User Reviews

An exhilarating realistic fairy tale that will make you feel like flying. I certainly felt it. Rewarding without being opportunistic. This tale of two orphan brothers in a slum of Bombay is a mixture of heart wrenching and uplifting emotions. I didn't know anything about the film other that what I just mentioned and that was part of the enjoyment so I won't talk about the film to allow you the same discovery I went through. Let me just say that this is Danny Boyle's best film and the cast of unknowns is truly extraordinary. The last few minutes of the film will have you on the edge of your seat hoping against hope that what "is written" is really written.

I also saw this film at to Toronto Film Festival. The audience gave it a well deserved standing ovation. This story is told seamlessly. The revealing look into the Mumbai slum is just one of the beautiful and terrifying story lines. The use of flashbacks to tell the story took you on a journey in time and culture. They used three sets of actors of three different ages to move the story. The use of the youngest actors (actually slum kids from Mumbai) stole the show. These kids were incredible showing both the beauty and the horrors of growing up in Bombay. And that's not to take away from the amazing performances of Freida, Dev, and the actor playing the older Saleem. There performances moved many to tears. See this movie it won't disappoint!

Danny Boyle has been a favorite of mine since I saw Shallow Grave, since then he's gone on to make three masterpieces(Trainspotting,28 Days Later and Millions), a near perfect film(Sunshine) a guilty pleasure(The Beach) and a total miss(A Life Less Ordinary). Slumdog Millionaire comes out of nowhere and it could very well be his best film and one of the best films of the decade. Visually like Boyles previous work it's stunning, Apocalypse Now and City of God come to mind and there are dutch angles galore. The raw style mixed with the amazing locations make this film one of the most cinematic experiences you'll ever see. The Sound is perfect, I haven't heard audio like this in a while. This film needs a Sound Oscar nomination, it sounds that good. I went into seeing this knowing very little about it and the person I took with me didn't know anything about it, so I'll just say it's about a young man that goes on Indias Who Wants to be a Millionaire, it's a very unconventional film where they tell the story of his life in flashbacks while he plays the game. It's funny, sad, thrilling, basically a very enjoyable film that deserves numerous Oscar nominations. Also the lead actress is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, if she isn't a huge star after this I'd be extremely surprised. If the academy doesn't honor this film with numerous nominations it will be a shame but this film will be studied in 20 years and whoever sees this will love it, so even if it doesn't get a single nomination it won't matter. Don't miss this film, it's perfect!

Jamal, Salim and Latika, three abnormally cute little kids, live in the Dharavi slums of India. Jamal is a dreamer, proud of his signed photograph of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Salim's a pragmatist. He sells Jamal's picture - the photo epitomizing Jamal's fantasies of upward mobility - for money. Latika sits between them. She's the female trophy who exists to either be corrupted by Salim or saved from the slums by Jamal's undying love.

Directed by Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire" tells a familiar "rags to riches" tale. Its first act consists of several brief anecdotes, Boyle fetishizing the Dharavi slums, portraying poverty as a carnival of colours and soul-deadening action. Shot with the same over-saturation and hand-held work that made the slums of "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener" problematic, Boyle treats poverty as a MTV video.

Of course it's not all fun and games. Mothers die, eyes are gorged out and child traffickers run rampant, but the film glosses over such matters, using them instead for tactical shocks and easy jolts. The reason these scenes, despite their inherent darkness, seem so trite, is because Boyle tries to have it both ways. "Millionaire", regardless of its social probing, is essentially a fantasy. It's a Cinderella story, our heroes rising above the slums by the sheer force of love and destiny, brought together on the set of a television game show, the power of pop culture lifting their dirty bodies from the filth and grime of Dharavi.

We're expected to believe that children are harvested and abused, yet we're also expected to believe in magical happy endings where everything works out. Boyle wants the gravitas of a child watching his mother murdered, but he also wants the expired movie clichés central to a Disney love story.

Toward the end of the film, a gangster cuts Latika's face with a knife. The resultant scar epitomizes "Millionaire". On the surface, we think we're looking at something "real", something "violent". But look closer and see how carefully placed and artfully directed that scar is. It's a single clean cut, perfectly framing the actress's face. It's not an ugly scar. It doesn't protrude or ruin her symmetry. In no way does it obscure her beauty. So while the initial impression is one of shock or even sympathy, the fraud is that it's carefully designed to be pretty. To be easy on the eyes and head. Contrast this with the Indian kids in 2004's "Red Light Kids" or with how the prostitutes are treated in "Unforgiven". It's not pretty when a woman is cut up. Boyle's film is one where he's not being honest about the situation, and the responsibility is on the audience not to think twice.

Worse still is the film's reliance on destiny. What engenders Boyle's happy ending is the underdog's pure heroism, an egotistical lottery mentality, a belief in destiny, and the prodigal brother's heroic martyrdom. Indeed, Salim exists solely to do the dirty work of killing the bad guys so as not to interfere with the moral purity of Jamal. At the same time, it's hard to believe that anything really matters when everything in the film is simply working according to destiny. Apparently it's destined that all the other slum dwellers (who can't get onto a TV game show) continue to live a life of poverty.

The film ends with all of rural India celebrating Jamal's victory as though it were their own triumph. The fact that "one of their own" has become rich elicits an outburst of joy. And this is the film's ideology: anybody can rise out of misery, if they are pure of heart and chosen by fate. Jamal is plucked arbitrarily out of the masses as a symbol. He is a celebration of the culture of the dice, the casino, the lucky ticket.

And so the film ends with a "happily ever after". Our boy and girl embrace before the film erupts into a happy song and dance routine. It's all quite silly. But perhaps Danny Boyle is being ironic, deconstructing the fantasy image and poking fun at Bollywood's avoidance of truth? Or am I watching too much Altman? With this view mind, I gave the film another look. How straight is Boyle playing things?

Consider this: the film travels from the "reality" of poverty to the artificial world of TV sets, Bollywood shenanigans and big money. The narrative then self-destructs, essentially becoming a thoughtless Bollywood dance movie. Brilliant still, the film ends with the line "D: It is written", an allusion to fate, but also implying perhaps that the story is itself fabricated, a screenplay and so profoundly false. Better yet, the entire film is told from the point of view of Jamal, who we know is an imaginative boy and fan of movies. Is it possible that Jamal, like Spacey in "The Usual Suspects", has just narrated a cosy lie to us solely to avoid being punished by the police? After all, Jamal is a known con artist and the plot is too unbelievable, too manufactured, to be true. The characters are too cardboard, too stereotype, too comic book. The love story is too insensible and contrived. Is it possible that Jamal has scammed the quiz program and that the film is a scam on the audience?

But no, Boyle does not seem to go down this route. There's no irony here, no questioning of artificiality, and little inclination that Boyle believes his picture to be anything more than a straight fantasy. A better filmmaker would have probed deeper, undermining the carefully manufactured Bollywood image, but Boyle seems content with his happily ever after.

6/10 – See "Salaam Bombay!", "Los Olividados", "Land of Plenty and "Wendy and Lucy".

I just saw this at the Savannah Film Festival (on Friday October 31st, 2008), held by the Savannah College Of Art and Design (SCAD) and as soon as the credits started rolling for this movie the first word that came out of my mouth was "WOW!!!" This movie is easily one of the best of 2008, I honestly don't know how the people have given this movie a average rating of 7 here on IMDb. This movie is the heart wrenching tale of a person who has everything he ever loved taken away from him, only to try with everything that he has to regain his true love and gain more than he could ever hope. It is preformed and put together in such a way that it forgets and bypasses every love story cliché. The movie starts out a little confusing but is very quickly sorted out and understood. Danny Boyle has made a film that inspires and encourages people of all ages.

To summarize the deep and perfectly delivered message of this movie; you don't have to be a genius to know the answers in life, sometimes life is just written(whether you call it fate or destiny). This movie I'm sure will find its place amongst the great love movie's like "The Princess Bride", "Casablanca", and "Titanic". Some people I know have problems over the fact that this movie takes place in India, but if you just for one moment let go of that and watch this movie you will instantly find out just how amazing this movie is.

Even though I am writing this review now in November, I hope that you will read this review when the film comes out officially in January and go out and see it. BECAUSE WHETHER YOU GO INTO THAT THEATER ALONE; WITHOUT A GIRLFRIEND OR NOT, YOU WILL WALK OUT OF THAT THEATER INSPIRED, ENCOURAGED, HOPEFUL, BUT MOST OF ALL IN LOVE WITH THIS FILM.

For my closing statement I need to mention that recently this film got an undeserving "R" rating, but this is one movie you should not be ashamed to have your parents take you to see. And is the perfect movie to take a loved one to.

I feel that this is a worthwhile film that has some beautiful moments, especially in the first half hour or so. That said, while it seemed at first that Slumdog might actually live up to the enormous hype, things started getting a bit silly when the boys reached Agra. Having spent several months in India over the course of two trips, the Taj scenes were far-fetched at best and I was never really hypnotized by the film again after that. Security is very tight at the Taj and street urchins operating a stolen shoe ring simply wouldn't happen as you don't take your shoes off until you're well past the military style checkpoint that "slumdogs" would never be able to pass. This in itself didn't ruin the film or anything, but starting with those scenes my suspension of disbelief generally faltered and the whole thing began to feel somewhat contrived. I suppose the writer's desire to plug in the trusty old "rags to riches" story was probably the main reason for this as VERY FEW Indian street kids ever climb the social ladder. I feel that Jamal losing out on the money but finally rescuing the girl would have made for a more realistic (and artistically apropos) ending. Concerning Jamal, I also failed to see any physical resemblance between the adult version and the two younger ones. Actually, Dev Patel has a significantly lighter complexion than any of the actors who played Salim, Latika, or the younger Jamal.

Ultimately, it seems to me that the gaggle of Oscars might actually damage Slumdog's reception somewhat as they inevitably lead one to believe that this is a once in a generation type of film. Simply put, it's not. For my money, City of God was a better executed film about street kids and Born into Brothels (while a documentary) was a superior chronicle of the Indian variety. Oh well. Slumdog is still worth seeing, it's just not quite worthy of the hype. 7/10

Slumdog Millionaire, the best film of 2008 by far, I saw this back in December after hearing a little bit about it on the net. I was so excited to see that it was playing at my local theater and I didn't hesitate to see it when it was released. There are a lot of people who are just asking why this film is so popular or loved, the reason why in my opinion is that it's just a happy film. We usually have a best picture winner that is depressing, but instead Slumdog Millionaire just lifts your spirits and makes you cry in joy. I couldn't believe how much I loved this film, after reading a summary on what it was about, I was just confused and wondering if this film was really going to be good. But we have these unknown young actors: Dev Peitel, Freida Pinto and Madhur Mittal who pull in heart wrenching performances and you can't help but love their characters and just keep rooting for them. All in all, this film is a love story. Most film lovers fear those words after Titanic because everyone thought it to be a predictable puppy love story, this love story however is made in strength and faith and you can't help but keep wanting Jamal and Latika to be together. Even though I saw the film a while back, I still remember it like I saw it yesterday.

A title card is presented: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A) He cheated, B) He's lucky, C) He's a genius, D) It is written." Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? hosted by Prem Kumar in which he was on the show and won 20,000,000 rupees (about US$500,000). Jamal then explains that, while at least the question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was very simple, he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life. This is conveyed in a series of flashbacks documenting the details of his childhood. This includes scenes of him obtaining Bachchan's autograph, the death of his mother during the Hindu anti-Muslim violence, rekindling the memory of the 1993 anti-Muslim attacks in Mumbai by Hindu nationalists in the slums, and how he and his brother Salim befriend Latika. The children are eventually discovered by Maman while they live in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster who "collects" street children so that he can ultimately train them to beg for money. Salim is groomed to become a part of Maman's operation and is asked to bring Jamal to Maman in order to be blinded. Salim protects his brother, and the three children try to escape; but only Salim and Jamal are able to do so. Latika is re-captured by Maman's organization and raised as a culturally talented prostitute whose virginity will fetch a high price. The brothers eke out a living, traveling on top of trains, selling goods, pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, and picking pockets. Jamal eventually insists that they return to Mumbai since he wishes to locate Latika. When he finds her working as a dancer in a brothel, the brothers attempt to rescue her, but Maman intrudes, and in the resulting conflict Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then uses the fact that he killed Maman to obtain a job with Javed a rival crime lord. Salim claims Latika as his own and when Jamal protests, Salim threatens to kill him and Latika intervenes, accepting her fate with Salim.

Years later, Jamal has a position at a call center. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker for a couple of minutes, he searches the database for Salim and Latika. He gets in touch with Salim, who has become a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed's organization. Jamal confronts a regretful Salim on tense terms. Salim invites Jamal to live with him and after following Salem, he sees Latika living there. He talks his way in as the new chef and tries to convince Latika to leave. She tries to discourage him, but on the first day that Jamal waits at the train station, Latika attempts to escape with him, but is recaptured by Salim and Javed's men. One of the men then slashes her cheek with a knife, scarring her as Salim drives off, leaving Jamal with the onlooking crowd. Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house. In another attempt to find Latika, Jamal tries out for the popular game show because he knows that she will be watching.

I cannot wait for this movie to be released on DVD, it's a terrific uplifting movie that just captures your heart and makes you feel good. I couldn't believe that people were just complaining about the ending dance sequence, it was a TERRIFIC way to end it, to see everything that Jamal went through and that dance just makes you feel happy because you can tell the joy of him having his Latika in his arms. It was a beautiful ending and makes you extremely joyful. The story is brutal, funny, sad, original and beautiful. Danny Boyle, I knew that this director had something special when he made the horror film 28 Days Later, but who knew he could pull of such an uplifting beautifully made film? He picked the perfect actors, made the film wonderfully, and the whole crew seemed to enjoy making this together. Who wouldn't? It was a pleasure to watch on the screen and if you haven't seen this film in the theater, buy it when it comes on DVD, it's one of the most terrific experiences I've had watching a film. We haven't had a film like Slumdog Millionaire and it's one of my new favorite films of all time.

10/10

Scenes of poverty and squalour may appear romantic to Westerners and to our snooty elite but for ordinary Indians they are nothing new. They are an everyday reality. However, one wonders what sort of mind can find such images aesthetically pleasing. Party-hopping socialites (for example, Shobhaa De after all her bombast of "enough is enough" after the Mumbai attack, went and watched a pirated copy!) who are distanced from such reality may find this film an "eye-opener" but for us it IS just poverty-porn. Leaving that aside, I have eight other objections to the film. 1) The director seems to RELISH showing violence. Some of it (like the police-torture) is quite needless. And why was the boy arrested in the first place? On what charge? Was it realistic? 2) How can a boy growing up in slums speak such accented English? Even if one assumes that the language he actually uses to communicate with the game-show host and the police officer is Hindi (granting the director the creative license to use a language better suited for international audiences), there are 2 instances where it is stretched too far: (a) when the boy becomes a 'guide' for foreign tourists at the Taj Mahal & (b) when he becomes a substitute-operator at the call-centre. 3) When the boy uses his 'lifeline' during the game-show, his friend discovers that she has forgotten her mobile and has to run back for it. This is plain Bollywood masala! Did the director HAVE to make it so melodramatic? 4) How did the boy know who invented the revolver just by watching his brother use it? How does his friend know about Benjamin Franklin? 5) "Darshan Do Ghanshyam" is NOT written by Surdas. It is written by Gopal Singh Nepali for the movie Narsi Bhagat (1957). This song is also credited as traditional and originally written by 15th century poet Narsi Mehta, whose life that film is based on. 6) After winning the game-show, the boy sits on the railway platform and nobody recognizes him! Considering the popularity of the show, is that realistic? 7) Two glaring omissions: To qualify for the show one has to answer several GK questions over phone or Internet. Even after making it to the show, a contestant can reach the hot-seat, only after "fastest finger first". All this is conveniently forgotten in the film. 8) And of course the greatest flaw in the storyline: programmes like 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' and 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' are NOT telecast live. As a result the entire structure of the film becomes unrealistic. For a film that boasts of being realistic such a flaw cannot be overlooked.

Anyone else wants to say this is a g-r-e-a-t film despite all these flaws?

The editing, digital cinematography, and Danny Boyle's direction (with co-director Loveleen Tandan) create a fascinating aesthetic which is perfect for the material. However, barely anyone (among the vast minority of people and critics who didn't care for this massively acclaimed film) is complaining about the film's technical virtues however, so how about all that contrived, sappy melodrama?

To my surprise, "Slumdog Millionaire" is very tasteful in almost every respect. The romance scenes are either beautifully understated (most of the scenes with them as children/young teenagers, and a couple after that) or fantasy melodrama like much of the stuff near the end of the film (although the actual final pre-credit shot itself is again, a tender and beautiful moment). I have no issues with the fantasy melodrama however, because most of the film is done in that tone. Even the very realistic and brutally true-to-life scenes involving the raids of Muslim sections of the slums by Hindus, and the luring of children to a life of begging on the streets (for gangsters and criminals) in exchange for accommodation and food are done in a manner that is both tastefully evocative of reality while fitting in tone with much of the rest of the film, which has a more hopeful tone. It sounds improbable, but that's what the screenwriter and director(s) achieve here. The film doesn't strive for 'gritty realism', but everything in the film (yes, everything) is perfectly evocative of reality. The trouble with 'gritty realism' is that it often is gritty and hopeless in a way life rarely is to most of us, and is actually laughable if done wrong. Jamal's flashbacks to the begging end in misery, but before that we get the happiness and relief of slum life that these children felt. The raid is unrelentingly horrifying, but it is a haunting memory rather than something the film dwells on without stopping. The film also gives us scenes of comedic escapism which are still within the realm of plausibility as well.

If you don't know the general plot by now, here it is: Jamal is a boy from the slums of Mumbai who has reached the final question on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" against all odds. The film, through a plot device I won't reveal even though it's only a mild spoiler, reveals the sources of Jamal's knowledge of the answers to each question (except for the ones he doesn't know and guesses at/uses the lifelines for) through flashbacks to him throughout his childhood and teenage years. Here enter the accusations of the film's supposedly 'hilarious', 'impossible', and 'dumb' contrivances. There's no way a chai wala knows the answers to those questions, and it's too convenient that he happens to have experienced something suitable for all those answers. I beg to differ. With a life like Jamal's (which is, believe it or not, being led right now by many children in India) I should hope that he gained at least that much knowledge. He didn't actually know the answers to every question, and on a game of both luck and knowledge it's entirely plausible to me that Jamal's game could actually happen. The only huge contrivance is the nature of the very last question and what happens when it's asked, but by then the movie had me in its grasp and the ploy worked. The fact that every member of the cast is absolutely excellent, including the child actors, doesn't hurt either.

It sounds odd, but "Slumdog Millionaire" seemed to me like it found a way to combine a realist look at India (and, according to the Indian person with whom I attended the film, it is absolutely spot-on in almost every regard, and certainly doesn't contradict anything I saw during my short visit to India) and a romantic melodrama. The end result, with the screenplay that combines the drama, comedy, and thriller genres to great effect, is both an aesthetic triumph, and unlikely as it sounds, a crowd-pleasing masterpiece. Also, the music is brilliant, both the original score by the legendary A.R. Rahman and the excellent choices made when it comes to the pop music included in the film (though that is to be expected from a Danny Boyle film). As for those moaning about the love story, perhaps you have not found that person yet, get back to me when you do.

I had heard some grumbling about this movie being overrated, and until about halfway through the movie, despite enjoying myself, I was willing to give it maybe 9 stars out of 10. But then it became more than the story of a couple of kids from the slums - it became a great retelling of two ancient stories: the kid from humble beginnings who makes history, and the boy who gets the girl, loses the girl, and...well, let's not spoil it, shall we? The second half, as we see the protagonists mature, combined with the climactic finale of the game show, is easily one of the best pieces of film I have ever seen in my life.

Yes, Slumdog Millionaire is incredibly unrealistic. Let's be frank, even giving generous leeway for coincidence, there is no way this could have happened. The women featured in the movie are nearly always perfectly pretty; the prominent usage of perfect English is extremely unrealistic; there is just no way Jamal's life could have worked out in such a way that he would know the right answers.

But if you think this is a criticism of the film, all I can say is that I'm really quite sorry for how seriously you take yourself. Great stories are not about the real world; great stories tell us about a world that could be, and make it seem almost as real to us as the world we live in. Slumdog Millionaire is a fairy tale for the ages, and for all its unrealism, is an uplifting and inspiring story of determination, love, and destiny. While I would say that I am often too eager to cut films some slack and give them 10 out of 10 just because I enjoyed myself thoroughly watching them, I have no qualms about giving Slumdog Millionaire a perfect 10. I would give it 11 if I could. This is a movie that deserves it.

A side-note on issues of realism: although I have never lived in India, I visited Kolkata for a week and the slums and way of life I saw were very similar to that depicted in the movie. I come from a multi-ethnic country with many Indians and huge income disparities; I have socialised with both the wealthy elite and the squatters living nearly hand to mouth. I can easily tell you that Slumdog Millionaire is off in many ways. But every timeless tale is not quite accurate, and I don't hear anyone ragging on Snow White or George Washington's cherry tree for their realist faux pas. Slumdog Millionaire is a beautiful story, and while I'm not sure it stands in that class, it is one of the most amazing things to have ever been filmed. Watch it.

This is a story set in the slums of Mumbai, about two orphaned brothers who grow up on the streets. Like "City of God" (set in the slums of Rio De Janeiro), one of the boys is good (Jamal) and one is bad (Salim). They both love the same woman (Latika). Each brother watches out for each other as they grow up, but it's clear that Salim is a ruthlessly violent character.

The story begins with Jamal playing for the top prize on an Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionairre". Before he can play for the top prize, the show ends & he is asked to return the following day to finish the game. However, the game show host suspects the boy is cheating & has the police take him away for questioning. The police brutally interrogate Jamal, but he does not break down & confess, but, re-counts his upbringing on the Mumbai streets to show how he was able to gather the knowledge to correctly answer the questions on the show. In the process, the story of his life unfolds.

This is an excellent movie. While it is clearly an Indian cast and setting, the language is English. It's a very clever fusion of Hollywood & Bollywood. The cinematography was stunning, the music was great, the characters very engaging, the plot was excellent, with an ending that tied up everything beautifully.

I highly recommend this movie.

I'm honestly surprised about the recognition and buzz about this film throughout the world. And 10 Oscar nominations!! Man.! How are stupidity and ridiculousness instantly absorbed and appreciated by people without hesitation? OK. let me be pragmatic in my turning down this film as average.

Most things about the film is clichéd. Every damn bad thing imaginable in India happens to the protagonist. But the protagonist overcomes them all. In a way, it confirms what many outside India think about India. People rolling in sh*t, dirty slums, caste based riots, begging, cheating, poverty, cunningness blah blah. All packed in one tight container name "Slumdog Millionaire". The only good souls in the movie are Jamal and Latika (and perhaps amitabh who generously signs autograph for a fan drenched in sh*t). We call this type of movies as "mas ala" in India. No logic. Lots of action. Fast paced screenplay. The protagonist finally smile along with his lady-love who does nothing essentially but just dances in a few songs. (Danny has satisfied even this criterion by making the duo dance with a suddenly formed gang in the railway station at the end of the movie) A typical bolly-Hollywood mas ala movie. A few questions.. How can a slumdog get the answers for every damn question from his life and win 2 crores of rupees? How can slum dogs speak such an excellent English to cheat the foreigners by impersonating themselves as guides? And did you notice their perfect slang?! Rupees is never mentioned in millions. Another attempt toplease the western audience rather than attempting to bring about the truth. Truth? damn! who needs it?! Why did Jamal reject the host's help? Why did the show host suddenly turn villainous? Why did Jamal's brother let Latika go at the last minute and get killed after ceremoniously killing the gang leader? My god! height of insanity.

Certain parts of it are awesome without doubt. Music, screenplay, cinematography. The way the slum has been captured in the police- chasing-the-boys scene is really appreciable. A.R.Rahman is God. But these are nothing to justify the hero-worship the movie is getting. I'm not bothered about India being portrayed in this way by a foreigner. I just expected truth and naturalness which are greatly missing. 6 votes!

Kudos Danny! This film is the best film I've seen all year. Hands down. It's brilliantly directed, the casting and performances are superb, the story is both riveting and heart warming. The locations are mind bending and the realities of life in modern India are both fascinating and appalling. It's a shocking, thought provoking, make-you-feel-good- to-be-alive kind of film.

The audience broke into applause at the DGA screening. Every one I heard leaving the theater said, "best movie of the year."

This is the "CRASH" of 2009.

I think word of mouth will give it lift off! Too bad it's a limited run. Somebody need to get behind this movie, if for no other reason than it has all the makings of a great, classic feel everything movie.

Thank you Danny and all involved. You made magic!

*spoilers* When I saw this in the cinema, I saw the movie's poster and thought: Oh my God, this is going to suck; But I was pleasantly surprised (dear Danny Boyle, fire your art department). What I got was a fast paced drama about growing up and trying to survive in the slums of India. I very much enjoyed it; the acting and direction was of a high calibre and despite the rather overdone & odd ending, I have no complaints. But to give it as many Oscars as Gone With the Wind is verging on Blasphemy! I mean, the ending was your usual feel-good romp, with the brother of the main character filling a tub with money then getting shot in it, before shouting "god is great!" (don't ask), then straight after we get an impromptu dance sequence for the credits, which was rather stupid.

My second point is that it's a movie dressed as a film. People say it's original and groundbreaking, but one watching of CITY OF GOD will show you where they got the "originality". It has the same mood and atmosphere, and could have well been its enjoyable sequel...

to those non-Indians and the conformist Indians here's a little bit of perspective...

when i write what i have to say some of you may think that I've been hurt by the negative depiction of Mumbai... well, not at all, actually i was hoping for a more gritty, realistic, up-close depiction rather than a 'long-shot' impersonal superficial one...

slum-dog millionaire is not a great film, slum-dog millionaire is not a good film. it's an OK film.

first the good things... cinematography is edgy and mind-blowing... editing is razor sharp... sound design is amazing...

but,

it is very hard to digest slum kids talking in English, harder still to digest is their (kind of) fake UK accent. also the cops speaking in English, the local mafia speaking in English...

the acting (in Hindi) of Salim and Jamaal though over-the-top, is passable. but once they grow up and start speaking in English, it's pathetic.

the story which is basically a love story between Jamaal and Latika is lost in the gimmicky impersonal screenplay and you don't connect... actually you don't connect with any character and not because the characters are dark but because neither the lines nor the acting are good. and Danny Boyle knows this and that's why the long-shots and the silhouettes and the characters-in-dark treatment to the film. Dev Patel has only one expression on his face when he is on the 'chair'. Anil Kapoor is irritatingly snobbish, Mahesh Manjrekar is irritating, Freida pinto is irritating... Irrfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla are passable...

Rehman's music is a mix of few average tunes from the great A. R. Rehman library. he's given great music, absolutely great music in infinite Hindi, Tamil films... so if he gets the Oscar, it'll be for his great compositions over the years and not for the average 'slum-dog..' album. ditto for the lyrics of Gulzar...

the main problem in the film is the lack of emotional attachment one feels with the film... i mean when Salim suddenly changes his heart or when he dies in the bath-tub filled with currency, we don't feel anything... when Jamaal finally gets Latika, we don't feel anything... when Salim kills Maman, we don't feel anything... when the film ends we don't feel anything (except irritation)...

the film is an amazingly shot and stylishly edited set of gimmicks which have been forcibly interwoven in to a very convenient story...

but when the world says that it's brilliant cinema, who am i to say anything... and if the world enjoys the irritating yet laughable ( a bad wannabe Bollywood) song and dance sequence in the end, who am i to say anything...