Slumdog Millionaire

Genre:Drama
Language: English & Hindi
Director: Danny Boyle (The Beach)
Cast: Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto
Runtime:120 min

Plot:

Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child from the Dharavi slums. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire hosted by Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). Jamal has made it to the final question, scheduled for the next day, but the police are now accusing him of cheating, because the other possibilities, that he has a vast knowledge, or that he is very lucky, both seem unlikely.

Watched this on 15 Feb afternoon @ The Cathay with Sylvia.

I know this movie before it's release, even before the wining of the Golden Globe. Henry told me that he watched this movie from his source and found it interesting and highly recommend me to watch it. At first, I wasn't interested at all, thinking how a Bollywood movie can be interesting? Then came the winning of the Golden Globe for Best Film and many reports on how well the movie has done, I'm convinced that this is another movie one cannot not watch!

The movie shows audiences many contrasts, the Rich vs the Poor, Clean Bungalow vs Dirty Slum, Women washing along river vs Men hanging around roadsides, commoners fighting for lives vs Police gambling for lives, etc. I like how the movie shows the different period and colours, the switching of childhood memories to the game show, then to the interrogation by the police officer.

Suddenly, I felt how lucky I am to be in Singapore, else will I be able to survive in that kind of environment. While we are comfortable eating our bowl of laksa in the air-conditional food court, the poor, parent-less children had to beg in the slum to earn themselves a meal, at the same time hoping to be a successful singer trusting the kind soul who offered them the shelter and food.

The movie ended like a fairy tale, typical happily ever after. Plus the infamous Bollywood in-line dance by all the actors. So typical yet brings a smile on my face. I suddenly missed the old days when I had to watch Bollywood movies on TV because that was the only programme to watch during weekends.

ah-deng says: 4½ / 5 Worth my $10.