I need to review Slumdog Millionaire, now. As an Indian blogger who has seen the movie, I don’t want to be the only one not to have reviewed this movie. We’ve heard all the arguments for and against the movie. Before I get to that, let me make one thing clear. It’s one hell of a movie. Superb screenplay, lovely cinematography and top class music. I just loved it. I enjoyed this movie so much that I’ve watched it three times. As a movie, it is truly an enjoyable movie. It’s a feel-good movie some elements of masala in it. Unless you have very strong sentiments against the movie, it is quite difficult not to like this movie. The movie is doing good worldwide because the ‘very strong sentiments’ are all from some of Indian viewers. In the eyes of the global audience, it is a very entertaining, wholesome movie experience.

To say that this is a Westerner’s portrayal of India is the worst you can do to this film. That also shows complete lack of understanding for movie as an art form. This movie would not have been as interesting if the hero Jamal (cut the protagonist crap, it’s hero in the Indian movies) had not had the slum beginnings. And I must appreciate Danny Boyle’s portrayal of slums. He did not show the slums so we can pity them. The focus was always on the characters and never on the slum by itself. With the slums as the background, lasting feelings or images could easily have been sorrow, pain, despair etc. Whereas the overwhelming feeling of the film was fun, adventure and joy. This is not because Jamal wins the prize and the girl. The sense of adventure and joy was spread throughout the time scale of the life of Jamal and his brother Salim. The guys are shown to have fun, be very enterprising and take on the life. If this was the Westerner’s portrayal of India – that no matter where they are, they’re mighty spirited people who never give up – thank you Danny!

Like it always happens with movies, the value of positive and negative publicity is almost the same. All the controversies have certainly made the movie a bit more popular. I still don’t understand why Indian slums should not be shown in a movie. It’s more shameful to have them than to show them. Over the last 60 years, the slums in Mumbai have grown to be the largest in Asia, one of the few Asian records that China did not pip India. Remember, slums have only grown. That’s a harsh reality. The India of outsourced processes, internet reach and mobile market is still not the real truth. The last couple of decades of urban prosperity has not done much to our literacy rate and the poverty line. That’s the truth. Why get so defensive about it, especially when the movie is not at all about the negatives. Isn’t it strange that politicians have not come out against the depiction of Indian slums in this movie? They won’t because they had/have a responsibility to eradicate slums and they’re not doing much about it. If we had shown the energy that we show against such movie directors and pub-going women towards the politicians, we would have less reasons to complain. Tired of seeing people barking up the wrong tree.

When Lagaan made it to the Oscars, I don’t remember anyone making so much noise. In my eyes, Lagaan was more shameful because it showed the Indian bunch as some illiterate bodies in an obscure village, who acted stupid, silly and emotional. None of the villagers were keen about putting up a fight except one man who leads them to an unbelievable charge against the well-mannered, smart, disciplined English. Some of the villager characters existed in the movie just for comedic elements. All they did were stupid, funny things that you’d not expect normal human beings to do. The movie completely undermined the Indians so that the hero can be a hero while you’re having fun watching the movie. Lagaan was made for the Indian audience and when it made to the Oscars, it was so unfortunate that the whole world got to see how ‘we’ projected ‘our’ illiterate silly Indians against the learned British. SM has not done more damage to the image of India than Lagaan did. Isn’t it hypocrisy of the highest order that Slumdog is being pilloried while Lagaan was not? If the same SM was directed by some RGV or Mani Ratnam, we’d have gone bonkers. The pseudo-nationalists always need some reason to knock down anything that’s not Indian.

SM is not the perfect movie. It has its faults. It has its perceived plot holes and all that. Actually I don’t mind that. The movie ‘Life is beautiful’ was not the perfect movie, in terms of factual accuracy and hole-free plot. But no movie has ever moved me than ‘Life is beautiful’ did. In just about 15 or 20 minutes into the movie SM, you’d realise that looking for perfection would only spoil your movie experience. If you look at this movie very critically, I pity you because you missed the fun. Superb casting, great acting by the younger actors, Rahman’s music, most lively camera work, smart direction, mementoesque screenplay with a bollywood-like ending. It’s got it all.

My favourite part of the movie is this. Jamal is on the final question for 2 crore rupees. He doesn’t know the answer and he has the last life line that is phone-a-friend. He calls his brother’s number and he is pleasantly surprised that Latika (Jamal’s love) picks up the call. That’s the first time he gets to speak to her after many months of forced separation. Upon the show host’s insistence, he asks the final question to Latika. She thinks hard but she doesn’t appear to know the answer. Show host says ‘just 15 seconds more’ for the call. Jamal, instead of asking if she knows the answer, asks her “where are you” and she replies “I’m safe”. For me, that sums up the movie. You should watch to appreciate this fully.

In another couple of weeks we’d have known if SM gets the Oscars. I don’t think that Oscars are the paramount, supreme awards that are given out in the film industry. Some of my favourite films which have been the best of that year, never went on to win the Oscar thereby substantiating my belief. Oscars are an American award given to American films and some foreign language films, all from the American standards of film making plus their understanding of world culture. But what Oscars can give you unbelievable publicity, reach and acceptance. For that reason, it helps to win the Oscars. I don’t quite think that the movie would win the award, despite the Warner Bros connection. I really really hope that Rahman wins it. He deserves this award. To get nominated twice in a category that has three nominations means he’s the odds-on favourite to win it.

As many have noted, SM was not Rahman’s best ever. And that’s not to undermine his music in SM, but just to show the high standards he has maintained all through his career, right from his debut. At least 20 to 30 times in his career, I have thought that ‘this is it, this is his best’. Yesterday, I was listening to his ‘Newyork nagaram’ song which still blows me away. The man’s a genius and he deserves global recognition and acclaim.  His ‘O Saya . .’ in Slumdog Millionaire is a very unique score. My bet is that it would win the Oscars.

All these international awards do have some subtle business angle to them. All those Indian girls won the Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss Asia-Oceania and all that not just because they were stunningly beautiful but also that western cosmetic industry had to tap the Indian market. And boy, didn’t they do well! An Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire would start a long season of foreign investment in Indian movie industry. With a humble budget of $15m (most of the hollywood actors get more than that per film) Slumdog Millionaire has amassed $130m. In the current economic conditions which other investment would give as much?

Slumdog Millionaire is the new entrant in my list of my favourite films (I plan to review each of them here, over a period of time). You can say all you want, the one thing SM accomplishes is to remind us the magic of cinema. Roman Polanski said “Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater“. I know some porns will achieve that, but as far as I know that’s the most crisp definition of a good cinema. Slumdog Millionaire does just that.