Movie review- Slumdog Millionaire

A ray of hope, a bundle of diappointment.

First off, the movie’s very beginning reminded of City of God. Leave that aside anyway. The KBC part infact starts off brilliantly with a question of a philosophical shade: the toughest question of them all. The character of Salim- oscillates and well, the guys who portrayed him (especially the last) acted feebly. Jamal, on the other side portrays a typical ‘Vikraman‘ hero- I definitely see no reason for his passionate love for Latika. I mean, what got him interested? The begging episode just becomes too long after where it loses focus completely. Till that, it is indeed a good movie. Again, the sequence where Salim shoots the ‘puLLa pudikaRavan‘ reminded Lil Ze’s rampage. the 8 on 10 for the First half.
The director has to be appreciated: for his research. It is not easy for a Londonwallah to make a Bollywood movie. There were fine details: like pouring in some cheap coke into Coca Cola bottles and sealing them, Carwheels and shoes being stolen off, the girl posing abinayams when talkin to Jamal, etc. Caution- Most of it was in the first half. Second half is atrocious. The most pathetic moments being- A chai-wallah instructs the call-center pAgal on making calls to the programme, the bathroom scene and above all the Sandwich scene. And, I would be glad to know if someone would even offer me a thousand bucks for the question- “Who was the third Musketeer?” Were I supposed to laugh at that the ending.. Which Indian asks his girlfriend to kiss amidst a railway platform? Bakwaas yaar! Just 3 on 10 for the second half.
India is a place where actors are worshipped, minorities are brtutally hit, Muslims are bigshots, foreigners gazing at Taj Mahal, filled with call-centers, folks are crazy for TV, policemen are rude: The views of the white man are never going to change. Secondly, the visuals which everyone rave about. perusA oNNum illa– the color tone makes the difference. Perspective, focus ellAm namma Ravivarman varaikkum kAmichAchu. If at all, it is raw. Lastly, the music was the part of the movie and not the visuals. I found a humming in the first half too engrossing. I listened to it as soon as the film was over. IMO, A.R.Rahman must win an Oscar for sure. And, it is not a bad movie at all. It is a very decent effort. But there is too much of predictability and cliche in the movie. So much said, I rate it 6/10 or at the maximum 7/10 just because the popularity of the movie paves way for global recognition of our movies. Like John Woo, maybe Sangar would go on to make Hollywood stuff in days to come.

Bottomline: It is time, an Indian brings home an Oscar. We are not craving for it, we deserve it better than anyone else.