(Wrote this almost a year ago when Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for the Golden Globe)
Well, it was one (ill?)fated day when suddenly there was this news of a movie called Slumdog Millionaire.. it was about the fact that Rehman was nominated for the Golden Globe award for the music of the movie. I was mildly interested.. and then came the news that he had won it.. oops and kya hungama after that. “Jai ho” everywhere and multitudes of websites, newschannels all vying to give maximum information about this movie.. I thought of reading the review for the movie..(it was the in thing to appear to know everything about this movie so that you can join the bandwagon of oohing and aahing and discussing the Oscar prospects) . I read the review by one Raja Sen in rediff.Well, couldn’t make much out of it, but he had in particular lauded a scene where a small boy jumps into shit pile and rushes to get the autograph of Amitabh. I re read that sentence several times trying in vain to understand whether there was any sattire in it.But NO. The reviewer had seriously liked it. And had rated the movie a full five stars..
After that, the next few days were like.. you can’t get through a day if you don’t get to hear the words like Oscars, rehman, boyle,freida,dev patel and the likes and in case if you didn’t hear, then, it’s just that you didn’t belong to the happening side of the world.. and pushed by the circumstances and succumbing to the human weakness of curiosity, I watched the movie.. wretched movie I must say.
There were slums, more slums, riots, poverty, beggary, cheating, prostitution, corruption, underworld, hero worship --- --- > all glorifying our dear Mumbai as felt by “India loving” Boyle.Damn.. my blood boils. (Rhyme not intended!)No.. I am not that hypocrite with my nose up in air believing that India is all IT and IPLs and glittering bollywood and beauty pageants etc where poverty and related things are things of past.I know where India stands when it comes to development. But I also understand that with our diversities and staggering population explosion, we do have come a long way from being an underdog in the world history(during the British rule) to a respectable nation. So why does west refuse to acknowledge this growth and chooses to focus on our drawbacks.And where was the optimism in the movie ??? it is like accepting India as it is and feeling comfortable in the mediocrity.. There are far better movies made that told the reality and gave a message of hope in the end.. definitely this movie comes nowhere near their league.
Very poor acting by majority of the cast..ok sort of screenplay(though it was difficult as such to digest all the slumdogs conversing in an English that would have evoked the jealousy of the English HOD of my college).There were so many loopholes and so much drama that it cannot be tagged as a movie close to reality.And if it is a masala one, then we have far better masala movies than this.Why so much of hype about this ?? I believe our Kamal Haasans and Aamir Khans can give better stuff than this even with 10% of their usual efforts. And one sentence about the music.. Any true music fan will agree that ARR was dozens of times better in some of his earlier movies and the music of this movie, though good, is not exactly soul stirring.
I am not able to recollect one single scene in this movie that kindled the “wow” factor and made me sit up and take notice.It was like dragging myself frame to frame painfully, so that I too might be able to join the intellectual crowd admiring the Emperor’s new clothes .Just wish that the collective voices of many having similar opinions might lift curtains clouding the visions of many.. so that they will see the movie for what it is .. TRASH !
Well, it was one (ill?)fated day when suddenly there was this news of a movie called Slumdog Millionaire.. it was about the fact that Rehman was nominated for the Golden Globe award for the music of the movie. I was mildly interested.. and then came the news that he had won it.. oops and kya hungama after that. “Jai ho” everywhere and multitudes of websites, newschannels all vying to give maximum information about this movie.. I thought of reading the review for the movie..(it was the in thing to appear to know everything about this movie so that you can join the bandwagon of oohing and aahing and discussing the Oscar prospects) . I read the review by one Raja Sen in rediff.Well, couldn’t make much out of it, but he had in particular lauded a scene where a small boy jumps into shit pile and rushes to get the autograph of Amitabh. I re read that sentence several times trying in vain to understand whether there was any sattire in it.But NO. The reviewer had seriously liked it. And had rated the movie a full five stars..
After that, the next few days were like.. you can’t get through a day if you don’t get to hear the words like Oscars, rehman, boyle,freida,dev patel and the likes and in case if you didn’t hear, then, it’s just that you didn’t belong to the happening side of the world.. and pushed by the circumstances and succumbing to the human weakness of curiosity, I watched the movie.. wretched movie I must say.
There were slums, more slums, riots, poverty, beggary, cheating, prostitution, corruption, underworld, hero worship --- --- > all glorifying our dear Mumbai as felt by “India loving” Boyle.Damn.. my blood boils. (Rhyme not intended!)No.. I am not that hypocrite with my nose up in air believing that India is all IT and IPLs and glittering bollywood and beauty pageants etc where poverty and related things are things of past.I know where India stands when it comes to development. But I also understand that with our diversities and staggering population explosion, we do have come a long way from being an underdog in the world history(during the British rule) to a respectable nation. So why does west refuse to acknowledge this growth and chooses to focus on our drawbacks.And where was the optimism in the movie ??? it is like accepting India as it is and feeling comfortable in the mediocrity.. There are far better movies made that told the reality and gave a message of hope in the end.. definitely this movie comes nowhere near their league.
Very poor acting by majority of the cast..ok sort of screenplay(though it was difficult as such to digest all the slumdogs conversing in an English that would have evoked the jealousy of the English HOD of my college).There were so many loopholes and so much drama that it cannot be tagged as a movie close to reality.And if it is a masala one, then we have far better masala movies than this.Why so much of hype about this ?? I believe our Kamal Haasans and Aamir Khans can give better stuff than this even with 10% of their usual efforts. And one sentence about the music.. Any true music fan will agree that ARR was dozens of times better in some of his earlier movies and the music of this movie, though good, is not exactly soul stirring.
I am not able to recollect one single scene in this movie that kindled the “wow” factor and made me sit up and take notice.It was like dragging myself frame to frame painfully, so that I too might be able to join the intellectual crowd admiring the Emperor’s new clothes .Just wish that the collective voices of many having similar opinions might lift curtains clouding the visions of many.. so that they will see the movie for what it is .. TRASH !
