slumdog millionaire

i happened to watch slumdog a few weeks back (after the oscars unfortunately) but never found the time to write about it. i just couldn't resist it anymore.


i honestly started out with zero idea of what this film is all about. i thought it was another bollywood flick, with the all too typical, prevailing hiding-hehind-the-tree-like-as-if-you-can't-see-me syndrome. pardon my inherent racial bias with regards to such cultural innuendos, i just don't. get. it.

so i was pleasantly surprised that it was more hollywood than bollywood in style, but also equally relieved that the plot and settings did not get drowned out in all the farce associated with tradition blockbuster cinema. kudos to fox searchlight, i have been rewarded for being a loyal fan of this label for the excellent features that they have put out thus far.

for me, slumdog is as much about love, and lost as it is about the ever changing landscapes of india. i have never doubted in my head that india is a beautiful country, of breathtaking landscapes, of amiable and hospitable people, but perhaps this film has addressed the lesser seen and defunct side of this society, the cancer that besieges this sprawling culture of the rich-gets-richer.

one of the first few scenes that depicts hundreds of thousands of people that live in the slums on the outskirts of bombay (or the modern day mumbai) defined this whole movie: women doing laundry in filth-ridden canals probably mixed with sewage, clothes-lines strewn across the vast areas of open landfill, and little kids being themselves, carefree and restless, playing cricket, completely indifferent to the hopes and banes that plague their parents and neighbors.

the crime, the vices, the genocide, the corruption, the torture, the apathy, the contempt: everything points to irrenpentable acts that cannot possibly lead to divine enlightenment in this very much god(s)-fearing nation. yet people continue to indulge in them, or perhaps not indulge, but these acts continue to manifest, simply because the people had to do what they had to do to survive.

thus the speck of pure love is akin to an oasis, it fuels the motive force behind this film from the beginning to the end. we're all touched by the innocent nature of it, because a kid could not possibly have harbored other ulterior objectives in mind when he decided to extend a helping hand to that little girl in the rain. and even when the seemingly perfect "face" was scarred for life, he took no notice, instead, choosing to appreciate what exists beyond the surface.

and the bittersweet ending, that reminded us that we have to give some to gain some. such is the formula to a timeless story, even though it is set in one of the most estranged times that the country has probably seen to date.

oh and let's not forget the magnetic soundtrack, that was the glue that held each and every frame together. it's seductive. it's impeccable. it's magic.


+listening to: paper planes by M.I.A.