8 Oscars... 7 BAFTAs... 4 Golden Globes... and numerous other awards to boot... That was the hype that got me wanting to watch this movie. Sadly, I think this movie has been over-hyped and overrated. I have to say that the storyline is quite refreshing, albeit based on a real-life game show, but this movie wasn't anything to shout about. I've actually seen better Bollywood movies than this.
Granted, it is a Jolly-Holly-Bollywood (English director, American distributor, Indian writer) movie, something different than the usual rat pack of movies the Academy Award members have been accustomed to but apart from highlighting the slums of India, which is a reality, I personally feel that it is hardly any different from the old Hindi movies I grew up with. In fact, there was not even a scene of couples playing hide-and-seek with tree branches or rolling down a small hill of freshly cut grass or splashing around at the beach. (Okay, I'm asking for too much here...)
Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how the current scenes - him being on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" - intertwined with flashbacks of the protagonist's life, in this case, Jamal Malik, that enabled him to answer the increasingly difficult questions in the game show, eventually winning him the top prize money (and the girl, of course!).
But overall, I still feel the movie lacked something. I just can't seem to put a finger on it, but it's just not all it is hyped up to be. It still felt like an ordinary Bollywood film to me, except, they spoke more English throughout the show than they did in Hindi. Oh, they eventually DID dance, at the end of the movie, but it was rather comical seeing them dance because the main guy (Dev Patel) looked awkward dancing. I had a good chuckle, though.
What did you think of the movie?
*Ordinaire means ordinary in French
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