Slumdog Millionaire Review

Danny Boyle's phantasmagorical affair .Occasionally chilling and frequently delightful in its artifice.A crowd pleaser Somehow the hype build around the movie and for the fact that I watched a screener version and that too so many weeks after the release.....compound to the fact that I present a distract from the spellbound splendor that is being associated with Boyle's work. Take a breather now:) For starters lets us not think it is fashionable to write a pitch down just to seek attention. I would say I have seen much better. I found the movie brilliant in patches but still I didn't find the pace consistent and screenplay was a bit contrived at times. It seemed that from frame one you were being cajoled to witness a fairy tale. It didn't work for me. A lot of the movie works for the brilliance by Lovleen Tandon with the portions done with the kids. Some terrific camerawork by Anthony Dod Mantle, great colors and frames and he has done excellent work. I won't say this surpasses Last King of Scotland but the challenges were so different this time and he has given such brilliant colors, so kudos to him and I am looking forward to his next work. AR Rahman does a great job, a lot of the gripping moments are aptly highlighted by the brilliant background score. As for actors, Salim worked for me, the kids were brilliant but the sad part was the protagonist. Come on Danny how on earth you could not get a Indian boy to play that role, such pronounced British accent by Dev Patel took away the Jamal I wanted. You build it up so nicely and then you drop it ..phew. The director wanted to present an outlook on Indian slum life but lacked a fresh take on the whole affair. The treatment was trite in portions and you felt strongly that this film was made by a non Indian. In the end nor the characters neither the folklore come out stronger, it seemed Boyle was more concerned pandering to liberal sensibilities. In some scenes you really find yourself witness to some old gimmickry which you seen before. The plot is quite interesting but at times the whole mushy romantic story with a bout of destiny puts you off but somehow Boyle holds it with his ecstatic direction in portions. The start and the climax are wonderful, aptly said to be "It is written" but such moments were few. The screenplay is more an amalgamation of east and west , Hollywood and Bollywood masala. Simon Beaufoy does a decent job after "The Full Monty" to adapt Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A. I still feel the narrative lost out as we got too much muddled with a lot of cliches. So definitely a crowd pleaser . I would prefer a Salam Bombay or City of God any day over this movie. Do watch them once you are done with this movie and you might like to agree.