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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Saw Slumdog Millionaire last night. Some quick observations
  • The film captures the interlinked complex social history of Bombay, Bombay slums, Bombay's economy, Bombay cinema of the last two decades in a way I have not seen before.
  • The narrative style is unseen in this part of the world.
  • Use of music and music in itself has a lot think over
  • Editing students can feast over techniques
  • I was particularly happy to see the acting of Irfan Khan whose acting skills and professionalism I have always admired.
  • The film is out-and-out androcentric with no visible attempts of departure.
  • My die hard fan-friends of Dark Knight are taking out their anger of not seeing it on Oscar noms on Slumdog Millionaire
(Pictures are taken from Roger Ebert review and Foxsearch.)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

But sir, you must admit, the Bolly-style dancing at the end of the movie kind of messed the whole thing up.What was the point?

Anil Pinto said...

Well, if it was not there, the film would have missed the most distinguishing marker of Bombay Cinema - Song and dance.

Anonymous said...

...sir..did u see this in theatre or some pirated discs?

Anil Pinto said...

No prize for guessing!

DANISH KHAN. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DANISH KHAN. said...

sir in my opinion slumdog is a movie where
a forner shows the real India i mean not d IT sector or d gdp of 7.5%...this movie not just show d real pic of dharavi slum but of any slum life of deli or b'lore...

ya irfan was amazing...i think so he has all in his eyes....

n sir i think so tandon should share some credit as a director with danny.....

Anonymous said...

Well,isn't it the same marker which prevents the Oscar panel from taking Indian movies seriously,year after year ?

Anil Pinto said...

:-) this is for all the comments

Parnika said...

1. Whatte post! ur fair! even to the TDK fans...wow!
2. Androcentic indeed! I saw no feminism. Btw, last verse of new post feminist poem is dedicated to u!
3. @ Juvenile Journo-Frieda Pinto was trained in Salsa, Boyle had to use that in some way. Plus, it's a Jab We Met thing to put the dancey no in the end. Publicity dude!
4. @ Khan- we live in a post colonial world, all we expect is sympathy.
5. Which marker!? Please resurrect deleted comment!
Verdict: I'll be seeing it in theatres shortly! worth the experience, even though bunking World Lit exam is NOT an option!

Parnika said...

a little ELT later..*Androcentric :P
it still gets redlined by blogger! Help!

Anonymous said...

You should read the book. Or have you already? Thought it was effortlessly Indian. The end ruins it though (talking about the book). Do check it out. Easy read and very different from the movie.

Anonymous said...

with full respect to the people hailing slumdog as an acer..and the credits to the fantastic effects and intelligent observation of the bombay slum life, which even after so many artistic and media hoopla, is still lurking. But I am disgusted by the way the India is always stereotyped by such films. come on!! we know this happens in bombay..we know life is cruel..we know street smartness if far deeper than bookish genius but still, why do such foriegn ventures always accentuate the "bad, poverty ridden" india in such a gruesome way..the same holds true for so many other such movies.. story lines are necessarily made negative so that the worst can be expressed. don't we have normal cities? normal people? middle class people?..this movie completely negated the other face of india..

Anonymous said...

and this celebration of "poor" india interests firangs filing their awards. Lagaan also competed of the coveted Oscars..but because it subverted to the set norms of helpless Indians, it didn't suit the foreign academies.. believe it or not..thats the way the it goes. even when i write fiction, it does revolve around such lives of oppressed people but I intend to end it up with a slightly positive note because i strongly believe that Indian spirit cannot be negated.. India looks so devastated, so cruel to the foreigners through such movies.. but we do have a good side too..we can stitch those better parts as well..when u are showing kids getting their eyes plucked in the movie..

Parnika said...

Still thinking Blaze won over Mountain Dew?!