The pitfall of Indian cinema, internationally, has been the ‘Bollywoodization’: it’s stereotyping into the category of ‘Bollywood’ films. Though being in a country which either hates or loves the ‘dream like imagery’, the song and dance and the length of the Indian movie; Great Britain, for some time now, I still fail to understand the hysterical and compulsive obsession of anything coming from my country to have to fit into the moulds of the mentioned stereotype. This holds good even for an international movie made in India.
Danny Boyle, who coincidentally comes from the place I am writing this from, Manchester, has been one of the more experimental and interesting directors with films such as ‘Trainspotting’and ‘The Beach’ attaining almost cult classic status, I have unfortunately not heard of Loveleen Tandan, who is credited as the co-director in this venture of his. The diabolical world of drug abuse and its vicious realities set in the run down Edinburgh in ‘Trainspotting’, brings with it, to me, such an arousing, poignant bleakness of reality, that it manages to be classified as a true, heartfelt expression of a movie, a movie with substance(no pun intended) as opposed to being just a black and dark comedy with Scottish accents and an exploited view point of the drug culture, which some viewers still reckon it is. The same personal sentiments, unfortunately, do not recur on watching ‘Slumdog…’
I have observed that Slumdog has been hailed by other reviewers in this and other forums as brilliant and in some cases of extreme generosity, as a masterpiece. I do not deny them the fact that this movie, indeed, comes very close to avant-garde cinema, but just falls short of classic by a few miles. The causal factor of this shortcoming is, without doubt, at least in my mind, the reduction of what seemingly starts out to be a dark, gripping realism of a story to a romantic Potpourri, though thankfully, not as fragrant.
As I sat through this movie, I began to feel that the writer, (I know it is based on the novel ‘Q & A’) probably made a list of evils in the great city of Mumbai and then fit them all in into the story of the characters; underworld, drugs, poverty, communal riots, prostitution, beggar mafias, third degrees, Bollywood, tourist touts, child abuse etc, etc. all topped with a dash of romance and just to make it more interesting, set to the backdrop of a hysterically popular television show. Am I the only one beginning to smell a tinge of commercial sell-out in this whole package? The movie has adapted this flavor well and finally ends up with a similar aroma of international sell-out.
My criticism may sound rather harsh, but, just compare it with the 1988 Mira Nair classic ‘Salaam Bombay’ to see the obvious differences. The argument that the comparison is irrelevant or unnecessary can be easily refuted by the fact that, at the onset both films look rather similar in their perspectives, both are set in similar times and place, both belong to the same genre of films and both are looking introspectively at life in the lowly, if not the lowest socio-economic section of Bombay/Mumbai. While one(Salaam.) manages to stick to the same sense of desolation and a firm grip of reality even to the point of uncertainty and vagueness of the end, leaving the viewer unsure and a sense of discomfort –the epitome of serious, realistic cinema, the other(Slumdog.), though beginning with the same atmosphere disintegrates into a romantic masala termination with the hero and heroine united close to the end, almost as if saying‘curtains fall… cast take a bow.’
However, it is not all negative. The story of the ‘three musketeers’ struggling to survive and keep themselves alive, almost always running from the clutches of one or the other evils(mentioned above), having to resort to some of them themselves, in the dingy world of the splayed slums of Mumbai, abject poverty all the way makes for a invitingly morbid background to romance and this has been captured beautifully by this movie. Added to this plot, the curious case of the almost self raised, street wise young protagonist’s chance to win a million rupees by taking part in the television program‘KBC’, makes the story highly captivating. The movie has managed to create some magical moments. If we discount the subjective glitches, the movie stands out for its pace and the ability to keep you gripped to the happenings onscreen, performances are brilliant, editing slick and screenplay very effective.
The camerawork/cinematography and the visual experience is something I have not seen in Indian movies for a long time now. I greatly enjoyed the visual treatment of the whole film and the minimalistic and effective background music. Special mention must be made of all the child artists and fresh faces, Dev Patel(though not particularly impressive in the TV series ‘Skins’ here) does a fine job as the protagonist ‘Jamal Malik’.
Having said that, I must revert to my original bias of the movie leaving an after taste of ‘contrived to sell to the international critical acclaim’, evident in the language switch-over which happens abruptly and unpleasantly, especially to an Indian viewer, as it takes away from the realism and ring of honesty local language brings into the film. Even if some of the characters, like the police had stuck with Hindi, it would have been so much agreeable.
This review has been rather subjective and a biased opinion, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the erroneous portrayal of Indian cinema in the minds of the majority of international audience is due to the tendency of movies like this, which are supposed to be serious and realistic and yet carries the stigma of wanting to confirm to the sensibilities and projections of the international audience regarding Indian cinema or ‘Bollywoodization’, referred to earlier.
I would probably not have censured the movie as much if it had not been for the last disgraceful image of a song and dance sequence set on the railway platform of V.T, with the usual numerous extras dancing with the hero and heroine as the credits rolled at the end. This had me fuming and disgusted at what a relatively good movie had been reduced to.
Watch the movie if you want to, but make sure you watch ‘Salaam Bombay’ if you had the choice.
p.s - it has been a long time since I reviewed anything, so comments will be greatly welcome.