Hats off to Slumdog millionaire

Amitabhs helicopter is on its way..

Since its release, Slumdog Millionaire has spread like an infectious disease among viewers and critics alike. If not rightly for its content, it has got its heart at the right place. It’s a masterly directed piece of art with fairy tale characters plotted in the reality of Mumbai slums.

Dev Patel shines through out the movie and Anil Kapoor makes a mark as the show host of ‘Who wants to be Millionaire’. Every other cast has been aptly chosen to play their roles.

A.R Rehman’s music adds to the transition of the story and the excellent camera work cum editing is too good to miss. Each scene is layered with an event from the past.

Dear Salim peeks out from that ill fated van..

Precisely, I would call it a must watch for everyone who lives in the Indian sub-continent. The film might have been directed by an English man but he’s got the eye of an insider. It won’t be surprising if the movie sweeps half the number of Oscars it has been nominated with. S.M might not change the lives of thousands of children languishing in the slums of Mumbai but at least it has told their stories.

‘Amitabh Bachhan’ the ‘Shahansa of Bollywood’ however has expressed scorn at the movie’s content outlining the intention of western directors to sell poverty of undeveloped nations. He might have his reasons but the Indian film industry needs to learn to give audiences more than ‘escapism’. Hits like ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ and ‘Singh is King’ are a turn down to many sensible viewers. Why can’t directors blend reality with entertainment? ‘S.M’ has done it, so why can’t they?

Bollywood might have a countable number of movies that touch the global audience but our film industry is ages behind. Cheesy dialogues like ‘My heart is a temple and only one God can reside in it’ are used to advertise movies. If only our directors here took inspiration from one aspect of the movie audiences would be emancipated.

Personally, S.M touched me both cinematically and emotionally- from the first scene when the police men come in their scooters shouting ‘Private land’ to the last dance in the train station .The innocence of little Jamal, Malik and Latika , the faces of the slum goons ,Arvinds eyeballs and the song by Surdas haunted me for days

Lastly here’s my favorite scene: Jamal meets Arvind in an alley and he’s singing ‘Darshan do Bhagavan….’ He hands him a 100$ note and asks about Latika. Arvind recognizes Jamal and asks him who is on the note. Jamal does not know his name but Arvind does. It’s Benjamin Franklin. He thanks him and tells him Latikas address. As Jamal runs away, a man is spraying something (probably pesticide) on the entrance and Arvind shouts back ‘Now I will sing, only when performing your death rites (Ab to teri mayat me hi gaunga)’

What’s your favorite scene??