My Take On Slumdog Millionare

I’ve finally gotten around to watching the much publicized “Slumdog Millionaire” by Danny Boyle. Everyone from Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, to the media in the US and UK have had their say about this movie. I was initially put off by the over hype surrounding the movie, but then decided to watch the movie and find out what the fuss was all about.

Even though the overall story is akin to typical 50’s to 70’s Bollywood formula, where the audience accompanies Jamal thorough his odyssey from a young child in the slums of Mumbai to a young man who is determined to save the girl he loves, we are thankfully spared from the typical Bollywood melodrama. The acting of young Jamal and Salim is pretty commendable, and so is the cinematography and the background score.

There are some aspects of the film that disappointed me. I believe when Danny Boyle started making this movie he sensed that this movie could get him the much coveted Academy Award (popularly known as The Oscars). What is incomprehensible though is, why two thirds of the film was made in English, and how come the main characters speak in English with an accent more akin to the typical Indian metrosexuals? How can you explain street urchins who turn start speaking flawless English as soon as they reach adolescence? It is plausible for them to be speaking in broken English as tourist guides in India do, but the “slumdog” with his brit accent is pretty ridiculous. Given that the movie is a British-American production being distributed by Fox Searchlight and Warner Independent Pictures, it would have been nominated for the Best Picture category even if the entire film was shot in Hindi. Movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and City of God have shown that the English speaking audience are receptive and appreciative of a movie even if it is made in non-English speaking language as long as the content of the movie is good. Using the local language (in this case Hindi) would have added a layer of authenticity to the film.

The most intriguing aspect of this film for me, was the character of Salim which I believe has been misconstrued by most. The common perception of him seems to be that of a villain who redeems himself at the end of the movie. Though his “change of heart” at the end might seem implausible to most, he was just a victim of his environment with shades of rage and jealousy and despite his shortcomings, he still loved his brother. Below I’ve tried to present the events from Salim’s perspective, and not justify his actions.

1. When Salim sells the autographed picture of Amitabh Bachchan, he tells his brother that he sold it because he got a good price for it. It goes to show that for him money was more important to him than an autographed picture. That money earned could help them get through another day.

2. In the scene following the riots, he tells Jamal that he was the elder now and that Jamal was his responsibility and that he would take care of Jamal. And then when he turns away from Jamal, you can see how scared he really was. The reason for Salim not allowing Latika to take shelter with them was because he figured she would burden him/them.

3. During the scene where he lets go off her hand when she tries to get on to the train, he only does so because she would have slowed him and his brother down and put their lives at risk.

4. He agrees to return to Mumbai with Jamal to look for Latika, albeit reluctantly, and then saves her and his own life by killing Maman so that he wouldn’t hunt them down. If all Salim cared about was separating Jamal and Latika, he wouldn’t have agreed to look for her in the first place.

5. After killing Maman and rescuing Latika, Salim realizes that after killing Maman he wouldn’t be safe on his own, and decides to join Javed’s gang. Just before killing Maman, Maman tells Salim and Jamal that Latika was worth a fortune. Salim realizes that Javed would have had her anyway and if Jamal protested at that time, both he and his brother would be killed. This was probably why he pushes Jamal out of the hotel room.

6. In an attempt to redeem himself at the end, he sends Latika away and kills Javed and in the process gets killed as well.

Having said that, I still found the ending a bit abrupt. There should have been something that Jamal or Latika did or said that would enable the viewers to draw an inference as to what made Salim do what he did at the end. Also I found the scene where Salim gets killed a bit cheesy.

So do I think the movie deserves an Oscar? Well, Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are the other front runners for the award. I haven’t seen the former and didn’t like the latter. I liked “The Wrestler” and “Gran Torino” and expected them to make the cut, but they didn’t, so I’d able to take a call only after watching the other nominated movies.

My Rating of Slumdog Millionare:- 7 out of 10. (And as I pointed out of earlier, the only reason I’m giving this high rating is because of the performances of young Salim and Jamal and the complexity of Salim’s character)

And now comes the “Million Dollar Question”:Will Slumdog Millionaire win the Best Picture award at the Oscars? The movie has been receiving raves from one section and at the same time there is a hullabaloo among the other section who believe that the movie portrays India as a corrupt and violent country. But given the emotional content of the film along with the fairy tale ending it just might pip the others. Let’s just say for Danny Boyle’s sake ...”It is written”.