Slumdog Millionaire - unrealistic & overrated

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Scenes of poverty and squalour may appear romantic to Westerners and to our snooty elite but for us ordinary Indians they are nothing new. They are an everyday reality. However, one wonders what sort of mind can find such images aesthetically pleasing. Party-hopping socialites (for example,  Shobhaa De after all her bombast of "enough is enough" after the Mumbai attack, went and watched a pirated copy!) who are distanced from such reality may find this film an "eye-opener" but for us it IS just poverty-porn. Leaving that aside, I have eight other objections to the film. 1) The director seems to RELISH showing violence. Some of it (like the police-torture) is quite needless. And why was the boy arrested in the first place? On what charge? Was it realistic? 2) How can a boy growing up in slums speak such accented English? Even if one assumes that the language he actually uses to communicate with the game-show host and the police officer is Hindi (granting the director the creative license to use a language better suited for international audiences), there are 2 instances where it is stretched too far: (a) when the boy becomes a â€˜guideâ€™ for foreign tourists at the Taj Mahal & (b) when he becomes a substitute-operator at the call-centre. 3) When the boy uses his â€˜lifelineâ€™ during the game-show, his friend discovers that she has forgotten her mobile and has to run back for it. This is plain Bollywood masala! Did the director HAVE to make it so melodramatic? 4) How did the boy know who invented the revolver just by watching his brother use it? How does his friend know about Benjamin Franklin? 5) â€œDarshan Do Ghanshyamâ€ is NOT written by Surdas. It is written by Gopal Singh Nepali for the movie Narsi Bhagat (1957). This song is also credited as traditional and originally written by 15th century poet Narsi Mehta, whose life that film is based on. 6) After winning the game-show, the boy sits on the railway platform and nobody recognizes him! Considering the popularity of the show, is that realistic? 7) Two glaring omissions: To qualify for the show one has to answer several GK questions over phone or Internet. Even after making it to the show, a contestant can reach the hot-seat, only after â€œfastest finger firstâ€. All this is conveniently forgotten in the film. 8) And of course the greatest flaw in the storyline: programmes like 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' and 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' are NOT telecast live. As a result the entire structure of the film becomes unrealistic. For a film that boasts of being realistic such a flaw cannot be overlooked.  Anyone else wants to say this is a g-r-e-a-t film despite all these flaws? Last edited: 10-Feb-09 09:56 PM Last edited: 10-Feb-09 09:57 PM

icoffee · Feb 10, 2009 9:52 PM · 2,504 views

19 Replies

Touche my friend.

dekchidriver · Feb 10, 2009 10:08 PM

If you start dissecting each and every movies like this, then trust me there won't be a single movie that you will like. So chill out, enjoy the movie until it last. No offense!

passa · Feb 10, 2009 10:27 PM

Plz give the link of website where I can watch this controversial movie. (megavideo is not working in my computer.) And I would comment then. Thanx.

sajha_addict · Feb 10, 2009 10:42 PM

No offense but there are always critics for any movie... You see it this way mate, others differently.. No movie is perfect...I don't think it was based on a real story... So... I am sure this movie will win a few awards in Oscars on Feb 21 ~Peace!

barium04 · Feb 10, 2009 10:57 PM

Icoffee, what you want to say by saying "............but for us ordinary Indians.............."

Hoowdy · Feb 10, 2009 11:24 PM

sajha addict -----> thepiratebay.org ull also need utorrent.

dekchidriver · Feb 10, 2009 11:39 PM

Last edited: 11-Feb-09 11:51 AM Last edited: 11-Feb-09 11:51 AM

icoffee · Feb 11, 2009 2:25 AM

Do you think scenes shown in Bond Movies or any other Hollywood movies realistic as in real life??? Lets not talk about Bollywood movies.... they are far beyond imaginations...... Slumdog Millionaire is as realistic as it can be...... Plus... watch the movie properly.... as most of the answers of the question are there in the movie..... Last but not the least...... you may be an Indian.... not me.... and this is a website dedcated to Nepali..... describing "us" as "indian" here is offensive....I am a Nepali and proud of it....... Jaya Nepal

gyanguru · Feb 11, 2009 2:57 AM

two words: WHO CARES!!?? n no movie can match true lifestyle, in any given case.... even documentaries are biased, n usually a single view.... n movies based on true stories, well they are jus based on true events!! soulless

soullesseye · Feb 11, 2009 4:06 AM

testai realistic film hernu cha bhane documentary here bhai halyo ni. I am sure though you will find your "eight points" in them too. So yeah, i agree. SDM is full of crap - literally. 

N · Feb 11, 2009 6:55 AM

I AM JUST MAKING MY POINT FOR THE MOVIE....I DID NOT SAY I LIKE REALISTIC MOVIE(DOCUMENTARY)

icoffee · Feb 11, 2009 7:41 AM

Westerners have started to take bollywood a little more seriously these days. Bollywood filmmakers also do aggressive marketing across the boundary and in overseas to garner world-wide approval. Slumdog millionaire, although mostly made by foreigners, is a bollywood movie (at least from thematic point of view, if not execution). If just screenplay is compared, there are far better movies that this in bollywood. However, credit must be given to its makers and the entire crew for their hard-work. They happened to make this movie at the right time when the world was and is going through the frightening economic recession. Whether they fairly deserve all the accolades and the media hoopla that they're getting is a different story. By the way, when you lift stuffs from elsewhere, you have to mention the source. I can point out at least 10 sources where the exact review has been posted already. http://mboard.rediff.com/newbo...

Pret Aatma · Feb 11, 2009 8:01 AM

Couple of things icoffee. - I'm not sure why you are yelling. If you didn't know CAPS means yelling then let this be blog etiquette 101 to everyone,CAPS MEANS YELLING or swearing or diagreeing with loud voice. - In addition, did you really write that piece. I doubt. The reason i ask is your inclusion of "..us ordinary indian.." I had few Nepali sentence in my earlier comment and you understood it perfectly. makes me wonder. - rahyo kura timilai timro documentary ko choice, aba ke bhannu - thikai cha.

N · Feb 11, 2009 8:10 AM

Dekchidriver and icofee, Thanks for the links! bharai movie herera bhanchu hai.

sajha_addict · Feb 11, 2009 8:43 AM

Icoffee..is this really your view?? Coz I found same view in this link.. http://www.culture11.com/diary... so who is copying and pasting ??

avii · Feb 11, 2009 10:47 AM

I agree. It is totally overrated. It's a good film but not a great movie by any measure...

newlynew · Feb 11, 2009 10:53 AM

I found same view in this link too. http://blah.burrp.com/arts-ent... (Please check Sunit's comment there) icecoffee, if you are not posting the same review in many sites, will you please be more creative next time? At least, do mention the source if you are borrowing someone else's views/words. And, if you look for "reality" in movies, you should explore some other arena like documentaries, sir.

yakku · Feb 11, 2009 11:10 AM

yeah .. copy and paste .. he forgot to remove " we ..indian " from the article .. hehe .. trying to be smart but a dump ass .. :)

SatyamSuvam · Feb 11, 2009 11:33 AM

Please dont bother with Icoffee he is just there to create an unwanted traffic on the internet...he is total waste of bandwidth

mucho_fiesta · Feb 11, 2009 11:46 AM

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