slumdog millionaire

The movie starts with a question, Jamal who works as a tea boy in a call center, has won 10 million in the popular hindi version of “Who wants to be a millionaire”. How did he manage it, was he a cheat? One question away from wining a staggering 20 million rupees, he is arrested by the Cops.

The story unveils in bits and pieces, each part connected to one of the questions that Jamal faced, as he explains his story to the Cops, how he got to know the answers to the questions that were asked.

Born and brought up in the slums of Mumbai, This is the story of Jamal, who went on to become the millionaire overnight, in his search for his love, Lathika.  He doesnt intend to win the show, just wants to appear on it mainly because his lady love is obsessed with that show and is always glued to tube when the show is playing.  But as they say, “everything is written and it just happens.”

The story has been told beautifully, though I felt it was bit slow, I liked the movie. Based on and inspired from the novel Q&A by Vikas Swarup, the movie is just amazing.

The early days of Jamal played by Ayush Khedekar is extremely lively. Innocence emanates from his face and actions.

On the bad side, it portrays pathetic living conditions, complete apathy, and how the kids turn to robbery to make money.  Some holes here and there, mainly because its directed by a foreigner.

The major hole I felt was the language. Being an English movie the characters suddenly start speaking fluent English which is kind of unacceptable or acceptable based on which side of the table you are sitting.  The movie ends with a typical bollywood type song in the railway station, which could have been avoided.

The director puts you in first person, as you listen and watch jamal’s story unfold before your eyes, very nice photography adds to it. Every scene conveys something and requires you attention. Music director A.R. Rehman’s background score is amazing as usual.

The last I heard about this movie, it has grabbed 5 critic’s choice awards, including the best picture. We have to wait and watch to see if it can grab an oscar.

 

kidnap

Let me get this straight, I went to this movie with a lot of expectations. May be that was wrong on my part, came out wondering, what the heck??.

I think bollywood directors seem to think that a movie just contains 4 elements. Big names, some road rash, some stunts, bikini babes. Add nice locations, good camera work and they think it works magic. Nobody seems to give any importance to the story line.

The movie starts out a “sketchy” story of a boy going to juvenile prison, being abused there and eventually being released from the prison, when the titles are run. Then it does a typical heroine introduction song. Minisha lambha who plays ’sonia’ doesnt look seventeen at all. I think she needs atleast a part time course in acting. I guess no will notice that, since everyone will be busy watching other things!!

The story is full of pot holes that the director and team think will be excused by the “stupid, eat shit” public. The ultimate ridicule was that the heroine who is kidnapped gets to wear all kinds of designer clothes, each scene has her sporting new clothes. Come on boss, a little bit of reality helps a lot.

The chase sequence where both sanjay dutt and imran khan jump, climb, hop and dodge is inspired from Casino royale I think. Dutt has no problem playing his role as a tough business man.

What I could not understand is that Kabir (Imran khan) comes out of jail as a techie. He is a wiz when it comes to setting up spy cameras, hacking into bank accounts. I guess Indian prisons are full of resources

The story line makes it clear that the kidnap is not about money and its about revenge. But there is no punch in the story line. The only silver lining is that the episode brings Vikrant raina’s family together, which is a good thing. I like such softies

The film belongs to Imran khan, he managed to appear as a cold kidnaper without effort. This is such a deviation from his earlier appearance as a soft-looking, soft-speaking youngster in Jaane thu ya jaane na.

And then zoom tv goes about saying how Sanjay who had taken up gandhigiri after his success with “munna bhai” has taken up gun once again to save his daughter on screen and thus became just “bhai”, speculating that his next movie would convert him back to “dadagiri”

Ok the final thing about minisha lambha’s skin show. I’m sure that this is going to infuriate a lot of women. It did have my friends wife fume till she reached home. I’ll link you to what Swarna had to say about skin show by Nayantara in Kuselan.You have to read it replacing just the names.

I didnt write a review, but I liked saroja (tamil movie) that revolves around a kidnap incident involving a tough businessman’s daughter and money. It showcases how 4 ordinary men who venture out to see a cricket match in hyderabad save the girl. That, is story telling… Kidnap, is shit, deep shit.

Roshnee asked how it all ends, I didnt want to write about that, but then atleast I’ll help some folks save money .

They part away as good friends!! Literally, only thing they didnt do was hug each other, they exchange pleasantries and good wishes for a possible career in bollywood!

 

A Wednesday

This movie has perfect timing. It came to screen when terror blasts had rocked the capital and people were all angry.  The movie I thought was quite plain, but with a strong ending. In fact, the way it moved, I thought this would be another desi version of die-hard or the speed series.  Ofcourse there are straight lift-offs.

There are some questions that do remain in your head at the end of the movie. For instance, what did he plant all around the city, if they were not bombs? Why do it at all, when the one inside the police station was good enough? The technology theme seems similar to the speed. Anupam kher, Naseeruddin shah have acted very well. The teen age hacker, I felt was un-hackerly. He looked too much of a kid to really come off as a hacker. And this is a lift from die-hard 4.  Jimmy shergill tries to act tough, the way he trashes the rouges looked awkward.

What I could not understand is the debate that it started in a top line news channels. The host wanted to convey the message that the movie was without taste, and her impression that the movie suggested ordinary citizens to take up law in their own hands in the fight against terrorism, which they felt was unacceptable.

They cried against it and equated it to the salva-judum movement. For those of you who are unaware of this movement, it is an Anti-naxal movement where the goverment arms ordinary citizens to fight the naxal manace. It has its own history of human rights violation.

Oh please, its just a movie. Havent you seen one before? There has been umpteen number of movies where the ordinary citizen has acted taking up law in his/her hands. If you dont like it, write your review, leave it at that. Whats the point of wasting prime time talking your ‘feelings’. Go and help those poor flood water victims of Bihar and Orrisa.

Or Is this a ploy? Are they creating the hype required to get some attention to the movie. I have heard about movie marketing consultants who guarantee an amount as profit and and use different methods to get the viewer’s attention. May be this is one such scheme.