Great theme, bad film-making

Rating: 5/10 (8 February 2009)

Finally I saw 'Slumdog Millionaire', And to say I was disappointed, would be an understatement. Separately, each element of the film, seems to be a great, at least a good film in the making. But put together, it doesn't add up to anything more than an average film. As a whole, I am not left with a great cinematic experience at the end of the film.
And my criticism is not about the usual objections brought up. I have no issues with the depiction of poverty in the movie. In fact contrary to the brouhaha, I hardly found any intense depiction of poverty. Yes, there is a gut-wrenching scene of a boy's eyes being gorged out. But its more about evil element the boys confront and overcome, which doesn't make the whole movie about stark poverty, like good old Mrinal Sen movies. Bollywood films have shown much more of these horrifying scenes, and we have seen them without batting an eyelid. So its not fair to point fingers at Mr Danny Boyle for this. If Indian films can show our poverty in its most crass state, why cant Mr Boyle ? My criticism is purely about the technicalities of film making. Now that will immediately make you sit up and sarcastically question me, if I am an authority on it myself. Well, I am not. But I am a viewer and movies are for the masses just not for a selected few "knowledgable" persons. And as a viewer, I am left emotionless at the end of the film. Neither did it make me cry, nor did it make me laugh. Neither did I shed a single tear drop in the entire film, nor did it bring out a chuckle. Neither did it make me introspect or philosophize nor was it informative and accurate. And most importantly there is not a single moment in the movie to be taken away and remembered, like there are so many in Munnabhai MBBS , Rang De Basanti or Life is Beautiful. Not to mention our evergreen classic Sholay, which has so many great moments sprinkled all across the film - any filmmaker would be proud to have even one of those scenes in his or her film. Unfortunately 'Slumdog Millionaire' has none.
Despite trying to infuse complexity and different layers in the story telling, 'Slumdog Millionaire' remains a simple linear form of story telling. It races through the narrative, without slowing down or harping on any moment. Its trying to shock us, but I am rather surprised at its complete lack of emotional connect, more due to the way the movie speeds through from one scene to the other.
But I am not surprised the western critics and reviewers fell for this movie. There are so many stereotypes that the west just loves. But the master stroke in Mr Boyle's strategy was to use real slum boys for the film. This is impossible for the west to ignore , and lo behold the movie gets ten Oscar nominations.
I am a firm believer of "willing suspension of disbelief" when it comes to viewing films, but Slumdog Millionaire's' unique selling preposition lies in its realism. And keeping that in mind I find it absolutely unbelievable that a boy who has become a national star on the sets of "Who wants to become a millionaire" could be tortured by cops. Can you believe what would happen to the cops and to the show organizers, when the news reaches the media ? I know this movie is difficult to criticize. The subject is such  children, that too poor children battling the odds in their lives. Our mind cant be so politically incorrect as not to like it. And especially now, when the whole world is appreciating it. I feel like the child in the tale of the 'King's New Clothes'. Neither am I a filmmaker nor an expert critic, but I am surprised that no one had the courage or the honesty to criticize the film for its real merit or the lack of it. The only criticism the movie has received has been on trivial and irrelevant issues, outside the meaningful discussion of film-making.
The subject of the film is interesting and the screenplay Mr Boyle got to work with, must have been any director's delight  a definite recipe for success. But the end product in form of 'Slumdog Millionaire' is mundane and ordinary. Mr Boyle is unable to portray the complexity of the characters and situations and the narration is too fast and flat without exploring the minds of the protagonists. 'Slumdog Millionaire' is visually interesting, but not stimulating to the mind at all. The film moves from one scene to the other at a rapid pace without trying to emotionally connect the characters to the audience. Mr Boyle as a filmmaker is definitely not in the league of Robert Benigni or Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. And not even of the débutant director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, who made the brilliant 'Lives of Others', which left me speechless.
Despite having a winner of a theme on hand, Mr Boyle fails in pure film-making terms. Luckily for Mr Boyle, the juries world over have stuck to political correctness and have not been able to discard such a socially sensitive and a cinematically attractive issue.
And while the music and songs of the film are good and would have been commendable coming from any other composer, its definitely not among Reham's best. In fact it doesn't even remotely match up to his masterpieces from 'Rang De Basanti, Swades or the upcoming 'Delhi 6'.
Without viewing 'Slumdog Millionaire' through the spectrum of awards and only on the basis of pure objectivity and cinematic yardsticks, the movie fails miserably. And Mr Boyle falls short as a filmmaker. This is definitely one of the most overrated film of this millennium.