Slumdog Millionaire *Spoiler alert* and Bollywood Fairytales

If you haven't heard about this movie, then you must have been living in a cave for the past month or so! Slumdog Millionaire is a wonderful (and also heartbreaking) story about a boy from the slums of Mumbai, India, going from rags to riches. It has captured the hearts of millions of movie-fans worldwide.


The movie won no less than 8 Oscars at 81st Annual Academy Awards:

Best Picture,
Best Adapted Screenplay,
Best Directing,
Best Original Score,
Best Original Song: ''Jai Ho",
Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing
and Best Cinematography

Here's the plot summary for those of you who haven't seen it yet:

"The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love."

(Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures for IMDb)

The movie shows the harsh reality in which the kids in the slum reside, the struggles and hardships they have to endure just to survive, and the people who take advantage of them to make a profit. It is all very realistic but still with a touch of Bollywood. Even though this is not a Bollywood production (it's a UK production) it still has a touch of the Bollywood essence in it. What I mean by that is that, though it has a very serious storyline, it still leaves room for hope, dreams and romance. Anything can happen -a boy from the slum can become a millionaire and, at the same time, win back the love of his life by resquing her from the villain's evil hands- in true Bollywood manner (they even have time for a dreamy dance-sequence!).

I'm a big fan of Bollywood. Yes, most of the movies are over the top and highly exaggerated (although they are becoming more and more Hollywood-like). But that's what I love about them.

If I wanted to watch something realistic I'd watch a documentary. The whole point of Bollywood (at least as I see it) is to get a chance to go off to Dreamland where anything is possible. I love the music seemingly coming from nowhere and the caracters dancing and singing for no apparent reason. I love the cheezy lines (people actually talk like that in Bangladesh!) and the poorly choreographed dancemoves. Not to mention the music: there is a song for every mood and occassion in life.

If I were to have a soundtrack to my life, it would definately be in Bollywood-style. Come to think of it, at most of the big life-altering events in my life, they've probably been a bollywood song playing somewhere in the background. If not, I've most likely been singing one in my head!