother use it? 5) “Darshan Do Ghanshyam” is NOT written by Surdas. It is written by Gopal Singh Nepali for the movie Narsi Bhagat (1957). This song is also credited as traditional and originally written by 15th century poet Narsi Mehta, whose life that film is based on. 6) The greatest flaw in the storyline is that programmes like 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' and 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' are NOT telecast live. As a result the entire structure of the film becomes unrealistic. For a film that boasts of being realistic such a flaw cannot be overlooked.
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