[Assam] Slumdog Millionaire

[Rajen Barua]

Chandan
I am not a film critic. But to me I think the film did what Satyajit Roy could not do, what 'Salam Bmbay' could not do. That is to bring the real 'other' India to the world in a most entertaing way. I asked our two daughters about the whole movie after the show. They loved it. It is so real. I bet some scenes are too graphic for a weak person to watch. And some weak Indians who are alergic to any critical view of real India, might call it India bashing. But speaking of the art of film, I think the film had the same affect of one one titled, 'Looking for Private Ryan' or something which depicts real war scene. 'Slumdog Millionaire' is I think more stronger and more apealing. Looks like the movie is picking lot of Oscar nomination. Again it had to be a Briths director.
We Indians are in so much in a bubble of 'Who wants to be a Millionaire'.
Thanks
Rajen
 > Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:22:53 -0600> To: assam at assamnet.org> From: cmahanta at charter.net> Subject: Re: [Assam] Slumdog Millionaire> > Hi R:> > Glad you all enjoyed the movie. I had not read any reviews before > this one. The one you include is very much to the point I think.> > The movie is essentially of the Bollywood genre', as the reviewer > explains, except in fancy terms, like "----OK, the concept bends > coincidence to the breaking point. But Jamal's traumatic youth is his > lifeline. Boyle makes magic realism part of the film's fabric,--" ; > but it is a Bollywood movie that Bollywood itself would never make, > even if it could.> > >The no-bull honesty of Slumdog Millionaire hits you hard.--> > *** Absolutely!> > c> > > > > > > > > > > > At 8:01 PM -0600 12/25/08, Rajen & Ajanta Barua wrote:> >Friends> >Today on Christmass Day, our whole family went to see the movie > >Slumdog Millionaire.> >> >What a beautiful movie!> >What a love story!> >What an entertaining way of telling the real story of other India!> >What a Christmass Gift to our family!> >> >I could resisit looking what type of review the movie is receiving. > >I am glad to see most of these are very positive.> >The following is a typical one,> >Congratualtions to Anthony Dod Mantle.> >He has done a great service not only to the art of movie but to India herself.> >Thanks> >Rajen Barua> >> >> >Th movie has the goods to bust out as a scrappy contender in the > >Oscar race. It's modern India standing in for a world in full > >economic spin. It's an explosion of color and light with the > >darkness ever ready to invade. It's a family film of shocking > >brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse, a fantasy of wealth > >fueled by crushing poverty.> >You won't find many fairy tales that open with a graphic torture > >scene. The cops think 18-year-old Jamal Malik (a sensational Dev > >Patel) is a fraud. Goaded by the show's host (the superb Anil > >Kapoor), the police inspector (Irrfan Khan) is determined to beat > >the truth out of Jamal before he goes back on the show and hits the > >jackpot of 20 million rupees. Presumably this is not the way Regis > >Philbin ran things when the show hit America in 1999.> >> >Brimming with humor and heartbreak, Slumdog Millionaire meets at the > >border of art and commerce and lets one flow into the other as if > >that were the natural order of things. Sweet. Screenwriter Simon > >Beaufoy (The Full Monty) brings focus to Q & A, the episodic Vikas > >Swarup novel on which the film is based. Still, the MVP here is > >Danny Boyle, who directs the film brilliantly. Boyle is the > >Irish-Catholic working-class Brit who put his surreal mark on > >zombies (28 Days Later) and smack addicts (Trainspotting), and made > >us see ourselves in their blood wars. Those movies were so potent, > >as was his 1994 debut, Shallow Grave, that we looked the other way > >when Boyle went Hollywood with The Beach and screwed up with A Life > >Less Ordinary. Somehow we knew that Boyle had the stuff to work > >miracles.> >> >Here's the proof. We learn the history of Jamal and the other > >principal characters in flashbacks, as Jamal answers questions on > >the TV show not from book knowledge - he has none - but his own life > >experiences. Jamal is searching for two people from his childhood: > >his wild older brother Salim (an outstanding Madhur Mittal), now a > >thief and killer, and his adored Latika (the achingly lovely Freida > >Pinto), now stepping up from child prostitute to plaything of a > >gangster. Every incident, including the brothers' watching their > >mother die in an anti-Muslim riot, feeds into Jamal's answers on the > >show. OK, the concept bends coincidence to the breaking point. But > >Jamal's traumatic youth is his lifeline. Boyle makes magic realism > >part of the film's fabric, the essential part that lets in hope > >without compromising integrity.> >> >Anthony Dod Mantle uses compact digital cameras to move with speed > >and stealth through the slums and palaces of Mumbai. The film is a > >visual wonder, propelled by A.R. Rahman's hip-hopping score and > >Chris Dickens' kinetic editing. The whoosh of action and romance > >pulls you in, but it's the bruised characters who hold you there. > >Every step Jamal takes toward his final answer could get him killed. > >Even in the Bollywood musical number that ends the film, joy and > >pain are still joined in the dance. The no-bull honesty of Slumdog > >Millionaire hits you hard. It's the real deal. No cheating.> >> >> >> >_______________________________________________> >assam mailing list> >assam at assamnet.org> >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org> > > _______________________________________________> assam mailing list> assam at assamnet.org> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org