The story is in keeping with the times ? Dharavi boy Jamal Malik, a call centre assistant or chaiwallah, says ?Yes, I can? as he tries his hand at becoming a millionaire, courtesy a game show. As gloom and doom descends on the world, it feels good perhaps to celebrate a film of happy endings, for that?s what Slumdog Millionaire, its weak plotting and happy coincidences notwithstanding, is ? a fantasy film where wishes are fulfilled.
With a heart-tugging story, British director Danny Boyle uses Vikas Swarup?s novel Q&A to bring us a moveable feast on Mumbai, packaged in all the classic Bollywood elements too, complete with love story, underworld, song and dance. Haven?t we seen such rags-to-raja and rani stories scores of times in Bollywood? A mother killed in riots, brothers on the run, taken in by seemingly good people only to be maimed for life, a daughter sold to the highest bidder, the underworld wooing the young with guns and gore?
Boyle uses all these storylines but we also have an outsider looking in too at this teeming multitude and their way of life ? and Anthony Mantle?s camera captures that bewilderment well. In a little over two hours, you will also live the bustle ? and claustrophobia ? that is Mumbai, or Dharavi to be specific, the difficult lives people lead and the important lessons in survival they learn. Jamal, his childhood sweetheart Latika and brother Salim all grow up much sooner than they should and become the wiser for it.
Boyle shoots all the familiar sights of Mumbai ? the best and the most depressing, turd and all ? and serves up a great masala. If you have seen Boyle?s Trainspotting, little Jamal?s excrement experience won?t be a shocker. Slumdog is no documentary, it touches the territory of City of God, the film which captured Brazil?s slums like none other, but this is a film of hope amid despair. That?s not a surprise because the script is written by Simon Beaufoy, who also wrote The Full Monty among other things, about a bunch of out-of-work people who dare to dream amid despair. ?I have spent my whole life investigating the working class in UK. I never felt I was writing about poverty but about people trying to overcome massive challenges,? says Beaufoy.
Dev Patel as Jamal is stilted in the beginning but warms up to the role. But it?s the young actors who play the three musketeers, Jamal, Salim and Latika, as children who shine.
Frieda Pinto who plays the grown-up Latika has too little screen-space. Ditto Irrfan Khan as the inspector. Boyle says the film was written originally in English. ?However, there were these seven-year old kids that just could not speak the language. And that is when we decided that we would have to do it in Hindi. We called Warner and told them and that what you will get in the realm of performances will be amazing. And then the film goes into English, the transition is a bold one, and we decided to do it boldly,? he adds. Anil Kapoor puts in a great performance as the malicious host. Only, the script doesn?t quite explain why he is so vicious. AR Rahman?s background score is superb, and keeps pace with the hurtling images that flashes past with great speed at Chris Dickens? editing hands.
The film which has already won four Golden Globes, has been nominated for 10 Oscars, including three for Rahman. Says Boyle: ?To leave songs out of the story would make it incomplete. Songs are a part of the Indian experience. We have tried to incorporate as much as possible of the city as possible. We hope to have captured a bit. But it is not perfect. No one can capture the whole city ? just as no one can capture New York. It?s an extraordinary city ? it?s got that landscape.? Maximum city now has maximum mileage.