Slumdog Millionaire can be seen as a good movie, unless
you’ve read the book. If you’ve read the book Slumdog Millionaire, the movie
becomes very confusing with quite a few major changes made. Salim and Jamal
(Ram in the book) are actually blood brothers, and Salim is older and takes
care of Jamal; when actually in the book Salim is younger and Ram takes care of
him. I personally didn’t like the name change of Ram to Jamal because to me the
name Ram Mohammad Thomas represented a very important part of Ram’s life experiences
and why Ram knew the answers to the questions on the game show. Ram Mohammad
Thomas’ name defined who he was as a person.
The comparison of the movie to the book aside, the film was shot well with many film techniques. I personally liked how the beginning and the ending of the movie came together. The movie comes full circle with a question, similar to like it would on the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” and then the movie ends by answering that question. Also during these scenes the theme music for the show played, which helps the audience connect the show to the life experiences. This is very unique to this film.
The music was fitting because it was traditional Bollywood
music which helped the audience feel more connected to India and the Indian
culture, versus feeling like it was a typical Hollywood film. However the
background music seemed to overpower some of the scenes by being loud over the
monologue. Overall I feel this film did not meet my expectations and I don’t
think I would recommend it. If you
really are interested in this story I would recommend reading the book.
