Topic: Slumdog Millionaire

[MysterD]

Just got through watching Slumdog, a little bit ago.
Pretty good movie.

It feels like a sort of modern day fairy tale, which seems to sometimes get too caught up really in its own ridiculousness...

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i.e. some of the film's in Hindu, some of it's spoken in English; the way the movie ends just seems unrealistic given the majority of the rest of the flick's negativity; the way some of these "chance" events always seem to always happen; etc etc.

I really did like having the three stories being told concurrently and how they did interweave with each other, though.

Anyone else seen this one yet?

[Cobra951]

Yes.  I saw it.  The language that unifies India is English.  It's the one undeniably good thing the British did for them.  People from the same tribe or family may speak to each other in a common dialect, but they would speak to others in English, because otherwise they may not be understood.

The film is very gritty and mostly depressing.  I didn't see it as a fairy tale.

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More like, after a hard and luckless lifetime, finally something happened to go right.  Perseverance may make up for brutal circumstances if it goes on long enough.  Also, you never know when your life's accumulated experiences may serve you well.

[beo]

http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=4879.0

used very similar words to describe it...

[iPPi]

Saw it this weekend.

It's a good movie, but it does feel somewhat overrated.  I enjoyed it nonetheless, though if you liked what you saw, I would highly recommend City of God as well.

[Cobra951]

Cidade de Deus was just plain depressing.  It's like turning over a big rock and seeing what crawls around underneath.

[MysterD]

Ooooh, City of God was great.
Did anyone here see City of Men (movie)?

[Xessive]

Ooooh, City of God was great.
Did anyone here see City of Men (movie)?

City of God was awesome.

I have City of Men sitting around, I just have to get into the mood to read subtitles From what I read it's not a sequel but more like a spiritual successor.

[Pugnate]

Yes.  I saw it.  The language that unifies India is English.  It's the one undeniably good thing the British did for them.  People from the same tribe or family may speak to each other in a common dialect, but they would speak to others in English, because otherwise they may not be understood.

More people in India speak hindi than English. What unifies India is its film industry, and all the movies... excuse me, "movies" are in Hindi. I put movies in quotes, because I find those movies terrible. Then again, I have a friend from Greece (Xessive knows him.. Adonis), who watches and loves all Indian movies. Crazy guy.

The film is very gritty and mostly depressing.  I didn't see it as a fairy tale.

I haven't seen it yet, but I can understand that.

The sad thing was when all those kids went back from their five star hotels and the glamor of the Oscars to their tough shitty slum living.

This might be a bit heartbreaking:

http://www.fadedyouthblog.com/87507/a-slap-in-the-face-brings-slumdogs-child-star-back-to-reality

[angrykeebler]

why is it that every Indian movie has to end with a goddamn song and dance routine

[Xessive]

why is it that every Indian movie has to end with a goddamn song and dance routine

It's a Hindi culture thing. Some people watch Hindi films and fast-wforward through the dialogue just to get to the songs and dances. I'm not a fan of musicals in general so this makes no sense to me whatsoever.

[Pugnate]

why is it that every Indian movie has to end with a goddamn song and dance routine

I fucking hate it.

[Cobra951]

I assumed they were emulating the Hollywood of 40-50 years ago.  They're sort of stuck in the musicals age.

[Xessive]

I assumed they were emulating the Hollywood of 40-50 years ago.  They're sort of stuck in the musicals age.

I wouldn't doubt that it's a strong influence on Bollywood, though Hindi culture in general is very musical.

[Pugnate]

Yea nothing to do with Hollywood. Indian culture is just all about singing and straight men wearing gay clothes and dancing like broken robots.

[Quemaqua]

There's a reason I've never seen one of these movies.  Or several reasons.

[scottws]

The later comments in this thread reminded me of a video I saw on YouTube recently called "Indian Thriller".  That video is the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've seen in a long time.  Then there is the video for Dahler Mendi's (sp?) Tunak Tunak Tun.  That is good also.

[PyroMenace]

I just watched this, thought it was excellent. Though it was a love tale, I looked at it more of a culture shock movie, which comes to my question, are the things depicted in this movie accurate because I found some of it disturbing. But yea, great movie, made me feel like a spoiled asshole.

[Pugnate]

I am going to be watching this in an hour, so I will report back.

[ren]

If anyone has the Blu-Ray version watch the other movie on the extras. A much darker story of the slums. Actually one of the harder to watch movies I've ever seen. I was watching it with my parents and they just left because it was so disturbing.

Slumdog was good though. I liked the first half much more than the second. Apparently I look exactly like the main actor. All my friends and family, including my parents, think I'm basically a splitting image of the guy.

[Pugnate]

So I just finished watching it.

None of it was an exaggeration. In fact, much worse things happen in the slums here.

For example, some kids have their heads place in the middle of a wheel jack and are kept in that position for years so that their body grows normally, but their head looks abnormally small. These kids fetch more money begging. It is a whole mafia.

I am still in Pakistan, so I am thinking I will take a lot of pictures one day and most an album. It may provide a bigger culture shock.

The movie was really good though.