Slumdog millionaire - awesomeness !!!!!!It is a supremely wonderful movie. Words are not failing me, but I am searching for the right words. The emotion I am experiencing is a bit difficult to describe.
Joy comes the closest. Yes! Joy it is. This movie was a thorough experience. So after the initial euphoric phase, I have regained my senses and its back to business.
Let's start with some trivia.
The Director - Danny Boyle - associated with acclaimed movie 'trainspotting'. I think after Mani Ratnam, this is the only guy who has done justice to life of Mumbai. Barring Mira Nair (and a few others) I guess, who had directed 'Salaam Bombay' (I have not seen the movie, so cannot comment).
Music - Apna A.R. Rehman - He was the fact, that I ever came across the movie. I read somewhere about Rehman giving music to a British movie and my sporadic patriotism got me interested :D
Story - based on a book called Q&A by Vikas Swarup - Well if you know about the book, 1000 points to know the story !!
With the interesting facts in hand, what I am going to tell you is not how good the movie is, but how best it is!!
First things first, Danny Boyle has chosen everything just perfect. If we start from the cast then, no one fails. It is spotless. I loved Dev Patel. The fearless, truthful underdog, Jamaal Patel, who just knows the answers.
If I have not stated the fact anywhere else, then I say that Anil Kapoor is a truly underrated star of Bollywood. I say star, because this guy is amazing. He has the charisma, the ability and the style. And he is an equally better actor. As the host of the quiz show he is superb.
Irfan Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Freida Pinto and all others (some are very new names) are ekdum jhakas!
Now comes the turn of the kids. They are the essence of the movie. And boy, Mr. Boyle does not fail at all. He has extracted unbelievable performances from kids barely 7 or 8. Then comes the crucial part of getting the exact emotions from teenagers. And since he has been so keen with his choice of people, he has excelled.
The script is simple and it shapes at a steady pace, never giving away more than necessary and culminates into an awesome, triumphant experience, for the audience. You clap at Jamaal's wins, you smile at his honesty, you laugh at the sarcastic jokes and cry at the cruel ways of life, many young kids in India are facing at the risk of losing their innocence. Still the script does not lose its naivety. It does not get involved in any unnecessary stuff. For example, the director has shown life in slums in such a way, that instead of feeling pitiful, you feel as if a part of it. There are some gruesome sequences in the movie, but unbelievably no blood has been shown. I mean imagine a point blank gun shot without any blood splattering or gore. This keeps the movie on highest levels of optimism. Another feather in the hat for Mr. Boyle.
I think loads of thinking and research or may be simple methodical work gives you such refined results.
Cast and direction are the crux for such movies. And both are first class !! :D Rehman's music sets the right tempo. There are many high moments in the movie which have been captured with the right notes.
Again, the movie could have been different in many respects. But with this storyline, I think there could not have been a better portrayal of the triumph of an UNDERDOG.
This movie touched my chords. So much that I have to read the book and watch Boyle's all other movies.
By the way, just to give you some clues, don't miss the last dance, which comes with the credits. It is something which a kid Jamaal promises Latika :)
A true underdog story.
to each slumdog in us :)
nightflier!!
