Source : wikipedia
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon
Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by
Loveleen Tandan.[2] It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat
Vikas Swarup. Set and filmed in India, the film tells the story of Jamal
Malik, a young man from the
dharavi slums of
Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (
Kaun Banega Crorepati in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, thereby arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.
After its world premiere at
Telluride Film Festival and later screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival,[3]
Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008, to critical acclaim. It later had a nationwide grand release in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009 and in the United States on 23 January 2009.[4] It premiered in
Mumbai on 22 January 2009.[5] It was released on DVD and
Blu-ray in the United States on 31 March 2009.[6]
Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, the most for any film of 2008, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also won seven
BAFTA Awards (including Best Film), five Critics' Choice Awards, and four Golden Globes.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Plot
* 2 Production
* 3 Cast
* 4 Release and box office performance
o 4.1 Australia
o 4.2 North America
o 4.3 Europe
o 4.4 India
o 4.5 Asia-Pacific
* 5 Critical reception
o 5.1 Social impact
o 5.2 Awards and honours
o 5.3 Reactions from outside India
o 5.4 Reactions from India and the Indian diaspora
o 5.5 Controversies
* 6 Soundtrack
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 External links
[edit] Plot
Eighteen year old Jamal
Malik (Dev Patel) is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, one question away from the grand prize. However, because Jamal is a former street child from the
Juhu slums, the police suspect him of cheating and arrest him the night before the Rs.20,000,000 question. As the police brutally interrogate him, Jamal recounts, through flashbacks, the incidents in his life which provided him with each answer. These flashbacks tell the story of Jamal, his brother Salim (
Madhur Mittal), and
Latika (Freida Pinto).
The story of Jamal's life includes obtaining the autograph of
Bollywood star
Amitabh Bachchan and the death of his mother during anti-Muslim violence at age five. After their mother's death, Salim and Jamal meet
Latika, another street child from their slum. Salim is reluctant to take her in, but Jamal suggests that she could be the "third musketeer", whose name they do not know. The three are found by
Maman (
Ankur Vikal), a gangster who tricks street children into begging money for him. When Jamal, Salim, and
Latika learn
Maman is blinding children in order to make them more profitable singing beggars, they flee, jumping onto a departing train.
Latika catches up and takes Salim's hand, but Salim purposely lets go, and she is recaptured by the gangsters.
Salim and Jamal make a living travelling on top of trains, selling goods, picking pockets, and pretending to be tour guides at the
Taj Mahal. Jamal eventually insists that they return to
Mumbai to find
Latika. They discover that she has been raised by
Maman to become a prostitute whose virginity is expected to fetch a high price. The brothers rescue her, and Salim draws a gun and kills
Maman. Salim returns to the hotel room where the three are staying, and orders Jamal to leave so that he can have sex with
Latika. The shocked and furious Jamal attacks Salim, who draws his gun and threatens to kill his brother.
Latika intervenes and tells Jamal to leave. Salim later gets a job with
Javed (
Mahesh Manjrekar),
Maman's rival crime lord.
Years later, while working as a tea server at an Indian call centre, Jamal searches the database for Salim and
Latika. He succeeds in finding Salim, now a high-ranking lieutenant in
Javed's organisation. When the brothers meet, Salim pleads for forgiveness when Jamal violently attacks him. Jamal then bluffs his way into
Javed's residence and reunites with
Latika. Jamal professes his love for her, but she asks him to forget about her. Jamal promises to wait for her every day at 5 o'clock at the CST station. One day while Jamal is waiting,
Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but she is recaptured by
Javed's men, led by Salim. One of the men slashes her cheek with a knife as Salim drives off with her in his car, leaving Jamal behind, furious and disappointed. He loses contact with
Latika when
Javed moves to another house, outside of
Mumbai.
Jamal tries out for the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, because he knows
Latika watches it regularly. He makes it to the final question despite the hostile attitude of the
show's host,
Prem Kumar (
Anil Kapoor), and becomes a wonder across India. However,
Kumar and the police find it impossible that a simple "
slumdog" could possibly know the answers to so many obscure questions and have him arrested, which brings the story back to the present.
The police inspector (
Irrfan Khan) calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible" and allows him to return to the show. At
Javed's safehouse,
Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim, in an effort to make amends for his past behaviour, gives
Latika his mobile phone and car keys, and asks her to forgive him and to go to Jamal.
Latika agrees and escapes. Salim fills a bathtub full of cash and sits in it, waiting for the death he knows will come when
Javed discovers what he has done.
Jamal's final question is the name of the third musketeer in The Three Musketeers, a fact he never learned. Jamal uses his "Phone-A-Friend" lifeline to call Salim's cell.
Latika succeeds in answering the phone in time, and, while she does not know the answer, tells Jamal that she is safe. Relieved, Jamal randomly picks "
Aramis", the right answer, and wins the grand prize.
Simultaneously,
Javed discovers that Salim has helped
Latika escape. He and his men break down the bathroom door, and Salim kills
Javed, followed by Salim's death at the hand of
Javed's men. With his dying breath, Salim gasps that God is great. Later that night, Jamal and
Latika meet at the railway station and kiss.
[edit] Production
Slumdog Millionaire screening at
Ryerson Theatre, Toronto, Canada
Screenwriter Simon
Beaufoy wrote
Slumdog Millionaire based on the
Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q & A by
Vikas Swarup.[7] To hone the script,
Beaufoy made three research trips to India and interviewed street children, finding himself impressed with their attitudes. The screenwriter said of his goal for the script: "I wanted to get (across) the sense of this huge amount of fun, laughter, chat, and sense of community that is in these slums. What you pick up on is this mass of energy."
By the summer of 2006, British production companies
Celador Films and Film4 Productions invited director Danny Boyle to read the script of
Slumdog Millionaire. Boyle hesitated, since he was not interested in making a film about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which was produced by
Celador.[8] Then Boyle learned that the screenwriter was
Beaufoy, who had written The Full Monty (1997), one of the director's favourite British films, and decided to revisit the script.[9] Boyle was impressed by how
Beaufoy wove the multiple
storylines from
Swarup's book into one narrative, and the director decided to commit to the project. The film was projected to cost US$15 million, so
Celador sought a U.S. distributor to share costs. Fox Searchlight Pictures made an initial offer that was reportedly in the $2 million range, but Warner Independent Pictures made a $5 million offer to win rights to the picture.[8]
Gail Stevens came on board to oversee casting globally. Stevens had worked with Boyle throughout his career and was well-known for discovering new talent. Meredith Tucker was appointed to cast out of the US. The film-makers then travelled to
Mumbai in September 2007 with a partial crew and began hiring local cast and crew for production in
Karjat. Originally appointed as one of the five casting directors in India,
Loveleen Tandan has stated, "I suggested to Danny and Simon
Beaufoy, the writer of
Slumdog, that it was important to do some of it in Hindi to bring the film alive [...] They asked me to pen the Hindi dialogues which I, of course, instantly agreed to do. And as we drew closer to the shoot date, Danny asked me to step in as the co-director."[10] Boyle then decided to translate nearly a third of the film's English dialogue into Hindi. The director fibbed to Warner
Independent's president that he wanted 10% of the dialogue in Hindi, and she approved of the change.[citation needed] Filming locations included shooting in
Mumbai's megaslum and in shantytown parts of
Juhu, so film-makers controlled the crowds by befriending onlookers.[8] Filming began on 5 November 2007.[11]
In addition to
Swarup's original novel Q & A, the film was also inspired by Indian cinema.[12][13]
Tandan has referred to
Slumdog Millionaire as a homage to Hindi commercial cinema, noting that "Simon
Beaufoy studied Salim-
Javed's kind of cinema minutely."[12] Boyle has cited the influence of several
Bollywood films set in
Mumbai.[i]
Satya (1998) (screenplay co-written by
Saurabh Shukla, who plays Constable
Srinivas in
Slumdog Millionaire) and Company (2002) (based on the D-Company) both offered "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the
Mumbai underworld" and displayed realistic "brutality and urban violence." Boyle has also stated that the chase in one of the opening scenes of
Slumdog Millionaire was based on a "12-minute police chase through the crowded
Dharavi slum" in Black Friday (2004) (adapted from S. Hussein
Zaidi's book of the same name about the 1993 Bombay bombings).[13][14][15][16]
Deewaar (1975), which Boyle described as being "absolutely key to Indian cinema", is a crime film based on the Bombay gangster
Haji Mastan, portrayed by
Bollywood star
Amitabh Bachchan, whose autograph Jamal seeks at the beginning of
Slumdog Millionaire.[13]
Anil Kapoor noted that some scenes of the film "are like
Deewaar, the story of two brothers of whom one is completely after money while the younger one is honest and not interested in money."[17] Boyle has cited other Indian films as influences in later interviews.[ii][18] The rags-to-riches, underdog theme was also a recurring theme in classic
Bollywood movies from the 1950s through to the 1980s, when "India worked to lift itself from hunger and poverty."[19] Other classic
Bollywood tropes in the film include "the fantasy sequences" and the montage sequence where "the brothers jump off a train and suddenly they are seven years older".[18]
Bollywood star
Shahrukh Khan, the host of the final series of
Kaun Banega Crorepati (the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?) which aired before filming had begun on
Slumdog Millionaire, was initially offered the role of the
show's host in the film, but turned it down. The role is played by another
Bollywood star,
Anil Kapoor.[20][21][22] Paul Smith, the executive producer of
Slumdog Millionaire and the chairman of
Celador Films, had previously owned the
international rights to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?[23]
[edit] Cast
* Dev Patel as Jamal
Malik, the protagonist, a boy born and raised in the poverty of Bombay/
Mumbai.[24] Boyle considered hundreds of young male actors, and he found that
Bollywood leads were generally "strong, handsome hero-types." Boyle's daughter pointed Dev Patel out from his role in the British television ensemble drama Skins.[8][11]
o
Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Youngest Jamal
o
Tanay Chheda as Teenage Jamal
* Freida Pinto as
Latika, Jamal's love interest. Pinto was an Indian model who had not starred in a feature film before.[8] Regarding the "one of a kind" scarf she wears, designer
Suttirat Anne
Larlarb says, "I wanted to bookend the journey—to tie her childhood yellow dress to her final look."[25]
o Rubina Ali as Youngest
Latika.
o
Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar as Teenage
Latika*
Madhur Mittal as Salim
Malik, Jamal's elder brother.
o
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as Youngest Salim. .[26]
o
Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala as Teenage Salim
*
Anil Kapoor as
Prem Kumar, the game show host. Boyle initially wanted Indian actor
Shahrukh Khan to play the role,[27] but things did not work out. Khan had hosted the final series of
Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Kapoor has also starred as a guest on the show with
Amitabh Bachchan and won Rs 5,000,000.
*
Irrfan Khan as the Police Inspector
*
Saurabh Shukla as Head Constable
Srinivas*
Mahesh Manjrekar as
Javed*
Ankur Vikal as
Maman*
Rajendranath Zutshi as the Millionaire show producer
*
Sanchita Choudhary as Jamal's mother
* Shah
Rukh Munshi as a slum kid.
Munshi is a child from the
Mumbai slums in real life.[19]
*
Mozhim Shakim Sheikh Qureshi as a crippled slum kid.
Qureshi is a child from the
Mumbai slums in real life.[26]
* David Gilliam as the American tourist at the
Taj Mahal* Janet
de Vigne as the German tourist at the
Taj Mahal.
*
Devesh Rawal as the boy in costume as the god Rama, painted blue.
[edit] Release and box office performance
In August 2007, Warner Independent Pictures acquired the North American rights and
Pathé the
international rights to distribute
Slumdog Millionaire
theatrically.[11] However, in May 2008, Warner Independent Pictures was shut down, with all of its projects being transferred to Warner Bros., its parent studio. Warner Bros. doubted the commercial prospects of
Slumdog Millionaire and suggested that it would go straight to DVD without a U.S. theatrical release.[28] In August 2008, the studio began searching for buyers for various productions, to relieve its overload of end-of-the-year films.[29] Halfway through the month, Warner Bros. entered into a pact with Fox Searchlight Pictures to share
distribution of the film, with Fox Searchlight buying 50% of Warner Bros.'s interest in the movie and handling U.S.
distribution.[30]
Following the film's success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film topped the worldwide box office (barring North America), grossing $16 million from 34 markets in the week following the Academy Awards.[31] Worldwide, the film has currently grossed over $377 million.[1]
[edit] Australia
The Australian 2009 release of
Slumdog Millionaire was produced by Icon Film
Distribution.
[edit] North America
Stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto at the 2008 Toronto
International Film Festival
Slumdog Millionaire was first shown at the
Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2008, where it was positively received by audiences, generating "strong buzz".[32] The film also screened at the Toronto
International Film Festival on 7 September 2008, where it was "the first widely
acknowledged popular success" of the festival,[33] winning the People's Choice Award.[34]
Slumdog Millionaire debuted with a limited North American release on 12 November 2008, followed by a nationwide release in the United States on 23 January 2009.[35]
After debuting on a Wednesday, the film grossed $360,018 in 10 theatres in its first weekend, a strong average of $36,002 per theatre.[36][37] In its second weekend, it expanded to 32 theatres and made $947,795, or an average of $29,619 per theatre,
representing a drop of only 18%.[36] In the 10 original theatres that it was released in, viewership went up 16%, and this is attributed to strong word-of-mouth.[38] The film expanded into wide release on 25 December 2008 at 614 theatres and earned $5,647,007 over the extended Christmas weekend.[35] Following its success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film's takings increased by 43%,[39] the most for any film since Titanic.[40] In the weekend of 27 February to 1 March, the film reached its widest release at 2,943 theatres.[41] The film has grossed over $140 million at the North American box office.[1]
The film was released on DVD and
Blu-ray in the United States on 31 March 2009. The film opened at #2 in the DVD sales chart, making $14.16m off 842,000 DVD units.[42] As of 12 November 2009, an estimated 1,964,962 DVD units have been sold, translating to $31.32m in revenue. This figure does not include
Blu-ray sales/DVD rentals.[42] It had previously been announced that 20
th Century Fox Home
Entertainment would be starting a new marketing program with two versions of each release: a stripped-down minimal version for the rental market, and a traditional full version with "bonus extra" features, such as commentary and "making of" material for the retail market. The release production was mixed up; some full versions were shipped in rental cases, and some retail versions were missing the extras despite their being listed on the outside of the box. Public apologies were issued by Fox and Amazon. [43]
[edit] Europe
The film was released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009, and opened at #2 at the UK box office.[44] The film reached #1 in its second weekend and set a UK box office record, as the film's takings increased by 47%. This is the "biggest ever increase for a UK saturation release," breaking "the record previously held by Billy Elliot's 13%." This record-breaking "ticket surge" in the second weekend came after Slumdog Millionaire won four Golden Globes and received eleven BAFTA nominations. The film grossed £6.1 million in its first eleven days of release in the UK.[45] The takings increased by another 7% the following weekend, bringing the film's gross up to £10.24 million for its first seventeen days in the UK,[46][47] and up to £14.2 million in its third week.[48]
As of 20 February 2009, the film's UK box office gross was £22,973,110,[49] making it "the eighth biggest hit at UK cinemas of the past 12 months."[50] In the week ending 1 March 2009, following its success at the 81st Academy Awards where it won eight Oscars, the film returned to #1 at the UK box office,[51] grossing £26 million as of 2 March 2009.[52] As of 17 May 2009, the total UK gross was over £31.6 million.[53] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 1 June 2009.
The film's success at the Academy Awards led to it seeing large increases in takings elsewhere in Europe the following week. Its biggest single country increase was in Italy, where it was up 556% from the previous week. The takings in France and Spain also increased by 61% and 73% respectively. During the same week, the film debuted in other European countries with successful openings: in Croatia it grossed $170,419 from 10 screens, making it the biggest opening there in the last four months; and in Poland it opened in second place with a gross of $715,677. The film was released in Sweden on 6 March 2009 and in Germany on 19 March 2009.[31]
[edit] India
In India, the premiere of Slumdog Millionaire took place in Mumbai on 22 January 2009 and was attended by major personalities of the Indian film industry, with more than a hundred attending this event.[54] A dubbed Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati (स्लमडॉग करोड़पति), was also released in India in addition to the original version of the film.[55] Originally titled Slumdog Millionaire: Kaun Banega Crorepati, the name was shortened for legal reasons. Loveleen Tandan, who supervised the dubbing, stated, "All the actors from the original English including Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Ankur Vikal dubbed the film. We got a boy from Chembur, Pradeep Motwani to dub for the male lead Dev Patel. I didn't want any exaggerated dubbing. I wanted a young unspoilt voice."[56]
Fox Searchlight released 351 prints of the film across India for its full release there on 23 January 2009.[57] It earned Rs. 2,35,45,665 in its first week at the Indian box office,[58] or $2.2 million according to Fox Searchlight. Though not as successful as major Bollywood releases in India during its first week, this was the highest weekend gross for any Fox film and the third highest for any Western release in the country, trailing only Spider-Man 3 and Casino Royale.[57] In its second week, the film's gross rose to Rs. 3,04,70,752 at the Indian box office.[58]
A few analysts have offered their opinions about the film's performance at the Indian box office. Trade analyst Komal Nahta commented, "There was a problem with the title itself. Slumdog is not a familiar word for majority Indians." In addition, trade analyst Amod Mehr has stated that with the exception of Anil Kapoor, the film lacks recognisable stars and that "the film... is not ideally suited for Indian sentiment." A cinema owner commented that "to hear slum boys speaking perfect English doesn't seem right but when they are speaking in Hindi, the film seems much more believable." The dubbed Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati, did better at the box office, and additional copies of that version were released.[59] Following the film's success at the 81st Academy Awards, the film's takings in India increased by 470% the following week, bringing its total up to $6.3 million that week.[31] As of 15 March 2009, Slumdog Crorepati has grossed Rs. 15,86,13,802 at the Indian box office.[60]
[edit] Asia-Pacific
The film's success at the Academy Awards led to it seeing large increases in takings in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia, the takings increased by 53%, bringing the film up to second place there.[31] In Hong Kong, the film debuted taking $1 million in its opening weekend, making it the second biggest opening of the year there.[31] The film was released in Japan on 18 April 2009, South Korea on 19 March 2009, China on 26 March 2009, Vietnam on 10 April 2009,[31] and 11 April 2009 in the Philippines.
In particular, the film was a major success in East Asia. In the People's Republic of China, the film grossed $2.2 million in its opening weekend (27–29 March). In Japan, the film grossed $12 million, the most the film has grossed in any Asian country.[61]
[edit] Critical reception
Academy Awards record
1. Best Picture
2. Best Director, Danny Boyle
3. Best Adapted Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
4. Best Cinematography, Anthony Dod Mantle
5. Best Original Score, A. R. Rahman
6. Best Original Song - "Jai Ho", A. R. Rahman and Gulzar
7. Best Film Editing, Chris Dickens
8. Best Sound Mixing, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pyke, and Ian Tapp
BAFTA Awards record
1. Best Film, Christian Colson
2. Best Director, Danny Boyle
3. Best Adapted Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
4. Best Cinematography, Anthony Dod Mantle
5. Best Film Music, A. R. Rahman
6. Best Editing, Chris Dickens
7. Best Sound, Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pyke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Picture – Drama
2. Best Director, Danny Boyle
3. Best Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
4. Best Original Score, A. R. Rahman
[edit] Social impact
Due to the movie's popularity, the words "jai ho" and "slumdog" have entered into the international lexicon.[62]
[edit] Awards and honours
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is highly acclaimed, named in the top ten lists of various newspapers.[63] On 22 February 2009, the film won eight out of ten Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including the Best Picture and Best Director. It is the eighth film ever to win eight Academy Awards[64] and the eleventh Best Picture Oscar winner without a single acting nomination.[65]
The film also won seven of the eleven BAFTA Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Film; all four of the Golden Globe Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Drama Film; and five of the six Critics' Choice Awards for which it was nominated.
The much acclaimed title sequence has been honoured by a nomination at the prestigious 2009 Rushes Soho Shorts Festival in the 'Broadcast Design Award' category in competition with the likes of the Match of the Day Euro 2008 titles by Aardman and two projects by Agenda Collective
[edit] Reactions from outside India
Slumdog Millionaire team at the 81st Academy Awards in the US
Slumdog Millionaire has been critically acclaimed in the Western world. As of 11 November 2009, Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 93% rating with 197 fresh and 14 rotten reviews. The average score is 8.2/10.[66] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 86, based on 36 reviews.[67] Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 123 different top ten lists, out of 286 different critics lists surveyed, the 3rd most mentions on a top ten list of any film released in 2008.[68]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, stating that it is, "a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating."[69] Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern refers to Slumdog Millionaire as, "the film world's first globalized masterpiece."[70] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post argues that, "this modern-day "rags-to-rajah" fable won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, and it's easy to see why. With its timely setting of a swiftly globalizing India and, more specifically, the country's own version of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" TV show, combined with timeless melodrama and a hardworking orphan who withstands all manner of setbacks, "Slumdog Millionaire" plays like Charles Dickens for the 21st century."[71] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times describes the film as "a Hollywood-style romantic melodrama that delivers major studio satisfactions in an ultra-modern way" and "a story of star-crossed romance that the original Warner brothers would have embraced, shamelessly pulling out stops that you wouldn't think anyone would have the nerve to attempt anymore."[72] Anthony Lane of the New Yorker stated, "There is a mismatch here. Boyle and his team, headed by the director of photography, Anthony Dod Mantle, clearly believe that a city like Mumbai, with its shifting skyline and a population of more than fifteen million, is as ripe for storytelling as Dickens's London […] At the same time, the story they chose is sheer fantasy, not in its glancing details but in its emotional momentum. How else could Boyle get away with assembling his cast for a Bollywood dance number, at a railroad station, over the closing credits? You can either chide the film, at this point, for relinquishing any claim to realism or you can go with the flow—surely the wiser choice. "[73] Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent was also full of praise, saying the film "successfully mixes hard-hitting drama with uplifting action and the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire show is an ideal device to revolve events around".[74] Several other reviewers have described Slumdog Millionaire as a Bollywood-style "masala" movie,[75] due to the way the film combines "familiar raw ingredients into a feverish masala"[76] and culminates in "the romantic leads finding each other."[77]
Other critics offered more mixed reviews. For example, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, stating that "despite the extravagant drama and some demonstrations of the savagery meted out to India's street children, this is a cheerfully undemanding and unreflective film with a vision of India that, if not touristy exactly, is certainly an outsider's view; it depends for its full enjoyment on not being taken too seriously." He also pointed out that the film is co-produced by Celador, who own the rights to the original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and claimed that "it functions as a feature-length product placement for the programme."[78] A few critics also panned it. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle states that, "Slumdog Millionaire has a problem in its storytelling. The movie unfolds in a start-and-stop way that kills suspense, leans heavily on flashbacks and robs the movie of most of its velocity.... [T]he whole construction is tied to a gimmicky narrative strategy that keeps Slumdog Millionaire from really hitting its stride until the last 30 minutes. By then, it's just a little too late."[79] Eric Hynes of IndieWIRE called it "bombastic", "a noisy, sub-Dickens update on the romantic tramp's tale" and "a goofy picaresque to rival Forrest Gump" in its morality and romanticism.[80]
[edit] Reactions from India and the Indian diaspora
Main article: Reactions from India and the Indian diaspora to Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire has been a subject of discussion among a variety of people in India and the Indian diaspora. Some film critics have responded positively to the film. At the same time, others objected to issues such as Jamal's use of British English or the fact that similar films by Indian filmmakers have not received equal recognition. A few notable filmmakers such as Aamir Khan and Priyadarshan have been critical of the film. Author and critic Salman Rushdie argues that it has "a patently ridiculous conceit." [81]
[edit] Controversies
Main article: Controversial issues surrounding Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire has stirred controversy on a few issues including the welfare of its child actors and its portrayals of Indians and Hinduism.
[edit] Soundtrack
Main article: Slumdog Millionaire (soundtrack)
The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, who planned the score for over two months and completed it in two weeks.[82] Danny Boyle has said that he chose Rahman because "not only does he draw on Indian classical music, but he's got R&B and hip hop coming in from America, house music coming in from Europe and this incredible fusion is created."[18] Rahman won the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and won two out of three nominations for the Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Score and one for Best Original Song for Jai Ho. The song "O... Saya" got a nomination shared with M.I.A., and the song "Jai Ho" won the Oscar, which A. R. Rahman shared with lyricist Gulzar. The soundtrack was released on M.I.A.'s record label N.E.E.T. On Radio Sargam, film critic Goher Iqbal Punn termed the soundtrack Rahman's "magnum opus" which will acquaint "the entire world" with his artistry.[83]
[edit] Notes
