Thursday, January 22, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Every one I know who blogs has blogged about this movie.. and I don't know why I waited so long. I saw this movie about 3 weeks back. This is not in response to the golden globes the movie won or the Oscar nominations that the movie won..

Whats got me riled is INDIA and the frog syndrome.. A couple of days back, I saw a news article on rediff.com which says that the slum dwellers association in mumbai has sued Anil Kapoor and A.R Rehman. Anil Kapoor because not he.. but the character he portrays in the movie calls the boy a slum dog... where is the line between reality and cinema? Why pull down the one frog that managed to climb out of the well ?

Another thing that bothers me.. yes the movie is shot in India and yes its made in Mumbai and yes its got indian actors... how does that make the movie Indian? It could have been a story set anywhere..Not a single filmmaker in India would have dreamt in their wildest dreams that they could make a movie on life and innocent love and win the globes or the hearts of a million people.. because whats a movie without SRK or a few girls in skimpy clothes and a few dances?

I loved the fact that Danny Boyle gave 3 dimensions to his characters.In traditional Indian movies the good guy is always good.. the bad guy is the epitome of evil and demon...but in this movie..there is no good or bad guy essentially..the host is arrogant and bewildered by the success of the "slumdog"a s he calls the boy. The brother is practical and led astray by the glitter of wealth but still rejoices in his brother's success.. the slum dog is naive and remains so.. the beautiful girl is beautiful and good but still practical enough to know that life as she knows it cannot get better evn if she dreams of another life...

The music is another aspect of the movie I love.. its vibrant and its colorful.. No one else could have done justice to the music as Rahman did..

here is wishing Danny Boyle success at the Oscars for movie that belongs truly to him and his vision

2 comments:

sid said...

What the world would have been if everyone had same opinion?

However, I must say on this movie, I happily agree to disagree with your views.

Kavita said...

well the world would have been a very boring place.. if everyone had the same opinion.. think stepford wives quadrupled zillion times over...

you are welcome to disagree.. but i would also like to read your views and why you do...:)