Slumdog Millionaire

I intended to watch the movie, and hence downloading it since morning.
I thought it's sorta bollywood... uhm, it's not. just the indian casts and settings. That dont make them bollywood, do they? It's british drama with indian casts and indian settings.

The movie is rather slow and the telling of the story is lacking intensity.
I wonder where it draws the line on genre.

It flashes back and forth from reality to the past and 3 different time frames.
The hot seat on 'who wants to be a millionaire?', which supposedly to be the center of Jamal Malik's life story begun.
Then there's his life journey struggling to live on his own with his brother on the street. A slumdog, they say.
And of course, the narration of everything came from the 'hot seat' in the prison.

Story's basically simple. The life of two brothers depending on each other living on the street. As stereotypically portrayed there's the good brother and the bad one. Jamal Malik, our lead, is of course the good brother, who ended up being honest citizen and ability to trust his guts in doing whatever he does. This surely doesn't do so well with some sneaky people belittling him.

His true mission is one.
Finding Latika. the lady of his life, since they were all little slumdogs.
(i hate to use the word, btw)

After all the gurneys and gutters to find her and to be with her.
One and the final ways to get was to join 'who wants to be a millionaire?' and Latika would watch him. Apparently, the quiz show is (or was) ridiculously popular over there!

The bitter life Jamal had to go through together with his brother and often times with Latika, was not much surprising as we see (maybe) on Hanung Bramantyo's ideal movie of Jakarta's street kids. This is what we are as neighboring nations.

The movie was OK, overall. The acting was good though. The kid, Dev Patal as Jamal Malik shall be the IT boy in his crowd, i reckon. You know, since he's good looking for his age, but too ethnic to caught hollywood's attention. I caught a glimpse of british accent of him, he's too perfect english can't be pure Hindi. I was right. IMDB proves it right! He's British born Indian. He was on skins too! no wonder I've seen him, when he was a pre-teen on skins! garsh he's grown.

Slumdog Millionaire is the buzz of British-Indian movie at the moment. Prolly, the next after Bend it like Beckham... but that's just my opinion. It's nominated (or won already?) BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts).

UNFORTUNATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
after all the good things I could say to it, one thing that still surprises me.
All indian movies, be it bollywood or wouldn't, it seems they couldn't help themselves without group dancing at the end of the movie! It ruins the sequence of the movie where it suppose to be dark, bitter and not entirely overjoyed happy ending. The dancing ruins it!

oh Dev Patal, you just leveled down your style, kid.