Slumdog Millionaire

—Review Score: 9/10—

Slumdog Millionaire is an Indian movie with a twist, a British twist to be exact. It’s unlike any normal Bollywood movie you’ve ever seen. Produced by British filmmakers, gone are the standard Cinderella theme, replaced by a shocking focus on Indian poverty and minority life. In short, this movie is worthy of an Oscar, it’s that good.

In the opening, this movie dishes out the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”-style question, ??Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A) He cheated, B) He’s lucky, C) He’s a genius, D) It is written.?? And this is  movie about an (East) Indian “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” player, who happens to be a slumdog, or in a proper manner, slum resident, in his whole life. It feels weird about how a seemingly simple movie about a TV game show can be a roller coaster entertainment. Jamal Malik is the lucky person, and somehow all of the questions in the game are related to Jamal’s life from childhood up to the moment he lives today. This is a complete story of life, about how poverty and minority status shapes the character of a person, about staying true to your ideals, and about destiny.

The great story is complemented with great cinematography and acting. Even though the actors/actresses are new, even to the Bollywood industry, they delivered a great performance overall. The movie also did a great job portraying the slum area of Mumbay and showing the actuality of these areas as well. And with the three time line, the movie is able to capture the character development really well. The musical scores used in the movie are also good. They support the intensity of the story and provide ample ambiance to the scenes

The only gripe is that this movie focuses too much on the poverty and the slum life (including the violent crime world) than might be able to create a bad impression about India as a whole. But if you able to understand that it’s only a shocking element of the movie, you’ll find yourself enjoying Slumdog Millionaire as a very fine piece of entertainment. This is a movie worthy of an Oscar.

(Picture Credit: Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight Site)