Slumdog Millionaire is right on the money

By Faheem Ahmed     12/4/08 6:00pm

With the Academy Awards just a few months away, Hollywood often releases a slate of films competing for a late Best Picture nomination. Among this year's releases is Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle, known for reinventing the typically dark drug genre by making it comical in Trainspotting and also making zombies freakily fast in 28 Days Later.Slumdog Millionaire has a very original premise, centering on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the wildly popular American game show. Jamal Malik (played admirably by newcomer Dev Patel) is an orphaned teenager who has spent the majority of his youth stealing and begging just to get by. He has overcome incredible odds to make it on the show and is now on the verge of winning 20 million rupees (around 500,000 American dollars). Doctors, lawyers and teachers have never reached the final question, but Jamal inexplicably knows all the answers. The police and the game show host believe that Malik is cheating, but Jamal has a different theory: it is destiny. Using cinematic flashbacks, director Boyle shows us that the clues to the answers for every question correspond with key events in Malik's life.

The movie spans three major time periods: Malik's early childhood, his adolescence, and his late teenage years. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, he is accompanied by his older brother Salim (Say Salaam India's Madhur Mittal) whose greed and temper often clash with Jamal's innocence. A large part of their rivalry has to do with Latika (the gorgeous newcomer Freida Pinto), a fellow orphan girl that Jamal has befriended. Salim believes Latika is a nuisance and will constantly get in the way whereas Jamal is convinced that she is the love of his life and soulmate. Due to various unsavory circumstances - drug lords, pimps and child abusers - Jamal, Salim and Latika are separated. Jamal now is on a quest to find Latika, whatever the cost.

The strengths of Slumdog Millionaire lie in its vivid cinematography, upbeat soundtrack (featuring M.I.A's "Paper Planes") and its child actors. Boyle's camera pans the trash-ridden, destitute underbelly of Mumbai and the soaring pinnacles of the Taj Mahal, making the scenery, costumes and architecture of India burst with color. Each of the flashbacks takes the audience to an unfamiliar place, and yet, they will still feel like they have traveled on this intimate journey with Jamal the entire time. Viewers will love the young child actors; three different sets of actors played Jamal, Selim and Latika respectively throughout the film.

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We are introduced to a funny and precocious Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) who will do absolutely anything to get a famous Indian actor's autograph. Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail), on the other hand, is a tad bit wiser and willing to exploit Jamal to turn a quick buck. He even locks Jamal in a suspended outhouse with only one way out. It is both awesome and disgusting. It is rare to find talented child actors who develop such depth of character.

Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is full of moments that make audiences laugh, cry and believe in the power of true love. This is truly an entertaining work of art and a great flick to take your loved one to over the holiday break, even if it is just to ogle Freida Pinto.

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