Feel-good as you can get

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2011)

What do you get when you have an underdog story, the essence of India, a gameshow which has gripped a country? It would come to be British film director Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning film of 2009 of Slumdog Millionaire, based on Indian novelist Vikas Swarup's Q&A.
It tells the story of 18-year-old Jamal (Dev Patel), the former street child now working as a tea server at a call centre being on the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'. Just as he was one question away from the big prize where his incredible run has captured the nation's imagination, he was being suspected of cheating. On the basis of how a 'slumdog' knows the answers on the gameshow.
As the gameshow progresses, we are being treated to flashbacks of Jamal's life which corresponds to where every step of the way on the gameshow, where each round provided a clue as to how he knows the answers which he constantly stuns the jealous host Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor) who had even tried to frame him in the penultimate round. Along the way, the flashbacks also included his brother Salim and the person he has considered to be the 'third musketeer' Latika who comes from the same slum as him and his brother, based on the famed Alexandre Dumas novel of 'The Three Musketeers'. And the various adventures the trio had after they escaped from gangster Maman (Ankur Vikal).
One of the reasons why this is a feel-good film for me because one cannot help but along the way, rooting for Jamal to succeed. Only cynics does not like an underdog story, where the main character overcomes all odds to come up tops at the end of the day. Not only that, Patel's character who comes from the slums before he would be a tea server at a call centre shows not only the unglamorous sight of India via the slums, and what the world knows about India through what happened in the final scene in terms of what Bollywood has presented to the world. And the final reason is partly biased on my part because the fact that it also uses the element of the gameshow 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' brought me back to the days when I was a big fan of the gameshow when it was still very popular a decade or so ago.
A recommended film for some feel-good factor, especially if one needs a pick-me-up.