Slumdog Millionaire – What Bloggers are Saying

Wow, it’s been a while since my last post. This one’s going to be about Slumdog Millionaire, in honor of its release in India today (even though I’m pretty sure a large number have already seen it online or on DVD!).

The movie’s pretty good, has some wonderful shots of Bombay that you don’t see in the typical Bollywood cop-chase in the slums. The movie makes the slums look so scenic, almost tranquil.  I love how the plot ties in with the show Kaun Banega Crorepati (or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as it is in the movie). The movie was based on a book by Vikas Swarup, Q&A (Amazon for only $18 – my roommate and I are dying to read it). The plot in the book sounds a bit different, apparently Jamal goes to jail and has a lawyer. Interesting stuff.

But ofcourse, being a Mumbaikar, I had to pick up on every-non Indian thing in the movie! Like the use of the word “million” instead of “crore!” I threw a hissy fit when I saw “Rs.2,500,000″ on the screen! For non-Indians reading this, we use a different system of numbers. We call one hundred thousand “1 lakh” and place the commas differently: “1,00,000.” So one million is “10 lakhs” or “10,00,000″ and ten million is “1 crore” or “1,00,00,000.”

Other pet peeves were the fact that the plot never explained how the street children learned to speak perfect English (funny tweet) and the main actor Dev Patel’s British accent that seemed so out of place in the police station! Here’s a YouTube interview with him that’s absolutely adorable – him all excited about the Oscars.  (he’s only 18!! yes, my roommate and I checked!)

There has been a lot of discussion about the use of the word “Slumdog.” It threw me and my roommate off, especially when Irfan Khan used it. We’ve never heard the word used in conversation before… ever. We’re not the only ones, DNA tweeted about the names, and posted a link to a Reuters post on where the word “slumdog” came from (the comments section is especially interesting). Apparently screenwriter Simon Beaufoy felt the slum children reminded him of the dogs, how they’re always around and watching…. I don’t know how I feel about that… Slum dwellers don’t like the word either, they’re suing the cast for it (here).

There’s also controversy about AMITABH BACHCHAN’s view on the movie. Surprised much? You can read about it on his blog.

Interesting lesser know fact: the kids in the movie are really from the slums. The movie-peeps have set up trust funds for them, which they will receive if they go to school until they turn 16.

Oh, and to tie in the *social media* part, there was a promotion on MySpace – add SlumDog as a friend and receive a free ticket! (offers expired by now, sorry guys). Thanks to @labnol for finding that one. Also, Star Gold is airing the making of the movie on Saturday, 24th January, 2009 at 12.30pm. They’re having a  contest – answer a multiple choice question correctly and you get to meet Anil Kapoor.

So what’s your take on the movie? Was it over hyped? Deserves all 10 Oscars? Go ahead and leave me some comments