I have never reviewed a movie on my blog but when a certain movie with deshi theme generates so much international/domestic media interest and gets nominated for almost all international movie awards(Oscars, Golden Globe etc), I thought to check out the buzz all by myself. Its a different story how I ended up watching the movie in a slick city theater(my only second movie in a theater after Don2 in 2006!!). Alright so here is my verdict on this movie - Slumdog Millionaire(SM) is an out and out bollywood masala type feel good movie made in a potupurri of hindi/english language. Thats about it folks - nothing less nothing more.
The storyline is so much bollywoodish - hero's childhood trauma, lost love, struggling life, a villain and eventually a happy ending! So how come a movie which is almost a bollywood formula film dished out in the backdrop of notorious Mumbai slums could strike a chord with the world audience? I thought about it for a while longer and soon got messed up in the cobweb of too many plausible reasons which clogged my mind. This blog was an afterthougt of that quagmire which completely hung up my thinking apparatus called brain so to speak and hope it would boot up my brain normally once I am done with the post. So here are those cluttered thoughts in random order enumerating why the movie created history of sorts -
1) The first and foremost reason SM got noticed by the world audience - it is made by a seasoned holywood director Danny Boyle (I saw 'A Life Less Ordinary' a few years back and only realized now that it was one of the 20 odd movies directed so far by him). I would like to put my neck out on the line by making an almost racist statement here-had this movie been made by an Indian director, I bet it would have been just like another run of the mill bollywood movie which might have done a weeks business(or even less) and then would have quickly faded in our ephemeral memory. To prove my point, compare this movie with Oscar referred Lagaan starring Aamir. Both the movies have exactly same common themes - feel good factor, never die spirit, a love angle and an ultimate victory in trying circumstances. Yet Lagaan couldn't make it even in Foreign film category in the then Oscars whereas SM is a hot favourite in almost all mainstream categories spanning the entire gamut of the current Oscar awards. Its very difficult to pin point this anomaly but I have made a few attempts in as many points below. So read on.
2) The movie literally personifies feel good factor with love being its epicenter. Now considering the times we are living in - recession, terrorism etc, it ain't a surprise that anything which feels good would connect with the audience instantly. However it doesn't lessen the goodness of the movie by any means.
3) The biggest contributing factor for making this movie a hit as per my hyposthesis here is the clever interwinding of a T.V show called 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' with the main plot of the movie. Now for this sole point, I would give entire credit to Vikas Swarup, the author of the book 'Q&A' which is adapted in the movie. The show is a well known T.V show in almost all civilized countries of the world and hence was a common running thread to connect the story with the planet's mortals. I would bet my money in saying that this movie would not have connected so well had it not been for the inclusion of the game show in the movie.
4) A.R Rahman got accolades from all over the world for his music in the movie. Let me be bluntly honest here - he has scored an absolute average routine music as per his own standards for this movie. We in India as Indians know what A.R Rahman is and what kind of sole touching music he can churn out. I would put it this way - the world just got introduced to A.R Rahman's talent through this movie. However the talent as exhibited by him in this movie is not even the tip of the iceberg to put it that way. Its like the world self rejoicing in the discovery of a stoneage wheel when Rahman has already given us(the Indians) formula one cars!!
Notwithstanding all the above mentioned points, the movie is definitely a must dekho for all the movie lovers in India but with a caution line - dont overexpect from this film(we are so used to this genre of films). But to the foreign audience - expect the unexpected, unexperienced thrill of a typical masala bollywood film which you have been unaware about since stoneage!! I was not so gung ho about this movie being nominated at almost all biggies in the Hollywood arena as I fail to find much Indianness in a film made by a foreign director(just as with the much acclaimed movie Gandhi). And I also agree with Big B when he recently said that why we Indians go crazy whenever we find anything India related getting nominated or even mentioned in their affairs? Are we so insecure/unsure about our own identity? I guess I would have another post on this point some other day. However I am absolutely gung ho about the fact that this movie has put the bollywood masala formula on the world map and it wont be a surprise in coming years to find many more India/bollywood centric/themed movies finding their ways to the Oscars.
Jai Ho Bollywood!
The storyline is so much bollywoodish - hero's childhood trauma, lost love, struggling life, a villain and eventually a happy ending! So how come a movie which is almost a bollywood formula film dished out in the backdrop of notorious Mumbai slums could strike a chord with the world audience? I thought about it for a while longer and soon got messed up in the cobweb of too many plausible reasons which clogged my mind. This blog was an afterthougt of that quagmire which completely hung up my thinking apparatus called brain so to speak and hope it would boot up my brain normally once I am done with the post. So here are those cluttered thoughts in random order enumerating why the movie created history of sorts -
1) The first and foremost reason SM got noticed by the world audience - it is made by a seasoned holywood director Danny Boyle (I saw 'A Life Less Ordinary' a few years back and only realized now that it was one of the 20 odd movies directed so far by him). I would like to put my neck out on the line by making an almost racist statement here-had this movie been made by an Indian director, I bet it would have been just like another run of the mill bollywood movie which might have done a weeks business(or even less) and then would have quickly faded in our ephemeral memory. To prove my point, compare this movie with Oscar referred Lagaan starring Aamir. Both the movies have exactly same common themes - feel good factor, never die spirit, a love angle and an ultimate victory in trying circumstances. Yet Lagaan couldn't make it even in Foreign film category in the then Oscars whereas SM is a hot favourite in almost all mainstream categories spanning the entire gamut of the current Oscar awards. Its very difficult to pin point this anomaly but I have made a few attempts in as many points below. So read on.
2) The movie literally personifies feel good factor with love being its epicenter. Now considering the times we are living in - recession, terrorism etc, it ain't a surprise that anything which feels good would connect with the audience instantly. However it doesn't lessen the goodness of the movie by any means.
3) The biggest contributing factor for making this movie a hit as per my hyposthesis here is the clever interwinding of a T.V show called 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' with the main plot of the movie. Now for this sole point, I would give entire credit to Vikas Swarup, the author of the book 'Q&A' which is adapted in the movie. The show is a well known T.V show in almost all civilized countries of the world and hence was a common running thread to connect the story with the planet's mortals. I would bet my money in saying that this movie would not have connected so well had it not been for the inclusion of the game show in the movie.
4) A.R Rahman got accolades from all over the world for his music in the movie. Let me be bluntly honest here - he has scored an absolute average routine music as per his own standards for this movie. We in India as Indians know what A.R Rahman is and what kind of sole touching music he can churn out. I would put it this way - the world just got introduced to A.R Rahman's talent through this movie. However the talent as exhibited by him in this movie is not even the tip of the iceberg to put it that way. Its like the world self rejoicing in the discovery of a stoneage wheel when Rahman has already given us(the Indians) formula one cars!!
Notwithstanding all the above mentioned points, the movie is definitely a must dekho for all the movie lovers in India but with a caution line - dont overexpect from this film(we are so used to this genre of films). But to the foreign audience - expect the unexpected, unexperienced thrill of a typical masala bollywood film which you have been unaware about since stoneage!! I was not so gung ho about this movie being nominated at almost all biggies in the Hollywood arena as I fail to find much Indianness in a film made by a foreign director(just as with the much acclaimed movie Gandhi). And I also agree with Big B when he recently said that why we Indians go crazy whenever we find anything India related getting nominated or even mentioned in their affairs? Are we so insecure/unsure about our own identity? I guess I would have another post on this point some other day. However I am absolutely gung ho about the fact that this movie has put the bollywood masala formula on the world map and it wont be a surprise in coming years to find many more India/bollywood centric/themed movies finding their ways to the Oscars.
Jai Ho Bollywood!
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