Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Review
I saw the movie after it had won the 8 Oscars and my expectations were really high. I was not very impressed when i saw it the first time, but i again saw it to satisfy whether my judgment was correct. The one good thing that elevates Danny Boyles work to be an acclaimed one, at least for the Oscars, is the technical excellence in filming the movie. The scenes correctly match the mood that the story wants to convey. AR Rahman has certainly scored better for Hindi and Tamil movies, but here he magically matches the moods of the movie to his tune which adds a lot of quality to the finished product. Where the movie lacks is that it depends too much on destiny. It is as though Dev is destined to lose Frida, only to get her back every time and finally they live happily ever after. This is more like a fantasy story which is layered with grim realities of children living in Mumbai slums.
When compared with similar movies, like the classic "city of God", there is an element of reality lacking in the development of characters, especially in some presumptions that the movie makes. For example, how can Dev speak such good English? How is it possible that the game show is broadcast live? How is it that the sequence of events in Dev's life exactly matches with that of the questions asked?
No other movie, except Titanic has won so many Oscars, with such loopholes in the story. Titanic, like Slumdog won mainly because of the technical excellence, superb acting, and classic musical score. The main theme was that the characters fought against destiny to save their lives. In Slumdog, the fight is against the common malaise that infests a developing country like India, of people blinded by beliefs and faith. Danny Boyle has used some disturbing visuals such as the autograph scene, mother being killed etc. to create shock value and jolt the viewer occasionally. This make the viewer cheer for the hero in the end that much more. A much more gritty and classic rags to riches story is "Rocky", where you really cry with emotion when Stallone wins.
Slumdog tries to blend City of god, Titanic and Rocky and succeeds to an extent without going in depth in to any of the aspects that made the other films a true classic. It is a very well made feel good film that makes us believe in destiny a lot.
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