Movie Review : Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire's first scene pulls you into the drama. A familiar Indian actor (Saurabh Sukla) builds some confidence. The film starts with intense visuals. With smoke and a strange yellowish tinge to this scene, what we see is a shirtless Saurabh Shukla hurling the choicest of hindi expletives at a young Dev patel, playing Jamal Malik. The drama soon turns less intense and more lively when Irrfan Khan enters the scene. In a local police station of Mumbai. Irrfan Khan plays the police inspector.

The best part of the film comes at the beginning. As the film starts documenting Jamaal's life, the narrative begins with a scene of street kids being chased by the cops. The chase in the slum is an amazing one. Specially because it has cops chasing kids. You can't help but fall in love with the kids. Specially these kids. From a slum in Mumbai. The background score in this sequence, by A.R. Rahman truly lifts the spirits.

A lot is shown in the film about India. Its a film that can be shown not only to people abroad but also to some of the people from the urban India. Many of the intricacies of the slums will be new to many of them watching the film for the first time. As it progresses you tend to smile at how the things have been captured. From the open-air toilets to the 'guides' in Taj Mahal, to the famous Dhobi Ghat at Agra and back to the Mumbai underworld.Of course, the Mumbai underworld part has been overdone in Indian films, most prominently by Ram Gopal Varma. But yes, the lifestyle of Salim sure deserves a mention.

How the film unfolds through the questions faced by Jamal Malik sitting in the hot seat in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is the centre point of the film. There is some heavy product-placement for the show here. The show is almost central to the theme of the film.

Background score by A.R. Rahman is riveting, to say the least. It completely engulfs you into the drama. Most notably, as I mentioned, during the slum-chase scene, the background appears like a character in itself.

The story of Jamal and Latika, as kids, looks interesting. Predictably enough it turns into a love story as they grow up. There's nothing new to the love story. I mean, may be, for the foreign audience, there is some novelty, but the Indian audience has seen enough of the romance-gone-awry-because-of-underworld stories. The story progresses and takes us through various 'phases' of life of Jamal. Interestingly, each phase reflects some intrinsic part of India. Really good to see all this. Specially by a foreign director.

The actors have done commendable job. The Jamaal's childhood character is too adorable. So is Latika's. All the 9 actors have done justice to the roles. Irrfan Khan shines again Saurabh Shukla is competent. Ankur Vikal, the actor playing the antagonist has done a good job. You can feel the terror in his eyes.

All in all, the film quite warm and good. The honesty in the script shows. Though there are a few glitches, they are easily ignorable.Though I found the film a bit over-rated and over-hyped, its still a good watch.

My Rating - ***

Chalegi?

The curosity around the film is enough to make sure it gets the audience. Although its niche theme and treatment would ensure it primarily gets seen in multiplexes.

Box Office Analysis – 22-Jan-2008

Rank	Movie	Weekly Nett Gross	Total Nett Gross	Verdict
1	Halla Bol	11,86,00,000	11,86,00,000	Flop
2	Taare Zameen Par	7,04,00,000	45,84,00,000	Super Hit
3	Welcome	4,65,00,000	70,91,00,000	Blockbuster
4	My Name Is AG	61,00,000	61,00,000	Disaster
5	Om Shanti Om	9,00,000	86,27,00,000	Blockbuster
6	Jab We Met	4,00,000	30,51,00,000	Super Hit

Source : BoxOfficeIndia.com

Last week's release Halla Bol has been a flop. Justified, given its loose story and lack of curiosity within the audience.    The movie starts off pretty well, but somehow, never really takes off. The kind of energy that was witnessed in Santoshi's earlier films (Ghayal, Ghatak) was solely missing. Prashant pointed out that Ajay Devgan is no Sunny Deol. However, Ajay does seem to capable enough in the role. The role was substantially different from the earlier Sunny Deol flicks. The topic was more contemporary here and the setting was more subtle.

Taare Zameen Par has emerged a Superhit. This is rather interesting as TZP did not had a bumper opening. As I predicted, Welcome shattered opening records of many when it opened side-by-side Taare Zameen Par. TZP initially suffered due to Welcome but being an excellent movie that it is, picked up slowly as the word-of-mouth spread. Aamir Khan has made an excellent movie and everyone who is seeing the movie is making sure that at least five others go and watch it.

Welcome was destined to be a blockbuster. What else can I say about it. After Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar is the biggest draw at the box-office today. Even bigger than Aamir Khan. Though, as a friend pointed out, Aamir Khan has a stronger brand. So, Welcome has shattered box office records to emerge a Blockbuster. The biggest comedy hit ever. It didn't matter how the film actually was. In my opinion, it was an strictly average film. But that hardly matters. All that matters is Akshay Kumar

My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves is a disaster. Although the promos looked descent, they didn't raise the curiosity much. The presence of Amrita Rao might have helped it get some audience. Mostly fans of Rao. But given its strictly average execution, the film was bound to flop.

Om Shanti Om is a Blockbuster. An All-Time-Blockbuster in certain circuits. For me, it's a bad product with an excellent star value and over the top publicity. But what the hell, at the end of the day, cinema is about business, and going by that, Shah Rukh is a tycoon.

Jab We Met had to be a Superhit. There was no other way. The movie was very good, the music was topping the charts, and the hype surrounding the film and Shahid-Kareena breakup couldn't have come at a better time. But a very
good movie, indeed. It held on to the theatres for long as the film had tremendous repeat value. And we all know in the long run, films that hit the bull's eye are not necessarily the ones with the best story, direction or even acting, but the ones having the maximum repeat value.

Jab We Met : Movie Review

In your face promotions. Catchy music. A real-life couple. And the controversy of their break-up. Is that all that’s to "Jab We Met". Not at all. The film is a hilarious roller-coaster ride through the lives of Aaditya (Shahid) and Geet (Kareena). The film starts well, and picks up speed with the introduction of Kareena. Infact, this is her best role to-date. As a Sikhni - as she reminds Shahid in one of the scenes - she is a complete charmer. She talks, laughs, smiles, frowns and....what more...runs, tells stories, catches and misses the trains, knows karate and wins your heart. As the unstoppable chatterbox who, by default, always stays happy, Kareena is complete charmer. Watch her and love her.



Shahid. For long, its been evident that Shahid has potential. Here, he proves it yet again. Shahid shows the maturity that was required to play the role. He makes just the right action at the right places. Descent dialogue deleivery and nice espressions. Shahid expresses like he never had. Aaditya, the characer is pareshaan, hairaan, confused not-in-mood. Shahid handles all these expressions adroitly. Although the director is responsible for much of this, I have to give it to Shahid to be able to carry all this. From this film, he is a star.

Imtiaz Ali, the director is very adept in the art of story-telling. Its the treatment of the film that marks it apart from films of similar genre. Watch the first scene of the film to understand what I mean. The way he has handled the scene. Nothing is said. No words exchanged. Yet, everything is established. We know what’s is going on, what has gone wrong and how the character is feeling. All without a word. Superb ! I have never seen such a scene! Do NOT arrive late for the movie lest you should miss this one scene. Imtiaz Ali is a director to watch out for. Good going.

Kareena-Shahid pair rock as a jodi. trust me, the film works primarily because of thje electrifying chemistry between these two. You can actually feel the sparks flowing !


Music is foot tapping and good. Some of the songs are already topping the charts. You actually want to dance when Shahid breaks into "Nagaada Baja", and specially towards the end when "Mauja Mauja" plays on the screen.


The film gets a bit slow in the second half but that is OK. What is not OK is the sub-plot of Shahid's mother . Its poorly developed. It could have been much meatier. Not that it disturbs the story in any way, but while you are telling a story, be sure to develop all the references properly.

One thing. What's with the poorly done Visual Effects? I mean, you can spot the nakli train and the fake background when the camera is positioned in the car. Also, the background outside the train in the introduction scene of Kareena is clearly fake. I remember reading Prime Focus's name in the opening titles. Come on guys, you are the number one visual effects facility in India, you can do better.



In all, I enjoyed the film. And so should anyone who chooses to watch it.

Rating
*** and 1/2


Chalegi ?

Definitely Chalegi.
The pre-release promos were good and have successfully managed to create enough curosity in the viewer's mind. The music is a success. And the controversy involving Shahid-Kareena could not have come at a better time. The audience is going to come to the theatre based on these factors. After watching the movie, they will spread the word, and the movie is sure to get some audience coming back as it's got a descent repeat value. Other releases of the week John Abraham's "No Smoking" and Vikram Bhatt's "Mumbai Salsa" have not managed to get this much attention, and moreover both of these are more of multiplex cinema, so "Jab We Met" can look at a rocking first week. And this one won't be a regional or multiplex success. It's going to be a pan-India hit.

Happy Viewing

Govinda and the General Theory of Relativity

"Govinda ! I don't like Govinda.". Said my French instructor. And she asked many in that "high-profile" class of students. Many said that they don't like Govinda movies. Where as I was dying to watch "Partner", the latest Govinda-Salman Khan starer, directed by David Dhavan, here was a class of people, who, as a rule, seemed to dislike Govinda.

"Blood Diamnod is the movie that I'm going to watch", said a girl. I watched "Blood Diamond" long time back. It's an excellent movie. Thought-provoking, hard-hitting and definitely entertaining. A kind of film liked by many. But Govinda's a different stuff, clearly. I don't know why people go to movies, but I go for entertainment. The work that I do requires me to think, and ponder over, design and come up with complex solutions. One of the most mentally-intensive work. And I am in no mood for doing the same through the movie that I go on weekend. When in a theatre, I want to sit back, relax and get entertained. And if the movie in question provides me that, I'm all for it. And Govinda seems more or less like a guarantee that I'll get all this.

They say Govinda flicks are no-brainers. Yes they are. But if you are so desperate to excercise your brain, solve Sudoku. Why are you going for a movie. Govinda, in the past has been tagged as "Entertainer No. 1" by a certain section of media, and it's this job of his that he does extremely well. I mean, movies are supposed to be fun. They are supposed to entertain. That's the expectation that I have from a movie. If all a movie has to display is differential equations of 42nd degree with the general theory of relativity thrown in, then I don't call it a movie. Its a documentary. And I'm not sure how many of those terming Govind flicks as "no-brainer" understood what I just said.

I'm no big Govinda-fan but Govinda's sense of timing is the best in the industry. In comedy, timing is all that matters. Over the years I've seen numerous hindi films, and among the current lot, Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal are the closest that come to Govinda in terms of comedy. Nobody can even think of touching Govind's style and sense of comic-timing.

I am actually looking forward to watching "Partner" tomorrow.

This was not a review. That's "coming soon".

Shah Rukh gives away his wristwatch to KBC participant

Shah Rukh was trying. And trying hard. But the guys watching the show were not convinced. Most of them left after the first break. Shah Rukh was clearly ,more confident today. Although it was clear that he was running out of jokes. The strategy is clear now. "Humour" is the distinguishing factor. Whereas AB was subtle , authoritative and friendly, SRK is in-your-face, funny, and yes, friendly. He is trying more and more to make that connect with the participant, and at times , it shows. One thing missing, though, is the one question to the participant, "What will you do if you win". Man, that one really threw some interesting things. And Big B was good at that one. I am not sure, but this may be a part of Shah Rukh's strategy to differentiate it from AB-KBC.

One interesting that happened was, when his first participant, Rama Krishna Guggilla, lost out on a question, Shah Rukh felt so bad that he gave away his wrist watch to him. I later learnt that the watch was a Tag Heuer 2000 Aquagraph worth Rs. 1.28 lacs. And I DO NOT think he was asked by the producer to do so. This was clearly his personal gesture. The participant was dumbfounded. (http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2007/jan/23kbc.htm)

The ratings for the new show have been very good. The best in class, infact. The show got a rating of 5.35 from aMap, a TV rating agency.
( http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=8&subLeft=4&chklogin=N&autono=272389&tab=r )
Adlabs, the new producers of KBC mut be peretty much happy. Seems like the gamble that Star Plus played is paying off. Although, its still early to make such an statement. The studio audience seems to love Shah Rukh (what else are we expecting). They just laugh their hearts off on his jokes and one-liners.

The image of Mr. Bachchan hosting the show is so itched in the minds of the TV audience that they are feeling it difficult to accept Shah Rukh. And thats what I said in the beginning of this article. People just left. For some, Shah Rukh was not hot enough. For die-hard Bachchan fans, this won't change. But otherwise, SRK is doing quite a good job, actually. This is his show. And he is making a conscious attempt to make this clear.

And yeah, I loved the rap song in the beginning of the show. For all you guys , the video is posted below.