Bollywood’s “Slumdog” Deserving of 8 Oscars

By Jody Wicks

“Slumdog Millionaire” is a brilliant love story with a sad underlying past of two star-crossed lovers. The premise of this film is phenomenal; it takes a popular game show that many believe you must me extremely intelligent to win, and shows how street smarts can be just as valuable as a textbook education.

“Slumdog Millionaire” is an eye-opening look back at one Mumbai teen’s childhood in poverty that brutally taught him the street-smarts to be only one question away from 20 million rupees ($1 million) on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”

When they are children, Jamal (Dev Patel) and his childhood friend Latika (Freida Pinto) are orphaned due to an attack on their Muslim village by rival Hindu religious group(s). The two stick together, along with Jamal’s older brother Salim (Madhur Mittal), for a couple of years and then get separated. Throughout their young lives, fate keeps their paths crossing, yet they are unsuccessful at staying together, which is what causes Jamal to go on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Knowing Latika likes the show, he hopes she will be watching along with the rest of the nation.

The movie opens with a scene of Jamal being beaten up after being arrested upon suspicion of cheating on the popular T.V. show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Indian investigators interrogate Jamal hoping he will reveal how a “slumdog” knew all of the answers to the difficult trivia questions.

He is almost drowned, electrocuted and beaten, yet reveals nothing about how he knew the answers to the tough questions that usually stump even the cleverest of contestants. Once the beating stops, Jamal is hand-cuffed to a chair and begins to tell his story to the lead investigator.

The story starts with the arrogant game show host (Anil Kapoor) asking Jamal a question and then continues with a flashback into his childhood which explains why he (an uneducated orphan) knows this specific information. These flashbacks continue throughout the entire movie.

For example, one of the questions asked “Whose face is on a U.S. one-hundred dollar bill?” The flashback portrays a time in Jamal’s life when he was hustling American tourists for money to survive. One of these tourists witnessed Jamal receiving a beating from a police officer and in order to show him “America’s hospitality,” gave him a one-hundred dollar bill. Therefore, through his life experience, he knew the answer. This was a great scene that snuck in a playful stab at American mentality.

The film is a combination of questions and explanations takes containing occasional run-ins with Latika as well as grave danger. The culmination of the film is when the audience finds out whether or not (or what kind) of destiny is fulfilled when all is said and done.

Director Danny Boyle, who directed “Shallow Grave,” and “28 Days Later,” has done it again with this film combining an interesting story-line and an inspirational cast. “Slumdog Millionaire” is rated R and is available on DVD and Blu-Ray 31 Mar 2009.

Do anything you can to get your hands on “Slumdog Millionaire,” because it’s got something for everyone; love, action, twist, drama and most of all a fantastic plot.