Forrest Gump comes to India

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2009)

Slumdog chronicles the life of Jamal who is born in the slums of Bombay. His life journey takes him through some of the dark aspects of India during the 90's. Starting from the forced child begging to the '93 Hindu Muslim riots and the notorious Bombay underworld, the movie reveals everything that is nasty about the country.
So why should anyone watch this movie? Well, its because of the amazing screenplay which keeps the viewers interested till the very last moment - and the thrill is not about whether or not Jamal wins the 20 million. Its more about how he gets there.
In addition to the screenplay some of the other outstanding aspects of the movie include
1. music by A R Rahman is top notch.
2. casting (Loveleen) was amazing. Especially the 2 child actors who played Jamal. Their resemblance to Dev Patel (as grownup Jamal) was simply uncanny.
3. acting was apt. Nobody overdid their part and thats just what this movie needed.
As any other Indian watching this movie, I couldn't help wonder why the movie focuses only on Slums, underworld and other dark areas of India. Why are only such movies critically acclaimed in the West? Is it probably because that is our only USP at this point - which is sad considering 'Salaam Bombay' made 20 years ago offered the same. Don't we have anything else other than Slums and Gandhi?
9/10.