Masand's Movie Review: Slumdog...'s touching, insp

Direction: Danny Boyle

Brit director Danny Boyle's uplifting saga about a Mumbai slumkid's rags-to-riches journey reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place – not to find fault, but to be entertained, touched and inspired. That's exactly how I felt when I first saw Slumdog Millionaire at the London Film Festival in October last year.

Wildly silly but entirely watchable, the film is best enjoyed when you aren't taking it too seriously, merely submitting yourself to its roller-coaster ride of exhilarating romance and heightened drama. It is after all a film with a big beating heart, a film that feels such affection for its characters.

Indeed Slumdog Millionaire is that rare foreign film that uses the Bollywood idiom to tell a simple, even clichd underdog story with remarkable success.

18-year-old Jamal Malik (played by Dev Patel) is an orphan who has spent his life scavenging on the streets, until he lands a spot as a contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati, where he makes a killing. The host of the show (played by a bullying, bellowing Anil Kapoor) mocks Jamal for his low-class roots, and has him arrested on suspicion of cheating – after all, how could an ordinary chai-wala know the answers to all these tough questions?

Sitting there tied up and being thrashed around by the cops, Jamal reveals how each question corresponds to a specific life lesson from his tragic past. His is a horrific tale of watching his mother being killed in front of his eyes, narrowly escaping mutilation himself, and losing his childhood friend to a prostitution ring.

In all fairness, there are few surprises in this movie - you can predict in the first ten minutes itself more or less how the entire movie will play out. What is surprising, however, is the unashamed, unabashed energy that the director devotes to his pursuit of the obvious. Into this convenient story bursting with coincidences and creative liberties -- where slumkids speak in accented English and Kaun Banega Crorepati is a live television show – Danny Boyle injects his uniquely vibrant, kinetic shooting style, and delivers a visual riot of a movie.

My favourite scene in the film is also the one that's most disgusting. I'm referring to a scene in which little Jamal dives into a pile of shit, and emerges moments later covered from head to toe in goo – I know, it's stomach-churning just thinking of it, but watch that scene up there on screen and notice the manner in which Boyle has turned it on its head; I think you'll agree it's one of the defining moments in Slumdog Millionaire.

Even when the script's loose, the characters hold you spellbound by their interactions, particularly the film's three protagonists – Jamal, his older brother Salim, and their childhood companion Latika. Three sets of actors are hired to play each of the three characters at different ages, but it's the youngest lot who leave a lasting impression.

Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as little Jamal is a face you're unlikely to forget anytime soon; he's the lifeblood of Slumdog Millionaire and he's complemented perfectly by Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali who play Salim and Latika with just the right mix of vulnerability and street-smartness.

Dev Patel as the all-grown-up teenage Jamal has a charming presence, even if his London accent grates when he responds to the game-show host's repeated taunts about his humble origins. Madhur Mittal brings a kind of Bollywood flair to the part of the older Salim, and Freida Pinto plays the teenage Latika with such wide-eyed innocence.

Slumdog Millionaire wouldn't be half the film if it weren't for Anthony Dod Mantle's breathless, dazzling cinematography which brings alive the slums and indeed Mumbai city too.

Much credit must go to AR Rahman for contributing a sumptuous soundtrack which proves a worthy accompaniment to the film's crackling narrative, which ends with the big item number at a railway station no less.

That image, of the actors dancing jubilantly to Jai Ho with a battery of extras behind, is a reminder that Slumdog Millionaire may be an overseas studio production, but at its heart it's very much an escapist Bollywood film about an underdog's struggle for survival.

Ten Oscar nominations and four Golden Globes aside, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is an enjoyable flight of fantasy, a modern day fairytale if you like.

I'm going with four out of five and a recommendation not to miss Slumdog Millionaire. This is what it means to lose yourself at the movies.

Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)