Slumdog: I went, I saw, and I was Impressed!

If I could describe, in one word, what I thought about Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire – that word would be incredible.

Last night, I finally got to check out the film, after much anticipation, and I really enjoyed it. Being a Rahmaniac (devout fan of music genius A.R. Rahman) I was able to understand why he won the Oscar for best musical score and best song. His scoring of the film was incredible – it really brought the entire piece to life and captured the essence of what director Danny Boyle intended to portray.

I think, besides the ending credits song, Jai Ho!, the one music piece I really enjoyed was "Mausam & Escape" – Rahman’s use of a sitar to create chaos really shows what a genius he is. Listen to it:

And, yet another favorite is Oscar-nominated O…Saya. Listen to that one below:

And this brings me to Danny Boyle’s directing prowess: he really deserved the Oscar for best director.

Overall, I found the film to be “different”… there’s something about it that just sets Slumdog a part from the regular Hollywood grunge that passes through the projection light.

One little flaw that was easy to overlook, though, what that Dev Patel, who plays lead protagonist Jamal Malik, and love interest Frieda Pinto, both played their Indian characters with British accents (at least, there was a touch of “Britishness” in their speech). Also, there was a bit of disgruntlement at the fact that the characters talked in English, when, in real-life, slum children in India never talk in English. Of course, being a film, this last gripe HAS to be overlooked, as then the film would be seen as Bollywood, something which a film like Slumdog Millionaire cannot be labeled as.

I found the film to be very slick and polished, with attention to details, exemplary visual portrayal and a heartwarming ending to the victorious tune of Jai Ho!