Slumdog Millionaire - A Review

Grade: C-


It's a bad film. And mind you I am not one of those jingoistic Indians who despises each and any movie that shows India in a so called "poor" light.

Boyle knows Edinburgh and its surrounding areas inside out. He knows it's residents and he can make an equivalent of a Trainspotting for every type that inhabits these areas. In case of 28 Days later, the subject by itself allowed Boyle to set it in known surroundings and his task was to make these surroundings unfamiliar (which he did rather well). But with Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle is forced to make a film that's set in a city that he is not familiar with at all. And on top of that the film is based on a script that has an interesting premise but is riddled with stereotypes that plague every single script churned out about Mumbai. The screenplay falls into the category of the classic "modern day" screenplay where a montage of incidents is constructed and the characters just jump from one incident to the next. In short the screenplay is just like that of any Hollywood disaster movie.

If the above is not bad enough, Danny Boyle adopts the 2 most important tenets of "modern day filmmaking": fantastic editing and breathtaking camerawork. They do what they are exactly meant to do: induce an artificial and racy flow to the story-telling thereby not letting the film breathe(this is something the new age filmgoer seems to prefer and love). And because of Boyle's unfamiliarity with Mumbai, the film is full of cliched images of Mumbai that pervade every movie set in it (with the exception of some movies of the Hindi "parallel cinema" movement). These cliched images make Boyle look like a "superficial Hollywood director" or an "accomplished Bollywood director" without any insight at all into the internal mechanics of the city. There are the customary aerial shots of the slums, an aerial shot of the red light area crowded with people, a scene between brothers on the 20th floor of a skyscraper under construction which then pans out to show the city, thus conjuring up profound imagery that Mumbai is city of slums and skyscrapers. It is equivalent to setting the film in New York and populating the movie with shots of Manhattan, Harlem and the subways.

The much praised soundtrack is possibly Rehman's weakest score, but it does suit the film in parts. As far as acting goes, the characterization of the quiz show host and it's audience is shocking to say the least. The adult actors are adequate and most of them either seem to be struggling to act or are sleepwalking through their roles. The child actors are the saving grace of the film.

To make a film which is trying to encapsulate all the aspects of 21st century India is impossible. Boyle had a huge challenge to turn an awful script into a good film and I am sure he was fully aware of the it's quality. This might explain why he chose to overcome it's deficiencies with the technical wizardry, but unfortunately for him and the viewer, he is unable to do so.


PS: For readers curious to read a more detailed analysis of this mediocre film you can visit Passion For Cinema.