Slumdog Millionaire: Mediocre, Masala!! review

Hi Lalit.

Just one thing that you have mentioned about the actor who plays "Jamal." He is from England and Danny Boyle's daughter suggested him to rope in Dev Patel as "Jamal." But one thing is that why couldn't, or, don't any of the Indian / Bollywood Film directors make a film like this?

My sister was in India recently and she travelled a a lot around Mumbai, Baroda, Goa and Rajashthan and she told me that while in a city like Mumbai and Baroda, she felt like crying as she saw many of the slum areas and kids similar to "Salim" and "Jamal" and many of them were without much clothes on and some didn't have much food either. She saw all this while she was staying with her in - laws and other family members. What she saw was real and these were real kids. While she was there, she made sure that some of these kids were fed and on one occassion, she actually made sure that a small girl she had seen previously, had some clothes to wear.

The question is whether Slumdog was cinematic or "cinematic trickery" from Boyle to conceal the fact that its much ado about nothing..still its kinetic and highly entertaining, and will definiteley rank s one of the best entertainers of the year..

Anirban. I agree with you that its one of the best entertainers of the year.

Pratik: Its Aniruddha, Not Anirban :smile:

Aniruddha, you call it trickery or mastery over the medium but Danny Boyle overwhelms you with his depiction of the underdog world. One can think of many flimsy justifications behind many powerful moments in the film but the fact is the portrayal itself is so powerful that often it doesn't call for an explanation. Be it a sophisticated "slumdog" sitting in front of the almighty TV host, his western upbringing replete with "Three Musketeer" parallels in a slum, a beggar who knows Roosevelt and many more.

You're right in saying it "the best entertainer" of the year, I completely agree, however, I think it's little more than that. Yes, this film fits completely well within Bollywood's escapist, wish fulfillment conventions, but it also takes you closer to the reasons that gives rise to such escapism. It unleashes a quantum of raw cinematic energy that might defy a measured logic, but the irony is that the makebelief world that Boyle creates isn't completely unreal!

Pratik, the question is not why Indian filmmakers do not or cannot make a film like this, the question is whether should they? Whats wrong with what is being served to us today. True, 95% of what is served doesn't even merit one viewing but praise the Lord for the balance 5%. And Slumdog is not the yardstick against which Bollywood or and other wood ought to be measured. I completely disagree with all views calling it the 'entertainer of the year' (and by doing so belong to a minority). For instance, just say Happy-Go-Lucky one day after I saw Slumdog. And what a movie it was! Def more entertaining'.
Laalit i doubt if the Oscar fetes this one with the top honours.
One more point - The film is being criticized for taking a very jaundiced view of Bombay. But one fact conveniently forgotten is that its a film about a Slumdog, it has to be shot in the slums. Bombay has so many angles to it that fitting them all into 2 hours worth of cinema is impossible. In fact when it does move into that gratuitous shot of the Taj Mahal it seems out of place.

Aniruddha, I apologise.

Devang: My point is that if the Indian film makers were to make a film like this, then it would bring them more international regonition. There are plenty of Indians, who are born outside India, who have not seen the slum areas in India at all as many of them have never been to India. They haven't seen how the people in the slum areas live. Those who haven't seen this and have not been to India, mostly associate Mumbai with Bollywood and all its "glitz and glamour" and films like this from a Indian film maker would definitely make them think that Bollywood is not all glitz and glamour and that it can also show some reality - that they didn't know existed. Devang, I agree with you that the film is about a slumdog and really I think that the kids at the beginning of the movie really made the movie more interesting by the way they acted.

I feel 'recognition' is a product of marketing and quality rather than subject matter. And a Danny Boyle film will be seen world over whether its shot in India or elsewhere.

I think some people are making hue and cry about slumdog....cuz its made by a foreigner..if it had been made by any indian film maker everyone would have been gala about it.. i believe slumdog fits into a category of good cinema, either it shows slum life or whatever..Lots of Indian film makers show in their films, NRI life style,and culture, frankly speaking how much percentage of Indians live that kind of life style but even common people enjoy watching those films, so why this big fuss about a film which is based on a real life...we can not negate this fact that our metro centres have good sizeable chunk of slum dwellers, whats wrong if someone is making good a film based on slum life..:City of God' a film again based on slum life but everyone has appreciated and still is appreciating that film unanimously...
the other day day i watched ' Revanche" a film from Austria short listed for oscar in best foreign language category..i found 'slumdog......is a better film than " Revanche"...
we should accept this fact that we can make only mediocre films such as chandni chowk to china town...in compare to CC2 CT ' slumdog is cult movie.....Mr. Ray's maximum films had depicted Indian poor life and he got the international recognition but no one here is putting a question mark on his ability of making a good film..why some people are making such big noise if a foreigner has made a good film on Indian subject....

Devang: My point is that if one of our film makers would make a film like this and market it through properly and with some help from the likes of "Warner Bros," who are looking into making it into "Bollywood," then there are chances that it will attract more attention, Also if directors like Shekhar Kapur, who directed film like "Mr India" but was heavily criticised by some for taking time in the projects that he was involved in, go into "Hollywood" and make films like "Elizabeth" and win an oscar for it, then the other Indian film makers, who have the "ingredients" available to them to make a film such as "Slumdog," why don't they make the most of it and market it on a level that Akshaye Kumar has don with "Chandni Chowk To China" and the way that Danny Boyle has done.

I have put in a topic on this in the forum under "Bollywood."

Mujhaid, I would agree with you on the point as to that many of the cities in India have such slums. A few years back there was another movie, which was based on the novel by Domique La Piere, "City of Joy," which was based in Kolkatta (Calcutta) and I remember when the book was launched, the author had indicated that this was based on his research. There were incidents in the book that made me cry and to know that this was based on facts was hard to sink in.

@ Mujahid Raza

"Mr. Ray’s maximum films had depicted Indian poor life and he got the international recognition but no one here is putting a question mark on his ability of making a good film."

Out of the 36 films he made, only two of Ray's films deal directly with poverty -- the first two in Apu trilogy (and if you argue, the third one partly.) Among his later films, Ashani Sanket was not about povety, but about a man-made (ie, British -made) famine in 1943 (and that famine has been a major research interest among developmental economists and other culture studies academicians, including Prof. Amartya Sen.) So, technically, that is not a film about poverty.

The other two films about poverty are the two fairy tales Ray made -- films with Goopy and Bagha. It was there dire poverty was shown. But, they were allegories, they were fairy tales.

Ray never showed the kind of poverty Bollywood regularly showed. Ray made films about village. And he showed them in a political way. Famines in Bengal is a hot topic among all culture studies scholars. It is not to be forgotten Permanent Settlement Act was put to to practice in 1793 in Bengal only (Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.)

Mr.Anirban,
i mean to say Mr. Ray's lost of films were based on rural set up or lower middle class milieu, but still his films have been appreciated in India as well as in abroad...
in today's time if someone is making a good film which is based on indian slum or indian village set up, why there is so much cry about it...cinema is the mirror of the society...if slums exist in indian society whats wrong if some one is making a film on slum kids or slum people, after all they are also part of human existence, why can't they be the subjects of big canvas....only the rich and NRI people have the license to be the subjects of so called Bollywood films or what........
good films always must be appreciated, it does not matter who has made those or on whom those are based....In that yard stick 'Slumdog...........is a good film it deserves applause and appreciation..i am glad for the first time some indian has won the golden globe because of 'Slum dog....i hope it will create a history in oscar too................

Very interesting. Finally I found out that tI I am not the only one. There are few people that actually watched the movie. It was interesting and fun but not worthy of SAG or Golden Globe and believe me it will win the oscar too because Oscar is rigged too, there is no way that they will not give Slumdog an Oscar b/c it is made by a British based on India and Oscar community loves multi country project.
I have following questions for Slumdog fans
1. How are the uneducated Chai wala speaks fluent english and is able to understand the American accent and able to give Taj Mahal tours? How many Indian Chai wala understand english, the had to change the name to (Chropatti - sorry I can't spell that) in India so people can understand.
2. How come the host is so rude and wants the contestant to lose.
3. How come the blind kid recognize Jamal? He was not blind and never felt Jamal's face?
Many more to list
It is a very good movie but not worth any awards!!!

Hi Bedi.

I am not a staunch fan of this movie but i will try and answer some of your questions but first you are indicating that the Academy Awards (Oscars) are rigged. On what basis are you saying this?

Regarding your question about the blind recognising Jamal without touching his face. From my experience in working with the blind some years back, I will say is that if one is not able to see, then they develop senses that not even those who are able to see have and this, by many, is termed as "The Sixth Sense." It is this that triggers off something and gives the information - a sense of soemthing.

I wouldn't say that the host was being rude, but I would say that he was being intimidating and this could be because he felt that how can someone from a slum know the answers and later he does mention that he felt that he cheated. But watch the interrogation scene at the Police station and one is able to sense that the boy probably knew the answers as it is shown throughout the movie.

Lastly, how can an uneducated chaiwallah speak fluent English and take people on a tour around the Taj? Well! I have a friend from India and more recently my sister, whose in - laws live in India, visited India and they say that in many parts of the country, there are schools for those who live in the slums and that many of these kids go on and find good jobs and that they are able to speak good level of English. Not only that, but because they are earning good salaries, they do invest in clothing to wear. But coming onto the tour of the "Taj Mahal," the kids didn't know the history of it but to stay alive, I would say that they used what Englsih they had learnt in their school.

I hope that I have been able to answer some of your questions and even though this is not a "Bollyood" movie, there is a point on this in the forum section, under "Bollywood."

Slumdog is a fast-moving film made by a white-script writer and white director to turn up their noses at India. All the Golden Globe and Oscar Hoopla only means that other white men too feel the same...Along with the shit and stink of India, Hinduism's variety too offends these men...so they have taken pot and panoramic shots at both...But of course, our people who are alienated from their own roots will never understand that and will not stop licking Boyle's bottom....That is not to mean that we can excuse ourselves from helping the poor...that is what Baba Amte and Medha Patkar are trying to do...and you can be sure that they don't use toilet paper like Boyle and his scriptwriter...
Vamanan

So Vamanan what you are saying is that, if someone was to show some reality of life which is applicable to thousands, if not millions of others, you would not appprove it rather than face the fact it it exists? Did you watch an interview that was given by the child actor, who played the role of Salim in "Slumdog Millionaire?" Did you see the so - called house he was living in? It was just a plastic sheet which was used as a cover for a roof and he himself described this "as a dog's life" and he was in tears. His father is said to be suffering from TB. The other, the girl who played the role of little Latika, her house had a decent but metallic roof. The thing was that this was situated right next door to an area full of filth and latarines, considered by many as exteremely unhygenic.

Today, its been announced that the two child artists and their families are to receive a decent accomodation and are therfore, to move out of the Slum areas that they have been living in. Not only that but until they reach the age of eighteen, their education is to be taken care off and when they are at that age, they are receive some other form help but as long as they have finished their education. It is already said that the two children are now motivated and want to continue with their education and want to go on with their studies. Would you deny them this opportunity?

Good point Pratik..if a film like Slumdog can be made depicting the terrible reality of living life in the slums, then it ceases tio be just fiction and becomes something like an expose. Everyday we see children living life little better than animals on the streets of Mumbai, most often we ignore it as its too disturbing. Whatever its intentions, films like Slumdog force us to accept this bitter reality that even today many people in India's financial capital cannot afford even a decent meal. We need more such films to make the authorities and society at large ashamed of this 60-year old complacency in modern India.

Aniruddha, thanks.

I have inserted a discussion point in the forum under Bollywood. Yes I agree with you that such films force us to accept this reality. My heart wept when I saw that interview and that boy crying.

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