BEATING A DEAD HORSE

GENRE(S): Comedy | Drama | Romance

WRITTEN BY: Simon Beaufoy

DIRECTED BY: Danny Boyle

RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes

ORIGIN: UK | USA

LANGUAGE(S): English | Hindi

Starring Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, and Irrfan Khan

No point writing about it now that it’s the biggest hit of the year, been put on a pedestal and named “feel good film of the decade”, and won four Golden Globes beating “The dark Knight” in various categories, and will probably win an Oscar or two.But, I have to vent my feelings out somewhere after looking at all this injustice!

SM was a mere formulaic film. It had all the elements of a B grade Bollywood flick or a Vijay film save the “punch dialog.” Right from the start till the end, it moved in either a predictable, or downright absurd fashion.

In my view, had any director from the west made a movie about or in India, he would have made it in the same manner, because that’s how the world looks at India. They believe India is a country filled with villages, slums, call centres, beggars, crooks, and the Taj mahal. All these elements have to be shown; else it is not the “real” India. He just showed it to you all the way you thought we were. It explains why none of you have been able to understand our culture when you watched movies made by our own directors, and why much better films such as "Lagaan", never made it beyond nomination in the Oscars.

The film relies heavily on flashbacks, and though it was mediocre, it could have been more entertaining if it lacked this pace slowing element. After a point I was just irritated. The narrative worked only during the first half.

Newcomer Dev Patel (the guy who played the adult Jamal) was nominated for his performance . For what joy? I don’t understand. The kid role was much better performed and more natural by a mile. DP is very obviously a chump who was brought up in the west who can’t speak Hindi fluently if his life depended on it. This coming from a south Indian, he can beat himself to death with that very globe he missed.

Danny Boyle has made a sincere effort to learn about Indian culture and I shall give praise where it is due. But, he could have gone about making the movie in a much better way, such as by not making the love element so cheesy, making the film in Hindi (guess that’s asking for too much but at least get a cast from India which has a believable Indian accent. They’re “slumdogs” as he’s put it.) From what I hear, Train spotting is a must watch(but so is SM, or so they say.)

Anil Kapoor very rightly didn’t try to imitate Big B, and saved himself from embarrassment. But, I ask you, which game show host repeatedly insults a contestant? Apart from this glitch, he suited the role fine.

Dev’s brother Salim (sounds funny huh :P ) was a poor show. No more comments.

Freida Pinto has exactly what a typical Bollywood(or any other Indian language film) female lead of yore is supposed to have;

1. Shouldn't know how to act.

2. Act dumb

3. Dance like a pro...no wait she can't do that. My bad I apologise

1.

Rahman was his usual best for this movie and deserved the accolade he got every bit, not just for this but for all the work he’s done in his lifetime. But as a friend put it,"If SM, which was just one of his decent works, merits a GG, what’s he going to get for his best works such as “Roja” and Duet”?"

Coming to the song which played during credits, please tell me who the choreographer was so I can shoot him between the eyebrows. Or maybe the material he was given was so devoid of talent, he couldn’t mould them one bit. It was pathetic. I could have done a better job choreographing or dancing, and I'm not exactly petite and graceful on my feet. Worst part is that critics danced along to that song during the premiere. They also wrote that they’re going to request other directors of the west to end their films in the same manner. Puhleese! Imagine Batman and Joker dancing together and you'll see why that's such a bad idea! Also, do not have the notion that all Indian films end this way even these days, though a few do.

Now let me just say if this movie had released any other year, it probably would have deserved (pushing it a bit) all the rave reviews, back thumping, and crowd cheering. But this was the year of “Dark Knight”, and “Benjamin Button”! One had brilliant everything, and the other was one of the few movies which had the entire audience choking with emotion. I just don’t understand how the world prefers this trash to that.

I’ll end with the most positive outcome of this film. It has brought Indian movies to the fore. A friend told me that a lot of people in the west are watching Indian classics such as “Salaam Bombay” and “Lagaan”. If that really is true, and gets the top 1000 IMDB voters to rate Indian movies, maybe get a few to top 250 status. Well, I guess I can forgive Boyle and the critics then.

Overall rating: 7.3