Christopher Nolan must be very proud with how well the "Anachronous" way of story-telling been down with the masses. Filmmakers and viewers are now acknowledging the great art, which can make simple stories look extra-ordinary.
Kudos to Danny for showing the slums as they are. I don't see any great bollywood actor making so much fuss about it without even giving it a peek. That too when the child actor in the film jumps into the shit-hole (literally) to get his autograph (though later sold off by his brother at Rs 3 only).
Chase scene (policemen after the kids playing on airport) has been shot exceptionally well. Both the child actors Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (Jamal) and Azharuddin Ismail (his elder bro Salim) and their adolescent counterparts have made their characters look real.
From slums to the mumbai riots (brief hints) to trap by "Beggars' Mafia" to escape to losing-founding saga to bhai turning hitman everything is shot convincingly as this was going to be the film's backbone as they explain how did the Slumdog know the answers.
Somewhere down the line the characters (the adolescent guys) speaking English couldn't go down as well as those who did in Gandhi. For perhaps if not had been that way film might have ended up with competing in "Best Foreign Film" category.
But as a movie is best owned by its director, so no issues.
Freida Pinto's performance is average. Dev Patel does impress a lot with his journey from chaiwallaah in a call centre, who knows more about the Red Carpet than any other student in the training room to The Millionaire, who ended up annoying Anil Kapoor with his rags to riches story in 1 hr Show rather than latter's struggle (briefly mentioned). The grey shades in the Quiz-Master's role might have driven Shahrukh away from it.
Time for some technical flaws.
The KBC or "Who wants to be a millionaire" is never live, for the fear, that if a person choses phone a friend, encarta/wiki can help him before even the call is made.
How often "The Three Musketeers" taught in a Slum-School?
Policemen grilling Jamal speak in so much an Indian accent english. So how does our Slumdog acquire a foreign accent? Even if our chaiwaalah learned that in the office he served, but how does our heroin who had been at a Mafia's place since years. And we know what accent is borne in there?
How often a person of Lower strata of society when plays reality shows like this, are insulted by the game host?
Amidst all the flaws, the story does strike a chord for the majority of the 120 minutes, losing steam only in final 10 minutes.
The film will inspire a generation of directors and story-writers, seeing kind of media exposure it is getting across the globe.
Go watch slumdog for the Oscar nominations. For some seemingly funny but realistically agonizing slum life. For the great soundtrack courtesy A.R. Rehman.
I genuinely feel It should win an Oscar for India. Feel like "It's Written"
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