Sometimes, it just works.

Rating: Null/10 (10 December 2008)

I have been to India three times and from my experience, Mumbai is still the craziest place on Earth. The British understand India more so than any other outsider like me. This work of Danny Boyle just reaffirms that fact.
I was manipulated by the reviews to catch a free preview in Buffalo(NY) and I was shocked by the huge crowd that showed up. The movie began with a very powerful note- a torture scene. I could tell people sitting next to me were not so fond of it. Then, the ride began. I saw the India that I was very aware of but never had a chance to see deeply. Danny Boyle is a unique storyteller. You never completely realise what you have signed up for and that's just brilliant. The movie gives you a microscope image of poverty in India, besides the glitz of Bollywood and the power of India's growing economy. It shows you a different world within India. The movie is not really about any of that, interestingly.
'Who wants to be a millionaire', a mere metaphor as I have seen it before half way through the movie turned out to be the pillar that kept our fears, expectations, confusion, adrenaline, hate, excitement, senses together until alphabets began to roll. The movie ended and there was an applaud for about a minute. People loved it because it was real. People loved it because they saw something far beyond their expectations of a world they didn't know existed. They participated in the quiz and they were right almost every time. Yes, that's important. This movie will be big. You'll see.
My only regret is that I can never watch it again for the first time.