Well..the topic title was to be 'My take on Slumdog Millionaire(SM)' but I went for the more flashy one assuming my blog one day would be famous (like every budding blogger I guess) and people would check this article instead of going past it without wanting to go through SM again.
I saw the movie again yesterday and wanted to put down my thoughts on it and about things around it.
http://buzz18.in.com/snippets/gossip/the-ugly-truth-about-freida-pinto/116862/0
This. And coming right after a movie which centers around love. Makes you wonder about the hypocritical people of the world or the degree of unrealism of cinema. I simply burst out into a little laugh when I first saw this just after having finished watching the movie last time. All those awards and stuff, you know..
Well, about the awards,yea-I concur with them. Well deserved. Just loved the editing. Some of the initial scenes it felt like the scissor was working at your eyelashes.SNAP!
And the casting. Amazing. Those kids. Jamal was the endless cutie,both as the youngest and middle jamal. And Salim with that face of the realistic elder brother-not the brutal villainy but just that roughened up look. Oh I just loved the casting. Anil Kapoor could have had better dialogues but boy,was he awesome in his role!Big bad ass upmarket tycoon oppressing the lower class of the society.That is what is termed a winner's attitude in this world isn't it? anyways. But then,as they say-there is no such thing as perfection-what the hell is the deal with Latika Pinto. The younger versions were lovely but whatever attracted the makers to Freida Pinto. One sore spot I guess. Sorry if this sounds superficial,but in a 3 hour movie that is the best bet. You get to judge them by their looks only,so it was kinda confusing why Jamal would go through so much and after such a long separation. They could have done with a better one there..anyways..
Now to the contentious issues-All the patriots in India getting up in arms against a foreign filmmaker not being able to see through the 'dirty underbelly' of India. And the counterargument was this-that it wasn't meant to be a negative propaganda of the region and Danny Boyle sang praises of how the people of the slums were not complaining even living such lives and were just happy and gay about their everyday life. It was a celebration as he said.
It struck me during the scene where Salim thrusts an infant into Latika's arms forcing her to use the kid to earn double money and then "Rote rah baccha,triple money"-Crying baby earns triple money. YES,the kid will eventually stop crying and all that,but while he is in pain,it IS a cause for concern isn't it? So there I felt his 'celebration' quote was flawed. I mean-that is just a wrong thing and a wrong way to celebrate.Neither something that's worth celebrating.Far from it. There are quite a few other scenes like like that in the film,none so more blindingly glaring than the blinding scene of Aravind. Yea, he moves on, on his alms collecting job makes jokes and is cavalier and casual when he comes across Jamal later, but is that what one would call celebration? Or for that matter- normalcy? My intuitions an inquisitions take over me many times in all sorts of situations and thus I am left wondering and cringing in discomfort over a search for an explanation ofthings when I imagine Aravind asking someone-Why ?
Why it happened what happened to him?
Why does he have to endure the life that he has to now?
Taking sides on this one seems difficult for me for now. Maybe someday someone will convince me into taking one side. What cannot be denied is some parts of the movie are just brilliant to experience.
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