Slumdog Millionaire

I will give Slumdog Millionaire a four-star rating. It loses a star for its somewhat far-fetched plot and an only average standard of acting. But, on all other counts, it deserved its Oscars.


The cinematography is brilliant. The angles at which it captured the scenes give an interesting perspective of slum life in India and the colours that are part of the environment but which are often missed because overwhelming poverty grabs your attention. Yet -- because of the cinematography -- you see colour in that abject poverty -- flashes of colourful sarees and reflecting light in running water and falling rain, for example. The music is hauntingly dramatic, weaving the theme of tragedy as the plot unfolds and the drumbeat keeps you sensually in suspense.


The movie is tightly edited and the plot, while simple, portrays a slice of reality in up and coming India -- the horrors of life in the slums which form the inescapable reality of its inhabitants. That's the way life is -- unless luck is on your side. As the blind boy Aravind tells Jamal: "The only difference between you and I is that you were lucky!"


And luck is on Jamal's side all the way to the top prize of the game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". It is quite incredulous that all the questions that the host of the show asks Jamal could be related to some specific experience he has gone through. That might be a bit hard to believe, but it does show that Jamal is, indeed, a lucky guy who -- because of luck -- finally gets the love of his life!


Despite its apparent shortcomings, Slumdog Millionaire is nevertheless a highly entertaining movie. It is visually stimulating and musically emotion-evoking and with a real plot without the typical melodrama that Bollywood is famous for. And, Danny Boyle definitely deserves an Oscar for Best Director for taking unknown actors and slum children and raising them to a commendable standard of acting as evidenced in the movie.


Slumdog Millionaire is worth watching!