Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Cast
Dev Patel
Anil Kapoor
Irfan Khan
Freida Pinto
Director
Danny Boyle
Screenwriter
Simon Beaufoy
Running Time
120 minutes

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions. Intrigued by Jamal’s story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out… (Fox Searchlight)

I thought it was really good. However it is way too ambitious, the scope of story they're trying to tell and filming it on the streets of Mumbai is just not possible for a small budget film, that they get about 80% of the way there is amazing. The adult characters' story is less effective than the two younger sections and overall Jamal's pursuit of Latika lost gravity as it went on rather than gained it.