With panoramic scenes of the crushing poverty and sheer filth of Mumbai’s slums, interspersed with the drama of sibling rivalry, greed, want, fear, and love, and leavened with just the right touch of humor, Slumdog Millionaire has all of the elements of an epic. Shot on location in India, the U.S./U.K. production has a wonderful score by composer A. R. Rahman but contains none of the musical numbers characteristic of Indian cinema. Of course, Slumdog is not really an Indian movie at all, but rather a Hollywood slant on the classic Hindi movie, much as the Spaghetti Western was a European take on the Hollywood genre – fresh, new, and engaging, with some familiar faces, and a tip of the hat to its roots.

Based on the novel “Q and A” by Vikas Swarup, the story is told through a series of flashbacks showing how Jamal (played by Dev Patel), a poor young “Chai Boy” at an Indian telephone calling center, came to know each of the answers to the hugely popular television game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati,” the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” As the police inspector (Irfan Khan) interrogates Jamal, who he is convinced has cheated, the teenager stands one question away from the ten million rupee grand prize.
Clearly, his karma has come home to roost. Or maybe he was just simply lucky. Either way, as the story of his life, that of his brother, Salim, and their friend, Latika, unfolds in the vivid colors of the Bombay slum, it becomes clear that Jamal is only on the game show to find Latika, his one true love. Through the death of their mother, their encounters with gangsters, who exploit the slumdogs as child beggars in the most brutal ways, and their own transformative descent into thievery, the trio makes their way to adulthood.

There are some truly grim scenes, but this movie is no downer: Despite the tragic turns, the mischievous energy of the slumdogs (first as children, then as young adults) shines through and drives the story forward. At its heart, this is an optimistic film, with scenes of children, defiant of the authorities, playing cricket on the runway, in their very nature as outsiders determined to make a life for themselves.
That spirit, genuine and un-self-conscious, shows itself repeatedly, as, for example, when the young Jamal goes through an open-pit toilet to get his Bollywood hero Amitabh Bachchan’s autograph. It is a fun, funny, and lively salute to the movie’s forbears. When his brother sells the picture for a few rupees, the scene is poignant but neither tragic nor sentimental. After all, it’s just a picture. Feeding yourself and your brother is what really counts. And, as with many great stories, the journey is the real message.

With Bollywood stars like Anil Kapoor and newcomers like Patel and Freida Pinto, coupled with the cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantle (28 Days Later, The Last King of Scotland) and the deft hand of Manchester-born director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later), Simon Beaufoy’s script shines. The U.K.-born writer, who had a cult hit in 1997 with The Full Monty, has only added to his already impressive reputation.

Bold and new, with some proper Bollywood stars, an excellent soundtrack, a clever story, and a terrific script, Slumdog Millionaire explores universal themes using an Indian setting: Love, sibling rivalry, poverty, karma, luck, money, with even a little religious strife thrown in for good measure. The latter, in particular, is timely, considering this week’s Islamist terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Overall, Slumdog Millionaire is one of the most interesting and original movies of the year. Four stars out of four.