Kupam-Nai(Kutha) Crorepathi

Slumdog Millionare, the movie that has made such a huge impact in American Cinema, a movie about Bombay - the slums, the corruption, the mafia, the poverty, the prostitutes - and all its unfairness, failed to impress me. 

Yes, it was an enjoyable two hours, but when I found myself looking forward to the next question on the Who Wants to be a 'Milllllare' (as Anil Kapoor chooses to pronounce it) just so I could try to answer it myself, I realized something wasn't perfect. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it was a bad movie, it wasn't - especially for a director who is not a mumbaiite, it is quite commendable. The little flashbacks in the police station where Jamal grows from a young boy into a man even before you realize it was a brilliant strategy. However, some of them like the 'Benjamin Franklin' one failed to seem plausible. Why would a young, blind, illiterate boy (Arvind) care to ask who the man on the dollar bill was and further yet how would he know his name? I did not know that Benjamin Frankin was on the dollar bill and I am sure most of my peers wouldn't either and I did my entire schooling in India.  

The female lead character who played Latika, was very pretty and looked very Indian despite being Hispanic. I did think that her character as the third musketeer should have been developed better. All that I saw of the relationship between Jamal and Latika, before they left for Agra, was at best two children playing together. Yes, Jamal invited her to share their shelter when it was raining, but they were little children and love at first sight does not exist at that age and more so when they had just lost their parents. That action was clearly that of pity and even if they had grown closer over the relatively brief part of their childhood that they spent together, I didn't feel like Jamal -had- to go back and find Latika. 

Salim, Jamal's brother, on the other hand was an excellently played character. The actors who played him at different ages, all fit the character and one another perfectly. Jamal himself was a very subdued character, unsurprising for someone who went through all of that in less than a decade. Yet, I liked Jamal. He seemed like a good guy, a guy a girl could fall in love with, a guy who would not trample over others for anything. 

Another issue I had with the film is the way the Police unrealistically let Jamal off, no false cases? No attempts to make some money? Come on, with a guy as recently famous and as rich as Jamal, surely they would expect something for holding him in questioning for a night. Irrfan Khan, as the cop, didn't really have much to do. I love him as an actor, but this wasn't his best performance. The other fat, short cop on the other hand, always plays such a good bombay cop! I loved him! 

All in all, a must-see movie for every Indian, because it will make you feel good and proud that you are Indian(Even though it doesn't show the best of India, you know what I mean - you will love that an (essentially) Indian movie has made it huge in Hollywood!). As for people of other ethnicities, despite everything I said - it still is a great movie and I would recommend you watch it, just once though!

P.S - Sorry, I translated the title into Tindi(Tamil+Hindi) because I don't really know the word for slum in Hindi! Educate me?!