Slumdog Millionaire is a film by Danny Boyle and is produced
by Christian Colson. It is based on the book ‘Q&A’ which is written by an
Indian writer and diplomat named Vikas Swarup. The screenwriter of this movie
is Simon Beaufoy.
The film is about a young boy named Jamal Malik, played by
actor Dev Patel who rises from rags to riches. The role of his brother Salim
Malik is played by Madhur Mittal and his love interest, Latika, is played by Frieda
Pinto.
Jamal who grew up in the slums of Juhu is arrested in
suspicion of cheating on the TV show ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire?’ which is
hosted by Prem Kumar, played by Anil Kapoor. Jamal then tells the inspector how
he knew the answers to the each and every question by narrating various
incidents from his life.
The movie is shot in Mumbai’s mega slum and in Agra. It is
shot in three time periods- present, during the filming of the episode of ‘Who
wants to be a Millionaire?’ and flashbacks. The scenes keep switching. After each question Prem Kumar asks, the
inspector at a shown pausing the episode and asking Jamal how that the fifth he
knows the answer to the question. This then changes to Jamal narrating
incidents from his childhood which are depicted in the form of flashbacks. This
keeps on repeating throughout the movie.
The key themes in this movie are poverty, hope, determination.
This movie has highlighted the fact that life is the best teacher one would
ever find. One doesn’t necessarily need formal education to gain knowledge.
Little incidents in life that one usually ignores might end up being useful later
on. Jamal lived a life full of hardships but those hardships helped him contest
in the TV show.
Salim and Jamal both grew up together in the same situation but
they make different choices in life. Jamal opts for an honest life whereas
Salim follows a life of crime. The flashbacks show how Jamal and Latika meet
and how Jamal grows fond of her. Even after getting separated so many times
Jamal’s determination to give Latika a better and safe life is shown through
how he continues to pursue her even after all the risks involved.
The movie targets corruption, greed, communal riots, child-begging
rackets, human trafficking and the darker and unexplored sides of India. It
brings into spotlight the way the people in the slum areas live way below the
poverty line.
There is quite a lot of difference in the book written by
Vikas Swarup and the movie. The main storyline of the movie remains the same
that the protagonist was arrested for answering all the questions right in the
TV show. It was suspected that he cheated because he was an uneducated chaiwala. The rest of the storyline and
the relationships between the characters have changed. Salim, who in the book
was shown as Jamal’s best friend is now shown as his brother. The questions
that were asked in the book differ from the ones asked in the movie. The
importance of Prem Kumar’s character is reduced. A new character named Latika
is introduced. Jamal’s reason for contesting in the show is not the same.
The book concentrated more on friendship and how he meets
new people and how this contributes to the main storyline. The movie concentrates
more on brotherhood, love and hardships.
The songs and background music was a plus point in the
movie. The amount of energy and liveliness they brought made the movie and the
scenes even better as they brought out our emotions at the right moments.
The film’s budget was 15 million dollars and it made 377.9
million in the box office. It has won 119 awards in total including 8 Academy Awards.
In conclusion; the story is captivating and the cinematography is excellent. I
highly recommend watching this film. The movie is a 15 certificate because of
the complexity of the issues in the film. Even though the younger audience must
be aware of these, some scenes in the movie are too graphic for them and they
might be a little too young to understand them to the full extent.
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