Last night at the Sandeep's, for the first time this year, I finally got to sit down and gulp a few pegs of Scotch. The Rajesh's and Mickey's had all come too. Rika came with her cute one-week old daughter. They were yet to figure out whether to name her Rania or Laila.
A sumptuous meal followed. Courtesy our host: Parul. There was a serious discussion on whether Parul should start Indian cooking classes in Stockholm. While the discussion went nowhere, all the food and drinks went to the right place at the right time. Sandeep had bought some expensive Fenny from his New year Goa and Rest of India trip. The others felt it was too much to gulp even with Schweppes diluting it and therefore reverted to the trusted Scotch soonafter.
The stage was set to watch a movie and it was decided that Slumdog Millionaire it will be.
Commotion prevailed even before the movie started. I went quiet after the movie began playing. There was even more commotion after that. The commotion created by the junta returning home to put the kids to bed was welcomed by me(though, I did not express it). Sandeep and I decided that we will watch the movie from the beginning, once again.
I was finally at peace to watch a rather violent start to the movie.
The screenplay was simply brilliant. It was nice to see the Mumbai chaws and streets shown so well on the silverscreen. We dont get to see them in "see them as they are" states even in many of the Bollywood movies these days.
Danny Boyle's bold take on the nuaces of Mumbai slums and the emotions surrounding it has to be applauded. While many are already talking about the next set of Oscars going to him and his team, I am still contemplating what took the moviemakers to come out with a masterpiece like this one? If a 400-odd rupees Vikas Swarup's book can inspire a movie like this, India is definitely in to bag every alternate Academy and Globe awards and any other Critics award world over. We just need more writers I guess!
The story revolves around Jamal, a slumdog from the Mumbai streets. The storyline is splendid. The movie is a breathtaking take on reality of the TV-world, ego of TV-personalities, small wishes of people from the smaller world, the call-center world and most importantly the torture of homeless kids and their stuggle to survive in a harsh-environment.
For some reason, this movie reminded me of another masterpiece called City of Angels. Though it is completely set in a different world of Rio's terror streets.
The central theme in the movie is that Love ke liye apun(Jamal) kuch bhi karega.
The creative idea of using a TV-show like Who wants to be a Millionaire in order to reach out to other(true) facets of life in Mumbai needs to be lauded over and over again. The movie lives up the pace of a Mumbaikar's everyday life. Pauses only to get up and start running all over again. Exceptional screenplay.
I've never been a ARR fan, but his background play in this movie adds the necessary tension and blends well with the emotions in the movie. A low in this movie though is a Bollywood-like number at the completion of the movie. It was unnecessary.
My only recommendation is Watch it, digest it and come back to watch it all over again.
On a scale of 10, I award a 7 to this Millionaire movie.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
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