Slumdog Millionaire: 2008

It's not usually a good sign when 45 minutes into the film I'm already starting my blog. Slumdog Millionaire is one I'm watching over several nights due to other stuff happening in the evenings for me. Typically when I have to watch over several nights I wait until I'm done to start my blog post about the film, but I already have some thoughts on this one. The first being that the premise seems a bit too convenient. Apparently Jamal answers more questions right than he should on this game show, which is just the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The show is set up that no one can get all the answers right (and then the producers never have to pay out the award money). But somehow the majority of questions that Jamal has are ones that deal with specific moments in his life that lead him to point where he is now. The structure is clever, I'll give it that, but it just seems to unrealistic. And I'm having a hard time just being interested in the characters and their story. Adding that to an unrealistic plot and I'm just not into the film.

But I will forge on and report back when the film is over...

Well, it's done now. It took two more nights, but I finished Slumdog Millionaire. The film did improve as it went on. I found myself looking forward to the scenes with Irrfan Khan, whose work I just love in The Namesake. Khan is the police detective who has been tasked with determining how Jamal was able to answer all of these questions (Jamal is arrested under suspicion of cheating). Khan is such a versatile actor. Having seen him in The Namesake as well as Life of Pi I knew he could play the quiet, unassuming character well, but as the police detective he's rough, stern, and kind of a jerk. It was interesting to see him in such a different way.

Other than Khan, it was fun to see Dev Patel as Jamal just because he's so young in this film compared to the other film I've seen him in (2016's Lion for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor). Watching him go from his everyday life to the game show parts definitely showed off his acting skills, but I preferred the story of Lion to Slumdog Millionaire.