Slumdog Millionaire

Watched Slumdog Millionaire today. Enjoyed every minute of it. Probably my favorite movie of the year. It's a British production, in English, some Hindi, directed by Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan (India unit). I'm not gonna have spoilers here but it's a moving drama splash comedy about a young man, Jamal, competing in the India version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, hoping that Latika, the girl he likes since childhood, would be watching. Latika and Jamal were separated due to unfortunate circumstances and he knew that she likes to watch the gameshow.

Jamal was only one question away from winning the whole thing but was accused of cheating. The gameshow's host and police did not believe that he could answer all the questions because he grew up in the slums and worked as a Chai Tea boy at a phone company. During the interrogation, he told the police about his life, from growing up in the poor slums to young adulthood. While representing the hard life of poverty in India, his story also explained why he knew all the answers to the questions on the gameshow. Touching and funny. Great directing, adapted screenplay and cinematography, to say the least. Good work from the kid actors too.

Nominated for Golden Globe's Best Motion Picture (Drama). I hope it wins. It's most enjoyable to my personal taste than other films in the running. Boyle is nominated for Best Director too. It's also one of the leading contenders to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Boyle might get Oscar nod too. It also won the People's Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival and several other film festival and critics' awards.

The movie's soundtrack is supported by M.I.A, the London born Sri Lankan alternative hip hop artist. I'm surprised to hear Paper Planes, M.I.A's single off her album Kala, and it enjoyed heavy airplay on my local alternative rock station live105.3.

After the movie, Andrew dropped by at Valley Fair to get Christmas presents for his relatives. Had dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant opposite Santana Row. We watched Slumdog at CineArts, Santana Row. Dropped by at Barnes & Nobles and got myself a CD version of MGMT's album Oracular Spectacular. I've been listening to it online for a while but since it's one of my favorite albums of the year, and I got a B&N gift card, I bought the cd. I'm a music album collector by the way.