I got to see the movie yesterday. A movie, which is making waves in the U.S. in newspapers and on popular radio stations. And attracting crowds to watch a movie made by less known Hollywood directors, non-Hollywood actors and set in our very own Mumbai. No, not in Taj and Oberoi hotels, but in the slums of Mumbai. A must see for one & all! Heard its’ won several awards already. Won’t be surprised if it wins some Oscars.
A. R. Rahman (the famous Indian music director) has been very low-key in this movie – not many original compositions like in Bombay Dreams. To my delight he uses the Sri Lankan born-American singer M.I.A’s popular song, “Paper Planes” which is doing the Hot songs round currently on our radio stations here, in one of the scenes as background music. Very apt!
It’s a story of Mumbai slum kids growing up in today’s world. It’s especially about teenager Jamaal (Dev Patel – looks refreshingly young and guileless), the slumdog who goes on to win the 20 million rupees in the T.V show “Who wants to become a millionaire.” A clever tale that defines karma!
The director’s choice of Anil Kapoor as the T.V show host is interesting. Anil K portrays himself as the slimy, full of himself, host, refusing to believe that a slum dog could win so much money without cheating and actually sending him to the police station to be interrogated by the police. Heard the book starts with this as the opening chapter. The movie has changed a number of things from the original book.
Raw, brutal, real, dramatic, tense and what fairy tales are made of. I wondered why it was rated R. Now I know. God, the slum horrors! The piles of s…, the crowds, the awful sanitation and gruesome conditions in which the little rascals but utterly adorable, enterprising children survive in spite of all the odds is a bit much to take. The worst scenes were when the children are maimed, prostituted and forced to beg. The maiming scene is very graphic. But I want my 13 yr old daughter to watch it. How long can we keep the kids protected from the injustices of the world?
So how did the director Danny Boyle (or rather the writer Vikas Swarup - a senior Indian I.F. S officer - of the original book titled Q & A) intertwine a story of hope, inspiration, good triumphs over evil, and romantic true young love (sigh) amidst this grim scenario? Watch the movie to find out.
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