Just like everyone of you, I watched Slumdog Millionaire. Just like half of you I am blogging about it. So, why should you read mine? Well if you blogged about it, or read all the blogs about it, why shouldn't you read mine?
Point number 1: I was NOT impressed by the movie. I am not saying it is a bad movie or something. But I just don't get why the movie is so 'great'.
Point number 2: I was not impressed by the music. A.R.Rehman can do better and has done better. I am a big fan of Rehman. Nothing against the great maestro.
Point number 3: If you think I am just being too snobbish or whatever, don't bother to read on. This is just my opinion. That is what blogs are all about, right?
Now, why was I not impressed by the movie?
I am not saying the movie was bad. It is good. I have read 'Q & A' by Vikas Swarup. Now you must be thinking, here goes miss-I-Have-read-the-book-and-the movie-could-have-been-better. And one of my friends has already pointed out that people who read books say the same line each time about movie adaptations. But, No. This movie was a good adaptation. The book had too many characters. Colourful, to read in a book and visualize,but adapting that many characters on screen would have lead to confusion. They seem to have used the same foundation for the movie, but they have modified the story a lot. But, as a whole, the movie failed to impress me. The acting of the lead character Dev Patel failed to make an impact. The face was blank, with a bewildered expression mostly, forced smiles at times. Agreed those were the major emotions he was supposed to portray, but he wasn't a great eye-catching item in the movie, in any way. And the scene where the boy falls in the pit of faeces in order to see Bacchan was indeed uncalled for. Was this scene put in, to emphasize that he is actually 'slumdog'? Like we didn't know and needed telling!!! The movie left me with a lot of unanswered questions. I still have a lot of Hows whats and whys unanswered, even after watching the movie. I don't get the point why it is so hyped.In my opinion, Taare Zameen par was definitely a better movie, in all aspects. It definitely deserved an academy award nomination.
And about Rehman's music, I am sure I can get lot of people to agree with me that this was not Rehman at his best. Definitely not the song 'Jai ho'. If any of you have been fans of songs like 'Tu Hi Re', 'Kehna hi kya', 'Dil Se', 'Bombay theme', 'Vande Mataram','Chayya chayya' and numerous other songs of his which never seem to get old,you would probably agree with me about this. Yes, We are all happy that he won a Golden Globe. But the movie's music isn't great. I am neither being biased nor prejudiced against anyone here. Every day at least once, I still listen to 'Tu Hi Re', 'Bombay theme' and 'Jaage hai der tak' from 'Guru'.There has never been as versatile a composer as Rehman, nor will there ever be any. But something was amiss here, in this movie. I did not feel the 'Rehman touch'.
I have a few friends who agree with me here. My mom, of course. She was so disappointed with the movie, my blog doesn't even come close to explaining how disappointed she was. She felt it was bland. And literally loathed the 'slumdog' scene. My friend Harsha, an even bigger movie buff than me, was disappointed too, more so with the music than the movie. Though, he adds that 'Dreams on fire' is one good piece of music in the movie, and is much better than 'Jai ho'. And mind you, he hasn't read the book. Another friend, Sumanth, agrees, that the movie was nothing great. And an online friend of mine, an about-to-be management graduate from JBIMS, Mumbai, Mr.Nikhil agrees TZP better deserved the red-carpet treatment that Slumdog Millionaire is getting, talking with respect to academy award nominations.
Disclaimer: I have nothing against the movie, the music, Mr.Rehman or the awards this movie has won. I am glad India is carving a niche for itself. But I wish it would have been through a movie like 'Taare Zameen par' rather than this.
If you don't agree with me, or if you are a huge fan of Slumdog Millionaire, I am sorry you had to read this blog.But, I have no regrets about my opinion.
Friday, January 23, 2009
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3 comments:
hi,
nicely written anu...
well this was one of the movie i was looking forward to watch from a very long time because of the publicity it was getting from press and media. Finally i watched it too...
naanu bittooo bidade nOdida cinema gaLalli idu ondu.. this looks good and nice only in the sence " Art for Art Sake"... other than this i didnt like anything to that gr8 extent...
We indians never recognize gr8 things on our own, and everything that america or UK recognizes in us looks gr8 to us... this movie is one more example for that...
and as anu has rightly told this is not of the best of ARR too... Though it remind me of a few last lines of "The Waste Land" by T. S. Eliot at times i CAN'T EVER that say this is one of the best movies ever seen. This was a normal movie, but a good Adaptation(most of my friens told me this.. )
The movie would have been better in many ways.. it can never match TZP...
Hello Anupama.
I somehow found your blog today, as I was doing some reading about Slumdog Millionaire, wanting to find comparisons with the book Q & A.
Seeing as you have read the book, I am wondering if you could answer one question for me. Is the boy Jamal (Ram) tortured by the police in the book? For some reason I imagine that he was not, but I am trying to verify this. (maybe I should read the book - do you recommend it?)
As a westerner myself, a Canadian who lives in Europe, I was not at all impressed with the film. In fact, it kind of bothered me - from what I understand the book was a more beautiful story, than the one told on the movie screen.
Perhaps you could email me and let me know the answer to my question. Thank you so much.
Jeff.
Hey there, Jeff! I was unable to obtain your mail id. Just paste it here. Or contact me at anupama.rv@gmail.com.
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