Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Well lets begin with the positives.

The storyline is quite new, something you haven't seen in the past - and as most of us know it comes from the book 'Q n A' by Mr Vikas Swarup (a indian bureaucrat by profession... have you noticed how many indian bureaucrats especially on foregin postings are writing books these days! No real work to do .. eh?). The acting by small kids is good - they shine compared to their older 'avatars' in the movie.

Yeah, i didn't have too many positives sorry - inspite of the hype.

Now, for the things which i did not like.
The movie has this fundamental problem - it is not 'engaging'. A movie must tie you down to your seat, and want you to look forward to the next scene, and the next, and the next... but this one doesn't. Then there is the music - it is one of the mediocre works of A.R.Rahman. Except for the couple of songs which are good, the background score as a whole is disappointing and it doesnt stay with you. The main protagonist 'Jamal' played by 'Dev Patel' is completely miscast. He doesn't look the character; you just don't connect with him. And as for Anil Kapoor, well he doesn't have much to do.

Danny Boyle sure must be a great director - because it wouldn't have been easy for someone from UK to understand this subject and try to shoot a movie in Mumbai.

I have this feeling that somehow this movie would have turned out to be much better in the hands of a good bollywood director - someone like Ashutosh Gowariker or Aamir Khan. But, in that case most likely it would have failed to get the international recognition it is getting now.

All in all, found this movie to be a case of: good effort, but average results and lots of awards!