Slumdog Millionaire - Review

What I discovered, this movie wasn’t just fiction, but Jamal Malik’s (a sensational Dev) true love and devotion to find his childhood lover Latika (the achingly lovely Freida Pinto).

Monday, June 15, 2009

What I discovered, this movie wasn’t just fiction, but Jamal Malik’s (a sensational Dev) true love and devotion to find his childhood lover Latika (the achingly lovely Freida Pinto).

The 18-year-old illiterate and impoverished teenager from the slum of Mumbai courageously goes on the local television to compete for: "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” which he wins and became a millionaire at his age.

Slumdog Millionaire is a modern Bollywood film, screening shocking brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse and fantasy of wealth fuelled by crushing poverty.

There is also awful torture scene. The cops suspects Jamal to be a fraud. Aggravated by the show (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire), the police inspector Irrfan Khan is determined to beat the truth out of Jamal before he goes back on the show and hits the jackpot of 20 million rupees.

The film sound is super, It’s a paradox that people relate movies with the reality they live in. Movie’s director Simon Beaufoy should be credited for his creativity by bringing to focus the episodic of "Vikas Swarup”, a novel on which the film is based.

Jamal and the other main characters were often viewed in flashbacks, as he answered questions on the TV. He did not have any schooling knowledge, but his life experience helped him to answer the questions correctly.

Anthony Dod Mantle uses compact digital cameras to move with speed and furtive through the slums and palaces of Mumbai.

In the movie, Jamal is desperately searching for two people from his childhood: his wild older brother Salim, now a thief and killer, and his adored Latika, now stepping up from child to be a sexual worker.

The whispers of action and romance pull you into the movie. Even in the Bollywood musical track JAI HO (You are my Destiny) that ends the film, shows joy and pain still joined in the dance.

The soundtrack was sung by A.R. Rahman, but recently the song has been a hit track after the Pussycat Dolls changed the lyrics into their own English version.

Ends