Times magazine calls it a dervish delight - http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863826_1863833,00.html
WSJ calls it first globalized masterpiece - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122661670370126131.html
GoldenGlobe gave it a nod - http://www.goldenglobes.org/news/id/104
What happens after this ? Expections..high expections...and what happens to high expectations ? The same as to a big wave...it comes crashing down..now Im exaggerating a bit here...my expectations were not crashed as such...but yes...they were un-realised..the movie was not upto what I expected it to be...and I dont really know what I expected..but isnt that usually the case ?
Let me tell you..I am as big a fan of the under-dog getting his redemption at the end-of-the-movie as anyone else...a big fan of Mumbai - where the movie is set...and it is depicted wonderfully..though a bit more block-coloured than I guess it is..I wonder how they paint the slums as colourful when they are struggling for their daily lives...but this is one of the jarring notes...
The lead-actors being another...To give a little back story , this is about 3 kids and their coming-of-age in the grits of the underbelly of mumbai , the slums ! Each of the 3 protagonist are showed in 3 stages of their age , and whereas the youngest characters are so real and believable and heart-rending, as they grow older they do not remain so...maybe thats true with us too..Im sure we arent as cute at 17 as we were at 6 or even at 12...
The issues that are seen are all very humane...very real...very touching..horrifying at times - the beggers gang in which they get meshed for a while..the toughness and survival skills that you see in those kids, even when they are scamming tourists...the red-light area...I mean each and every of them...and no melodrama...just matter-of-fact life..the way it is actually out there...
So one would wonder why Im complaining..its because I think I see all this and I dont see any fantasy element in it..no stretch of imagination...I know it all happens..day in and day out ..along with all the other varied things happening in India..and I think that the audience here love it more because all that they see is not something they have seen or experienced or known to happen...so a sense of wonder is felt more when you see something that you havnt seen before ?? Maybe thats why I liked 'Wall-E' more...
Slumdog is good no doubt..but bollywood has produced many such movies..I mean not nearly as good..but touching one or many of the issues seen here..as well as mumbai...and slums...it just didnt strike me as unique a fare as it did to the audience here... so yeah...a thumbs up to Slumdog..but let those Wall-Es keep coming too...<can anyone tell I didnt know how to end this really ??>
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