Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire on DVD
By Rama Gaind
Multi award-winning Slumdog Millionaire (Icon Film Distribution) is an exhilerating fairytale about an underprivileged street child who scales the heights of success.
The flawless blend of taut direction, fine acting and magical music lends weight to a popular belief that filmmakers are dream merchants – and through Slumdog Millionaire Danny Boyle is no exception.
This endearing, inspirational film won eight Academy Awards this year: Best Picture, Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), Best Film Editing (Chris Dickens), Best Sound Mixing (Resul Pookutty, Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke), Best Cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), Best Original Score (A.R. Rahman) and Best Original Song with lyrics for Jai Ho by Gulzar and score by Rahman..
There’s a certain manipulative quality in the realism of Slumdog Millionaire that’s magical.
Seasoned actors Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan star with newcomers Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Madhur Mittal.
Tugging at the heartstrings, it follows the rags-to-riches story of Jamal Malik (Patel) whose life is akin to a Dickensian journey which sees him correctly answering a series of questions on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
To obnoxious police officers, led by Irrfan Khan, he recounts his life’s journey from rubbish tips, pick pocketing and running scams at the Taj Mahal before he goes on to gain unbelievable riches.
It’s only through flashbacks, which are seamlessly strung together, that the answers come forth to reveal an extraordinary life involving his brother Salim and a melodramatic love story between Jamal and Latika (Pinto).
As demonstrated by the sometimes comical, but mostly heartbreaking scenes of Jamal’s childhood, the authenticity is derived from the incredible, ever-changing, energetic and brilliant colours of Mumbai.
Based on the book Q & A by Indian diplomat and author Vikas Swarup, three different actors play the role of the three main characters as they grow up.
Patel brings a sense of vulnerability to his role, while Pinto’s Latika is a deep, intense character.
Slumdog Millionaire is an ingenious commentary on Indian society intertwined with romance as viewers are plunged into Mumbai’s pulsing, contradictory life. Viewers are thrown into the vividness of the film, where the slums are not static, but a thriving, bustling metropolis and the passion of the actors is picture perfect.
Special features of this DVD include commentaries by Boyle, Beaufoy and producer Christian Coulson about making the movie, together with the journey of the three characters, deleted scenes and scene selection.
