A True Slumdog Millionaire

It took a Brit to do what Indians could not do all their lives. And when the case in question happens to be within the spheres of filmmaking, we could not even get it done in the city where the film industry lives – Mumbai. For before I come to the actual picture and its various aspects, I must first take a moment to speak of how, people who do not live in Mumbai, can learn the city through this film. And as I said, it took a Brit to do this. First things first – Shame on us!

Surprisingly, this is the only ugly text that may feature in this whole article. Wow!

What do I say about this movie? Beat me to death, but you will not get the story out of me. So, what do I say about this movie? What words can I find to describe this movie? And where do I begin? Because after all it is the story which is the true champion of this movie. Everything else is secondary. But then again, is it? It’s all very confusing. Not the movie. But the aspect of talking about it. I know, in most of my articles, I keep saying how we need to watch this or that film to really understand it. And then again, I say that only for films that I think really need to be seen. And is this the grand daddy of them all! Because this picture is a new age miracle. A tight impact on all the colours of the rainbow. It does not follow any set ideology and yet it covers all of them, without weighing down one over the other. It is truly what we know as being a true Bollywood film. And it has been made by a Brit.

It does seem, even to myself, that I cannot stop emphasizing on that fact. This is not the first time that a foreign film has been made on an Indian backdrop. There have been classical magnum-opuses like A Passage to India which have become landmarks in the annuls of global filmmaking. There has been of course, the picture that all Indians will remain indebted to for all their lives, The River by Renoir, because it was on the sets of this film that Satyajit Ray crossed the threshold and took the final step. But though these films have been made in India, or on an Indian subject, Slumdog Millionaire is something way different. Never before have I seen Dharavi captured with such magnanimity. The cuts leading away, with the canvas getting tighter and more lose with the predominant blue covers was absolutely mesmerising. The everyday communal clashes covered with reason are also endearing. A simple dream, covered with conviction, is so ‘Indian’. It contains all the flavours that Bollywood films have to offer and yet it is something that Bollywood has never made. Not the greats, not the mongrels, not nobody.

The photography throughout this movie is copybook and yet unseen. Handheld cameras are definitely back in business, but the fact that they can cover the majority of the whole movie without giving you a headache is what the whole matter is more about. And when photography is being praised, lighting appraisal becomes a given.

Even performances were text book. Save aside Anil Kapoor though. As a matter of fact, what he must be thinking was a great performance does actually add that certain vigour of comic relief. Yes, you can laugh at him most of the way, but that was the only weakest link. Even Dev Patel’s accent has been brilliantly covered through the rouse of a call centre. Each and every actor has delivered to the T. However, I must say that the child artists were the real epicentre in the whole movie. I do believe that children often make the best actors because they perform without any inhibitions or expectations. They are not there for an Oscar, and are not even concerned with the box office success rate of a film. They are taken to the sets and told to behave in a particular scene in a particular way. Take some of the best performances in recent history – Black, Navrasa and now Slumdog Millionaire. They really add the impetus to the whole movie right from the start. If anyone deserves an award for acting in the movie, it definitely should go to the children, not Dev Patel or Frieda Pinto, though theirs’ too were great performances.

All in all, it is the director who is in control of the whole situation. He has made everything possible. Otherwise, why would we, after seeing Bollywood films all our lives, suddenly appreciate what we have been disapproving of all our lives? It has to be the director. It cannot be anything else.

And yes, you think why I have still not spoken about the music? You think I will let that pass? I could write a whole PhD thesis on that alone. And it’s just not the whole harmony, it is for me particularly, a matter of great pride. It has finally happened. A R Rahman has done it. He made his impact on the world stage. The man, whose music Time magazine has claimed as one of the ten greatest soundtracks globally over time has finally told the world that we Indians can make music like never before. We have it to be everything like Hollywood and yet we are Indians in our unique small way. He has made the nation proud. Like I said, I could write a whole PhD thesis on the man himself.

And Danny Boyle was right when he said that everything in India is extreme. When we like something we go a long way to re-iterate that we like it. And he brought that out in the best way possible when he showed the whole country tune in to watch Jamal Malik go for the final answer and win gold. Be it in the slums of Dharavi or the rich urban class houses to even a gangster’s safe house, each and every Indian looked into their television sets. We are extreme. This would never have happened in America. Because everyone is on their own there. If they are not in it, they couldn’t give a damn. We on the other hand are bound by a very strong sense of nationalism and fellow-pride. We will all sit in front of our television sets and watch A R Rahman win a Golden Globe. Not because we are mere fans, but because an Indian is going to win the award. When the Taj Mahal was on the verge of being eliminated in some cockamamie Wonders list, we all messaged. More than once if need be. That’s what we are and Danny Boyle, making that movie in India remembered to show it. That shows that he’s just not a master story teller, he’s also a fine craftsman who keeps his eye open for every single detail.

It just felt good to see a movie like that after such a long time. When twenty years down the line, some critics will sit together to make a list of the greatest movies made in the last few decades, we can all be certain that Slumdog Millionaire will definitely be in that list.

It is written.