* zopdi (zopadpatti) = Mumbai slang for slum
So I caught a screening of “Slumdog Millionaire” at a theater near me and I’d have to say I liked the movie. *** spoilers follows ***
“You wanted to see the real India. Now you’ve seen it”, says a teenage Jamal clutching his left eye after the Indian driver of an American tourist couple unfairly blames him for their car getting looted and lays a beatdown on Jamal.
In the age of instant information, does knowledge gained from life experiences count for anything?
Slumdog is an intrusive pilgrimage of the notorious slums of Mumbai. The movie starts with a contestant, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) on the desi version “Who wants to Millionaire”, or “Who vaants to be a Millionairrrre” like Anil Kapoor, he of the million hairs, who plays the game show host, insists on pronouncing it. As the game show breaks for the night, Jamal is a question away from winning it all. But Prem Kumar suspects Jamal of cheating resulting in Jamal being kidnapped by the police (you read that right) and ending up on the wrong end of one of the – blood curling, human rights violating – torture sessions at the hands of Mumbai’s finest, played by Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla (a.k.a Kallu Mama).
Set in flashbacks dating to the early 90s, the movie follows the lives of two street smart orphans, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) and Salim Malik (no relation to the Pakistani cricketer). The first 30-45 minutes are a veritable tour of Mumbai’s gutters and slums. When one lands in Mumbai late at night on an international flight, even before the flight doors open, the “Mumbai” smell assaults your olfactory senses. Watching the first third or so of this movie, one can almost feel that smell. It doesn’t get any more real than the kids playing in the water of a dhobi-ghat in the same dirty water their mother washes clothes in. A few moments later the mother is brutally killed by a frenzied Hindu mob in front of the brothers’ eyes (Babri Masjid riots). As the orphaned brothers take to the streets, we get to experience the life of a street urchin of Mumbai, seldom seen even in Bollywood movies. There is plenty of filth and shit. The protagonist even dives into a pile of …. you get the idea.
From the Bombay riots of 92-93 to a stint in a sham of an orphanage to the Taj Mahal (the one in Agra) back to the call centers of a booming Mumbai (note the name change), Slumdog is the tale of the branching of the lives of two brothers and the quest of one (Jamal) to find his lost love Latika (Frieda Pinto).
This quest somehow lands Jamal on “Who wants to be a Millionaire” where the egomaniacal host Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor) loses no opportunity to repeatedly put down Jamal and his social standing – Jamal is the peon who brings chai to call center workers. Jamal is accused of cheating, because being a peon he was never expected to know all these answers and make it so far into the contest, a strong commentary on social prejudices.
Dev Patel does a great job as the protagonist Jamal, a Dickens’esque character – smart but stubborn, with a penchant for making lemonades out of the lemons life hands him. Frieda Pinto appears in bits and parts and has a more significant roles towards the end of the movie. Anil Kapoor as Prem Kumar, the pompous A-hole of an game show host fits well into the role and almost surprises in this never before seen avatar. Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla mentioned earlier present a violent but comic portrayal of Mumbai’s finest, who are left with no choice but to torture a kid accused of cheating on a game show of all crimes.
The flashbacks can be disconcerting at the beginning but as the movie progresses, the sum of the parts start to add up making for a great story. We realize that maybe Jamal, educated perhaps to the 3rd or 4th grade level, learned more from his life experiences than from books.
The soundtrack is different than what one would expect in Indian movies (garish song and dance sequences) or movies featuring India (sitar music classical singer in the background). Personally, I liked the numbers “O …. Saya” by ARR and MIA and “Ringa Ringa”, a reunion of the “Choli ke peeche” duo of Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun. ARR has delved in detail on what went into the making of the music of this movie in this webcast by SAJA [via].
As for the movie, the depiction of Jamal and Salim’s childhood days, growing up amongst the filth is strong, and at times even disturbing. The tough life of street urchins and the violence and exploitation they go through is covered in a matter-of-fact manner in the context of the movie but leaves a lasting impression. No wonder Manohla Dargis in The New York Times review of the movie describes it as a “sensory blowout”.
For the parents amongst us, this is not a movie for kids, and I’d suggest leaving the young ones at home.
Other than that would I recommend this movie to our readers? Absolutely.
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