Jamal: “Come away with me.”
Latika: “And live off of what?”
Jamal: “Love.”
Combine the childhood thievery and favela violence of City of God with the game show focus of Quiz Show, and you arrive at director Danny Boyle’s latest effort. Different than any other 2008 U.S. release, Slumdog Millionaire exists without a single recognizable superstar and floats on a wondrous cloud of love, hope, and destiny. It is concurrently brutal and beautiful, and one of the year’s best.
Slumdog Millionaire opens with a screen that reads: “Mumbai 2006: Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it?” Then, four multiple choice answers appear one by one on screen (just like they do on the game show) and read...“A. He cheated, B. He’s lucky, C. He’s a genius, or D. It is written.” Cleverly, the “final answer” does not appear until the film’s closing shot.
In the interim, the audience learns that Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The set, music, and lifelines are identical to the American version. However, the host is not Regis Philbin or Meredith Vieira; instead, it is Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor) who sits across from the “hot seat” and reads Jamal the questions and their four possible answers.
On account of the horn sounding just before Jamal gets to the 20,000,000 rupees question, Jamal must wait until the following day to film the remainder of his run. In between filming the live show, the authorities interrogate Jamal for potential fraud. During this time, Jamal begins to tell his story of growing up as a slumdog with his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) and his friend/love interest Latika (Freida Pinto).
Jamal explains how he arrived at each answer either due to a previous life event or through use of a lifeline. In watching Jamal and Salim steal food from train cars, shoes from guests of Taj Mahal, and pocketbooks off of bleachers, one comprehends Jamal’s roots. In seeing Jamal “phone a friend” and realizing whose voice answers, one understands his future.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments
1 - Mumbai
I saw Slumdog Millionaire today. Boyle has really done a good job with this movie. While the movie deals with the gory details of the underbelly of Mumbai, it doesnt really leave you with a sick feeling. The story feels like a commentary and at the end you just feel good about the whole movie. Very well done I must say.
The music score by Rehman is amazing, the actors who played junior Jamal and Salim were the real stars. They were simply too good. Freida Pinto had just 15 mins of screen presence. I think she was overhyped.
2 - Cindy
Slumdog Millionaire's Poverty-stricken Child Stars Appear Used and Discarded by Filmmakers.
The film grossed more than $326 million, yet all this time later the two children who made this revenue possible are still living in squalor.
MUMBAI, India " The makers of "Slumdog Millionaire" met with the film's two impoverished child stars Wednesday in Mumbai, but the father of one of the children stormed out of the meeting, saying they've been forgotten since the movie won eight Oscars.
Rubina Ali, 9, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, both lost their homes this month as city authorities cleared out parts of the slum where they live.
Rubina has been staying with relatives and Azhar has been living in a makeshift shanty of tarps and blankets with his parents.