SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

One summer night at the door of a carriage on a train, going back home from a gruelling semester at college when the count of women who had dumped me had gone upto 2, I found an ugly stinking man walking up to me and asking for a cigarette.
It wasn’t that necessary for me to entertain him as he did not look like an addict nor was it a chilly night where smokers cant live without the cancer stick, but something about that guy was really intriguing. I still didn’t know the reason for my weird attraction ( it’s not sexual you fuckwits) to that guy, but just then; he opened his mouth and showed me his yellow teeth and started of with a story of him and the riots in Ahmedabad. To my surprise; that bastard was a fantastic storyteller, and him being the ugliest thing since the elephant man; made the whole experience fascinating in a weird way.
For some reason unknown to me i have similar feelings to the one i had that night; talking about the movie. I never heard about Slumdog Millionaire before I saw it. I had absolutely no expectations with the movie and the moment I saw Saurabh “Bhosdike TALK” Shukla and Irfan “My wife is giving me HAIL” Khan on screen, I had a strong feeling that it would be one of those stupid cross-over films about the dilemma of being an Indian in a English Film. But as most of you would be repeating in you head “Sucker, you were wrong”.
If you have read about the movie and are aware about the media hype it’s generating, it’s evident that it definitely is a cinematic masterpiece; people want to read more about it.

But no cinematic masterpiece is devoid of cinematic liberties. Movie history would vouch for the cinematic liberties that numerous good movies have taken in the past. (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button being one of the recent ones, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, most of Steven Spielberg Movies and the list is endless). They are all a work of fiction and the liberties are taken to weave a story which connects A to B; when it doesn’t, (eg: The Day the Earth Stood Still) it hurts and people like me abuse the shit out of it.

Slumdog works for three main reasons; screenplay, editing and background score. The story is very simple at soul, it’s the presentation with the gripping screenplay, sleek editing and fascinating background score that makes the product as good as it is. The casting is mediocre, I thought the child actors did a mind blowing job, as the characters grew older they were passable. The point in the movie where Anil Kapoor tries to trick him was the only reason he would have accepted that film, it gave backbone to his role and made it more real than being just part of furniture. The cop chasing the kids is a winner all the way, it sets the tone of what’s about to come. There is nothing in the movie that is left unfinished. Everything that starts gets a ending, one of the main reasons why you don’t want to miss anything that anybody says in the movie coz you know they are going to use that little bit of information somewhere in the story. Salim’s character (Jamal’s older bro) loses relevance as it gets older and the casting of the oldest one is not right. For some reason he doesn’t convince me as the character. The youngest one was awesome when he is parading all those kid beggars to the streets. The part where the kids are in Agra was not necessary and I believe that is Danny Boyle’s way of adding humour to the script which I think slows the pace down than anything else.

Bottom line is; the product is exceptional and the only thing I gotta say to people who have the time to fuck around with the producers, being worried about the way India is portrayed and have a problem with “SLUMDOG”, get a life you ARSEHOLE”.

READER CONTRIBUTION

Pseudo-patriots grappling with the producers for the way India was potrayed. Slum-dwellers suing Rahman and Kapoor for acting in a movie that calls slum-dwellers, "dogs". Kid actors underpaid, still dwelling in slums. 10 Academy Award nominations and 4 Golden-Globes bagged. Slumdog Millionaire, based on Q&A, has made it as the first Indian movie to generate as much interest among Indians as and since "Gandhi" (Richard Attenborough, Ben Kingsley). Why? "Editing (reminds you of Trainspotting), Background Score, Script" - Sanket Das. Revisiting "Why?": Imagery, Hope, Kalaeidoscopic POV and a reflection of the insanely cruel Indian attitude.Technically, a marriage of Indian Cinema with Hollywood/British Style, a wedding that will soon be forgotten by the masses and be etched in the memories of movie-makers of mettle forever.- Partha Biswal

SONGS FOR YOUR CAR

O re ,,,,,,,,Saaya ( Slumdog Millionaire)
Dilli 6 ( title track)
Mahi,,,,Rock version ( Raazzzz)
O Jaana,,,techno version ( Raazzzz)
Emosanal Attyachar,,,Rock version ( Dev D)