by Bhadase Maharaj

Created on: June 10, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire the movie, created a destiny of its own and once more showed the Bollywood film industry, that it takes an outsider with great skills to produce a good film with an Indian theme that would appeal to international audiences. This is not to say that Bollywood cannot make good films but certainly a lot needs to be done in order to achieve international appeal. Director Danny Boyle did what no film producer in India would do and created a good movie that brought him and his associates several of the most prestigious Oscar awards.

The film is in fact not different from a typical Indian movie. A poor guy under very humble conditions meets a girl, develops a closeness to her, fate separates them, they both end up in the clutches of a bunch of goons, the entire world seems to be against them and yet they rise above all the odds and walks off into the sunset to live happily ever after. What makes the movie stand out is the interweaving of the Indian version of the American game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as the substrate on which the movie carries itself to the end. The typical song and dance routine in Indian movies are in the backdrop, almost to the point of not being there at all, except for the now famous Jai Ho song which is more of an item number. It does not actually contribute to the movie in anyway. However, its execution and timing captivated not only cinema audiences but also the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences such that it was awarded the Oscar for Best Song.

This song was in fact a rejected song from a Bollywood movie. Music director A.R.Rahaman decided to give it another chance and the song created its own destiny. Incredible indeed! The movie itself however, is slow paced and the climax is as predictable as any Bollywood movie. The story is fictitious and simply unconvincing. What appears to have captivated the western audience is the backdrop of poverty and exploitation. This however, brought out the worst in some of Bollywood's biggest personalities. A couple of them forgot that films are for entertainment and was of the opinion that the movie should have represented India in a better light. A couple of these people even expressed the opinion that the movie made it to the Oscars only because Danny Boyle is a white man. How immature! Some of these Bollywood celebrities became envious that with all their iconic status in India their chances of making it to the Oscars were reduced to nought by a handful of poverty striken kids. Their chances of international stardom were cheated by a couple of new comers and nobodies.

Dev Patel and Freida Pinto's performances were genuine. Anil Kapoor's performance as the game host is okay although his English could be a bit better. Irrfan Khan's performance as the Investigating Officer was good. He has potential to become a great actor. It's a given that it must have been difficult to get the kids to do their scenes correctly since, none of them have any acting experience. Music director A.R.Rahaman has excelled and created history by being the first living person from India to receive an Oscar. He is a musical genius! The movie is good for a viewing, bearing in mind that it is a piece of fiction and is not intended to be a promotion for tourism. Casting director Loveleen Tandan was smart not to use any brand name Bollywood actors in the movie else it would have flopped. Bollywood needs to stop doing remakes of Hollywood movies. Original themes and better packaging is what is required if Bollywood wants to capture a larger portion of the world's cinema audience.

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